Friday, April 18, 2008

Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands

Hello again! We've just returned from doing a three day and three night boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands and it was pretty darned good. Beforehand we stayed a night in Airlie beach to book our trip for the next day, and that is where we are again now.

We stepped aboard the 120 foot yacht the "Anaconda 3" at 7 in the evening and after a quick safety briefing and a glass of champagne we sailed off into the night. We picked this boat because we could get a private room and we were told that even though it's a bit more expensive, the food is excellent and although you can't bring your own drinks on board, they will be supplied at a cheap price. What more can you ask for??

Well, we got our private double room which was compact but you're on a boat so what are you going to do? It suited us down to the ground as we had our own bathroom and shower - luxury!!! As we were to find out, the food was indeed excellent - especially considering the size of the kitchen (or is that galley?). We even had roast chicken with mash, peas and gravy one night!! I went up for thirds! The drink situation was a little less satisfactory though - they had a fridge full of cans alright but were charging 4 dollars apiece - considering you can buy them in a bottle shop for a little over a dollar apiece it was very cheeky. As well as that we were told that each persons name was on a clipboard and we had to put a tick against our name when we took a beer and we settled up at the end. The crew would be doing the same thing. THEN we were told that if there were any discrepancies (i.e. some thieving git was taking beer without ticking off his or her name) it would be up to everyone to bear the cost of the missing beers. Alarm bells were ringing! As it turned out at the end, 20 or so drinks were taken without anyone ticking the sheet so we were all asked to compensate for this. When myself and Su asked were the crew expected to chip in for this, we were told that they weren't. When asked why it was explained to us that the crews names were on the sheet as well and they put a tick against their names when they took a beer.

Ah ok.... hang on... that's what we did!!!  Total swizz I reckon. Luckily we had the good sense to sneak two bags of wine in with us so our tally of beers wasn't too high. Check-mate Mr. Bond.

Anyway, onto the trip itself. And some photographs! The plan was to visit Whitehaven beach on day 1, check out a few more beaches and reefs on day 2 for some snorkelling and diving (for those who wanted to) before heading out to the outer Great Barrier Reef that night so we could spend day 3 out there. We got to Whitehaven beach on the morning of day 1 after a bit of a bumpy ride (some pale looking faces around the boat after that trip). Whitehaven beach sand is comprised of over 80% silica so is pristinely white and squeaks when you walk on it.

The white sands of Whitehaven beach

We were lucky to get this photo as 5 minutes later the rain started and pretty much didn't stop for 24 hours. Disaster!!

So we got back to the boat in the rain, tried our best to dry off and spent the night and most of the next morning eating, reading our books, and watching a DVD (one of two on the boat). The dive people did go diving, and some people braved the driving rain to snorkel, while the rest of us were made feel guilty by the crew for our lack of enthusiasm. It looked like things were going down hill real fast when at last the weather got better and the sun came out again. Time for some more lounging - this time up on deck!!!

Lounging around the yacht

See, we're much happier now.

That evening we sailed over to another island and hit the beach to watch the sun go down:

Sunset on the beach

That's our boat in the background. This was the night we got the roast chicken dinner. Did I mention that I had thirds! The food was so good.

So that was pretty much it! We spent the next day (which was a scorcher) up on deck getting some sun while the captain sailed us home. They got the sails out on the way back and it was all nice and relaxed. All in all it was a good trip - aside from a few points - the overcharging on the drinks, the attitude of some of the crew, and actually one of the girls in another cabin got eaten alive by bed-bugs and sadly wasn't given an apology or even any alternative. 

We're off to Rockhampton tomorrow! I hear they have great steaks there! Hmmmmmmmmm...... steak.

Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef and Mission Beach

Ok Ok - sorry for the lack of updates (says he hoping that people have been on the edge of their seats waiting..), but we've been had a very lazy weeks lately - well, it's hard work this backpacking business!! Not really. The truth is that after Su's amazing blog last time that I thought it would be a hard act to follow - but time is a great healer so you're stuck with me again. I will convince her to blog again but she's a busy woman so it's me this time...

So we're on the east coast of Australia now after flying from Perth of Cairns via Melbourne (Melbourne was cold!!). Cairns was lovely and tropical though and we booked a day on a boat called the Tusa 5 (sounded a bit Irish) where we did some diving on the Great Barrier Reef (the only living thing viewable from space so they say!). It was pretty cool but we don't have a lot of photos seeing as we were on our lazy period. Well listen, it's hard work finding Nemo but Su managed it:

Su found Nemo!

Hair raising experience it was too. She told me where the little guy was hiding all this time was and I got in there aswell:

And told me where he was

We were under water as this stage if nobody has realised which is why we are looking a bit strange.

We spent about a week in Carins and  moved on to Mission Beach where we spent a few days by the pool - I'm sorry but the only photo we took was of an insect that looked like a leaf. Maybe it was a leaf - it didn't move too much and we had a few glasses of wine. We were convinced it was an insect though. It had legs (we think). I'm sure the people in Mission Beach won't be too upset that we didn't get too many photos - it's sold as a place to relax and unwind and that's what we did. I know I know, surely five months of unwinding is more than enough but we're going for a record.

So now we are in Airlie Beach, further south on the East coast - great place - the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands where we'll be hopping on a boat tomorrow for a 3 day and 3 night cruise. We will definitely take some more photos and break out of this slacker mentality that we fallen into. Bear with us - the blog will get better... I'll get Su on the case again!