OZ - Airlie Beach (Whitsundays), Magnetic Island and Cairns!

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Following on from our "Whale" of a time in Hervey bay we continued our journey north on our final overnight bus trip. In the morning we arrived at Airlie Beach, the main harbour town to cruise the Whitsunday Islands, (Named by Captain Cook as he passed on the religious holiday - Although it was actually Whit-"Monday" because of the time difference!) Airlie was a very nice town and Nik and I found ourselves laze along the small beach and man-made lagoon area on our first day there. The following few days we sailed around the Whitsunday Islands on the live aboard SV Whitehaven along with 17 other guests. There wasn't too much wind and although it was a sailing trip it was only on the last day that we enjoyed the wind in our sails. On the positive side, with calmer waters the snorkelling was absolutely amazing and the rainbow of coral made us feel like we had struck gold leaving a rich taste of our first encounter of the Great Barrier Reef. (It Certainly looked better than me in a full lycra stinger suit that protected us against jelly fish!) During our full day Sailing we also visited Whitehaven Beach. From a lookout we easily saw why it was voted the best beach in Australia and the 3rd best in the world with its fine white sand patterning the clear shallow waters. On the beach Nik and I enjoyed making footprints in the virgin sand and spotting some stingray in the beach shallows. It was simply stunning and has unfortunately ruined any enjoyment from other beaches! Back onboard SV Whitehaven, its relaxing boat atmosphere turned to excitement when at one point we had a Dolphin playfully ride the crested waves in front of our boat. During the evenings we stargazed at the "Southern Cross," milky way and quite literally dozens of shooting stars. The sky was unlike we had seen before. An all-round brilliant trip. After arriving back early on the 3rd day Nik and I relaxed in the cool chilled atmosphere of Airlie.

We spent the next couple of days on Magnetic Island, named by Captain Cook because his compass wobbled around as he passed it. We took a 5 hour bus journey from Airlie to Townsville (with an eccentric American Greyhound driver) passing numerous Sugar Cain fields with a mountainous backdrop, making for a cool view from our bus window, then took a ferry across to Magnetic Island. We stayed at BASE which was situated right near the beach but the downside was that our room was right next to the bar!. We spent much of the day travelling so didn't do too much on our first day in "Maggie." The second day however was brilliant. Nik and I rented a "Moke" Car. A roof and door less vehicle about the size of a golf car that looked like "Brum" (The old kids TV show). This enabled us to visit pretty much all of the island and enjoy the wind in our hair at the same time! We stopped off at; Picnic Bay, Alma Bay, a headland where we found a dozen rock wallabies hopping along the cliff face, horseshoe bay and finally we drove to take the Forts walk. We spotted a Koala asleep in a tree and also had amazing views from an old WW2 outpost on top of the hillside at the latter. The next day we utilized the last hours of our Brum car by taking an early morning drive to Alma beach again. Then we spent the day passing yet more sugar cane fields on our journey up to Cairns, arriving in the evening to swafts of fruit bats passing overhead.

Following on from Magnetic island we spent 2 days in Cairns! What a brilliant couple of days they were! On our first day we went to the Tjapukai Cultural Museum to learn and flavour the Aboriginal history, beliefs and lifestyle. There was only 4 of us in the whole museum so we enjoyed a personal and interactive presentation of lighting stick fires, aboriginal dance and songs and we also received tuition on throwing spears and boomerangs. I almost caught my boomerang but fell over in the process! During the afternoon we took a flight over the Great Barrier Reef! Our tiny plane was captained by a very "unorthodox" Danish pilot who took us on a better route for half the price we paid!. The views were incredible! Our pilot dived our plane lower and wobbled its wings either side so we could get a clear view of the Reef's. We clearly spotted dozens of Turtle, a few stingray and Nik spotted a shark! We returned back to Cairns by flying over the "Tablelands," A plateaud, forested mountain range. We stayed at Bohemia Resort which was a little out of Cairns but had a great deal on Steaks so couldn't resist having one the same evening. The following day I went Scuba Diving whilst Nik stayed in Cairns. (Having already done it on a previous trip.) I sailed to the Agincourt reef on a large fast boat named "SilverSonic", the outermost part of the great barrier situated off Port Douglas. I did two dives in 3 dive spots. The first dive I had no idea what was going on and felt somewhat like one of the Thai arm banded snorkelers we saw earlier on our travels! It was such a brilliant experience being underwater but I soon used up my oxygen as I frantically puffed with excitement! My second dive was so much better, I felt a lot more comfortable underwater and managed to breath slower whilst admiring the breathtaking underwater world. Our instructor made it interactive by picking up foot long sea slugs for us to touch, let us harmlessly feel soft coral and stick our hands in meter long clams! It was amazing. We also spotted stingray, White tip reef Shark and Barracuda amongst an array of other fish. I also snorkelled along a reef wall which was superior to any snorkel I have ever done! Brilliant! Meanwhile Nik enjoyed shopping in Cairns, relaxing at the lagoon and taking a stroll along the esplanade! We ended an amazing time in Australia with a very nice meal! I tried some Crocodile, Kangaroo and Ostrich with an "Outback Sampler," whilst Nik nuzzled into an Eye Steak!. A great way to finish OZ.

We've heard that New Zealand is supposed to be better... Its must be absolutely brilliant!!!

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