JJ & BonBonARoo's Last Day Together (sniff!)

The morning arrived filled with the sadness that was knowing today would be our final full day together before we head our separate ways. JJ was still uber tired from all her diving exploits (she was lucky enough to be one of only 6 people on the boat not to have been sick and managed 10 out of the 11 dives!), topped off with us having gone out late with the boat gang, so she had a lie in whilst I chilled out, pontificating.

We then spent the rest of the morning just chatting and generally doing not a lot, before we headed out to town. We popped to ProDive first with all our paperwork and became official Adventure (me) & Advanced (JJ) divers! We had a spot of lunch and chatted some more, then JJ headed back to the hostel whilst I mooched around town a little more.

I bought some bite cream with anaesthetic in because I had been eaten alive all over my legs last night and my legs were on fire with itching! Really, I must taste delicious, as no one else got chewed on as much as I did. Along with the bruises from diving, I really look a state! Smearing myself in the bite cream did help a bit though, although I had to exceed them recommended amount just to take the edge off a tiny bit!

I then decided to be proactive and booked my stuff for NZ so all I need to do now is go there! After a little more mooching, I headed back to the hostel and did some more proactive stuff - chatting to JJ, whilst we watched tv, surfed the internet and then unpacking and repacking my bag, which took a rather long time!

JJ and I decided to go out for a nice dinner for our final evening together, so we got changed and meandered down the esplanade, musing about our time together, the things we had done, the things we had seen, the times we had laughed, the times we had cried. We found a nice, civilised Italian restaurant and enjoyed a very tasty dinner of pasta, whilst continuing to discuss our adventures (you see how civilised we look?!). We both agreed that it had been amazing and that we couldn't believe our time together was almost over.

As we began walking back to the hostel, we felt a couple of drops of rain, then suddenly the heavens opened and we were stuck in a monsoon! It was hilarious, we got soaked through within seconds! It rained for the whole walk back and once we got into our room, we were dripping wet, but we didn't mind, it was actually quite funny (hence the other photo; looking a bit insane!) and served us right for having been complaining about the heat so much for the last 5 weeks! Oh JJ, I am really going to miss you, but thanks so much for being there for me and showing me that I can do this - love you babes!

Compos Mentis Once Again

This morning I shocked myself at waking up at 10am, not getting up at 10am, but waking up at 10am. Really, that is most unlike me! I realised that I must have needed that much sleep to recover from my ordeal!

It was a bit overcast, so I spent the rest of the morning chilling out in my room, having some tea and cereal and surfing online, until I was certain I was my old self once again! After taking a shower and getting ready, I found out which was going to be our new room and moved in, before heading out for a walk into town.

By this time, it was rather sunny so I walked the whole way along the Esplanade and enjoyed the views across what looked like mud flats, laughing at the big sign warning of 'danger of death' from crocodiles, but perhaps looking a bit more carefully at the mud under the decking I was walking along in case anything might be lurking about, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting tourist! Thankfully I was not eaten by a croc! I also saw a lot of hermit crabs very slowly moving about in the mud, leaving a trail behind them.

At the end of the Esplanade I came across the lagoon - it was really nice, similar to that in Brisbane and very inviting! I wished I had brought my swimmers, but didn't really want to walk back for them, so just sat on the side and enjoyed the sun and the views across the lagoon and over to the harbour. A band was playing which really enhanced the ambience and made for happy sunbathing! There was a little market going on so I had a mooch around that before heading to ProDive where I was meant to meet JJ and sort out my diving paperwork.

When I arrived at the shop, they had already checked everyone back in and taken them off in the buses! I called JJ and she was almost at the hostel, so I headed back there to let her into our room - I had the keys! When we were reunited we enjoyed downloading to one another about what had happened in the last twenty four hours; JJ's other dives, my journey back etc. She was shattered so had a nap whilst I (shock horror) was given the responsibility of putting the washing on! I managed this task with only moderate flapping, before coming back to the communal area for a cup of tea and a surf. During that time, unbeknownst to me I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and all of a sudden every single bite felt like it was on fire! Ouch!

I gave JJ a wake up nudge and then set about my next 'grown-up' task of hanging the washing up to dry on the line outside. It was now beginning to get dark, so this activity was a little bit more frantic and stressful, as I could feel things biting me but was not able to see them! At one point I looked down to see a big cricket on my top which made me leap about, yelping and flapping at my top before it leapt off into the darkness!

I returned to the room feeling triumphant, yet itchy and then JJ and I began getting ready to go out. The people from the boat were meeting up at the Rattle & Hum for drinks and dinner. I decided I needed to go, if only to show people that a) I am not always miserable and b) I am able to speak!

At the pub, quite a few people had arrived, including guests and crew, and all seemed genuinely amazed at my transformation! We had a really good dinner and enjoyed chatting to everyone. I ended up at the end of the table housing the German/Swiss contingent and JJ finally got her wish - I spoke German! I hadn't let on to them that I could speak/understand German, so when I suddenly joined in their conversation, all were pretty shocked!

The evening then moved from there to the Woolshed, where Arek got us dancing on the tables! This set the trend and suddenly every table in the place seemed to have people dancing on them, rather than being sat at! It was lots of fun and I certainly redeemed myself as being a bit more fun than anyone had witnessed on the boat!

'Kill Me Please' - Cairns Pro Dive Day 1.5

Woke up to Arek banging on our door at 7am telling us it was time to get up for our early morning deep dive. JJ dragged me to the brief and then I went back to the room and deliberated whether or not I felt up to moving again. JJ instructed me that I was to get ready and do the dive, so I followed orders. I think this surprised Arek and the other crew who had seen me looking worse for wear and had told me that I could do the deep dive later if I wanted, but JJ insisted that I get on with it!

Soon enough we were kitted up and getting in the water. Again, it was very choppy and we had to hold on tight to the line so as not to get lost. We descended and had to fight the current as we went.

Once at the bottom, the viz was pretty poor - about 3m, so we stuck close to Arek as we swam along. He then took us deeper - to 22.5m and there he showed us how the colours changed underwater, the deeper you go. He took a Coke can with him and at that depth, rather than being red & white, it appeared black & white. He also showed us the effect of pressure on a container of air. There was a very inquisitive fish hanging around us - no idea what it was, but it was large, squarish and pearl coloured! Arek had brought a tomato down with him and he fed it to the fish, which took a couple of nibbles of it from his hand, then it whipped it clean from his fingers and shot off with it! Arek then took us for a swim about and we saw some more fish, including a Moorish Idol - JJ's favourite fish! This dive lasted about 25 mins and then we returned to the boat once again, through the thrashing surface water.

Now it was at this point that I surprised myself and everyone else for that matter, as something happened that made me laugh, albeit for just a moment, but it was a laugh nonetheless... As I had been feeling so rough the whole time, I hadn't had the strength to be able to fully lift my tank in and out of the little space it lives, so Ben had been helping me with this on each dive. On our return back to the dive deck from our deep dive, I sat on the bench, still in my kit and waited for Ben to finish taking his scuba gear off before he was going to help me. As I sat there, I looked down at my wetsuit-mittened hand and something made me look again, something wriggly! It was a tiny, tiny, tiny shrimp! It was kind of a grey black colour and no bigger than half an inch - it wriggled about a bit, looking quite stunned - as was I! I yelped a bit and the others looked over - they saw the shrimp and everyone started laughing, saying I'd caught my lunch! I looked at it and then flicked it back in the sea, as it was no use to anyone for lunch at the moment considering how small it was! Slightly smiling, I undid my BCD belt and looked down to see something else alien on me - this time a little black-green crab sitting on my middle! Now this did make me shriek somewhat, as I am not a particular fan of crustaceans! Again everyone thought this was hilarious, even me, sort of, although I did yelp for Arek to rescue me and remove it! He came and picked it up, telling me that I had broken the rule of 'not removing anything from the reef'! People then pointed out that I almost had a whole lunch about my person and again I laughed (for the second time since being on board this boat!). I stood up from the BCD, with Ben holding in and low and behold, there was another of these little crabs still inside the BCD! How on earth any of these creatures got where they did, I most certainly do not know, but needless to say the second crab created more laughter, it then scuttled off to who-knows-where before I had a chance to remove it. I then became slightly paranoid and jumped about a bit in case any other stowaways were attached to me!

This momentary incident was soon over and once again I felt like hell. Captain Mark spoke to me and asked how I was feeling, I told him I was still feeling pretty ropey, then he warned that we were about to move off again, which would entail more choppy seas. I took this opportunity to go back to the cabin and lay down and soon enough we were moving and I felt like I might die. The new dive location wasn't that far away, but even in that short space of time I felt considerably worse and decided I really couldn't dive again. JJ went out and I stayed in the bunk.

A short while later, I heard voices and realised they were back. The boat was swaying in every single direction at once. I went to get up and go and see them, then I suddenly lost all sense of what was up and down, the room span uncontrollably and I felt so hot. I sat there not knowing whether to try and stand or lay back down, either seemed painful! I managed to open the door and tried to stand up using the bunk ladder, but it really wasn't happening. Rather than feeling like I was going to die, I started wishing someone would kill me to put me out my misery. I gave up trying to move and closed my eyes for what felt like an eternity, then a voice said "How are you feeling Bonnie?". I didn't know who it was and I couldn't open my eyes, so I merely responded "I have never felt worse in my life". The voice then said "Do you want to go home?", at this I opened my eyes and saw Captain Mark - "Please don't joke". He told me it was no joke and asked me again, to which I said a definite "Yes". He said I would be leaving in five minutes on a ProDive boat that had gone out earlier in the week and was passing our boat to head back to shore. I cried - with relief!

Captain Mark went and got JJ, who came and packed up my bits and pieces. Between her and Dan, they managed to get both me and my bags down to the dive deck and propped up against some boxes. The crew were really sweet and wished me well, before I had to jump (literally) into the tender and then whip across to the other boat. There were 5 of us who left, all of us had felt horrific, but out of us I had managed to do the most dives! We sat on the dive deck of the rescue boat (pictured above) and waved to everyone on the other boat as we departed. The Captain of the new boat told us that it would be a three hour journey. It was already quite rough, so I went into shut-down mode sat on the deck (basically what I had been doing on the bunk, except not laying down - eyes closed, ipod plugged in, listening to music and trying to concentrate on that and forget about what was going on around me). The waves were thrashing and lots of water cascaded over me - one of my fellow evacuees gave me his waterproof jacket which I put on and did up - all wrapped up like Kenny from South Park, then continued my shut down status. I was vaguely aware of people speaking around me, I think it was some of the crew asking the others if I was ok.

After a while (2 hours) the motion seemed to slow and I found I didn't need to hang on for dear life to the bench with white knuckles to stay upright. I kept my eyes closed just in case and remained 'shut down'. I heard voices, then someone tapped me on the leg - I opened my eyes and it was one of my fellow refugees, he said the Captain had just told them it would be 40mins until we arrived. Wow! I suddenly realised that for the first time in a day and a half I wasn't actually feeling as horrific and I managed to speak more than three words in one go. Before long, I was actually chatting to the other refugees and we were all laughing and feeling much better - mostly because of the prospect of soon being on dry land!

Sure enough we saw land and then we were docking at the marina. It felt a bit like something out of the tv show 'Lost' as we were definitely a very separate group from the original people on the boat - we were 'the others'!! We grabbed our black sacks (which our bags had been thrown into for the tender transfer and hopped off the boat - rejoicing at being back on land!

We were herded into mini buses and ferried to the ProDive shop, where I was told that because I had done the dives that I had, I had qualified for the Adventure Diver qual! I was really pleased, as it meant that the trip hadn't been a complete waste and although I hadn't got the full qual I had set out to do, at least I had achieved something! That cheered me up even more! I then felt grateful that JJ had forced me out of bed on each of those dives - if it wasn't for her, I doubt I would even have done one dive! Thanks JJ!

The ProDive bus then took me back to Globetrotters where I had to wait for an hour for someone to arrive at the office so I could beg for a room for the night! I asked for a private room as I still felt pretty poorly and didn't really want to have to expend energy talking to people! My temporary room was basic, but it was good enough for me! I had a shower and then chilled out on the internet.

I still felt pretty rough, with headache, shakes, tingling and general pantsness, plus it was blowing a gale outside and chucking it down with rain (hurrah for cyclones!) so I didn't think going out for food was a good idea. Instead I ordered Dominoes Pizza and had that delivered! It was not half as good as UK Dominoes, but in the state I was in, anything was good!

When I finally went to bed, I still didn't feel like myself, but a LOT better than I did and certain that I had made the right decision to return early.

'Feeding the Fish' - Cairns Pro Dive Day 1

Got up at a ridiculous time, 5am, to finish packing up our bits and get ready for our early pickup, although we still made time for a cuppa!

Sure enough at 6.10am we were picked up in the ProDive bus and ferried to the shop, via another pickup. At the shop we checked in and then got back on the bus and were ferried to the marina, where we hopped onto the boat and were presented with a breakfast of croissants and muffins. We were given a briefing and generally introduced to the crew, being told that the cyclone was going to make the journey rather choppy but that it would be ok.

We set sail and within minutes were feeling the effects of the cyclone on the water - choppy being an understatement. The three hour trip from the marina to our first diving stop was more than unpleasant. I have never been seasick before. It was more than horrific! I just spent the whole time stood at the back of the boat 'checking out the real estate' as one American guy described it! The crew called it 'feeding the fish' - with small paper bags of special fish food! Lol! I fed them a lot!

On arrival at the first dive site at about 9am, I was a) soaked through from all the sea water that had swelled and churned over me and b) feeling like death warmed up. We had a dive brief with Arek (our instructor) but decided I wasn't in a fit state to dive, could barely stand and had the worst headache, so went and lay down on my bunk to sleep. When JJ came back from the dive, I woke from my semi-slumber but still felt really ill, so lay back down.

When it was time for the next dive, at about 11.30, the boat was still being thrown about but JJ convinced me to have a go at diving, so I reluctantly dragged myself up from my bunk and down to the dive deck. We had a briefing on navigation, practicing using the compass to navigate around the boat! We then got kitted up and headed into the water. The current was really strong and JJ and I had a good go at our navigation, however due to the dodgy visibility, strong current and general bad-ness, it wasn't the most successful dive, although we did manage to see some fish (including a parrot fish!) and some coral. Getting out of the water involved being thrashed about again on the surface and general unpleasantness!

Back on board, again I felt rough so went back to lay on the bunk. There I stayed until there was a knock at the door and a voice asked if I wanted lunch, I figured not. A few other people checked up on me, but I really felt too pants to move.

In the afternoon, JJ came and once again forced me out of bed to go and dive - this time it was our 'official' Navigation skills dive for our Advanced course, so after a briefing, we headed into the water. During this dive we were tested on compass navigation, reciprocal navigation, natural navigation, navigation of a square and estimating distance. JJ and I managed these skills ok and the viz was a tiny bit better than it had been earlier, so we even saw a few more fish! Again, on the surface it was super mega churny and we were thrown about (serious bruise alert!). When I got out, all the crew were checking on me to see how I was, but again, I still felt rough, so I hopped back into my bunk.

A little later I was awoken to see if I wanted dinner, not a good idea, so I remained in the cabin feeling rough! Then JJ came and dragged me to the briefing of the night dive. I was most unenthused and could barely focus on what was being said. The bit I did pick up on was the possibility of reef sharks - in the dark - scary stuff!

The night dive was quite terrifying swimming around with only the lights from our torches, but actually was quite enjoyable - we were being guided by Arek so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, at least we had someone to follow - even though all we could see to follow was a tiny little blue light on the back of his tank, it did the trick. Just before we had entered the water, it was incredibly choppy, but this time not just because of the weather conditions - the water itself was alive with big red bass, all clamouring at the light from the boat. These fish swam all around us and followed us down into the depths - their reason; to use the light from our torches to find their prey! Cheeky! Whilst below, we had to complete a skill test - navigation in the dark, it wasn't too bad and we both managed OK. We saw quite a few fish, including a flowery cod. Thankfully we did not come across any reef sharks!

Once back on board, I hopped straight back into bed and once again tried to sleep so as not to feel so awful!

Can One EVER Spend Too Long Online?

After another night where I would have slept had it not been for my mind being over active and not wishing to relax, I got up and did what comes oh so naturally - hopped online. JJ woke up and did the same. We sat next to one anoher, independently internetting and making little conversation, apart from when we discussed who would make the next cup of tea! Breakfast consisted of copious tea and some of the biscuits we baked last night. A good breakfast indeed.

I decided to be proactive and so booked my flight to Melbourne - I leave on Cairns on Monday. That means I now have a bit more of a plan for after I return from the dive trip. Although it was a nice day, it wasn't particularly sunny so would not be ideal for going to the lagoon, plus there is a cyclone warning (hurrah for going on a 3 day diving trip during a cyclone that's knocked half of Fiji to the ground!) with rain expected, so the decision was made to spend the day chilling out in our 'flat'.

Some more internetting and tea drinking ensued, then JJ remembered we had bought some watermelon, so we ate that whilst surfing. There was a knock at the door, it was a man called Brian, the owner of the hostel who asked if we were ok, we said we were. He said he thought we were 'mysterious ladies' as he hadn't clapped eyes on us since we had arrived and that he hadn't seen us leave the room. He asked if we were hot, we said we were a bit, he pointed out that every window was open and the air con was on which would mean that it didn't function effectively, if at all, in a cooling capacity. We felt like drongos - we hadn't even noticed that the windows had been open since we arrived here! Oops. We then asked if we could settle our bill and book in for Saturday and Sunday nights, so we went out and sat in the reception wearing our pjs (who needs to get dressed when you're just sat online?!?!) to complete these administrative tasks.

A bit more internet and a few more cups of tea later and we decided to head into town for a late afternoon stroll, after all we had been sat online for over 8 solid hours - honestly that's more than a day's work! In town, we noticed that everyone was wearing green - how odd, then it dawned on us that it was St Patrick's Day! We noted to steer well clear of the pubs, people had clearly been out drinking for some time. We paid a visit to ProDive and got kitted out for our diving equipment, then had a quick mooch. I headed back to the flat, whilst JJ started reading her diving manual as she waited to go and pick up the underwater camera we had hired.

Time passes fast when you are on the internet and soon JJ and Nikki appeared. We put the tv on and more tv shows with acronym-related names appeared. Whilst JJ watched whatever show it was and I started reading my diving manual (not very enthusiastically), Nikki made the next set of cookies (this time with M&Ms rather than choc chip!) and then the two girlies made dinner. This became a bit of a farce as firstly they couldn't work the hob and then the oven kept turning itself off (it is ridiculously hyper-safety-conscious here!). Eventually after a lot of drama, including setting off the smoke detector twice and having to flap at it profusely with a towel, we sat down to eat our veggie pasta at 10.30pm and jolly nice it was too!

Now I am sat on the sofa with a cup of tea, a cookie and my good friend; the internet, having semi-packed for the boat and semi-read a few pages of my diving manual but feeling that I will just have to do my best blagging act ever when I get collected at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning.

Cooking in Cairns!

Woke up nice and early after a real good sleep on a double bed, then as JJ was still asleep, I figured the best thing to do was to jump straight online --- free wifi I love you --- and had a good surf about!

When JJ woke up, we both just enjoyed some time chilling out with tea and the internet for the morning and then headed into town for a wander around. We decided we hadn't visited a global chain for a while so leapt at the chance of a Nandos lunch!

After a bit of a meander, we found Woolies and bought some bits and pieces, including some self-bake biscuits for a bit of entertainment and to be able to appreciate the fact that we have a kitchen and an actual oven in our 'flat'! Spent the rest of the arvo looking at some of the other shops before heading back to the hostel, where JJ had a nap and I went online.

We then decided to make the most of another amazing feature of our room - our ridiculously large plasma tv! We watched some tv and marvelled at the fact that Alf is still in Home & Away and debated whether it really is that common a practice for people to take in random teenagers and look after them as if they were their own relation. Who knows?! I guess it is one way to bring in new characters to an otherwise stagnant soap opera!

Next up was Biggest Loser - a tv show that JJ introduced me to where people are competing to lose the most weight. Then it was Bondi Rescue which is a tv show that does what it says on the tin - lifeguarding on Bondi.

Then it was baking time! We had a good giggle making the biscuits, even having to go and get the woman from reception to show us how to turn the oven on! The finished results were delicious and we enjoyed them with a cuppa whilst watching NCIS (followed by NCISLA - really, what is it with tv shows with acronyms for names?!) and of course, a surf online! Superb!

Moving On From Magnetic

After another night of no sleep - this time because my skin felt like it was on fire due to the multitude of bites all over my arms, back and legs - I got up at 6am anf went and sat enjoying the sun on the beach (the regular one out the front of the hostel!) with my book. Shortly after I had gotten settled, Jana joined me and we chilled out, reading and enjoying the beautiful views across the sea.

We then headed back to our room to pack and then went for some brekkie.

When it was time, we headed for the bus which took us to the ferry terminal. Thankfully, the ferry crossing was much smoother this time, so we were able to appreciate the views back over the island as we motored away from it. Once on dry land, we met our Greyhound coach and embarked on our journey to Cairns.

The drive seemed longer than it should, probably because this time they didn't show any DVDs, boo! However along the way, we did get to see the Big Gum Boot at Tully and the Big Cassowary Bird at Mission Beach (oh and I don't think I mentioned before but sometime and somewhere I saw a Big Mango!).

On arrival in Cairns we got a cab to the hostel and were absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the wonder that is our new room - it's like a flat! There is a kitchen, a bathroom, a sofa and a massive plasma tv on the wall! Not to mention the FREE WIFI - heaven! The other best bit is that it's just JJ and I in here, so we have spent the whole evening sat in our pjs on the sofa, watching tv, surfing the internet, eating crisps, drinking tea, dunking biscuits and being all comfy and girly!