The Whitsundays, Magnetic Island, Mission Beach, Cairns and Cape Tribulation

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Sorry it's been so long since I updated; the only downside of having an amazing time is trying to find the time to tell people about it!

Two weeks ago I went sailing around the Whitsundays, which are a group of 74 islands dotted around the North Queensland coast. Our boat held 22 people plus the crew and so was one of the smaller ones that sails the Whitsundays. We spent the first morning getting to know each other as we sailed out to the islands and I had a great group of people on my boat. It's always the people that make these trips and I was very lucky with my Whitsundays trip. We got to the Blue Pearl Bay and jumped off the boat and snorkled around. The colours were absolutely incredible, and the fish were just happy to swim around with us and weren't at all bothered by us. Some of the fish had some amazing colours; the parrot fish in particular was absolutely beautiful, with huge teeth that you could hear it crunching on the coral with.

Unfortunately our boat needed a new part and so we had to wait around that particular reef for most of the rest of the afternoon, but lying on a sailing boat in the sun with lovely people, occasionally jumping into the sea to cool down, isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon. The food on the boat was amazing, particularly coming from the backpacker diet! As the sun was setting we were served nachos and we all sat around watching the sun, eating, drinking and playing games. We spent the evening staring up at the sky and even managed to see Jupiter! I couldn't believe how bright it is; apparently it has something to do with where it is compared to us and the sun as to whether we can see it. It really was incredible to be lying on a boat in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, staring at the stars and planets around. One of those true 'this is the life' moments!

The next day we moved on to Whitsunday island as the sun rose. Just a short walk through the bush revealed the most beautiful beach I have ever seen; clear water, fine white sand of 98.8% silica and incredible green bush surrounding it. The sand on Whitehaven Beach can completely ruin a camera if it gets in the lens as it's so fine and so we were very careful with our cameras. On the plus side, the sand is perfect for exfoliating, so we literally rubbed it all over our bodies and definitely felt much smoother! We walked along the beach and through the water, taking as many photos as we could. We even managed to spot a stingray or two in the water, but they seemed more wary of us than we were of them. We had to move on from Whitehaven much sooner than any of us wanted, but as we only snorkled one reef the previous day we had to make up for it then. We moved on to Dundell Island and snorkled around the reefs there. This was even better than the first one - really clear water and so many different types of fish. There were some huge ones which were actually a little freaky, but that didn't stop me trying to chase them!

We were absolutely gutted when we had to sail back to Airlie Beach and get off the boat; it felt like going back to reality! A few of us grabbed a few beers on the beach before heading back to our hostels; desperate to hang on to the trip for a little bit longer.

The next day I moved on to Magnetic Island, named so as when Captain Cook sailed past it his compass went funny and he thought it was to do with the magnetic field around there. It turned out his compass was just on the blink, but it's kept its name ever since. The island is made up of rainforest and beaches and was really lovely, if a little isolated from the mainland. It was like a tropical version of the Isle of Wight, and I was actually quite glad to be back on the mainland again! I clearly can't cope with being on an island smaller than the UK, but being isolated on a boat is no problem at all!

Mission Beach was my next stop, and by this point the humidity had really started to kick in. Most people come here to skydive or whitewater raft, but I was much more interested in lying by or in the pool or on the beach! I bumped into several of the people I started the east coast with and made several more friends which was really lovely, particularly when we had a bonfire on the beach with a few beers.

I arrived in Cairns on Sunday and could not believe the heat and humidity. Cairns rarely gets below 30 degrees at this time of year, and we were just constantly sweating. It's nowhere near as big as I was expecting, and essentially a massive party town. People go there to go to the Great Barrier Reef, the rainforest and to get very very drunk and dance on all the tables. So this is exactly what I did!

Last Monday I started my Open Water dive course and spent two days in a classroom and pool, learning the theory and the basics. Breathing underwater for the first time was the most amazing feeling, and I got completely addicted from that moment on. I panicked a little though - it's such an unnatural thing to be doing, but 10 minutes of sitting on the bottom of the pool and I'd mastered the art of meditation as well as breathing underwater! We had to do all sorts of skills, such as flooding our masks and then clearing them underwater by breathing out through your nose, and removing all our equipment underwater and putting it all back on again. After two days in the pool I was itching to get in the sea, and was so excited on Wednesday morning.

Our first dive was at about 11am and was basically just a chance for us to get used to being underwater. It was very different to being in the pool - the sea was quite choppy that morning and so just being on the surface was difficult. Once we went down I couldn't believe I was diving on the Great Barrier Reef and couldn't stop looking around me at all the different fish and coral. The colours are incredible and seeing how the fish interact with each other and the coral was amazing. We had two more training dives that day, where we got used to being in the sea and had to do the skills we'd learnt in the pool in the ocean. I found clearing my mask really difficult, and had a bit of a panic attack on the bottom of the ocean when I couldn't clear it properly the first few times. My instructor was fab and just calmed me down underwater and eventually I managed to clear it. I felt so much more confident once I'd panicked though; knowing I'd felt out of control and had regained it made everything seem very easy after that.

The next day we were woken up at 6.45am for our last training dive. We had to do a few more skills like hovering as if weightless about a metre from the bottom and also using a compass both underwater and on the surface. After that dive I was a certified diver and my next two dives were just for fun. Cruising round on the bottom of the ocean taking photos of each other and the fish was the most fun I've ever had. It's a whole different world down there and I could quite happily live down there!

That evening we did a night dive, which was absolutely incredible. Going down in the dark was pretty scary, but it made it all the more exciting knowing that there were sharks around. Our instructor managed to find us a 150 year old turtle who was sleeping in a cave, and I was so shocked by the sheer size of him that I swam straight into the coral in front of me! On our way back to the boat we came across 5 or 6 sharks, just cruising round looking for their dinner, and they were perfectly happy to just let us swim along with them. They were only about 4 feet long, but they were still fantastic.

The next day I went on three more dives, one of which down to about 25m so that I could be certified as an Adventure Diver. Colours competely change the further down you get, and it was amazing to see hammerhead sharks and stingrays just chilling out down there.

We got back to Cairns late that afternoon and spent the evening partying with everyone on the boat. Again, I was so lucky with the crowd on my boat, and we all hung out over the next few days and partied in the evenings.

On Monday I went to Cape Tribulation, which is where the world's oldest rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. We went for a couple of rainforest walks on the way there and spotted a couple of lizards. I then got dropped off at Cape Trib where I spent the afternoon exploring the beach and the rainforest. The next day was absolutely miserable weather, which did put a downer on the day a little, especially when we went on a river cruise searching for crocs. They were all hiding from the rain so we didn't manage to see any, but it was still a pretty fun day.

I've now arrived in Alice Springs but will save that for another blog - Central Australia deserves its own!

Love to you all xx

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Photos

Christmas Tree Worms
These blue little creatures move in very quickly when you move the water around them

Beautiful colours
The colours are like this all over the reef; it's only nearer the surface that I managed to capture the colours on camera.