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Published: April 16th 2008
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Sat 12th April - Mon 14th April
And so began my cruise around the Whitsunday Islands on a boat named the Waltzing Matilda (I bet I know what song has immediately popped into your mind, believe me, I was singing it for the full 3 days, it never grew tiresome.....for me anyway). The boat carried 11 passengers and 3 crew. I was so eager to get to the boat see I only went and forgot to check out of the hostel, discovered the key a couple hours later in my pocket, oh dear!
Our first port of call was Dumbell Island where we had our first experience of snorkelling on the reef. We had to wear stinger suits with a hood which to me only made us look like big seals, hmmm not the best idea to look like a shark's primary target! Was really good fun, I could hear all the fish munching on the coral, the skipper threw food in so there was a sudden influx of fish all around us heading butting us, not sure whether that was a hint to get out the way but I didn't budge. Me and another girl, Andrea, kept setting
each other off giggling, which is really hard to do without gulping in the sea water. We were dropped off in the dinghy but we had to swim back to the boat so of course my imagination takes me back to the movies where a monster is chasing a person who only has seconds to get back on safe ground, lets just say I swam pretty fast at that point. Next we went to Whitehaven beach for a bit of a walk. Back at the boat I was sleeping on bottom bunk which involved a difficult manoeuvre to get in, kind of a lift and slide, I heard one of the girls say you can pull that out so my immediate reply was, "what the bed?". Turns out she wasn't actually talking to me, wouldn't be a half bad idea though I thought, much like what a mechanic uses to slide under cars (I copyright the idea, it might make me rich).
Next day I woke up on my side only to be rolled from side to side by the sway of the boat, how annoying! We first went to Chalkies beach for a walk, which in my mind
was the perfect setting for a Jurassic Park moment, then next to Elk Island for a tad more snorkelling. Only 3 of us went out, oh dear that increases the chance of the shark picking me! The coral here was realling shallow so a lot of breathing in was involved, I did not wanna be scraping along that stuff, my foot did touch some soft, spongey coral, which, you know, only freaked me out a little bit. Why is it the jaws theme tune always pops into my head at these crucial moments. Me and Andrea went on the hunt for Nemo, I called out to him but he didn't show his face this time. Also had a little sing of waltzing matilda, we forget that the outside world can hear us too! That day we also saw a huge turtle cruising next to the boat, du-ude! We sailed past Hamilton Island where all the rich people are, saw where George Harrison used to live (which one is he again, sounds like he was a cowboy.......personally I think I may be confused with Harrison Ford). That evening I discovered the wonder that is Van Morrison, as the sun was setting,
"have I told you lately that I love you" was playing, how romantic, and "oh, so that's who sings Brown Eyed Girl". We spent that night in Sid Harbour.
It pays to be up early i.e. 6:30, got to go on a mini adventure in the dinghy around the island, just me and the skip, saw my first goanna (big lizard) and sting rays (a big leopard ray), he told me about whale vomit being used as the base of many expensive perfumes and if you find it it's worth thousands, so next time you spray on that delicious perfume..........! We sailed to an island where we went on a long walk up to Spion Cop point, we saw a snake on the pathway, a green tree snake, me and another girl must have been so engrossed in conversation because we must have just stepped right over it before the next 2 screamed and jumped out of the way, forgetting that a whole lot of snakes in Oz are venomous (which we later found out it was) we all got in close to take a pic. Finally had a nice long sail back to Harbour.
P.s Trust me
to ask Andrea, who's just told me she's a veggie, whether she's tried kangeroo yet, "uh, no, I'm a veggie", doh!
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