When we arrived in the Whitsundays we just timed it for a mini cyclone! We had to pay for a campsite and stayed for 3 nights waiting for the weather to turn. We did see our first wild wallabie with a joey so that was exciting! We were glad we waited as two days later the weather was looking a lot better and we were off on a day trip around the islands. The group that we were with were really fun and friendly, in particular three crazy Austrians kept us all entertained. Our first stop was to the view point called Hill inlet. It was a short easy walk and the view was brilliant. Even with all the sights we have seen so far on our trip a good view still takes our breath away. It is nothing like any views we have seen before and even the foreboding dark clouds couldn't dampen our spirits. We took in the sight for a good 10 minutes and then went to look at the local residents that guard the toilets. They were pretty scary, two giant spiders I thought of Beth immediately! They were huge but didn't move the whole time we were there, just sat posing for our pictures. We had around 1 ½ to amuse ourselves before travelling to another island to go snorkelling. James and I had bought our own lunch and looked like a pair of nerds when the rain came over for a brief time and we whipped out our waterproofs with the hoods up eating our packed lunch. We looked around to see everyone else enjoying the buffet provided (at an extra cost-fools!) with their swimwear on braving the rain. Sheepishly we took off our jackets when the rain passed through and went for a walk to admire the soldier crabs whilst the rest of the group finished their lunch. The soldier crabs were without a doubt the highlight of the trip for us, we were fascinated by them. We couldn't believe the company didn't advertise the soldier crabs, we loved them, still can't get over it! Anyway enough about the crabs, we went to the first snorkelling stop off and adorned our sexy stinger suits. The visibility wasn't that great due to the rain from the past few days but you could still see the amazing coral and beautiful fish that the barrier reef has to offer. We saw some giant fish that were so used to snorkelers that they swim right past you. The other snorkelling sight was just as beautiful but there were fewer tourists and consequently the fish weren't as friendly. The journey back was really fun as we raced the other boat back and surfed the wake. James laughed at me when I got over excited as we did a big loop and could see the other boat. It was a great day and we managed to have a speed shower at the campsite before making our way towards Townsville, our next stop before Cairns.