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Ahoy maties! Welcome to Airlie Beach, where the surf is warm, the coral is shallow, and the sun is SMOKING! Here you will discover your Canadian friends lying on the beach, kayaking the Whitsundays, and eating some tasty bacon!
We last left you in Cairns, where we were going on a snorkeling trip onto the Great Barrier Reef on a great big catamaran. Well, this was a trip we won't soon forget. We boarded the ship, filled out our "we won't sue if we die" forms, and headed on our way. We took an introduction to diving, but decided it was not for us today, so we stayed dry for the time being. Then we just relaxed at the front of the catamaran when something caught Dennis' eagle eye once more. What was it you ask? Well, it was just some bottlenose dolphins, just jumping out of the water and chilling out with our boat. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was incredible!!!!!!! They just hung out with our boat for a bit playing and jumping in front of us! No photos though, because we just enjoyed the scenery and didn't want to run and get our camera. But this was a dream come
true for yours personally. Absolutely unreal. We both were in awe to see them.
Before long we arrived at our first destination, Michelmas Cay. I think I spelt that wrong, but you can't spell it either! Either way, it was beautiful. Crystal clear waters and coral everywhere. We took a smaller boat to the shore where we put on our gear and headed out. The island is actually a bird sanctuary for nesting, so there were an insane amount of sea birds squawking. We (aka, the humans) only have a small area of the island roped off for our use. Birds get the rest. Interestingly enough, the island was also once used for a bombing target area during WWII. THis was, ahem, after it was declared a bird sanctuary..... which was in 1937.
So off into the water we go! It was really neat, seeing the fishes, the coral, and swimming around. But its really hard work!!!!!!!! Ok, this is Dennis, it was more than neat! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok this is Kim again. I really enjoyed it, but I just don't think snorkeling is my thing persay. I definitely enjoyed the first stop more than the second,
but more about that later. We got an underwater camera, so we can't wait to develop the photos when we get home! Dennis had to convince me that buying the pretty underwater digital camera was too expensive. Purdy....
So back to the reef... it was so cool to see the fishes that we only see in aquariums swimming right up to you, the colorful coral, it was hard and soft, and so close. We could have touched it and I think we did a few times by accident although you are not supposed to. You can just float and let all of the fishes swim right up to you. There was even clams as big as us on the bottom! No sharks thankfully although these ones were friendlies. THere are so many types of corals, some long and soft, others round and hard. It was just like all of the photos you seen. I don't know how else to describe it.
Then we caught a boat back and enjoyed our buffet lunch. Then we headed out to Paradise Reef. It was in the middle of nowhere, and here is where Kim realized snorkeling in the open ocean just
Coral at Rock Island
Loooooooowwwwww tide! isn't her thing. It was alot deeper to swim out to the reef and I couldn't see the bottem. Also, the waves were rough because it was on the outer edge of the GBR. So after getting several mouthfuls of saltwater and having a minor freakout, I headed back to the boat and let Dennis swim around. He enjoyed himself though, although he got some gulpfuls too and felt a little queasy.
We sailed home and just relaxed that night, eating and playing some games. We caught our second to last 11 hour bus ride the next morning. It was uneventful, rained a bit, and thankfully they played movies 😊. We arrived in Airlie beach and just walked around the town.
Today (MY BIRTHDAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) we got up and ate a fantastic breakfast and shopped a bit, including getting a box to ship stuff home in tomorrow. We just can't fit it all anymore. I'm also shipping home my poofy vest, because its unnecessary now. Then we went kayaking around the Whitsunday islands! It was awesome. So calm and pretty views. We stopped off at Rock Island, which is the only island not part of the national park, because
Shute Harbor
This is the gateway to the Whitsundays. Any boat heading out comes from this harbor. its classified as a rock, not island. We ate there and dropped off the other two of our group who were camping there over night. Then it was just Dennis, Kim, our guide, and the islands. It was really relaxing kayaking around 😊. At least for me, hehehe because I kept stopping paddling, heeheehee!
Now we are just going to grab some steak for dinner and some cake! Tomorrow we are going to enjoy the lagoon here in the sun before we catch our overnight bus to Hervey Bay and Fraser island.
Love you and miss you all!
Kim and Dennis
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Terri
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Happy Birthday Kim!
Happy 21st Birthday to my #1 niece. Now you are legal the world over! I know it is probably not technically still your birthday in OZ, but you are a Canadian and it is still July 1 here. Weather has been in the low 30 for a couple of days but hey, Baba has air-con! I'm still loving your blog and check every day. The pictures are fabulous and I'm happy you have the travelling bug. Maybe forcing you to go to Maui started a good thing? Keep enjoying yourselves and give Danielle a hug from me if you manage to see her at WYD. Love ya