Australia 06 Course Diary

Sunday 10th September by Jen Heath

Flying into Sydney

Me and Ella finally arrived in Cairns after two flight changes when everyone else managed to fly almost direct. Everyone arrived at the same time, but we left Queenstown 5 hrs earlier!

Monday 11th September by Jen Heath

Jens Hat

below Jen and her Reptiles

Jonnie flicking a poor snake around

below Rock jump

First I saw a sign for the "Bruce Highway" which made me laugh. We we're on our way to Mungalli Falls and stopped at the Boulders to swim which was lovely and then it was off to a croc farm. There were Emus and Kangaroos everywhere and some really big crocs-Gregory was the biggest, 5.3 metres, and he had been taken there because he kept eating a local farmers cows! After a tour and a walk around, we got to hold some baby crocs and snakes. Jonnie was terrified of his snake and dangled it by its tail, whilst it went for him. I loved baby croc! Apparently Mark will only hold big snakes so he didn't hold these ones.

When we got to Mungalli we were taken to another lagoon deep in the rainforest, which we almost had to beat our own track to get to. There was a nice rock-jump there too. 

That night we were on a glow worm hunt and Terry told us about Barking Spiders and I cried ( I'm terrified of even pictures of spiders). We saw no spiders but lots of amazing glow worms. "Gee-wizz wacky-doo" as Terry says.

Tuesday 12th September by Jen

Trying to get close

below Laura ready for take-off

A tree torn apart

below Abseiling

Today began with another rainforest trek and in the middle was a huge waterfall that me and Dahj swam in first, the lads are a bunch of wimps. I got quite close and ended up with grit in my hair that was coming down with the water. The rainforest in this area had been devasted by a cyclone four months earlier. Though recovering amazingly fast, there was still signs, such as an enormous tree that had been torn in two!

After lunch we were abseiling, everyone had a go and there were some nervouse faces. Mark and Riccardo and I went down forwards too, but I ended up falling at the top- it was hard!

Later that day we went to a Land-Slide- a slide made out of the land! You sit on a rubber mat and slide down a plastic water slide. Jonny went first and it looked scary, so after a few went me and Ella made the mistake of going in tandem. It was fun until we reached the water, where I headbutted Ella and left a tooth mark on her! I went one-at-a-time after that. I think Alex was loving it the most, going forward, backwards, spinning and sideways.

Wednesday 13th Sept by Jen

The crews in action

Cathedral Fig

Today we went White Water Rafting! It was so much fun. There was a girls raft and boys raft. The girls were much better. This was on the Tully river, in the "wettest part of Australia" (due to a three month wet-season). It was wet today too, and drizzled all day. We were given commands the whole way down by the guide, such as "forward paddle, back paddle, lean left, get down", while he steered the boat. At one stage the boys got really stuck, and it took 5 men 7 1/2 mins to get them out! We had a BBQ halfway down the river, then got going again. Near the end, our guide played a bit of a trick on us, and got us to all go to the back of the raft, as we went down a small waterfall- making us lose our balance and fall in.

On our way back to Mungalli we stopped at an enormous fig tree, called the Cathedral Fig, for obvious reasons.

Thursday 14th Sept by Jen

The bikes at lunch

Ed

Its finally raining in the rainforest! It was time for mountain biking-This is no holiday, its hard work. Me and Laura were at the back of the pack for most of the day and improved throughout the day. The first section was us basically pushing our bikes up the hill and falling down most of the other side. Mountain biking isn't my sport, but Ella was really good at it. We got to swim in two rivers, and I did a very elegent rope-swing at the first one. Dahj, Jonny and I also got to float down a little rapid on our back like a water slide.

Friday 15th Sept by Jen

Walaroos near our tent

below Lava Tubes

Terry and his fire

middle Bats

below Termite mound

Today we left Mungalli Falls and headed west over The Great Dividing Range and into outback savannah, to Undara. This is a big change in scenery very quickly, from rich rainforest, to dry bushland. We stopped at a termite mound, Gee-wizz wacky-doo, and a big mango tree in the middle of a big long straight road, with a sign its had since it was a seed, saying "Please water me".

At Undarra we stayed in big permanent tents, with real beds inside. The place was made up of old railway carriages and was really nice. There were Kangaroos and Wallaroos bouncing around too. We had a tour of the Lava-tubes, which are giant tunnels made from lava cooling at the top, and continuing to flow below. There were lots of volacanos in this area, only 100 thousand years ago, and these are from a huge eruption that lava flowed for 100 km across the valley.

Before dinner, we had another tour, this time to relax, spot some wildlife, and watch the sunset from a rocky outcrop above everything. Ed got drunk on the champagne we were given. We then went to watch hundreds of tiny bats head out from a cave after dusk. It was amazing have hundreds of bats wizzing around a metre from our heads, and not touching us. Amazing because they are blind too. Ed said to Alex " wow, you can really hear the ultra-sound". I'll put that one down to the champagne.

For dinner, we sat in lovely re-furbished railway carriages. A lot had Kangaroo, which was a first for them.Terry had built us a fire for afterwards, and we sat around that till bed.

Saturday 16th by Jen

Bush brekkie

Crator

This day began with a Bush Breakfast-breakfast in the bush. We toasted our toast on a fire, and had all the works there for us. Terry took us for a walk to teach us about Bush-Tucker-what you can and can't eat, as well as medicines. "40 000 years of trial and error" as he says about the Aborigines knowledge of the land. We stopped at yet another amazing waterfall on the way back, as well as a giant crator that was more remains from the volcanos in the area. After dinner Me, Laura and Ella went to investigate Cairns and stumbled across a parade for Cairns festival and then there was an amazing fireworks display.

Sunday 17th Sept by Jen

Round'n them up

Jonnie in a spot of bother

below Through the mud

Now we are all Cowboys and Cowgirls! We spent today on a ranch, herding cattle. It was amazing and so much fun. A few escaped, but we were assured that if this was going to happen, it would happen anyway. I met a baby goat that I'm now obsessed with. Baby goat is called Honey. After lunch we went to a town called Karunda, to see, and pat Koalas, as well as look at the stalls. The boys went Quad Biking, which they said was incredible.

Monday 18th Sept by Jen

Awesome views

below packing it up

Getting them ready

We were up at 4AM this morning, to go Hot-Air Ballooning. We could see the Atherton Tablelands, and the Great Diving Range. This was followed by a champagne breakfast. After this some went scuba-diving, and Dahj and the girls went shopping around Cairns. This is where Dahj's hunt for the perfect thongs began!

Tuesday 19th Sept by Jen

Scuba diving

Laura

We went in a hire car today, up north to Palm Cove, then Port Douglas and finally the Daintree rainforest. Others all went diving again. Me and Laura swam in Mossman Gorge. So far I've swam in every river we've stopped at!

Wednesday 20th Sept by Jen

Coral

Turtle

below A Giant Clam

Today we all joined the lads on the dive boat. I went scuba- diving with a guide, and saw a turtle, and a shark and some great coral. There were hundreds of brightly coloured fish everywhere you look too.We had a couple of underwater cameras,and got some great shots. Laura had her first scuba dive, and everyone else snorkelled for the day.

Sting Ray

Thursday 21st Sept by Jen

Today began with a game of volleyball with Dahj. Just me, Ella, Laura and him. I suck and have developed some kind of claw hit. The game moved into the pool because by 10AM it was too hot. I'm short and was even worst in the water! We got a shuttle into town, and Dahj is still looking for the perfect thongs.

Friday 22nd/Sat 23rd Sept by Jen

Home time. We went out for dinner on Friday, and had a Seafood Buffet! This included fresh Tiger Prawns, Oysters, Mussels, Fish, as well as loads of other things, and desserts. Amazing. Everyone left to the airport at 11AM Satuday. :(

Sunday 24th Sept by Dahj

Perfection

Dahj

Dahj finds the perfect thongs.