B.W.Colonial Palms Motor Inn Airlie Beach

... bottom of the mountain - the steepest train in the world i believe so it was like a ride! we then got another glass cable car back up to the top of the mountain. we made it back to the hostel just in time to get the bus to the airport! all in all we really liked sydney!<br><br>we got a quick flight up to brisbane where it was raining! they had been in drought but obviously we bought the bad weather with us as per usual! jason and troy were there to pick us up but it was 11pm so we ...

... and our kids were quite keen to watch Babe rather than head off to bed as the good Dutch kids did each night around 7.30 so we didnt get to do the beer tasting as the Dutch couple headed off to Brisbane the next day. <br><br>Much like the last time we stayed at this park (the day after our wedding in 2003), I was eaten alive by midges (being the only one allergic to and unable to wear Aeroguard makes me a prime target in a crowd!).

... stingrays gliding through the shallow crystal clear water, and the little fish darting about our ankles. After snorlkelling at two different coral locations, and seeing more species of fish than I could count (including one huge bugger who wasn't shy about swimming very close to us!), we then were dropped off on a tiny uninhabited island to watch the sun go down over the ocean (which is normally impossible on the east coast of Australia, given that all the beaches ...

... clad chef the drinking continued, well we were just starting as we had only brought a few beers with us unlike most who brought boxes of Wine and crates of Beer. I realised I'd never slept on a boat before and it was weird just sat there in the pitch black bobbing around, you could see loads of stars which was cool. The boat did have to spot lamps on that shone out into the water around the boat and we were treated to a couple of dolphins coming up near the boat for most of the ...

... for revving the hell up the hill!<br>A few minutes later and the 4x4 in front of us was stuck so same thing... we all got out and were pushing etc.... really good fun.....<br><br>Back on the ferry and back to the mainland for late afternoon... air back in tyres, diesel and lucky we passed the vehicle check! (they take a bond of you if you so much as get a splash of salty sea water etc on the car!) - we found out the Koala guys had to pay about 200quid each for the accident ...

... reef which was only a few feet from the shore. This was a fantastic experience, the coral was beautifully coloured and teeming with an enormous variety of fish. This is definitely the best snorkelling so far. Eventually we reluctantly returned to the boat where there was a good buffet lunch awaiting us. We then retuned to Airlie Bay, the wind was good and with the spinnaker up we reached 10 knots which I am told was fast especially as we were towing the tender behind. The ...

... the white sands. The boys organised a game of soccer, whilst Jill and I read and relaxed on the beach. We stay here til lunchtime and then move over closer to Whitehaven Beach at Tongue Bay where we can access the walk to Betty&#8217;s lookout where there are magnificent views of Whitehaven Beach.<br><br>Round in Tongue we got partying and had a disco onboard after dinner. There were several tourist vessels anchored in the bay that night. We had a good crack with keeping up ...

... islands for a few hours and in that time i was able to speak to many of the people on our boat; Steven, Kove, Kristy, Amber, Katie, Cassandra, Katie and Dominique (all from the USA). Kenny (from Scotland), Ali and Ali (from England), Josh (from Canada), Jenny (England) and Sarah (England). Everyone on the boat were really cool and chilled out, but good fun. Everyone played card games in the evening until food was served: snags on the BBQ by our amazing crew; Shaz, AJ, Dave and Giles ...

... and waves picked up, and I stood no chance. I was quickly drifting into the Coral Sea. It got to the point where I gave up and waved my paddle up high. Luckily, the bloke got on his boat and literally rescued me. I was surprised with how I panicked in only a minor way, but I was still definitely worried. My thoughts flashed to this guy who was stranded in Aussie&#8217;s Blue ...