Skydiving and the great barrier reef

The last two days have been truly amazing! Yesterday's skydiving was just insane. I don't think ive ever been that nervous in my entire life! I was actually shaking. It started off as an empty suggestion and turned into a spontaneous "let's do it!". But i don't think we actually realised what we were getting ourselves into until we were at the office, filling out the forms warning us about the risks of skydiving and that accidents can, and often do, happen! (yes thats exactly what it said) After that everything went really fast. After about 45 minutes we were out in the plane and attached to our skydiving instructors. We thought that if we were gonna do it we might aswell do it from as high up as possible (14000 ft!) so after a while we saw the others jumping out of the plane, disappearing into nowhere! It was only Josefin and I that continued up the extra 4000 ft. But strangely enough, as we were sitting in the door, looking down out of the plane we didnt feel nervous anymore. Or maybe we were just too scared to be able to think straight! But next thing we knew we were falling at 300km/h for 60 seconds! And i thought fritt fall pa grona lund was bad... It was such an amazing feeling though, and we would both do it again, without a doubt! But it was lucky we did it yesterday and not today as the first thing we saw when we got back and went on a computer to put up the photos was an article on aftonbladet about a 25 year old whose parachute didnt open up so he freefell all the way to the ground and suffered serious internal injuries..! ironic? we probable would have chickened out if we'd read that the night before! But hey, everything went well and it was awesome! You should all try it!

After we had recovered from the adrenalin rush of the skydive we started preparing for today's adventure; the great barrier reef! We left the reef terminal at 8 o'clock this morning and didnt get back until 5 in the afternoon. We stopped at two different reefs and a little sand island in the middle of nowhere full of birds. The snorkeling was great, but we were a bit disappointed that the reef wasnt as colourful and lively as we'd expected. But at least we saw a shark! it was a rather small one (a little bigger than a meter long) but still! It took about 3 hours to get to the outer parts of the reef so we had plenty of time to sunbake on the deck. (and be really sea sick). It was a shame the waves had to be so big cus they had a really good lunch buffet that i was too sick to enjoy! :P It still feels like everything is rocking! :S

We are both so happy that we made this trip up the coast, its been unreal! Tomorrow is however our last day and after a week in melbourne we're off back to swedeville again and the swedish summer.. It feels really sad that everything will be over soon, but we are looking forward to seeing all of you again! :)

Cairns

We've now arrived in Cairns, our last stop! :( We've saved the best (and the worst) for last and have the weekend all planned out. I cant wait until sunday when we're gonna have a whole day of snorkeling in the outer barrier reef! we'll see if we survive saturday's adventure though... i wont tell you now what it is, but i promise i'll put up some cool photos here on sat night! Anyways, i have to get back to the hostel where josefin is waiting.. she cant stand it when im on the computer for an hour just to post a blog entry and photos... hehe. I put up a new slide btw, not sure if it works though, but if it does you'll be able to see some pretty australian animals..:) and if u wonder y all the animal photos are of me its because all josefin's ones are on her camera (which isnt digital..)
ill write more on saturday!

From Surfers Paradise to Magnetic Island

Our trip is coming to an end. We have travelled all the way up to Townsville and Magnetic Island, which is our second last stop before we fly back to Melbourne from Cairns. After staying an extra night in Surfers, we decided to travel all the way up to Magnetic Island without stopping anywhere, to make up for that extra night. We were dreading the 26 hour (!) bus trip (we could have gotten to Sweden in less time!) but we managed to both get over 12 hours sleep. A certain magic cookie may have helped.. but still.! After going out three nights in a row in Surfers paradise we were quite happy to get to Magnetic Island, a quiet little island with just animals and beaches, and not at all as many tourists as we've become used to in the last couple of weeks. We spent all of today soaking up the sun at the beach and by the pool at our hostel. We are staying in a little wild life park, so tomorrow we're planning on taking the tour and holding a koala, salt water crocodile, wombat and snake! I'm running out of time as theyre sucking the last pennies out of me at this expensive internet cafe, but i'll write more next time!

Vi hittade oss en liten bög!

Ahh, Surfers Paradise. Imagine the perfect holiday resort, and times that by about 100 and u get Surfers paradise! Good beach, good shopping and good clubs. :) And the shops r open til late so we can shop when its dark! its all very exciting.. :P Plus theres none of the seedy guys that u get in Greece/Turkey/Spain. Its excellent. We've been here for two nights now and are leaving tomorrow (unfortunately). We were too tired to go out on our first night here but made up for it last night. And we met the cutest little gay guy ever! Ive never met anyone so homosexual in my entire life! haha. Today we're off to do some serious shopping. The weather is perfect, cus its cloudy so it doesnt feel like we're wasting prescious sunbaking time. and tonight we're heading out for a big night out before we have to leave tomorrow morning.

Our extremely gay new friend

Nimbin

Hej Ebbis! Har ar en liten bild till dig! Onskar att du hade kunnat vara med och simma i vagorna med mej! Skrev ett meddelande i sanden men det gick nog inte att se ifran Sverige... Saknar dej!Yesterday, after spending almost a whole week lying on the beach doing nothing, we decided to rora pa flasket and walk up to the lighthouse on the hill. It took us two hours to walk up there (as we walked through a "rainforest" walk) and about an hour to get back. We are both a bit sore today but it was totally worth it. We got to see wild dolphins, sea turtles and sting rays. And when we went swimming we were only about 100 m away from the dolphins! :D (the little black thing to the right in the photo is me, and the blurry black dot in the background is a dolphin) i think its crystal clear, but thought i'd point it out for you just in case.. :P Today we went to Nimbin on a little day tour. We skipped the car rental and went on a bus that also stopped at a waterhole and for an afternoon bbq in a park. It was great. Nimbin was very.. interesting. We only stayed in the town for an hour but that was enough to see it all. It really was a little hippie town. Apparently thats where all the hippies settled down in the 70's for a more laid back lifestyle (and because of the good climate for growing weed). hehe we saw hippies everywhere and about 99 per cent of them were trying to sell us marijuana. The town is known for its hasch brownies and cookies. Both Josefin and I felt really homesick the day before yesterday but after the last two days it feels a lot better. We only have 2,5 weeks left in the country so we've realised that we really have to make the most of it now!

The world really isnt that big after all...

The last couple of days we've been bumping into the same people everywhere! We got a bit freaked out when our roomie from Melbourne walked past us on the street here in Byron Bay, just after seeing one of our other isreali friends on Bondi Beach, Sydney. And the same night we met our roomies from Sydney at a night club here in Byron... It seems like everyone is doing the same trip at the same time - or is the world just not that big a place after all..? Or maybe we've just shared rooms with way too many people... hmm..

Byron Bay

Time really flies.. we got to byron bay last sunday (a week ago tomorrow) and after tonight we're off to a new destination - Nimbin.

So what have we done in Byron bay? well.. we started off with sleeping on the pavement the night of our arrival, as we arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning and all the receptions were closed. (one of the lowest points of my life) :P and ended up having to walk around to about 4 different motels and hostels in the morning trying to find one with vacancy... not exactly what we wanted to do after a 15 hour long bus trip from Sydney... But after that we've basically been in heaven. We live right next to the beach and spend most of our time soaking up as much sun as our skin can handle. the weather has been perfect. around 27 degrees every day and clear blue sky :). We're getting a bit tired of sharing a room with other people though. i could have killed our room mates when they stumbled in to our room at 5 AND 6 o'clock one morning and turned the light on! So our plan now is to rent a car for a day and drive to Nimbin - Australias little hippie town. After that we're off to Surfer's paradise and Brisbane. It feels a bit sad to think that we only have about a month left (less even!) but i think it'll feel good to come home too.. at least for a day or two....

Sydney

Our trip has finally begun! After 15 hours on a bus from Melbourne to Sydney we went for a walk down Darling harbour and to the Opera house. After that we attempted to take a short power nap before heading our for some clubbing.. but passed out completely at 6.30 and woke up 13 hrs later... So the next day we were fit for fight for some serious sightseeing and headed out before noon (!) We went on a 1.30 hour cruise in the harbour and stopped at a little beach on the other side of the water, with a really nice view of the city. At night we put on our skimpy black dresses and hit the bars. We started the night at a cosy bar with a live band not far from our hostel and ended up in the red light district at Kings Cross... I have never seen so many stripclubs in one place in my entire life.. (haven't been to amsterdam yet) We got dragged into a couple of them but managed to find us some normal clubs too... But it was some good sightseeing.. we saw everything from strippers and prostitutes to different kinds of homosexuals and transvestites :D

After that we walked through the whole city in our high heels back to the hostel and got a couple of hours of sleep before heading out to bondi beach today... except we never got there. We ended up philosophising in hyde park instead. We'll give it a new attempt tomorrow :)

Josefin's 21st

Last Thursday was Josefin's 21st b-day. And turning 21 here is a BIG thing. The Clark's took us out for dinner at a realy nice italian restaurant on southbank, overlooking the river. When we arrived they had already ordered in champagne and after dinner they had organised for the waitors to come in with a big mud cake, singing happy b-day to her. :)
After the restaurant they dropped us home to Josefin's surprise party. She really had no clue. So she was shocked to find all our housemates gathered in the kitchen surrounded by candles and discolights singing happy b-day and handing her a bottle of champage! The plan after that was to go out to St. Kilda to continue the celebrations there, but after all the booze they had bought for our "pre-drinks" we ended up just partying at home and passed out happy and safe in our own beds :)

The Great Ocean Road

Today is our last night in Melbourne before we start our trip up the Coast. Yesterday Sarah took us for a drive along the Great Ocean Road for some sightseeing before stopping at her relatives' house in Camperdown. We left around mid-day and stopped for lunch in Lorne which is a little surftown about 2-3 hrs from Melbourne and saw a couple of my old friends cruise past in Karas car. And freakishly enough we bumped into her again on the freeway on our way back to Melbourne today. She was abit shocked when my head popped out of the window of the car next to hers... I guess the world isn't such a big place after all.. Anyway, we got to the twelve apostles just in time for the sunset (and we weren't the only ones.. i don't think ive seen so many japanese tourists in my entire life) The rest of the night we spent bumming in front of the TV in Camperdown, watching the searh for the next pussy cat doll :P. Tonight we're repacking our bags and leaving about two thirds of our stuff at Sarah's. We've decided to give the whole backpacking thing a shot after all.. :P We'll see how good friends I am with my back after carrying a backpack around half of Australia.. But at least we'll be renting a car for our way back from Cairns. I think Sarah is happy she's not coming with us. We educated her with enough Swede-music to keep her traumatised for life!