Whitsundays! Sailing!

Well, now it is Thursday and I got back from the Whitsundays Monday night, so I feel it is getting to be time for an update. I have huge amounts of work to do, but I will put my efforts into trying to describe my trip instead.

In summary, one of the best weekends of my life. We had very considerable amounts of rain, but nothing got my spirits down (not even a broken ipod!) Here's the play-by-play (taken from accounts in my journal, my memory isn't nearly this good):

Friday, 1/5/09
Took a bus at 9 30 to the city, got a cab to the airport, and arrived approximately 2 hours before our flight. Note: Flying in Australia is amazingly easy. They never ask for ID, if you check in online you can go straight to security, the only things you can't have in your carry on are sharps and aerosols (which you just have to take out and then they give back to you), and you don't have to take off your shoes or show your boarding pass through security. It's awesome. So we flew from Brisbane to the Prosperpine airport, and got to Airlie Beach around 3. We thought we'd have some time on the beach, but it took forever to check into the hostel and then check in for our sailing tour (which had hidden local fees...bummer). So once that was all done, we walked around a little...Airlie is basically just the beach and a street with some shops, restaurants, and bars. The area around there is all for tourism - our bus driver told us there is really no other businesses there. That night I bought some sweet Havaianas - I've been wanting them for so long, and I got a green pair that have an Aussie flag and lists all the beaches in Aus on the bottom! They are sweet. We got dinner and ice cream (and Macca's, because my friends are huge) and then we just played cards/Bananagrams (yes!) in the hostel and went to bed really early, for an early wake up on Saturday.

Saturday, 2/5/09
Woke up early, had "free breakfast" at the hostel, which was just toast and PB. It was hilariously pathetic. We got picked up at 8 40 for a ride to the marina, as our boat was supposed to leave at 9 30. Our group was: me and 8 of my friends, a 26 year old girl from north of England (Charlie), a German couple who never spoke, Mark (our captain) and Jess (our cook). Jess and Mark were awesome - they really made the trip. Jess is 21 and from New Zealand - she studied marine biology, then became a dive instructor, decided that was boring, and decided to work on boat tours. Mark is an older guy who used to race sailboats professionally - kind of a hippie dude, he told me about a bunch of really good health foods and is supposed to email me some info. Anywho, the boat was kind of small, with beds in the hallways and stuff, but it was sweet. So we sailed out in the morning and went for a snorkel. It was pretty good, but not nearly as good as at Heron Island! I was playing my iPod through the speakers on the boat, and after we went sailing for a bit (I don't remember which time) I came downstairs to change the song, and it was soaked! I have no idea where the water came from, but it wouldn't turn on the rest of the weekend. (So obviously I was pretty freaked. I brought it to the apple store on campus yesterday, and apparently the battery is shot and it got sent in for service. Will keep you posted.) The rest of the day I think we just hung out on the boat and sunbathed/chilled downstairs during little rain squalls, which were on and off in the afternoon. (It was also pretty cloudy, but not horrible). Later we had some dinner and some drinks, and I went to bed early after reading some Twilight...(yes, I am embarassed).

Sunday, 3/5/09
Didn't sleep at all! Woke up around 6 30 because we had to head out early because of the tides. We were motoring rather than sailing, and I felt really seasick. After breakfast we went to Whitehaven Beach - probably the most popular spot in the Whitsundays. When we got there we walked up to the lookout point, took a few pics and then got poured on for about 10 minutes. The weather cleared up after this though, and we had a nice hour or so on the beach. The sand there is white and very fine - and can be used to polish jewelry! I didn't know this so I didn't bring anything, but I was wearing silver earrings and I tried to polish them. It seemed to work pretty well...it was impressive! Then it started raining again so we booked it back to the boat. Then we sailed a bit, I got seasick-ish again (but still having a great time!!) and we had lunch, then went for another snorkel. (The weather cleared.) We saw HUGE fish off the side of the boat - one was seriously about 3/4 of my size. It was absurd. I stole two pictures from Brynne, which are at the top of the post because I can't figure out how to move them. There were a lot of soft corals there unlike at Heron, and those were pretty sweet. Some looked like spaghetti. After snorkeling we chilled on the boat and sunbathed, but got more rain as well. We sailed to our next stop and it was pouring rain the whole way (and I was nauseous). It ended up clearing up, and we saw a beautiful sunset (photos on FB...too many, sorry I swear I deleted some). I layed out for a bit on the deck and watched the moon/stars/clouds....the moon was amazingly bright. We chilled and drank for a while, and it turned out to be a really nice night.

Monday, 4/5/09
Slept like a baby, after taking an Ambien. I woke up early, around 6 45, but I was wide awake so I just went up and chilled on the deck for a while. It was absolutely gorgeous, and really peaceful because no one was up yet. I could tell we were going to have perfect weather for the day. So we had bfast, then motored over to Blue Pearl Bay. We had the option to snorkel again, but JK, Michelle, Kelly and I passed up on it so we could hang on the beach. Mark took us out on the dingy to this small, deserted beach - we had it to ourselves for at least an hour, and it was absolutely gorgeous, and perfect weather. We hiked a little bit up the hill there and it was so beautiful. We had a Le Tan photoshoot - it is the sunscreen we bought in Airlie, and made jokes about all weekend, just in case anyone was curious in reference to my facebook album name. We spent all morning on the beach, then went back to the boat for tea, chilling, and lunch. We got a lot of sunbathing time - I am probably the most tan I have ever been in my life. It is absurd. Around 1 30 we sailed back to Airlie - it took about 2 hours. And it was gorgeous. And perfect. I didn't want the trip to be over! Then we took the bus back to the airport (which was very similar to the airport in Belize - very small building, gates outdoors). The sun set while we were waiting for our plane, and it was beautiful. The plane ride was only an hour and a half but painful because I didn't have my iPod and I finished Twilight! When we got back, it took way longer to get home than it should have because we had to wait an hour for the bus back to school from Brisbane, and I was absolutely pooped when I got back.


So now I am back, and have outrageous amounts of work to do. But, this weekend I don't really have any plans so I have a lot of time to work. Oh, a side note about the boat: the "shower" was just the sink faucet that pulled out, and there was just a drain on the floor of the bathroom. HOWEVER, Jess told us that we shouldn't wash our hair, because there was a limited amount of freshwater on board and we would have to go back if we ran out. So, I didn't wash my hair for 4 days (same with everyone else), and my shower when I got back was phenomenal.

That's it for now, I'm starting to get sad that I have to leave here in less than 2 months....so I have to make the most of what I have left!!