Airlie Beach blog Part 2: Now where did I get to...The day after we finished our Fraser Island trip we boarded the bus to continue our journey up the coast. The Oz Experience breaks up the journey from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach by heading inland towards the outback to Kroombit Cattle Ranch which turned out to be one of the most fun stop offs so far on my trip. The journey took around seven hours and we arrived at the cattle station around lunch time. It was a really cool set up and exactly how I imagined it to be! After lunch me and Ellie signed up to go horse riding...but this wasn't any old horse riding...it was goat herding on horseback! I was a bit nervous to start off with considering I've never been on a horse in my life but I had so much fun and I had a lovely horse called Buttons who looked after me very well hehe. We headed out to the paddock and bascially had to ride all around herding the goats by directing them with our horses and shouting goat noises at them...very amusing! So much fun and a great experience for my first time on horse back :)

After the goat herding we joined up with the others while they had a go at Clay Pigeon shooting and then we all took part in the infamous Oz Experience goat branding competition. This bascially involves teams of three...the goat catcher, the goat tipper and the (pretend) goat brander...and a goat! Oh my god it was absoutely hilarious to watch, my stomach actually ached from laughing lol. Unfortunately my team failed miserably and had the slowest time of the lot but I like to think this just made it all the more entertaining to watch! After the winners had been announced we were all told to stand in a circle and hold hands and then the guy in charge of the ranch pulled out a cattle prodder...and the rest is pretty self explanatory lol. After being electricuted we headed back to the ranch for dinner and then had a go at some whip cracking which was fun...and very noisy! The finale of the evening was the mechanical bull which was also very entertaining to watch...I was pretty useless and had a total time of three seconds before being thrown off! It's definately a lot more difficult that it looks! After everyone had had a go we had a few drinks and then headed off to bed after an amazingly fun packed day :)

The next morning we started our mammoth 11 hour journey up to Ailrie Beach. After the luxury of travelling in one of the new Oz Experience coaches to Kroombit we were pretty gutted to have one of the old 'cosy' trailer buses up to Airlie...but we also had a really cool driver for the journey which made the journey a lot less painful! On the way up we stopped off at a bowls club (v.random but still lots of fun) and then also at a little town with literally one pub and a corner shop that literally sold EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink. The place was piled high with labelled cardboard boxes...I even saw a box labelled 'Fridge shelves' haha. After the giys had finished their green beers (for St. Paddy's Day!) we started the final leg of our journey and arrived in Airlie Beach early evening...by which time the main street was already buzzing and packed full of people celebrating. That night we went out for dinner with the people off our bus and joined in the celebrations at the local Irish pub, Shinanigans :)

The next day we had a chilled morning and then headed over to board our boat for our Whitsunday Sailing adventure. We were booked onto a boat called Condor which is one of the most famous 'Maxi Yachts' and has won every major ocean race twice...so it's pretty fast lol! The boat itself was very cosy with all 29 guests sleeping in a big cabin below deck so we got to know everyone on the boat quite well over the two days lol. We headed out to sea...and it started to rain :( The sea was pretty choppy and it was FREEZING so we all had our rain macs on with the hoods securely tied!...not really how I imagined my Whitsunday sailing experience to be like haha. We had three crew members on board with us who were all really cool and encouraged everyone to get involved with the sailing of the boat...although it all looked bit complicated to me lol! We had a really great group of people on the boat too which made it even more enjoyable. Our first stop was Blue Pearl bay which is one of the best places to go snorkelling so we got into our (very sexy) stinger suits and took the the plunge...and it was absolutely stunning! The coral was beautiful and there were so many fish, wherever I looked I was surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of the most colourful fish I've ever seen. I absolutely loved it...especially when the crew members decided to throw fish food at me in the water lol. After the snorkelling we sailed onto Nara Inlet, our stop for the night. We had a yummy dinner and a chilled evening out on the deck. That night I had a surprisingly good nights sleep...despite the snoring brigade that we had on board haha. The next morning we were woken up early by the crew starting the motor to get us on our way to Whitehaven Beach. At Whitehaven we walked to the lookout and then had time to relax on the beach. We were a lot luckier with the weather today and it was bliss to get back onto the boat and sunbathe out on the deck....now that's how I imagined the Whitsunday Sailing trip to be like:) In the afternoon we sailed to Maureen's Cove for some more snorkelling and then headed onto Stonehaven where we stopped for the night. That evening, after a 1 minute well deserved shower, we had a yummy BBQ on deck followed by more drinks and another chilled evening out on deck. My good night's sleep the first night was followed by a pretty sleepless night the second night. Down below deck with 27 people sleeping it was like a sauna and all through the night there was a loud banging on my side of the boat...which I managed to convince myself was a shark attacking the boat lol. The crew were very amused by my theory the next morning haha. The next day we sailed back to Airlie Beach to complete our Whitsunday trip. It was really windy when we set off and so it was a very choppy ride back! The boat was right on its side...it's pretty scary sitting on the high side of the bat and looking back into the raging water on the other side. Lots of fun too though! We arrived back at Airlie Beach late morning and literally ran to the laundry room haha. That evening, feeling all refreshed and clean again after a long, hot shower we went out for dinner and drinks with everyone off the boat. The crew book the table and then for every four people that turn up you get a free jug of wine and beer. We had a pretty good turn out and a really fun night was had by all :)

And that brings me to today woo! We're in Airlie Beach for a couple of days to give us some time to chill and then we head on up to Magnetic Island, Mission Beach...and then Cairns, our final destination in Australia...not long left now.

Anyway, my belly is rumbling so I'm off to grab some lunch and chill by the lagoon :)

I'll be in touch again soon xxx