Paradise by the Dashboard Lights

So this weekend was Great Keppel Island. Holy shit, was it amazing! Besides the 12 hour bus ride, where they managed to horde all the dumb kids to the front of our bus and then give the little retards a microphone, I had a fantastic trip all in all.

After getting off the bus, we all boarded a ferry and took a short trip over to the island. It was a bit choppy and I was a bit hungover, but the scenery was gorgeous. We got off the ferry and saw this unbelievable resort area. It had a bar called Wreck Bar, a little take away place, a gift shop, like 45 pools, some hot tubs, soft sandy beach, crystal clear water, big rooms with patios (no ac though, bummer), a night club called Salt, a swim up bar in one of the pools, another bar by one of the other pools, fields, tennis and squash courts, and a place to do water sports. We saw lorikeets, a huge guana, these little itty bitty lizards, a gecko in our bathroom, fish and jellyfish (later on while snorkeling), and huge bats hanging from these two trees. (Check out my pictures) Our first day we took a tour of the resort and went swimming and laying out. Then, we got lunch, a nap, went khayaking, snorkling, and later some drinks. After we learned the best drinking game ever, 'Fingers In,' a few of us decided to go skinny dipping. And by a few of us, I mean by the time I got there, everyone was getting dressed and it was just Lily and Me. I had a blast there in the pool with a bunch of strangers though, no big surprise there. I even got flipped, that was cool.

So, the next morning, feeling like someone kicked my ass, we all got up and went to breakfast by 6:30 am. We had a full day of watersports ahead of us. We started off nice and easy. We signed up for jetskiing, went khayaking again, and layed out.

Then water sports began. First thing, I ended up tubing in a sit down tube, thinking it was better and calmer than the lay down one. Guess what, I was fucking WRONG!! First off, I was paired with Ellie. Don't get me wrong, she is the coolest girl ever, but she's about half my size. I have about 80 pounds and 11 inches on this girl. I got into the tube after she did and I think she was already in the air. So we get started and I start to like it. I was screaming like everyone else and having a good time. But then we start to speed up. Not only was I so fucking afraid I was going to flip out of the tube at any second, I felt like some had a fire hose full blast going up my ass crack. I didn't think I'd ever be able to locate my bathing suit bottoms. They were being shoved up into my lower intestines. I started to scream, "Stop Stop STOP I WANT OFF THIS FUCKING THING." I had a death grip on the handles. If I had flipped, I probably would have drowned because I would still be holding onto the tube underwater. Meanwhile, everyone else was having a good time-- especially Ellie cause she was in the air the whole time. Apparently Tara was screaming to stop too, but I couldn't hear over my own skrieking. Every time I thought that the guy was going to go back to shore, he'd speed up and go the other way. Apparently, putting a hand up and screaming bloody murder is Australian for, "hey guy, I'm having a lovely time, let's go for longer." Finally, after what seemed like an hour, we turned in. After unclenching my hands from the handles, I saw that they were trembling. Actually, my whole body was shaking. Someone asked me, hey was it fun? I don't think I gave them a nice answer to that one. My hands shook for some days later and it ended up that Lily got elbowed in the forehead... and that will be the last time I do that.

Then, we went on the jetskis, which were pretty scary to think about, but really fun once you got on. I drove with Tara and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to go too fast. I actually got quite comfortable on it, and got up to 70 kph. I felt bad though because Tara didn't get to drive at all... we only had 15 min and I thought that that meant we went around 4 times. Just as I was about to switch, the guy told us to come back in. She got to drive back, but it's not the same. It's pretty scary being the passenger though, no matter how much you trust the driver. I actually liked jetskiing so much, I paid for another half an hour the next day. Rob and Ryan did too. That was really cool too and I got it up to 73 kph.

So, after the jetskis, we ate lunch and tried to find the swim up bar. We stayed at the Peanut Pool and got drinks for a while and then went to check out the swim up bar. It was supposed to open at 4, or at least activities said it would. So we played volleyball in the pool for like 3 hours with some people from Bond. So 4 rolls around, and still no bar. I was so bummed, and so was everyone else. We hung around till 5 o'clock and then all gave up. It would have been so cool!!

So then we had dinner outside and Mel joined us. We talked a bit about Australia and Keppel Island and finished dinner. We then headed over to the Wreck Bar and drank-- some faster than others (ahem, Rob, who we took home at 9)-- and sang karoake. Ellie and I sang Paradise by the Dashboard lights. Mind you, this is an 8 minute long song with a guy and a girl part with just me and Ellie. I got halfway through and I was winded. It was a lot of fun though. Then, the bar closed and we headed over to Salt. I didn't really like Salt. It was boring, so Jackie, Laura and I left to go check out the pool and the water at night. We saw all the little jellyfish (I got stung 3 times by the babies earlier in the day) and they looked just like little stars glowing in the sand. Then you look up and see every single star in the sky. You even saw the milky way. The view was just so breathtaking. I could have stayed out there for so much longer. Then this guy came out with a flashlight and told us not to swim in the water because of the sharks. Not that we were going to go swimming, but we went back to Salt. Turns out that while we were gone, they had games and stuff for a Corona promotion. We missed it, but not a big loss. I had fun outside talking to Jackie and Laura.

I was pretty tired and anticipating the long day that was quickly approaching, so Tara and I went home. Everyone else stayed and then went skinnydipping, but I'm glad I got some extra sleep. We did find a gecko in our bathroom that night too. In the morning, I checked us all out, we packed and headed out. We signed up for jetskiing again, went to the little shops down the beach from the resort, went to the gift shop, and took some more pictures. I spent entirely too much money that day, but I have new clothes and I had a blast, so it was money well spent. The day started to wind down, and we got showered and changed, I had a toblerone (yum yum) from the bar and then went to watch live music until we had to leave. Ryan and I got a bit drunk and hung out with some Irishmen that Ellie met. And, just as the band finished playing the song Wonderwall we all went up to the boats and boarded. We drank a beer on the boat and enjoyed the last views of Keppel Island.

The bus ride home was really fun actually. I drank my leftover Smirnoff, and then bought a goon bag from the BWS at a pit stop. We sang really loud in the back of the bus and met some pretty cool guys. Ryan told the most ridiculous story ever and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I'm happy that the bus ride was fun and that I actually got some sleep. I did lose my shoe though. And boom goes the dynamite.