'Spank Me' - 14th - 18th Sep 06

---

---

Once we'd finally managed to extract ourselves from the very friendly but extremely talkative man in the kitchen at Gunna Go campsite, we took to the road for the short drive down to Airlie Beach to catch up with the boys. As we drove to the camping area behind Magnums Backpackers, we encountered a very disheveled looking Ross stumbling around, apparently still drunk, looking for Wigg and Wayne. Airlie Beach was already living up to its reputation of being a party town! As we turned the corner Wigg and Wayne confirmed this - Wigg with his head under the tap and Wayne holding a 15 litre bottle of water over his head, downing as much as possible - both seriously parched and hungover! As we set up camp next to the boys tents, and pretty much took over the entire area, the boys slowly came around and told us they'd only actually got home a few hours ago!
Our main reason for visiting Airlie Beach however, was not to get hammered, but to go for a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands, preferably on an ex racing Maxi Yacht. So off we set, leaving the boys nursing their sore heads, to see what deals we could get. It seems that everyone in the town tries to undercut each other, so once we'd decided on the boat we'd like to go on - an 83 foot maxi yacht named 'Spank Me' for a 3 day / 3 night trip, we set about getting the best price and eventually managed to haggle it down from $470 to $310 - get in!
This great bargain managed to rouse some life from Bulk and Wigg who also booked on, leaving Wayne to ponder how to spend the next 3 days as he'd already done a trip to the islands a few weeks previously.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the campsite - something we hadn't been able to do yet, as we'd generally drive until 4/5 ish and then set up camp. At one point it started raining as we all automatically darted into our tents to sit out the storm, until Smithy quite rightly pointed out that we weren't actually in a rest stop in the middle on nowhere, but camping at a backpackers and there was a bar about 20 metres away which could provide far more comfortable cover! So, the rest of the afternoon was spent playing cards and enjoying a few bevs in there.
As the evening rolled around the novelty of staying in a town set in and it would've been rude not to sample a little bit of the nightlife on offer. We started off in a hostel called Beaches before moving on to Shennanigans, where rumour had it the live band would play 'The Gambler' - well they had done the night before as Wigg had called us at about half past midnight to play it down the phone to us! Sadly, there was no Gambler, but lots of other good music ensuring a great night was had by all!
Ouch! the following morning we were convinced we'd been in some sort of road accident - those pains in our lower backs couldn't be from the nights excesses alone could they?! Of course we were 99.9% parched, but bad things would happen if we tried to move to get a drink - thankfully Smithy had the foresight (God knows how)to bring a 15 litre bottle of water into the tent when we went to bed, and she became Greeny's personal hero when she produced it! Needless to say we had a very slow morning getting our things together for our impending trip, despite the fact that we were supposed to be checked out by 10 - as Wayne was staying we just decided to comandeer his spot - think it took a total of 3 hours to organise some boiled eggs and buying the alcohol to take on the boat was a far from pleasurable experience!
We met the crew and our fellow passengers down at the harbour in the afternoon and were kitted out with wetsuits before boarding the boat. We're not too sure what the boys had in mind, but when they saw the size of the vessel expected to house 18 of us and 4 crew members, they certainly seemed surprised! Of course space was at a miniumum and Kez, our guide, allocated us 2 double beds and 2 singles right in the bow - thank God we'd all splashed out on some seasickness tablets as this is the place you feel it the most!
As we sailed out from Airlie Beach, Dave the skipper, tried to tell us a little bit about what would happen over the next few days. Unfortunately he was hindered somewhat by the hammering rain, which actually felt like hailstones! Within minutes we'd all donned some extremely flattering rain jackets determined to stay up on deck despite the conditions and Dave continued with his explanations regardless! In order to raise the sails, 8 people are needed to turn the huge grinders and each day the crew would need some volunteers to do this. For this first sail, Smithy and Becs were amongst those to help out and had unwittingly offered themselves up for one of the most comedy moments of the trip - they definitely hadn't bargained for the grinders to turn so fast and the look of shock on Greeny's face as well as watching the two of them windmilling their arms for dear life was hilarious! A great sail was had due to the force 5 blowing and we reached Hook Passage, our anchorage for the evening, in good time for a couple of beers before retiring to bed for an early night - and we mean early - the 5 of us were tucked up and nodding off by 8.30! A combination of hangovers, sea air and the novelty of sleeping in an actual bed sending us all happily off to sleep!
The following morning we motored over to Tongue Bay and were dropped off on the Whitsunday Island, so named as James Cook thought it was Whit Sunday as he sailed past although it was actually the day after, and were left with some time to explore. We took a walk up to a lookout over the magnificent Whitehaven Beach - breathtakingly stunning awash with blues, whites, golds and yellows and pretty indescribable in its beauty, before going down for a stroll along the beach and a paddle along the shoreline.
Once back on board Spank Me we sailed over to Luncheon Bay, off Hook Island, one of the many that form the Whitsundays group. This is where the snorkelling and scuba diving would be done. As it is illegal to scuba dive in Queensland without a full medical checkover if you have asthma, Whits was pretty devoed when NO DIVE was scribbled across her booking form, as a free introductory dive was included in the package, but she had a word in Shay the drive instructors ear, and was soon prepping up to have a go at diving with the others. As we were in the last group to go we sat on the beach in our wetsuits nervously watching the others attempts - some successful, some not, generally due to not being able to equalise their ears as they descended underwater. Before we knew it, it was our go and we were bobbing around in the water having air tanks etc strapped to our backs. Unfortunately Smithy and Greeny didn;t get along too well with it and had to retire to the beach, whilst Whits, Shay and another guy from our group explored the depths for 20 minutes. Back at shore, Shay realised that there were no others waiting to dive and that both he and Whits had quite a lot of air left, so suggested that they dived back to the boat. Whits jumped at the offer, despite the mention of going via 'Shark Alley' and set off on a private guided tour of the underwater world, taking in a huge variety of fish, stunning coral, learning how to perform an underwater backflip, and listening to the echoey sonar of the nearby whales! Back at the boat, clearly ecstatic about the dive, she wasn't even fazed when Wigg emptied the bucket of water used to rinse the masks after they'd been spat in to clean them, over her head - grim!
A very chilled out evening was then spent watching Murray, one of the crew members, attempt to wakeboard on a bodyboard being towed by the boat's tender, nestling in amongst one of the large foresails at the bow watching the stunning night sky, and listening to Shay strum some of our favourite tunes on his guitar.
4.30 am and we were treated to a very rude awakening courtesy of the engine being started as we made our way out to the outer Great Barrier Reef for some more diving action. Once enough grinder volunteers had been enlisted, the sails were up, peace resumed and beds re-entered!
We were greeted by some Giant Trevally and a huge Maori Wrasse upon our arrival at the reef, who happily munched on our breakfast that we threw to them. As Whits went off for another dive, this time seeing loads of Nemo's, more gorgeous coral, and a White Tip Reef Shark so close she could touch it, Smithy and Greeny got up close and personal with the big fish by the boat ... that was until Smithy dropped her snorkel and it sank to the sea bed. Uh oh it looked like a huge teaspoon of Vegemite - the standard punishment for anyone losing anything overboard - was in order. But that whily Smithers always finds her way out of these things and she turned on the charm just enough to convince Dave to don his scuba gear and dive down and rescue it!
The sail back from the reef was great. Dave really had the boat leaning over and the rough conditions helped loads. Unfortunately, not all of the passengers seemed to appreciate this and there were a few seasickness incidents. Perhaps it was fear though, as Smithy had convinced the crew to let her helm for the last part back to Hayman Island! But with her years of experience behind her, she expertly and smoothly navigated us to our anchorage with a huge beam on her face, just in time for a beautiful sunset.
Before heading back the next morning we had one last snorkel and got to stroke Elvis, the giant Wrasse - awesome! As the tides were so low we had to return to a different port, Shute Harbour, but we figured that the lads could take us in their car to fetch 'The Gambler' from our departure point - not so though, as the lads beloved 'Beast' refused to start, so whilst they waited for the RACQ to arrive Smithy and Greeny went on foot to recover our trusty steed, which naturally started first time!
The guys from the boat had booked a table for everyone at Beaches bar that evening, so after catching up with Wayne, we headed down there for some free bevvies - well that says it all really doesn't it ... it all gets a bit blurry from then onwards!
Shipping out.

---

Photos

The night before we boarded the boat at Airlie Beach
L-R: Me, Wigg, Ross, Jo, Becs and Wayne

Those damn gulls!
Smithers defends her brekkie!

Indescribable!
Whitehaven Beach

On board the boat
L-R: Bulk, Me, Becs, Smithers and Wigg

Whits Island!
I make my very own national park

Star gazing on deck
Me Jo and Becs