Airlie Beach & Whitsunday Islands:

Well this is going to be the most difficult blog to write and will explain why........

Both sat here and seriously, genuinely, absolutely no exageration we are actually both still drunk. Booked to go to Magnetic Island today was suppose to get the bus at 9am but waking up at 10am isn't going to quite work, and only woke up because we heard music playing and thought it was still night time and there was a party going on!!!!!!

We woke up both feeling rough and we were quite confused on why we both were covered in scratches and bruises. We had flashbacks later on in the day can remember falling into a bush and couldn't get up because were laughing too much, if anyone would of seen us they would of thought crazy ladies!

Kat has just received a text and apparently the guys Niels and Thomas who we booked to go with us were knocking on our door and tried to wake us this morning with no luck......we were obviously passed out unconsious or something?!?! .....and we're still trying to decide if we just hung out in Mcdonalds at the end of the night or if we did actually scoff something as well, can't quite remember?!

We've had the best nights out and time here and didn't want to leave, 'we love Airlie Beach, yeah!' Met so many cool people and we've come across the same people we've met previously at other places, everyone seems to end up here.

We got offered a job to work in a bar and doing promo work but had to be honest and say we could only do it short term because of our plans so had to turn it down.

.........We shall take a step backwards anyway, when we first arrived we were just relived to have made it to Airlie Beach on the greyhound bus and find out that our whitsunday boat trip on Wings II was still running because many had previously been cancelled due to hurrendous weather and flooding near the area...

Even though it was raining heavily we were still excited for the sailing adventure. Kat bought a sexy transparent rain poncho, and wore it with pride: looking good! Laura refused to join Kat in looking cool so just looked fab like a drowned rat instead, lol! Lets just say we pretty much swam on to the boat after we had been to the shop to buy our goon for the couple of days...

The group for the trip all got together for the introduction by the fun and 'fit' diving instructors and crew and we're taken in to our cabins to be shown our beds. Kat and Laura hit it lucky and got the best double bed, we have to admit we were rather selfish at this point as two grown up guys opposite us had to put up with the tiniest, shortest, single bunks with their bodies curled up inside, awww, how cute, we looked on later with guilt, NOT. ....we were comfy, lol!

Oh my god, after the intro we both seemed to quieten down some what, as the boat got moving we felt beyond ill, didn't realise we would feel see sick!

Kat managed to persuade Laura to give scuba diving a go even though she is majorly afriad of the sea water, fish, and everything else in it! Kat struggled at first with the skill part of practising breathing with the equipment whilst Laura mastered it immediately, things changed however when we ventured further than waist high. Kat swam off and felt quite at home and more confident following a turtle around, Laura wouldn't let go of the instructors hand but we both had the best time and experience ever seeing the beautiful coral and Nemo fish, were so impressed, and Kat was even more incredibly proud that Laura had achieved this!

The boat we chose was gorgeous, we knew we had made the right choice, it was luxury with the nice interior and projector screen that we viewed each days photographs and video clips on every night. And the food kept flowing, it was the best we had eaten in a long time!

Both nights were nice and chilled out with the group getting to know each better and listening to music with the odd glass of goon, very enjoyable, we met some of the best people and were very happy with the chosen lot. Just before tea, we caught sight of a dolphin swimming nearby, what a great finish to the day.

Laura succeeded in participating in one more dive, feeling brave but because of the poor visability the second day and the pre-warning that sharks may be in the area, it went a bit to pot, and she started to panic a little, whilst keeping hold of the instructors hand, he must have loved it! ....this was the end of Laura's diving when the on board instructor informed us a shark had been close!

Katherine was away again but got warned not to swim off too far...

Katherine's third dive (near death experience) (written in first person): Well it started off as well as could be, quite normal actually with me getting kitted up and heading off with Annette again in my group, the only thing being different at this stage was that I had two other different people in my group this time as well. Approx 5-10 mins in to the dive, I was just swimming away quite content, the visability still not too good though when all of a sudden I felt an explosion on my back and thought 'what the f***!' and nearly poo'd my pants...literally! I could hardly see being surrounded by bubbles and my instinct reaction was to try to swim to the surface asap. But thank god I must have been close to the dive instructor Kristian and he had heard my odeal so we grabbed hold of each other and he tried to slow me down keeping me underwater longer to rectify my internal pressure first, whilst I was just seriously scared and wondered what the hell had happened, and felt my air decreasing through my mouth piece each second! When finally out of the water and able to breath normally and speak I panicked and crazily wanted to know what had gone on, to be told my air tube (regulator) had just blown whilst I was 7 metres under, and that this was not a normal experience and that none of the crew on board had ever experienced this themselves throughout their career. ....I felt special, (hardly, i'm totally joking!) The speed boat had already witnessed the explosion of bubbles and was already on his way over to rescue me, I got pulled in to the speed boat and my instructor in the water said to get another set of equipment and to join him and the group back for the dive, the group waited for me whilst I tried to stop shaking. I didn't really have to much time to think about it so I did just that and carried on, but wasn't able to enjoy myself from then and was focusing too much on were the instructor was and didn't leave his side. After returning to the catamaran boat once my third dive was finaly over, the snorkelors nearby, (well 15 metres away on the surface), informed me that they had heard the explosion themselves and wondered what it was. That night I fell to sleep with this occurance on my mind and woke up thinking about exactly the same thing, feeling scared about my 4th dive early the next morning that I had already planned but knew I had to go ahead with it otherwise it would have probably put me off for life, which would have been a total shame as before that happened I thought it was thoroughly amazing! .....very dramatic, ha .....The End.

The weather on the first day was definitely miserable but both 2nd and 3rd day it was gorgeous, hot and sunny and Laura managed to fry her skin! We visited the famous Whitehaven Beach and had lot's of fun pictures taken with the group and Laura saw a stingray in the clear water.

The night of the day we all left the boat was after party time and incredibaly everyone made it, what a fabulous and drunken night it turned out to be, and from then on, we loved Airlie Beach totally.

We made good friends here, and hung around with Thomas and Niels, the Danish guys afterwards, and stayed in touch with some of the others too.

Finally, when we re-arranged our bus for the afternoon, we eventually caught up with the guys on Magnetic Island at 9pm!