Finally we had a full-sized bus to travel in, although some people still struggled to spot it at the ferry terminal - 60 seats and luminous yellow obviously not enough for some. Had a pretty relaxed ride down to Airlie Beach, past some of the 'best' areas for fruit-picking jobs (most people usually last two or three days before doing a runner). Highlight of the day? Winning a pint off the driver by solving three of his riddles (thanks Catherine...).

One of those 'sorting' days, ahead of the sailing. Airlie Beach is a nice town, but you don't exactly need long to explore it. They do have some public gas bbq's on the waterfront though, so we made the most of those (no shrimps).

Next day and it's out to sea on the Matador. It's a former racing 'Maxi', and a lot of fun to sail. Pretty fast too! The crew were quite happy to let the punters do thehard work, although I'm sure they could have done it with just the three of them. By the last day we had both sails up - very important to sit on the correct side at this point. Maybe next time I'll learn to sail properly (although the list of new and expensive things to do is rapidly growing).

Whitehaven Beach was, quite simply, spectacular. The sand is unbelievably fine, and doens't get hot in the sun (which is good, because I left my shoes on the boat). Perfectly clear water too - from the surface you can see rays swimming around under 5 feet of water with no trouble at all.

That afternoon there was time for snorkelling. The turtles just don't seem bothered by people at all - it looks at you, take a moment to decide whether it can eat you or you it, then goes on its merry way. More good snorkelling the next morning in a different area - it was much shallower, and if you just float for a bit the fish would swim all around you. If only my camera was waterproof.

Had a pretty good post-sail night out. If you're ever in the area, go to Mama Africa's - suffice to say it was a club I actually liked, mainly because you have room to, like, move. A novel concept, well executed.

Next: time to saddle up.