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Published: January 29th 2010
Arrived in Airlie Beach 15 minutes before schedule - dropped off out of town and as we are not due in our hostel til tomorrow our only option was to walk. We got into the centre and had a bite to eat before going to find the sailing office. We were told we may be lucky and actually set sail (due to the weather nothing has gone out to sea for the last 3 days). The lady was lovely and allowed us to freshen up and leave our belongings in the safe at the office ready to collect on our return - as the ship is so small we are all given a soft bag to house our essentials!
We unexpectedly bumped into Lee and Amy again (our friends from Fraser Island and discovered we were due to set sail at the same time and even better - on the same ship!) After lunch we arrived at the marina and saw our ship for the first time. Before boarding we were told the ship is a no shoe zone and had to put our shoes into a big box. We met the crew AJ, Jez and Anthony. We were
taken to our cabin and shown our bed (shocked to see 2 doubles and 4 singles) this is due to be our home until 28/01/10. SV Whitehaven a 17.5m beach boat. We were shown around the boat and introduced to the ‘head’ our eco friendly toilet and shower (use limited to 1-2 minutes each).
We went snorkelling (an amazing experience as Kerry went under water for the first time and we were able to swim alongside a turtle together). Jez stayed behind and made chicken curry and rice for tea. Rob made friends with AJ the deckie and went out to play in the dinghy on the water. As we sailed passed each island we were told about the history etc. Once we had anchored it still felt like we were moving. We got to know other people on the boat and shared our experience so far before calling it a night - the cabins were so stuffy!
On the second day the sea was so choppy quite a few of us felt sea sick! After more snorkelling and eating Rob was given the chance to navigate the boat and put up the sail! We visited/sailed past Blue
Pearl Bay, Haymen Islands, Hook Island, Whitehaven Beach (where the sand is 98% silica so pure white) and Hamilton Island. Yet another amazing experience!
Whilst walking through the rain forest we came across some green ants - AJ informed us that they excrete a bitter lemon tasting syrup to fend off their attackers, AJ also told us how we can also try this we had to squeeze the head between our fingers and gently play with the ants bottom until it became aroused and needless to say we tasted the lemon syrup on our tongue from the ants bottom.
28/01/10
We arrived back in Airlie Beach at 11am and after hearing horror stories about hostels (bed bug infestation) in the area we reluctantly checked into ours relieved to find a nice clean, cosy space (phew!). we dropped our bags, had lunch, went swimming in the lagoon and phoned home before heading back to freshen up for tonight’s meal (the crew had booked us a table to have one last dinner together - it was also Lee and Amy’s final night as their flight home starts tomorrow). We had a few drinks and said our goodbyes before going
to get our heads down (it doesn’t feel like we have stopped for a while).
29/01/10
Kerry woke up at 7am and decided to catch up on the laundry. We made it our mission today to try and save money so found a greasy spoon cafe selling for half the price of our usual spot - quite nice until . . . it started to pour down and didn’t stop! We went for a walk and bought postcards and stamps before going to the marina and watching the local wildlife and playing on the adventure playground (all in the rain). Once back in the hostel we read and wrote our cards, then took it in turns to sleep. We also caught up with the blog entries!
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Peter Carradice
non-member comment
haha!
as if you have licked an ants bum to get some lemon juice!