Whitsunday Islands and Airlie Beach

Stopped at some random places between Hervey Bay and Airlie Beach including Town 1770 (chilled and beautiful), Rockhampton (famous for it's steaks) and Sarina (ate at a random snack shak called the Diner - dodgy) Felt like we really made use of the campervan and the fact that we were independent and could stop wherever we wanted. Finally got to Airlie Beach, which was full of campervans and backpackers all doing the same as us - booking sailing trips. It's pretty competitive when it comes to sailing trips. We tried to avoid the huge 50 person drinking party boats, as we didn't fancy spending our time with a load of drunk teenagers and missing all the brilliant scenery, and ended up on a pretty upmarket 8 person Catamaran. We had our own Queen Size Double room with en-suite, lots of delicious fresh food cooked by our skipper and her first mate, so really landed on our feet. The other guests were 3 couples (English, Scottish, Irish), two of whom were on their honeymoons. Really similar age and very like-minded people, and we all got on well. Fun and games on the beach including frisbee, footbal and lots of team-building type stuff helped a lot, even though the photos look a bit ridiculous!

The Whitsunday Islands are amazing! It was so relaxing just sailing around each day, mooring up at nice spots, then moving on. We got to Whitehaven Beach with it's white sand that goes on forever, did a bit of walking through some forests, saw sting-ray and dolphins from the boat, and did lots of snorkelling. A highlight of our trip was when the two of us were snorkelling around some reef together when we spotted a turtle and just swam around with it in the water - very tranquil and cool and another brilliant moment stuck in our memory.

Other things we did in Airlie Beach were some walking up and down Mount Roper (and running which caused Zoe's lovely knee injuries!), Swamp Bay, Cedar Creek Falls, lazing by the beach and the lagoon, shopping in the market, as well as a bit of drinking and live music in the many bars here. Great place.

Left Whitsundays after a fantastic time, looking forward to some scuba-diving in the Great Barrier Reef next...