Sailing the ocean blue

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We arrived at Airlie beach on (another) beautifully sunny day and literally gasped at our first view of the turquoise water and the green islands studded around the bay and out to the horizon. This was to be one of the highlights of our trip to Australia and the reality more than lived up to the expectation. We had chosen a two day one night sailing trip around the Whitsunday islands (named by the famous Captain Cook on that day in the year 1770) and our chosen vessel was called "Siska" a 26 metre long Maxi yacht built for racing in 1978 and now earning her keep as a cruising yacht with a crew of three plus 22 travellers from all over the world. In our case we had Canadians, Swedish, Chilean, Americans, Italians, Thai, Brazilian, English, Dutch and oh yes one Irishman! Alice was slightly nervous not having sailed on a sailing boat before, whether she would get seasick or not but having not felt any ill effects on a slightly rough crossing from Ko Pha Ngan we were reasonably confident. As it turned out she sailed like a veteran and we had a great time.

The weather was perfect and we were under sail with some great participation from the unofficial crew hoisting sails and cranking winches and generally getting involved fully. Then we all went snorkelling to view the coral and abundant multicoloured fish before being taken to a deserted beach for some much needed rest. We moored in a narrow channel between two of the islands for the night and sat under the Southern Cross and other antipodean constellations we are unused to and drank and talked until the late hours. The next morning we headed for Whitehaven beach which is probably the most beautiful beach we have seen anywhere in the world so far (but we'll let you know if we find any better!). The largest of the Whitsundays is Whitsunday island itself which is completely uninhabited and a national park and so feels very special. The crew and travellers were good fun and interesting and email addresses were exchanged as well as advice and information - just as it should be in the world traveller universe.

From Airlie beach we made the long, long drive down to Noosa on our way back to Brisbane. We didn't know what to expect as we had heard Noosa is nice but when we arrived despite its quite dense development we found yet another stunning piece of Australian nature. Noosa consists of a river estuary, surfing beaches, national park and a stunning coastline. We planned to stay only one night and stayed two and wished it could have been longer. We went for a hike along the headland for 5.5 kms or so and discovered a beautiful almost deserted cove where the water was so clear we just had to swim although the day was cooler than others. Truly Australia has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to natural beauty - each place is different from the other but so many are stunningly beautiful, natural and unspoiled. We were on the lookout for Koalas and had heard that one Koala could reliably always be found at a certain spot and sure enough there he (she?) was. Alice was in seventh heaven and reached Nirvana quicker than any meditation could ever have done! Of course it didn't do anything because it was asleep (they sleep for about 20 hours per day - tough life!) but it was so cute wedged in the tree all curled up that it was all I could do to prevent Alice from climbing up there and hugging it. The Koala will never know what a debt it owes me.

After Noosa we are back in Brisbane and the next great adventure beckons - one which leaves me tingling with anticipation - it's time to visit the country of the long white cloud as it was called by the Maori - New Zealand. We can't wait.

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Comments

[Sabrina]

Noosa was my favorite
Hey you two, it`s simply great to read your stories about so wonderful countries...I have waited to write you till I could join with my own experiences ;-) and I am really happy that you have seen Noosa because it was my favorite from the East coast (beside of Bayron Bay). On the way, where you can walk along the coast through the National Park, I have seen the first Koala in free nature. Did you see the traffic sign with the Koalas "We live here too"? Oh I could tell so many stories, but that's on you. So go ahead and enjoy! At last one thing to translate: Reisen veredelt den Geist und räumt mit allen Vorurteilen auf (by Oscar Wilde)