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A Real Paradise
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It was a monster effort driving from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach. Right through the night at a good speed as there is just no traffic. The only thing you have to be careful of is all the little wallaby heads popping up at the side of the road waiting for their chance to cross. By the looks of things though a lot of them take their chance at the wrong time. The countryside in this neck of the woods differs to New South Wales. It reminds me a lot of that forty hour Greyhound Bus trip Amy and I did once from New York to Denver where we crossed miles and miles of corn fields with the odd farm house and 'psychoesque' over night motels.
We got there very early, early enough to see the sunset although it was light before we realised we were facing in the wrong direction. Very dazed and confused we all fell asleep in the car park for a couple of hours until the heat became too unbearable for me at least. I went in search of a two day cruise that would sail the Whitsunday Islands, one of the most anticipated parts of our trip. However, we were to be disappointed as most of the two day trips were fully booked. It meant we had to do a day trip which sounded ideal bearing in mind of how tired we were.
So within two hours of arrival we found ourselves waiting at the jetty to board our cruise ship. We had to wait half an hour but this was fine because Shipley had just told the German crew member that he was just going to go and pop 'one' out at the toilet. The boat trip was fine and we were entertained by Jess the young crew member with a suitcase full of Ozzy wit. Even enough in her bag to deflect Lee's Durham sleaze. The Whitsundays are absolutely magnificent and like no where I have ever been. Used in the Bounty Adverts, the islands are the gateway to the Barrier Reef and the deep turquoise water and fine white sand make it paradise on earth. The only problem is that you cannot bath with out a stinger suit because of the very dangerous crops of 'stingers' or jellyfish that float around this part of the pacific. Indiscriminate and with no purpose they float around the sea ready to inflict excruciating pain on anyone or anything that happens to get in it's way. The warning signs are everywhere in Aurelie Beach and the signs explaining how to treat jellyfish wounds make it quite clear that these mysterious blobs full of pain are not to be taken lightly. Especially the Box Jellyfish which can cause more pain to a human than any other animal. The treatment sign recommends vinegar and calling the emergency services as a treatment for most types of jellyfish however the Box Jellyfish pretty much states that all you can do is call the emergency services and make your friend as comfortable as possible??? With this taken on board we quickly got into our stinger suits and started to snorkel. Then we were able to relax on Whitehaven Beach until pushy Jess led us up to a view point which was truly amazing. Almost as amazing was the fact I survived being killed by one of the most venomous snakes in the world, 'the brown snake" by virtue of my flip flop breaking about five minutes before. My trusty flip flops that I paid 1 quid for in Thailand finally came undone as I clambered off the rowing boat and on to the silica sand. as I treaded carefully avoiding pebbles and sticks with my eyes fixed to the floor I saw a small brown snake slither across my path. I jumped back a little and quickly got the camera out and caught it on film. I had no clue that this snake might be dangerous until I got back to the boat and showed the captain of the ship the photo. He originally told me that it was probably only a immature brown python but when I showed him the photo he told me I was lucky not to stand on it as it was a young brown snake and with it being young would be more likely to bite and have me air lifted to hospital. After all this Crocodile Dundee tom-foolery we set sail back to the mainland. We were all shattered from the frenetic pace of the holiday and as we snoozed and got a little bitchy with each other Lee decided to lighten the mood by farting on my face. He did but the smell did not seem to hit us like the usual fart. Instead Lee started to blush and never said anything for the rest of the day.
Back on land and in jovial spirits we decided to splash out and have a break from camping. We had trouble finding a place to stay as a group because it was Schoolies Night, a night which denotes all the high school kids finishing school thus going out and painting the town red. We split up and Amy and I headed out of town and found an American-style motel. A night in with takeaway and all the other luxuries camping cannot offer such as TV and an en suite was well called for while the others found the idea of "Schoolies Night' too much to miss out on so they headed out on the town. Refreshed, the next day was spent relaxing by the man-made lagoon. It was a much needed day, chilling, playing headers, swimming and throwing the Frisbee especially when Amy flashed everyone as she jumped for it out of the water ha ha. We were in such high spirits that we even booked ourselves a skydive the next day in Cairns. The highlight, was meeting up with Miller, a friend we had made in Manly and best mates with Walker. So it was another long drive to Cairns with the realisation slowly creeping in about what we would actually be doing the next day.
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