Whitsundays

Reality! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

Hey, from Rockhampton we made our way to Airlie Beach for our Trip to the Whitsundays. The weather was terrible, the rain hadn't stopped all Morning. The 3 of us were all having second thoughts about the Trip, I couldn't imagine being stuck on a boat in the pouring rain. Once we arrived, we checked in to a nearby Campsite and confirmed our booking.

Later on that Evening the rain decided to stop and the sky was a lot clearer, things were looking up plus I was very happy because I got to watch the F.A. Cup Final and what a Final it was.

The next morning we had to wake up really early, the sky was a bit cloudy but no rain so that wasn't going to stop us. We had to meet at 7.45am at the boat so we left Bertha in a nearby Carpark.

Me in my stinger suit! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

Once we all met at the boat, we gave our alcohol to the staff and filled in a bit of paperwork. After this the staff introduced themselves to us all, the group consisted of 29 people. We were told 45 people but I think this was better because of the lack of room.

We all boarded the boat and the Captain explained where we would be sailing to and what would be included on the Trip. Soon as we set sail, we all cracked open a few tins, I knew this would be a bad idea especially for hangovers on boats, what could be worse? We sailed for a couple of hours and stopped off for a bit of lunch, after lunch we were all allowed to have a swim. Me not being a very good swimmer wasn't that fussed but after a couple of beers my confidence rises. Before we were allowed to get into the water we all had to wear stinger suits, it was very strange wearing one and I looked stupid, me and my fat arse, lol.

Me in my stinger suit on Whitehaven Beach! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

The 3 of us decided to jump off the top deck, stupid really. As I surfaced I could hardly breathe, in shock from the cold water and the tide was taking me away from the boat. I panicked and tried to swim breast stroke, a bad idea, I was getting nowhere, luckily I managed to reach the back part of the boat where the steps where and hung on, lol. I thought to myself, I'm not doing that again in a hurry.

We were all told in the briefing that we were all either aloud to do a free scuba dive or a free tube ride. The tube looked fun but I chose the scuba dive for the experience. They told us the scuba dive would take place on the last day. We had to wait for the others to do their tube ride before we sat down to lunch.

After lunch, we sailed for a couple more hours, carried on drinking and headed towards our Resort 'Hook Island'.

Welcome to Hook Island! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

This was our Hostel for the next 2 nights. We had our showers, dropped our bags off and where told to meet back at the boat where we would be having our dinner and later to play party games and get to know the group better.

Later on after our dinner everyone was in the mood for some party games so I asked if we could get the twister game out, this was hilarious especially whilst being on a boat drinking. Most people just part in this and the loser of every game had to down a drink through a snorkel, thankfully I never had to. After the twister game we played another game with a cardboard box, the idea of the game was to bend down and pick the box up with your teeth, was quite difficult, most of the girls found it easy, the smaller you were the easier it was I thought.

Me reaching down to bite a cardboard box, some weird drinking game! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

Once you picked the box up you had to bite some away so the box became a lot less and lower. I was fairly good at this game and never had to do a snorkel but Chris had to do a couple and Dee did the most and was the best at it. He must have done about 5 in the night and he picked up the nickname 'Snorkel'.

After this crazy game we were all pretty hammered so the Captain took us all back to the Hostel.

The next Morning we all woke up fairly handy and made our way to Whitehaven Beach, meant to be one of the nicest beaches in the world. One we arrived there we took a little walk to a lookout point, amazing views of the beach, the only bad thing was on this day, the tide was on its way in so you couldn't quite get the view you would normally see but still worth the walk.

Chris drinking from a snorkel drinking game! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

After this we all headed on down to the beach for a dip, played Frisbee in the crystal clear water and later had a sunbathe. By about 2pm we all headed back to the boat for our lunch.

After lunch we sailed for another hour or so and stopped where we did our snorkeling, I was quite nervous but wanted to try it so we all got into our stinger suits. With the aid of a floating noodle under my arms I was more confident, the water was freezing and struggled to get my breath a few times but I was ok after a while. I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing under the water, the coral was really shallow in parts and we were told not to stand on them. I tried the snorkeling without my floating noodle and was surprised how easy it was to float. We snorkeled for about 30 mins because we were all getting cold.

Me + sunset! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

After this amazing experience my confidence in water has trebled now.

After the snorkeling we headed back to the Hostel for our showers. After our showers we headed back to the boat where we had our dinner. One this was over we took the remaining alcohol which wasn't a lot and brought it back to the Island. We played a few more party games after this and once all the beer ran out I decided to get an early night, most of the others stayed up and carried on so im not sure what actually happened.

The next Morning was cool, never felt like crap. We sailed for a couple of hours and where told we could either go for a snorkel or do the scuba dive. In the end I did both because the scuba experience was only 2 people at a time. My scuba experience wasn't what thought it would be like.

The whole group! Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia.

I got all the gear on, felt like a really heavy rucksack. As I bent down onto my knees I get getting water in my mouth, was a strange feeling breathing in artifitial air but wasn't quite sure what I was doing wrong. I tried it a few times and the same thing was happening, I know I shouldn't have but I gave it up as a bad job. I told the instructor that I would give this a go again but maybe in a different environment like a pool. I'm still glad I gave it a go, just for the experience.

After everyone had finished the scuba and snorkeling we had our lunch on the boat and all headed back to Airlie Beach. To sum the whole trip up, it was an amazing experience, a brilliant group of people plus value for money. For both trips $299, a bargain!

Have posted some pics below, enjoy.

Take care and speak soon.