Whitsunday Islands.. Apollo

Fri 24th Oct

After leaving my main bag in the storage room at my hostel, I check out, meet Luke and head to Abell Point Marina for an 8am meeting time, on route we walk with three other travellers on Apollo. Outside Barcelona Cafe me and Luke are soon chatting to two German girls on our boat, Sabrina and Jana, before Tommy, the dive master on Apollo, greets everyone. Slowly everyone hands over their trip voucher and gets given a wetsuit for the duration of the trip. After this time is taken up filling in paper work..everyone on the boat whether qualified or not has one free scuba dive as part of the package. Once this has all been sorted we are heading to and boarding Apollo (a maxi yacht and past winner of the Sydney to Hobart Race, along with other racing wins). After dropping our stuff off on our beds... being one of last few people on the bus me and luke are assigned to a double..we are then back on the deck and on our way to the Whitsunday Island. The sun is shining and blue skies above us. The sea is calm and the journey is relaxing. Before the sails are put up for the final part of the journey to our first destination of our trip (and where we will all be diving/snorkeling), Tommy gives an introductory talk. 

The qualified divers gear up and we head off first. During the dive we see large clusters of different sized reef fish and colourful coral. After the dive I head back into the sea to snorkel with Luke, Sabrina and Jana, again seeing lots of colourful fish. We are at the bay for around 4 hours so that everyone (split into 5 groups) gets to dive. When the final group heads off for their dive, everyone else left on the bay begins heading back to Apollo via a motor dinghy (seating 11 at a time). Once everyone is back on board we journey on, past the array of different sized islands to our stop for the night. Dinner is followed by drinks and time as a group introducing ourselves in more detail..

Sat 25th Oct

At 6.30am we are woken up by the sound of the engine starting as we begin the short journey to Whitsunday Island where we will be spending the morning visiting the island in order to see the world famous Whitehaven Beach (one of the most photographed beaches). First we have a short trek to the viewing platform a stunning view greets us! We will not be picked up for til 11am so two hours lies ahead spending time on the beautiful white silica beach (no burning your feet on this sand.. And you can use the sand to whiten your teeth! ), swimming, relaxing and taking in the 360° picturesque views. 

When we return to Apollo we eat lunch whilst heading to our 2nd snorkel/dive site of the trip.. I decide to pay the extra 50 dollars for another dive. First I snorkel then get geared up and dive from the beach, Tommy feeds the fish whilst we are underwater so we become surrounded by a huge cluster of fish. During the dive we see two stingrays, sea cucumbers, and towards the end of the dive a large Maori Wrasse. In the evening after dinner everyone puts the goon (cheap wine) they have left together and we play drinking olympics.. a lot of fun.. 

Sun 26th Oct

After what feels like a slightly longer lie in (but in reality the time is again around 6.30am) everyone slowly awakes to the sound of the engine. The smell of scrambled eggs and then the discovery of beans at the breakfast table is a welcome meal! During the morning the boat is moved to our last stop of the trip.. a last chance to snorkel and relax on a new deserted beach. In the water we discover large turtles!! At one point some people see five, when I snorkel I see two resting on the sea bed... The water is so shallow they seem to be within touching distance.. a breathtaking experience. Back on the beach we try to relax but the sun is burning down upon us, a cycle of relaxing and resting is followed by the need to cool down in the sea, plays out before we are taken back to the boat. A final lunch together and then we are on route back to the mainland. It has been a fantastic weekend trip, beautiful weather, stunning views and a lot of fun. 

On my return to Magnums I catch up with Dan, then in the evening everyone from the boat meets at Phoenix for drinks 

Beginning my journey down the East Coast.. Mission Beach - Magnetic Island - Airlie Beach

Fri 17th Oct

Today I am checking out of The Jack, leaving Cairns via the Greyhound Bus down to Mission Beach...the beginning of my journey down the east coast. I meet up with Dan in the morning, who will also be taking the same route, and after goodbyes to Jonny, Lil and Ali we head down to the pick up point. The bus takes a couple of hours and after arriving I head off in the shuttle bus to The Jackaroo (my hostel for the next two nights..where I'll be seeing my childhood friend Sarah-Jayne for the first time in a long time..10years??). Dan has a short walk to his hostel, where as The Jackaroo is situated further around the coast and up in amongst the rainforest. . the view out to the sea/coastal line is awesome. Tonight is 'free wine night'! A great time spent catching up with SJ and I also share a dorm with 3 Swedish guys who I had also met at The Jack.

Sat 18th Oct

At midday I take the shuttle bus down to Mission Beach where I chill out, swim, read and sleep some more! Dan makes the long walk from the other end of the beach to meet up and we have a beer. We lose track of the time and head to the shuttle pick up a couple minutes late..after a 15min wait we soon realise with missed the chance to get a lift back to where Dan had walked from. After a poor attempt at getting a hitch hike/lift from other cars we set off on the walk back... '20 min journey'... ends up taking 45mins but we're not complaining.. Sandy empty beach, blue skies, and clear water.. At Dan's hostel we eat and have a beer.. and play a game of pool (terrible game.. awful cues..) I then head back to my Jackaroo on the minibus for a chilled out film night.. (and listen to a disappointing 4-1 Spurs defeat to Man City..), the owner spots and shows us a Australian Green Tree Frog on the side of one of the hostel walls. 

Sun 19th Oct

Today me and Dan leave Mission Beach, we take the Greyhound bus to Townsville where we are dropped at the ferry port..after a 20min ferry across a very choppy sea we arrive on Magnetic Island, our next destination for two nights. This time me and Dan are at the same hostel, Base, also Spencer, an English guy who had been at The Jackaroo, is also staying at the same hostel. The hostel is on the sea front, with great views from the bar, pool and our dorm. After stocking up on supplies for snacks/lunch/dinner we are back at the hostel drinking and playing some free pool (..no change in the quality though.. we are both playing some shocking shots!). Our 'free' dinner included in a two night hostel deal is an underwhelming burger after close to an hour's wait! I buy internet and skype family.

Mon 20th Oct

After our 'free' McMuffin (included in our deal) we wait around to say bye to ST (a German girl me and Spencer had met back at The Jackaroo)..which ends up in me, Dan and Spencer taking the same bus around the small island to Horseshoe Bay. We chill out, eat lunch and have a midday beer..refreshment needed in this hot and sunny weather! From Horseshoe Bay we take the walking trek (..not so flip flop friendly hilly route...) to Radical Bay. The beach/bay here is beautiful and close to empty. After a swim to cool off I record a message for my old form class last year. We then walk to Florence Bay, a route on the road and even more hilly.. A tiring walk! It's worth the struggle when Spencer spots a wild Koala in a tree close by to the road.. a highlight! Our long afternoon trek ends soon after seeing the view of Arthur Bay which is beautiful. We take the bus to Arcadia where we see wild wallabies. In the evening back at the hostel after a tasty kitchen cooked egg fried rice there is a quiz night. Me and Dan get separated from our other mates team but are soon part of a team with new people.. Hannah, Lisa, Luke and Laurie...and unexpectedly come 2nd = 3 free jugs! Happy days. .we are soon celebrating and dancing on the tables. 

Tues 21st Oct

After a fun night we slowly get up.. cook eggs on toast, check out and then take the bus to the harbour and walk straight onto the ferry back to Townsville (a smaller ferry and less choppy ride). After eating some prepared sandwiches we head to the Aquarium (the world's largest living coral reef aquarium..). This has jokingly yet seriously been an attraction me and Dan have spoken about visiting during our time on Magnetic Island to everyone we came across. My teacher discount gets a concession price and we spend time wandering around seeing the variety of fish and coral. During our visit we see two divers in the tank with a net scooping up what looks like small baby fish and feeding them to the surrounding fish. On enquiring as to what is happening we find out that these particular fish (black/white) have been breeding so successfully (looking after/protecting their offspring) that the success has led to a large rise in their population in the tanks... on further inspection we notice the vast number of these fish in the tanks! 

We leave the aquarium, walk around town, pick up supplies for the bus journey and are soon boarding and departing to Airlie Beach our next destination .. a five hour journey.

We arrive in Airlie Beach at 7pm and are greeted by a member of staff at Magnums (our hostel) who leads us on the short walk up to the main strip and the location of the hostel. With Dan's voucher we both get 3 nights for 55 dollars.. best price yet. We eat and drink in the hostel before heading out to see the different bars/clubs. Everywhere is empty so we are soon heading back to our dorm.. it seems like nothing gets busy till a lot later in the evening! 

Weds 22nd Oct

Our 6 dorm mates all check out in the morning and soon we are introducing ourselves to new dorm mates (.. what's your name.. where are you from.. how long are travelling.. how old are you.. etc!) We meet three Swedish girls Matilda, Emily and Joanna, then later 3 French travellers Thomas, Coralie and Gillian. In the afternoon Dan buys the new GoPro 4 after finding out that it is in stock here, we spend the afternoon chilling out. The French group are keen for a drink and night out, so we go again for food and a few jugs of beer then decide on a night of wine.. 3 bottles later we are ready for a night out.. the French group end up going to bed early.. let downs but we find others from the dorm next door to head out/drink with. 

Thurs 23rd Oct

After a heavy night we are up late for a brunch, then decide to get our act together and head out to explore more of the area and go to the lagoon during the afternoon. In the evening we cook fajitas.. definitely the best meal for a long long time.. Earlier in Woolworths as we are getting the food for the meal we bump into Hannah and Lisa from the quiz night at Magnetic Island and soon after Luke as well who I find out is also going on my Whitsunday boat, Apollo! Finally I've met someone else on my boat as the last three days no one has either been on or mention Apollo. We stock up on some alcohol in the bottle shop and after packing later in the evening I am all set and ready for my three day/two night sailing boat trip!