Brilliant boats and bints in Airlie

We flew to Townsville. There's Magnetic Island there, but not much else. We'd been speaking to an Italian girl who'd been living in Sydney for a while, and she suggested we head on to Airlie Beach rather than stay there. We took a look into the Greyhound bus routes, and found that for a couple hundred dollars we could get a hop on/hop off ticket which would take us all the way to Sydney, allowing us to stop off at Airlie, Fraser Island and Byron Bay en-route.

4 hours on the bus and we arrived in Airlie. We stayed at the Backpackers by the Bay, a well appointed hostel just off the main road. Not as social there, we took the 10 minute walk to the mainstreet most of the time to eat and get a few drinks. We had to wait 5 minutes though for Rick to brush his teeth.

Airlie is a holiday place both for travellers and Aussies alike. It has a great lagoon next to the beach to go and sun yourself, but more than that, it's known for the great sailing opportunities around the Whitsundays Islands. Without further ado Matt, Rick and I booked a 3 day, 2 night excursion. With a day to kill, we went and sat by the lagoon to sun ourselves, and that evening Rick made himself a drunken one-legged friend on his way back from brushing his teeth. Matt made the astute observation that she'd gotten herself legless.

Rather randomly, the night before we sailed I thought I saw a girl I recognised, Joanna, who we met in two places while we were in Thailand. I hadn't however recognised the girl she was with as her friend I'd also met so I thought it was someone else. Later that night I was on facebook and Joanna came online. I said I'd seen her twin at Airlie. I was amazed to find that it had in fact been her, and more surprised to find that her and 2 friends were going on a boat trip the following day...exactly the same one as us!

Kev Joanna Laura Me Jenine Matt

Said boat trip was a great time. 50 or so of us were picked up on a blustery afternoon to set sail in the Kora, a boat apparently worth over AU$1m. We saw Joanna again and had a small reunion with her and Jenine, meeting their friend Laura too. At the same time, we introduced them to Rick (our new addition, but he was off brushing his teeth) and met two Yorkshire lads, Lee and Kev. The 8 of us were to spend the next three days in pretty close company, especially as Matt, Rick and I shared our room with Kev and Lee. Rick went and brushed his teeth as soon as we were there.

We weren't really able to do any real sailing while on board, mainly because of the size of the group, but also because we didn't need to. The crew of three simply pushed the throttle up or pulled it back. Cheating really...! Kev did get a go at steering though which he was chuffed about. On deck it could get quite cold as the wind and spray would jump up, but it was good fun in the sun, and the views of the scenery and landscape could be breathtaking.

That first day we went to Koala Adventure Island, a fully licenced resort island with its own 9 hole golf course and beautiful bay. Our evening was spent getting merry and playing games as organised by the host, followed by dancing the night away. That is, most of us did. Kev and Lee, against all our better advice, had decided to down some Goon (for those in the dark, Goon should be kept that way. A sweet, sickly wine, it is guaranteed to make you feel ill. No Aussies I've met will drink it, unless possibly they're underage and because it's the cheapest thing they can buy) and by dinner at 7pm were steaming drunk. Kev managed to keep up with us throughout the course of the night, but Lee stumbled back to our dorm to keep Rick company, who unfortunately had taken on some food poisoning and wasn't well at all. Or maybe he was just brushing his teeth.

When the rest of us got back to the dorm we were nicely sozzled, least of all Kev who proceeded to strip stark bollock naked (when Matt pointed this out to him he was unfazed). His bed was the top bunk above Rick, and we all bedded down. All of a sudden I heard this almighty thump, followed by Rick asking Kev if he was ok through a mouth of toothpaste (he thought he was stealing his toothpaste). Having fallen out of his bed, he proceeded to search on his hands and knees (still naked as the day he was born) muttering 'I've lost my bed, I can't find it'. After a surprisingly fruitless search on the floor and in his bag, he did find a bed. Unfortunately for Rick it was his, and after shouting out 'It's a bunk bed mate, you're on the one up there!' Kev finally found the ladder and climbed back into bed. Bless him but he has no recollection of this. Kev, here's to you. The only other thing to mention of the night was the added counterpoint to Matt's startlingly soprano and disturbing snoring (in which he sounds like he's choking) by Lee, himself emmanating a Basso Profundo rattle in perfect harmony.

Our first full day in the Whitsundays started at 7am for breakfast (urgh) but was unfortunately missed by Rick who spent the day brushing his teeth. We however went on without him (guilty? nah!) and we were taken to the absolutely beautiful Whitehaven Beach. An uninhabited island, there is no electricity, no shops, no nothing, and the only people who go are those lucky enough to own or be on a boat. The sand itself is almost 98% silica, so is extremely pure, and was my second introduction to squeaky sand. We stayed there for a good 3-4 hours before clambering back on board to have our lunch, followed by a 2 hour scenic trip back to

Me, with our boat 'The Kora' in the background

Koala Island (something of a misnomer that name, there are no Koalas on the Island). I went and played a game of volleyball with some of the other people on our boat (won a free beer in the process) and then joined the others at dinner time. The evening followed in a similar (if less drunken) fashion to the previous shenanigans, and Jenine and I did manage to win some more free booze playing another group game. The less said about that one though the better, right Jenine?

Me underwater

Our last day in the Whitsundays was supposedly the highlight as it involved snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, however 90% of the people on the boat were so hungover they only lasted 10 minutes in the water. It was rather cold, and after half an hour I was ready to get back onto the boat, but not before snapping some fish (in the gloom the pictures only half came out well) and 'accidentally' taking a picture of Laura's boobs.

Laura's boobs...for those interested

We landed back at Abel Point in Airlie around 3pm, all of us knackered but happy. The girls had their own campervan and were heading down to Hervey Bay to visit Fraser Island, and needed to get a good start on the 13 hour ride. We were heading the same way but on the Greyhound which left 3 hours later. After reliving Kev's starkers nightime escapade for the 20th time, we all said goodbye and made our way to our busses and vans.

My new tattoo - hope it says what I think it does...