Airlie Beach was all that it was hyped up to be. A lovely lagoon on the waterfront, lively bars, and brilliant sailing. After a morning run in which we nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion, we boarded the boat for our 2 days sailing. On Ice, owned by brothers Tristrum and Luke, and assisted by Garry (with two r’s). Garry is one of those guys who has spent is life travelling the world picking up work here and there. He was a brilliant source of knowledge for hints on what to do. He cooked a mean meal on the boat too. The weather was not the blue sky’s we had hoped for, but that did not stop us windsurfing on Whitehaven beach, paddle boarding, more beach Olympics and snorkling. We had a great group too, including the Dutch doctors Freek (yes that is his name) and Jess.
Next stop after some magnificent sailing, Magnetic Island, just off tropical Townsville. We get the ferry and bus to our Base hostel that is located right on the beach in possibly the most amazing setting I have ever seen for a hostel. Our day on magnetic is spent touring round in our little pink convertible that we hire – more amazing beaches, koala’s and wallabies in the wild, and finally boozy bingo, which gets a bit boring and we give up after round 2.
We wake up to rain, so keep moving up the coast towards cairns, with a quick stop at mission beach, famous for where the rainforest meets the sea. We arrive in cairns to scorching sun and temperatures so hit the lagoon straight away. No swimming in the sea due to saltwater crocodiles!!! While at the lagoon we get asked to do a quick photo shoot for the local paper for a completion, and lo and behold the next day we are on page 3 of the cairns post!!! Our hostel in cairns (travellers oasis) is the best accommodation yet. A gorgeous friendly hostel set in tropical gardens and great hosts. We book onto a trip to the great barrier reef for the next day which includes an intro dive for Angus.
Thursday does not start well with torrential tropical rain storms, however ever the optimists we board our boat. Out at the reef the sun is out, and I do my dive. What an incredible experience. It is so peaceful once under the water and the fish and coral are just amazing. I even saw nemo (or clown fish as they are really known). An excellent trip all round and I have the diving bug.
Our final day on the East coast is a trip up to Port Douglas, a very chic resort with more lovely beaches. We randomly stop at Hartley’s crocodile farm on the way back – what a find. We see a snake show with the worlds most venomous snake, the Western Taipan, and do a boat trip in a crocodile lagoon. I can’t believe the noise that a crocodiles jaw makes when in bites. The power is immense. Safely round the crocodile farm we head back to the airport to board the short 5 hour flight to Perth.
An amazing coast and an amazing time had.
Until next week when we will be half way up the west coast...BYE
