Another Australia Update

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We left Townsville and went to Airlie Beach. From Airlie beach we planned to go sailing to the Whitsunday Islands. These are a group of 74 islands. Seven have resorts, the others are uninhabited. We arrived in Airlie Beach on Monday night - intending to go sailing on Tuesday. However we ended up waiting until Thursday to leave. Most of the boats go on three day trips, so you sometimes have to wait a few days to get a place on the boat you want.

While waiting we went swimming in the lagoon in Airlie Beach (since there are Stingers in the Ocean). Airlie was a nice, pretty place. We saw a lot of colorful birds and also some bats.

The sailing trip was excellent. We left on Thursday morning and returned on Saturday afternoon. We stopped in several snorkeling spots on reefs near to some islands (part of the Great Barrier reef). There were lots of fish and colorful coral and the water was calm so the snorkeling was easy. We stopped at a resort for a few hours also - there were lots of Lorikeets there (a colorful parrot-like bird), they ate bread from our hands (and scratched Matt's arm! and were hanging from Heather's dress). At night the boat anchored between islands - the stars were very bright, since there was no light pollution.

When we returned from the sailing trip we took an overnight bus to Hervey Bay. From Hervey Ba we went on a day-trip to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a huge sand island. We saw a Dingo. The trip was in a 4-wheel drive bus. We drove along the beach and went swimming in a fresh water lake. The island was very interesting but the trip was bit rushed since we only went for a day.

Back in Hervey Bay, we went for a walk at dusk and there were hundreds of large fruit bats flying around in a big group.

We just got to Noosaville.

- Heather & Matt

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Photos

Boat
This is the boat we were on.

Whitsundays
This is a place we stopped on the sailing trip.

Birds
These birds where at a place we stopped on the sailing trip. They came to eat bread.

Comments

[Sue Deaville]

Wish I was there!
All that swimming and wildlife sounds wonderful, wish I was there to share the experience with you, please send some more pictures!