Hey everyone!

Today we went to the Whitsundays!

After a lot of discussion, we decided that a one day cruise of the islands would suit us best, as it meant we would be able to get off the boat and explore three islands, go snorkelling, and go in a glass-bottomed boat over the reef. So, we were up bright and early and filled ourselves up with breakfast before getting a courtesy bus to the harbour. Soon enough we were boarding our huge catamaran, Voyager. Next to it was a very cool looking catamaran sailing boat called Chimara, but we found out the problem with sailing boats is that, because they are slower, they stop at fewer islands.

We grabbed some of the best seats on the boat, outside and high up at the back, so we often leant back in the corner pretending it was our boat. We soon left for our first stop, Hook Island Resort. The water was calm and there was barely a cloud in the sky, so it was hard to believe that a couple of weeks ago people had been getting sea sick on the boat and that there were terrible storms.

At Hook Island Resort we first went down a dark spiral staircase inside a strange building in the water, which led us to a coral reef observation deck. We were low down amongst the fishes, but it was pretty dark so it was difficult to see the real colours of the coral reef. When we came back up and out of the building, we realised we could see hundreds of small fish just by looking over the side of the platform we were on.

We then boarded a 'semi-submergable boat', which was a boat with massive glass panels on the bottom. We went for a little cruise over some reefs, being told what each different type of coral we saw was called.

Off the boat, we then took a short walk to a nice beach where we were given snorkelling gear, complete with very attractive stinger suits (like full body wetsuits) to stop jellyfish stings. We swam over some crazy-looking coral, including
And then went beside a boat where food was being thrown in the water. Just like back in Thailand, the fish went crazy for the food and both Christina and Alex felt a tiny nip on a finger, no doubt due to a fish getting confused what was their food and what wasn't. Here we also tried out the waterproof camera we bought yesterday, so hopefully there'll be some good photos on that.

At some stage during the morning we learnt that coral reef is usually photographed at night with a very powerful flash, which makes it appear much brighter and more colourful than it actually is.

It was then time for lunch on board Voyager, as we cruised over to the famous Whitehaven beach. A big buffet later, we pulled up at the beautiful Whitehaven beach, complete with ultra-fine sand and crystal clear blue sea. We spent a couple of hours here, playing in the sea, getting our photos taken by a professional photographer, and taking our own photos (being really careful with the camera as apparently the fine sand is fatal).

Off we went again, being served fruit and cheese this time, on our way to Daydream Island. We went to the resort on the island which had everything from a pool and mini golf to jet ski hire and an outdoor cinema almost on the beach. We had a look around the mini golf course, which featured many different locations of Australia, played in the pool, and wished that they would put a film on the outdoor cinema.

With the day slowly coming to an end, it was time to head back to the harbour after a great day full of amazing sights. Back at the hostel it was dinner and bed, and because the hostel was packed out Alex was moved to another, all-male dorm for his second night. The others in the dorm must have thought he was a shady character, as all he arrived in the room after the others had all gone to sleep, then tomorrow morning left before any woke up, leaving just a t-shirt on his bed (he left his bag in Christina's room). A shady character and a very light traveller too. Xxx