Blogs from Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Seventeen hours on a coach is no one's idea of a good time, but if anything could be worth such an extended period of purgatory it would surely be the chance to indulge in a few days of leisurely sailing through a tropical archipelago. And having spent the previous two weeks giving both my upper body (on my Noosa River kayak trip) and then my lower body (on the Cooloola Great Walk) a workout, I figured it was about time I gave my tan a good workout too. So after taking the overnight coach about a thousand kilometres north from Noosa I ended up back in the tiny coastal town of Airlie Beach, where I had spent my first year as a backpacker way back in 2006. And just like I had during those heady days ... read more

So i haven't written in a while, i must try and do it a bit more. I have been down to Brisbane for a week to see a few friends and went down to the Gold Coast an byron bay which was awesome. I also climbed Mount warning and will write up another blog post on my trip there as this place is actually spiritual its so beautiful. However i wanted to write a short note that i enjoyed the Whitsundays so much i decided to fly back up and spend a bit more time there. To be honest im thinking about moving there its just that lovely. I have booked myself on Whitsunday Adventurer which is a 2 day 2 nights on board a catamaran that travels around all the islands of the coral sea ... read more

We had a bit of a slack day before we set sail at 1630. Went paddle boarding for 45 mins. A bloke walking past said there had been a crock sighted so a girl that was paddle boarding too got the wind up. Went for a swim at the lagoon then a bite to eat at KCs. We went back to the Airbnb to shower, change and pack then walked to the RV at the coffee club at the marina. I went off to the bottle sop to buy some alcoholic beverages. 1 x 70 cl bottle of gin, 3 x bottles of white wine and 6x cans of cider. 1630 we were met by Nina our hostile and taken to the boat with the other 3 couples. Emanuel and Florence from Switzerland, Joanne and Jens ... read more

Australia has been one of the best places I've traveled to so far. Before arriving there, I had many expectations. From what I've seen on documentaries and TV, I had a pretty good picture of what the land would hold. Shows such as "The Crocodile Hunter," "The World's Deadliest Animals," and other shows informed my subconscious that Australia is the land that contains some of the world's most harmful creatures. I also assumed that Australia was a swampy, giant desert with Sydney on the other side. However, the 14-hour plane ride from the Los Angeles Airport told me otherwise. Although the flight to Brisbane Australia was the longest flight of my life, the early morning sunrise in Australia captured my heart. It gave me the chills. The sunrise was a light pink and orange that mixed ... read more

Capt’n Log: Distance travelled over 16 days totalled 184 nautical miles (340 km). This includes 4 days in Airlie Beach between crews (11 to 15 June). Well, after saying goodbye to Simon and Alison, I had a couple of days in Abell Point Marina, so I cleaned the boat, did the washing and restocked the larder. One of the things I enjoy in port are good fish and chips meals (though often it is fish cakes and potato cakes) and the Fish and Chip shop in the main street of Airlie Beach (surprisingly called “The Airlie Beach Fish Shop”) was a good one. So on Saturday night I was in there buying my dinner which I was going to take back to Hakura and eat with a cup of tea (again, you will be ... read more