Rainbow Beach

---

Hi all.

Not too much to report since last time. I joined my boat tour on Saturday afternoon and we all walked out to the boat which was called the Atlantic Clipper. The first thing that caught my attention was the water slide!

We headed out towards the Whitsunday Islands and stopped for the night near Hook Island. Our dinner was hake with mashed potato and coleslaw, yum. We spent the evening getting to know the rest of the people on the boat (and as there was 36 people there were plenty to get to know).

The next morning we were awoken by the crew shouting at us at 6:30 am. After breakfast we took the small boats that were being dragged behind the Clipper to the beach (no I don't know what they're properly called - speedboats of some variety at a guess) and walked through to Whitehaven Beach. It was absolutely stunning, beautiful white sand and blue sea. We saw some stingrays and blue crabs and went swimming in the sea (kitted out in gorgeous stinger suits). We read and chatted on the beach until just before lunchtime and then returned to the boat for lunch.

After that we did our first lot of snorkelling. I have to admit that it wasn't quite as impressive as it had been on the Great Barrier Reef but I still saw loads of pretty fish and coral. Again, no photos but some members of the group had waterproof cameras so some might pop up at some point.

After playing around on the waterslide and diving board (5m above the water) we moved and were in a little inlet for the evening. We had spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread for dinner. Afterwards, we were all given fancy dress and played a few games with the crew. Each game, several people were knocked out until we were left with one King of the Clipper, a guy called Adam (from England).

On Monday morning we were rudely awoken again by the crew and went snorkelling again. I was a bit of a wimp this time and retired soon after seeing a jellyfish which had freaked me out a bit. It was only tiny (about the size of my hand) but I really didn't want a sting wrecking the rest of my holiday.

We returned back to Airlie Beach around midday and I spent most of the afternoon wasting time by the lagoon, napping and listening to my iPod. It was nice and relaxing not to be on the go for a while! At 7pm, I got on the bus to bring me down to Rainbow Beach. The bus took 15 hours but I managed to sleep for most of it.

Tomorrow, I set off on a tour of Fraser Island. I will meet my group this evening and we will all take it in turns to drive a 4WD along the beaches. I'm quite excited! Hoping it doesn't rain though as it rained all over my freshly laundered clothes which were on the line earlier.

Bye! x

---