08 March 2009

This morning we woke up on Magnetic Island expecting it to be destroyed after all the hype over the cyclone. However when we got up the weather was lovely - calm and sunny. We therefore had no problems getting the ferry back over to Townsville and then our second Oz Experience bus at 1pm to Airlie Beach. Quite a few people we met on our first bus went to Airlie beach yesterday as they were so worried about the ferry being cancelled, but it seems we were right to stick it out on Magnetic Island as they had actually had worse weather down in Airlie.

Our bus driver for today was Sconzy and he was a lot more positive and likeable than Muppet.. He dropped us off in Airlie beach around 5pm, and after checking in we all headed down to the bar (not far for us - below our room..!) for some drinks with our friends from the bus. An early start tomorrow as we had our Whitsunday islands boat trip at 7am. We were told this evening that Airlie Beach is the bed bug capital of Australia, so I didnt sleep too much as I was paranoid they were on me all night!

09 March 2009

This morning we headed down to the marina to get on our sailing trip. We were initially quite shocked at how small Siska was - and wondered where all 20 people would be sleeping. We were allocated our bunks which were also in the lounge area. Jess's bed was actually the 'sofa' by day. After putting our bags down we all went up to the deck and enjoyed the sunshine whilst we sailed between the Whitsunday islands. We were really lucky to have gone out as due to the cyclone all boats over the weekend could not go.

Our first stop was Whitehaven beach, the 3rd most photographed place in Australia. It was the best beach we've ever seen - beautiful white sand and clear water. Unfortunately we did get a bit burnt here as the sun reflects off the sand onto your skin. We had a really good time relaxing there though, and people from the boat had a game of cricket. We got back on the boat and went to our resting place for the night and had some dinner. It was really good - spaghetti bolognase and garlic bread! After that we all sat on the deck drinking our goon and chatting. Quite a few people decided to sleep on the deck instead of inside as it was so hot. Me and jess were too scared of the mosquitoes and bugs to do this though so decided to brave the bunks. We didnt have a great nights sleep, and Jess had to sleep practically on top of the table with all the next days breakfast cereal on!

10 March 2009

The next day we got up (early) and headed over to an island for snorkelling. We didnt see as much as we did on the trip to the barrier reef in cairns, but the water was really lovely and we had a good time swimming. This afternoon we did some sailing as the wind had picked up and made our way back to the marina. It was really relaxing lying on the deck listening to music and sunbathing and we were really happy the trip had gone ahead.

This evening we went to the bar for a few drinks and also did some much needed laundry. We went to bed quite early as our bus the next day was at 6.45!