Diving and skydiving at the Great Barrier Reef

After a fabulous weekend on Fraser Island, we left Hervey Bay to go to Airlie Beach, where we would board our boat round the Whit Sunday Islands.

Sarah, Helen and I were so excited as our friend from Uni, Danielle, was meeting us there and doing the Whit Sundays trip with us. It was great to see her and have most of the Uni girls all together again! We spent just one night at Airlie Beach before boarding the boat the following morning for a two-night three-day trip round the Whit Sunday Islands.

The trip went all too quickly. We were on a boat called the Atlantic Clipper, which was supposedly known as the 'party' boat. We spent the first evening getting to know the crew and other passengers and playing silly drinking games with boxes of Goon (cheap Australian wine but surprisingly good!).

The crew then gave us a wake up call at 7am when breakfast was served. We then headed to a beach called White Haven and stopped off there for a few hours. I know I said it about Lake Mackenzie, but White Haven is probably one of the if not the most beautiful place I have ever visited.

The sea was just crystal clear and the beach was an unbelievable white. I will post some pictures but I don't think even those do it justice at all. The one bad thing I could say about it is i got eaten alive by sand flies, which are a nightmare and itch you to insanity! After being bitten by those I don't think i'll ever complain of a mosquito bite again! If ever you go there make sure you spray lots of insect repellant!

After a few hours of what literally felt and looked like paradise, the boat picked us up and took us to a diving and snorkelling site. I initially wasn't going to go diving as we had booked to go at the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, but at only $50 (25pounds) I decided I probably should, given that I want to be a dive instructor one day.

Although it was a good dive, I was a little disappointed and expected more from the Great Barrier Reef. The visibility wasn't too great, and we didn't see and turtles or sharks! We did see some pretty amazing, huge fish though. I was just hoping it would be better as we went further north of the Barrier Reef in Cairns.

For our final evening on the boat we stopped at a place which is renowned for dolphins at night. It was fantastic. Pretty much as soon as it got dark a family of dolphins came swimming around the boat, and they were there for the night. I was absolutely in awe of them, I couldn't stop watching them!

Anyway, I managed to tear myself away to play a game which the crew members had made up for us. The game involved us having to pick an empty Goon box up with our teeth without any part of our body (apart from feet) touching the floor. Each time everyone had had a go, the box got smaller till it was literally a flat piece of card. If you didn't manage to pick it up you got spanked pretty hard! I managed to pick it up each time and was delighted I didn't get a spanking... it sounded pretty painful!

The next morning we went out to another good snorkelling and diving site, where the four of us did a bit of snorkelling. I do enjoy snorkelling but it nowhere near lives up to diving.
We arrived back at Airlie Beach in the afternoon and spent the day at the local lagoon. That evening, we met up for a post Atlantic Clipper party and had our last night out with Danni. Danni has a job working on a farm in a small town called Bowen so unfortunately she couldn't join us in Cairns. We had three hours sleep and then had to get on a 10-hour bus journey to Cairns!

We arrived in Cairns with a sense of fear, excitement, and a feeling of being hungover! It was, as Helen like to call it, D-Day, the following morning; aka, our skydive! It was about a two-hour drive from Cairns to Mission Beach where we were jumping from, so we got picked up from our hostel (The Northern Greenhouse) at 7am.

We were all very quiet on the way there. I have to say though, I wasn't too nervous at this point, but Sarah and Helen were terrified!
We eventually arrived, signed a form to say if we died it wasn't their fault, had a safety briefing, were introduced to our dive instructors and headed for the plane.

My instructor was called Tas and he kept telling me I might fall out because he couldn't get the harness tight enough around my legs, so that didn't fill me with a great deal of confidence! I just kept telling myself that he must be joking!
It was decided that myself and Tas would jump first, meaning that we had to sit at the closest point to the exit while ascending.

We jumped from 14,000ft which is the highest you can go without needing oxygen. The plane set off down the runway with the exit door wide open, which I have to say is when the nerves started to kick in. It was pretty scaring peering over the edge as we were getting higher and higher. I asked at one point how hogh we actually were thinking we must have been near our drop point, but we were actually at only 5,000ft...... only another 9,000ft to go then!

Tas decided to close the door, or should I say, the plastic shutter, as we got higher and the coldness got a bit too much to bear. By this point I was shaking like a leaf and Helen's face was drained white. Tas started to strap me on to him, my harness began to tighten and I felt so much safer. Luckily, when we got to the top we didn't have any time to think about it and Tas got me straight out of the plane within seconds of the drop light turning to green. I remember so clearly the moment I fell out of the plane, it was so surreal. We were spinning in the air for ages and then Tas tapped me on the shoulder, which signalled I had to put my arms out. It felt like we were flying.

It was unbelievable. We did a 60-second free fall before the parachute opened and in that time we dropped 10,000ft. Once the parachute opened I could then concentrate on the scenery, which overlooked the Great Barrier Reef. It was absolutely stunning. I wish I could've taken pictures! I loved the whole experience, especially the free fall. It is definitely one of the most surreal and exciting experiences of my life, one I would recommend you all to do!

As scared as both Helen and Sarah were they loved it too, and was well worth the £150!

The following day in Cairns we went on a day boat trip round the Great Barrier Reef. The boat was called Ocean Freedom. Sarah and I did a couple of dives while Helen went snorkelling. The dives were probably the best I have done yet. We saw dozens of turtles. I was so happy, they are all I have wanted to see since I started diving. I love them even more now than I did. They are extraordinary to watch. Along with turtles we say lots of Nemo fish, lots of blue spotted rays, but unfortunately no sharks again! We then swam to a small beach that was in the middle of the ocean.

It was so bizarre. We could see no land around us yet we were stood in the middle of the ocean with the water just up to our knees. We did a bit of snorkelling round there as we swam back to the boat but the water was so choppy it made it quite hard work.
We just had one more day in Cairns after the boat trip, and as it was Helen's last day to sunbathe before flying back to England we spent the day round the Lagoon. Sarah and I then met a couple of friends we had met in Byron Bay for a couple drinks.

We arrived back in Sydney on Thursday (30th) to catch a flight to New Zealand on the 1st. We got such a shock when we landed. The weather when we left Cairns was 32 degrees, the weather in Sydney was 14 degrees!
We had a final night out at our favourite Sydney bar, World Bar, before flying to Auckland the following morning.

It has been a brilliant six weeks and will really miss Australia. It is definitely a place I could see myself living at some point for a while. Thailand is still my favourite place though!
We arrived in Auckland yesterday, both feeling shattered and in need of a detox, which we are planning for the next few weeks.

We head to Rotorua tomorrow and we have booked the Kiwi experience to do the south island. It should be a good few weeks but I am not enjoying the cold at all. It feels freezing!

Only three weeks here though and then we head to Fiji for a week. It has cost us a small fortune but I am certain it will be all worth it!