We wake early, the crew decided to sail straight to the port because they were unable to fix the engine. We all got dressed and got on deck to avoid the rocking below. Then disaster stuck, AGAIN. The main sail ripped in half. Fantastic. Our faces all dropped. So they open the front sail, and guess what happened an hour later. That smaller sail on the front of the boat ripped in half too. There was nothing left for it now, the crew requested a tow and 2 hours l...

The first night on the Mandrake was jot smooth. Although anchored in a cove, the waves rocked us violently throughout the night and at one point Kate and I had water pouring on in our heads. The moment Kate stood up, seasickness found her and didn't leave until we found dry land. Most of us were awake as the anchor was pulled up. So we settled on the deck and began the 3 hour sail to Whitehaven. There were lots of other parties getting dropped off and we joined ...

Up bright and early, we went to the check in office and found out our boat the Mandrake wouldn't leave until 3.30. Only 7 hour to wait!! We heard 3 other people chatting about the Mandrake and we all got chatting and decided to wait together. We found a quiet cafe by the lagoon and all ordered smoothies while all doing the crossword together (later discovering we were wrong with most of our answers). We moved down and sat in the shade next to the lagoon before w...

So we were all packed up and took the 4 hour coach to Airlie Beach. We found our hostel and checked in, ventured find to our 8 bed dorm (down a forest track) and chose the first 2 beds. Straight back out to buy a sun hat/ insect repellant and a pint! My sun burnt face was starting to settle, but my hat remained glued to my head even though we were sat undercover in the bar (drinking Koppaberg!!!) Back at the room we met our room mates - 2 Canadians: Anders and P...

Today was a quiet day due to Kate's allergic reaction to her sand fly bites! So we booked a doctors appointment and made the long trek to the surgery. In traditional fashion, we were seen an hour after our appointment time but Kate was given antibiotics and we went back to the hostel and got ready for our move tomorrow for our boat trip!