Hi Guys,

As you can see I am still in Airlie Beach. On saturday morning myself and Katie were up early in preparation for our 3 days sailing onbaord the 'Derwent Hunter'. We arrived at the boat a little after 8am and we were promptly invited onboard. The ship was beautiful with old fashioned sails and polished wooden decks. Myself and Katie were sharing a rather claustraphobic, wardrobed sized cabin with 2 other lads, one a slightly moody lad from Bolton and the other a nice German. After seeing the cabin I instantly knew that I would be sleeping on deck under the stars - it had to be done anyway!

So anyway after sailing for a few hours we made our first stop, which was 'Hill Inlet', this was great as it had a fine look-out to the spectacular and famous 'Whitehaven Beach'. Anyway on the walk up our slightly eccentric, energetic and enthuiastic guide, Andy gave us a little background information on bush life. Andy was hilarious and you found yourself engrossed on whatever came out of his mouth and you kind of get the feeling that even he does not really know what he will talk about. So after spatting out a few interestring facts, such as how to get natural vitamin C in the bush? The answer... you lick the bum of an ant! No I am not kidding, Andy even asked if we wanted to try. Now I am all for trying anything new, but even I found this a little much, but it was amusing nevertherless. So we arrived at the top of the lookout, to the most draw-droppingly beautiful beach I have ever seen. You could see the pristine white beaches and the sea, a fine myriad of blues, turquoises (still can't spell), greens which all changed colours dramatically with the clouds movement. I was litterally blown away and I have seen quite a few nice beaches on my travels. So after about 20 minutes gazing here, taking lots of snaps, we made our way back to the boat, whereby we drifted alond to Whitehaven Beach where we we due to spend the night.

So we arrived at the beach and I was desperate to just run into the gorgeous sea, but we had to donn our un-flattering, budgy smuggling 'stinger suits' (think of a leortard!). So I ask Andy why we can't just go in our swimmers and he gave me his true horror story how he ended up in intensive care for 5 days and was burning for 2 weeks after! Well naturally it was enough to develop yet another fear! After this I was more than happy to wear the stingers suits! Anyway, after a nice swim we played a little beach cricket. When it came to my turn to bat, I actually snapped the bat on my first attempt. When we decided to carry on with the core of the bat only, I then took another swing, and it flew out of my hands and landed on the feet of a rather annoying, stuck up bird from Hertfordshire! You would not have thought that I actually come from a cricketing family, would you? After this we then spent the evenning back onbaord, drinking a few beers and wines before we set for a night under the stars! It was stunning (fast becomming my new cliche), I don't recall ever seeing so many stars! I was more than happy and ended up having a great nights sleep before waking up to a fine sunrise.

The next day, after a lot of coffee and a spot of breakfast, we set sail again. We made our way to another spot whereby we were able to donn our stinger suits again for a spot of snorkelling. I was a little dissapointed that I could not dive, but I was rewarded with superb snorkelling. The sea was so clear, and the colours of the coral and the many fish were enough to keep me happy. After this we then moved on again and after a nice lunch we did a bit more snorkalling. This time though the visibility was not quite as good as there were litterally hundreds of jelly fish, which did spoil our enjoyment slightly. So after our second bout of snorkelling we had the opportunity to help put the sails up. It was great, if not a little tiring hauling up the fine sails as we drifted along at a nice steady pace until we reached our destination for another night under the stars.

The next morning we were again woken up by the rising fireball sunrise and after my caffeine kick and another great breakfast I was wide awake and ready for the day. We again hauled up the sails and moved onto our final spot for more snorkelling. It was a fine spot indeed, with a large spit of sand separating yet more turquoise coloured sea. The snorkelling to be honest was not the best and the visability was poor, but I was more than happy to sunbake for a few hours. After this we again had to haul the sails for our final sail back to Airlie Beach. Part of me was sad to be back on land again but there was another part of me that was craving a nice long shower, as we were limited to 30 second showers and no soap for 3 days.

That evenning we all met up for a nice meal and a few drinks. Whilst it was no way as crazy as my post diving trip it was a great evenning and we happily chatted, laughed and eat together until the small hours of the morning.

So that kind of leads me onto where I am now, for the past few days I have done very little, but chilling and sunbaking in the nice lagoon pool. Tommorrow I am due to fly to Brisbane to meet my good friends, Emma and Ben from my Cambodia and Vietnam tours, so it will be great to catch up with them for a while. After almost 4 months hard travelling I am still loving every minute and I only hope that this continues to be the case until I eventually have to go home for good in Aug/Sept!

Once again I apologise for rambling, and i hope I have not bored you too much. I hope everyone reading this is well.

Take Care

Jon