06/08/12

Wow, what a crazy afternoon. The plan for today was simple: Go and get a battery for my phone, job hunt using the free internet at the Guest House/Hostel, Eat and go to sleep. We did most of this. We got my battery, job hunted, but we found a job. In Bundaberg. This is a mere 12hours away and on the other side of the Whitsundays, an activity already booked. So we did a few quick calculations and we're now sat on the bus on the way to Airlie Beach to sail the Whitsundays tomorrow. It went from having no job and no plan to spontaneously having 2 hours to get the next bus and jumping on a boat for 2 days tomorrow. With the food station at the bus stop closed, we had to get an Indian and eat it in the bus stop was pretty good for $10. I don't feel like this passage really reflects the spontaneity of the move but believe me, it felt pretty weird.

09/08/12

Having just got back from the Whitsundays, I'm sat in reception of the hostel rocking like a crazy person. I didn't experience any sea sickness during the trip but I did take some tablets. I took notes on my notebook so I shouldn't forget any major events, here goes:

Sitting in Airlie waiting for the right time to walk to the boat, I forgot to mention about the girls in Townsville, I was only reminded when I realised the girls in Airlie were much fitter. Townsville was like being back in Yeovil. Airlie is more like Australia again. Happy days. So, on with the sailing! We got on the boat after buying enough goon for a 2 week cruise, met the crew and chilled out on the front of the boat as we set sail (there were no sails). The boat had nets at the front hanging over the water where you can sit, so that's where we all chilled out, got to know each other and there was quite a mix! Obviously Me and Luke being British, were joined by Louise, Martyn and Courtney as fellow Brits, then there were 4 Columbians, 3 Chinese, 4 Germans, 1 Canadian - Michelle, and 1 Italian - Sabrina. Obviously the ones I have named were who we hung out with and got on with the most. When we arrived at the first spot, we were asked if we would like to dive. Yes. This dive was nothing like the one in Cairns. It was described by one of the divers as an underwater city of coral, and I completely agree, the marine life was similar to what I'd seen on the reef before, but the structure of the coral was unbelievable, we had archways and little tunnels to swim through which made it awesome. Even though it was apparently 21oC, the water felt so cold and a 1mm wetsuit didn't do much. However, after the dive we jumped into the hot tub on board. Oh yeh, the boat had a hot tub. Sunset was amazing, and the stars even more so. The night was spent star gazing, watching shooting stars and making a minor dent in the goon we'd brought. There were some brain teaser style activities going on at the back of the boat, so when I went to try and solve it (which I did) they saw what they described as The biggest, best shooting star they've ever seen. Brilliant.

The new day started early. Far too early with a stomach still full of goon. Breakfast was served at 7am and the water at the back of the boat was swarmed with these tiny weird fish with really long ?snouts?, we were parked just off of Whitsunday Island, so the boat ride to the island took 2 minutes, we walked to the lookout point and saw Whitehaven beach, voted one of the best beaches in the world, it was easy to see why. When I was up there I saw the bluest river with the whitest sand banks you could imagine (or will see when I put the pictures up) I was definitely going to swim in it. We walked down to the beach and were right by it, so of course I took a dip. Megan (the fit crew member) was taking photos, getting us to pose and do group shots, which are brilliant. When it came to go home, 'Team China' were late and taking ages, so we set off. Being given the responsibility of using the walky-talky to summon the boat from the ship. I felt important. Also, I find it amazing that people that have only met me a day before; target me to take photos of them! So we got back on the boat by 10:30?!...and took off towards the next dive spots. In the interest of saving money, I just snorkelled at these bits, but I was able to take my camera and get some awesome shots and chased some fish, so I'll try to upload those videos. After this, the boat powered over the top to get us to the final stop on the Whitsundays, a stop where we could do a night dive. Screw saving money, this is a chance I can't pass off. It was so weird, only being able to see what your torch is shining at. Totally different experience. When I stayed still and had my torch shining, a swarm of fish no bigger than my little toe were all around the light, when I put my hand in, it felt like rain with the amount there were. Oh and one other thing, when you beathed slowly, you could hear the whales. It was phenomenal. But the best part of the dive wasn't the whales, fish or the difference in visibility, it was popping up on the surface and seeing a blanket of stars, swimming back to the boat on your back, effortlessly floating thanks to the BCD. Floating back with the smell of steak and sausages cooking on the ship's BBQ. After a few games and some goon, I lay down on the netting at the front of the boat and fell asleep for an hour. It was lush.

Today, we got up early, again. And if you wanted to go for a snorkel, you could. Personally, after being woken up at 6:30am, jumping into cold water isn't high on my priority list. Breakfast was served and we sailed for about 2 hours back to the docks. Tonight, we're all meeting up for dinner and to experience Airlie Beach night life. This is the last bit of fun before the work begins, a necessity in order to keep this dream alive.