Arrived into the beautiful town of Airlie! It is nice, we like! Tired after the journey we kipped for an entire day before embarking on our voyage of discovery. On our way to the boat we bumped into 4 Dublin girls who we had met on St. Paddys day and on the plane over. Together we ventured off into the great wide ocean aboard a fine filly of a vessel- The Atlantic Clipper- a 34m long yacht complete with saloon and deck top spa! The first day was spent getting to know the 50 other passenegers and crew. Special mentions to Crazy Dave the Diver, Tiny Tim the Deckhand and first mate Jimmy (who smelt like a winner!). With our siren like voices, and the aid of several boxes of goon (backpacker's favourite boxed wine), we quickly became the most popular passengers on board....NAT!!

We were up with the sun at a ridiculous hour to visit Whitehaven beach, 2nd best beach in the world....FACT!! The sand is 98.9% silicate, so nearly pure crystal (We made full use of this for exfoliation purposes), and is so precious that there is a $20000 fine if u remove any from the beach! We did manage to stow sum away in our towels however and have shook it all carefully into a container, such rebels! The beach has only ever been mined once, to make the Hubble telescope lens! Sorry for all that science bit, just had to get the greatness of the beach across! Back to business.....We returned to the boat for a hearty seaman's lunch before heading out, just round the corner from mantaray bay (eek!), kitted out in snorkels and stinger suits...we were so hot! (Photos soon) Saw some amazing coral reef and so many types of fish, was unbelievable experience. We also had the privelege of meeting Wally, the famous friendly Napoleon Wrass who frequents the bay from time to time. We swallowed copious amounts of seawater in our awe and frantic attempts to escape the beast! (Underwater snaps on the way but have downloaded image of actual fish that we came face to face with, Wally).

Back on board we witnessed the most amazing sunset from the deck when we dropped anchor in Blue Pearl Bay. We also had a few visitors in the form of sharks and dolphins, including a baby dolphin. Was soo amazing seeing them so close up. Very surreal way to spend Easter Sunday. That night more goon lead to Charlene almost splinching herself in a valiant attempt to make her mother proud by attempting to replicate Elaine's party piece in a drinking game...

Next day more snorkelling ensued which resulted in Vicky being almost eaten alive by a variety of marine animals, which lead to her attempting to swim with her arms flaying frantically above her head (spirit fingers). Afterwards we climbed back aboard, peeled off our stinger suits and sat down to lunch, all before 9.30am!! We reluctantly prepared to disembark the Clipper and after an emotional farewell to all the crew we returned to land where we spent the next 3 days trying to get rid of our sea legs!

That night (Easter Monday) a pirate themed reunion party took place. Yet more drunkenness, our manic dancing prompting barmen to give us free drink, we spent $5 all night...Good times! Spent the remainder of our time on Airlie lounging around the lagoon, recovering from the most amazing Easter, and frantically changing our dates in order to stalk our new found friends down the coast. They love us really. We even successfully nabbed one to accompany us to New Zealand...Great success!!!