Whitsudays

After a monstrous 11 hour journey we finally arrived in Airlie Beach (also known as Airlie no Beach), gateway to the Whitsundays..
Had a few nights in Airlie before we headed out on the boat, pretty nice place with very good nightlife so more drinking was to be had!! We are now in stinger jellyfish areas so no matter how nice the sea looks, unless your wearing a lovely stinger/swinger/gimp suit you may die!!! There is a great man made lagoon just off the beach which you can swim in though.

After a late night watching jelly wrestling at Magnums with Phil and Kim(very funny Danish farmer off our bus), we headed down to get on our boat. Luckily the boat we had chosen to go on was apparently one of the best in Airlie and in its former life as a racing yacht had won the Fastnet and Sydney to Hobart races twice along with a load of other important things.. Obviously the boat was very good, but the crew had were even better!!
Andy the captain, Chris and Andrew. Some of the jokes Captain Andy came out with are without doubt the sickest jokes I have ever heard!!

Motley crew : Chris, Captain Andy and Andrew

Fiona, Alex, Jon Arne Riise and Me

As there was only 3 proper crew onboard it was up to the rest of us to pitch in and raise the sails etc. I now have the upmost respect for anyone who does proper sailing as getting the sails up was the hardest thing ive done since I finished swimming. I nearly threw up once I'd finished and by looking at the others around me, I wasnt the only one!!!
The first day sailing we headed right out to the far side of the Whitsundays to Border Island. Once there, it was time to don our lovely stinger suits for a bit of snokelling in the amazing clear waters with beautiful coral and millions of fish.. However we did find out something a little bit scary from some friends who we met on the way to the boat who'd just come off their cruise on a different yacht. They told us that they had heard something had happened on Condor and someone had to be airlifted off and to hospital. With this in mind we quizzed Captain Andy before we went in the water. He told us that some German fella had gone out in full stinger suit and came back to the boat perfectly ok, told the crew he thought he'd been stung on the neck. They treated it with vinegar(not urine!!) as your supposed to but this bloke just deteriorated so they had to get him airlifted off. He spent the next 3 days in intensive care where his heart rate didnt drop below 170-180bpm! He had been stung by the delightful Irukandji jellyfish (Carukia barnesi). Whats even better about these things is they are only 12mm in diameter and 25mm long.. Nasty little buggers!!!

With that well in mind we jumped in and went for a paddle. When we'd had enough of paddling around it was back to the boat for some food and crack open a few tinnies of VB and XXXX as this was where we were going to stop for the night..

Day 2. After an early morning snorkle we headed to one of the top 10 beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach. As you can see from the pictures it is absolutely amazing. After a little walk up to the viewpoint in the middle of the island to get some piccies we went down to the beach itself to catch some sun. Stupidly we decided to have a game of footy(not the best idea in a country with very little ozone layer and in the middle of the day). As we had a multinational boat it was decided to have England vs the rest of the world (Wales(me), Chile, Germany, Greece and Norway).

After scoring a first half hat-trick for the English and feeling the on set of sun stroke Phil decided to come off at half time. The rest of us stupidly carried on to finish of the game with England for once coming out on top 6-4!! (I blame the bloody Norweigan Jon Arne Riise lookalikes lack of passing!!)

After a bit of sunbathing and messing around it was time to head back to the boat and off to Pearl Bay where we spent our second night. When we arrived at Pearl Bay a few of us went for a bit of a swim and cool down round the boat, then back on board for bbq and beers!! Once we'd had our food it was time to relax and sit down to watch the sun set over the mainland which was pretty amazing, then once it got dark see the most starry night ive ever seen. There actually appeared to be more stars than sky!!

Day 3. Homeward bound.. The final early morning snorkle and a swim with the legendary Elvis (a massive Napolean Fish, not the dead bloke!) plus millions of other amazing fish and a few snotties (not mine, but a stinging type of jellyfish which resemble its name). With much sadness it was back to the boat and time to head back to Airlie Beach. Once the sails were up and we had been sailing for a while Captain Andy advised us that we were not allowed to take any alcohol back into port and we would have to finish off all that was left over.. After I had got rid of 6 or 7 cans of XXXX and VB plus large quantities of Goon (rancid cheap wine in a bag to those who don't know) we managed it just in time. It was still only 11am!! It was time to bid farewell to our fellow passengers and go our seperate ways. We'll at least till 7pm when we all met up again with the crew in the bar at our hostel for loads of free drinks and more fun and games!!!

ELVIS

Me, Fiona, Phil, Kerry, Nicky and Alex

Slap the Goon!!

Airlie Beach, Austria