As we came over the hill towards Airlie beach, I was greeted by beautiful clear sea, a picturesque marina and, drum roll please, sun. Beaming hot, skin melting, blinding sun and it was like the medicine I needed from the raining misery in Cairns. Driving through the small town I spied all the necessary buildings I needed during my time here- hostel, mcdonalds, pub.
I got off at the bus stop 2 hours early than we expected which is ideal since I could check in to the hostel early and arrange the paperwork for the Whitsundays boat trip the next day. I got off with a girl called Eefje (don't worry I have spelled that right, shes Dutch) a slightly hyperactive girl that I met in tropic days in cairns and we both headed over to Magnums hostel. This hostel was huge and made up of several blocks of buildings snaking through a wood that lay behind the hostel. You felt like you were camping more than staying in a hostel. That night after getting ready I went off to find my crazy Dutchwomen.
I eventually found her in a bar attached to the hostel with a Swedish bloke who couldn't drink alcohol and had as much personality as a teaspoon, and a german girl who looked like a spotty faced 12 year old. Wow, looks like I'm in for a wild night. After hanging around for 5minutes, racking my brains for an excuse to leave, a barman came round a plonked a huge pizza in front of us and a jug of beer. A quick confused look from all of us and he uttered the two words all backpackers love to hear - 'it's free.' I'm not sure why or what we did to deserve it but as soon as the pizza was hoovered up and the beer was drained, the party games started. The first one up was limbo, and each time you got under you got a free shot. A bad combination for all involved considering the more shots you have the worse your balance gets. The next was 'go fetch' which I immediately volunteered to do where an item is called and you have to run and find it quicker than the other contestants. I failed at returning a bra that wasn't your own. Stupid german girl. I'm surprised she was wearing a bra. Free drink though for taking part. Finally there was a didgeridoo competition which I was class at, thanks to my vacuum practicing, but as usual there's always a smart arse who's takes it way too seriously and practices everyday for this very moment. So he won it. Another free drink voucher for me though plus more jugs of beer on the table. Bloody marvellous. I zonked out in bed as drunk as a skunk and I didn't spend a cent. That's my idea of a good night out.
The tour the next day wasn't until 2pm so I had a nice lie in to nurse the head. After checking out I made my way to the Marina to get on board the 60foot maxi yacht called Broomstick. All the boat so elegant and pristine against the bright blue water. Even the smaller ones looked more luxurious than my house. Broomsticks skipper was called Mick who's been in the sun for so long his face hadn't been the same colour in a decade. The crew were made up of an over-keen geeky guy called Brendan and a stocky girl called Sara who had bigger muscles than Mick and Brendan put together. The yacht was incredible with the ability to hold 25 crew. At this time of the day inside the boat felt like an oven so all the necessary safety stuff was over and done with quickly before the sails were hoisted (by yours truly) and we were cruising along nicely in the beautiful sunshine. There were 18 of us all together which was mostly made up of german and swiss. I didn't mind but they tended talk quietly amongst themselves in german so was adopted by an english bunch who had known each other on Fraser island. Us english have to stick together. The 1st stop was in Tounge Bay, where we anchored up for the night. The food was amazing and I'm still trying to figure out how they prepared such a feast for so many people in such a tiny galley space. We chilled out that evening. I experienced my first glass of Goon, Australias infamous cheap and disgusting wine made out of fish eggs, would you believe. Sounds appetising, doesn't it. It the backpackers way of getting drink for cheap. A 4litre box of the stuff would cost around $16 which is pretty good going if you had the stomach to handle more than one glass.
That nights sleep was one of the worst I've had since I've been on my travels. there were 8 bunks crammed into our front cabin which soon turned into a sweaty, hot, salty sauna. Added to that was the rumbling snores of an over- tanned Swedish guy with a cold and the buoy which decided to bang heavily of the side of the boat until 6am. By 8am we were up, dressed, breakfasted, and hiking up to the top of a view point on Whitsunday island. In fairness, it was a pretty good view which would have been more appreciated if I had more than 2 hours sleep. We shoe-horned ourselves into our sexy stinger suits, yet more giant condoms, and had a much needed swim off the beach. The sand was the finest and whitest I've ever seen and the turquoise water was so blue, you had blue spots in front of your eyes for the next 10minutes no matter where you looked. After hiking back through the forest and encountering some enormous giant spiders that looked like they could eat my face for breakfast (sorry mum) we set sail again to Lunchum bay where the mask and snorkels came out and we were able see some of the underwater life. I was offered to a dive but it was ridiculously expensive for one dive and we actually saw just as much snorkelling It was pretty good, there was plenty to see it's just the visibility wasn't too good. Sara explained that during extreme changes on temperatures the coral shed some of their algae to form a film that coats the surface of the water, acting as a sunscreen. The coral was still in perfect form from the cyclone and the fish were, as usual, stunning, despite not knowing what any of them were called. I love being in the water and I was the first one to hit the water and the last to be dragged back out again. The islands themselves were scattered everywhere, some huge masses of green landscape, some no more than a couple of rocks. All of them where beautiful and completely untouched which made the experience even more adventurous.
Another hours sailing and we found ourselves in Blue Peril bay where we went snorkelling yet again to see even bigger fish- which we did and lots of them. This time I saw some tiny nemo fish (clown fish to the proper name people out there) amongst the anemone which were so cute!! Glad I finally saw some pretty close up. More food and we were out on deck in the glorious beating sub for our last stretch before heading back to airlie beach marina. We were only allowed one minute rinse off on the boat so a lovely long hot shower was exactly what I needed when I got back. So much for the toughened sailor in me. A quick power nap and I was ready to hit the town.
I met up with the English group on the boat including a couple of others that they had made friends with along the way. We first went to a place called Beaches which was a hostel with club attached. It was happy hour, another two words that backpackers hold dearly to their hearts. We met up with the people from our boat but to be honest they all looked like they were sat there for a funeral so I didn't stick around long. Our band of merry men then headed off to mama africas, another club further down the road. More drinks, a boogie and a conversation with a Scotsman where I didn't have a clue what the hell he was saying and we were back at the hostel at a good hour (around 3am...that's goodish).
Check out at 10 the next day meant I was able to check to if my cards had come through the post in the hostel yet. Guess what...they hadn't. Can't say I was surprised but this threw me into yet another dilemma with the bloody card situation. The woman behind the counter checked the postal reference number and she claimed it was actually in the post office down the road. I bolted there as fast as I could and stood in line drumming my fingers along the counter and biting my finger nails in anticipation. The woman at the computer checked the envelope. No envelope. I asked her to check again. Nothing. Six weeks of no cards and the postal mess up was beginning to grind my gears a tad and this obviously showed on my face because she legged in back to the sorting office to have another look, afraid that soon I'd start throwing punches. She arrived back 5 minutes later clutching my precious parcel my hand. I actually hugged her I was so happy. It turns out that it had been put into the wrong bloody pigeon hole for collection. Good job I made her double check else god knows the pilava that would have come out of cancelling the cards again. So I finally had my cards, my beautiful credit cards, safely back in my hands. Spending time.
Unfortunately bus was at 7 so I had to hang around the bus stop for my first overnight bus to hervey bay. It was half an hour late but better late than never. So I set myself up for what happened to be the worst nights sleep I've ever had.