Helllloooooo everybody

We are currently in Airlie Beach, having just been on a 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday islands, which was absolutly amazing.

Before Airlie Beach we spent 5 days in a town called 1770, the first place that captain cook discovered in Queensland in, er, 1770 surprisingly!We had quite a chilled out time in 1770 as there isn't much there to do/see, but it was great to have some down time and we spent lots of it sunbathing round the pool and Phil taught me how to play tabletennis (we got to a rally of 20, what a record! hehe). We stayed in a really nice hostel which was abit out of town, and it had a really great common area with tv, pool table, table tennis and a swimming pool, so it was easy to keep ourselves entertained! We ventued to the beach one day which was nice and pretty, but just like all the other beaches we have seen in Oz! We did get abit more active by our 3rd day in 1770 and went on a chopper tour called 'scooteroos', where we were taken around the countryside on chopper bikes, ending at the place where captain cook first sailed into to watch the sunset. The tour was brilliant - i hadn't been looking forward to it too much, considering my lack of drivers licence and all, but it was just like riding a bike, only way more fun. The roads were practically empty and we got to drive round such beautiful countryside, and stopped to see kangeroos, it was ace. Phil also learnt to fly (aka strapped himself into a 2 seater plane whilst joined by a pilot!) - he was allowed to take off and fly abit whilst in the air, getting views over 1770 and the different islands and peninsulas which surround it. he really enjoyed the flight, and has now decided it's going to be his new hobby, and says if anyone is stuck for ideas for what to get him for xmas, you need look no further! We managed to venture out on one evening and went to the only pub in 1770, which was having a 'deck opening party', as they had just built a new deck. It was quite a good party, I think the backpackers there almost outnumbered the locals!

We left 1770 on Sunday evening and got the night bus to Airlie beach. We arrived in Airlie on Monday morning, and started our sailing trip on the Whitsundays on Monday afternoon. The trip was on a quite small ex racing yacht, and there were 15 guests and 3 crew, which was a nice number. The trip was amazing, I don't think there was a best part about it, it was just the whole experience of sailing, seeing the views from the boat, seeing the islands and beaches, and living on board the boat. We had a really good skipper who was quite relaxed about people doing things on board, which meant that I got a chance to helm the boat which I loved - it wasn't as hard as I thought, much easier than dinghys, so I think I'm going to change the type of boats I sail! We were able to go snorkelling during our trip, andsaw some great fish and coral, and we had one stop at Whitsunday Island where we had time at Whitehaven beach. Although we've been to so many beaches in Australia, and have been starting to think 'ah it's just another beach', Whitehaven really impressed us - it was like no other beach we have seen before, and definetly lived up to all the postcards and pictures we've seen of it. Whitehaven is famous for it's sand - it's the second purest sand in the world, thus very fine, and is so so white. We looked at the beach from a viewpoint first where we could see the white beach surrounded by the gorgeous blue/turquoise sea and the islands, which was pretty stunning, but when we got down to the beach itself the sand was just as white and impressive, and the sea was just as blue. It was definetly a spectacular view/experience, and one we won't forget in a hurry!

We enjoyed the Whitsunday trip because of the sailing and living aboard the ship lifestyle too. It was great to be up at 6am each morning eating breakfast looking out at the different islands, and then eating dinner on deck looking at the stars. The sky was really clear and we could see loads of stars and a few shooting stars. As you can imagine there were some pretty good sunsets as well, and last night we saw the moonrise from behind one of the islands, which was a first for me! It was really sad to say goodbye to our ship and crew this morning as we had had such a great time - 3 days really wasn't long enough, we definetly could have stayed a few extra days.

We're ending our sailing trip/time in Airlie Beach this evening by going out for dinner/drinks with the people who were on board the ship, before getting the bus tomorrow north to Mission beach. We're looking forward to going to mission beach, although it will be hotter than it is here - I'll be looking forward to more sunburn!

Hope everyone is well and we'll write more in a few days when we've done some more things,

Love Cat and Phil xxxxx