Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I arrived after 12 hours of travelling into Airlie beach, which apart from having a lagoon and a few tourist shops doesnt have a lot. After a quick look around i went for a sleep in my lovelly clean hostel which thankfully was bed bug free! But not only was it beg bug free it had a big tv, on suite bathroom, balcony, little kitchin, free breakfast and mini BBQ every day! Heaven! i was sharing my room with 7 guys and the first night me and 3 guys went to the bar as it was the hoff's 55th birthday and in celebration they had cheap hoffinator and sangria cocktail jugs. Still feeeling pritty tired i headed back with one of the guys about 10pm who was from korea and i helped him with his english (not sure im the best advocate for that) and he taught me about his culture. I have learnt so much about different cultures and countries since being out here, more then school could ever teach me and i have realised how privilidged countried like england and australia are with their freedom and that we probably do not appreciate it enough. I have met people here who have never experienced going out to feel 'free' and have a good time and others who have just finished compulsary army duty by their country at 20yrs old.
The following day, they skys had clearned and i decided to relax by the man made lagoon (build becuase the beach isnt very nice and contains many stingers in the australian summer) and i bumped into many people again from down the coast. Ben (my travel buddy) arrived that day and we had a nice day relaxing and reading books before i went back to my hostel. That evening i decided to have a night in playing cards with the german guys in my hostel room before having an early night. While sleeping at 3am i could here i fight going on outside and then was awoken by an incredibly loud bang. The next thing i heard was someone screaming fire and looking across to the window i could see large flames. Our room had a little balcony which looked down to the outside area of the bar and nightclub and has a large canopy covering it. I thought this was alight and shouted fire. I have never seen 7 guys move so fast! They literally sprung a meter out of bed, a much better wake up call in mornings than an alarm im thinking. Thankfully it wasnt the canopy but a car just outside in the street which had been set alright and the bangs were the tyres exploding. Apparently the area had a lot of problems that night and i didnt get the greatest of sleeps after the fire crew and police had dealt with the situation.
The following day i had my whitsundays tour. The whitsundays are 74 of the most beautiful sand islands in the world with the famous whitehaven beack being the paraise of australia (look as of photos online). I was quite nervous as i am usually(pritty much always) sick on boats. Stocked up with the strongest travel sickness pills i could find, i boarded the boat and met ben and some girls i had previously met when travelling on the greyhound bus. From then the next 3 days and 3 nights were one of the best experiences of my life and the biggest highlight of my trip so far.
The first day we travelled to an island to our accomodation and relaxed in some hot tubs, before getting dressed for dinner. I was worried about the boat originially as it was a party boat but my travel sickness tablet had worked and so after the mamouth dinner we played loads of drinking games and danced into the night having a fantiastic time. The next day we were up at 5.30 am for an early breakfast and our boat to the beautiful whitehaven beach. The weather wasnt great but it didnt matter, and we sunbathed and played more games like wheel barrow and piggy back races with the group. It felt like being a kid again. The sand on this island is one of the purest things in the world its almost white in colour. We borded to boat after a few hours had lunch and moved location to an area we could snorkel to bottom part of the great barrier reef. The coral was beautiful and there were so many different colour fish (some very vey big) which i could resist chasing. On the way back to the island we filled our time with card games and quickly jumped in the hot tub on returning before having another evening out playing drinking games and dancing into the night. I felt incredibly lucky to have met these groups of girls and we all got along so so well. They definitly were a big part in making the trip as incredicble it was.
Too quickly our last day came and we had a 'lay in' until 6.30am before heading back out to an area to snorkel. It was raining quite heavily and feeling the cold i didnt fancy going back in the sea so a group of us got taken out on a boat to feed the fish bread. The amount of fish there was crazy and they were all jumping over each other to get the food (see my pics).
We arrived back at airlie beach and i checked back into beaches hostel in a quite dirty room with apparently no one who speaks english. I changed my itinery that afternoon so i could head up north a day early towards (hopfully) the sun and relaxed before meeting up with the girls again that evening. We got fish and chips which i have to say was the best i have ever tasted. I went for flake which is shark and it was soooo tasety a cross between fish and chicken. We watched the final of big brother (which is actually very good over here, and very different to back home) before heading out for some more games, dancing and playing cards. 2.30 that morning we all said goodbye to each other as we were travelling in our different directions, and i never realised saying goodbye to people would be so hard. Not just with the whitsundays girls but all the people you meet along the way, you get a strange connection with them, maybe becuase you are travellers and usually simialr people looking for the same thing, and even if you have only known them 3 days you know all about them and become strong friends. i really hope i meet up with a lot of the people i have met when i return home.
My final day in airlie beach has been filled with general necessities and getting organised before i travelled to my next location townsville where i will catch a ferry to magnetic island.
- comments