Whitsunday Islands

After our first greyhound bus trip of 12 hours we arrived in Airlie Beach to sweltering heat and nursing sun burn from Fraser Island. We stayed at a youth hostel which had loads of mango trees and tropical birds in the grounds - not quite like the hostels at home.

We sat by the lagoon and then decided to have a bit of a night out and keep up with the other travellers - needless to say we were in bed by 10:30 - lightweights! Before we limped back to our room we managed to take a photo of the local lyrca fashions (we had to do it slyly so she didn't spot us) - see pics.

The next day we headed to the harbour for our 2 night sailing trip round the Whitsundays - god knows why but we picked a racing yacht. The sailing was amazing and the yacht tipped nearly 45 degrees so it was sometimes a bit of a challenge to stay on. The boat was tiny but 14 of us managed to eat and sleep and get drunk on it. Our first stop was Whitehaven beach on WhitSunday island - pictures don't really do it justice as the weather was a tad temperamental (again)! It is so white because of the quartz in it (in case you cared).

The highlight was anchoring in the middle of the sea and diving in to snorkel in our attractive stinger resistant suits!! The coral itself was beautiful but the multicoloured tropical fish were stunning - no sharks turned up thankfully!

Off to Cairns and Cape Tribulation next.....

Kirsten and James