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December 17, 2005
Whitsunday Islands
Wow, what a trip. I can't believe it was only 3 days and 2 nights. Airlie Beach was the departure point for the trip - a nice little touristy town, sorta like Grand Bend; one main drag and lots of pubs and hostels all around. Australians have a really good sense of irony and sarcasm, cause there isn't really much of a beach in Airlie....although they do have a lagoon which is nice.....and open 24h, which I found out after the trip can lead to late night shenanigans.
First night out in Airlie, Marc and I took it easy cause there was no way I wanted to be hungover on a rocking boat...even if we didn't leave until 4pm. That being said, Chris (worked in Bundy with us) got half price drinks with his Seaview hostel connections so there may still have been a few bourbon and cokes dranken (sp.?). By the way, Nick Cake, you would get along well down undah cause the Aussies love their bourbon.
We hit up the bottle shop the next day and prepared for the boat trip. We thought we were relatively well prepared with 73 beers and a box of goon between us. Wrong. Best prepared on the boat but our shipmates turned out to be less skilled in the party aspect of the trip. The exceptions were the Irish girls who put back their fair share.
For those back home, Goon: a very cheap vine, usually sold in 4L box for roughly $10. Note: when the bag of wine is finished, it may be inflated and used as a cushion or pillow....but I digress.
The first afternoon night was pretty much a straight up boozefest, sailing in the sun, drinking beer and laughing at some of the people who were slow to adapt to sealife (and who should have saved the $5 or $6 they spent on lunch). The meals on the trip were incredible. Steak dinner the first night with mashed potatoes and gravey and peas. Delish. The sunset at sea was breathtaking. When the pics are up you'll believe me. Basically the partying continued til midnight or so and most people just ended up sleeping on the deck under the stars. Quite nice, despite the fact that you'd think a hard, wooden shipdeck wasn't comfortable....easily changed by 20 or so beverages.
The next morning was an early one, up by 7am for breakfast and off to Whitehaven beach. Words can barely describe it so I'm not gonna even try cause if I could I'd be writing for Hallmark, not picking fruit. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was pretty cool cause we spotted a few small reef sharks and a ray while swimming. You'll notice in the pictures that everyone is wearing full stinger suits...they're goofy looking but a necessity when there's jellyfish about.
After that we had lunch and headed to the spot where people could do their diving. I, being graced with incredible facial hair, learned it tends to interfere with a snorkelling mask, and thus I chose to stick with a bit of snorkelling (probably wait and do a dive in Cairns). I need to become a little more comfortable underwater first as well. I'm the type of person who prefers his water in frozen form and surrounded by rye and coke.
After finishing up the water activities for the day, we went back to the boat and our hopps and barley activities. The second night was a bigger party night then the first with everyone being more comfortable and friendly; there's really not much choice with 34 people sharing such a small space. Good party until Marc and I realized we were gonna run outta beer and hit up the emergency goon.....luckily our palette's had already been wetted so drinking goon mixed with coke somehow didn't taste like complete crap. At one point in the night, one of the Irish girls starting singing "She's my Lady in Red", which I thought was crazy that she knew it. To which she responded, "yes, I know it. You thought it was crazy last night when you sang it and I knew it...". Ooops, good indication that it was a good party. So I asked if I'd sang 'in Green. Turns out I hadn't so I fired that verse out to many moans and groans....classic.
The second morning was not quite as easy as the first....which was evident when the ship's cook came through the bunk area banging a pot and pan to wake everyone up. The last day was pretty chill and mostly a recovery day. We were hanging out at a beach near Hayman island, home to a resort frequented by Tom Cruise and other celebs willing to pay $4000 a night. Quite hilarious when they pay $200 to get a boat to bring them to the same beach we were at....when our whole trip cost about the same.
A half day of sailing later we were back in Airlie and on dry land...which was strange cause I still had sealegs. Most of our boat met up that night at Magnum's bar for some jugs and stories of the trip. Couldn't have asked for anything more. The crew was a crazy bunch with a superman speedo sporting kiwi related to Ned Kelly and some other great party animals.
The lagoon was fun too.
Posted by Dr.Unk at December 17, 2005 5:19 AM
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