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Published: December 17th 2007
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The Whitsunday Islands and Arlie Beach
My flight arrived at Proserpine, the nearest airport to the reef, around 7pm. I got an shuttle from the airport to my hostel in Arlie Beach. Arlie (pronounced "Early Beach") is basically just the port town for anyone wanting to go sailing in the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays are a cluster of about 74 islands near the south of the great barrier reef. So the thing to do from Arlie is to hop on a sailing trip for a few days, that go around the islands. There are travel agencies on every corner and even most of the hostels can book a sailing trip for you as well. I grabbed a couple of brochures and settled on a boat named "The Ileola", which offered a 2 night, 3 day sailing trip and the best Italian food in the Whitsundays!
I woke up early the next morning to meet my boat down at the marina. My boat held 12 people + 2 crew members, and once again, I was the only American. I actually think I have met less than 2 americans the whole time I have been here. Why is that??
The
Sexy Jellyfish Suits
We had to wear a full head mask too! next 3 days were just completely amazing. It was SO hot, hotter than anything I've dealt with before. I went through an entire bottle of sunscreen in the 3 days, and even managed to defy genetics and get a bit of a tan!! The boat just sailed around the different islands, and we would stop every 2-3 hours to jump off and snorkel. Everyone had to wear these sexy full body wetsuits to prevent getting stung by little Jellyfish that are in the area. The coral here is so colorful, and I saw a turtle and even a shark! So here I am, swimming along, and a shark that was maybe 5-6 feet long swims RIGHT underneath me! Thank god I was swimming near one of my crew members, or else I might have had a heart attack. I popped up from the water and was like "AHHH Shark!" and Simon (the boat crew) laughs and goes, "ahh that was just a reef shark", which I took to mean: "
YOU BARELY GOT AWAY WITH YOUR LIFE ". We are also getting fed like kings on the boat, they feed us huge meals of italian meats, pesto pasta, bbq chicken,
and then every 3 hours they pass around fresh fruit or cookies. I could learn to live like this!
On day 2 we got up early to go to Whitehaven beach, one of the most famous sites of the Whitsundays. Everywhere else that we had sailed to had been relatively deserted, but there were heaps of people going ashore here. Once I got to land I could see why. It was a huge stretch of white sand beaches, so bright that I couldn't even open my eyes if I took my sunglasses off, and super clear turquoise water. We spent a few hours on the beach there, and then got back on the boat for more snorkeling. Every night everyone would just sit up on the deck, drinking wine and chilling out under the stars. It was definitly as close to paradise as I'll ever get!
On the last day our boat dropped us off, and although I was sad to leave I was ready to be on land again. I walked to my hostel, which was called Backpackers by the Bay, where I had 3 nights just hanging out. I really liked this hostel, there were a bunch
of backpackers who lived in the hostel to make money, and they were all super nice and fun to hang out with. When I booked my flight to the Whitsundays, I left time for 2-3 days in Arlie, but once I got there I realized there really wasn't anything to do, Arlie is just basically a port town with a bunch of bars and travel agencies. Its also ironic that the town is called "Arlie Beach, because you can't even swim at the beach there b/c its a marina, so they have a man-made pool instead. Also, it is ungodly hot there. I am talking about 90 degrees by 8 am. So after 1 day I had had enough of laying out by the pool, so I decided to go on a hike at a national park that was about 20 minutes away from Arlie. That was where I encountered the killer bird.
The Incident with the Bird
So I'm hiking by myself in this national park, and its super woodsey and I've been hiking for 2 hours and I haven't seen anyone. So i look up and there is this magpie (like a crow) on
a tree right in front of me, making cackling noises. So i go to walk past it, and it squauks, swoops RIGHT over my head, and lands at a tree right in front of me again and stares me down. So I try and do it again, and this time it flies RIGHT INTO THE SIDE OF MY HEAD. ON PURPOSE! I screamed bloody murder when it hit me. So then I am frozen and I dont know what to do, so I try and sprint past it, and it flies RIGHT next to my head again, and lands in front of me. Staring me down. I was pretty sure this magpie was going to peck me in the jugular and I would die alone in the woods and the magpies would eat my eyeballs. So I lost all my water b/c I threw my water bottle at it and missed. And so finally after hiding behind a tree for 5 minutes, i grabbed a huge stick, and while waving it frantically over my head, sprinted away. I must have looked like such a fool, but after like 20 yards I looked back and it hadnt followed me. I'm not
joking, I was shaking so hard I had to sit down, I honestly thought I was going to die.
So then I got to the top of the mountain, to the look out point, and you can either go back down the way you came, or go another way down that is a mile longer, and I took the longer route just to avoid the magpie!!
I think between that and the shark that is more than enough nature for me for awhile. Looking forward to a couple of days relaxation in Sydney before Ashley flies out! Whoo hooo!
Missing everyone heaps, I love all the comments and the emails, I love hearing about the day-to-day thats been going on in Michigan, sorry if I don't respond ASAP but I really appreciate all the messages!
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mom
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magpie
I am so glad the mAGPIE didn't peck your jugular and eat your eyeballs. Love, Mom LOL