After my night awake on Maggie island it was a pretty tiring journey down to Airlie Beach and once I got there it was straight into bed for a quick nap. Never really woke up fully so didn't make it out for the night but got a good nights sleep instead for the sailing trip the next day. We had booked a 3 day trip to the Whitsunday Islands which is 74 islands just a little way from the mainland.

The weather wasn't as bright and sunny as I had hoped in the morning which was typical considering last time I went on a boat trip in this country it was a bit bleak as well. Anyhow, we stocked up on goon (aussie cheap wine that is a bit of a religion among backpackers) as it's pretty much cheaper to drink goon than it is bottled water. You basically choose between red, sweet and fruity white or dry white so it's not exactly high quality stuff. The fact that 'fish remains' are one of the ingredients listed says it all really! As pretty much all the boats had been booked up before we looked into it our choice was limited but it turned out we had got a good deal with our boat Eureka II, one of the newest and fastest racing yachts in the fleet which was cool. Time to see if Dad's sea legs and sailing ability would be passed on to me!

Off we set with the crew of Zack and Mattie, a couple of quiet German girls, a Belgium mother and her sons and a group of 5 Irish lads so an interesting combination to say the least. To cut a long story short, the German girls seemed fairly shocked by most things the Irish boys said and the Belgium mum flirted outrageously with any of the guys that would stand near her for more than 10 seconds while her 2 sons just necked cans of beer. Strangely enough though it all worked pretty well and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The sailing was awesome and we pretty much had the sails up for the whole 3 days getting as much speed out of it as we could. It's a great feeling when the boat is at full tilt with one side right in the water crashing through the water. The first day was just all sailing before we arrived at our anchor point and Zack cooked us up a right feast. Luckily we got the cover up over the deck just before it decided to pour with rain which was a bit of a nuisance but we still had a good laugh.

The next day we kicked off with some snorkelling which was a nice way to start a day and there was some really good coral to swim around so we saw pretty much everything there was to see instead of paying for the scuba which some of the boats offer. And then we set off for the Whitsundays showpiece of Whitehaven beach which is supposed to have pretty much the purest sand in the world at over 99% silica so you can even clean your jewellery with it. After a short walk via the lookout point we arrived at the beach and even with a bit of a grey sky it was still spectacular. The sand was as white as white could be and squeaked as you walked over it which was quite strange. A stingray shot past us in the shallows which made us jump not realising they were about and apparently reef sharks often hang about in the shallows too. I left my mark on the beach with a huge art attack which can be seen in the photos!

The evening followed a similar course as the previous day but just with more alcohol and I was massively impressed with all the food that was cooked for us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's amazing what can be knocked up in such a small space. The goon led to some funny times on the deck unsurprisingly and we also got to see a cool fish show alongside the boat with a school of big fish rounding up the smaller ones into a frenzy and then jumping through the water eating them all up. After a game of serial killer which I was totally hopeless at with my lack of flexibility (you basically have to pick up an increasingly smaller object off the floor with your teeth without anything other than your feet touching a surface) it was time for bed.

One more snorkelling trip the next morning which was even better than the first day and then it was back to the boat for the sail back to the mainland and today was the best weather of the lot with a clear blue sky and a blazing sun so a great way to finish a great trip. All these things are pretty expensive to do but there is no point in coming all the way around the world to miss out the highlights of a country or at least how that is how Im justifying it all!

With a tight schedule to keep we sadly couldn't hang around for a night in Airlie where the post sailing trip parties are supposed to be pretty legendary and it was back in the camper and on to Rockhampton.