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Up Mt Rooper
Reunited with our belgian buddies they saved us from Airlie Beach high street and took us for a day out Arriving in Airlie Beach we arrived at our campsite just in time for the rain to begin. We decided to wait a bit before putting our tent up which paid off as it cleared up and we could sort it all out whilst staying dry! It wasn't quite the weather we were expecting from the Whitsunday Islands but we had faith it would blow over soon enough. That night we decided that since we still hadn't seen any Kangaroos we'd try and eat some! We slapped a few Roo kebabs 'on the barbie' and they were very tastey - not like chicken, as you'd expect, but like a tastey steak.
During the night it rained... a lot. So before we took the plunge and booked up 3 days on an island in the middle of nowhere we decided to check out the weather. The news wasn't particularly inspiring and showers were predicted all day with coastal showers and isolated showers the following days - many showers basically! Heading to the internet place to catch up on some news we thought we'd buy a paper first and went off down the high street. As the heavens opened and the rain began
to pour there was no paper shop in sight but Pauline managed to find a market to go to so we had a brief and wet look round there before giving up on the paper and walking back up the high street. It was then we noticed the newsagents next to internet place! Doh! I could have saved myself a soaking and a market if i'd have clocked that one earlier! It was in the internet place that we bumped into our old Belgian buddies Mathias and Marianne. They were planning on doing the same as us - camping on an island so we decided to join forces and face the weather together! The rest of the day was spent deliberating about the weather and when we finally accepted that we wouldn't be heading out the next day we headed to the pub!
As we had handed our car back we had no means of transport but Mathias and Marianne offered to take us out for the day in their camper van to avoid trawling the high street in the rain again. Off we went to scale Mt Rooper and at the top theier were some very good views
Our camp site
Arriving on South Molle we set up our campsite of the Islands. All in all there are 74 Whitsunday Islands and they all stretch out from Airlie Beach over the Great Barrier Reef. They used to be part of the main land but when sea levels rose the the main land flooded and left the islands. Anyway enough of the history lesson, the views were really good as the rain had ceased for a while. After some lunch we decided that tomorrow would be the day to go out to the islands and so stopped off and stocked on supplies of chocolate and wine for the real 'Robinson Crusoe' experience! We drove out to Conway Beach later that afternoon for a stroll in the sand whislt the weather would let us.
Today was the day we were heading out to South Molle Island. After drying our tent off in the morning after another soaking in the night we caught a sea taxi over to the island. After the tents and 'Mosi Dome' (a kind of tent with no fly sheet for keeping insects out) were up and lunch had been served we went for a walk up to the top of the island as it wasn't quite snorkelling
weather yet. In the evening we sat on the beach and watched the sun set over the sea with a cold beer from the esky. Dinner was cooked my Mathias and was a tastey spaghetti bolognaise. It was only when we decided to call it a night that i realised some little beasts had been munching on legs and i had about 20 little bites all over my ankles! Everyone else seemed to be ok though - excellent. One thing I could have done without just before bed was Mathias pointing out the hand sized Huntsman Spider in the camp toilet just before heading off to bed - won't be using the loo for a few days!!
Awoken by 2 very loud and very annoying crows at about 5.30 I was fumbling for my shotgun to take care of the b@#&@$!s, but realised I hadn't packed it. They continued crowing for a good hour and a half until i was thouroughly awake and then decided to shut up. Taking advantage of the early morning I had a cup of tea on the beach with the newspaper while everyone else seemed to have been able to get back to sleep.
Once everyone was active we decided to go for a walk up to another view point as the weather looked like it might sort itself out given a bit of time. The walk was up to a view point called Sion Kop? and on the way we managed to see a snake! Result! It was only a tiny one and we later found out it was non-venimous but still, it was the first I'd seen and so duely snapped away. Returning from our walk there was a hint of blue skies and the sun was out so we made the most of it and headed out snorkelling. The water visibility wasn't that great due to the rain and we saw a few fish but it wasn't as great as we were hoping for. Also as it was bloody freezing we were back out on dry land about 20 mins later. Pauline and I cooked lunch it took forever but finally we managed to eat it just as the grey clouds rolled over. It was then the skies opened and the rain began. First the Mosi Dome began to leek as our make shift plastic shelter was't really working. Once that
had been sorted Pauline and I checked on our tent to find the ground sheet had been funelling all the water underneath our tent and the inside resembled a swimming pool! Leaving Pauline to quite literally bail out the tent I went over and stood with Mathias while the Mosi Dome started leaking again. When Pauline had finished with the tent it was just in time to help Marianne bail out the Mosi Dome. Mathias and I in true manly fashion, stood and watched and took some amusing photo's while the girls got to work. We managed to arrange the plastic sheets to sheild us from most of the rain and the girls did a fine job of drying the inside out. Feeling thoroughly wet and with the sun gone for the day we started on the wine around 5. It was a brilliant evening we played a few games, spilled a lot of wine and talked for ages. Mathias kept spilling his wine on his trousers while trying to dry them out and Pauline kept getting in uncontrollable fits of giggles and by 2am it was defintely time for bed!
Feeling slightly hungover when I opened my eyes
I realsied that I had managed to sleep right through the crows and there attempts to disturb me! Mathias on the other hand had been up since 7 collecting our rubbish that the crows had littered about the camp site after splitting open the bags! Anyway the sun was shining and the sky was blue so after cooking up the 'emergency bacon' (Mathias' slip of the tongue that was very amusing at the time) we took a walk over to the Mid Molle Island - our tropical neighbour. By the time we got back it was time to take the tents down and finally get some quality time on the beach - sun and all! The sun cream was on, the frisbee was thrown and the snorkells were used and all was good - it was as if the rain had never come - No worries mate!
All feeling abosultely knackered after our island experience we cooked up a massive barbie back at the camp site and were tucked up in bed by 10. The next day we had to say good bye to our Belgian buddies as we flew of to Melbourne. It was great travelling with those
guys and they will be missed!
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