Wish you Well

Airlie Beach & Whitsunday Islands

Several hours North of Hervey Bay, I arrived in Airlie Beach - part of Tropical Queensland. The sun sure felt tropical, and I went about my first day with a real degree of relaxation.

Within a couple of hours it was time for me to head inside after baking sufficiently. Kat and Iona, the girls I'd met a few times up the coast came and found me at my hostel and another crazy night followed. I was the support crowd at a pretty quiet pub, and managed to gain enough support for the girls to win a pole dancing competition and $200 cash. This meant a nice cheap night!

The following day the girls left on their Whitsundays sailing trip, so with some more sunbaking out of the way, the boys and girls from the Fraser trip rolled into town. We met up and before we knew it, their were shapes being thrown in all directions down at Mama Africas.

The following two days were a little spontaneous; expecting to do nothing but turn black and crispy, Luke (another Luke, not just me talking in the third person) had a catching effect on me. One moment we were all in the travel agents booking bus journeys, then the next we were being picked up and driven to the jetty for some parasailing! After watching some others drift skyward, it was then Luke, Shawn & my turn to go. An awesome experience made by the speed, height, turbulence and beautiful blue seas and coastal views we could see. Once we'd gotten used to floating a couple of hundred feet abover the water, we gained confidence and dangled upside down from the rigging. Hanging like a fruit bat, the drivers of the boat decided to dunk us all in the drink below before going full throttle to make us rise Phoenix stylee. Awesome.

Midweek came, and it was the day our sailing trip around the Whitsundays started. Not content with this though, the 3 parasailers decided to jump in a helicopter for a scenic tour around the beach and out over South Molle Island.

The views were amazing and the thrill amplified by the fact the chopper had no doors. A few patches of turbulence made the three of us feel our tailbones briefly but soon we were using the choppers intrercom system for comic reason. I think the pilot may have wondered what we were on. We touched down at about 8.20am buzzing for the rest of the morning.

Sun shining, the boys of the group playing keepy-uppy by the Airlie Marina entrance when we are finally called on board the 'Pride of Airlie' - a catamaran with the capacity for 60 people. We set off. Beer and goon in everybodies hand.

We arrived on South Molle island at around 5pm, with just enough time to get in some golf before the sun set. We managed around 5 holes to be exact before heading back to get showered and have a night partying with the drew and of course everyone else on the boat. I remember falling asleep looking forward to the day ahead lying on board the boat in the sun heading out to Whitehaven beach - a beautiful, bright white sand stretch of sand; home to many kinds of marine life. I woke up to grey skies.

Everyone stumbled back on the Pride hoping the skies would clear, but as we set sail, we soon found some new fun. The seas were choppy and the boat was rising and falling quickly - so much so you could jump in the air and experience extra long hang-time! 30minutes of this was of course hilarious, until the seasickness caught up with everyone. About an hour in and the back of the boat was getting a little crowded with people bowing to the wake. Myself included.

To a lot of relief, we finally arrived at Whitehaven, I jumped straight in the water to freshen up, and quickly forgot about the bad experience when I snorkelled into shore following a turtle. It was too cold and wet to hang around on the beach so I headed back on board. The real highlight here was seeing a HUGE turtle float by.

Everyone was dreading the return trip, though fortunately it was much easier going, and so DJ Luke took his iPod to the boats PA and rocked the afternoon session. We had more time to ourselves today, so managed a swim in the resort pool, a chillout session in the hot-tub followed by a full nine holes on the golf course. Another session in the bar saw me and Luke doing a cover of James' Sit Down on the karaoke before falling asleep dreaming of better weather.

The sun rose, but sadly still behind clouds. So some sore heads boarded the Pride for our homeward journey with a quick snorkelling stop thrown in. The seas were calm, so the beers and goon (the worst possible kind of cheap wine) were flowing from about 8.30am - the tunes once again rocking the boat.

We jumped overboard at Hook island for my first look at the Great Reef, saw some beautiful angel fish but not much else.

Friday night back in Airlie was everybodies farewell party, Morocco's and Mamas again the venue - another great time had.