28th January - 31st Jan Airlie Beach / The Whistsundays

January 28th

We went straight to the Oz Sail office to check in for our Whistundays trip and were promptly told that we only had 45 mins to get down to the jetty (20min walk) and grab food/drink for the three days. After a mad dash we made it on time to be kitted out in our own stinger suits (you can't swim in the sea much in Queensland because of 'dangerous marine creatures' i.e. jelly fish) and to hear the safety talk. You can check out our boat here - pretty impressive eh?!http://ozsail.com.au/our-boats/the-avatar/

There were about 26 of us in total but as it was a trimaran it was pretty spacious.Our cabin was one of the rooms on the pontoon. Now I say 'room', it was more like a cardboard box that smelled of sea water, very stuffy and when it rained it leaked (as you will soon find out, it rained....a LOT!!) but it had a certain kind of 'i'm on a boat' charm - for those of you who haven't already seen this - this is what what I imagined it was going to be like :oD

The weather was pretty good and for most of the journey out to the islands everybody was chilling or sneaking in a cheeky little nap.Our first stop was a little bay where we were able to do some snorkeling, however, as it had rained prior to our trip the sea bed had been churned up and so visibility wasnt amazing - no turtles or sharks this time! We headed out to a small island to do a bush walk in the evening. As we were all getting off the boat into a little dingy a huge 'shoal' of jelly fish passed by which was a rather beautiful sight. The bush walk didn't take long, we just walked past some caves with aboriginal marking in them etc, and so we were back to the boat within an hour.

It then took about two and half hours to get to a small area between two islands which is where we moored for the night. Spent the night getting to know others on the boat and ended up asking the same questions over and over, 'where were you before this, how long are you travelling for etc etc! Unfortunately, our room - sorry box, was like a sauna for most of the night and so we had to sleep with the hatch open.

January 29th

We were due to set sail about 6:30am and so we were up bright and early.We had some breakfast then chilled on the deck for a while as we headed to what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach.We moored up about 8am in a quiet bay where, luckily, we saw a few turtles coming up for air.We all piled into the dingy again for the short trip to shore before making a small climb up to the lookout. It was really cloudy and so the views, which were supposed to be spectacular, were actually not all that.By the time we had made it down to the beach itself it had started raining. One of the best beaches in the world + rain = bad combination. We spent most of our time huddled under a towel watching other people in the sea while waiting for the huge black clouds in the distance to get closer. A few people said they'd seen sharks and manta rays but unfortunately we missed this.The aforementioned black clouds finally made it inland which is when it really began to pelt it down. So we all hot footed it back to the boat and set sail again. The only good thing about wet and windy weather is that it tends to be perfect for sailing. So all the men on the boat had a go at helping to rig the boat and prepare the sails.

We stopped at another snorkelling area where the majority of people went into the water (some people stayed in the cabin of the boat the ENTIRE time, not sure why they bothered booking on the trip to be honest) but as soon as we did we got carried out by a strong current pretty quickly. I panicked (I being Laura) as there was no way I could manage to swim against the current all the way out to the actual reef and so I had to make poor Paul swim back to the boat with me - my knight it shining armour. It took some hard core swimming (and a lot of swallowing sea water) to get us back to the boat mind. So, no fish to be seen that time.

The weather remained dire for the rest of the day, pouring down all the time. It's really disconcerting sitting up on the deck watching black hazy clouds on the horizon knowing that not only are they heading your way they are also brining a hell of a lot of rain with them. We did make another quick stop in the afternoon where a few people, Paul included, jumped in (it was actually warmer in the sea than on the boat, like one giant bath tub), but by this stage everyone was a little weathered and grumpy and so we headed back to the same mooring place and had dinner on the boat (that night we had a roast beef dinner!).There was a weird little resort on a nearby island and so that evening most of us went over there as it was sheltered. Not a bad night really, played some pool and watched some TV but when we finally got back to the boat we realized that all of the cabins on the pontoons (ours included) had leaked.Luckily there wasnt too much damage and we managed to strap a sheet down over the top so it wouldn't leak during the night.Unfortunately this meant we couldn't open it at all and so I swear it must have reached temperatures akin to a sauna at some stage during the night. Bit of a scary nights sleep too as at times it sounded like there was a hurricane passing over us.

January 30th

Still alive!

We were due back in the port at 9:30 am which meant we were up early again.The rain actually stopped for a while so the journey back wasn't too bad but would you believe it, by the time we got back to the harbour the sun was shining bright.

Back on dry land (thank god) we headed to pick up our bags and then went and caught up on some slept and had what was one of the best showers ever. No joke, with no shower on the boat and so much rain, we were bogging byt he time we got off and our clothes stank!

Apart from still feeling like I was on a boat, the rest of the evening was spent exploring Airlie Beach and trying to avoid the massive storm that passed over.

January 31st

Finally we had a lie in - long over due. Spent the entire day lazing around and watched Federer give Andy Murray a free tennis lesson in the evening. We also bumped into the french guys from our Fraser Island trip and so went for a quick drink before crashing for the night.