
We started the trip in the Sydney Airport. We scored cheap tickets because the flight was for carry on bags only. We could bring only 10 kilos of luggage with us. As you read on, you'll notice we 3 are not backpackers, and this was not easy. We stressed and stressed about how to pack right, but it was all for nothing. We got to the airport and checked in at a self check in kiosk and went through security with no problems. In fact, no one even checked our ID's. Not once. Not even at the gate. I could have been God knows who getting on that plane and no one would have been the wiser. Chrissy and Laura got on with razors in their bags. Comforting, Sydney Airport, really comforting. I was pleased to discover that Jet Star is much like Southwest (just for you mom). The seats were nice, large, and leather. I got stuck sitting with a mom and her kid, but it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed the 3 hour flight right up until the end where we hit turbulance so badly some people actually screamed. I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but I hate planes and I hate flying. Whatever, we landed all in one piece to horribly hot, rainy, typical tropical weather.
We took a shuttle over to our hostel and attempted to check in. We had booked 5 nights in an 8 person share room, but ended up only needing 4 nights because the bus to the Whitsundays would be leaving at midnight the 5th night and there really was just no reason to pay for that night. When we tried to check in however, we came across a problem. They had put each of the 3 of us into 3 seperate 8 share rooms for all 4 nights. Clearly, this wasn't going to work. Like I said, we aren't really backpackers. After basically a stare down with the girl at the counter she upgraded us to a 3 person hotel room. Thats right, not a hoStel but a regular hotel. We had a cleaning service, our own bathroom and balcony, a fridge in the room and even a TV. We were living better than most people there. The best part was that while those rooms normally go for about 125 a night per person, since they screwed up the reservation they gave the room to us for the price of the room we thought we were getting, which was 25 a night per person. It was less for all 4 nights than it should have been for 1. Pretty sweet deal I think.
After settling in we headed down to the HUGE bar and resatuarant that are part of Gilligans (our hostel/hotel). You could recieve a "free dinner" here if you paid the price of your drink: usually $3 for a soda or $5 for a beer. We agreed that we were trying to save money so we would all do this. After the first and second meals we decided we certainly were NOT going to be doing this. It wasn't horrible, but we just arent backpackers. The bar there has amazing drink specials everynight and its basically the place to be for people our age who were in town. That night the special was "hour of power" which means you paid $10 to get in and got a wristband, and you drank WHATEVER you wanted for an hour. After having already drank in our room, its pretty obvious how that night turned out. We had a freaking BLAST, and since we arrived a night before anyone we knew would be there, we had a nice girls night together.
The next day there was semi good weather, but apparently in Cairns you do not go to the beaches becaues of sharks and stingers. We spent the day shopping and getting to know the town better while waiting for Jenna (!) and some of our friends from Newcastle to arrive. Jenna got in around 9 and met us in the bar, and the boy from Newcastle ended up having their flight delayed a whole 7 hours, so they missed everything. This was the night before Good Friday, and for some odd reason EVERYTHING had to be closed by 12. No alcohol could be sold on Good Friday and almost nothing would be open in town. We had to buy everything ahead of time because if we wanted anything to drink the next day we had to buy it then. It was a little weird, espeically since Easter was a huge party night, but whatever. Its an Australian thing I guess.




God ho wwrong was I?! I was calm the whole night before, the morning of, and even the drive to the bungee sight, but as soon as we started climbing those 50 meters(about 164 feet) to the jump site on wet wooden steps, I broke down. Like I said before, I am terrified of heights. I have never in my life shaken or had as hard a time breathing as this. Seriously, its embarassing to even remember right now. Once we got to the top, I decided I definetely could not look over the edge. After calming myself down for 20 minutes, I figured I was as ready as I would ever be. Chrissy went first, thank God, and I got to watch. As soon as she jumped I considered whimping out and just walking back down but I couldnt: I was already strapped up and I was next. I told myself to just suck it up and do it. As I walked to the edge I can't even explain what was going through my head. It was awful. Just thinking about the drop before feeling the releif of the bungee saving me was enough to make me pass out. No backing out now, I was standing there with my toes over the edge....









All in all, I couldn't be more glad I did it. I am not an adrenaline junkie, so it didnt get me all hyped up wanting more, but I would do it again for sure. I love being able to say I actually did it and I genuinely enjoyed the experience.
The next day we chose to be more relaxed, so we booked a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkle. Here is Laura in her sexy stinger suit (Chrissy and I got regular wetsuits thank GOD):


Now comes Easter Sunday, and my favorite day of the trip. We went skydiving. I know, I know, I said I hated not only heights but also planes so why would I go jumping out of one at 14,000 feet? Because why the hell wouldnt I?! When else am I going to be in Cairns Australia with time to kill and (some) money to spend.
We got picked up at around 11 am and headed an hour away to the jump site. Once again, I wasn't nervous at all. Only this time, I never got nervous. I kid you not, I think after bungee jumping I could do anything. The thought of jumping out of a plane with a man attached to my back didn't scare me at all. This guy wasn't suicidal, he didn't want to die either. He was going to take care of me. We were the third group to jump so we also got to watch 8 other people get in the plane, fly up, fall out, and safely land.






Laura and I just hanging out









I will never forget that day as long as I live. I loved it so much I will never be able to put it into words. If I hadn't before I had definetely now faced and overcome my fear of heights. After everyone else had gone we headed back to Cairns. We had almost 8 hours to kill before our midnight bus ride to Airlie beach. There wasn't much to do since we didn't want to drink, so we just hung out around town and waited until midnight. Laura and I took a walk down by the water and checked out the Lagoon which was a lot cooler than I was expecting it to be. It was a very relaxing way to end a very high impact weekend. Then we hopped on the bus and headed to Airlie...
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