Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

Oops... I got distracted!! Updates!

We left 1770 and took a hideous overnight Greyhound up to our next stop - Airlie Beach! This was the jump off place to get to the Whitsundays on our sailing trip but due to lack of spaces on our boat, we had to wait a few days until we got to go. So we stayed in our hostel, Beaches, and wandered about Airlie for a couple of days. Airlie's nice, the change in humidity was recognisable the moment we stepped off the coach, but there wasn't a great deal to do in the town itself.

What was really great was our trip to the Whitsundays. We left on a Saturday and boarded the boat "Powerplay" which was a Catamaran with jacuzzi on it! Although we didn't use the jacuzzi in the end, spending time in the ocean snorkeling instead :)

We were on the trip with about 14 or so other people and 4 crew (our skipper, Annie, Rachel, Kelly and Ricky). It was amazing how they managed to fit us all sleeping on the boat but they managed it, with this such as the dinner tables converting into double beds in the evening! Nick, the Sams and I all stayed in a little cubby with 2 doubles, which was a hole in the wall with one bed, and then a kind of step up to another bed! Very hard to describe but pretty cool!

We had another grey day at first which made sitting on the front of the boat a bit chilly as we started our trip but it quickly heated up and the majority of us came away with sunburn of some description after three days! On the first day we went snorkelling at Luncheon Bay which was, in a word, amazing! I've never snorkelled before and snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef was a great place to start! I'm not a great swimmer so I was a bit nervous but they have those inflatable noodles you get at the swimming pool for aqua aerobics so once I was in the water, I tucked it under my arms, stuck my head in the water and away I went! The coral was amazing (I managed to impail my thigh on some within about 30 seconds of getting in the water - it left me with a huge bruise for WEEKS) and the fish were incredible. It was a bit freaky at first when schools of hundreds of fish came up close to you, as you get a bit squeemish about them touching you but after a few minutes I completely forgot about that! We just kept swimming out deeper and deeper and looking around, it was just amazing, I can't tell you. It's like you're flying above everything but not in a scary way... crazy. Little Sam got an underwater camera and took a load of pics so when she eventually gets them developed and we get a set, I'll post them on here (we've split up again for a few months so will be in the future..).

As we slowly started getting the dingy back to the boat, Nick, big Sam and I were last to wait, bobbing about in the water when the guys in the dingy shouted back to us and pointed to the horizon where we saw 2 whales turning in the water. It was AMAZING! to be in the water, and see them so close (or so it seemed, being inthe water at the time) was incredible. I wish I'd had earplugs and put my whole head in the water at the time, as you can hear them singing under there :( seeing them was great though.

On the Saturday we went to Whitehaven Beach, which was beautiful, really early morning as the sun was risiing and the tide was out so we could see the swirling sands. Amazing views and a really beautiful beach.

We had a great few days on the boat, making friends with a group of Americans and two Irish couples (one had emigrated here to Australia, a his brother and brother's girlfriend came to visit) and spent our evenings playing hysterical games of charades before heading back on Monday when I spotted a whale (very proud of my unusually eagle-eyed-ness!)

When we came back to Airlie, we spent another day there and had drinks with the rest of our boat that evening at Beaches bar :)


I can't take credit for this craftyness, I'm afraid! But I found it on a rock made of the coral that washes up on the beach and had to take a polaroid snap for my scrapbook!


Sooooo much coral! But it's illegal to take it away from the beaches so I just had to keep taking pics of the most interesting pieces instead :(


Grey day at Airlie marina! Our boat, Powerplay, is in the middle of the shot at the forefront.


Couldn't get a good shot of the sleeping arrangements! Thats our bed behind the curtain and you can see the foot of the next bed around the corner.


Us and the other passengers on the boat, at sunset :)


Little Sam and I. The toilets were cubicles that doubled as showers that had the showerhead as the tap in the sink (you could detach it to shower yourself). There was also a limited supply of fresh water so showers were limited to 1.5 mins!! Basically... we didn't shower and looked a hot damn mess for the whole trip, so 'scuse the hair!!



Big Sam and I


Inside the boat. The tables turned into beds at night and everyone slept on the chairs and the padded level where all the bags are! Amazing use of space..


One of many views of the Whitsundays at sunrise