The Whitsundays
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2008
1
26
40
Trip End
May 15, 2009
Airlie Beach,
Queensland,
Australia
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands of the coast of Airlie beach in Queensland which is further north of Brisbane. The main thing happening here is sailing, one day trips to a week sailing with diving and snorkelling. The islands are on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
I arrived into Airlie beach which a pretty small town with some surfing type shops, bars, restaurants and hostels. My hostel was quite big and clean with a large outside bar area. It was my first time staying in a hostel so I wasn't sure what to expect. My bed was in an eight bed room with ensuite bathroom. It was very clean and had 4 german girls and 3 american girls in it.
I wasn't sailing until Wednesday. I had booked 3 day 2 night trip on a boat called Ragamuffin II which takes a maximum of 13 guests with 2 crew. There are a multitude of boats to choose from ranging from Tall ships (like pirate ships) to catamarrans and maxi sailing boats like mine and they range in size and luxury, some take around 30 people plus crew and are party boats. I wanted a smaller non party boat. Didn't think I could cope with a bunch of 18 years olds getting pissed all the time...I'm getting old!!
Other than the sailing there isn't much happening here, most people stay by the lagoon to sunbathe during the day as you can't swim in the sea off the beach as the current is too strong. The lagoon area is nice and the ppol area is large and fairly shallow for the kids.
Weds came a long and it was time to catch my boat at 8am. All we could take with us was a small day pack with the essentials, swimmers, beach towel, suncream and of course some booze. We got to our boat and it looked much smaller than I had imagined and down stairs was even smaller. The sleeping quarters were definitely intimate, two sets of three bunks either side of the kitchen and the rest of the bunks behind. The toilets (2) were tiny and you had to remember to turn valves on and off when using them to avoid blocking them. We could have showers but they were cold and could only last 30 seconds and no washing your hair!! My worst nightmare...not being able to wash my hair for three days ( i have to wash it everyday!!).
It was chucking it down on our first day not the weather that this part of the world is known for. But for half of us it's what we are used for...yeah we were all brits!! The rest of the bunch were; 3 canadians, an israeli, a frnchman and a swiss guy. So there we were all were dressed in the boat's yellow south westers!! freezing our arses off on deck. After we had been out for an hour we did a bit of sailing so the lads helped, rachel (deck hand and cook) to raise the sails. Cos the weather was pretty bad with it raining and windy it made perfect sailing weather and the boat went right up on one side so we could all sit with our legs over the side. It was brilliant even if we were cold. Lunch was good on the boat and eventually it stopped raining but the sun didn't come out. We sailed to one of the islands and went for a bush walk about 1km each way. Not much to see as it was so overcast but at least we did something and it didn't rain whilst we were walking always a good thing. We had dinner after and a few drinks on deck before it got dark and then it was into bed. My bed was a bottom bunk which was good as I don't think I'd be able to get in and out of the other bunks.
We all woke pretty early the next day and were greeted by a bit of sunshine but it was short lived and it started to rain again. We were heading for the main Whitsunday island and it's main beach, Whitehaven, which is one of the top ten best beaches in the world. The sand is 98% silica so it never heats up not that that will bother us as there is no sun. We were dropped off on one side of the island and had to walk to the beach. We were taken to a view point to get our first glimpse of the beach and it was worth the short walk. The beach was breath taking and the sun even started to peep out between the clouds. We walked down to the beach and it was pretty amazing the water was so blue and the sand almost white and so fine. The sun came out much to all of our relief and we spent the next hour lying on the beach or going for a swim in the shallow water. It was back to the boat and onto our next destination, Blue Pearl Bay, where we were going to be moored over night. We sailed there under the steam of the sails which was a pleasure. Nothing better than sitting reading and chatting with just the sound of the sails behind you. The evening was spent on deck drinking and chatting. I'm so lucky to have a cool bunch of people to be with, even if I was the oldest on board, Karl was almost as old as me but not quite!! It's a shame that most of them will be moving onto from Airlie Beach on Sunday as it would have been good to spend a little more time with them.
We woke early again and this time the weather was on our side!! Brilliant sunshine. Poor swiss boy (we didn't get to know all the names!!) was eaten alive in the night by we don't know what but he had bites everywhere. The rest of us were fine which was strange. We spent the morning snorkelling. We all had to wear very lightweight wetsuits (stingersuits) as it is jellyfish season and some can inflict a fatal sting!! We didn't see any though..thank god!! The water was clear and visibility was good but I have seen better coral and fish in the Red Sea in Egypt but it was still good. I did get to see a Nemo (clown fish) which is always worth seeing and a large wrasse (3ft) called Elvis. It was then time to sail back to Airlie Beach. We got back about 4ish which meant we got a good amount of time on the boat for our money $425 (200 quidish). We were all dying for a shower and I was dying to wash my disgusting dirty hair. We all met up for drinks at the hostel i was staying at. We had to stay goodbye to katy that night as she was getting a 9hr bus to another beach, 1770, which was on her way to Fraser island. The rest of us went out for further drinks but we didn't get in too late about 12ish. I was however the last to get into my room, so much for this being a party town!
Sunday - Spent the day by the lagoon and bumped into karl so we went for lunch before i met up with the canadian girls, Lauren, Jen and Carmen. The girls were heading for 1770 the next day and Karl was giving them a lift as it was on his way back to Surfers Paradise where he's been staying with friends. He managed to get a month off work to come to Oz and now wants to emigrate. I spent the evening with Swiss boy (Mirko, I found out his name finally) and we had fish and chips for dinner and I managed to get some vinegar on mine...whohoo!!
Monday - If only i could have changed my flights so I could leave earlier than Tuesday as there really isn't much to do here other than sit by the Lagoon all day which I did. However, I had had enough of the sun so sat in the shade all day. i know not like me but really it was getting a bit too much!! I had new roomates turn up, 4 english girls which have been on a bus tour. They were really sweet and I went out for drinks with them rather than staying in the room on my own. Its a shame they turned up on my last night as I think I could have had a good laugh with them, oh well just the way it goes.
Tuesday - Finally get to go back to Sydney. Flew from Proserpine at 3.15pm to Brisbane and then another flight onto Sydney. Finally got in about 11pm after walking up that bloody hill with my backpack...god I must be really out of shape.
