Airlie Beach!! Finally!

So we arrived early,about 8am and walked to our hostel which we could check into straight away! Awesome,this meant we could sleep! We went to bed for a few hours then woke up,showered and headed to reception to book some tours.

We decided to do a combo package which was a 1day Great Barrier Reef tour and 1day sailing the Whitsunday Islands.Once these were all booked we headed into town,checked out some of the shops then headed to a bar for some late lunch!! The weather was miserable so we stayed there for a while and had a few drinks before heading back to the hostel. We chilled back there for a while before heading to bed ready to get up at 6:30 for our trip to the reef!

At 7am we were picked up just down the road from our hostel and transferred to the harbour.The ferry out to the pontoon takes about 2hours and the sea was rough!!!! They talk you through various activities which you can do on the reef,like helicopter rides,snorkelling and various dive options.It was here that I opted to try scuba diving for the first time! And it was amazing!!!

I was put in the first group so as soon as we arrived we were kitted out and taken to an area on the pontoon used to teach learners like me the basics!!

We got used to the equipment and then practised our breathing and hand signals before heading straight out into open water and onto the reef.We were linked arms with our instructors at the start but I loved it and soon felt comfortable enough to swim alone.The instructors stay close by and navigate you around the reef, and mine even pointed out some nemos :-) it was such a great experience and the reef was amazing to see!

After the dive we headed back out with snorkels before grabbing a late lunch.

The ferry left the reef late afternoon and headed back to Airlie. We watched finding nemo on the way back and tried not to suffer from sea sickness!!

Back in Airlie we took showers, had a light dinner and headed down to the reef festival that was on with live bands and an outdoor bar.We had a few drinks there before heading around town and a few other bars.

The following morning was another early start.We were picked up at 7am again and taken back to the harbour, this time for a catamaran cruise around the Whitsunday islands. And the weather was gorgeous!

We set sail and stopped firstly for some snorkelling.They had to provide us with stinger suits because it's stinger season which means lots of jelly fish! I didn't see any though! We sailed around many different islands including white haven...we stopped here and had an hour free to relax on the beach which had beautiful white sand.

Back on the catamaran we enjoyed a huge buffet lunch as well as free beer and wine, sailed a bit more and then had afternoon tea! Cake,cheese and biscuits! Fed like a queen again!!

We relaxed and sunbathed whilst loving the scenery! Then it was time to head back to Airlie harbour.

That evening we headed back to an outdoor bar,had dinner and then called it a fairly early night! We were shattered and we had to be up early ready to catch the bus to Townsville and then the ferry to Magnetic Island! It was certainly a busy few days!!