Blogs from Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 7

True to form, I'm in reception at 7am, wondering if there's been a cancellation. There hasn't. I've now got it in my head that I need to do something - whether it be scenic flight, helicopter trip or full on sailing tour, despite the fact that there's not enough time and really I should just get on the road. The weather however is due to be gorgeous for the next few days so I'm more than tempted to sail off into the sunset. The tour booker must have sensed this too as she suggested a two day, overnight trip, leaving at 8.30am, for the heavily discounted price of AUD300, some AUD 200 more than I wanted to spend. However, after 10 minutes' contemplation, I'm sold, and I sprint off to a) strip my bed, b) pack ... read more

Uttered with a lopsided grin, Grahame finished his ‘safety checklist’ with the comment that “I am not going to bother showing you how to use the life jackets mate, because if the boat sinks and you don’t know how to put one on, that’s just natural selection in action.” I grinned back, but also made a mental note to come back after everyone was asleep to make sure I wasn’t going to be the loser in that particular selection event. After dreaming of this moment for months, Frances and I were finally sailing away from the Airlie Beach harbor, in the catamaran Serendipity for an eight-day trip through the Whitsunday Island chain, located off the northeast coast of Australia. We were sailing with Danny and Ruth, two Aussie friends of 30 some-odd years. As unsettling as ... read more

Day 40, 21/10/11 Woke up early again today and had breakfast before setting off sail again for a quick snorkel where I saw loads of fish right up close to my face which scared me a bit. I turned around and saw a massive fish which was amazing - until it disappeared! We then set sail to head back to Airlie Beach and the sun finally came out so I started to sunbath and got a nice tan. We got back to Airlie Beach where we freshened up and relaxed until the evening where our group from the boat all met up at the bar next to our hostel for a nice evening.... read more

Next blog, whoop whoop! After a fantastic time on Magnetic Island, I was a little reluctant to move on. I'd seen so many animals and had really enjoyed just chilling in a hammock by the pool. BUT, I was heading to Airlie Beach, gateway to the Whitsundays, and from what I'd heard about it, it was well worth leaving Magnetic Island for. So, I hopped on my greyhound bus, and set forth for Airlie Beach. I was picked up by my hostel from the bus station and was taken back to a really clean, pretty little hostel, where I had arrived just in time to watch the nightly movie. What a great way to unwind! Just relaxing in front of the TV after a 5 or so hour bus journey. I spent the next couple of ... read more

Nach einer sehr kurzen Nacht ging es morgens um 6 raus aus den Federn. Mit der 4 Mio $ teuren Camira, einem lila farbenen Katamaran segelten wir durch die wunderschöne Insellandschaft der Whitsundays. Da wir unser Deutschlandtrikot anhatten machten wir auch gleich nette Bekanntschaft mit einem deutschen Pärchen aus Karlsruhe. Auf der Fahrt zum Whitehaven beach machten wir noch einen kurzen Zwischenstopp zum schnorcheln. Auch wieder ein beeindruckendes Erlebnis, aber leider bei nicht so klarem Wasser wie beim ersten schnorcheln. Nachdem wir uns im Netz liegend den Wind um die Ohren wehen ließen, segelten wir zum Whitehaven Beach. Dieser zählt sicherlich mit seinem strahlend, mehlig weißen Sand zu den schönsten der Welt. Dort konnten wir auch endlich mal wieder unsere fußballerischen Fähigkeiten zusammen mit dem deutschen Pärchen unter Beweis stellen. Nach leider viel zu kurzer Zeit ... read more