Airlie Beach/Whitsundays: Monday 24th January - Saturday 29th January

After a couple of days or R&R in Agnes Water we arrived in Airlie Beach, the base town for the Whitsundays sailing trips. Choosing which boat you'll spend your trip on becomes an art form. Having already done our research and booked our place on the aptly named 'British Defender' a pedigree round-the-world winning racing boat we were happy with our decision but it's always the first thing people ask when you meet them in Airlie Beach and the expression on people faces when you inform them that their boat is a 50-passenger party boat when they were expecting a gentle cruise round the island is always priceless.

Airlie itself is extremely scenic, with the mountains on one side and the tropical turquoise ocean on the other. However as we were now up in Northern Queensland, the ocean is like a Thai Ladyboy - often beautiful but try to get in it and you'll be stung! So because of this, a lot of northern QL towns have a man-made lagoon and Airlie's is a superb place to chill out by with a good book.

Our sailing adventure was everything we had hoped it would be. Being a 'proper' sailing boat, the British Defender requires a crew and as such we had a chance to get involved with hoisting the sails and other such nautical sounding things. It also tips over by up to 45 degrees when it's racing at top speed which was great fun, although extremely difficult if you needed to get below decks for the loo.

There are 3 main things that stand out for me about the trip. The first is the sunset which is truly breathtaking out at sea with a rainbow of colours as the sun disappears into the ocean. The second is Whitehaven Beach, a paradise of white sand that's so fine and pure that you can use it to clean jewelry with. The third is the night sky - when you're out at sea without any ambient light from the town you get to experience the stars in all their glory. I've honestly never seen anything like it, there must be about 100 times more stars than you're used to seeing, completely filling every inch of the sky. You can also make out the line of gas and stars that makes up the Milky Way and every half hour or so there's a shooting star. You also get a great view of the Southern Cross, a star formation unique to the Southern Hemisphere and one that you'll see adorning many a backpackers body as the tattoo of choice in Oz.

We also got to do some snorkeling, kitted out in our attractive stinger suits and witness the variety of fish and coral of the Great Ocean Reef (which in all honesty wasn't that amazing). On the first morning, I was sitting on deck eating my cornflakes and drinking my tea and was treated to the sight of a couple of Giant Turtles swimming alongside the boat. As we sat and drank beers with our Dutch friends on the final night we all agreed that despite the cramped beds and how long it takes to get used to the rocking of the boat, it had been an incredible experience and one of the things that make Australia such an amazing place.

We returned to dry land and headed straight for bed to catch up on some sleep and have the second best shower ever (there are showers on the boat but you are limited to 30 seconds per person so we didn't bother and just went 'Au Natural'). It takes a while once you return to land before you stop feeling like you're still on a rocking boat, it's a weird sensation. That night we made our way to Beaches bar where tables are reserved every night for those just returning from a boat trip and they ply you with free alcohol and drinking games (ply away!) and then onto Mama Africa's club afterwards, the Dutchies choice as it plays all the Euro dance crap they love, not that we cared by this point as we were both too drunk on free alcohol to notice.