We had a few days in Airlie beach before doing our sailing trip around the WhitSundays so we drove for eight hours from cairns to have a break from driving. Airlie beach is so cute and is such a lovely place to chill out during the day and party hard at night and it has a beautiful harbour too with lovely shops and restaurants along the esplanade. We got there really late and managed to sneak into a caravan resort for free, it was really naughty of us but hey we are poor backpackers after all, the resort was so pretty and so quite, we were parked under a mango tree and were woken up to beautiful parrots and cockatoos but not such beautiful noise as they were making an absolute racket, they are so bloody noisy but it is such a great thing to see birds like that in the wild, who needs an alarm clock, right! So anyway as to not get caught we dashed out the caravan park early and headed into town, the town its self is tiny and also has a man made lagoon along the coast as there are stingers in the sea, we just chilled out there for the day and I went a bit crazy and bought myself a few clothes, five months of wearing the same thing gets so depressing! That night we decided to go out on the town, so went back to the same caravan resort and this time paid but played dumb and pretended we had never been there before, so Darren had to stand there and hear the woman rattle on about where to find everything, 'look woman we bloody know ok', you see we are just getting to good at it, soon we can write a book for backpackers on 'how to get free accommodation and not get caught', ok so we got caught in Darwin, that was just bad luck… and besides if it weren't for that crazy woman it would have been fine! anyway so off we went out, Darren decided that he did not want to pay $2.50 for the bus so walked the mile into town while I waited, I mean honestly, you don't want me to get all sweaty before a night out, right, and for the added bonus I started laughing like a crazy woman as we passed him while he was walking up a hill, it was too funny!!
I cant believe how friendly Aussie's are compared to the English because we sat at a table full of strangers and they instantly started introducing themselves to us, it was so great, also a couple, Lucas and Emma whom had just had their first baby and Emma having her first drink since, sat down next to us and we ended up having such a great night, of course the Jaeger bombs were freely flowing and it was so nice meeting people outside of hostels, the next day we met them for coffee, and I got so broody as 6 week old Georgie came along, she is so cute, don't worry I am not ready, I still have so many things to see and of course update you while I do it, so don't panic, Ok Darren!!
The next night consisted of us watching DVDs and dying silently as the mother of all hangovers were being nursed. I swear I am not drinking ever again!!!
Yay so it was time for our sailing trip, two nights and three days, on a smallish 'party' boat with 25 people, ok fine scratch what I said earlier I know I will drink again! 'Goon', I have not yet introduced it to you yet, it is a 4 litre box of cheap wine, and every single backpacker has one, it is honestly a must have in Australia, so because the boat was BYO alcohol everyone including us had the 'goon'. The boat its self was called Habibi and was small but comfortable and the rooms were honestly shoe boxes so we were literally sleeping nose to nose, but hey that is what makes it fun. We had never been sailing before so were really excited, everyone was around the same age so we expected to be lots of partying. The first day was just sailing, obviously, I mean no snorkelling or swimming. WhitSundays has around 74 islands so its pretty big, the water is such a stunning greeny blue colour and the beaches are so beautiful.
Its weird sailing as the boat tilts to one side and feels like its about to topple over, that day was so windy anyway and we were all sitting at an angle, but its good fun. Our first night we had a barbeque, the food was so great, and then pretty much everyone got on the goon, and drinking games were introduced, we made some really good friends on the boat just by breaking the ice and playing games. I got so drunk that I stumbled into bed with my bikini and sundress still on and I even think I woke up in the exact same position, the goon hangover is honestly torture and we got woken up at five because of the noisy engine and had to be up for breakfast anyway at 6.15 so yes we were all feeling very sorry for ourselves. That day we were dropped off at whitehaven beach at 7 in the morning, that's the earliest I have ever started sun tanning haha, but oh my god, paradise, the sand is 99.2% silica compared with 40 something % on normal beaches, I have never in my life felt such soft sand, it was like walking in talcum powder, it was so soft that when you kicked is, it made a squeaking sound, and its so white that it looked like we were sitting in snow, it was so beautiful, the water was lovely too but had stingers in it so we all had to wear stinger suits, I tell you I looked like a model, honestly too gorgeous for my own good, haha seriously, we looked like bloody oversized penguins, but hey I would rather wear them that get stung by those horid things. After our lovely four hours on the beach the boat picked us up and we spent the day snorkelling around the great barrier reef, and just chilling on the boat, it was so relaxing and was not a bad way to spend our week days, hey. Because I was so broken from the night before I stayed off the 'goon' that night and we passed out about 8.30pm, everyone else partied on but I just could not face another goon night. Our last day was spent snorkelling and jumping off the boat, seeing who could make the biggest splash and most slapping the water, so there was a lot of oooh's and ahhhh's, and the we did some more sailing back to Airlie. It was a great few days and highly recommend doing a sailing trip!
Who was in Airlie?, but sarah-Jane honestly that girl is stalking us, haha and she is even going on the same boat as we were going on, she is so sweet and its so good meeting up with her, I met her at the lagoon and we spend the day baking ourselves and talking a load of rubbish, its so funny because it felt like I was still swaying and I felt a bit sea sick, the weirdest feeling. That night most of the group from the boat met up for some drinks and Sarah-Jane and Emma also came out, I say a few but in actual fact it ended up being very messy indeed, apparently when I got in the taxi I was saying out loud, every 10 pence as the fair went up, 6.20, 6.30, 6.40 and so on, haha can you imagine what the driver must of been thinking, 'crazy girl'. I did however find out the next day that our captain Greg and Dave the other crew member got arrested, so stupid, I remember Greg got kicked out the bar because he accidentally took his smoke into the no smoking area and when I went to ask the bouncer what happened he just told me to go away in a not so polite way and said I can join him if I wish, so Dave got annoyed and went to check it out, the bouncers were arrogant pigs and called the police, bouncers can be such a*******'s, there was no need to call the police, no one was getting agro. Anyway luckily I walked away without making a fuss! Close call. It was a good night and was so great meeting such cool people and of course lovely Sarah -Jane, whom we are defiantly going to see again in Sydney, and maybe even earlier.
Yes again woke up with another beast of a hangover and could not face doing anything but eat breakfast and then die in the passenger seat of the car, while Darren drove to our next destination.
Anyway hope u enjoy reading me adventures, there will be plenty more coming, also I love Australia so much and we are having such a fab time. Miss you all so much xxx