Well since we last spoke, both of us have changed. We left Byron as mere travellers, but we have arrived in Airlie Beach a few days later with outback camping survival experience to rival Ray Mears and sailing abilities slightly better than that of Ellen MacArthur. In short we are now true adventurers. How has this happened I hear you ask. Well get comfortable and i'll tell you.
We left Byron and caught a Greyhound bus to Hervey Bay in Queensland. Greyhound buses are pretty horrendous but a good, cheap way of covering the miles. Plus they stop every few hours so you can get off and get a meat pie. I do this everytime without fail. Leanne usually sleeps. Anyway, we arrived, checked in and then had a night of packing admin before our camping trip. Next morning we woke early and were put in to our assigned group to buy food and beer. We were then forced to watch loads of videos about other travellers who have rolled, crashed or sunk the 4wd vans in the past. They then put on another video about the shark infested waters, the dingos that roam the island, the massive lizards, snakes, spiders etc etc. It really put us in the mood for a fun 3 days!!! Once packed, we set off to the largest sand island in the world. Our group turned out to be totally excellent and full of really funny people which made the whole experience fantastic. We saw and swam in beautiful lakes, walked along cliffs to see the stunning views of the beaches, swam in rock pools, saw a shipwreck, swam in freshwater creeks, and camped under the stars. It was great fun and made even more so by our group who after the 3 days had become really close. On the second night, dingos entered the camp, much to everyone's delight (apart from Leanne who was not happy at all) but we soon scared them off. I guess the smell of us after that time was enough to even make wild dogs run for the hills!!!
We returned to Hervey Bay and after a shower and a quick bite to eat it was time for another Greyhound to Airlie Beach, a very reasonable 13 hours away by coach!!! Fortunately it was overnight and so we slept for a fair bit of it. We needed to catch up on sleep after Fraser Island so it wasn't so bad. A few minutes after we finally arrived in Airlie Beach we had to check in for our 3 day / 2 night sailing trip around the Whitsundays. Leanne and I decided to upgrade to a cabin as we thought it would be lovely to have our own space on board. We had a few hours to wash some clothes (much needed i can tell you) and buy some alcohol, before we had to walk to the marina to board our yacht. We weren't allowed to take any of our own bags on board as travellers bags often contain bed bug eggs and they didn't want these on their old wooden yacht. We set off and after a few safety briefings we were shown to our rather pokey, but really nice room. It even had a porthole. Port Outward Starboard Home darling. We sailed for the rest of the day and moored up for the night. After a bbq and some wine we headed to bed. Around midnight i was woken by things crawling over me. We turned on the light and the bed was covered in bugs. it soon became clear that it was more than one or two and once we saw that Leanne had been bitten quite a lot we left to find a new place to sleep. That night wasn't pleasant at all. Eventually we found a little place for Leanne near the crew that was small but cushioned, and i slept on the floor by her feet. The romance of the open ocean was not overly evident that night. In the morning we spoke to the crew who said it was a common issue and sprayed our room. This wasn't good enough for us and so we decided that if the weather held, we'd sleep the next night on deck. During the day we saw some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. One of them, Whitehaven Beach, has sand that is so pure, NASA use the sand for the glass and lenses on their spacecraft. I've taken a little bit back with me in case i lose another wing mirror on the Golf!!! We saw a shark (from the safety of the beach, don't worry Mrs White and Mrs Wickenden) and then went snorkelling which wasn't great due to the recent typhoons, but we did see turtles swimming around which was cool. We then went to a really peaceful inlet where we spent the night. The weather was amazing and the crew did their very best to make us really comfortable on deck. I've never seen so many stars and the sounds of water lapping against the boat, and the gentle rocking had us asleep in no time. We woke early and sat there and took in the serenity. Leanne said it was serenic, scenic and serene. It's not a word, but go there and tell me she's not right!!!!
So we're now in Airlie Beach and Leanne's gone shopping to make herself feel a bit better after her bed bug experience. I should probably say that although they were on me too, I wasn't bitten once. She's clearly the tasty one. Tomorrow we have a very sensible 11 hour bus journey to Cairns to go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.
We've met up with a few of our Fraser Island bretheren and so tonight we're going to eat Kangaroo and have a glass or two of wine with them.