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Published: July 17th 2006
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So last time I left we were leaving Hervey Bay. We stopped in the town of Bundaberg which is where the main rum distillery in Australia is located. We took a tour of the distillery and now I can tell you anything you want to know about how rum is made. The vats in which the rum is held before it is distributed into bottles is made of wood from the trees of the North Carolina Appalachian mountains which I thought was amazing. We stayed a couple of nights in a national forest in the area. Charlotte’s windscreen cracked so we ended up staying in the mighty town of Bundaberg longer than originally anticipated. We then headed to Agnes Water and the Town of 1770. We tried going to the beach, but it was way to windy. And of course by the time we found a windless spot……the clouds decided to come hang out with us. However, we did pass over the Tropic of Capricorn this day, so we finally will have warm weather to stay. We stayed in the cutest camp site in a town the size of my thumb called Marlborough. It cost us $2 to stay which included
hot showers and tables and chairs and light! Trust me, this was very exciting to us. We then headed toward Airlie Beach which is where we would set off for our sailing. We picked up Zach here and he started traveling with us again. We camped at a caravan park for a couple of nights before we went camping on one of the Whitsunday Islands, South Molle. We got on a boat that just took us over to the island, he gave us some water, and said good luck. It was this little island and we set up camp and just played on our own island for the day. We went snorkeling and exploring. It was absolutely beautiful. When it was low tide you could see the coral that had grown on the rocks. I had never seen real coral before and it was absolutely beautiful. So many different shapes and colors. So Charlotte and I decided to take a scuba diving class to get our certified diving license. Alan and Marije were already certified and Zach couldn’t be bothered, so they decided to go on a sailing trip before us. We all had free rooms for two nights at
the main hostel in Airlie Beach. But we had to use them at different times, so Charlotte and I were still sleeping in the car, but in Zach’s room there were a couple of beds that weren’t being used so we just snuck in and were able to sleep in a real bed for free. Sounds great, however, we were justly served by having the world’s most horrible snorer in the room with us. I seriously thought he was going to choke himself to death. And then if that weren’t enough in the middle of the night there was a huge domestic dispute of some sort in the building next to us. I have never heard someone use the “f” word so much in one sentence. So needless to say I woke up the next morning nice and refreshed. Then the next night we were going to use Alan and Marije’s free night because they only used one before they left, but the room smelled of feet and sweat and I don’t know what else. So we opted for the van in the parking lot. It’s pretty bad when you choose to sleep in a car over a bed. Fortunately
we moved rooms to mine and Charlotte’s real room the next two nights and they were fine. We started our scuba diving class and there were five of us in the class. Two girls from England and a guy from Maryland. Our instructor was Rick, who was also the general manager. He was great!! I had so much fun in the class. It took two days and then Friday we left for the Whitsunday islands. We had to do four open water dives on our trip to become certified. Sailing was absolutely amazing. We were worried because when Marije, Alan, and Zach got back from their trip they told us what an awful time they had. It was crap weather and everyone was puking pretty much the whole time. Our trip was so lucky though. Our crew said that they had not seen weather that nice in the past three months. It was about time the weather went our way. So for three days we had crystal clear water and the sun shining everyday. We went snorkeling and scuba diving out on the reef. It is a small part of the Great Barrier Reef, but it is still not far
enough inland to be able to see that well. But what we did see was amazing. You could actually take pictures from above the water and the fish would be photographed clearly under the water. We went to Whitehaven Beach, which is the third most photographed place in the world. By far the highlight of my trip was when I surfaced from one of my dives and the sun was setting over the water. I can never express in words my feelings at that moment. That’s one powerful hand though that is painting the sky. So we arrived back in Airlie Beach as certified divers and nice and brown. We then set off to Magnetic Island to meet back up with the rest of the team.
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Anna
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I told you sooo....
I told that you you had to go diving in Australia. Diving is an expensive but absolutely wonderful expirence. When you come back to the states we will have to go diving sometime. I finially finshed mine and we are going diving the first weekend of Aug but not nearly as nice as your expirence. We are planning a better time in Jan or Feb. Love the views of the pics. Glad you are having a blast.