It wasn't too much of a late night last night as I had booked a full day kayaking around the Whitsunday Islands today.

www.saltydog.com.au


I get picked up at the hostel at around 08:30 and driven to the port where the kayaking starts and then we are told to watch an induction video while they get the equipment ready. Everyone gets a double kayak and I ask if I can have a single one. At this point I get told that there is no full day trip as there were not enough people booked on it, there had to be a minimum of 4 people, and I set off on the half day trip with 4 other people and a guide (who is from New Zealand).

We all get to stand in a line and practise using the paddles and the people in the double kayaks are shown how to paddle together and that the person in the back must follow the same stoke at the person in the front as not to clash paddles. Now we are allowed to get in the kayaks and on the water.

We have a quick practise in the harbour and then we set off out to sea. The wind was blowing against us on the way out so the paddling was a little difficult but manageable. One of the guys in the double kayaks asked if I was a professional rower as I was from Cambridge, I told him that I had not done much kayaking before, but I didn't tell them that it is easier in a single kayak compared to a double.

We stopped out on a small island and had some lunch before heading back where we had a very quick glimpse of a turtle, too quick to get a photo of it (sorry). Paddling back was, as expected, a lot easier due to the help of the wind and although I had got out on the kayak I was a bit disappointed as we had 3 people wanting to do the full day and I found out that they only needed 4 people to run it.

It was good fun but I didn’t really feel like I had got to see much of the Whitsundays.

Daniel was surprised to see me back at Magnum’s so early and we sat and had a chat about the houses that he had been to look at in the morning and while we sat there chatting a campervan exactly the same as mine from the same company and with almost the same number plate pulled up alongside mine and checked in.

In the van was a Swiss couple called Leander and Debbie and they came over and joined us for a drink and a chat. We then separated and everyone prepared their dinner and agreed to join up again later to head out for a drink at the bar.

Tonight was not as busy as last night and luckily for Daniel and I, the drunk English girl from last night was not around so we didn’t get hassled from her tonight. One thing we did start to notice was the number of Germans that were around, we had 2 Swiss Germans and a German couple in our group alone.

There was a wet t-shirt competition on in the night club at the hostel at around 23:30 and as you can imagine, the bar area cleared out a bit when this was on, so Daniel and I went back to the van and he cooked me a steak sandwich before heading out to another bar in town.