We made our way back to the ferry and back over to Townsville to be ready to be picked up by the next Oz Experience driver. This one was called Brett and he didn't really have anywhere to take us to on the way to Airlie beach, other than places to stop off for the toilet and/or something to eat. He did offer to show us the 'giant mango', but no-one was very interested in this! Australia has many many 'GIANT' things, not really sure why but it must be to try to compete with America. On the way to Airlie beach Brett showed us 2 movies, Taken and Snatch. We arrived at Airlie beach at around 4.30pm and headed straight for the tour company to register and fill out some health & food questions for the tour the next day. As Brett dropped us off, he announced that Oz Experience had organised a table for us at 'Beaches', with some free alcohol and dipping stuff!! After checking into our very clean, large and luxurious hostel (with 2 ensuite showers/toilets and balcony) we headed to Beaches, a large pub/restaurant with a very open plan, back packer hostel feel. We were actually quite early and unfortunately a random drunk old guy started chatting with us and being rather smelly and annoying. We managed to lose him after a bit and found our table. The rest of the the coach arrived a little late, and there was only 4 others plus the driver. The food was amazing, I had Thai Beef Noodle Salad and finished every morsel (except the baby tomatos that I gave at Sarah). Some free wine and beer was brought out for us and I also tried a new wine by Brown Brothers - it was actually a RED, not a sparkling, as the guide advised. Brett and this middle aged couple left soon after, but we'd been talking to a few guys from the area who were heading to another bar, Magnums.
After there, Sarah decided to go to bed, but me and the other 2 people, a girl called Tanya from England and a guy called Horjo from Holland. We went to another bar called Mama Africa's where we had a few cheap cocktails. It was quite empty so we thought we'd try another one called Morocos. When we got there, it was completely empty except the staff. It was meant to be karaoke, so I decided to sing a few (5 or 6) songs. We had a group of about 7 all dancing around on stage singing and dancing around, it was pretty fun. I sung Ronan Keating, Robbie Williams, N'Sync and some others.
The staff said they enjoyed us and we kept them entertained. We went back to Mama Africas as well which was suddenly very full and lively.
FRIDAY 7TH AUGUST
WHITSUNDAYS SAILING TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!
We woke up quite leisurely as we only had to check out by 10am and then we went along to Peter Pan's, the holiday company we had booked everything through, to store our luggage. All we were allowed on the boat was one small backpack. We then walked about 30 minutes past the man made lagoon on the waterfront and then kept going to Abel point harbour to meet for the trip.
I wasn't really feeling too good, as I'd had maybe a bit too much to drink the night before, which I was really regretting. Luckily I was able to be sick before I got on the boat and after that I felt alot better! 2 tour groups were sat waiting at the same spot for the same time, which was slightly confusing. The other boat was called 'silent night' - which is apparently for people who don't really like to party that much... fun! Our guide and second in command aboard the Boomerang came to meet us. His name is Max and he's a sligtly crazy oddball type! - Ginger hair dyed various colours... bleach blonde at the ears and black on top with various bits of ginger. He also had the lightest eyes I've ever seen. Sarah and I agreed it looked like he was in some Zombie flick like Dawn of the Dead! We were taken down the jetty where we saw the Boomerang, which is alot smaller than we were expecting, but it looked pretty able.
We were introduced to the rest of the crew. The captain was called Kane and he was a bit older (later found out only 28.... hmm too much sun?) and pretty funny in a commanding sarcastic sort of way. There was also Elena, who was cooking all the food and also this posh private school girl who had 'paid to be taught sailing'. - i.e. DADDY paid for her.
The rest of the passengers were quite a mix of nationalities, mainly English, alot of Irish, (who I bonded with quite well, with very heated and crazy games of goon (box wine) induced Shithead!), French, German, 2 nice lads from Sweden, Switzerland, Holland. So pretty much all Eastern Europeans really.
We got our beds sorted, luckily Sarah and I had gotten down into the galley first, so we were able to correct the error of "ok so you've booked a double bed" - uh... no. Wasn't really a problem though, as quite a few people chose to sleep on the deck! We then got under way with the first bit of sailing. People helped with winches and ropes etc, then it was time for the proper sailing. The Boomerang is designed to sail on it's side, so that it cuts through the water, so we all had to sit on one side which was the high point when the boat went on it's side. It was certainly an experience! Within an hour we saw 2 humpback whales. The parent one was teaching the young one the 'petrol slap' which basically looked like they were waving at us. It was pretty cute!
The area is another area of Captain Cook naming. The area is called the whitsundays because he sailed through it on Whitsunday (actually it was a monday... but he didn't know about the time difference) The main beach was called Whitehaven, which is a place in the UK that he was born.
We sailed for quite a while, then had dinner quite near the Whitehaven beach. We had salad, bbq chicken, rice and Tzatziki (not as good as mine of course) and it was all very delicious. The rest of the afternoon, evening, we basically just chatted etc.
SATURDAY 8TH AUGUST
We were told that we'd need to be ready for 7am, which was quite difficult, seeing as this guy opposite us was snoring VERY loudly. - remember the choking hippo noise that was the guy in Melbourne? Well not QUITE as bad, but he definitely kept alot of people awake. We got ready though and were taken in groups in the dingy over to a drop off point called Tongue Bay. We then climbed up to 'look out point' where it's literally impossible to take a bad photo of the standard 'whitehaven photo'. - Beautiful. We then made our way down to the beach, which was the whitest sand I've ever seen. - The sand is actually 99.6% sillica so it's very small and squeaks when you walk on it. It almost looks like snow! Apparently the sand from whitehaven beach was used and melted down to make the lenses for the Hubble Space Station.(###?) We waded in the water and saw stingrays swimming about in the shallows. - didn't go too near those after the Steve Irwin incident!! We then just sat around sun bathing, playing badminton, Football, rugby etc for about 3 hours before it was time to get back to the boat for lunch - hot dogs, pasta and potato salad.
On the way back to the boat, one group was lucky enough to have a huge turtle surface very near them and I managed to get a picture of it from the Boomerang.
After lunch we were taken to a little bay to do some snorkeling of the Great Barrier Reef! I was quite worried about this, but excited at the same time. Sarah decided she didn't want to do the snorkelling. I put on the first wet suit they gave me, which I think was a medium... it was laughably baggy! - not really going to keep me very warm. So I changed to a small which was alot better, if not a little too tight. We eventually got in and I helped one of the Irish guys who can't actually swim, but we all had these floatation devices, like foam tubes that make it alot easier to stay afloat. He wasn't doing too well with one, so I gave him two and he had a great time. Before I got in I had my foot in the water and one fish actually swam up and either kissed or headbutted my foot! - maybe it thought it was food, but it was pretty funny. The water was pretty cold actually but it really was beautiful! So many different fish that swim right up to you. The coral was many different colours, not as bright as you see on tv, but that's due to coral bleaching which apparently is down to global warming and humans. I swam around with the Irish guys on the hunt for Nemo! (clown fish) - unfortunately I wasnt able to see one, although there was one apparently. There was some huge fish there too, a few Bass I think.
It was then time to come back to the boat for a bit more sailing then dropped the anchor near Hook Island. We were then taken over to a bit of coral beach to have some cheese, crackers, beer, pickled onions (yes... i tried some...) and dips, to watch the sunset over the water.
We then came back to the boat for dinner, although not before we fed bread to some big fish and then Ruth jumped in for another swim! - spaghetti Bolognaise and garlic bread - although alot of us were very stuffed from the cheese and crackers. ;)
After dinner a few people played some drinking games, more games of Shithead and people generally sat around chatting and drinking their beer and goon. I was one of the last to go to sleep as was sat up chatting about rubbish with Ruth, a lovely Irish girl from near Belfast.
SUNDAY 9TH AUGUST
We had another opportunity today for a bit more snorkeling at a different area. Having done it once and not been eaten by a shark, I decided not to do it for a second time and give the sharks another opportunity! So instead I sat in the dingy feeding the fish with bread and making them swim near peoples heads hehehe.
We then sailed on the side again back to Airlie beach. - it was alot steeper this time and it felt like we were all going to slide down and off the boat! - apparently this wasn't even the steepest it goes! Well it definitely works as we were travelling very fast!
Once back at shore we posed for a few group boat shots. Kane announced that a table had been reserved for Beaches that night for us, so more free nibbles and drinks!
Sarah & I checked back into the hostel for some reason in a 4 bed dorm with a TV and a fridge and had the best shower of the past few months! We watched Out of the Blue (woo hoo), Australian Idol and also a programme on Fraser Island!
We did go town to the bar for the free drinks etc and some food, but we were pretty tired and headed back to the hostel quite early to get some sleep.
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