Bare Foot Tour

In the morning I didn’t wake up until 20 minutes before I had to leave for my tour, which was really nice sleeping in… it was sort of a sleep in.

I walked over to Gilligan’s and met my tour guide who I instantly liked because he just seemed super happy and funny.  Even though it was raining we all headed off to our first destination, Babinda or Josephine Falls.  Before we could even think about doing this we stopped at a delicious bakery to stock up on lunch items and breakfast!  Then we headed off to the beautiful rock formations and river, they are one thing. 

There was the option to go swimming or stay dry, the driver warned us that people sometimes tend to die here because of the rocks but it is mostly guys.  The local legend for it tells a story about two people from separate tribes that fall in love, the woman is already promised to the medicine man.  Either way they fall madly in love but the medicine man finds out and chases the couple for many days with his buddies.  The woman gets her foot stuck between a rock and because the man went back to save her, he ended up getting killed.  Her tears formed the rivers here today and her spirit lives in the waters and pulls men down to their deaths.  Pretty grim story to be told before swimming but a lot of us did it anyway.  I got to the other side of the bank when one of the guys, Canadian, said that this is the time anacondas come out to feed.  I kid you not this place looked like it was from the movie Anaconda and I was absolutely terrified to swim back across, stupid Canadians.  The sun was so bright and the water perfect I didn’t care for long and enjoyed the rest of the swim.  Even though I didn’t have a towel, the sun was out and warm enough to get me dry… mostly dry.  After a quick breakfast snack of fruit and tea we headed off to our next destination, Millaa Millaa Falls!

You can't really see the rock formation but it is pretty cool.

Anacondas...

Mushrooms!!!

So refreshing.

I slept the way there so there’s no reason to explain the drive.  At this waterfall there is a rock water slide and I was super excited to go down it.  The weather was so perfect when we started swimming and splashing around but then it started to drip and the tiny drips turned into a full out storm.  We stayed in the water as long as we could but our guide told us there would be a flash flood there was so much rain so we had to get out of the water.  It was pretty much like having a shower with all your clothes on, things got wet within seconds and there was no escape, I splashed in as many puddles as I could before getting back in the bus to go.  Back to the bus we went soaking wet and headed to another waterfall!  To Mount Hypipamee we drove and ate lunch on the bus.

Vine swing anyone?

Rockslide...

My turn!

My people!

So much rain!!

I am never leaving

Sucking in my tummy just a bit.

Our bus driver was hilarious and kept telling us all these random facts about things related to sex in the animal kingdom, for example the biggest female Maori Wrasse will go after the only male of the reef, eat his penis (he dies) and then she changes her sex and becomes the male of the reef.  Only really big females can do this because the male gets super big!  He also asked everyone on the bus if we are single and if we fold or scrunch our toilet paper… both were asked at the same time.  

This particular waterfall is where the Herbal Essences commercial was filmed, the one where she flips her hair out of the water and looks super sexy.  Each girl got to reenact this picture… I think mine is the best… not to brag or anything but the German that took my photo is super cute and did a great job of capturing my sexiness.  After so much swimming we were all frozen under the waterfall and needed the warmth of the sun!

Time for pictures!

So freaking cold!

I was not impressed with the temperature.

Rocks are awesome though

Yes I am a sexy babe...

So beautiful...

Can you spot the catfish?

Our next stop after this was another waterfall and a huge volcanic tube all in one place.  We got to the volcanic hole and our guide dropped a rock into it… the noise the rock made when hitting the water sounded like a canon going off.  He said that if anyone wanted a painful death of breaking every bone in their body and then drowning that this was the place to do it.  Pretty grim way to go if you ask me.  After that lovely display I walked barefoot over sharp rocks to the Malanda Fall, we all did a crazy pose while jumping in the water when we got there.  The Canadians and the cute German and I did some adventuring around the waterfalls before leaving… we got very close to some edges.  I hate to disappoint but this is the part of the trip where my camera battery died… I do have my phone though!!!  We all kept an eye out for the wild cassowary that lived near the falls but unfortunately, did not see it.

Volcano wall

Anyone for a swim...?

How amazing is this place?

The German photographer...

Inside a waterfall

Here come the blue skies.

Down down down it goes.

Before heading to a volcanic lake we stopped for beer and Tim Tams before heading off again.  Our guide told us all the things we ‘shouldn’t’ do at the volcano, like jumping off a branch into the water.  I was the first out of the group of guys to jump off this massive tree into the water; some girl of course couldn’t show them up so they all went in as well.  Then I dove off… and then jump from the tallest branch that only the crazy people jump off, I showed them all how I fearless I am!  All this showing off worked up and appetite so more beer and Tim Tams it was… for dinner.

Swimming in a volcano... check that off my list.

After some good chitchat and laughs we all loaded back onto the bus, homeward bound.  We were all exhausted but it was an absolutely amazing day!  What an experience I had today, I did it all barefoot too.

When I got back I had plans to see Kathleen and hangout with Jan and his friends but after I rushed out the door to meet Kathleen she was nowhere to be found, she wouldn’t even pick up here phone.  I messaged Jan and he didn’t reply either… I figured food would be a pretty good substitute for friends, sushi it is!  As I waited for my takeout, Kathleen finally called and our hangout was still on.  I grabbed my sushi and walked back to the spot we were originally going to meet at and then we took off to her place to change.  Jan still hadn’t replied by this point but we were going to go the meeting spot just in case.  We left and I was glad I would be able to say goodbye to Jan before I leave.  As we walked it started to sprinkle… that quickly turned into buckets of water pouring down, took only a minute before my shirt was soaked as well as my hair, looked like I just come out of the shower.  We sprinted through the rain and walked undercover; at the beach it finally stopped raining.  Not to my surprise the boys weren’t there so we headed in the other direction for sorbet and my place.  

Back at my place we played a game with my roommates that I can’t remember the name of but you pick a category and have words from that category on your forehead and people try to explain them to you and you have to guess what the word is.  It was really fun and I was really good in the animal category!  It was just about 11:30 when I had to kick Kathleen out and get sleep for my other tour tomorrow!  My roommates stayed awake much longer than me talking loudly with the lights on but somehow I managed to fall asleep in minutes… must have been all the swimming I did today.

Tomorrow is my last day in Australia….

A Do Nothing Day

Today is the day I will do absolutely nothing, I actually mean it.  I woke up at 9:30 but didn’t get out of bed till 2… not even to go pee, the aircon and the fact that I didn’t have to wear any clothes made it hard to leave bed.  When it was time to get out of bed I went and had “breakfast” at a café, eggs benny with tofu, lots of mushrooms, and hollandaise sauce all on Turkish bread… so good.  I went and got food at Coles after my first meal of the day and also to get some American dollars… my time in Australia is coming to an end soon. 

I messaged Jan, the pole dancer, to see if he was interested in giving me another one… of course he was!  We met up at the public pool… gross… and hung out with his other dive buddy from Germany who was super cute, he kind of looked like Taylor Laughtner.  We were so close to port that we watched the dive boat with everyone on it come in.

The moment it started raining Jan’s friend took off, he doesn’t like the rain very much, must be a wolf thing.  So for the rest of the day Jan and I just hung out, walking, talking and sharing strawberry sorbet that was absolutely divine!  A few of his buddies were meeting up at Gilligan’s for a few drinks and of course I was invited to go cause I am so much fun to be with.

Back at the hostel I chilled out and got ready but mostly chilled out. 

At Gilligan’s I met up with Taylor Laughtner again, another friend and of course Phillip!  We drank beer. Watched the soccer game and listened to live music all while trying to talk over one another.  We all decided it was my job that night to be a wingman to each of the boys, I was very excited for my new job!  We got on the dance floor and started tearing it up, Jan and I had a competition to see who could get lower… no one can get lower than me.  There were so many girls on the dance floor but I didn’t know how to help the guys at all… Taylor Laughtner was way to drunk to even care and was stumbling around the floor, girls started taking advantage of him I think.  By the time my job had just started it was 12:00 and I was way to tired to continue, plus I had a tour at 7:45 in the morning.  I bid the boys a goodbye and left them to their own devises, they looked so funny dancing on the floor together when I left.

I got back to my room and literally collapsed on the bed and fell fast asleep!

2015... A New Year.

In the morning I woke up not wanting to go diving… but I did anyway and even though we didn’t see the most fantastic things on the dive it got rid of my hangover and I felt new and refreshed getting out of the water.  I was excited for breakfast but unfortunately there were no pancakes… just beans on toast with eggs and maple syrup.  Breakfast of champions!

Spanish Lady!  That blurry figure on the left is my butt and back.

After breakfast we moved dive sites to a place called the caves, I also did a bit of packing in this time.

Got to the dive site and since I am now an advanced diver I will take Kasime to be my diving buddy from now on… as well as Anna and Tom.  We jumped into the water and were greeted by Wally instantly!  He is in love with Anna and at one point they gave each other a kiss… and that is how mermaids are created.

The coral wall was absolutely beautiful and the thing that made this dive even more special, you won’t believe it, was that I saw two cuddle fish right next to each other!  the moment I saw them I had the biggest freak out, I’ve always wanted to see cuddle fish and seeing them out of nowhere without being told there was even a possibility of seeing them made 2015 that much more special.  I cant even describe how excited I was to see them, Tom said he could hear me screaming underwater and that I was flapping my hands and arms with excitement!  Oh my goodness, I am still excited about seeing the cuddle fish!!!!!!  After that the dive was still pretty good, took us a while to find the caves but we found them.  You’re not supposed to swim in them but Anna and I couldn’t help ourselves.  It was so cool swimming through them and when you looked up you could see the sun coming through the cracks above, I felt so peaceful here.  We headed back and found a Moray eel chilling out by the mooring blocks; he was fun to say hi to.  This has got to be one of the best places I have ever gone diving to before!  Absolutely incredible place to be! 

Looks way cooler underwater and not though a lens.

Freaking huge!

Snorkling selfie!

Fishies!

It goes on forever.

How beautiful!

Chio my lovely coral reef.

After this dive we did one more, which couldn’t compare to the other but was still pretty cool... we saw two reef sharks mating!  The male was of course chasing the female around the reef.  

What a great way to start my New Year, on the reef diving with incredible people in an incredible place!

I tanned for the rest of the day because today we leave the reef and have to go back where people walk on two feet and drive cars.  Soaked up as much sun as I could and smelled like a delicious coconut while I did it!  It then came to that time of day when it was time to go… I gave everyone staying a hug and kiss on the cheek, I’ve adapted a new for of greeting people.  Tom, Kasim, New Zealand couple, Jan, the Spanish women, Kathleen and I all left the boat today, a few of us really considered staying an extra day cause it was so awesome.  We all laughed about everything that happened over the trip and how much we’d miss it but that tonight we would all meet up again for a beer!

Back in my room I finally met my new roommates, forget their names but they are dating and she is from Canada and he is from Italy.  We had a good laugh because they were starting to get worried about me cause I hadn’t showed up for the past two nights.  I unpacked and organized before I headed to the shower to wash away the salt that was imbedded into my hair and skin.  I put on my lovely long black dress and a black pearl necklace I was given before I left home; I gotta say I looked pretty stunning.

I headed out feeling awesome and excited to see what everyone looks like when they aren’t in fins and dive suits.  To my surprise everyone cleans up really well, the guys all looked really nice the girls wore dresses, Kasim and Tom really liked my dress.  The whole night the guys were buying the drinks for everyone, which I thought was super nice.  I drank Guinness the whole night, I didn’t need dinner because it is pretty much a meal in a bottle, and I know that sounds really bad but it is.  We shared fries and great stories; got into debates about things that we ended up laughing about later and at 10:30 Kathleen and I went to dip our feet in the lagoon.  It’s not really a lagoon, more like a public pool that is outside.  When I had had just about enough of the chlorine filled water we went back to join the guys.  Kathleen got super drunk and had to leave with one of the guys but I was perfectly fine cause I am awesome like that but at 12 I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open and had to call it a night.

Bye Buddies....

That was the last night everyone would be together like that. 

New Years Eve!!!

Beginning of a new day and almost year.

I got a wake up call at 5:45 to dive.  I leaped out of bed and headed to the dive deck for orientation of the dive site called Saxon.  This is my first deep dive and it means I am a step closer to getting my advanced dive license!!!!!  For the deep dive we brought 6 eggs down with us to play with; the yolks stay together when you crack them open and can play gentle tennis with them.  Unfortunately, there was a fish called a Sweetlips that followed us around and when the time was right he darted towards Luke’s hands and ate every single egg, shell and all.  We were all so pissed off and each one of us wanted that fish gone for good, Luke got his knife out at one point and hit it with the handle but it still wouldn’t leave.  We dove to 25 meters but it didn’t feel like the deep dive I was looking forward too without the eggs… so sad.  We didn’t see much on this dive but it didn’t matter, there are many more dives to come and it is New Years Eve!

 Back on the boat we got ready for breakfast and oh my goodness was I hungry.  The pancakes were so good I went back for seconds and it was my first time having beans on toast… it tastes pretty good.

After breakfast it was time for another dive on the Troppos reef.  This was a special dive; we took a dingy out and got to drop into the water back first.  I love dropping into the water like that.  We descended into the water without a care in the world cause who cares about anything when they are diving in the Great Barrier Reef on New Years Eve??!!  Swimming was easy and I picked up all the cool things on the ground I could find and hid them in my suit, you’re not suppose to take things from the reef… oopsies.  Nothing absolutely spectacular was seen on this dive but no matter what kind of dive it is I loved it.

Back on the boat I hid my new treasures and chilled out till my next dive.  This is the last dive I do before I become certified!!!!!!!!  

An hour later we were getting our gear on and heading back out into the water.  Same ol’ spot we’ve been diving at so I wasn’t expecting anything completely amazing but you never know when you dive.  We leaped forth into the water excited about our last dive before becoming certified, the moment we got to the reef wall Wally the Maori Wrasse paid us a little visit… he swims over to you and loves getting his lips rubbed.  I stuck out my hand and he plowed into it, his lips are squishy, blue and slimy, I fell in love with a fish named Wally that day.  That dive I felt like being a mermaid; I was twirling around letting my hair fly and making my two fins look like one.  That dive I let my underwater goddess come out and play.

Picture of your certified divers, didn't catch the couples names to the left but after them it goes Zac with brown hair, Luke staring down blankly, Phillip with a blank stare, and then Kasime!

Back on board was no fun at all, Zac was leaving our awesome group and Luke our dive instructor was going through an hour and a half of written work and questions with us.  I was so tired I fell asleep in my chair multiple times going over all the questions.  Finally the work was done and I got my tanning/SPF 15 oil on and went to tan, I spelled like a coconut and everyone noticed.  I was happy to finally be getting my tan on!

Soon it was time for Zac to leave… today our small group got even smaller, never to be the same.  The good thing about tonight though is that I signed up for a fluro dive, what is this you might ask?  The underwater creatures have florescent parts and when put under a dark light you can see all the spectacular colors that are never seen in the day.  This is the dive I did to welcome in the New Year!  First though I had to eat dinner, I got a pastry thing with veggies inside it.  No body cares about what I ate though.

I geared up AGAIN for the last dive of 2014… how weird is that?  My ears still had a bit of pressure in them from the last dive but we knew there would be no problem, descending slowly is the only thing I knew I had to do.  All the other groups went off to do their own thing but Kasime, Luke and I headed to a tiny little coral island.  It was so cool seeing everything light up the way it did!  Within minutes I saw my first two lionfish chilling on the ground, I looked up and saw two more coming down from the coral towards us.  We didn’t have to see the whole reef like you usually do because each piece of coral, fish or shrimp was glowing with magnificent colors.  I was so impressed with this dive I was bumped out when it was time to ascend but 2015 is approaching and I was excited to get ready for that!

Shark!

Crazy blur photo of fishes.

Kasime, Cerio, Luke and I!  Preparing for our fluro dive.

We had a lovely blueberry crumble thing for dessert and then I was off to the shower to make myself presentable for tonight!!  I blasted my music in the shower and danced away in the water as I lathered.  When I got out of the shower my roomie Kasai was standing there in a gorgeous dress jamming out to my music, I turned it up and we had a bit of a dance party in our room before going to the bar.

Everyone was outside on the top deck when we gracefully strode out in our dresses.  Mouths dropped when we got outside and compliments circled the table, time to celebrate!  I grabbed myself a cider and chatted the night away with all my new buddies.  It got to that part of the conversation when age came up… I got everyone to guess my age, 21, and 22 were the ages guessed and when I said 18 the jaws of every guy at the table dropped.  I can’t decide now if looking older is actually a good thing, am I going to age faster?!  My new concern… I guess I’ll just have to do lots of travelling before I look too old.  A couple from New Zealand shared a glass of champagne with me and I got my speaker and laptop to play music as we slowly came closer to the New Year.  We were all jumping up and down around the table, I did some line dancing, Jan was the only guy to give everyone a pole dance that night and oh my goodness was I laughing.  At one point I sat down from exhaustion and Jan ran over to give me a lap dance… I was so embarrassed I covered my face the whole time and couldn’t stop laughing.  Great way to start the New Year… with a lap dance.  What was even better though was that an instructor named Phillip from Germany danced with me!  I usually dance with my buddy Trevor back at home and was dying to dance with someone.  He wasn’t as good as Trevor but he kind of taught me the Waltz, twirled me around the floor and dipped me here and there.  I was jumping up and down after that with the biggest smile on my face.  I decided Phillip was going to be my new best friend after that dance.

My version of a dress.

Everyone has their feet on the pole Jan (in the yellow shirt) will soon dance on.

What a babe.

Our DJ for the night.

Tom, Kasime and Kasia.

Luke is very happy for the New Year. 

Tom and my dance partner Phillip.

Toms seductive face.

It came to that time when everyone on deck started counting down!  When we reached zero the whole crew and guests yelled and each person got kisses on the cheeks and big hugs… the Spanish girls gave a kiss on each cheek.  At 1, Tom spotted this massive grouper swimming behind the boat, he was at least 3 meters long and scary as hell.  Sharks are less frightening than this thing… its name is Titan, it fits perfectly.  A few of us really wanted to go swimming but we weren’t allowed due to the fact that we had been consuming alcohol and the company is liable.  Kasia and I snuck down to the dive deck and anyway and quietly lowered the ladder into the water.  We stealthy slipped into the water trying not to make a single noise, just when I got into the water the grouper swam past me and I froze completely… the skinny dip was over.  As I made my way to the stairs Luke stood at the top of them staring at me with a serious face… I smiled sweetly and said I needed a shower cause I felt dirty.  Pretty sure he didn’t buy it but it was too late to get in trouble.  I got to welcome the new year with a skinny dip in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, how many people can say they have done that?... only the awesome few.

Happy New Year from the crew that is still awake...

We all chilled out for the rest of the night listening to music, talking and taking pictures.  At 3:30 I went to bed… I was signed up for a morning dive, which means I wake up at 5:45… I had a good New Years so it didn’t matter.

First Day Diving!!!!!

I had worry dreams all night long about my alarm not going off in time!  To make matters worse the aircon was so cold I had to find my hoodie and put on sweat pants to keep myself from freezing.  Finally I couldn’t wait for my alarm to go off so I grabbed my computer and started blogging, after a decent amount of time passed and got ready.

The fruit I had put in the fridge froze almost completely and couldn’t eat my breakfast until it de-thawed.  It was super easy getting ready in the morning; everything was organized the night before so all I had to do was get dressed.  I headed outside into the heat and waited.  The bus was exactly on time at 7:45 but there were a few people at the hostel across from me who had partied a little too hard last night and slept in.  When everyone was finally loaded into the car we took off to the dive shop to check in and fill things out, forms stating that if a shark eats us we can’t blame the company… jokes. 

We finally arrived at the docks and I couldn’t wait to get onto the boat!  I was expecting to be on the boat we would be sleeping on but instead everyone was loaded onto a dive boat with 40 other people.

It took about 40 min to get out to the dive site but it was all worth it.  The dive instructors kept everything as organized as they could but with so many people some things had to get lost, dive suits and fins in particular.  At the first dive site called Normas or “troppos” I needed a bit of some help to get back into the water and dive again after a few years. 

The guide was amazing!  When I pointed out the different sea cucumbers she picked one up and let me hold it!  One of the guys I was diving with, Tom, had his GoPro and took a quick photo of me, I will hopefully get it eventually.  There was this huge sea anemone with three clown fish it that I got to get really close to and almost touch the fish, felt like one of them could have been nemo and marlin.  We cruised around a little bit, exploring before heading back to the boat and getting ready for lunch.  I was so freaking hungry I couldn’t wait to eat!  You’d be surprised how much energy diving actually requires and how exhausted you feel after diving.

You won’t believe this but when I was in the Caribbean almost two years ago I met a girl named Kathleen who just so happens to be on this very boat as a volunteer.  I recognized her right away but it took her a while to recognize me, I’ve changed a little bit since then.

Lunch was an assortment of salads, cut meat, fruit and buns.  I loaded my plate with a decent portion; you must share with the rest of the boat and can go back for seconds when they make the call.  I most defiantly went back for seconds.  After troppos we dropped supplies off at the massive boat we would be staying on for the next two nights.  Off to the next dive site called Sandros, this was the first dive I did with a partner or three.  We jumped into the water and descended, I felt fairly confident about this dive and the navigation around the reef but unfortunately I wasn’t the one navigating.  We swam around in a circle and we were suppose to surface at the boat.  I was worried during the dive that the guy telling us where to go didn’t actually know where to go, which pissed me off cause I kept saying we should turn around.  Finally he came to his senses and we surfaced, the boat was a good 15-minute swim away and I was not happy.  Luckily the boat I am staying on, Ocean Quest, saw us and signaled to the other boat to come pick us up.  We got a tow back for half of the distance and then the motor died and we had to swim the rest and the boat got a tow back instead of us.

We all had a good laugh when we got back to the boat and I went for a quick swim to relax.  Very soon we were roped together with Ocean Quest and boarding onto our new home.  It felt just like I was back in the Caribbean at Action Quest, a home away from home, the relaxation I felt being on the boat was amazing.  I’ve decided I might live on a dive boat for the rest of my life.

I was greeted by very friendly staff and blueberry cake in the dining room.  A quick briefing was done and then I got to go to my room!  Now I didn’t take any pictures of the room but I shared it with another girl and it was very spacious.  I got about 15 minutes to do whatever and then I had to go to a dive briefing.  I am only an open water diver, which means I can only dive to 18 meters but I was told I could get my advanced while I’m on the boat… I most defiantly said yes!  I am taking the course with two other people, Zac from Brisbane and Kasime from Sweden.  Our instructor is Luke and he is the funniest person ever!

Our first dive to become certified was all about being able to use your breath to control your positioning in water.  It wasn’t too difficult but some people had trouble when we had to swim through a hoop upside down, vertically, twirl and other things… I didn’t have trouble because I am a natural born mermaid.  When we finished the lesson we got to do some swimming around and we saw a sleeping white tipped reef shark!  It was small and looked very peaceful.

On the surface we got our gear off and waited for dinner, which smelled amazing!  I sat with my new buddies who happen to be all guys.  There is Tom, Kasime, Zac, Kris and anyone that feels like sitting with us, we are all very friendly.  For dinner I had a stuffed red pepper and it tasted so incredibly good!  It was nice to not be the one cooking for a change.

After dinner we got ready for our night dive, I knew it was going to be fun because night dives are always amazing!  Right when I jumped into the water there was a ton of splashing feet away from us… people were feeding the fish and there were lots of sharks about.  I put my face in the water and there were about four reef sharks furiously swimming around.  I descended into the depths with a flashlight and couldn’t wait to see what the dark had to show.

The first thing we noticed were these massive silver fish.  If you out your light on a smaller fish, these fish would chase it and eat it, we played God that night; I let everything live.  We did more certification activities and then we got to explore!  We saw a sleeping turtle in the rocks, pretty sure was a green turtle but I didn’t get too close so I couldn’t be sure.  I wanted to go over and touch him so badly!  All in all the night dive was amazing and it was a great way to end my first day on the ocean.

I had a lovely shower and then headed to the top deck to join everyone at the bar.  Everyone was already drinking so I got myself a beer and joined the conversation.  I was so tired that I couldn’t stay awake longer than 10 and had to call it a night after that. 

My room was freezing but nothing a bunch of blankets couldn’t fix!