I booked my trip through Airlie Beach Central Reservations with a clear intent to visit Whitehaven Beach & snorkelling in the one day on a trip with low number of people.

Thought i had it all covered until the boat arrived in a bay and the Mantaray staff asked us to walk 250m to a lookout and then down to beach.
Walk was actually just under 2km - no warning from Central Reservation or Mantaray about that?! I had to do this in thongs carrying a beach towel??!!

Great view at the lookout, problem was we walked down to "Bettys Beach" as clearly signed by the Department of National Parks & Wildlife Service.
I had to sit on a small sand back with 100 other tourists from other charters with a large stretch of water between us and the beautifull long stretch of beach called Whitehaven.

Went back to Central Reservations who explained that the "beach" we had to walk to is not connected to Whitehaven beach at high tide. (!) They then tried to tell me it is all one beach even though it was signed otherwise. No Refund offered. Thanks alot Central Reservations and Mantaray for ruining the one day we had to visit Whitehaven.

Er waait een heerlijk briesje. Ik heb een prachtig uitzicht op een azuurblauwe zee met veel privebootjes. Ik ben nog wat moe en duf van gisterenavond.

Ik heb mijn bagage tijdelijk opgeslagen want ik vertrek vanavond naar Cairns. In het internetcafe waar ik nu zit, is ook het reisbureau: Backpackers world travel gevestigd. Bij die organisatie heb ik net nog wat excursies voor Cairns geregeld. Ik zit een beetje met tijdgebrek. Er is hier zoveel te zien en te doen. Je moet echt keuzes maken.

Ik heb de afgelopen nacht in de Greyhound bus doorgebracht. Toen ik instapte draaide er de film Pirates of the Caribean. Het was in ieder geval niet deel 1. De bus stopte onderweg best wel vaak. De chauffeur vertelde dat we de grens over waren en dat we onze horloge 1 uur terug moesten zetten. We hebben hier in Queensland dus een tijdverschil met Nederland van 11 uur. We kwamen al vroeg aan in Brisbane. 9 uur moest ik doorbrengen op het vliegveld. Ik vloog met Jetstar. In Proserpine aangekomen heb ik een shuttle bus naar Airlie Beach genomen. Het was al heel snel donker. Ik ben maar niet gaan koken. Als je voor jezelf moet koken, is het soms goedkoper om uiteten te gaan. Ik had een heerlijke pastamaaltijd. Het beste gerecht tot nu toe in Australie. Het is hier erg warm; boven de dertig graden. De luchtvochtigheid is ook heel hoog. Airlie Beach is een hele leuke plaats. Iedereen is erg relaxed. Het is jammer dat ik overal zo kort ben, waardoor het lastig wordt om mensen te leren kennen.

we got to airlie beach yesterday after a 9 hour bus ride from mission beach. its so awesome here i love it. today we just layed by the lagoon and tanned. tomorrow we are going sailing! we are going on the pride of airlie. should be amazing!

Today was yet another long bus day. We really didn’t even make any interesting stops so I will take this opportunity to give you some Australian Vocabulary…

Stubby holder- Coozie

No Worries- Your welcome, don’t mention it

No Dramas- no problem

Cheers- Thank you

Heaps- a lot

Morning tea, afternoon tea, smoko- snack

Billabong- watering hole

Touch wood- knock on wood

G’day mate –hello

Bungie smugglers- speedo

Thongs- flip flops

Koalas is situated at the top end of Airlie beach, 3/4mins walk from the main lagoon and drinking areas, but seconds away from bars, pie shops (ever so important after a night boozing) and a well-stocked gas station. Less a hostel and more a series of wooden cabins of various sizes and a camping ground too. The cabins were simply furnished- beds, desk, chair and the bathroom/showering facilities were in a separate block. Everything was always clean but this being Qld, there were occasional grasshoppers/spiders in the showers, so WATCH OUT! In the centre of the grounds (pretty large) there are bbq facilities too and general space to hang out. The staff were very helpful when it came to booking trips and activities.

De afgelopen 2 dagen, woensdag en donderdag (3 en 4 juli) hebben we hoofdzakelijk gereden richting het noorden, om uiteindelijk in Arlie Beach aan te komen. Arlie Beach is het punt waar je naar de Whitsunday eilandengroep kan. Eerst wilde we een zeiltocht maken, maar voor zondag (overmorgen) en maandag geven ze niet al te bestendig weer op, dus het is een risico om dan op een zeilboot te zitten. We hebben dus gekozen voor een dagtrip die we morgen gaan maken. Als het goed is gaan we witte stranden zien, snorkelen en misschien zien we ook weer walvissen!

Wordt vervolgd ...

Groetjes aan iedereen!

Op 5 juli hebben we een dagtocht gemaakt naar de Whitsunday eilanden. Helaas niet gaan zeilen, maar de dagtocht was geslaagd, het weer viel erg mee. Soms wel bewolking, maar we mogen niet klagen. Onderweg hebben we gesnorkeld, naar een uitkijkpunt over het bekende Whithaven beach geweest en op dat strand hebben we ook nog een uurtje op liggen zonnen. Het waren prachtige eilanden met mooie witte stranden.

Bij terugkomst aan het vaste land, Airlie Beach, hebben we even snel gedouched en wat gegeten en hebben we nog een stukje gereden. Uiteindelijk hebben we overnacht op een parkeerplaats met nog een heleboel andere campers. Eigenlijk mocht je daar niet camperen, maar daar let dus niemand op!

Staying at Conway beach on a local's recommendation. It's a great park for the kids - jumping pillow and pool. The beach was great for flying kites and it also had a playground.

We did a boat trip to Whitehaven beach with some stops for snorkeling and viewing the reef. The water was murky so we didn't see anything.

C made friends with a boy from the Netherlands who had the same name and the same age.

Got off fraser island and then had to catch the overnight bus from hervey bay to airlie beach. Austrlia is massive and this was a 13 hour over night but, the longest single journey i have ever taken and i did not even cross time zone or even leave the state. Took a couple of sleeping pills and i was in and out of sleep all night and also the fact i had slept so poorly in the previous nights helped knock me out. Woke up and we were there and was greeted by clouds which was just great. Was due to get on a boat to travel the whitsundays for a few days that afternoon so put our bags in storage and had some breakfast and rang them up to get the low down on what was happening. Turns out they boat had broken and was undergoing maintenance so we could not go on it. We were offered a refund or different boats on different days but decided to take the refund as if not it would back the rest of the trip up, the weather was rubbish and all i wanted to do was go to sleep.

Slept for 4 hours got up and had a walk round ailrie beach. It is a nice little place, very small though so it did not take long to see the place. you cannot swim in the sea because of sharks and jelly fish and the beach is not particularly nice but there is a nice man made lagoon which you can sit around, however it was not that much fun in overcast conditions. Spent much of the next couple of days very bored as there was not much to do in cloudy conditions, the east coast is not geared up for bad weather and was annoyed that the things i had wanted to do had been cancelled. heard from others that they had not been aple to get on fraser island because of the weather conditions the national park had been closed. Jumped on the overnight bus to cairns and hoped that i was going so far north that the weather had to start picking up

article a suivre

Ok,

So i kinda 'forgot' about this Blog, which i guess you guys did too.

ANyway,

My last 5 months in Australia in brief:

10 days in Perth hanging out with cousin and aunt, awesome.

new years in sydney. fantastic.

travelling with steph for a month. wicked, especially tasmania had an awesome time.

Landed a job in Airlie Beach, very interesting.

Had a boat crash. alsmost drowned. had to be winched by a helicopter.

star of an undercover documentry 'ships of shame'

harrased by one of the reporters, had to get a restraining order.

had the most fun i've ever had working with wazza and dara.

moving on in a few weeks. i'll tell you the long versions when i get home!

Love Jo xxxx

I just wanted to get this pic on here... you don't often have a view like that when eating. It's so beautiful here and the Whitsundays are supposed to be even better so I can't wait to get on my sailing trip on Monday.

I get to Airlie Beach after another long coach ride at about 2.15pm. There the Koala's courtesy bus picks me and about 3 girls up and takes us to Koala's backpacker resort on Shute Harbour Road, Airlie Beach's main strip. They have no record of my booking, presumably because I booked my Whitsundays trip with Whitsundays Wanderers (the adjoining travel agent), but did not book my room. Thankfully I work my magic, use my Wicked Travel voucher to get a room for just $16, and get put in the Rainforest Block. This bug-infested hole is right at the back of the complex, next to a camping site, and it completely sucks. The room is skanky and smells, the showers aren't too bad but the whole shower and toilet block is disgusting with doors on the toilets that don't lock. This is also the first hostel I have been to where you actually have to pay for bedlinen; $5 deposit and then $1 to use it. I say "no way" and just use my sleeping bag.

info to come