Wonderful Whitsundays

The Eureka II

On Wednesday we did another one of the main activities to do on the East Coast of Australia - Sailing around the Whitsundays. We were really looking forward to it, and it was a dream. We were on one of the Whitsunday's fastest racing yachts called Eureka II. There were 15 people on board, including the 2 crew, a French family (the youngest was 17), a Swiss couple and 2 girls who had brought along their friend, who I referred to as Princess Shelby because she was a total nightmare. Anyway, it wasn't the best group we could have hoped for but the best thing was the boat itself was lovely and the weather was perfect. We left early on Wednesday morning and got the sails up for a couple of hours when the wind was strong enough. The boat was anchored at midday just next to Hamilton Island where we had lunch on deck, then did our first snorkel. The big downside to the Whitsundays is that the water is beautiful but it is full of the dangerous box jellyfish and irukandji jellyfish, so we have to wear these really attractive stinger suits which are like thin wetsuits covering you from head to toe. There are also sharks around but they are less of a worry. As you can imagine, I was slightly nervous about swimming after being told to avoid the jellyfish as we may well see them floating around despite the fact they are about an inch big! I pulled my suit right over my hands and would've pulled it over my head if I could have. Anyway, it wasn't too bad - we saw lots of weird things floating around but tried to not think about it too much because I wasn't concentrating on the amazing reef and fish we were meant to be seeing! The water was so warm too, it was really cool. Saw all sorts of fish, but sadly no turtles yet. Once back in the boat, relieved that we were still alive, we settled down on the front of the boat to dry off and chill out with our books while we sailed to the bay where we anchored for the evening. That night was extremely hot down in the cabins, but quite comfortable to sleep because the water was so still.

Inside the Eureka II

Whitehaven Beach

The next morning we made our way to Whitehaven Beach - one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We arrived there before 9am as the tide was in, and it was a bit cloudy but still looked pretty good. We got in our lovely stinger suits to loll about in the warm shallow water, and managed to see a little lemon shark swimming around near to us. About half an hour later, the sun fully came out, the clouds cleared and the water began to recede so it became very shallow over the sand and was just incredibly beautiful. I wondered around and must have taken about 50 photos. It was unreal, a true paradise.

  

Daring to wade into the water without a stinger suit

♥ Paradise ♥

The brilliant white sand there is 98% pure silica so it's an excellent exfoliant and great for cleaning jewellery - I gave my ring a bit of a polish and it came out gleaming! As you can imagine, it was difficult to leave! But we had to get back to the boat for lunch, and another marine reef to see that afternoon. We were supposed to be able to see turtles there, but sadly we were really unlucky and didn't see any. We then sailed onto a quiet bay where we were to stay for the night. It was such a lovely evening, as we sat and watched the sunset. After dinner, we sat on deck under the moon and had lots of cold glasses of wine. We were just thinking the whole time, this is the life - I would definitely like a boat please. That night was even hotter (there had been no wind at all that day so we had to use the motor instead of the sails) so most of us slept up on deck. I opened up the sail bag and slept on the main sail which was rather comfy, until the wind picked up and it was so noisy I couldn't get back to sleep! Also the moon was the brightest I have ever seen - no need for a torch! I ended up going back down into the cabin to sleep because it was much quieter, but sleeping up on deck under the stars was fun while it lasted.

View of Whitehaven from the lookout

One of the other sailing boats at sunset

The beautiful water as the tide goes out

Pulling up the sails

We set off early the next morning for a fish reserve, where we snorkled again and saw so many amazing brightly coloured tropical fish. There were zebra striped fish, electric blue and purple fish, and loads more. They were so funny because they were obviously really curious and kept getting really close to us and following us around! We also saw a small stingray which was cool. After lunch was our final stop of the trip, which I cannot remember the name of but it was a big stretch of sand which runs inbetween 2 islands. It was quite an unusual sight, and again it was so incredibly hot on the Friday the water was extremely inviting! After that it was time to start heading back to Airlie Beach Marina where we began. It was about a 3 hour journey, and although there wasn't much wind, our captain wanted to sail for a bit so that we got a bit more actual sailing done. Sam and I pulled up the sails this time which was fun! (Had the help of the large strong Swiss guy, but we still did some of the work!).  We all suffered a bit because there was no shade on the boat and it was too hot in the cabin, and the only bit there was constantly occupied by Princess Shelby (she was allergic to gluten, allergic to heat, everything you can be allergic to etc) so most of us got a little bit burnt. One of the French girls woke up with a massive bottom lip due to sunburn - that was quite amusing. When we got back we did get numerous comments from friends about how tanned we are now!


Anyway, I was just so pleased we had great weather because so many people we've spoken to have had rubbish weather and did not manage to see Whitehaven in all its glory. There must be someone looking down on us...lets hope the weather continues because we will be doing our first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef on Wednesday which is exciting. We are now in Cairns, and tomorrow we are spending 2 days and 1 night on Atherton Tablelands (AKA Cairns Highlands) where we will do hiking, biking and canoeing through the rainforest, where there are lots of lakes, swimming holes and waterfalls. We then have our Green Island scuba dive and will be flying to Bali on Thursday! Can't believe we only have 4 days in Australia left, but I am really looking forward to getting to Bali.


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