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....Continuing the east coast!!
As we awoke in magnetic island (feeling as though we had licked a camels gooch) from a night on the ausie jugs, we prepared for our disembarkment to Airlie beach!! and the famous Whitsundays.
After a farewell to the awesome Mitch we picked our bags up and got ourselves to the ferry (in high spirits).
In terms of Oz experience drivers, our next driver was to be cool, and not too bad, but didnt really make too much of an impression on us...but there all cool really so...His name was greg otherwise known as Eut (something to do with cars, but a pretty crap nickname we thought). T-shirts were no use on this day inside the Oz bus, as the air conditioning was failing, to make matters far worse, me marti and james, plus two other lads were crammed in the back seats...and the dripping began. A T-shirt i had only washed the day before was smelly once again, im talking within minutes!! its very frustrating.
At this point marti was becoming increasingly desperate for more air from the filter...yet his efforts made things worse, yes people you may not have guessed it but he did break the filter. First it was a simple case of turning it back round, then pieces started coming off. Its alright though, dont worry yourselves, after a smack bag and wallop marti managed to repair the filter. What was delightful to see, was several other people making the same mistake..my only conclusion was that there must have been many who were trying to save recently washed tops.
On the way to Airlie we made a couple of stops into cafe's etc. We enjoyed a plate of pie chips and gravy..which certainly filled a whole..and so it should do for $6.80. Mr James Hickey was still with us and becoming increasingly a third leg to us.
A short note to mention. On our Oz experience trip we have been learning as well as partying. Everytime we get on the Oz bus, every driver shares thier knowledge of different parts of australia, it creatures and history. So its work rest and play with this trip :). Despite what we believed to be a less entertaining driver. Greg had decided to suprise us as we approached airlie beach with the best news we had heard in a while. Not only was it great news but the way he said it had us in stitches. greg the Driver was talking us through the whitsundays and Airlie beach, then he annouced he had arranged a meeting for us all at one of the bars...there was a pause, until the bald manly driver; rapidly leaned forward towards the mirror we could see him talking in and yeld "AND SOME FREE BEER!!!!"
So there you have it kids...we rolled into Airlie beach centre, got into our hostel, s*** shaved and showered, then approached the table for some well deserved free beer with the rest of the OZ bus, what could be better ay..I'll tell you what could be better. Our hostel was 'sweet' as they say in Oz, it was clean, spacious and had a T.V in each room. Wicked :P. Airlie was a cool place to be..always buzzing at night and chilled out with backpackers in the day. There was another lagoon here in Airlie, yet this one was far better than the one in cairns (not that cairns was a bad lagoon).
The day after arriving we chilled at the lagoon..got some serious pizzas from dominos, and looked around the surfer shops. My dear life, if we were rich we would have probably spent a fortune in these surfer shops...there well good. At least I got a new pair of flip flops. As you may have seen in the photos, my animal ones were becoming disgraceful.
The only real dissapointment from Airlie beach, was the matter with martis debit card. We must have tried tons of cashpoints, but none would give him money...and so for the first time, marti relied on my money to carry on through the rest of the night and buying for the whitsundays e.g. alcohol.
Anyways...The morning of the Whitsundays. We were up bright and early, with our snacks, beer and small amount of clothes ready for a two day and one night sailing trip.
We had a short 15mins walk from our hostel to the docks. We had met up with Laura from the Oz bus (who was on the same boat) to walk with us. Whilst at the briefing, we realised that the trip included plenty of 'hidden costs' and overall we had ended up paying an extra $100 dollars in hidden costs for our fraser and sailing trip!!...one particular compulsory extra cost was the hire of a stinger suit, (we shall laugh at this later in the blog). Some brave irish men brought 60 cans of beer between them (for one night??) yea right lads??
We came abroad 'The Hammer', and were welcomed by our crew.
Our crew consisted of trainee Claudia, Yana, Peter and skipper Dave. In the first couple of minutes we chilled, and breathed in the fresh sea air ahh...then we were told the rules of the boat, and what we would be doing. Soo...after the familiar snorkle talk, and the constant "if you touch the reef we kill you" talk, we endevoured into some extremely dangerous snorkling. Its a very scary business, when your snorkling with jelly fish that can potentially kill you, and sharks that are bigger than you. They give you a pathetic stinger suit...with rips in and places stitched back up...very re-assuring.
After we spent our risky 5 minutes in the sea, we climbed back onto the boat and as we left, the muscle test came...We were asked to pull up the sail. We never realised pulling up a simple sail can be such hard work...maybe they should use it in the world strongest man test or something?? because after a while it takes three men to pull it up...? First off, me and marti just observed, but the next time they asked for volunteers, me and Mr hoskins went for it...and afterwards wished we hadn't...naa kidding, at least we could say we pulled up a sail..if that's anythink to boast about neways?
Now...meal times were always a laugh on the boat. Theres something about buffets that can make you laugh, especially when your sitting next to marti. Let me talk you through the characters... there was the main whale keano...he was easily the biggest and most pigish there, and gave no consideration of what people might think of him, he stood over the leftovers; with a spoon, finishing of everything. Just to make it even funnier, the captain ordered that the women was to go first, and then the men would wait for his order to proceed. This ment all the keano piglets, including me and marti, right in pole postion!!
Another great Character was our friend laura, she may have been small, but she was just as keane as mr whale man. her eyes lit up at the site of food...i promise, it was a good site to see :)
Anyway enough about the food...im hungry at the moment!
One highlight of our trip was to see Whitehaven beach...a spectacular sight, and which you have all seen via the photos, where i was burried!!
We were told before entering this beach, that cameras are easily destroyed by the stunning white silicon sand. As you can all imagine, marti took great care of his darling camera...there was a particulary amusing part where he sat gently on the sign named whitehaven, slowly took out his camera and anounced... "right...no-one come within ten meters of me!!"..i was in stiches, but dared not to go within ten meters. :S .. to add to this anouncement, every person that he asked to take a photo of us, there would be a whole lecture...once again i quote.."now..when handling with the camera"!
We swam, we admired..we messed about with a rugby ball...then we went back to the boat. Skipper Dave anchored us up for the night and we prepared for the sunset. Our night on the Hammer was chilled out, we met two sound as a pound guys from Aberdeen, we had our beers, talked to all the people, and went to bed...oh no i forgot, skipper dave talked us through the stars, which mart constantly coughed "bulls***", which was very funny considering that skipper Dave was pointing at random stars and saying they were bows, people..??? and tons of other stuff.
The next day we were awoken far too early, where breakfast was going fast, and our snorkle location for the day approached. Should we snorkle, we asked ourselves? I mean after yesterdays jellyfish infested seas, snorkling wasnt what it used to be. Sorry ive just looked back up the blog and i didn't mention that on the first day we saw a sea turtle...it was huge (and awesome)...i felt he was going to turn around under water and say "sweet...totally" (finding nemo). Back to the second day snorkling, that we eventually decided to do, but again, our courage lasted only five minutes and we were back in the boat, and again it was due to the tons of jellyfish, and some were bigger. We chilled out the rest of the day and i finished my book, which was really enjoyable, and i have yet to recieve news that marti has progressed on his?
All in all, the sailing trip was coolbeans :) and a big thumbs up.
After strolling back to our hostel at airlie beach..you know the good one i told you about, i slept, and mart added photos i think. The night back from the Hammer, we were reserved a table for all the people on the hammer, and some free beer...again woohoo!! so of course we went and drank, it would be a waste not to :) after a photo session, some chatting, laughing and more beer, we retired to bed. We were heading of early due to our Oz bus departure at 7..ish, i think that was the time?
Another short but sweet visit in the travelling diary. We loved airlie beach and its lagoon, and the sailing adventure was "sweet". But bigger and better things are on the horrizon for all you guys to be reading. I am very far behind blogs at the moment so i am trying to catch up....be on the look out for any new blogs 'pomies (ausie term for brits)
Next edition: We become cowboys, old men bowlers, meet a great bus driver, and the classic trip of Fraser Island :)
P.s..if anyone wants to fund the "keep matt travelling campaign" i would be very grateful...xxx love love love
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