My bus arrived late in to Airlie Beach so I only had 30 mins as opposed to an hour to get to my hostel, leave me bag and find Gloria's cafe, my meeting point, by 8am! I managed it though just in time, only to sit and wait for 3 other people on our boat who were rudely late and very unapologetic!
I was happy however to discover lots of English people who'd be on the boat too, unlike Eurovision on Fraser Island!
Miranda, a Dutch girl I'd met at Cool Bananas was with a Canadian girl called Shannon. I also met Katie and Mike who are brother and Sister from Scunthorpe, and Karen, an air hostess from Gloucestershire! there were about 25 people on our boat plus Matty the Skipper (I seem to attract skippers!!) Josh the deck hand and Big Nig (as in Nigel!) the diver.
The boat was called Apollo, it was built in the 70s and used to race in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race which it won twice.

It was 10.30 by the time we actually left the harbour Monday morning. there wasn't enough wind so we were motoring rather than sailing. the sea was so calm and blue, absolutely stunning.
After lunch we anchored down at a beach for the afternoon where we bathed in the sunshine, played cricket and drank goon...or gin and tonic in my case! goon is basically super cheap wine in a box!! North of Agnes Water you can't swim in the sea without a stinger suit as you will get stung, but they're much easier to get on than wetsuits so it wasn't to much of a chore!
We sailed on round the island and attempted to shower the salt water off before tea time. we spent the evening drinking on the deck, watching the stars and chatting.
it was very warm in the sleeping cabin and the beds were average to say the least!

Most people woke at 6ish and breakfast was at 7. when everyone was fed and watered we moved on round to Whitehaven beach, the ultimate postcard picture!
We continued on the boat to a bay for the rest of the morning. we were split in to groups to go scuba diving, whilst waiting for your groups dive we could go snorkelling. there were so many beautiful different fish and coral. although the coral wasn't as colourful as I'd hoped, perhaps further up the reef it will be...ill let you know! I was in one of the last groups; we had lunch, moved on to another bay and then I did my dive. the instructions were much more brief than in Sardinia. basically, put this in your mouth and breath. lets go! we only went down about 6m and were under for about 20mins. I think I saw more fish whilst I was snorkelling! it was fun all the same!!
it was also nice to get under the water as the horse flies were unbearable. d*** you'd have been in your element! there were thousands of them and they're huge, you can feel them digging in to your scalp, most unpleasant!!

In the evening whilst sat on the deck we saw turtles, loads of bat fish and a huge eagle circling round us which Josh was feeding steak to, luckily there was some left for tea!!

After another hot nights sleep and breakfast, we headed across to One Foot Beach. it gets this name as when the tide is high all you can see is one foot of the sand. Here we were snorkelling and hoping to see lots of turtles as it was breeding season. we saw one...once we were out of the water! never mind though, it was a stunning spot all the same!
We had some lunch then headed back to land. we had a small amount of wind so managed to sail most of the way home...rather slowly!

That evening we had the after party. I haven't been out much since Sydney but now I actually have friends I had some catching up to do! Sparkling wine at $5 a glass? how could I say no! and it was Hardys!
The next day I met up with Karen, Katie and Mike for breakfast and laugh about the evenings antics. we then headed to the lagoon for the afternoon. Katie and Mike were catching their night bus to cairns that evening so we went out for a quick bite to eat beforehand. it wasn't to emotional though as we've all booked in to the same hostel in cairns!
I spent the evening back at my hostel, an 8bed ensuite dorm all to myself. backpacker luxury! the highlight of the evening though was meeting beautiful Maddox and having a catch up with Chloe :-D she has promised to put him in a shoe bus so he doesn't grow until I get back.

When I woke this morning I packed my bag and checked out. I had a craving for home made cake-most probably because at the entrance to my hostel there's a sign saying 'home made cake this way!' I headed there for carrot cake and a freshly squeezed orange juice. the waitress looked at me a bit funny and asked where I was from. turns out she's from symonds yat! she doesn't know dippy or the Drummonds though.
I spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun at the lagoon with Kaz, we also saw some wild cockatiels, couldn't get a good picture though.
Airlie Beach is a lovely little town and definitely worth a visit.
I catch the night bus at 8pm to cairns. arriving at 5.45am. joy. lets hope it's not as cold as last time!