I'm currently residing in Airlie Beach in Queensland having just finished a 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. To step back a few days I believe I last blogged on Thursday afternoon...

So to Thursday night. I met up with a Glaswegian girl called Rachel (who I met on my Cape Tribulation trip) in Cairns in the evening for a few beers. I couldn't go too heavy as I was due to catch a bus at 7am on to a place called Magnetic Island the day after...

With the benefit of hindsight, or just the fact that I should simply know better by now, I probably should have had anything to drink that night. Yes, the inevitable happened and I was absolutely battered. A heavy duty session of dancing on a table ensued and I believe I rolled in around 3.30am (all approximate!!)...

The next thing I remember is waking up naturally at 6.58am... crap... I somehow managed to throw some clothes on, toss everything into my bag, check out of the hostel and run to the bus stop so that I arrived at 7.08am... but all to no avail as I missed the bus. What a plonka. So about 30 minutes after checking out of my hostel I was to return to see if they had any beds for the night. They did, the one I just jumped out of!!

Unfortunately this was an expensive error. As I need to get to Airlie beach by Saturday at the latest to go sailing (and by backpacker bus that I'd already paid for didn't run on a Saturday) I would have to pay for a coach all the way through to Airlie Beach and skip out Magnetic Island, oh well...

Saturday was spent just sitting on a bus and getting an early night, nothing much to say... (I showed restraint on Friday night and limited myself to 3 beers and 12.30am)

Sunday I commenced my trip around the Whitsunday Islands. This would take me through to Tuesday. Wow - what a great trip. We did all sorts - snorkelling, chilling on some of the most beautiful beaches you can every imagine, SAILING, drinkings games... it was a great trip.

One of the highlight for me was swimming along next to a giant turtle (on a few occasions) whilst snorkelling, it was amazing... Another highlight was without doubt helping to raise/bring down the sails on the boat. It was bloody hard work and my hands are cut to shreds but it was great fun and required a hell of a lot of team work.

Another clear highlight was Whitehave Beach. This beach is 'ranked' the third best in the world (not quite sure who compiles these rankings or what can possibly be ranked higher) but I know this much, it's a bloody nice beach... Glorious white sand and the clearest water I have ever seen, it was pretty special. Whilst swimming in the water we saw numerous stingrays up close and personal, it was great...

Oh and an addes bonus from the trip - the sun tan is now looking cracking!!!

So it's now Tuesday evening in Airlie Beach. I am about to head to the trip after party. Given that I have to catch a bus at 6.45am tomorrow, trouble could be on the horizon...

Peace out! x