On Sunday morning we arrived, very tired and bedraggled into Airlie Beach aff the Greyhound. The bus was not comfortable. This wisna helped by the stupid bumpy Australian roads and da massive thunder storm we passed through... When we got there, we then had the task of finding the office of the company that owned the boat. Thankfully, we wirna the only ones comin off the boat to go right there, but unfortunately nobody kent whar it wis. Neither apparently, did any locals. Eventually made it and had to wait aroond until it opened. After the briefing we had a couple of hours to chill afore walking to the marina, so we went and (being weirdly organised) booked wirselves into a hostel for the day we cam back. We made it to the marina and were all issued we stinger suits and safety talks afore we boarded. We then met da crew (four of them) and got a first look at the boat. It was a 25m catamaran called "Spank Me" originally built for racing as opposed to comfort, but after a bus, all we needed was ta be able to lie doon properly! We sailed oot at aboot 2 o clock and after no long were being telt to get wir suits on. We snorkelled for a bit along a rocky shore and got wir first look at a coral reef! The crew were really good, the skipper explaining lots about the Whitsunday islands and the sea and reefs aroond them. It was just amazing. We got back on the boat and were met we an amazing tea of spaghetti bolognese! The food was all really good actually! Really quite impressive for a 20 year old boy in a kitchen yun size! Went to bed pretty early after a tiring day and such a bad nights sleep da night afore, so managed to get up bright and early the next morning.

Cereal and fresh fruit for breakfast was brilliant. Then we were dropped off on Whitsunday Island to go to a lookout and really see the islands properly. It was a peerie bit overcast but still, da view was spectacular! Completely white sand, covering loads of beaches. We were told that the sand was 99.9% silica, which is aboot the purest it is anywhere in the world. NASA took 5 tonnes fae the islands to use in the lenses for cameras and telescopes of a shuttle going to space! We went doon to the beach fae the lookout, an it didna disappoint. You couldna actually believe how soft the sand wis an how tiny the grains were! We sat for a while polishing wir jewellery til it sparkled (another tip we got fae wir skipper). Then we geed in for a paddle. The water was full of stingrays! You had ta shuffle your feet along instead of lift them so you didna accidentally stand on wan! They cam right up close to you as they swam along as weel! We got the peerie dingy back to the boat an were soon headed aff to wir nixt snorkel destination. It wis even better as the wan the day afore. Brighter coral and more fish. Could hardly believe it wis actually real, just felt lik watching tv! As weel as that, the water we were in wis a turtle breeding ground so ivry noo and again wan wid pop its head up afore disappearing again! Back on the boat again and we were circled a couple of times by an eagle! It wis massive! The skipper disappeared, then reappeared a minute later we a bag o meat scraps. He chucked them wan at a time just in the air an da eagle sped through ta catch ivry wan. It disappeared a couple o times, presumably back to the nest we some o it, but kept comin back fur more. It wis lik a bird of prey show in the middle o the sea! We were dropped off wan more time to chill on a beach for a while which was nice. It was still a bit overcast but I wis kinda burnt anyway so it didna bother me much. We got back on an haed another amazing tea; roast beef, totties, gravy, vegetables! Been kinda missing decent food a bit... Again ivrybody wis brawlly tired so we sat up for a bit on deck, spiking and just admiring wir surroundings.it started to rain a bit later so we all just headed to bed.

This morning was a beautiful morning and we were in the water by quarter to 7 doing wir last snorkel! And the last was by far the best! The fish (and there were thousands of them) would swim right up to you and weren't fairt at all. Some of them were absolutely massive as weel! Wan o them wis aboot 4ft long and built lik a tank! Kinda scary when it swam up to you! Spent ages jut watching them all, den it was back to the boat wan last time for breakfast and the journey back. The journey back was a lovely few hours, just spent sailing along and sunbathing on deck. We arrived back at the marina at about half 10, kinda sad to be leaving the boat, but all in desperate needs of a shower!

Just chilling in the hostel now. Planning to stay in Airlie Beach a couple of nights and then head up again, probably to Cairns. After that we will see.