Here's our journal entry from Airlie Beach!

We arrived in Airlie Beach after a 11 hour bus journey from cairns. Our hostel was really nice, a bit like a holiday park in Cornwall or Devon! We had a big room with it's own kitchen and bathroom. On our first day we explored the town. Airlie Beach is a bit like Cairns in that the beach here isn't great although there is a lagoon (manmade beach) which you can sunbathe and swim at. The town is pretty small but there are some nice shops etc to look round!

On our third day we did a trip of the Whitsunday Islands which is the main attraction around here. The boat was much bigger and posher than the one in Cairns and more sturdy so it didn't rock too much! On the way to the first Island we sailed through a cyclone and thought we were in for a rough ride like the trip in Cairns but once we had sailed through it the sky cleared and we ended up having a really hot sunny day.

The first Island we visited was Whitehaven beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world - and it really was. The sand was so white and luxurious, it felt like silk and actually squeaked when you walked on it because it was so fine. The sea was crystal clear and we saw some huge fish and rays just off shore swimming about our feet! While we were there a sea plane landed which was pretty spectacular!

The next Island was Hook Island where we went to an underwater observatory and then snorkelled off the beach over some reef. We had to wear stinger suits to snorkel as it is Jelly fish season over here, so looked really attractive - not! While we were snorkelling the guys threw bread into the sea to feed the fish so they were literally swimming around our heads! One even nibbled my ear!

The last Island we went to was Daydream Island where we visited the resort. It was so nice and we would have loved to have stayed there if we could have afforded it! We were allowed some time here to explore so we walked round the island, went for a drink and then found a hammock to laze in. While Ben was in the hammock, I took some pictures of the beach and heard something fall on the sand next to me. I thought it was Ben messing around and throwing stuff at me but then we realised we were actually under some coconut trees and the coconuts were falling off - luckily we didn't get knocked out though!

The trip was so amazing and we had a great day. We were so lucky with the weather being nice and saw the most amazing beach we have ever seen.

Anyway, we're off to Hervey Bay next and will be doing a trip to Fraser Island from there so we'll update again soon.