3rd May 2012 - 5th May 2012 Boarded the Tongarra catameran- our home for the next few days. It was a gorgeous day as we left Airlie and headed for the Whitsunday islands. We lay sunbathing on the deck and got to know our ship mates- which included two guys from our Fraser trip, one being the scary driver. We had a few beers, and dinner and sailed long to the largest island- Whitsunday. We moored for the night and slept out on the deck under the stars, rocking around.
In the morning we were fed then headed out to Whitehaven beach- named one of the best beaches in the world! We took group photos then walked through a forest to the view point. On the way we came across a bird eating spider which was huge and an iguana. Thankfully we didn't see a brown snake- in the top 4 most deadly snakes!
Back on the fine silica sand of the beach I sunbathed while Shan and the only 5 guys played ball games. The sand is perfect for exfoliating and cleaning jewellery, so that's what we did, scrubbed our bodies- including our teeth, cleaned our rings and watches and I also rubbed sand into my hair and it all worked, our teeth seem whiter, jewellery more sparkly and hair and skin smoother. An interesting fact is that the sand is so great here it was used to make the Hubble Space Telescope.
Then we sailed to Hook Island the 2nd largest island, had lunch then snorkelled at 'the aquarium', our skipper gave us fish food and it was amazing having thousands of slimy fish swim all over us, apart from that we weren't too over enamoured with the snorkel sight as the barrier reef coral so close to mainland has been trod on by so many people.
At night it was time for the 'party boat' to come alive or so the skipper and deck hand wanted, we played a few drinking games but most of us were all tired, we are always up for a drink as much as the next person, but being forced to join in and get slaughtered by 9pm isn't for us, and most of us agreed and were in our sleeping bags on deck by midnight, however the skipper made sure the party lived on until 4am with music and shouting from the few remaining people.
However we did go to sleep and we did have an amazing view of the most expensive Whitsunday island- Hayman Island, where the rich and famous go. Quick fact- Whitsundays is named so by guess who..... Yes Captain Cook. He arrived 50 days after Easter on the Whitsunday but there was an error and he actually arrived on Monday (whit-Monday)
The last day was our 2nd year anniversary and it was pretty cool to spend it snorkelling in the great barrier reef. Had a good sunbathing session and then back onto dry land, where we said our goodbyes to Airlie and headed on up the coast stopping at Bowen- where some of 'Australia' was filmed and then to Townsville. We have also been here on the way down the coast last year, it's a nice area and we headed out to a Mexican to celebrate our anniversary, even managing a cheeky cocktail too.
