Arrived in airlie beach in the early hours on the 1st after hopefully my last ever overnight greyhound!! Too tired to sleep I had a quick explore of the local area in the morning and had a wonder up by the gorgeous lagoon and the beach. Unfortunately the time had come to splash my cash on a new camera.... I was trying to do without but it wasn't going to happen!! A bus ride, a big battle with my conscience and $200 later, I was the proud owner of a new waterproof, shockproof, AMY-PROOF camera. (hopefully!)

I used the afternoon to have a mini nana nap before heading out in the evening. So many familiar faces! It was lovely to catch up with a lot of people that I'd lost by staying longer than most in Brisbane.

Unfortunately the morning was not full of such good news... We'd already had a bit of warning that there was a problem with our boat but they told us there was a 99% chance it would be running - pretty good odds, right? Wrong! It took them until midday on the day of departure (when we were meant to leave in the morning) for them to finally admit that the propellor couldn't be fixed in time and that our trip would not be running. Now we had a decision..... To go on with our trip and skip out whitsundays altogether, or to buy a last minute boat trip and do it anyway, and sort out the money later. Although I can't exactly say my funds are in full flow, I opted not to miss out and to get a deal as the offers for that day were fairly cheap to fill up the spaces. The original boat, Avatar, was a large racing catamaran built for a luxurious ride around the whitsundays. However our replacement, British Defender, was a proper sailing boat so you really had to all chip in and take part... Slightly daunting at first but pretty good fun!

Our departure was delayed due to slightly dodgy weather but we finally set sail from Abell Point Marina around 3pm. I'd been told that the food would be good on all of the boats and when I saw the huge piles of luxurious fruit for us as we got on I knew I'd heard right!! Although the sailing wasn't so relaxing, being able to dangle your legs off of the side of the boat whilst we were on a 45 degree angle (which we were for most of the trip) was a brilliant experience. We caught a bit of rain on the way out but everyone kept their spirits high and thankfully that was the last we had to deal with of the wet stuff for the whole trip - hoorah! The first evening was just spend chilling on board and heading to our first overnight stopping point, Caves Cove, looking over Hook Island. After hearing many horror stories about the tiny bedspaces I wasn't too optimistic but it actually wasn't so bad and with a bit of goon it wasn't long before I was asleep... and it wasn't long before I was woken up either! Turns out the day of a sailor starts no later than 6am, just what a backpacker is used to!

Up on top deck we were greeted with gorgeous sunshine. After breakfast we got in to our stinger suits and went for a snorkel around the edges of Hook Island. Never seen soo many fishies in my life! It took me a little while to get used to the sensation of snorkelling but once I had I managed to catch some amazing views of the coral.

Next stop was blue pearl bay for another lot of snorkelling followed by another lot at langford sand island. Unfortunately here the water was way too shallow which meant I sliced my feet open quite a lot :( Then we headed down to tongue bay to the hill inlet lookout; a gorgeous view over the whole of whitehaven beach. Probably one of the most "wow" moments on my trip so far! The way the sand is marbled is simply stunning. Down on the beach was everything the postcards promised it would be - only with a few more clouds. We lost the sun towards the end of the visit but it was still a gorgeous beach. The sand is made up of 98% silica which is why it is so pure and white..... It also never retains heat and you can use it to clean your teeth and your jewellery, nice! Our last call that day was Hook Passage, our overnight stop. We were perfectly positioned to watch a beautiful sunset before having another chilled night with goon. Our deck leader "Spacey" also put up a huge tent over the top of the boat so the whole thing warmed up and felt very cosy :)

Unfortunately the yesterday morning was our last day and was just spent sunbathing on deck whilst we began our trip back to the marina. I got my go at putting up the sails (with some highly unattractive photos!) but I'm glad I gave it a shot!

Even though it wasn't my first choice, British Defender was still good fun. I didn't gel with the group brilliantly well but there was another lone girl traveller on there that I clicked really well with so I was happy with that! It also felt pretty good to sail past the other motorboats at incredible speeds and gave you a much better rush. The only downside is now going through the process of getting the money back... But I'm trying to not let that have too much of an effect on my time. Last night we headed down to the DU bar for our after party.... Spent mainly with Mel (our wonderful boat chef) and not really anyone from my group but a brilliant night out and a good way to spend my last evening in Airlie Beach.

This morning I'll be getting the 5 hour coach up to Townsville to go over to Magnetic Island :) hope everyone is well at home. Amy x