30th Nov - 5th Dec Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays

Airlie Beach! The place of departure for my Whitsundays trip. I arrive early evening and check into the Nomads Hostel. A really nice, clean hostel with a good vibe. After travelling all day I feel like I need a drink though, its hot and all I really want to do is relax but I have to unpack and repack my bag so that I have a small bag for the Whitsundays. In my dorm room I meet Sophia who is a Swedish girl and so we decide to head to the bar for one quick drink before I finish up my packing.

Me, Sophia, Dan, Heidi and Aaron

At Shed bar, which is a little bar in the hostel its already relatively busy so we find a bench on a table opposite these two Australia guys...now this is where my plan falls apart....we get talking to these guys, who are literally the loveliest Australians in the world, they are miners in Mackay and are just in Airlie for a long weekend. Because we are all getting on so well they decide to start including us in the rounds and you can guess what happens, one round leads to another round which leads to another round and yep, my packing kind of goes out the window...a few hours later I head back to sort out my bag slightly tipsy before heading back out where we all meet up again. We end up in this Irish bar near to the hostel, where there are bands playing and we are all dancing and acting stupid...I stumble home in the very wee hours of the morning, thankful that I did head back to pack my bag earlier but waking up wishing I hadn't stayed out so late! Oh well you only live once!!!
Feeling sorry for myself sat at a cafe having breakfast I bump into Aaron and Dan again - yep all of us are severely hungover, all good, nice to know I'm not the only one! And then its time for me to head to the Marina to board my boat for my Whitsunday's trip.

Paddle boarding and snorkelling

My bedroom!

My Whitsunday's trip is on a Catamaran Powerplay Boat, there are 21 of us including 3 crew members. And its small and cosy but nice and bearable. I sleep for most of the first afternoon because I am so tired from last nights antics but when I wake up, I head out to the front of the boat to take in the scenery. Later that afternoon we have our first stop off, where I decide the best way to clear off the rest of the cobwebs is to go snorkelling. The visibility isn't amazing but the water is lovely and cool and you can see some coral and fish. After snorkelling, its dinner time, we meet Donnie the dolphin who hangs around our boat for an hour or so and then by 9pm I am in bed crashed out! I wake up the next day revived and ready to go! the 6 single back packers all sleep in the Lounge area, the tables where we eat our food basically collapse and form 4 beds and there are 4 cushioned seating area's around the top which also turn into beds.

Day 2 consists of 2 more snorkel or dive stops, and a lot of taking in the stunning scenery, in the afternoon we head to Whitehaven Beach. This is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, the sand is the whitest and finest of grains, apparently you can use it to clean your jewellery and use it to exfoilate your skin, me, being me, have a go at using it for both! There are loads of sting rays in the water that you have to be careful of, as well as the fact there is no shade, but it is stunning, the views from the walk up to it, are literally like something from a postcard. Immense. That evening some of the divers do a night dive, whilst the rest of us eat and get a little merry. The next morning we start to head back to Airlie Beach but not before one final stop for a last snorkel. The visibility here is much better and this was probably my favourite snorkel site. I wasn't actually going to get in to do this one as I was being lazy but I'm so glad I did, it woke me up and was a lovely way to end the trip.

Is this not one of the most beautiful beaches/views you have ever seen?

Back in Airlie Beach I stayed for a few more days sorting out when and where I was going to next and when and just enjoying the heat and sunshine, and lounging around by the lagoon before leaving on an overnight bus for my 17 hour bus journey to Noosa.....the joy.