Whit Sundays, Airlie Beach, Australia - March to June 2007Fraser Island had come to an end, and my next stop was Airlie Beach for the Whitsunday's.I arrived back from Fraser Island to Hervey Bay around 6ish in the evening, extremely tired, covered in sand and in dire need of a shower!!We all headed back to the camp shed to tidy away all our camp gear we had used over the past few days.Our equipment was covered in Red 'goon' it was everywhere.Next stop back to the Palace Hostel where we had LOTS of pizza waiting for us!! Quick shower then I headed off to catch my bus for an overnight journey to Airlie Beach.Wow what a night, eight hours of trying to get comfortable and defiantly not sleeping.Anyway finally arrived at the bus depot in Airlie Beach where I was picked up by a bright purple and green courtesy bus!! And the driver even had a matching T-Shirt!So off we headed to the hostel I was staying in (Beaches Backpackers). I thought it would take about 10minutes to get there, however it took 2 seconds! Airlie Beach is tiny.Once there I checked in for the night, the staff seemed extremely friendly there was such a good atmosphere and feel to the place.However all I could think about was getting up to my room for a shower and lots of sleep.(Beaches Backpackers)From the moment I arrived in Airlie Beach I loved it.The size of it the look of it I couldn't wait to get out and see the town and sample some of the local pubs! Beaches backpacker is gorgeous. It is a thirty-bed hostel each room has eight beds, television, aircon and en suit!! Nice. I even had a balcony.There is a bar downstairs called 'Beaches' and the man made lagoon is directly across the street. I think I have now seen the 'true Australian lifestyle'.I got to my room to find another girl had also checked in.Judith from the Netherlands.We started chatting straight away, it's amazing, and I thought travelling on my own would be hard and lonely but since I have actually been on my own I seemed to have met so many more people.I think being on your own people are more inclined to speak to you.Anyway I had my shower finally!! I felt strangely awake so I headed out to the main street to have a little explore.The street is not even a mile long.It has typical 'travel' stores the whole way up the street, the cutest town I have ever seen.I walked down by the lagoon, which leads me to the boardwalk along the waterfront. Wow this place is gorgeous. Seriously I have fallen in love with this town already.I had to check in at Oz Adventure Sailing (the boat company I was with) I received all my information about the boat I was on and where I had to go to catch my boat.I strolled back to the hostel for a well-needed sleep only to find Judith stressing about the Whitsunday's.She was desperate to go out sailing but hadn't booked anything and didn't really know where to go to book etc.So I said to her I was leaving tomorrow and that she should try to get the same trip as me.We spoke to the hostel manager and he managed to get her booked on the same boat as me 'The Fraight Train' an old racing boat.Yahoo… I had a friend to go sailing with.Following day we were up extremely early, well 7am (early when you're lazy backpacker) and headed down to 'Able Point' to catch the boat and meet the other 18 people we would be spending the next few days with. We were advised to take alcohol with us, we weren't aloud to take glass on the boat so all alcohol was decanted into plastic bottles or in our case we had bought the good old goon box…Once at Able Point we were to meet with our 'Host' James AKA Orlando Bloom look a like!!! Woweee!!!We all had to fill out forms for health and safety reasons once done we then got measured for our 'Stinger Suits' aka our 'Sexy Suits'.This time of year the jellyfish are common therefore we had to wear these beautiful looking suits. After all the serious stuff was out the way we headed to our boat!! Oh the excitement.On arrival we were introduced to our 'Skipper' Jeff and 'Dive instructor' Matt.Shoes off and onto the boat.Whitsunday's, White beaches and Blueeeeee Sea here I come!!!!!The first day was a bit of a drag you know 5 hours lying on the boat deck sunning ourselves and meeting new people, having a few drinks and chilling out. Bit of a nightmare really… ha ha!! Yeah right. It was fantastic.There was a real mix of countries on the boat. UK, Netherlands, America, Germany, Spain, Canada! How cool.We finally arrived at Whitehaven Beach, one of the top beaches in the world.We got escorted of the boat onto a speedboat to take us to the island and from there we had to walk about a mile in the scorching sun to get to this beautiful beach.The walk was worth it believe me!!!I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this place actually is. But Ill try, just to make you all jealous. We were walking on the whitest sand I have ever seen and looking out to the bluest ocean the sand was so unbelievably soft and I swear the beach went on for miles and miles.I wish I had my digital camera I would have taken hundreds of pictures if I could.We were all advised to only take disposable camera's with us as what with being on a damp boat and also it is apparent that the Whitehaven sand has been known to break a good few 'expensive' digital camera's.Anyway camera's aside, we all headed down near the water and lay down and sun baked for an hour or so, me, Judith, Kirsten and Lauren decide to make use of our 'sexy suits' and head into the ocean. I cant actually believe where I am it is so mind blowing.I'm across the other side of the globe on one of the biggest beaches in the world swimming in the ocean. Somebody pinch me..Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat for dinner.We anchored up for the night had a gorgeous dinner prepared by James, had a few drinks and headed to bed.Following day I woke up to the feeling of having an extremely huge face…. I looked in the mirror to find my eyes had swollen up and my nose was all blistered.No Way I looked terrible.(This wasn't a good look when there was an Orlando look alike on the boat).It took me a few minutes to realise but I have clearly burnt my face badly.I did wear sun cream but obviously not enough.I guess because it was so windy on the boat deck I didn't feel the heat.Anyway my huge sunglasses managed to hide my eyes and the blister didn't look THAT bad.I stepped up on the deck and the first person I saw happened to be the most sarcastic person I have ever met Mr Jeff our Skipper!! He thoroughly enjoyed taking the absolute piss out of me for most of the day!!! Blisters and swollen eyes aside, I was in the middle of the Ocean and we were about to go snorkelling!!!We stepped into our 'sexy suits', put on our flippers, goggle and snorkel masks, took a few hilarious pictures and jumped into 'THE GREAT BARRIER REEF'.I wonder if I will find NEMO???? Ha HaThe sea was clear and there were fish everywhere, bright ones, big/small ones, scary and tiny ones. The coral was amazing to see however a lot of it was dead from pollution. There were these little yellow fish I cant remember the name of them but they attached themselves to my hair and swam with me… it was so funny. After a few hours of snorkelling and swimming around we headed back to the boat to chill.Another, yet, amazing day. Following day was our sail back to 'Able Point' We were all pretty tired and looking forward to a bed that didn't move when you lay down.So we headed back and arrived in the early evening.Once back I was staying in a different hostel, as it was part of my package when I booked the Whitsunday's.It was called Magnums, and it was quite possibly the worst hostel I have ever stayed in since I have arrived in Australia. I checked in and checked straight back out and headed to back to Beaches.That evening the crew all met up in 'beaches bar' for a few drinks and a meal. Was a fantastic night and lovely to see everyone all showered and not smelling of damp!!Drunken evening and a few events, but overall an amazing end to a beautiful and scenic few days sailing.The following day I was on the bus again this time to Mission Beach for my 14,000ft skydive with Pam from the Whitsunday's.