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Published: December 16th 2007
We board the boat and take our bags downstairs to our 'double' bunk, though later someone accurately describes it as 'a single king size bunk'. I have a sense of dread about the trip and wonder how we'll manage 2 days on this boat. There's literally nowhere to run! Yet, we start our journey and our first port of call is a place near Hook Island where we all disembark and go for a snorkel. Jumping off a boat into lovely blue water seems to bring the trip up about 200 degrees in terms of enjoyment. The corals are once again, intricate and fascinating. We are surrounded by fish and Joe even had a few marine fans who followed him around!
The only downfall about being out in the sea is Marsh Flies (I'm not sure this is the correct name...), they follow us eveywhere and even try to land on us whilst we're snorkelling! Talk about persistent! A few flies were murdered, I'm afraid to say but tempers flared after a few hours and the little buggers wouldn't let up.
There were 28 people on board, plus 4 crew. I wasn't sure how the space was going to work out with that many people! But somehow, with the milling around and some escaping the sun downstairs, it wasn't too bad in the end! Joe and I spent most of the first afternoon alone, although we had met a German couple at the bus stop who occasionally chatted to us. It wasn't until much later that a woman struck up a conversation with me. After talking for 5 minutes, she told me she was with her friend, pointed and told me her name was Nikki! A few minutes later, she then told me HER name was Jo! I couldn't believe it! So as Joe rejoined us, I introduced Joe to Jo!
Henceforth, we were any combination of 'Nikki Joe Jo Nikki', which confused lots of people, especially some Taiwanese travellers who we started talking to later! Interestingly (to me anyway), there are lots more 'Nikkis' in Australia and most seem to spell their name my way. I didn't find that so much in England. It's partly good as it's nice to find a bit of popularity for the name and the spelling, yet also partly bad as it's confusing and I'm less unique! Also good to hear was that Aussie Nikki (whom we met) had also been asked whether that was her actual name or whether it was shortened (from Nicole or whatever) and she'd had people ask her also if she was sure that was her name!!! How dumb to people think we are????
The coincidences didn't stop there either! Now this is for my family- Aussie Nikki lived in Dudley Street! I will visit it when I get to Sydney and send a picture of our fabulous famous name...
Anyway, Nikki and Jo were proper Aussies and it was really nice to spend time with some, as so far we have only met other travellers from various countries!
When the sun set on the boat, there was only the blackness of the sky and the sea, which was a bit isolating and strange. Joe and I aren't used to the water as it is but being so far from land and stationary was a completely different experience. The best thing about it was the mass of bright and vivid stars all around the boat. If you stared at a spot for even two minutes straight, you'd pretty much always see a shooting star. That's just how dense the amount of stars were. Not a bad place to be, as it turned out! Once the music was on and people started to talk and have a drink, it just felt like being anywhere.
Turns out, the bunks were probably as comfortable as they looked! We were also surrounded by a Spanish party who didn't like us much and it probably didn't help when we stood on one of their bunks (with them in it) in the middle of the night when climbing through from the deck! Whoops! We did apologise of course...
Anyway,
I have now seen the whitest beach of my life! And probably the clearest water too! Whitehaven Beach was our first stop the next morning. Thank goodness, as we all needed something truly amazing to perk us up after being woken at 6am!!!! Even the free breakfast wasn't a consellation. But this beach definitely was! We were ferried over there and were immediately blown away by its beauty. The feel of the sand underfoot was like powder, and the constant sun made it warm powder (even better!) We had to put stinger suits on which aren't ideal but the sea was so clear and resfeshing, you could easily forget you were dressed up like a huge condom! We had a great throw about with the group, who were all really nice or decent enough.
Joe and I went for a walk only partway down the beach, which stretched on for miles it seemed. It was just exactly like all the postcards you see. When you go to a place usually that you see on postcards, the sea is never as blue and the sand never as perfect and white but this place and most of the Whitsundays we got to see- really are postcard perfect!
We got around to a bit more snorkelling later and we had long since given up on seeing a turtle, yet there one was! Just as we were about to get out, Joe made a great spot and a little goup of us had a great time swimming along with the beautiful turtle. It was gracefully swimming, completely unconcerned by our presence. It was quite big and swam amazingly close to us at points. It really was great to see one so close! Great spot Joe!
We moved further into the sea, beyond the last Whitsunday Islands and anchored there for the night. There was a small patch of beach beside us so we went over there and watched a lovely sunset from there and had a bit more of a throw around. Aussie Nikki and Jo were good company and we spent most of the night with them, plus others who came and went. Some of the boat started a drinking game which we didn't understand so the Taiwanese girls came up with one we had a better chance of understanding and we all played that instead! In the end, I think we made the louder noise! Had a great night with a lot of laughter. Although, we all went to bed at a reasonable time as we'd gotten up so early.
All in all- another successful and valuable trip! We met a lot of great people and the sailing was good, although we didn't get to put the sails up much as there wasn't any wind, so technically we weren't really sailing as such! The turtle was a great bonus and Whitehaven beach was like paradise.
The only thing the trip lacked was a proper shower! As we were hostel-less when we returned as we're going on the overnight greyhound to Hervey Bay. So we made our way down to the local lagoon and had a shower then a relaxing swim in he warm bath-like water. Not much looking forward to the near 13 hour trip to come but life's not so bad down under! Not bad at all!
I hope you've enjoyed reading and pop by soon for the next exciting addition to the Niktour route diary.
Best wishes to you all in your current endeavours, love Nikki x
ps: Can anyone think of good English food? We had a chat with some Germans and we couldn't come up with much, except Yorkshires! I'm at a blank...
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Ros Thorpe
non-member comment
Good English food
Tony's spontaneous response to your question is: Irish Stew (Not really English, I realise as I write!), and Shepherds Pie I would add: Toad in the Hole Golden pudding with Syrup Loved reading your account of the Whitsundays. How did Fraser Island go? And are you now in Brisbane? If so, say Hi! to Jane from me if you see her again before you leave. Enjoy Byron Bay. Look forward to hearing from you from Sydney. Take care, and keep on enjoying Oz. Love, Ros (and Tony).