Category: The Whitsundays (2005)

Today, I headed out in the morning again for the Lagoon, and came upon Mathias and his girlfriend (I keep referring to her as girlfriend, because she has a difficult name that I know I’d never spell correctly). They were going to take a catamaran out for the day, but it was closed both days, so they came with me to the Lagoon to hang out. After lunch, I headed to the Jetty to see about parasailing–there was an opening at 2pm with a girl so, we went up together. She was from Germany as well. There were 4 of us, and the two women went up before us, then we got suited up, and we took off to the bright skies. They told us we could hang upside down and such, so we did just that! At the peak of our sail, we both hung upside down, arms dangling, looking at the gorgeous blue waters, laughing and screaming from the thrill, and trying to take in the amazing sea below. They then stopped the engines to let us float to the water, dipped us a little, then sped up and sent us soaring to the top again, and then began to reel us in. Once we got near the boat, the guy lifted up the engine cover and said he had a problem with the propellers– asked us if we could see anything. As we drifted closer wondering what was going on, they sped the propeller up to drench us! and then dunked us into the water again! We had an excellent time! After that, we headed back to the lagoon, and I again met up with the other germans, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the waters, listening to the ipod, and thinking about what a wonderful life I continue to pursue :)

Today, I woke up and headed for the Lagoon to spend the day just relaxing and soaking up the sun. I can’t believe my trip has only one more day. I did find something quite interesting–SKY DIVING! I looked up the info, but apparently there are some better places to sky dive from to see the Great Barrier Reef, so it looks like I might make one more trip up North to see some more undiscovered terrain–maybe go to the rain forest, scuba, and skydive :) Still time left and much to see. Anyhow, the day was great, and I played frisbee with Mathias and his girlfriend throughout the afternoon. That night, we had dinner at Mandrake Grove, and I had an amazing Mango Chicken, with garlic mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, and apple juice–we then headed over to Cold Rock–like Cold Stones, and I had Caramel Mud with Nutella mixed in– GREAT!

This morning we woke up bright and early after spending the night looking at the stars– we saw Scorpio, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and the Southern Cross. It’s incredible how clear the skies are with no light pollution. And thankfully, we had a very well educated skipper who was able to point us out all those stars! We then headed for our first destination again for snorkeling and again, saw so many amazing things! We enjoyed the day lounging around, snorkeling, taking pictures, and just relaxing–. Once we docked, we all headed our separate directions and I went with Florian the german guy to his hostel, which seemed pretty nice. We got checked in, and had our first shower for the last 3 days! It was nice to feel clean, but I’m still bobbing a little! We then headed out for a walk, and then everyone’s meeting up at 7:30 at Magnum’s for a night out :) This trip was a definitely great value and I’m so glad I did it! What a life experience! Just wonder what I might get up to next–stay tuned :)

Today, we set sail again in the morning for our first bout of snorkeling. We all hired these great wetsuits, which I’m convinced, anyone can look like a cool surfer just by wearing these! We all headed out in the morning for our first glimpses of the amazing coral of bright and vibrant colours, along with the fish that would simply come up to you and say hello! I couldn’t believe how brilliant all the colours looked, and I hope the camera I hired will have captured at least some of the waterscape! We ended up at a few destinations and snorkeled in each. I had to take a ginger pill today for seasickness, and I couldn’t believe how well it worked!

This morning, I rushed to the grocery store and got some last minute snacks for the trip aboard the Avatar. Russ drove a group of us going on sailing tours down to the marina, and I headed for my group– there were only about 12 of us, which was good, because that just meant more deck room, and more sleeping room! Aboard the ship were 3 crew (AUS and NZ) and then 12 people. 5 were Austrian, all just having completed work for the winter in Southern Australia at a ski resort, 1 English girl Donna, who had been traveling around Australia for the past few months, 3 Germans, 1 studying in Adelaide, 1 studying in Brisbane, and his girlfriend who was visiting rom Germany. So, me and my USA self just got on board and had a grand ol’ time. We set sail at 9:00am and headed for our first destination which was the most magnificent beach you could ever imagine. I just can’t wait for my pictures to be online! The beach was soft, 3000+ year old sand, makes for some of the softest sand you could ever imagine! The pristine beaches, blues of the water, all made for a fantastic, hard-to-beat first day! Food was excellent aboard, and star gazing at night was absolutely breath taking! We all slept with our hatches open and all slept like babies!

After my flight, I arrived on Hamilton Island and enjoyed the warm air awaiting my luggage to be dropped out. We then all headed for a ferry that brought us to the mainland, and then waited on a bus that would bring us to Airlie Beach. The weather was fantastic, and I hurried along to make sure I could reach the check in time of 9:00pm at Bush Village. I got picked up at the bus station by Russ, the Canadian driver for the Bush Village, and we headed back for met to get into my room. In my room was Nadia, a german girl who had been traveling for a couple of months. I then headed to the main area for the rest of the movie with some people staying there. Then, Nadia came up, with her Australian mate Bianca, and we headed out for a night on the town. We ended up at Magnum’s, a cheesy spring break looking hangout, which is on this Floridian looking strip. Why is it all beach cities seem to look like Florida?? Anyhow, we met up with another german girl, and a swedish guy and hung out for a couple hours before I needed to turn in for the night–as I am leaving for my sailing trip in the morning!

Tomorrow, I’m off on a flight to Hamilton Island which is in the main set of islands right of the north eastern coast of Australia that start the Great Barrier Reef. I’ll be there for six days, and will go on a sailing tour all around the reef for some snorkeling and fun in the sun! Stay tuned for my trip as it unfolds! Also, I should get amazing pictures as I’ve arranged for an underwater digital camera for my trip as well!