A 5 hour bus journey after leaving Magnetic Island, we arrived in Airlie Beach.Our plan was to get up the next morning and jump on the next sailing boat for the Whitsundays the following day.This did not however go according to plan.The next boat we could get on was on Friday so we had four days to spend milling about Airlie Beach.This wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.Our days were spent in the small town mainly hanging by the lagoon, using McDonalds free wifi (and having 25p ice cream cones), doing some shopping watching the rain lash down and organizing stuff to do further down the coast.

On Friday we woke bright and early to glorious sunshine and boarded Kiana, our sailing boat home for the next 3 days and met the crew of three who took us around the islands.We left the harbor and made our way towards the Whitsundays.We arrived after lunch at Tongue Bay, dropped anchor and went ashore.We walked through a little bit of forest before arriving at the lookout point which showed Whitehaven beach in all its glory.

Whitehaven Beach is one of the top ten beaches in the world (the second we have been to in the top ten on this trip).Where we were looked out over the long beach and before us was the mouth of a river joining the sea.Here the river water mixed with the white sand and the mud from the recent rain to create swirls and patterns in the water, the type that us geography geeks geek over.It was really class looking!

We walked down onto the beach and had a few hours to muck about on the beach, take photos playing catch and dipping in the sea (in our stylish stinger suits so we don't die from jelly stings).The sand here is so soft and fine, it was really weird to walk on, and it made a funny squeaking noise under your feet when we were dandering along.The sand here is very special and quite unique.It is made of 98.3% silica (which is apparently a lot). The authorities do not let you bring any sand home with you as a souvenir as it is so rare.The only people that have been allowed to remove any sand since the area became a national park in 1970 are NASA, and they used it to make the glass for the Hubble telescope! Cool!

We left Whitehaven Beach and began sailing to the North end of the Whitsundays to Luncheon Bay where we parked up for the night.Here it was lovely and sheltered so not too much rocking of the boat.As it got dark and we waited for dinner a dolphin showed up and was doing loops of the boat, coming in and out of the light to feed and to make us stand like eejits with our cameras out trying to catch a snap of it.

The next morning we got up at stupid o'clock, had brekkie then got the snorkel gear out and had a dunk in the bay looking at coral and fishes.We were then called back to the boat where we were geared up and sent on our way for a free scuba dive (get in!).Our dive instructor, Paul, took us through the basics and was much more easy going than the instructor we were within Cairns.We did our basic skills, got our breathing all in check, then swam along behind him.Within a few minutes of our dive a sea turtle came along and was swimming amongst us.He was very graceful and we couldn't keep our eyes off the fella.We saw lots of fish and different types of coral, sadly our dolphin friend was nowhere to be seen.

After our dive we set sail for the 3 hour ride to the Great Barrier Reef.I (Claire) felt as sick as a dog as the swells out at sea were pretty big and was more than happy when we arrived at Bait Reef where the water was lovely and calm.Once again we got our snorkel gear on and plonked ourselves in the ocean, 65km off the coast of Australia.This reef was sweet as it was a bunch of steeping stone-like reefs so you got the best of the top of the reef and the deep channels in between.The coral here was more spectacular with a greater variety of fishes and yay more nemos!!!After lunch we got suited up and got to go on a second dive.This one was brill as we didn't have to do any of the stupid safety stuff as we already (kinda ) knew what we were doing, well knew all we needed to know.We were taken down to the bottom, between two stepping stones so we could see all the different corals that thrived at that depth.This was cool, though slightly daunting as it was quite enclosed with sharp coral all around.

That evening, after watching the sunset over the reef, the skipper of the boat gave us a talk about astronomy in the dark dark sky out at sea (with no moon).We could see millions of stars and he pointed out various constellations while we spotted shooting stars.It was one of the best night skies we have ever seen, only one light could be seen in all directions which was on the mast of a far off sailing boat.

The next morning we get up mega early to watch the sunrise.This was special.The water was so incredibly calm (Chris described it as flatter than some NI football pitches) that the sunlight bounced effortlessly off the water as it quickly rose in the sky.

About half six that morning we were out doing more snorkeling.This time it was mega cool.The instructors were stunned at the still, crystal clear, perfect conditions so we were not shying away from getting straight in.On this snorkel we saw a lovely sea turtle who floated around with us for a while, gliding effortlessly through the water while we flapped trying to keep up with it.We also spotted more nemos and dun dun dunnn a shark! Yes we seen sharks in the water (say that in an Aussie accent).It was a reef shark swimming about a deep channel between the stepping stones, about 1.5m in length maybe but menacing enough looking.It was whopping!Chris was feeling a little cold coming on that morning so decided not to do another dive that day, as it wasn't really safe due to the pressure build up in your sinuses when you go down, however was kind enough to buy me a dive as part of my birthday present (I'm getting addicted to it!).This dive was also cool as being so much more confident in the water we could stray away from the instructor slightly further and nosey more at different patches on the reef and go up and down to different depths.At one point on this dive a reef shark swam past at the same depth about 3metres from where I was.He was like 'ok man, I can't eat you, but I'll let you gawp at me if you want'.This was very cool! "Sharks in da water!"

Once out of the water we took our salty leave from the reef and quickly set sail back to port on the nice calm sea.The water on the way back was so incredibly blue and clear, we could see big colourful jellyfish and a leopard shark at one point.While spending some time catching some rays someone spotted a dolphin far off in the distance popping up for a breath.We moved to the front of the boat for a better view (and the best seats in the house) just as he was coming closer and closer.He swam along the front on the boat, riding the waves we were making and turning onto his back showing of his white belly to us.He flirted with us for about 10 minutes moving from one side to the other (while all of us on board moved with him to watch him play).All of a sudden he shot off in front of the boat and began jumping and leaping out of the water and doing somersaults for us all.These weren't just little leaps for breath he was literally metres out of the water as he emerged! He was like a circus dolphin doing tricks for his adoring audience who clapped and screamed at all his tricks.He then came back to the head of the boat to take in our claps and his glory.It was weird but he did seem to be very proud that he was able to show off to us.This was amazing.A total spectacle that no-one could ever plan.The best sighting of a wild animal either of us have ever seen.We were both giddy for days afterwards.

Our Whitsundays experience was awesome and we both agree that it has been the highlight of our entire trip…so far.

Talk to you all soon.

Claire and Chris

xx