Sorry its been so long since we've written anything but we've been busy busy busy! (its been so long that we've had to assign different places to each of us so we can catch up on the blog quicker!)

We haven't had chance to write since fraser island, after fraser we went to kroombit cattle station then up to airlie beach where we did the whitsunday sailing trip from, which was AmAzInG.

Airlie Beach is a really cool place to stop on the east coast as it is all really centralised and has a very laid back feel. spent a day having a look around the shops and then lazing by the lagoon where we caught up with my friend ange from uni which was so much fun - traded stories and learned what NOT to do when we get to singapore and thailand! heh.

we chose to do the three day sailing trip, which was really nice as it was really relaxed and we didn't have to struggle too much to fit everything in that we wanted to do. On the first day we headed out at about 1.00 on the S.V.Whitehaven and i LOVED it straight away, pretty sure the others loved it as much as me just as soon as they were stocked up on travel tablets and ginger pills. So relaxing sitting in the sun with the breeze and the waves (trying desperately to spot sharks).

That afternoon we donned our attractive(?) zip up stinger suits and went snorkelling from the beach in blue pearl bay and saw lots of brightly coral really close to the shore which was quite weird compared to anything we've seen before. We were all really proud of ourselves (me and annie probably most proud of ourselves, she braved the shark aspect of snorkelling and i actually had my face underwater! one step for man....)
we saw coral and some brightly coloured fish then we got back to the boat to find out that the others had practically fallen over a stingray and a sea turtle in the shallows!! back to the boat in time to change, have a snack and then eat our evening meal on deck while the sun went down. perfect.
The skipper was telling us that in the evenings in summer, the squid jump out of the water as they are attracted by the lights around the boat and its been known for them to land on deck and once on a deck hand who was just dropping off under the stars. (didnt fancy sleeping outside after that).
He was also telling us a little bit about the area and the fact that during the second world war the australian navy had been beaten back and took refuge in sid harbour. they knew that the japanese subs would be coming to take surveillance photos of how many ships they had so (typical australians) they knocked some up out of plywood and attached them to the existing boats! about one or two to each real ship, and managed to avoid attack!

Got up at 7 the second day for breakfast and were underwater again by 8am!! came back in and dried out in the sun and snorkelled again before lunch. we nearly couldnt be bothered to get back into our wet stinger suits but were really glad we did as it ended up being the most interesting, loads of different colours and sizes of fish and clams that snapped shut when you swam over them. it was probably the one i enjoyed the most because i had finally fashioned the perfect mask/snorkel/flipper combination (frankenstein style) by stealing bits from here there and everywhere so there was no water in my eyes and mouth and the fins didnt give me cramp - i was a bit reluctant to give it back.

In the afternoon we went to tung bay and saw some green sea turtles from the boat before we hopped in the dinghy and motored over to whitsunday island, which was actually discovered on a monday (well done james cook.) we spent the aft on whitehaven beach which was absolutely beautiful, apparently voted best beach in the world by national geographic. the sand is bright white and is 98.9% silica which means it cleans jewellery (which is how i lost my ring in the sea) and if you took a blow torch to it it would make glass, it even squeaks when you walk over it! really enjoyed ourselves and took FAR too many photos.

woke up on the third day to head back to abel point marina and were a bit gutted to find we'd been absolutely eaten alive by bed bugs which took the shine off the trip a little bit but i suppose theres not a huge amount the crew can do if they are living in the timber of the boat.
i probably would have kicked up a bigger fuss if i had known then what was about to happen ... red spots?-not good enough for me, i "decided" to go for the more entertaining option (for everyone else) of being a bit allergic so my spots were big red lumps which quickly turned purple when they got infected and my ankles swelled up to the size of my calves. - asked an ambulance technician i met in a service station a day or so later what she thought and when i saw her disgusted face i made the oz experience driver take me to the docs for some antibiotics- poor man didnt get any lunch because he was waiting outside the chemists for me to get a prescription!!

once we got back off the boat we had to spend the afternoon heat treating our belongings in black bin bags in the sun (looking like homeless people) then washing and drying everything. i was even forced to buy a new dress while everything was washed, sigh. these are the sacrifices one must make. haha.

Despite any of this we are all having an amazing time and have met some really lovely people, had our first 'proper' night out in airlie and really enjoyed ourselves dancing and getting a taste for bundaberg rum.
hopefully won't be this long again until we can get on and update everyone what we're up to. I'm going to try to upload some photos now so speak soon, lots of love, Laura xx