Week 4

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Noosa
October 30th 2010

Published: October 30th 2010

13/10/10 Whitsunday's Sailing
Got a phone call from our boat at 8am to say the forecast is for fast winds and do we want to pospone until better weather? We said we could but were on a tight schedule. They agreed for us travelling today and we set off for the boat. Bobby was worried about the weather as the last boat we were on he was feeling a little sea sick.

We met with the crew of the Ise Pearl, Captain Sparrow (yes it's true) and Machi, a husband and wife who live on the boat. We also met our 3 shipmates, Helga (54) from the UK and Tina (27) and Katya (31) both from Finland. The Ise Pearl was featured in some of the Flipper episodes

Found out we weren't going to be able to shower on board the boat due to water usuage, 3 days with no shower? nice :s

We sailed from Airlie beach and we passed Daydream Island. The wind wasn't as bad as we thought it would be and there was no sign of sea sickness, but it was a bit wet and over cast.

We stopped after 2 hours of sailing at South Mole Island and had nibbles followed by dinner. Spent the night getting to know everyone and having a lot of giggles. Helga is travelling the world and the girls have just been in New Zealand for 2 months.

Such a wonderful feeling being surrounded by blue ocean while anchored next to an island listening to the lapping waves as we chatted all night on a beautiful boat while watching the moon.

We went to bed and I was on a tiny bunk which Bobby had tried to lay in but his shoulders wouldn't fit and he said it felt like a coffin. Being rocked to sleep while hearing the waves gently lappping against the boat, I certainly went to sleep with a smile on my face.

Quote of the day from Emi 'Your salad just attacked me'.

14/10/10 - Hook Island
We were woken at 7am to the smell of breakfast and soon after we were off on our travels. We sailed to the northern islands and passed Hayman Island where the rich spend time at the 5 star resort there.

As we were sailing we spotted a lot of jumping fish being harrassed by seagulls and then JACKPOT, we spotted dolphins which then came right up to the boat and started to lead us by swimming in front of the boat and playing, we were all so excited!

We sailed to Hook island and anchored up in Butterfly Bay. We went snorkelling and had to wear stinger suits. We saw so many fish while we were out as well as a sea slug and clams.

Bobby scared the life out of me when I was swimming as I turned round he was right there with his hands stretched out in my face, I giggled so much I nearly drowned. On my way back to the boat I was looking at the coral and it came to an abrupt end, it was like looking over the edge of a cliff, I half expected something big to come out of the gloom.

Got back to the boat and had lunch, we are certainly well fed on board. We continued our journey back the way we came and the waves were incredible. The boat was being raised really high and then plummeting into the sea. We were all stood at the front of the boat holding on tight and loving it, even Bobby!

We anchored up after a few hours and had a BBQ dinner, the meals Machi prepares on board are amazing and she only has a tiny kitchen (galleon) to do so in.

I had developed a heat rash on my neck and chest that was very itchy and painful like prickly heat. Sparrow cut a bit of his aloe vera plant and gave it to me to rub on my skin, it did help for a time.

We decided to play card games after dinner and I taught everyone to play Bonk. Everyone was cheating perfectly and Bobby was sat in the middle with Tina and Katya over each shoulder, very funny. We were drinking goon while playing cards (a wine so good they put it in a box) it actually wasn't that bad.

Quote of the day from Tina 'I think the spoon would hurt more than the fly'.

15/10/10 - Whitsunday Island
Another great breakfast and we were off sailing again. We sailed to Whitsunday Island but it was too windy to go to Whitehaven beach. We passed it on the other side of the sea as we followed the coast of Hook Island and it looked amazing, perfect white beach stretching for miles.

We stopped for more snorkelling and I was amazed at what I saw. The area we were at was very shallow so all the fish were very close to us but what impressed me the most was the colour of the coral. Being so close to the surface meant the light penetrated a lot more and everything seemed so vibrant. I saw a large parrot fish eating the coral (which I could hear), it must have been 4 foot long. There was also a cleaner fish which was eating all the parasites off of bigger fish. The best part though were the clams, I had no idea they were so colourful, really vibrant blues, greens and purples. It was like swimming in an aquarium, breath taking.

After lunch we continued on to Sid Bay and anchored for the night. We played a new game of swat the fly as we were inundated with Marchflies which take a good bite out of you. We must have killed 50 or more between us.

Tonight we anchored up next tot he richest guy in Australia. His boat looked as though it could launch a missile attack on a small counrty, it even had a helicopter on the back. Tina suggested we swim over there at night and steel the helicopter and she spent the next hour playing spy.

Bobby bet me he could do 10 push ups with me on his back, he managed it which entertained the girls.

My skin was incredibly painful by now and I had tried every cream we had on board. Machi surprised me with an icy cold towel which she draped over my shoulders when I wasn't looking. I used it to hold against my neck and could feel the heat coming through. It did help to soothe my skin though.

Quote of the day from Bobby 'standby'.

16/10/10 - Land ho
Last day on the boat and we were all sad to say goodbye. Sailed back to the harbour. We have had such and amazing time on board and I've met some great people, they have helped me start to plan my around the world trip.

We got back to dry land at lunch time and could still feel the land moving under us. We checked into Magnums which is a nice hostel and I finally got my shower and my neck started to feel better.

We went for a walk and saw the sunset and as we were walking back there was a firework display which we watched as we slowly made our way back to the hostel.

Quote of the day from Bobby 'You are an admin mong'.

17/10/10 - Eungella Park
We had a lazy morning in bed and I wrote my blog while Bobby slept. Up and out by 11am, finally.

We hired a car and accidentally headed the wrong way and ended up at Conway national park, after I told Bobby to go the wrong way. It turned out well though as we found the Mount Roper lookout I had hoped to go to which was a 5.4 km round trip and a hell of a hike, as it was 30 degrees and very steep. I was struggling at times to keep up but I managed it. The hard work was worth it because when we got to the lookout we had a spectacular view of some of the Whitsunday Islands, it took my breath away and not just because I was nackered.

We carried on driving (the right way) for a couple of hours to Eungella national park and arrived at the Broken River which is a great place to spot platypus. We arrived and spotted one right away but as I reached for my camera some idiot chucked a log into the river which scared it off and annoyed a lot of people. We hung around for a while and another one came out so I got my pic 😊

We chilled out at our hostel while eating pizza and saw some giant frogs hopping around the undergrowth outside out room, well we heard them before we saw them.

Quote of the day from Emi 'we've run out of road'.

18/10/10 - Kroombit
Caught the Oz bus at 7am and met up with our mad lot from Magnetic Island. Our driver is Thunder and is a laugh. We stopped for breakfast and got chatting to one of our crew who is from Scotland who we call Scotland (original huh?) and as he had no money I suggested we auction him off to raise money, the driver announced this as we pulled away, poor lad.

Stopped off for a game of lawn bowls which is included in the bus ticket. Bobby and I played against John and Charlotte, we won of course.

During our travels we passed a controlled grass fire which was right up to the road and looked quite fierce and like it could get out of control very quickly.

As we got closer to Kroombit we spotted some kangaroos in a field, I was so happy at seeing them in the wild, eeeek!

We arrived at Kroombit and had some 'nibbles' or goat meat off the leg, it was nice and I thought it tasted like beef.

After dinner we all tried our hand at whip cracking. I managed to make a noise with mine and was given a longer whip which I also made crack until the instructor came and helped and the sound left me, the git!

After the whip cracking was the mechanical bull ride which I didn't do as I didn't feel up for it (wimp I know). Bobby was the longest lasting for the guys and won a pub crawl in Sydney.

19/10/10 - Agnes Water
Alarm call at 6am which was someone revving a motorbike and whip cracking outside all the dorms and with no soundproofing in our rooms it was so loud I thought we were under attack.

After a quick breakfast we were on the bus for a mini rodeo which consisted of clay pigeon shooting and lasso practice which I didn't do too badly at but Bobby was managing to to lasso me while I was moving. We put our lasso skills to the test in a competition where we had to lasso a live goat and pretend to brand it. Being in a pen with lots of goats was a bit intimidating but fun.

Headed back to the ranch to get ready for our horse riding. My horse was Mr Chips who didn't seem very willing to come into the mounting blocks but I was told that so long as I didn't touch his backside when I was mounting him that he would be fine. I managed to get my leg over in one go so I was safe and he was fine. I led Mr Chips into the pen to wait for everyone else to get mounted up and another horse nearly attacked us which made Mr Chips bolt for a few steps and also required me to change my pants, phew that was scary.

We were off to find our goats to move them into another field. We found the goats and had to ride around them yelling 'hey ub bub bub' to muster them into a pack and keep them moving. I felt like I was in city slickers, it was an amazing experience and I was surprised at how well I was able to control the horse.

Back on the bus to head to our next destination at Agnes Water. On our way we passed warning signs about the dangers of fatigue and to help with tiredness there was a travel trivia quiz on the signs, what a great idea 😊

We got to Agnes Water and checked into our hostel, 1770 Backpackers, to find we had a 10 bed dorm room to ourselves, awesome!

We had a walk along the beach and quick run on the sand too, hard work!

20/10/10 - Town of 1770
Bobby had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast which I tried and was not at all convinced on, yuck!

I had my first ever surf lesson today which lasted around 2 hours. I had so much fun and managed to stand on my board twice (briefly as it was). I knelt on my board on several occasions but the waves tended to die out before I got on my feet. Really tiring sport and I found pushing myself up onto my board very challenging toward the end. I managed to flash the beach as I took my rash vest off, poor Bobby.

Quick shower and it was off to Scooteroo (scooters that have been made up to look like choppers). I couldn't believe we were allowed on the road so quickly and without checking anyones drivers license. The bikes took some getting used to for handling but it was such an incredible experience. We rode for 3 hours covering 64 km which included a stop to watch the sun set in the Town of 1770 which is where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland (not Australia). I clocked a max of 75 kph which felt a little hairy.

We spotted lots of kangaroos in peoples gardens as we were driving, wow! Towards the end of the ride I saw a girl crash into another bike, no one was hurt but it was a shock to see.

I've had such an amazing day that I became very hyper and frightened Bobby a bit.

Where are the weeks going?

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