Sailing the Whitsundays

---

After spending two days on land we became itchy to get back out on the water. Airlie Beach is the main tourist hub for all the boats and tour operators heading out around the Whitsundays. After getting a great last minute deal on the dive boat, we tried the same approach with the sailing boats and it worked a treat. We found a sailing boat heading out the next day for a three day sailing tour of the islands.

The boat was called Ron of Argyll and was built in Scotland circa 1930 for a wealthy socialite. Ron has hosted quite a few celebrities including Marilyn Monroe. The boat was perfect, it slept about 12 people, but there was only 8 on board so there was plenty of space. We had two crew who looked after us and we couldn't have asked for better food, I really hadn't expected restaurant quality food out at sea!

We spent our time sailing around the island, anchoring to do some snorkeling or to go ashore onto the various islands. Some of the islands there are exlusive so you cannot go on them, or are restricted to certain parts of the island, but it makes little difference because there's plenty of space of everyone. Each view is picture postcard perfect and it's just a beautiful part of the world.

The main highlight was Whitehaven beach, made of pure white silica sand and a real jaw dropper. The sand almost looks like snow, it's that white and you can clean your jewellery in it. We spent our time walking along the beach together swimming in the shallow ocean and then messing around with a frisby. We spent a good few hours on that beach.

At the end of the trip the crew took us onto an island with a coral beach and we watched the sunset eating canapes that they had brought ashore for us. Pure bliss!

Incidentally the Whitsundays were also named by Capt Cook as he based by the area around the time of whit Sunday. The islands were initially called the Cumbrian islands, and it was the passage between the islands and the mainland that was called Whitsunday passage, but over time the islands have now become known as the Whitsundays. Whithaven is also a place in Cumbria, and there are a few other Cumbrian references in the place names. Though the most evocative island name is Daydream Island - we didn't go there but I've put it on the 'To Do' list for later!

The next scheduled stop after the Whitsundays was Fraser Island. We had also aranged to meet Mich and Phil in Noosa for the first weekend in May and we calculated that we didn't have sufficient time to spend on Fraser and get down to Noosa in time. So we cruised past Fraser and promised ourselves that we'd go back for the weekend once we had settled in Brisbane.

Mich and Phil had told me that Noosa was a funky place and they were right. It's a great ocean front town with a funky sophisticated vibe, unlike anywhere I've been so far. There are lots of nice wine bars and little boutiques so I loved it. We also spent some time on the beach and generally chilled out together.

The weekend in Noosa was almost the end of the road for us. We spent a few more days traveling around the Glasshouse Mountains before arriving back in Brisbane on the Tuesday. It was both sad and exciting arriving back at Mich and Phil's. It meant the end of one chapter and the start of another. It was nice being settled back at Mich and Phil's, plus we also had Fraser Island to return to as the missing piece of the jigsaw.

---