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Saturday 12th April..................Kroombit ----> Airlie Beach
We head off early after some good brekky and Sconzey tells us some of his life stories. He has been a bit of a mentalist in his years and done some crazy things!! He also told us that once when he was staying in Kroombit, he managed by luck to close his bedroom door and wedge a Brown Snake (the most deadliest) in the door, this probably saved his life as it stopped it from crawling into his room and attacking him in the night!! Dad you'd hate it here with all these snakes!! I'm glad he didn't tell us before, as I wouldn't have slept at all!!
We sit back and watch Borat, and Surf's Up and stop off at this most amazing service station. Sconzey tells us about its famous $10 burger...the Roadhouse Burger, which is a mammoth burger. As he challenges me to eat one, I order the beast and when it arrives it is HUGE...it was a bun, burger, steak, bacon, egg, cheese, salad, carrot, beetroot, pinapple, carrot, and onion!! It was bloody huge, but I finished it in about 5mins...faster than any of the lads...oh yeh!!
The 13 hour journey was nearly up, we drove on and I slept as my belly was so full, wrote in my diary and read my book! I am so lucky I don't get car sick as I would have been soooooooooooooo bored!! We reach Airlie Beach and check into Beaches Backpackers...there is a huge bar and decking area which is already pretty full and we change for dinner!! We meet all of the bus and Sconzey at a restaurant called Morroccos and we get money off our food plus free alcohol!! Woohoo!! I order a Greek Salad...as my lunch was so huge! We then head for a dance at Beaches, it is packed and the music is awesome!! However, with our Whitsunday trip tomorrow we decide it best to go to bed early as we will be partying hard on a boat!! I get to my room, pack up my stuff for the three days and sleep like a baby!!
Sunday 13th April............Whitsunday Sailing Trip!!
Ok so I will explain, like Fraser, what the Whitsunday trip is all about...the Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 sand islands discoverd by Captain Cook (I think) and they were discovered on the Christian Whitsunday Festival. They form the start of the Great Barrier Reef and the most common way to see the Islands is by Sailing Boat.
We headed to the Harbour early, luckily as we got lost on the way, we purchased some booze for the trip, and then checked in. Jemma took us down to the boat, and she was to be our host for the three day two night trip. Our boat the MATADOR was once the fastest boat in the World (in 1991) and it is the fastest Maxi Boat in Airlie Beach. We met the crew, Pete, the skipper and head of the boat, Ben the Decky...he had to do all of the sails and ropes and Mick, the dive instructor. We started to sail, the weather hot and gorgeous, and were given our briefing!! Ben was hilarious with his talk on toilets...as it is a boat he explained the toilets had only small pipes so nothing with 'strings or wings' were allowed down it and we had to keep strictly to the Three P Rules...'Piss, Poo and Paper'...this did make me chuckle!!
Then came the bad news, I made the boob of mentioning I had an asthma pump when filling out the form for the scuba dive...Mick then said there was no way I could go down if I had had Asthma, I thought he was joking but he wasn't and I was absolutely gutted!! We reached the dive spot, the Hayman Island...the very expensive holiday resort, and I set off snorkelling on my own while everyone else had their scuba talk...there is even a bloody non swimmer who is allowed to go, and I wasn't it was so frustrating!! But anyhow...the coral was wicked and I saw loads of really colourful fish and took lots of photos!! The stinger suits we had to wear were pretty warm...we had to wear them due to the deadly jellyfish in the water!! Ali and Rob joined me and we saw a Monk Fish and a beautiful, blue purple and green fish!! I headed back after about an hour, thoroughly cold and in need of some sunning!! Ali and Rob had their Scuba Dive and absolutely loved it!! Hopefully I'll get a chance at the Great Barrier Reef I'll just have to make sure I keep my big mouth shut!!
We then left the Hayman Islands, and headed for our night stop Blue Pearl Bay! We sailed there with no motor power, we had to hoist the sails, it was such hard work and my hands hurt after from pulling so hard on the rope. We all enjoyed Spaghetti Bolognaise and Cheese and Crackers for dinner!! The food so far was plenty and it all tasted great!! So I was a happy sailer. We spent the evening drinking and chatting, and getting to know everyone on the boat, Scott from my Fraser Island trip was there, and there were four Swedish Girls, some English from Essex, some dutch and some German! We had a real mix of groups!! It was not quite the party boat we had imagined but we still were able to have a good giggle and get merry.
Day Two...Whitsunday Sailing Trip...
Up early again, sadly there were no cornflakes so I went for the All Bran and Raisens which was actually quite good!! We then headed to our next stop, the famous Whitehaven Beach...here the sand is 98% silicon...it is so fine its like snow!! And it is so white and squeaks when you walk on it!! We go up to the lookout point and it is amazing!! The sea is crystal blue and the sand white...its like the paradise beaches you only see on postcards! We then headed down to the beach itself, with so few people the pictures we took were like we were the only ones on the beach!! We got some good sea snaps too!! Although it is highly annoying that we have to keep putting the bloody stinger suits on!! Sadly, we did not have long there as the tide was pulling in and if we did not leave by a 11:30 we would have been stuck on the beach all day!! Not ideal...luckily we made it in the nick of time, Ben having to steer his dingy all around the bay so not to destroy any of the coral!!
Next we headed to Luncheon Bay...we were able to do some more snorkelling here...its was great fun!! We saw some huge black fish which were pretty scary actually and if you listen you can hear the fish biting at the coral. The coral still looked a bit brown unfortunately, not the bright colours you see on the postcards!! After another hour or so we headed back, Ali and Rob deciding to swim, I took the easy boat taxi option back to the boat, until Ali and Rob swam into a herd of jellies...and they quickly changed their minds. We had sausages and mash for lunch and tea and coffee and biscuits!!
Well and truly fed we headed to our evening stop...Sunset Bay...I was so tired I feel asleep on deck on the way. I love the sound of the ocean when the boat is sailing and the spray from the sea that keeps you cool!! It is so cool just sleeping and living on a boat...I would definately love to have my own yacht...maybe I'l ask Daddy for one when I get home!! We reached the bay and anchored up next to the maxy yacht Boomerang. They were ready and waiting for us!! We threw on our stinger suits and challenged them to a game of Ocean Waterpolo...apparantly the trip before ours had resulted in Matador winning the game, so we had to keep up this winning streak!! It was so much fun...they had about 30 players, we had only 9 so it was highly out numbered!! However, they had a lot of girly girls...one honestly said...'oh I just got splashed'...well you don't say you are in the ocean you fool!! I wanted to drown her...thankfully her and her friend climbed out pretty quick. It was pretty intense...the aim was to get the ball into the dingy that was tied to each yacht!! Being competitive I became quite aggressive in fighting for the ball and I definately kicked one girl really hard by accident!! They were beating us by 3-1 at one point, but lots of their players bailed so the numbers started to even up...I was battling with their crew member, ducking him under but when he did it to me I really did think I was going to drown...so much for the three second ducking rule!! It came to 4-4 with last goal wins and I was starting to get knackered!! But we managed to get it into our end, we did some great passing around and Mick managed to score the final goal!! Woohoo!! We were so happy, we chanted and cheered for a good half hour!! Screaming the Matador's name so that all of the boats could here us!! Also, Pete, who was in goal for us, was pushed in fully clothed with a fag in mouth...it was hilarious!! Mick also picked me up as I made the pass into him before he scored and he threw me off the side of the boat!! So much fun I felt like a little kid again when Dad and I used to go to boat trips and I'd be the 7 year old jumping off the side of the boat!!
We showered in our one minute shower/toilet...the shower head was the sink head and the water so cold and enjoyed a Roast Beef dinner....the meat was so good, nice and pink!! We then gathered together, Pete thanked us for ensuring the Matador was again successful and we all sang our own National Anthems...it was hilarious...we were all trying to be the loudest!! Then we had a big toast and lots of drinking followed!! We played games, drank and chatted, Rob having a bit of an arguement with Rihanna - this annoying English girl who nearly sat on his bag of goon!! We all fell asleep under the stars lying on the sail, when I woke Ali and Rob had gone to bed so I stumbled down the stairs and collapsed on the bed!! An immense day!!!
Day Three...Whitsunday Sailing Trip
Up early again!! Some feeling rather bad, we had our last brekky, peanut butter and bread...yummy!! We sailed to our last snorkelling destination...and Heini, Alex and I went off in search of the family of turtles!! The current was really strong! But as they called me a champion swimmer, I was allowed to go out!! We had a challenge getting out to the beach, sadly there were not many fish and the coral was not that impressive, plus we didn't see the turtles!! Heini and I headed back to warm up in the sun!! It took us a while, it was a good workout and Heini was like 'Charlotte don't leave me'!! We finally got back to the boat and relaxed and snoozed in the sun for a couple of hours!! Nearly finishing my book!! Woohoo!! Then sadly we had to head back to Airlie Beach!! But we were in for a treat, the wind was really strong, we hoisted the front sail, the boys doing the main sail and we were told the yacht would be really angled as the wind was so strong!! And it was awesome!! No motor power, just pure sailing, we were flying past!! It was incredible. We were sat in the wet spot...right at the front of the boat...we had to hook our legs over and hang on for dear life...it was such and arenaline rush!! Rob was s***ting himself...not his cup of tea at all!! Ali and I moved closer to the front, we were getting absolutely hammered by the waves, with Ben and Pete laughing along with us purposely sterring into the waves. At one point though it was a little too scary!! Pete was chatting to Jemma and steering casually with his feet when we went off at an angle and the wind was so strong the whole right side of the boat went underwater!! Ben was submerged, the water filled the cockpit, two girls slid down the deck and Mick had to run and throw himself on them to stop them sliding off the boat...the only thing I can compare it to is in Titanic when you see people sliding into the ocean!! Ali and I were laughing and giggling away whilst everyone was wetting themselves!! After about an hour of intense holding on...we reached Airlie Beach and steered into the Harbour!!
It was by far the best thing I have done in Australia!! The islands were gorgerous, the coral was awesome, and the sailing was insane!! I so want to do more sailing trips when I am older, being out at sea and sleeping out there was just so much fun!! And the sun tan I now have is getting pretty good!! We said our goodbyes not wanting to leave the boat and we headed back to the hostel!! We had a couple of hours to get ready, and then we headed down to the bar where we had a Matador table waiting with all the passengers sitting there!! We were all pretty merry by the time we had dinner, so my Lasagne was rather wasted as I couldn't really tell how it tasted :( then Pete showed up and we all started cheering Matador Matador...although we were all a bit gutted that Ben, Jemma and Mick didn't show as that said they were going to!! Rob challenged me to a game of pool, I am seriously better when I have had something to drink!! I won, he was not impressed and then we partied on!! We were all pretty tired and had to be up early for te next morning bus, so we went to sleep around 1am all rather giggly and dizzy!! The best three days so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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