Day 60-63 Airlie Beach continued
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
48
70
Trip End
Mar 27, 2008
Airlie Beach,
Australia
Monday, January 28, 2008
We were recommended the ocean rafting tours as these boats are fast so you get to see more in the one day. There are two tours to choose from; the Northern exposure and the Southern exposure. The Southern takes you to an aboriginal cave with paintings which would be interesting and the Northern takes you to the Hill Inlet lookout which looks amazing on the postcards. Both include snorkelling sites and lunch on the beach. We weren't sure which one to pick, they both sounded so good but the tour agent told us that the lookout is much more amazing than the cave so we picked the Northern and booked for tomorrow.
We went to spend the rest of the day sunbathing and swimming at the Lagoon. The weather is really good and today is an Australian public holiday so the Lagoon was very busy with families enjoying the last day of the school summer holidays. We have caught the sun but I am still quite white, not as tanned as I would like to be. We have been careful with high factor sunscreen and throughout Thailand and Oz, neither one of us has been sunburnt once which is a good thing. We finished our day off with a night out drinking and we are both looking forward to the trip tomorrow.
The next day we were up early and the weather is perfect, a few clouds but no sign of rain. A minibus came and picked us up outside our apartment at 9am and we were expecting to be driven to Shute Harbour which is a few kilometres down the road. Instead, we were driven to the Coral Beach Resort where they have their own private jetty. It was so close we could have walked it if we had known. First, we had to settle our bill and get ourselves a 'stinger' suit from the rail. I was worried that they wouldn't have one to fit me but age 10 looked the perfect size. It is basically and all-in-one full body suit made of material that is not dissimiliar to lycra, but not as thick. We were both smirking as we looked at them, wondering what we would look like in them - I always wanted to see Dean in Lycra! (just for the laugh of course). They are necessary, even for paddling on the beach as there are various types of jellyfish or 'stingers' as the Aussie's call them and some of them can deliver a fatal sting. We don't want to die for the sake of a swim so we will just have to look daft.
We had to wait on the jetty then while everyone else got sorted with their suits etc. There are two boats (the Northern and Southern trips) each taking 25 people and both were full. We boarded our raft at about 10am and we got a seat on the side of the raft. We were told it gets bumpy at the front but not bad at the back and the sides - extreme. We are a mixed bunch of mainly young couples (are we still considered a young couple?), a few people on their own, an elderly guy on his own and an older couple looked to be about mid 50's. The raft itself is basically a large inflatable raft with two big engines at the back and two staff on board, both crazy.
The staff are called Yoster (he's swedish, I think) and I think the other one was called Russell but I could be wrong. After telling us the do's and don'ts, we set off at speed and it was amazing fun. Australia has big seas and waves anyway and it is fantastic riding over them at speed, Russell was enjoying himself weaving the raft from side to side so it was tipped up on it's side - it was brilliant, really exhilirating but felt completely safe.
We were told that we were going to Daydream Island first to pick up another three people. This is an island in the Whitsunday group that has a resort on it and was about a 15 minute ride away. When we got there, we were surprised that it was a family we were picking up. They were a young couple with a small son of about 18 months old, I would have thought it might be a bit bumpy for the little one. Russell moved a couple of people at the back so the baby could be in the least bumpy place, sat on his mum's knee. He seemed totally unfazed when we set off at speed, he is a little cutie and everyone on the boat kept looking back at him while we were travelling, so see if he was okay.
The Whitsundays are further away than we thought and it took us an hour to get to our first snorkelling site at Luncheon bay. The boat stopped and we all got into our stinger suits which are very tight and take some pulling on. I thought Dean looked adorable in his and he said I looked cute in mine. Russell and Yoster gave us a safety briefing and told us the area where we could go and where we were not allowed; nowhere near the back of the boat and nowhere near the shore as it is sharp. He warned us to be careful and respect the reef as it takes coral three years to grow one inch. There were children's snorkelling masks there too so I found one that fit me and I could get the mouthpiece in properly and decided to give it a go. They have these 'noodles' which are long pieces of foam-like material that are used as flotation devices for people that are not so strong swimmers and they also provide vests for those that prefer to wear them. I decided to take a noodle as I'm not a great swimmer and nervous in the sea. It was very choppy and windy and I must admit that I didn't feel comfortable as soon as we were in the water. I tried putting my face in the water with the mask on (I've never done this before), and I don't know what went wrong but I got a mouthful of sea water and panicked, I hated it. When I looked back at the boat, it seemed miles away and the noodle thing wasn't so floaty. I don't know if we had drifted away from the boat in that short time or the boat had drifted from us but the sea was choppy and deep and I didn't like it at all. Dean practically dragged me back to the boat as he could see I was frightened and not happy, thank goodness he was there to help me, maybe I should have put one of those vests on after all. With Dean helping me, we made it back to the boat and I was so relieved to get out of the water. I felt bad thinking that I had spoiled it for Dean by being a big wuss but he reassured me, said it was fine, he wasn't bothered and just wanted me to feel okay.
Back on the boat, we still got to see plenty of fish as they came right up to it. They had managed to get the little baby into a stinger suit that was miles too big for him. It was the smallest they had and his dad remarked that it would fit him when he's ten. But he refused to put the life jacket on so couldn't go into the water although his mum says he loves it. Instead, he was on board with his mum and Russell gave him some bread to feed the fish (he called them all Nemo) to entertain him. It was entertaining for us too as we saw all the fish come up for the bread and there were some huge fish.
Russell had asked me what the problem was when I came back on board and I told him that it was my first time snorkelling and I just didn't like my face in the water. He said snorkelling is not for everybody and not to worry about it. Not everybody went in the water, two young lads stayed on the boat the whole time, while their girlfriends went in - they don't enjoy it either.
Russell and Yoster were trying to get everyone back on the boat as they have a schedule to keep and another snorkelling site to visit. Everyone was ignoring them and some had gone out of the boundary that they had set. Some had come to the back of the boat which they had warned was dangerous as the propellers will cut someone badly enough to put them in hospital. They were really annoyed that people were breaking the rules, not listening to them and it was all getting a bit out of hand. They told us they were going to sort it out when they eventually managed to get everyone back on board, we could see they were pretty stressed out. At the end of the day, the last thing they need is for someone to seriously injure themselves even if it is their own stupid fault for breaking the rules when they have been clearly explained.
Eventually, after several whistle blows, they managed to round everybody up and get back on the boat and then they told everyone off. The older couple are German and they had swum outside of the boundary. Russell was looking at them when he said: "Can everyone here understand English? Can you all understand what I am trying to say to you? If not, you need to tell me." The German lady replied "Barely" and the bloke said "sometimes." They suggested that he speak to them in German. They were just trying to be clever as their spoken English is perfect. Russell replied "Well this is Australia and it's all you're going to get." They shut up then and didn't attempt a clever reply. Dean and I found this highly amusing and were smirking and giggling behind our hands.
To be continued....
