So the last couple of days have been very traumatic! Mum and dad you may want to stop reading here...!!
I have to include it in the blog as it was an experience!
Where to start...
So for anyone that doesn't know the whitsundays are a group of islands (74) with beautiful scenery and cannot be missed when visiting Australia! The tours range from $160 for a day to $400 dollars for 3 days. Us tight Poms decided we didn't want to pay for this tour and would rather the local experience. So we got chatting to the owner of the biggest boat company in the whitsundays (that run the tours) and blagged ourselves a free tour but it had to be in a smaller boat (an ex police boat). We thought this was great! So headed out early that morning, we were told it'd be rough as it was really windy but it should be fine if you can cope with sea sickness. So there was me, jenny, izzy and Dave (the guy driving the boat who has been sailing all his life, incredibly experienced and knowledgable). This so called bad weather turned out to be horrendous. I've never seen waves like it. We had full waterproofs and snorkel masks on because we were getting soaked with every wave the salt was stinging our eyes just with sunglasses on. We were hanging on for dear life as the boat took off over every wave. I have photographic evidence of our bruised bodies from hitting the boat every time it landed. I was quite scared until one particular moment which made me absolutely terrified for my life. We hit a 3 metre wave where the wind was going the opposite direction to the wave which threw us into the air nose up so the boat was actually vertical. I saw Dave throw himself forwards to make the boat go back down again and I stood up ready to get into the water. I was convinced we were going in but somehow Dave managed to get the boat flat again. He stopped and said, this is too dangerous and we headed towards the nearest island. We had to stay there overnight as it was too dangerous to continue. It was quite a cosy night, we made a fire and chilled with some food still a bit shaken up. Dave admitted afterwards he was terrified himself and had never seen anything like it ( he's normally very adventurous and not a lot scares him). He said if we'd gone in we'd have had to call mountain rescue and may not have survived the waves. I feel lucky to be alive!
So as if that wasn't enough, in the morning we were woken up by the park rangers who maintain the island; we got a $500 fine for camping without a permit even though we had to in order to stay alive! We thought this was bad luck so decided it was best just to head home instead of visiting more islands. We got ready to leave and the boat wouldn't start... The battery was dead. This was the third piece of bad luck. We were stranded on an island. Dave rang his friends with boats but they were all out at sea on other trips miles away. We had to call the rescue team and they said they'd charge us $400-$600 just for a jump start! We said no and radio'd over to a nearby water sports resort. Luckily Dave did a deal with them and managed to get them to jump start the boat for $100. Saved! We quickly made it home on a less bumpy ride. I've never been so glad to have my feet on dry land.
So I thought that was the end of the traumatic experiences and had to say a sad goodbye to izzy and jen as the time had come for me to go in order to make my flight for New Zealand next week. I had a 12 hour bus drive ahead of me so thought... Just sleep and relax, that'll be nice. Until a very drunk old Australian man decided to sit next to me on the bus. He was being verbally very rude making sexual comments and turned to punch one of the girls next to me. The bus driver kicked him off and I had to make a statement for the police!
All very traumatic again! Sorry mum and dad if you have continued to read this!! That's the end of it now I'm sure. The main thing is I'm safe and sound and it's all part of the adventure hey!

Ignore the next sentence (I can't seem to delete it)

in order to stay alive! tour