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Published: November 20th 2007
Laz....not drunk
Maybe in disguise but I'd recognise those feet anywhere!Weds 7th Nov:
Up early and ready to leave Rocky as soon as Laz was up, just took an instant dislike to this place. Pretty miserable weather today, wet and muggy. Stopped at the mall on the way out and headed for Mackay, only a 2hr drive. It was a slow road but arrived by early afternoon.
It was a really busy place and after trying the hostels and some motels headed to N.Mackay and had a cabin for the night. Fortunately it was my turn for the double bed but thankfully the cabin was more open plan than at Tin Can Bay so even Laz didn't have to experience a night in a coffin!
Not much to do so did our washing and played some backpackers, I believe I won again!
Hung my washing in porch overnight but just my luck, massive storm hit in night so ended up being more wet then when I started!
Thurs 8th Nov:
Up and out by 1000 and weather still damp but driving to Airlie Beach so didn't really mind. 90 min drive so there by lunch. we confirmed our Whitsundays sailing trip for tomorrow then headed to the quieter end of
Airlie, Backpackers On The Bay.
Drove out to the Mall for some food and anti-sickness tablets (just in case)!
Decided to take advantage of happy hour at our hostel bar and 5hrs later we realised it had passed the evening quite nicely! Even managed to squeeze in a Domino's pizza but not as good as UK, certainly edible though and nice to have the rest left over for brekkie.
Went to bed and although Laz claimed to be not at all drunk, he struggles to explain the photo which I took whilst he was making his bed.......
Fri 10th Nov:
We had to check out by 1000 but we weren't being collected for our trip until 1830. The hostel was happy for us to chill out there so that was good. I spent the morning writing up my journal, its so much easier doing my blog from that. Enjoyed my cold pizza too. Off to the internet to update my blog, if only there were a way on knowing if anyone out there is reading it....... oh there is! Come one people, give me some feedback! If its that boring I'll stop doing it.... or start making up some
stories!!!!
Got back to hostel at 1700 to grab quick meal, 2 min noodles. Except they took about 30 mins to cook. No, it wasn't my cooking, the hob rings were so dodgy, they were on full and I could put my hand on it. Either they weren't working well or my asbestos hand super powers have finally kicked in!!!
Headed back into town to park the car and walked down to our collection point to get our lift to our 120 foot yacht, the Anaconda III. Once on board, dropped our bags and took a seat. It had just come into stinger season so we hired stinger suits for the 3 days that we would be out there. Got shown to our cabin, another double but soon got that sorted. The cabins were so small but fortunately not going to be spending much time below deck.
Went back on deck to get the pep talk from skipper Tim and meet the crew. Also started with a glass of champagne as we cast off. The boat was licensed but wanted to see how my stomach behaved so gave it a miss for 1st night.
Our cabin happened to be right
next to the generator that powered the a/c in all the rooms. So not only did I have to contend with the gene noise but had freezing cold air on me all night and ended up sleeping in my hoody!
Sat 10th Nov:
Woke with the sound of anchors up so figured I'd on deck before we started swaying too much! That unfortunately started whilst I was getting dressed so grabbed what I could and got up there. Sat there fixating on the horizon and wondering what I'd let myself in for over the next 3 days. The bell then rang for breakfast but oddly enough, wasn't feeling to great and below was the last place I needed to be!
Laz appeared shortly after this and took pity on me, getting me some juice for brekkie. Once we neared the islands and it became more sheltered, the sea calmed down along with my queasiness, thankfully!
We stopped just off Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Got the dinghy to shore and appreciatively kissed the sand! we had a few hours on the beach which was great. Those who wanted to learn to scuba dive had their lesson here, which Laz
did. Took a wander along the beach before heading back to the boat.
Paddy, our french chef had cooked up a great meal and whilst we were eating we sailed to our next stop, Luncheon Bay. Selected my fins, mask and snorkel, put on my stinger and then into the dinghy to shore.
I'm so glad I ignored my shark phobia because it was the most amazing picture, like swimming in aquarium, coral and fish everywhere.
Laz was having issues with his mask leaking and swallowing water, even then he couldn't keep his mouth shut LOL! we went back to shore to try and sort it out but whilst we were there he managed to stumble in the water and cut his finger! I was concerned about his blood attracting all the sharks......ok so I may be over reacting slightly, but he bailled on the snorkelling after this so I continued on my search to finding nemo with Filip, a Belgian guy in our group.
We stayed out for ages just floating around then headed back to the boat for a shower. We moored here for the night so after dinner Tim gave us 2 pieces of rope with loops
at both ends. They had to be attached to the wrists of 2 people, crossing the rope over before attaching the last loop. It was very funny to watch, people getting into all sorts of weird and wonderful positions! Nobody actually managed to work it out but by this time we had all started drinking so I don't think anyone really cared!
Sunday 11th Nov:
Having found my sea legs was feeling much happier being on board. Went out snorkelling again this morning, I'm so brave! We spent the morning in this bay and another one around the corner. The divers were hoping that the weather would calm down so they could do the outer reef but it wasn't to be. We then sailed on to the Nara Inlet to go for a stroll up to an aboriginal shelter and a great lookout point.
Once back on board we were sailing on to Blue Pearl Bay, our final destination of the day. The winds really picked up so we actually got the sails up and used wind power for a while. We got up to 11.3 knots which was the fastest our skipper had gone in the Anaconda, was
Laz and Konnie
Not working out how to untie themselves really cool.
The divers went out for another dive and also had the opportunity to do a night dive, rather them than me. I'd rather see Jaws coming towards me...... or maybe not. Tim also informed this would be our final snorkelling point tomorrow morning before we headed back to Airlie Beach. Did I also mention that a 6 foot sea crocodile had been sighted in the bay in the last week. This was getting ridiculous, fighting my shark phobia and now crocs to add to the list! Spent a great evening on the boat watching the sunset. We were told a dolphin lives in the bay so were fortunate enough to see him swimming around the boat for a while. Some people had missed him so we got the torch out and started searching again. Someone shouted they'd spotted him shone the torch on him as he came closer to the boat. You can imagine my pleasure when I discovered the dolphin was in fact a shark! Glad to be on board and have a drink in my hand, enjoyed the rest of the evening with my new German friends, Konnie and Claudia (who had also had her knee
done!)
Mon. 12th Nov:
Woke early debating whether I could go snorkelling again, having seen baby jaws the night before. Decided I'd kick myself if I didn't so off I went. Laz had given up trying it again and so I went out with Konnie and Claudia instead. At first I thought the sea was a little to rough to see much but as we followed the shoreline around the bay we were suddenly surrounded. There were so many you could actually touch them, it was so awesome. Once we'd got to the other side of the bay we obviously had to head back. Konnie was getting cold so we said we'd head straight back to the beach. Off we swam an suddenly we were looking at this coral which was 10 times the size of anything I'd seen previously, thats when I realised how deep it was. The water was so clear you could still see the bottom but it was pretty unnerving being that deep, I felt much more vulnerable. Part of me wanted to just get back into shore but I just couldn't swim away from such a beautiful sight, and I couldn't see any sharks
or crocs! We got back to shore and randomly started looking for coral that was shaped like letters to spell our names. Carole was an impossibilty so I went with Tag, much easier!
Back to the boat, for the final sail. The wind picked up again so up went the sails and we even managed a new record, 11.5 knots.
We got back at 1530 and got a lift back into town and our car. By the time we'd reached the car, Laz had remembered leaving his DS (Nintendo) under his pillow on the boat! So, we drove back to retrieve that! Back to our hostel again for a much needed shower and some clean clothes before heading out to Reefo's for an evening with our group. Got there and spent the evening with nearly everyone who had been on the trip, jugs and jugs of beer all over the place and then things really picked up when Rob (Canadian) and Jurng (German) arrived. They'd been drinking all afternoon so were well into the swing of things, dancing on the tables and really having fun! Next came the round of tequilas (must be a tequila snob cos it certainly wasn't
Jose!) Few more vodkas and it was time for bed. Laz had driven so easy trip home.
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Sis
non-member comment
What stunning photos even your niece recognised you so she hasn't forgotten who you are !! Looks and sounds like you are having a fab time you probably won't want to come home !xxxx