Fraser Island

 Day 1 – Sand Island & Lakes

A rude 6.30 alarm and we were up and dressed and had hastily cleaned the multitude of bird poo off the canopy, we headed off for our bus pick up at 7.15 just outside the campsite.  The bus trip was longer than we thought with numerous pick-up’s and about an hour or so later and we pulled up to the ferry point.

After paying the balance of our trip we then boarded the ferry and were soon on our way to the Island, it was just a 35 minute crossing but pleasant all the same with some picturesque scenery along the way before we got our first close up glimpse of Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world at about 173km in length, it has also got a unique eco-system, with a tropical rainforest which grows on the sand, lots of lakes and creeks and the purest strain of Dingo’s in Australia.

On arrival we were then met by our driver/guide, John, and along with about 26 people doing the overnight trip we boarded the 4x4 bus.

We started off along the dirt track and we were given a safety instruction and outline on the plan for the day from John, which was typically Aussie in style with a lot of humour, although we were slightly worried concerning the Dingo arrangements.  Apparently if you encounter a Dingo you should stand tall (preferably in pairs) stare at it to try and intimidate it, if that doesn’t work call for more people or if that is not possible back off slowly.  Even more worrying was one of the lakes we were visiting only opened up again recently due to a dingo attack on a tourist a couple of months previously!!

From here the sandy dirt tracks got a lot more bumpy and narrower, we can see now why only 4x4’s are allowed on the island, I think Muriel would have quit after 100 yards!  After a journey of an hour or two we were arriving at our first stop, McKenzie Lake.

McKenzie Lake is a sink hole lake and is pure water with a low ph value which means when you bathe in it, it makes you hair softer (more effective than conditioner!).  It also has fine silica sand that you can rub on your body and it acts like an exfoliator, so basically this lake is like a natural beauty spa!!  It also has the title of one of the top 10 places in the world to swim!!

So after getting off the coach and John telling us there was a Death Adder (Incredibly poisonous snake) somewhere in the bush behind us and pointing out Funnel Web Spider Burrows(most deadly poisonous spider in Oz) on the bank near us we set off down to the lake.

When we got down to the lake it was absolutely stunning, fringed by the rain forest, ringed by aqua blue crystal clear water with powder fine sand all around it, picture card perfect.

The only downside was the sun had gone behind the clouds and the water was pretty cold in comparison to recent swims we had.  Nether the less in had to be done (my hair needed conditioning!!) and we waded in slowly before Shell took the plunge, me a split second later as Shell always attacks me with water if I have not got under!

We swam and splashed around for a bit and took a few selfies in this stunning location before the cold got the better of me and I had to get out and let myself dry and warm up.

An hour or so later we made our way back to the coach to go to our next destination which was Central Station, a place where in the past was where the logging took place on the island (now banned as it is a national park with UNESCO status).  Here it was time for group introductions and we all had to say a bit about ourselves, we told them all we had been travelling for 8 months, which over the course of the next two days resulted in most of the coach coming up to us and chatting about where we had been, how we have managed this, etc.

From here we then set off on a 2k rainforest trek alongside a Wanggoobo Creek also known as the whispering water as it passed over a sandy bed and makes absolutely no sound.  Also John told us as it had been sand filtered over month’s and is purer than the mineral water we had in our bottles ‘officially you are not allowed to drink from it, but if you go around the corner to some fallen logs where I cant’s see you, this is a good spot to fill you bottles!!’ said John.

The walk was pleasant enough, along a path that meandered along the creek with thick lush jungle vegetation along the way, although we were cautious about spotting, deadly snakes, deadly spiders and vicious dingo’s!! As John said he would take the coach and meet us at the other side of the walk.

John met us at the other end of the track and pointed out some interesting forest stuff before leading us to what was reckoned to be the oldest tree in the forest, at over 1000 years old.  Although it was massive John told us it got lonely at night so we all had to take part in a tree hugging session to keep it happy!!

Tree hugged,  it was time to go for lunch at the place we would be staying at for the night, so driving from the centre of the island we then hit 75 mile beach (yes its 75 miles of golden sand) and we motored along the beach alongside the sea until we reached the resort.

Everyone was pretty hungry as it had been an early start and it was now around 2ish, we entered the restaurant area and were treated to a massive all you can eat  cold buffet with everything you could think of and was pretty good.

An hour and a couple of plateful’s of food later we were on the move again.  Firstly back along the 75 mile beach where we got our first sightings of humpback whales in the distance, breaching and seeing spray coming up from their blowholes, which was great. 

We also got off the bus at one point to get a better view of the whales and whilst we were doing this John showed us how to get our own food, by digging up scallop type things from just under the sand.  You can eat them raw like oysters, however Shell and I declined the offer, although some of the people on the coach gave it a go.

Next we headed inland again to a place named Lake Wabby (Scene of the recent Dingo attack!). We had another 2.8k trek to this lake, once again being cautious of poisonous/bitey things.

After we arrived at the lake area it was a mass of sand dunes before you could get down to the lake.  This lake had been formed in a different way to the previous one, over time the sand dunes had come in and blocked a creek, thus forming the lake.

We headed down through the steep sand dunes, keeping an eye out for vicious canines and then sat on the bank with our feet in the water (It was later in the day and no one in the group was brave enough for a swim!).  Apparently there were mosquito fish in the lake that come and nibble the dead skin from your body (the same as the ones you see people with their feet in back home), but I’m guessing our feet were too smelly as we had no takers!! However we watched a few catfish swim on past whilst we were sitting there.

An hour later and we trekked back to the coach and we were soon whizzing back along 75 mile beach back to our accommodation for the night.  When we got there John handed out all the room keys, We had up-graded to a twin room as the other choice was single sex dorm’s.  We could not believe it when we entered our room as it was a very large self-catering twin room with an En-Suite bathroom, not the basic accommodation we were expecting.

After running round the apartment and doing a few star jumps in this space we then headed to the with every type of roast meat you can think of including salt-beef (they call it corned beef) along with all the trimmings, it was really good.

A couple of plateful’s later (rude not to!) we then headed to the bar they had onsite.  We sat in the bar and had a few beers, but it was quite quiet in there and we were pretty tired so we thought we would go back and enjoy our large room instead. However it did look like the party was just about to start just as we were leaving, the younger back-packers starting to hit the shots and talk about party games!

We decided that we were not going to get involve and just went back to our room and relax watching a bit of TV before bed.

Day 2 – Flights, Champagne & More Whales

It was once again a very early start as we had a lot to see and do on our packed itinerary. So after another great all you can eat buffet breakfast we were back onto the battle bus.

We drove back on the 75 mile beach and as we went along were once again spotting whales out to sea, after a short drive we were suddenly pulling up to three single prop planes on the beach.  Here John stopped and explained that they did flights over the Island and I thought this was something for another day, but he got one of the pilots on to explain what they did.

The pilot then came on board and said that these were twenty minute flights that gave you a birds eye view of the whole of the island then headed out to sea to get a better look at the whales.  Shell and I thought that this was going to cost £100 - £ 200 each so were discounting the idea but when he announced it was £ 40 each and asked who was interested our hands shot up, along with half of the bus.  Our coach was going to motor up the beach a bit further and we would meet back up with it on landing.

Getting off the coach we were split into small groups of 6-7 (tiny planes) and on walking to board the plane the pilot asked who wanted to be co-pilot, Shell’s hand shot up and she got in the co-pilot seat and donned her head phones.  I did point out to the rest of the passengers this could be a problem if anything happened to the pilot if they had witnessed Shell trying to reverse a car!

Soon the propeller was running and we were racing along the beach and then airborne.  We first headed inland and we got fantastic views of the whole island, passing over the lakes and rainforest we had visited the previous day, the photo below is McKenzie Lake. 

We then headed out to sea to spot the whales and soon enough we had some brilliant view of them, but this was not enough. The pilot then went into a tight downward spiral to get us a better view of them, this manoeuvre what quite stomach churning and slightly worrying (was he going to pull out of it??).  We all looked a bit relieve when he eventually flattened out and we could see the whales from a closer distance (One of the girls was sick after landing!).

After the whale spotting (and large sharks just a few metres from the shore!!) we then flew along the coastline for a short while, taking in some last views of the island from the air before we were soon landing back on the beach (an incredibly soft landing) to meet back up with the bus.

A few photo’s with the pilot (Shell said he would be sexy if it wasn’t for the long socks!!) later and we were boarding the bus again heading for a place named Indian Head.

Along the way we were treated to more whales, this time one was closer in and kept repeatedly displaying its large pectoral fin, John said it was doing this as it would be feeding its calf on its side (I forgot to mention it is whale migration season at the moment).  We also stopped at a place named Rainbow Pinnacles which was some multi-coloured sand formations in the surrounding sand cliffs, before finally arriving at Indian Head.

Indian Head was a rocky headland (some of the only 2% rock on the island) where you could climb up and have great views of the beaches and hopefully good opportunities to spot more whales close up.  John was particularly excited as he said the whales we had already seen were heading in this direction. 

Before we set off he gave us two bits of safety advice, don’t go too close to the edge ‘as you will come to a sticky end if you fall’ and yesterday a very large brown snake (extremely dangerous) was spotted on the path up, so stamp a lot to make sure it hears you coming!!  Is there anything on this island that is cute and fluffy?

We set off up the path to the headland, stamping our feet (bit worrying with all the long grass up there) and taking a few panoramic photo’s along the way.

At the top there was fantastic views of 75 mile beach, although sadly no whale spotting’s.  The only thing we did manage to see from up there were some stingrays swimming around, I don’t know who was more disappointed at the lack of sightings, us or John!

After climbing back down from the headland we were back on the beach in the bus and heading for a place named the Champagne pools and when we got there we were treated to tea/coffee and some fruit muffins before heading for the pools.

Walking along a board walk we then set our eyes upon the Champagne Pools which were two large pools surrounded by rocks, that when the surf came crashing across them acted like natural jacuzzi’s with foam everywhere, hence their name The Champagne Pools.

Reaching the beach we got into our bathers and jumped into the pools, although quite cold we were not going to miss this.  We enjoyed sitting in these pools waiting for the big waves to come over the rocks and create the Jacuzzi effect, whilst trying to get a few photo’s of it.

As it was a busy day we had a short time here to enjoy them and dry off before we were heading back to the bus again and on our way to some more sights.  The next place we stopped at was Red Canyon, which were like the Rainbow Pinnacles bud just red like in wild west movies.  We only stopped for a brief photo opportunity before heading off again.

Along the beach again, spotting yet more whales we then came to a stop at the Maheno Wreck, a passenger boat that had come to the end of it service and had been bought by some Japanese for scrap.  It was being towed back to Japan when it hit bad weather, its tow cable snapped and it ended up beached on 75 miles island, never to be recovered.  Due to its quality construction it had survived for the last 75 years on the beach and now is an iconic feature on the island and makes a very pretty picture.

It was now getting to around lunchtime and we headed for our final stop of the trip, Eli Creek.  We pulled up on the beach just next to the creek outlet and then were give lunch of a couple of large ham rolls and a soft drinks whilst we sat in the shade of the bus.

Having eaten,  we were now ready for the next activity. John had got some rubber rings from the back of the bus to float down the creek on.  As there were only a few available Shell and I decided to do without and walked a few hundred metres along a board walk and then proceeded to get in the fresh water creek and body float along back to the beach, which was pretty nice.

After a couple of times we then got out to dry off. Whilst we did this we walked along the beach to a spot where John told us there was a skeleton of a beached baby whale that had got stranded a few years previously.  Although a baby the skeleton was fairly large, the body had been placed just above the beach so the local wildlife could take advantage of an easy meal.

It was then time to head back, along the way we saw numerous fishermen (apparently excellent fishing here) along the beach, shore fishing.  When John spotted a few that had waded in to their knees, pointed out that this wasn’t a great idea as he had caught 3 metre Tiger Shark’s off of this beach and there no way he would swim here! (He had showed us a video of this on his phone the night before!!).

John also gave us the reason for the name of the island, a British sailor named Fraser who had discovered that Cook was wrong in his assumption that this was part of the mainland, got into bad weather and was shipwrecked here.  Whilst on the island he got into a dispute with the indigenous people and got speared for his troubles.  He died from the wound so his crew hastily escaped back to the mainland.  For some reason they had left his wife to fend for herself on the island and survived a few months before being rescued! But later on to honour his memory the island was named after him…there endeth the history lesson!!

We arrived back at the hotel resort and had time for a quick pint before we were then driven back through the bumpy tracks to the ferry port.

Fraser Island has to be one of the best trips we have been on so far in Australia and we have to say that John has been one of the best guides we have had. Nothing was too much trouble for him and he stopped for us if he saw anything interesting, it was like being shown round by a mate.  If you you ever get the chance, visit Fraser island!!

A short ferry ride and bus ride later and we were then re-united with Muriel at the campsite in Hervey Bay.  Being quite tired we made use of the Apricot Chicken I had cooked before leaving (It was just as bland as the one we had in a bar at The Lion’s Den), before having a few drinks outside Muriel before bed.

Hervey Bay

 Day 1 – Good Morning Roo’s!

Getting up fairly early we packed up, took a few photo’s of the panoramic views that were not visible the day before and then were waved off by these characters below on the way out of the campsite (not a bad start to the day!).

First we headed down to Agnes Beach, stopping to re-fuel Muriel on the way and when we got there as usual the beach was a long stretch of golden sand. I would say that it was slightly more wind swept but this isn’t surprising as it is Australia’s most northerly surf beach.

We then started yet another reasonable drive and the sun finally came out again, which makes everything seem better.  As we motored along for a few hours we listened to a talkie book (Dezial & Pascoe), which we have now started to do as after 8 months of travelling conversation is wearing thin (We can hardly ask each other what they were up to last night!).

After a few hours of who dunnit we arrived at Hervey Bay campsite which was located right on the beach, so we looked forward to doing a bit of whale watching from the shore.

Once we had checked in and set up camp we headed back to the reception as they also booked up tours for Fraser Island, which is why we had come here.  We booked on a two day one night tour and were told that they would let us leave our camper on the site we had for free when we were away.

That sorted and after a long day we decided to chill out for the day and give Mum a call as it was her birthday today.

Later in the day loads of red coloured parakeets came to roost in the trees above where we were camping that made a hell of a racket (we would come to rue our camping spot when it came to taking down the awning a few days later!!).

As it got dark we went to the camp kitchen and heated up Shell’s lamb casserole that we had in storage (it wasn’t as bad as she had made out) before having a few more drinks outside our van and then bed.

Day 2 – No whale sighting’s

Shell was up very early today (6am) as she wanted to get our laundry done and it looked as though it was a bit of a bun fight for the machines.

Our plan for the day was that Shell was going to relax on the beach, read and do a bit of whale watching whilst I tried to catch up on the blog.  Unfortunately the weather had other idea’s as it was very overcast, so we had to re-think!

Instead we decided to have a walk around the town in search of an ATM and a supermarket.  It was a bit further than we thought but we managed to find both and picked up the ingredients to do apricot chicken.  On the way back we walked along the sea front in the hope that we would see a whale, we didn’t and it started to rain, so we headed off quickly to the camp site to get our washing off the line and into a tumble dryer.

In the afternoon we had a reversal of role, Shell took over the blogging and I went to cook the apricot chicken in the camp kitchen.  I did not put up an argument as the blog she was about to embark on was a long one, Whitsundays!

Once my cheffing had been done we put it in the fridge for our spare meal for when we returned from Fraser Island.  Instead we thought we would just grab a Chinese take-away from the restaurant across the road and have a lazy night.

Whilst we were tucking in to our food we got a knock on the door from a campsite friend that Shell had got talking too in the laundry and she had bought over a list of good campsites to go to on our travels, which was nice.

As we had an early start the next day for our Fraser Island trip we just had a couple of drinks before getting an early night.

Agnes Water

 Back on the road!

Fortunately the rain and wind had eased off slightly which helped with driving conditions (don’t forget Muriel’s a hi-top camper) so we were able to get out of Rockhampton of which we had seen the total sum of some ducks, a woolworths, an en-suite and a steakhouse in our 3 day visit! As we drove out of the town we could see how much rain had actually fallen as we passed waterlogged fields and flooded rivers. The friendly voice on the radio informed us that the rainfall had set the new record for most rain ever in July, nice!

We wanted to head for Hervy Bay which is where you can spot whales and also the jumping off point for Fraser Island, as it was some distance we decided to break the drive and stop in a place called Agnes Waters. I did a little research on our app and found a camp site which whilst it wasn’t on the beach, it was a Kangaroo Sanctuary so we headed for there.

The app we are using, Wikicamps is really good and well worth the £4 download fee. It provides star ratings and comments left by guests and along with campsites, it lists hostels, BBQ spots and all other POI’s. Only yesterday, it gave us an option for a campsite near Serena beach where clothing was optional! Whilst Glenn and I decided we weren’t quite ready to bare all, reading some of the comments left by visitors kept us amused for much of the drive.

As we approached the campsite, we knew we were in the right place as we started spotting loads of Kangaroos along the roadside. We made our ascent to what would be a stunning view (too cloudy) over Ages Waters. The campsite was tiny and there didn’t appear to be a reception so we parked up in a bay and was soon greeted by the Camp owner followed closely by a Kangaroo!

The kangaroo came right up to us sniffing and checking each of us out which I was a bit wary of (Shell not Glenn). Due to the recent rain, most campers had checked out and headed for the big towns (where we had just come from) so there was only us and a couple of lads there which was pretty cool.

Once we had set up camp and as there was nothing better to do (too wet) I decided to head to the camp kitchen and cook up a meal and left Glenn to the blogging. Arriving, I found the two lads, one from Finland and the other from Japan lazing around amongst the detritus of their own food prep. Spotting me, they jumped up and began to clean and I got chatting to them. Apparently, they both worked as fruit pickers in Oz, didn’t know each other prior to the trip but there are websites where you can advertise for a travel buddy and share the costs. We’d camped next to a similar group in Airlie Beach, these were 2 girls travelling together and 2 guys, in a van the same size as Muriel, with complete strangers, not sure I could do it!, packed in, loads of mess, tip toeing around each other,  nope!

Where we can and where the camp kitchen looks decent, we tend to do a bit of a cook up so we have something home cooked in the fridge for those occasions where you arrive late to a campsite or just can’t be bothered. Today, I was cooking lamb casserole with one of those packet mix things. Never again, very bland even after pimping it up with spices from our store cupboard. So a bit deflated I went back to the van where Glenn cheered me up with a glass of wine. We decided the casserole might taste better in a day or two and grabbed the wine and chilli and went back to the camp kitchen to eat.

The boys were still there taking respite from their small van. The Finnish guy eyed our bottle of wine greedily and I think I counted 4 or 5 hints before he outwardly asked for a glass, he was over the moon when we gave him the rest of the bottle.

Back to the van we decided to play some tunes (louder than usual as the camp was dead so we pumped the music through Muriel’s speakers) and had ourselves quite a party for the rest of the night. Hope the kangaroos liked Glenn’s rock collection.

Rockhampton

 Day 1 – Going to Cowboy Land

After some bacon & egg roll’s (Glenn) and Banana & Greek yogurt (Shell) we began to pack whilst our neighbours Vero & Joe came over for another chat and gave us some recommendations for campsites along our route.

We then set out for another two hour drive to get us to Rockhampton, affectionately known as Rocky by the locals and is reputed to be the beef and cowboy capital of Australia.  The main attraction for us going there was that we had read about a bar/hotel in our guide that had a Rodeo (Including Bull-Riding) ring around the back of it.

A couple of hour later and we arrived in Rockhampton with the ominous clouds gathering, we had been informed at the last campsite that there was a forecast for 100mm of rain on its way.  With that in mind when we checked in we asked if they had bathroom en-suite’s at the site so we were happy when they said they had one available for us.

After checking in we then drove to the local shopping area to stock up on supplies yet again (small fridge), before heading back to our campsite to set up for the day. 

Once settled we were both feeling a bit weird (Light headed – not the beer for once!) so we decided to have a quiet day/night and do a big chilli cook up, some for today an a batch in the fridge for another day.

Later in the evening we had a dinner before watching a bit of TV before going to bed. And the rain started to fall!

Day 2 – Here comes the rain!!

Getting up and making use of our En-Suite bathroom we then cooked up a nice big English breakfast just before the rain started to kick in again.

The rain just kept coming and coming so we just sat in the van and did a lot of blogging and reading waiting for it to stop.

However the rain did not stop all day and just to emphasise the point we had some regular visits throughout the day by some ducks.  As it was now getting late we decided that we would not go to the Rodeo tonight due to the miserable weather and instead go tomorrow and spend another day here hoping the rain would clear.

The rain continued into the evening so we just went to the camp shop and bought some snacks and settled down in the van and watched a few episodes of The Soprano’s before turning the lights off for the night.

Day 3 – Rain Rain Go Away!!

Waking up we could still hear the rain hammering down on Muriel’s roof and looking out wasn’t inspiring either as there were now large pools of water all over the camp, much to the pleasure of our resident ducks!  The only saving grace was that we had booked the en-suite which meant we didn’t get soaked doing midnight toilet runs.

At per the previous day this meant we were van bound for the day, once again just doing a lot of blogging (at least this helped us catch up a bit) and reading until the early evening.

We phoned the Rodeo place and found out due to the un-seasonal rain that it had been cancelled for the evening, so as we had been cooped up all day we decided we would just go out for a decent steak meal and booked a restaurant that had been recommended in our guide.

Taking a taxi to the restaurant we arrived and to be honest it was more of a pub (a very big pub) that did food and was famous for its steak.  We had a drink or two and then went to our table and sat down waiting to be served, it transpired that you had to queue up at the counter and order yourselves, so after 20 minutes I finally placed our order (hit the queue in rush hour!).

Our steak’s then promptly arrived, a big one (Glenn) and a medium one (Shell) but to be honest we were not that impressed, we have had far better in Argentina, Spain and actually Shell’s local Beefeater!!

Anyway after finishing our meal and finishing the rest of our wine we noticed that there was a live band setting up so we thought we would check them out.The band were OK but it was the floor show that kept us entertained as there was some nutty Aussie guy throwing the most outrageous shapes on the dance floor (Jersey reader’s think Mad mark!) and was joined occasionally by another guy with odd moves too.

As the evening wore on some guy (who thought he super cool…..Knob!) asked Shell to dance whilst I was sat right next to her and we could feel the atmosphere in the place slightly changing, so we thought it might be best if we headed for the exit before it kicked off.

So we caught a taxi back to our campsite and had a night cap before bed, it was still raining!!

Serena Beach

 1 Day Stop Off

It was time to say goodbye to the back-packer world of Airlie Beach and head further south down the coast heading for Rockhampton, but this was a very long drive so after consulting the map we thought we would break the journey up and stop 2/3 s of the way there at a place called Serena Beach.

Whilst we packed up and had a bit of breakfast I was asked by a couple of girls if I knew anything about cars and if I could help them start their car (Flat Battery), they had borrowed a charger from a nearby garage and after a bit of fannying about I worked out how to use it and got them started, my good deed for the day.

Again it was a journey of around 2-3 hours and when we arrived at the Serena Beach area we found a shopping centre to replenish our supplies (Booze & Food). 

We then headed for the beach to have a look and see if there were any camp sites close by.  Driving up and down admiring the sandy stretch of beach we soon determined that there was nowhere to stay right on the beach so checking our Camping App we found one a bit inland and headed for that.

The campsite was quite a nice one, apart from the large plastic animal statues dotted around it?? Also we were back to one of the grey nomad campsites which are generally friendlier.

When we were setting up our neighbours, Vero & Joe came across and started chatting to us and we practically got their whole life stories (two pensioners that had sold their house and now just travel around in their campervan), but they were really nice and helpful.  

We had to make polite excuses to break the conversation so we could start to prepare our dinner (Our lamb cutlet special again!) as an exit strategy.

Once again dinner was superb and on my way to the kitchen area to wash up I got chatting to another set of neighbours that had just got back from a golf trip and whilst talking sport they told me their biggest league rugby game was on the TV tonight. The camp was showing it on a large screen in the communal area and we should come along.

After a few beers outside our van we then went along to the communal area with a bottle of red and joined a big table eagerly awaiting the game.  The game was ‘State of Origin’ which is pretty much a set of games with a massive rivalry, Queensland v New South Wales.  We chatted to the people around us until the game started and then watched the first half, which NSW was winning, much to the disappointment of the Queensland partisan crowd that were there.

It was a shame as we were too tired to stay for the second half, so we said our goodbyes and slunk off back to our van for the night, NSW won the game if you were interested!

The Whitsunday's

 Day 1 – We are sailing….

A little time check, we are currently 10 days behind on the blog which is pretty good, I think we were close to about 25 on the last count! We’ve managed to catch up due to the record rains experienced in Queensland (not much else to do when you’re in a camper!!) as you will see in the coming days! As I write we are in Hervey Bay and Glenn’s just gone off to the camp kitchen (his turn to cook). Anyway back to sunnier times…

 So today was the start of our sailing trip around the Whitsundays, we were very excited!

We checked out and parked Muriel up in a secure parking bay the camp gave us for free and went to fetch our ciders for the trip. It was BYO and we were told there were no restrictions on quantity. So erring on the side of caution with the thought that we could always bring it back if it wasn’t drunk, it was quite a schlep to the port, each carrying one small backpack and one huge canvas bag each full of booze!

Our fears were quickly realised when our fellow passengers began gathering at the port. Yes we were the oldest. GREAT, nubile young lovelies’ in tiny bikinis and me! Worse still, they only seemed to be carrying a very moderate supply of alcohol, had we got it wrong? Everyone was asked to load their booze onto a cart and was told that all cardboard would be removed and it would be stored together in a huge fridge. Nothing was marked and people was told to only drink what they brought with them. We took up around half of the cart with our supplies whilst the rest stored their 4packs and eyed ours greedily. Shit I might be having a few strong conversations on this trip!

Our Catamaran was ready and we were asked to board and sit in the lounge area where there would be snacks waiting. Glenn laughed when I took off the foil and found Pizza, as I don’t eat cheese it usually means Glenn gets to eat my helping too. Sadly (for Glenn not Shel) it wasn’t to be, I’d added no cheese to the dietary section and was served up a nice ham sandwich how sweet! After intro’s and a safety inspection we were told to head up to the top deck and set sail, the sails were open and we were soon out to sea.

With no private cabins on board (plus they were a bit pricey!) we had asked what the best area was and could we reserve it? Our mate at the agency said he’d have a go and came up trumps when we were shown to a cabin which housed about 8 but had a huge double with a partition and a curtain, brilliant! Settled in, we spent the rest of the afternoon cruising to our 1^st snorkelling spot whilst looking for Hump Back Whales.

We arrived at the spot (no Whales) around 4ish and were given a very detailed health and safety briefing on snorkelling? We each donned our stinger suits, masks and fins and then made our way to a small boat that took us to the snorkel point and also served as our taxi should we not fancy the swim back which I thought was pretty cool. We reached the point and jumped in and it was bloody freezing!, being used to 30 degrees it was like jumping into an ice bucket! We snorkelled for about 20mins seeing the usual fish before I had to give up as it was so cold and we both agreed to swim to the boat to try and warm up a bit.

Back on board I just couldn’t get warm, hot coffee and hot sausage rolls and pies couldn’t do it, the queue for the 1 minute shower we were allowed was full of the young lovelies’ who also decided they would put on their face paint in the shower cubicle too. There was nothing more for it, it was time to break open the booze! We joined in a game of Card’s Against Humanity with a small group of English/Irish travellers whilst waiting for dinner.

So there are 30 kids on this catamaran, all wanting to que jump the buffet que and over help themselves to what was on offer, whether they finish it or not! To my delight I was called out with the vegetarians and asked to make our way in first, RESULT!, Glenn as always waited his turn and ended up going in last and scavenged a small helping of what was left, he now wishes he was a non cheese eater too!

Dinner done, we were treated to a slideshow of what we might find in the ocean on the following day. We also got chatting with a lovely Irish couple who were immigrating to Oz, whilst looking at the blue lights which shone under the boat so you could spot fish. We spotted a sea snake. A couple of people outside of our crowd had words over who was drinking who’s wine so Glenn and I decided to cane as much of our supply as possible to avoid any unnecessary rows if people took ours. Makes sense I think you’d agree?

I think it was around 10pm when I went to bed and left Glenn and the guy from Ireland to it. I was surprised to see that we were the last! BOOM!, the oldest but still able to outlast the young’uns!

Day 2 Whitehaven, Lemon Sharks and Sting Rays

We were told by the skipper that we would be setting sail around 6:30am and the noise of the anchor being pulled up would alert us to this. Both having a pretty crap night sleep, despite our efforts with the ciders, I was ever so slightly annoyed to be woken up at 6am by an alarm one of the girls had set in our cabin area, WHY? She then proceeded to snooze it constantly, obviously deciding that straightening her hair and applying lashings of mascara would be a thankless task on a sailboat! Giving up on sleep I made my wait to the deck for breakfast and brushing of teeth, quickly followed by Glenn.

It was there, with only a handful of people on deck that the skipper started to shout out excitedly. He had spotted a whale! A whale in breach with its beautiful tail in their air, there was a chance she was giving birth! What a wonderful site to behold when brushing ones molars!

Glenn made a dash for the camera and we were able to capture it on film, I do hope you can see the video footage on this blog, it was amazing! She wasn’t giving birth but had a baby (skipper reckoned a few hours old) if you watch the video long enough you will see the baby at the end.   The excited bloke you can hear in the background is the skipper!

Job done, whale spotted, we then made our way to the other side of Whitehaven Beach which is the poster beach for the Whitsundays.  Again, we took turns being ferried across from the Cat to the Island with the chance to do some turtle spotting and once all on land, proceed to trek to the top. The views of Whitehaven from here were absolutely stunning, both Glenn and I don’t think the pics do it justice! We then trekked down to the beach itself.

Arriving at the bottom, we had to take part in some obligatory group photo’s that we were never going to purchase, we were also invited to hang around and have some naff shots of us superimposed so it looked like we were jumping out of jars of vegemite which we could then purchase later for an agreeable rate. After a brief discussion we decided not to partake and went to investigate the beach.

The 98% pure silica sand at Whitehaven beach is said to be some of the whitest in the world, as it’s so pure it was used in the lenses of NASA telescopes (Hubble I think?) and if that’s not impressive enough, it’s supposed to be great to pedicure for your feet with!. So armed with this knowledge we shuffled across the sands for a quick en-route ped (Shel not Glenn) and made our way to an estuary where we were told there was a good chance of spotting Stingray and Lemon Shark.

We were told to stomp our feet in the shallow waters and watch out for stingray taking off beneath the sands, stomp so you don’t land on one and get stung!. With some trepidation we entered the water and made our way up the estuary not seeing a thing! Giving up, we made our way back onto the shore which is when we started to spot the dark clouds which were stingray and then slowly enter the water and creep up on them (but not too close) for a pic.

We were about to give up on the lemon shark where on our way back we suddenly spotted one come right up close to the shore, then like buses we spotted more and more, about 5 in total I think. Happy with our safari, we made our way back to the meeting point and the trek back to the boat. Not bad, 11am and we had spotted whale, turtle, shark and stingray.

Lunch was served whilst we sailed to our next snorkelling spot at tongue bay. We had got a bit wise to the food grabbing so whilst I didn’t get my VIP no cheese pass on this occasion, it was girls before boys so I managed to stock up my plate to give Glenn a chance to have a decent meal (his good manners kept him at the end of the queue).

We were told there were big fish in tongue bay and we wasn’t disappointed! Before leaving the boat we were greeted by a huge bump head wrasse which must have been around 3ft and then when we jumped from the smaller boat we were greeted by more huge wrasse and a massive Trevally, all huge, these fish were BIG!. There was also an abundance of other small beautiful fish and Glenn and I spent some time playing around with them and trying to capture us swimming through them on the go pro but had some malfunction but hopefully we have a few snaps to share.  More impressive and memorable though was when we both made our way away from the crowed and snorkelled off together and heard the whales singing to each other in the deep, really special!

Back on board we were treated to some (no cheese for Shell) nacho’s whilst we sailed to the next spot. The sun was out so Glenn and I made use of the nets at the front of the cat for a spot of sunbathing and whale spotting. We arrived at the next spot around 4ish and given how cold I had got the previous evening  I opted for a hot 1 minute shower instead (no queues) whist Glenn jumped back in with the rest. No real finds for him but I did greet him with a nice G&T when he came back on board.

A pretty average dinner was followed by another slide show which included the vegemite pics, didn’t buy the DVD! We then settled down for the evening chatting to new friends and watching a big Trevally catch its prey under the blue lights of the boat.  The skipper came over and although he was very good, did like the sound of his own voice and was pretty opinionated. Much to the amusement of some of the others as I tried to relay this to him by observing that he was much more of a talker than a listener. I think he got the point by the look he gave me.

Later, we were involved in a discussion about Darwin with the nice Irish couple (I think the gin was taking effect) when again he burst into the conversation weighing in with his opinion which to him was fact. He poo poohed the Darwin theory where Glenn interjected that that would just leave them with Adam, was that who the skipper believed in then? The final nail came from the Irish guy when the skipper asked him what did he know about genetics and “a masters degree in genetic engineering” was his brilliant and true reply, the skipper skulked quickly off to bed with his tail between his legs!

I went to bed and left Glenn and a couple of the others to it. It seemed the skipper wasn’t taking this lying down, not on his ship! He came out and told them they were being selfish and making too much noise so they retired to the back of the boat where again he approached them again saying they were stomping across the deck. They weren’t but they weren’t going to win so went to bed.

Day 3 - Whitsundays/Airlie Beach back on dry Land

Woken with G&T hangovers at 6:30 we packed our bags and made our way to deck for b/f where we wasn’t greeted by the skipper (he was actually sulking). Not feeling much like it at all but wanting to prove to him that we wasn’t actually hungover, we donned our stinger suits and went for our final snorkel. No new fish to report but some beautiful coral. Glenn was too hungover to take the GO PRO so no pics to share.

Back on board we dried off as the Cat made its way back to the port with the crew busily cleaning around us. The boat was due to arrive at 11 and due out again with a new crew at 1pm. Most people were sleeping off the previous evening’s excitement but Glenn and I managed to soldier through it and show the young’uns we weren’t so long in the tooth!

Back on land we made our way back to camp, considerably lighter than when we came. We checked in for our free night and set-up camp. Our stuff (Glenn’s shoes really) stank from the sea water so the priority was getting some washing done and then just chilling till the evening.

The crew had organised a bit of a farewell party in the bar attached to our site. Being so close we thought we should show our faces so made our way there to say our hello/goodbyes. There was a beer pong competition going on so we entered and got annihilated by our opponents very quickly and spent the evening cheering on a really nice Canadian guy and his mate who we had made friends with on the boat and was also involved in Darwin-gate.

We then made our way back to the paddy bar which had music. We met up with a few more there but to be honest our age had crept up with us so we went in search for Muriel and bed around 1am.

We loved the Whitsundays but with hindsight would have preferred a smaller boat with people more our age (thank god we didn’t opt for the cheaper backpacker boats). We met some lovely people but felt a bit too old to be queue jumping to get the last bread roll, or squabbling over who had the last beer.