Whitsundays and more
We spent another day or two in Airlie Beach with Paul and Verity and generally recovering from our Fraser Island trip. Then on the 11th, we left on the 'Pride of Airlie' for our trip around the Whitsundays. We were staying in a resort on South Molle Island for the nights and spending the days on the boat. The resort was gorgeous, we were staying in dorms but they were basically nice family rooms just with loads of beds in so we had a proper bathroom and tea and coffee and towels. In the evening, we were filled with food at a special bar area just for our trip (too noisy for the rest of the island) and ordered to play drinking games. We played a few but I was a bit of a party pooper cos I didn't want to get beer on my nice dress... yeah, I know, I'm really fun. It was good though and I had my first flaming Sambuca lit in my mouth which was quite exciting especially as apparently my lip ring caught fire...
The morning after all the chaos, they made us get up at 6am to get on the boat! Some people spent most of the day lying inside feeling seasick but luckily Ben and I were fine. We went to Whitehaven beach where I fell asleep and Ben went turtle hunting with some guys from Dudley. They also saw some rays and lots of shadows that turned out to be nothing. Then we all sat in the water with our stinger suits on until we had to go back for lunch. In the afternoon we went snorkelling and saw lots more things including parrot fish that you could hear crunch on the coral with their big toothy beaks. At dinner that evening it turned out that Paul and Verity's boat trip were there too so we got to see them again. Being the fun party animals that we are, Ben and I sat out the drinking games... far too tired after a day in the hot sun.
A couple of days ago, we left Airlie Beach and got a bus up to Ayr. Ayr is really really small and usually the only people that stay in the hostel there are mango pickers who get horrible mango rash on their arms (did you know that the mango is related to poison ivy? No me neither). As it is not mango season right now, the place was EMPTY. There were a couple of locals who live there and a few people there for the same reason as us - to dive the Yongala.
The Yongala dive was amazing! It sunk in 1911 with the loss of all life (121 people) and not discovered until the 1950s. Now, you can hardly even see the ship a lot of the time as it has been completely colonised by all kinds of fish and marine life. It is the only thing in the water for miles around so everything congregates there. We saw some huge Queensland Groupers as long as Ben but a lot wider! Also we saw Giant Trevally, tiny Nemos, lots of seasnakes, a couple of Sea Turtles and lots and lots of fish that I haven't learnt the names of yet. Also, when we got back to the dive shop, they cooked us a bbq! So it was really really good :)
Yesterday morning we arrived in Cairns after a horrible cramped nighttime bus journey. we haven't really done anything yet as we are mainly recovering from being knackered and geting ready for our Advanced Open Water course which starts tomorrow at 7am. 11 dives in 3 days! If we don't update for a while it means we are sleeping until New Zealand.
The morning after all the chaos, they made us get up at 6am to get on the boat! Some people spent most of the day lying inside feeling seasick but luckily Ben and I were fine. We went to Whitehaven beach where I fell asleep and Ben went turtle hunting with some guys from Dudley. They also saw some rays and lots of shadows that turned out to be nothing. Then we all sat in the water with our stinger suits on until we had to go back for lunch. In the afternoon we went snorkelling and saw lots more things including parrot fish that you could hear crunch on the coral with their big toothy beaks. At dinner that evening it turned out that Paul and Verity's boat trip were there too so we got to see them again. Being the fun party animals that we are, Ben and I sat out the drinking games... far too tired after a day in the hot sun.
A couple of days ago, we left Airlie Beach and got a bus up to Ayr. Ayr is really really small and usually the only people that stay in the hostel there are mango pickers who get horrible mango rash on their arms (did you know that the mango is related to poison ivy? No me neither). As it is not mango season right now, the place was EMPTY. There were a couple of locals who live there and a few people there for the same reason as us - to dive the Yongala.
The Yongala dive was amazing! It sunk in 1911 with the loss of all life (121 people) and not discovered until the 1950s. Now, you can hardly even see the ship a lot of the time as it has been completely colonised by all kinds of fish and marine life. It is the only thing in the water for miles around so everything congregates there. We saw some huge Queensland Groupers as long as Ben but a lot wider! Also we saw Giant Trevally, tiny Nemos, lots of seasnakes, a couple of Sea Turtles and lots and lots of fish that I haven't learnt the names of yet. Also, when we got back to the dive shop, they cooked us a bbq! So it was really really good :)
Yesterday morning we arrived in Cairns after a horrible cramped nighttime bus journey. we haven't really done anything yet as we are mainly recovering from being knackered and geting ready for our Advanced Open Water course which starts tomorrow at 7am. 11 dives in 3 days! If we don't update for a while it means we are sleeping until New Zealand.
posted by alicestronaut at 4:58 am
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