Summertime and the Living is Easy, Not Quite

Yet Again!!! Our bus journey wasn't straight forward, the scheduled 10 hours overnight journey from Agnes Water to Airlie Beach took over 12 hours. A serious road traffic accident had us waiting more than 2 hours at Rockhampton until the road was cleared. We Limped Knackered into Bush Village Hostel 3 hours later than expected.




We've been looking forward to this leg of our adventure for some time, reason being? Our sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef, Aye! 3 days on a yacht, this is a new experience for us both.
Heard lots of good things about our particular boat, it is named SUMMERTIME. The vessel carries 16 passengers and 3 crew, Dave the captain, Carla the Diving Instructor and Sarah the cook, although we soon found out they do much, much more than their titles suggest.

We arrived at the marina wondering who would be joining us onboard, needn't have worried, they were a great bunch. Cannot name them all but we had a good mix of nationalities, Dutch, Swedish, French, Italian, German and English. Everyone was carrying their belongings in small bags accompanied with their kerry oots, no glass is allowed, only cans of beer and boxes of wine. The day before we met a French couple, Carole and Christophe boarding their yacht with Pinot Noir and he said, " Never in my life, have I bought wine in a box" Welcome to Oz culture!!
Before we boarded they told us to take the wine out of the boxes, so in actual fact, we boarded with bags of plonk not boxes!! and they even have a name for them, " Goon "





Soon became apparent that it might not be the smooth sail I imagined, one hour of rough seas and one girl wanted off. She wouldn't change her mind so ended up taking a detour to drop her at Daydream Island. Continuing on our way I sat on deck with my John West Raincoat, Eileen sat below, both of us feeling queezy until we entered a sheltered bay where we had dinner before kayaking.
Knowing my great ability at rowing it came as a bit of a surprise when

Eileen said she was going to Kayak with someone else. Obviously opting for second best she gets into a boat with Tobias, a young, tall, athletically built Swedish Viking.
Bet you I can beat him at Keepy Uppy.



Later, after another fairly rough journey we anchored in a sheltered cove for the night. On deck we were sky gazing, the seemingly endless amount of bright stars and the sight of the Milky Way emblazoned above us was amazing.




On our second day we sailed to Tongue Point, from here we climbed to a viewpoint followed by a descent to Whitehaven Beach on the other side.
This beach is something else!!! The sand is whiter than Daz, with good reason, it is pure Silica!!!! Fantastic for exfoliating skin. Sarah said that Bounty adverts and a recent movie named "Fool's Gold" were filmed here.
We were also told that only NASA are allowed to remove any sand from the beach. Incidently, "What do the letters in NASA stand for" is a common pub quiz question which most people answer wrongly - National Aeronautical Space Agency, the last word should read "Administration"

One thing that bothered me was the crews interest in snapping photos and filming when I wanted to chill and appreciate this fantastic beach. They intended to sell a DVD for 30 dollars at the end of the trip, fair enough but don't ask to give my best Ninja pose and leap in the air. I ended up buggering off to do my own thing.

Once more I was feeling rotten as we sailed more rough seas to our next destination, glad to get there to begin snorkelling. Eileen hired prescription goggles for 8 dollars a day, well worth it if she can see everything. Had to put on Stinger Suits for protection against Poisonous Jellyfish,

Snorkelling was brilliant!!! Absolutely loved watching the incredible variety of fish in and around the Coral Reef. Eileen was in her element, for the first time she could clearly see and appreciate the vibrant marine life, no suprise she was last to leave the water. This was followed by a stint on the onboard jacuzzi. Not Bad Eh!!!!




The weather forecast for the last day was wind speeds of 25 to 33 Knots, this is the upper limit, any more than 33 then no boats leave the marina. 3 or 4 weeks earlier a storm washed up 37 boats onto the shore, this was after an expected 18 Knots, so Dave wasn't taking any chances. This meant another rough journey to an overnight stop in a sheltered bay. Luckily the next day was fine, more snorkelling and lots of sunshine.

The sailing trip was a great adventure, although not the idyllic cruise we presumed.









Back on land we spent a few more days in Airlie Beach, a small resort geared for young tourists with a strip of bars, eateries and souvenir shops. Overheard a traveller say that this place wasn't culturally diversive enough for him. It doesn't have a great beach. To compensate they constructed a large saltwater lagoon complete with lifeguards, toilets, shelters, and barbecue areas.



One evening we were strolling along the shore walkway when we came across two guys trying to rescue a giant turtle with breathing difficulties from thick mud. When a local wildlife rescue officer arrived with a harness I gave them a hand carrying it up the riverbank onto the back of a vehicle.


Surprisingly, our journey on the overnight bus to Cairns turned out to be uneventful. Left our backpacks in a nearby hostel as we wandered the streets looking for accommodation, eventually settling for Floriana Guesthouse on the Esplanade quite a distance from the town centre.
Unfortunately Cairns was a bit of a washout, constant downpours. I suppose we should've expected some rain since we're at the tropical rainforest in the wet season. The only difference is that it is steaming hot so you can get drookit in a vest and shorts.
Most days were spent walking along the Esplanade to the impressive man made lagoon. Anytime we tried to sunbathe we had to dodge showers. The facilities here are great for people of all ages, play areas, barbecues, cycle tracks, skateboard park, exercise machines, and free daily events.
Cairns also has an interesting shoreline, when the tide is out hundreds of thousands of large crabs roam the sand and when the tide is in, stay away from the edge of the water.
CROCODILES!!!!!!!



Wanted to go by Skyrail to Kuranda, a town in the mountains and return on a steam train which, I'm told is one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world. Kept putting it off until a dry day, problem was that when we finally tried to book there had been a landslide. The train was cancelled for at least two days, bummer!!!
Went a long walk to the botanic gardens instead, they have a cracking rainforest boardwalk, was sure we were going to encounter snakes, Nope!!











Our last full day in Australia was spent in Brisbane following an internal flight from Cairns. At first it looked like we would struggle for accommodation, everywhere was full until we phoned the Acacia in Edward Street, 70 A$ as opposed to the Holiday Inn option, 250 for a standard room. People have mixed opinions about Brisbane, some think there's not much to do, we only had a day, so we had a good time at the free Art Gallery, State Library and Queensland Museum. In the evening I was having withdrawal systems for a Thai green curry, not had one for months. Went to a city centre restaurant for one, Yummy!!!!!!

Made a bloomer with our departure flights to New Zealand, not only was it a crap time, 6am, but flying from Brisbane included an internal flight to Sydney with only one hour transfer time onto the Christchurch flight. After landing we had to board a bus to the International Terminal then wait in a big queue going through Customs followed by another queue at Security. This left us with 10 minutes before take off. I was sure we were too late!! Typically, our departure gate was the last one, so after we passed through security we quite literally ran out of Australia, didn't even wait to put our belts back on. Both of us have lost a bit of weight so we had to hold up our trousers as we sprinted along the corridor. Just Made It!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sat in our seats sweating just as the pilot announced a delay in take off due to a couple of passengers still to pass through security.

Never Mind we're off to the land of the Kiwi !!!!

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