Sailing the Whitsundays

Airlie Beach is awesome! Lots of hot bods walking up and down the one street packed with shops, bars and hostels, or else lazing around the "Shagoon" (lagoon) trying to keep cool in the mid-thirties heat. Plus there are more hot bods out to sea on many sailing boats that cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. We picked one called Condor, a famous 82ft Maxi yacht that is the only boat to have won all the major races twice. Our crew were fantastic fun and the 3 days/2 nights trip just wasn't long enough.




General lazing around on the yacht...

There wasn't any wind on the first day so we motored all the way to the outer reef for some incredible snorkelling that afternoon and the following morning. I saw my first shark (white-tipped reef shark), plus some turtles, Nemo's cousins, beeeeeg starfish and plenty other big fish. The nights obviously consisted of drinking games, at which Captain Kirk excelled and managed to get us all drinking more than we'd bargained for by catching us out with his silly (although brilliant) games. It was a bit windy the first night so I opted for the mugginess of my cabin, but the following night I was determined to see the southern cross (only due at about 2am) so I found myself a comfy spot that also came with a fluffy blanket and a sailor, and I did my stargazing...




Awesome sunsets...

Part of one of Captain Kirk's drinking games!

Next morning in our sexy stinger suits for snorkelling...



We are sailing!







With a little help from Jack (Daniels), Stu learnt how to shoot fire from his hand and was henceforth known only as Magic Stu.

Drinking on night 2...



Playing around on Whitehaven Beach:
















Our wonderful crew: Pete, Dan, Captain Kirk

Maggie Island

We spent a couple of lazy days on Magnetic Island at Base Backpackers which was like a resort on the beach!

On the way there from the ferry terminal (about 2 mins away) we spotted koalas in the gumtrees right on the main road!


That afternoon we went sea kayaking in our lovely sexy stinger suits (note the post-skydive skydive hype pose)

The first night (Saturday) was a compulsory boozing night cos we were being reunited with Tim and Chris who left Mission Beach two days before we did. Just warming up with the others...

And of course put booze and beach together and you get a bonfire!

I enjoyed it so much I stayed on the beach till way after the sun was up and carried half the beach back to my bunk in my room.


The next day we hired a topless "Barbie car" and cruised around to the different bays and beaches.


Some of the others hired scooters so we had a pretty big group making a bit of noise around the island..


plus we found a stinger net at Horseshoe Bay so we spent about 2 hours in the sea! Beacuse it's stinger season (little invisible blue bottle type things that can be deadly) you either a) don't swim, b) swim in designated stinger nets or c) don a sexy stinger suit and swim anywhere (there will definitely be photos of us posing in ours!).


What better way to end off a hungover sight-seeing day in a Barbie car, than with a steak Barbie??
On our final morning Olivia and I cooked a massive fry up for the guys as a token of appreciation for Tim's generosity in giving me the sky-dive, then we boarded our Oz bus and headed south to Airlie Beach.

I'm a skydiver!

Yip, we did it!





The clouds disappeared and we couldn't have had more perfect jumping conditions. Plus it was just Olivia and me and our crew (pilot, our 2 personal cameramen and our 2 tandem jumpers) so it was rather fun and relaxed. I was expecting the flight in the tiny plane to be bumpy and nauseating, but it was surprisingly smooth and pleasant, except for the OPEN door which was about a metre away from me. All that was between me and the open door was Cameron my cameraman, who kept moving around to take photos and videos, making me feel very uncomfortable cos I wasn't strapped in or anything! Also surprising was that it wasn't cold at 14000ft, nor did my ears go funny cos of air pressure changes. Then suddenly it was time - I realised we (me and Glen) were going first and that they weren't joking when they said that Cameron was going to fling himself out of the plane and hold onto a tiny bar by the door so that he could capture our exit on film. Glen firmly nudged me closer to the open door until my knees were dangling over the edge. We rocked back and forth twice and on the third we disappeared into the air. That's when Olivia freaked out, cos we just disappeared into thin air in a split second, and she knew she was following!
The 60 second free fall was awesome - we did some spins and I managed to spell out "TIM" with my arms twice! Glen and Cameron did some signals to each other and I figured it was cord-pulling time. Boy did that feel like we were getting ricket-launched back up into the sky! Then it was so quiet and calm, and Glen and I chatted about random things while we floated over the ocean which was dotted with palm-lined islands and fringed with an endless white sandy beach. And the beach landing was just toooo smooth! It was all too easy! But we were on a high for days, telling everynoe and anyone about it, regardless of if they were interested or not.
I'd love to post some photos, but I haven't yet had the film developed. Also, my camera has gone all blurry so I'll have to get that repaired in Brisbane when I get back. Thankfully the people I'm travelling with all love taking photos as much as I do, so I'll get all of theirs at the end of the trip, and when I've had enough of lazing around in the sun and sea and bars I'll make sure I put some pics up!

[Back in Brisbane, got heaps of pics so here goes...] This is our hostel in Mission Beach (Scotties)

and this is me, Olivia and Michelle chilling on Dunk Island for the day...

Oz Experience...

...is the name of the bus company that picks us up, takes us on a bit of a tour and then drops us in the next city. It's an awesome way to travel cos you choose where and when you want to go or stop, plus you meet great people on the same wavelength and keep bumping into the ones you've already met along the way!
Chilling by Lake Eacham in the Atherton Tablelands.
Playing pool volleyball at Scottie's hostel in Mission Beach.

Stocking up on $1 wine for the evening...

Tim and I perfecting our Vertical 69 as part of the competition to win the free 14000 ft sky dive.

Tim the eventual winner, not feeling so good... after downing 2 litres of full cream milk. He had to leave the next day, so generously offered it to me since I'd done half the work too! For some strange reason I accepted, and have been spending all morning crapping myself, waiting for the clouds to disappear. We were supposed to go at 8am and it is now 2pm, with an estimated flying time of 3pm... hold thumbs I make it out alive!!! We get to land on the beach which is really cool. Will look kinda like this photo (on Dunk Island yesterday).

Olivia and I all ready to fly at 8am, nervously waiting for the storm to finish.

So watch this space... hopefully next time there'll be pics of me free-falling at 200km/h for 60 seconds!! Tim I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in Cairns for compulsory table dancing

I was supopsed to meet some guys from the Saturday's diving crew, but they stood me up! Never fear, I was made friends with by an American guy within 30 seconds of reaching the bar. We played pool, met some other people and then ended up at the Woolshed (I had to on my last night in Cairns!). By about 3 am the ratio of (drunk & sleazy) men to women was about 476 to 1, so I went home to the safety of my hostel!

Paradise

Swimming in the Mossman Gorge, en route up the coast to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest literally does meet the reef.
My Canadian drinking games friends.

The three single girls at the beach bonfire party!


Horse riding on the beach. Had a few mad gallops thru the forest with my eyes closed because of all the dust and stones flying into my eyes! Great fun!