Advertisement
Published: June 12th 2007
Both with Larikeets at Magnetic Island
These things went nuts whilst we had food. They'd fight each other while on your arm. They left a lot of scratches behind but it's a good photo. Hello all, sorry but I'm afraid this is another big one. Our last in Queensland.
After another 7 hour bus journey we arrived in Airlie Beach staying at Magnums, we'd heard some bad things about the place as most people get to stay there for free as part of their Whitsundays package. We'd upgraded to a double room and were pleasantly surprised, it was a good room with our own fridge and kettle. The kitchen facilties were virtually none existant but we knew about this before we arrived, so we had brought food which was easy to prepare (cous cous salad). That afternoon we walked to Abel Point Marina, to find out where our boat would sail from the following day. We also looked around some of the shops. We also ended up buying a didgeridoo and having it custom painted. Hopefully it will get to Uk before us!!!
On Thursday afternoon we set sail on our ship Ileona. We were meant to be sailing on the Schooner Friendship, but it was in for repairs. Just before we set sail they brought us some pizzas to eat on the deck. Me & Debbie were given a semi private
Both at Whitehaven
The skies are not quite as blue as we'd like but still a really good spot. double cabin- our home for the next 2 nights. There was not much space on the ship, we only took small day bags with us. There was 8 of us sailing, Me & Debbie, a German Couple- Florine & Nadine, 1 French guy- Sebastian and 3 dutch people- Stephanie, Lerisa & Joust. Our skipper was Massimo (Max) an Italian guy and Anton was the deckhand. We set sail, heading towards Whitehaven Island. The conditions were quite rough and we were in a small boat. We had found somewhere to anchor for the night but a few people were starting to feel sea sick, including me but not Deb. So Max decided to take us to a bay where the water was calmer. To get there we had a 40 minute, very rough crossing in the dark. We were all sitting on the top deck, trying not to get too wet when the waves crashed over the boat. Once we had stopped we had our eveing meal, Barrundi fish - Debbie said it was really nice, I couldn't face eating as I was still feeling sea sick. Even that night Debbie was starting to feel a bit sea sick. We did
Mike on Boat
One of the times when I didn't feel queasy. eventually managed to get some sleep, even though Max was in the cabin next to us and had a really impressive loud snore!!!
The next morning after breakfast we were taken to Whitehaven Island and beach. We walked up to a look out point to get views of whitehaven beach and other islands. Unfortnately it was an overcast day, so the views were not as impressive as some of the postcard pictures we've seen. We also walked on the beach, a few people when for a quick dip in the sea. Just before we got picked up from the island it started to rain again. We sailed to another site to do some snorkling. We put on our very sexy stinger suits - to protect from Jellyfish stings. We saw come coral reef and lots of parrot fish. After building up an apetite we had lunch- pasta with homemade pesto and bruscetta. Then on to another snorkling site. Max said this would be the best snorkling site in Oz- we saw lots of different fish and corals including large Wrasse. After that we sailed again, Max wanted to find us a nice calm spot as half the people onboard
Debbie on Boat
A challenger to Captain Jack Sparrow? didn't seem to have good sea legs. It took a while to get there but it was quite smooth once there. I went to sleep again but managed to wake up for the BBQ chicken evening meal. In the meantime Debbie learnt a new card game and played with the others who weren't feeling queasy. We ate quite late but it was nice and then went to sleep. On our final morning we woke up and saw a pod of dolphins circling the boat, after breakfast we sailed back to Airlie Beach, today the sea was much calmer.
Once back on land we got back we changed and then went to Airlie's Lagoon, they don't have much of a beach and so have a man made outdoor swimming weird shaped pool. It really big and most people including the locals go there to sunbathe on the side or go in for a swim. I was happy to try and do some swimming and Debbie had a quick dip after taking ages to get in because the water felt cold. That same day we had a digeridoo lesson so we ate quickly and went. The lesson was good fun. I
Whitsundays Snorkelling
In many ways this was as good as the outer reef. was a natural, Debbie wasn't finding it as easy though apparently that was more to do with the didgeridoo she had been given to play on. After the lesson as we had no kind of kitchen we succumbed to KFC and then met up with everyone from the boat for a few drinks. After a few hours we went back to our room to pack for the next day and our trip to Townsville from there we'd get a ferry to Magnetic Island.
We got to Townsville in the early afternoon, checked in and went for a walk. It seemed quite a strange place and felt a little bit deserted even though there were a lot of bars/restaurants. Anyway, we had to stock up supplies for Magnetic Island as it was more expensive over there. After shopping at the supermarket we found the cinema and worked out that we could see Pirates of the Carribean 3 before tea.
The next morning we caught the ferry over to Magnetic Island. We were staying at YHA Bungalow Bay Resort- we had our own little cabin- see photos. On the resort there was a small wildlife sanctuary which we visited. It
Ileola
The boat from back on land. was a hands on expericence- we got to hold a 2 year old croc (its mouth was taped shut!) Cockatoos, blue tongue skink- one ended asleep on my shoulder, green snake and python. It was funny watching the people who were scared to touch the animals. We also got a chance to hold Barrie the Koala and have our photo taken. The the guide took us on a short bush walk were we saw lots of butterflies and some more spiders. Then back to resort to feed the Larikeets. They are wild but expect to be fed the same time each day. I had no feed in my hand but they still landed on my head and arms. When Debbie tried to take a photo of me one even sat on the camera.
The next day I had started to feel a bit ill so I was reluctant to do some of the walks. However even though you're ill if you stop you'll miss out so we set off to walk around some of the bays. We set off from Horseshoe bay and walked to Spalding Bay, then to Radical Baym then to Gowrie Bay, then to Florence and
Didgeridoo Lesson
No it's not a bong. past Arthur bay cutting inland to do a big loop back to horshoe bay. It was hard work but some of the bays were really nice and were secluded. The first was only accessibly on foot by a 30 minute walk and was apparently a nudist beach. After all that walking we rewarded ourselves with these things that were like slush puppies but coke flavoured. That night we cooked vegetarian chilli and were both really impressed on how good it was, even without meat! The next day we got a bus, then a ferry and then a bus to end up in Mission beach.
Unfortunately when we got to Mission beach we were both feeling ill and the weather there was looking familiar to that of Manchester so we rented our own dvd player/tv the first night and watched some films, had a quick walk down the beach the second day. After two nights we were back at the bus station to catch the bus to Cairns.
Cairns is the place most people go to do a reef trip. After our experience on the Whitsundays we were determined to go on a bigger more stable boat even if
Mike and Crocodile
They feel quite soft actually. it would be bigger groups. Our first day in Cairns we got this and our Cape Trib (rainforests) trip booked. The Outer reef day trip was first. The boat (silverswift) did look impressive and the complimentary cakes for breakfast were well received by me (in fact I had 2 or 3). It only took an hour to get out to the reef and was a lot smoother due to the boat size and stabilizers. I'd decided to just snorkel but Debbie was certified (as a diver) so she opted for 2 scuba dives. We visited 3 different differnt parts of the reef : Flynn, Milln and Thetford. We both saw lots of different fish though I think Debbie saw more as she was obviously a lot deeper. I did see a few giant clams and eventually found a "nemo" fish. Lunch on board was really good, a hot and cold buffet. Even I could enjoy it as I didn't feel ill. We had about an hour at each of the three reefs which was enough time to see things though you could easily spend a lifetime trying to see everything. It's like swimming inside a giant aquarium.
The next
day it was another early get-up, this time to head north to see Cape Tribulation, including a stop in Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge and a croc river cruise on the Daintree. The best part of the day was the crocodile cruise. The guy running it had a classic oz accent like Crocodile Dundee so it felt right that he was taking us out to see crocs. We were pretty lucky as we saw 5 of them, 3 small babies about 2 or 3 years old and hence they were only a metre long at most. We also saw a couple of bigger ones, a female who was about 3 metres and one called Albert (we think) who was more like 4-5 metres long. The tropical rainforests of Cape Trib were impressive though we've seen similar places before. Port Douglas was a bit of a resort town quieter than Cairns but more expensive. Mossman gorge was nice but the water was cold so even our guide Andrew regretted going for a swim after telling us all day how good it was. I only went in up to my knees and Debbie dipped her feet.
Our final day we've been doing
Mike and Koala
This guy had been dropping a few before posing but fortunately not on my hand. boring things like getting underwater film developed and typing blogs/ organsing accomodation in Perth etc. We fly tomorrow to our last state in Oz!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.263s; Tpl: 0.026s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0843s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Chris
non-member comment
Wow!
Wow! What an exciting time, playing the digeridoo, walking through rainforests, getting up close to crocs, snorkling and scuba diving and being sea sick!! You pair are certainly cramming loads into your trip. England will seem so dull when you return! Love reading about all your adventures. Keep up the good work with updated blogs. Lots of love to you both, Chris x