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Published: December 5th 2008
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After Cairns we got our first GreyHound bus down to Airlie Beach, the main stop off point for the Whitsundays!
On this journey an old man tried to die! We could hear someone making strange noises half way up the coach but just thought he was having nightmares as he was asleep. Most of the coach were laughing until one girl checked he was ok and found his eyes rolling and a weak pulse. Long story short, he turned out to be diabetic and an ambulance was called and he was stretchered off to hospital, leaving a coach of guilty feeling backpackers!
Airlie Beach was really nice and absolutely packed; apparently it was Schoolies weekend, kind of like Spring Break, and the place was full of teenagers celebrating end of school. Again you couldn't swim in the sea as it was jellyfish season, so we spent most time round the Lagoon. No great loss as the lagoon was really nice. The first night we drank some Goon (Australian wine which costs about 4pound for 4litres) in our room and then went out with 2 guys from our room (Tom and Dave). Turns out for such a small place Airlie Beach had a lot of bars, mostly full of people who had just returned from Whitsunday tours, or were waiting to go on them. Second day there was a bit of a non event, think we just spent it by the Lagoon and at night we bought some meat and had a BBQ on one of the public BBQs by the beach. In true brit fashion we then finished the remaining Goon in the park next to it and sat by the Lagoon.
Trying to save some money we only booked on the 1 day Whitsundays trip, most tend to do a 3 day 2 night trip. Not sure if our sea-legs would have coped with that one though, Vanessa felt sick enough on the 1 day trip (without alcohol). The Whitsundays are basically 72 islands off the east coast, mostly uninhabited, with coral reefs and gorgeous beaches. The first stop of ours was WhiteHaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, 1 of only 7 Silica sand beaches in the world. The sand is so fine it's like talcon powder, and can be used to exfoliate the skin, clean jewellery and your teeth, though I wouldn't recommend the latter. From the look out point above the beach you can really appreciate how nice it is, and also see some reef sharks and sting rays. When we actually got down to the beach we strolled along it, making sure not to step on the 100+ sting rays lining the shoreline at the far end of the beach, then spent some time imitating Teletubbies in our flattering Stinger Suits which have to be worn in the water during jellyfish season. After this we had an amazing lunch (Australians really now how to lay on a spread) and headed for a bay to snorkel. The coral there was incredible, it was really colourful and dense and there were fish absolutely everywhere. Luckily we managed to snorkel without Vanessa offending any of the fish and so no more stories of animals attacking her, yet! After this we sailed the long way home, to take in all the views of the islands and the bays etc. Apparently according to Tom and Dave (we met them again later in Hervey Bay) we didnt miss much not doing the 3 day tour, as the only additional things they did were extra snorkelling and drinking at night.
Back on dry land we headed straight to the bus stop for our second greyhound bus down to Hervey Bay, which was even more eventful than the first. First of all when we got there at 8pm the place was packed with people waiting for their 6pm bus, which turned up at 9pm! We tried ringing GreyHound to find out what was going on and how late our bus would be, but couldnt get through. Anyway after nearly 3 hours, and some more Goon (we're not alcoholics) our bus finally arrived. Then during one of our pitstops a fight broke our in the petrol forecourt, I was in the loo when it happened, but apparently 1 lad was arguing with his girlfriend and gripped her by the throat, so another lad stepped in and it all kicked off. The first guy was nuts, and was screaming how he was going to chew the other guys nose and eyes out, great fun. So he obviously wasn't allowed back on and was so abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
When we finally arrived in Hervey Bay it was raining, the beach looked horrible and there was nothing to do. We were meant to be waiting for Tom and Dave to make it down to book our Fraser Island trip with them, but we were so bored and didnt want to waste 5 days in Hervey Bay that we booked straight away. That night we had a few drinks in the bar and then headed out into town, only to find that there was only 1 other bar and it had an irish OAP band on, great fun.
The next major thing was Fraser Island, and I'll leave that for Vanessa as she wants to write about it, though I will just say that it was possibly the best 3 days I've ever had, and is without a doubt the most beautiful place I have ever been.
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