(This update was planned for last Friday, however, due to internet problems, I lost half of what I wrote, didn't feel like starting over again so soon, and decided to do homework instead)
Yay, time for part 3! Two more updates for Whitsundays after this (or maybe only one, it depends). And then Goldcoast! Wonder if I even have time to do these posts... I guess I have to update more often, only have 30 days till I leave Hervey Bay, and I wanna be done before that.
The third day in Airlie Beach. Luckily we didn't have to get up that early that day. Think we got up around 8 for breakfast (they had awesome breakfast at the hotel), and then left. Today was jetski/speedboat/para-sailing! Was looking forward to all of that, but para-sailing the most. Unfortunately... I barely have any pictures from that day... oh well. Been asking the others, but only a few brought their cameras that day.
We actually had to walk pretty far to get to the pier, where we'd be doing the above mentioned stuff, but it didn't matter. The weather was nice, and not too warm. Some thought so, though, they forgot to bring shoes that day, and quickly regretted that. I believe everybody has tried walking on asphalt or the like, on a warm day? It hurts like hell, if it's in the sun.
Time went pretty fast, though, and soon we reached a hotel, went inside, through the hotel, out the other side, and onto the pier right outside. At the end of the pier was... a shed, I think. Apparently that place had won some kind of award for extreme sport, for 3 years in a row. Personally I don't find any of the above stuff extreme...
Anyway, were were split into four groups. One group of 7, and three groups of 8. I was in the group of 7. We were to be the first group on the jetski. The instructor gave us a short briefing, telling us what to do and what not to do, in case we fell off or the jetski tipped and stuff like that. Nothing important.
The jetski were for two persons, so unfortunately we couldn't get one each. One guy from our group got one all to himself though... I was with Anders Papsø (Papsoe for the non-Danish:P). Nice guy. Knows quite a bit about cars and computers. He started out in front, I sat behind him and held on to some handles in the seat. It didn't take me long to realize, that holding those handles was a bad idea...
I don't know if any of you have ever been on a jetski before, but they're pretty darn fast and the ocean isn't exactly flat. So... as soon as we got out of the harbour, where we could speed up, I almost fell off. I tried to hold on as much as possible, and tried to get in touch with Anders. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to hear anything the guy in the back says, when you're in front and doing full speed. Finally I made him stop, so I could grab a hold on him instead. I was still thrown around in the backseat, but at least I had a better hold, and if I fell off, so would he, and then the jetski would stop.
Luckily, I didn't fall off (!), nobody actually did, which was quite disappointing...
Just before we went out on the jetski, another group had gone out in the speedboat (it's just what it sounds like, a boat that goes fast (really fast)), but when we came back, they weren't back yet.
And they didn't come back for a loooooooong time. It seems that the boat had broken down, so they were stuck out there and had to get help. The help: the jetski instructor! On a jetski. He pulled the boat back on that little thing... I'm surprised he could actually do it, even if they are pretty powerful. It took a long time though, and after that they had to fix it (obviously), before another team could get a ride.
We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually people got pretty tired of waiting. It was a damn hot day, so some guy decided they'd jump off the pier (we pretended we didn't see the huge "NO JUMPING OFF THE PIER" sign...). I didn't jump, even though I wish I had. At last the boat was fixed, and we could get a ride.
It wasn't for nothing they called it a "speedboat". That thing was bloody fast. Nothing more to say about that, really...
So, as mentioned we should have been parasailing that day as well. But, the boat they used for that was broken. It had broken down yesterday, and they hadn't been able to fix it. So instead of all three things, we only did the two. He told us we'd get some of our money back, I haven't seen any of that money yet though...
Most of us left after that. There was still a group on the speedboat, but we might as well go. We went to the centre of Airlie Beach. Got some food, checked out souvenir shops, clothes, lots of shops. Jesper finally bought some sunglasses (been pinching other people's sunglasses, and complaining he couldn't find any that fit him), and Lars and I bought a has(!), not the same hat of course, but in the same shop. RipCurl. Then, we took a taxi back to the hotel (got a taxi-bon from Vicky, so it was free), and just chilled for the rest of the day.
(I told you there wasn't a lot of pictures...)
Next update should be sometime this week, as I kinda failed last time...
Until next time, see ya /wave!
P.S. 24 days till I leave Hervey Bay, 40 days till I'm back in Denmark and... 30 days till my 18th birthday!!!
Whitsundays Part 3!
Pictures!
Yus! Picture time. The pictures are from what I've told about so far (except the bus trip). Just click the pictures for bigger versions.
Whitsunday Islands part 2
Figured it didn't make any sense to keep naming the posts after the dates when that's not what they're about...
Anyway, unfortunately no pictures today, as I promised. For some reason I can't upload pictures, so I'll be adding the pictures tomorrow, sorry guys.
So, last update was Friday and Saturday, naturally this update will be... Sunday! (/cheer)
Anyway, our first morning at the hotel. We didn't know exactly when breakfast is on, so we got up at 6.00, to get to breakfast at 6.30 (we found out the next day, that we didn't have to get up that early... breakfast ended at 9.00 or something).
Anyway, after breakfast we had a little while to get ready for todays trip: Knuckle Reef Lagoon!
All right... so there are a FEW pictures, but none I took. All from Cruise Whitsundays own website
No, I wasn't in the helicopter (they didn't actually have any out there that day), and no... the food didn't actually look that good... oh well, that was to be expected. Anyway, the place looked absolutely awesome, in the brochures AND in real life.
Back on track. We left from the hotel around 8 or so, I think. Been so long I can't remember anything anymore... horrible. At the habour, we waited for 15 minutes or so, till we could all board the boat, Cruise Whitsundays (great name, eh...?) The boat was pretty big, but there were a lot of people on it. The people on the boat (or ferry... maybe?) were the only people that were gonna be on the pontoon.
As soon as we started sailing, some guy gave us a short briefing. It was pretty funny. I forgot why, but he made a lot of jokes about Irish people. He was Irish himself, I think. It was fun anyway. He told us, that after the briefing, the dive-masters would come around and talk to the people who wanted to do scuba diving at the reef. The prices, $100 for a certified dive, $50 for second dive, and $110 for an introduction dive, which required no previous scuba diving experience. All ten of us, who had a certificate, wanted to dive of course. So, we filled out the forms, paid the $100, and went upstairs to get briefed.
The dive-masters were all pretty cool, probably around... 25 years or so. At least that's what they looked like. There were other people who wanted to dive as well, but we were split into groups of three, so only one group got with a non-Dane. I was with Mathis and Patrick. We had heard from our scuba diver instructor, that the visibility could be up to 40m+. Unfortunately, the day before, it had been very windy, so the visibility was only around 15m. Pretty disappointing really... the dive was great anyway!
We were told, that we had to be the first in the water, but everybody else was told the same:P We were pretty fast in the water though. Onto the pontoon as fast as possible, get a wetsuit on, get to the gear, and they pretty much put the gear on you, damn it was fast. Then down a staircase under the pontoon, get with your group, and time to swim off. The water was great, except for the relatively low visibility. There were a lot of corals everywhere. They weren't as colourful as what you see on TV, but we didn't bring any light down there, and the water was, as mentioned before, a little murky. We went down to about 15m, I think and we stayed down for around 45minutes. I had enough air for another 15minutes, but we had to get up anyway. Apparently Birk, another guy from the class, had run completely out of air... and blamed it on him having to keep and eye on the rest of his group all the time...
Anyway, I have a lot of pictures from the dive, that I got from Patrick, who brought a camera. They're pretty okay, I guess, but due to the particles floating in the water, he couldn't use the flash without getting even murkier pictures. Oh well. The rest of the time on the pontoon was spent relaxing, snorkeling, riding the water-slide, going on trips in the semi-sub and the glass bottom boats.
I would loved to have gone snorkeling, but after the dive, I had some problems with my ears. They were kinda hurting, like when you can't equalize properly. I'm guessing it was because of my little accident (or walkabout, as most classmates might call it:P). We were floating above some corals, looking at him picking stuff up, and handing it to us. I had established neutral buoyancy (I floated, did not have to keep swimming to get up or down), but suddenly, without touching the BCD or my weights, I began rising to the surface. Pretty quickly even (which can be pretty dangerous). I tried emptying the BCD, but it didn't slow me down enough, so my head broke the surface of the water. Having emptied the BCD, I got down again pretty quickly as well (though I filled it up a bit on the day down, to avoid going too fast), which can also be dangerous! I think that's what might've caused my ears to hurt... I spend most of the remainder of the day on the top of the boat, just talking with people. Was pretty damn warm that day, so I tried to find a place in the shade, though that was pretty hard...
We were back at the harbour at around 5-5.30, I believe, so back at the hotel, we had a little time in the pool/spa, and then time for dinner again. I got pasta again... people cheated... and sorbet for desert again! Oh well...
So, with no scuba diving the day after, I could drink without the risk of dying the day after... just beer, though it was kinda expensive. Oh well, it was good. VB is now my 2nd favourite beer!
Until next time (tomorrow...) see ya /wave!
New updates tonight!
Yus! Time for new updates again. Will be doing part two of the Whitsunday update, adding pictures, and linking to a slideshow of some pictures from downunder, that most of you probably havent't seen.
Oh, and TAFE wouldn't lend me a computer... apparently they have to reconfigure it. So the laptops are only for staff. Too bad. Gonna have to use Dulcies laptop
Whitsundays Part 1
Well, guess I'd better start doing those Whitsunday/Goldcoast updates. I still don't have my pictures, but the ones are I have, are pretty similar to those most of you will be able to see on Facebook. I'm starting to forget some of the details, so I'm writing it all down, before I forget it.
Whitsunday Holiday, part 1
We left Friday 18th September, at 20.30 (I think), from TAFE. All 27 students, 1 teacher, her husband, her son and the bus driver, so 31 people total. We probably didn't leave till around 20.50, took time for everybody to show up, get the bus packed, check that everybody was there and such. Finally we got going... we had a 10-11h ride ahead of us.
Fortunately for everybody, there was a TV in the bus, and a DVD player. We had been told that beforehand, so some people had brought DVD's. There were actually some pretty nice ones between them. The one most people wanted to watch, though, was Mama Mia! I had never seen the movie before, and ABBA music is decent, I guess. The movie was okay as well, but not really my kind of movie. I forgot what other movies we watched... it's not really important either:P
Our first stop was in North Rockhampton, or maybe just Rockhampton, at around 01.00. Don't think I slept much before that, maybe a couple of minutes. Even though I had two seats to myself, they weren't exactly comfortable... I always forget to bring a pillow. I've gotta learn sometime... anyway, I guess bus rides are supposed to be like that, at least when it comes to school trips.
The bus was pretty cold as well, so it was actually nice to get out of the bus in Rockhampton. It was much warmer outside, than it was inside the bus. Of course, I had also forgotten to bring a jacket. I asked the bus driver to turn up the heat, and he did. It didn't help much though, was still pretty cold where I sat. The stop in Rockhampton was 30minutes, so we only had time to go to the bathroom, buy some stuff in shop and have a breather outside, before it was back on the road again.
I've already forgotten where the next stop was, but I think it was about 04.00. The place we stopped this time was a lot smaller, and the bathroom a lot smellier. Think we stayed there for... 20minutes or so. My head was a little fuzzy, I was pretty damn sleepy, cold, and my back hurt. The rest of the way to Airlie Beach, I kinda just... dozed off every now and then, and woke up again almost immediatly, which made me even more tired.
We finally reached Airlie Beach at around 08.00 or so. We couldn't get into the hotel that early, so the bus driver (he's called Mike btw) took us a little further, down to the shops and such, so we could get some breakfest. Most of us ate at a little cafe. I bought a yoghurt and a cappuccino... tasted great. We spent a little while at the cafe, just chatting, and waiting for the bus to go back to the hotel.
Once we got back to the hotel, we dumped our luggage in a room, and jumped in the pool/spa. We spend the time, until we could get our rooms, in the pool. When we got our rooms (I lived with Jesper and Magnus), we threw our stuff inside, and went back to the pools. Spend most of the day there, until dinner time. 3 times dinner at the hotel was included in the price we paid before we came, and the first night was one of them. Main court: pasta (the pasta was horrible) or Steak. We couldn't choose what we wanted. Everybody wanted steaks, and nobody would admit that they had even voted for the pasta... lame. The desert was nice though. Sorbet or mud cake (I never got to taste the mud cake... greedy basterds eating it 3 times in a row). The sorbet was great.
I don't remember what we did for the rest of the day, but I don't think we did much. I know we didn't drink (some did, but I didn't), 'cause we were going to a huge pontoon the day after, and some of us were going scuba diving.
So, that's the end of the first part. The second part will come pretty soon, so stay tuned!
Oh btw, GW guys, I'll try to get online as soon as possible. If I can't, I'll have Jonas or my brother do it. My computer isn't gonna get fixed, I'm currently using Dulcie's (my homestay) laptop, and tomorrow in school, I'm gonna talk to Angie about lending a TAFE PC. They don't usually lend them out, but they might make an exception this time.
See ya /wave
PSP!!!
So... my laptop is still broken. Took it to a shop last Friday, they couldn't fix it 'cause it is a laptop. They told me to contact HP, unfortunatly the warranty has expired, so it will most likely be pretty darn expensive. I haven't contacted them yet. I ordered a new one though. A netbook this time, HP mini 5something. Costs $235.45 + $21 for shipping. Pretty cheap. Ordered it yesterday, so it will probably show up late this week or early next week. In the mean time I'll use the school pc's and my psp
Broken laptop
Yea, my laptop broke. It's a hardware error, most likely. When I turn it on, the screen turns on, but doesn't show anything. Going to take my laptop to a shop this Friday, as this is pretty much the only day I have time. Gonna ask how much I'd cost to make them check what the error is (personally, I'm guessing the graphics card, as I've been having trouble with that lately). Not gonna tell them to repair/replace it, before I find out how much it costs. If it costs too much... I'll probably buy a netbook instead, and figure out a way to connect my old harddrives to it, to transfer the stuff.
Unfortunatly, having no laptop means that I won't be on msn much, won't be on GW at all, and that the Whitsunday/Goldcoast updates have been postponed, until I know more. It sucks, big time. And I just found out that I haver less money on my account than I thought! Damn Visa... Whitsunday and Goldcoast was expensive. Anyway, maybe I'll see you on msn, maybe not. I'll be checking Facebook every now and then anyway, so that will most likely be the best option of getting in contact with me.
Sorry
Delay D:
Sorry 'bout the delay everybody. Been busy with Whitsunday and Goldcoast lately. I'll be updating with pictures tomorrow. Just got back from a more than 5 hours long bus ride.