10 hours on a coach and we arrive in Airlie Beach and what a great change of scenery. We immediately felt more at home and warmed to the town. We spent a night in a dorm and then headed out to sea the following day on what we thought would be the trip of a lifetime. We were going to be going on a sailing trip around the Whitsundays on what used to be a racing Yacht. Excellent!

When we headed out on the yacht it was beautiful weather. There were 10 of us and 2 crew all sitting with our legs hanging over the side on what appeared to be a millpond glistening in the sun. We went snorkelling in our full body (including hats) wet suits and found Nemo (again) and saw other fishies and had a great time. We had a nice dinner and sat on top of the boat until late drinking wine and talking without a care in the world and looking forward to getting out to Whitehaven beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Now just in case you are unaware, on a sailing boat it is better for the passengers/crew to sit on the "high" side of the boat as the boat leans on it's side when the sails are being used. This means that when the sails were up we always had to be up on deck with our legs hanging over the side of the boat, with the boat right up on it's side...whatever the weather.

Well the following day we wake up to grey skys, rain and 30 knot winds....yippee! So we start the day with some snorkelling and saw lots of nice fish and coral again, loving the GBR, nice work Australia. We got back on the boat and before we headed off we heard a strange noise, "Oh that sounded like a whale or a dolphin blow hole" said I. Then as plain as day a dolphin jumps out of the water, followed by his friend and they swim along in the water away from us! Wow, I saw dolphins in the wild and they were so cool! The skipper told us that we were in for a rough ride and we all got excited and put on our yellow sailor jackets to keep a little dry a slightly warmer. We headed out from the sheltered bay we were docked in over night and into the open waters where it began to get a bit rough. Everyone found it great fun to start off with, we were all laughing and joking and losing our tummys like you do when you are on a rollercoaster and then the waves started to get a little bigger and we got a bit weary, then they got a bit bigger and people looked a bit worried, then they got a bit bigger and I was cutting my hands on the wire (the only thing to hold on to) where I was holding on so tight. It was still funny though, in a "I'm not sure if this boat is going to tip over if these waves get any bigger, so I'd better laugh or I'll cry" kind of a way. Turns out we were sailing in 2.5 meter high waves and they were crazy high! Well we didn't even get halfway to Whitehaven beach when the skipper decided that we would have to turn back. This was all well and good and I think people were pretty happy about it, but it meant we would have to turn the boat around, so we would all have to move to the other side of the boat. This was not easy as we were mid-storm! We had to crawl along the edge with only wire to hold on to and sit in the back of the boat until the sails had been sorted. Now as there were only two crew members, we were there to lend a helping hand and it just so happened that Barry was asked to do something or other with a rope. I have never seen him sick before (when he is sober) and I could see in his face that he was not well. He just couldn't get the rope in the right place and the guy was making him do it again and again until he got it right! This clearly made matters worse as shortly after doing this and when we had all moved to the other side he was losing his lunch down the side of the boat for around an hour or two, it was not pleasant. It wasn't just him though, I'm going to say about 60% of the people were being sick. Luckily I managed to focus on the horizon and was alright.

Once we got to a sheltered place we docked and went to visit a cave where there were some aboriginal paintings and a waterfall (which I fell over and bruised my butt in). This was all well and good but by this point people were cold, wet, hungry and feeling claustrophobic from the boat. This is the point at which our boat decided that it would set alight. Great, a fire on a boat...and to make matters worse, our lunch was down there! I don't think anyone really knew what to be more worried about, the fact that our vessel was in flames and the life jackets were behind the fire and we couldn't get a wet suit on in a hurry or the fact that the potato salad was getting intoxicated with fumes.

Well, good news, the fire was put out and we were alright. Next problem, the toilets and showers had broken and could not be used and we were told that if we needed the toilet, we would have to hang off the side of the boat...ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!! We faced all the elements earth, wind, fire and water to have our dignity taken away by bad plumbing?! I would rather drown thank you. By this point I wanted to get back onto dry land and never get on another sailing boat in my life again.

The worst thing about dry land after two days and nights on a boat is that you continue to rock. This lasted for about 48+ hours and was intensified by our double room being a wood cabin, excellent. We spent the next day kissing the ground and booking our ticket out of Airlie Beach. 74 Islands in the Whitsundays and we circumnavigated 1, but what a way to do it. Thankfully I can look back and laugh. However, I think that Queensland has something against us.