12th July 2007

After a long overnight journey on the Greyhound Bus we eventually arrive in Airlie Beach at 11am. Checked into 'Magnums Backpackers' hostel, we are in a 'deluxe cabin' not that I would call it deluxe but i suppose it has an en-suite, 8 bed bunks. We walked down to the beach front where there is a lagoon, similar to the one in Cairns. As we walked past all the cabins, we saw a giant reptile thing - it was enormous! Apparently its called a Goanna or something?! I thought it was a snake at first. Not done much else today, packed our bags to go on our 3 day 2 night sailing tour of the Whitsunday Islands. Airlie Beach seems very touristy and lots of backpackers around.

13th July 2007

Got to the marina and on the 'Hammer' boat departing at 12.30pm. Loads of Irish on it, a scottish couple, couple of yanks, a Brazilian girl, and us. Took us all afternoon to get to the bay where we were spending the night anchored. Had nachos to keep us going. When we arrived we all had dinner on the deck, of chicken, veg, potatoes. Then after chatting with everyone headed to bed - me and jen were in a 'double' which is SO claustrophobic! The ceiling almost touches my face!

14th July 2007

Today up at 7am for breakfast, then for a sail around the reef, and got to Whitehaven Beach where we did a short walk to a lookout. the beach was fantastic and a few people saw stingrays. Then back onto the boat for lunch before snorkelling. Only about 8 people (out of 22) actually did it! Think many were too scared of the water being too cold! I enjoyed it much more than I did on the trip off Cairns, the coral was much more beautiful and colourful and saw more fish as well. Back on the boat we saw a turtle in the water! It popped its head up, had a look around then disappeared back to the bottom of the ocean. After that, we went for another sail and landed at another beach where we sat and watched the sunset (which i love) but as soon as the sun went down, the temperature plummeted rapidly!

15th July 2007

Woke up at 7am again for breakfast after a pretty crummy nights sleep - as there were a lot of people snoring (mainly girls as well!) and also there was a banging noise against the boat, apparently it was because the tide had come in, and a buoy was hitting the side of the boat. A couple of people went for a morning snorkel before we headed back to Airlie Beach. We arrived back around 11am ish had some lunch and came back to 'Magnums' where we checked in again and collected our bags as they had put them in storage for us whilst we were on the boat. Did some laundry. Had a shower, as one wasn't possible on the boat as they only last for 1 minute and no shower gel/shampoo etc is allowed, so nobody bothered. Eww i know. Then around 7.20pm we got some tea down at the hostel and then headed to 'Beaches' where everyone from the sailing trips meet up for drinks in the evening. Left there at 10.30pm and we all headed into 'Paddy Shenanigans' (An Irish pub - obviously!) as some of the girls wanted to watch the Gaelic match between Tyrone and Monaghan. I have never watched a game in my life, pretty boring actually - nothing compared to good old British Footie!! Then my back started to cave in and the pain was excruciating and knocking me sick, so i walked back to our hostel on my own to go to bed whilst everyone else stayed there drinking. I got in not long after midnight, jenny apparently got in around 4.30am!! Dirty stopout! Then i also had nothing to sleep in as i washed most of my clothes so - freezing night!!

16th July 2007

Done nothing today, checked out of Magnums and just lay on the beach front in the sun the whole day with the Irish people from our boat. Our clothes weren't dry from yesterdays washing, so we spread all our clothes over the rocks to dry in the sun! The people from our boat get to Fraser Island tomorrow as well as us, so we'll have a right laugh with them! So we're getting the Greyhound Bus tonight at 8.05pm and it gets us into Hervey Bay tomorrow around 9.30am, so another fantastic nights sleep ahead of me! Also i think we will both be around a foot shorter when we get home as we're both getting really bad pains in our backs and our hip joints, think its the pressure from our rucksacks pushing down on us, not pleasant at all! :(