Matt & Mercaders - The World Tour

Which was a great relief.

Cairns was the first stop, an unremarkable place with enough tour agents to sink a jolly roger booze cruise. We spent a few days there doing some planning but Cairns will be remembered for a phone call we received from Amy and Andy: she called in the early hours of Australian morning to give us the outstanding news that she was pregnant. I offered congratulations and, if its a boy, Matt as a suitable name for the unborn tot and then drifted back to sleep.

Port Douglas was our next port of call and it was a great little town. Huge beach and nice high street but quite upmarket so not typical backpacker territory – we loved it. As well as a marathon planning session (in an internet cafe with world beating ice cream shop attached – Honeycomb and Boysenberry varieties our personal favourites) and a few trips to the beach we did our Great Barrier Reef trip from Port Douglas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef).

Taking this trip from Port Douglas gave us a bit more freedom from the crowds of Cairns. Our Gap Year friends carefully negotiated the next great threat to our G-Bar-Reef experience was our old foe, the weather. Apparently, it affects the visibility – rendering the whole thing pointless – and provides a choppy and uncomfortable ride out there to boot.

We held out for two days because of the weather, however, with bus and accommodation commitments coming up we had to bite the bullet. As it turned out, delaying a few days paid off and the weather was great. At the first two reef stops we did some snorkeling around the coral reef, which had been preceded by a briefing on what we might expect to see. That was pretty amazing – our first experience of tropical fish and coral up close – you could spend hours drifting around.

The third trip was the best. We split into two groups and went on a snorkelling tour of the reef with a guide. He would dive to the bottom, pick up a sea cucumber or something equally odd, bring it to the surface, pass it around (Chloe loves this bit) and tell us all about it. There was also this Rainbow fish called Maurice who was a bit of a pet of the trip staff. They feed Maurice every time they go to the reef and in return he swims around allowing tourists to touch him (enter Chloe stage left). We loved this trip.

We left Port Douglas to return to Cairns in a mini-bus run by a rafting company. The driver was a bit mental. He was a big fan of thrash metal, not looking at the road, shouting and looking a bit disturbed. Alive and unwell we had time to kill so we went and saw a movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) before jumping on the late bus to Airlie Beach.

Long journey bus drivers are worth a mention. They are a curious bunch - one part anger, one part bitterness, topped up with the unique Aussie sense of humour. Some examples: the Airlie Beach driver gave us a 5 minute dressing down before the bus had even left the station. With the exception of Chloe sitting in the wrong seat (an offense that make his face turn purple with rage) it was a little early in our journey for anger. It seemed as though he was so scarred from his previous experiences that the talk was necessary Lines like “I don't get paid to pick up your rubbish” and sitting in the wrong seat is a waste of my time and yours” lack the welcoming spirit of “welcome aboard and thank-you for traveling with us”.

Another character insisted on saying “right, lets get out of here, i am sick of this place already” after every stop. It was kind of like his catchphrase.He liked a lecture too: ”let me tell you story about a someone who stretched out to sleep leaving their legs streched out across the aisle. Well when another passenger tried to climb across those legs at the same time as the bus stopping suddenly he got both his legs broken. Don't stretch your legs across the aisle”.

Anyway, I digress. Arriving in Airlie we checked into our digs, booked our Whitsunday Islands sailing trip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitsunday_Islands) and have a look around. A bit like Cairns has the requisite 2000 tour operators and a lagoon. These are quite popular – they landscaped outdoor pool for people to congregate at in the absence of a beach.

The Whitsunday Islands are amazing. We delayed booking our boat because we had some good advice from my mate Dave who rightly said don't bother unless you get the weather. You really do need the weather for this one. We got to our base for the trip, Airlie Beach, got the weather report and immediately booked our boat. She was a belter of a boat too. The Getaway catamaran. Only 8 on board and we got a great deal because we booked last minute. When we got on board we met a couple honeymooning and we realised we'd really lucked-out.

As it turns out the newly wed groom was Australia's number one Bryan Adams impersonator. Is he any good? Judge for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/heavenbryanadamstributeshow. He also looked like Chloe's sister's boyfriend Clive. Separated at birth to be honest. Even the mannerisms and personality. Uncanny.

Andy and Vicky were another couple on the Getaway. They had great chat so we liked them too. So much so we met them in Sydney later on our trip. Vicky's parents made up the remaining passengers and all-in-all we had a great group to be spending our trip with.

The trip was a leisurely cruise around the islands taking in the classic sights of Whitehaven Beach (ridiculously stunning), a bit of snorkelling around some reef and parking up the boat in some secluded bays at night. We sat around sharing stories, drinking, and generally having a great time. Bryan Adams came into his own in the evenings. A great Aussie character, he was great value on the boat. As well as sharing some anecdotes about deaths from dangerous Aussie critters he got me quite excited about seeing some fruitbats. An all round asset to our trip no doubt about it.

Highlight of the trip came on the final day when we stopped for some snorkeling at a sand reef and swam with a turtle for a bit. Its quite weird when you come across things like turtles in their natural habitat. I saw a stingray swim past and was quite proud but the turtle find by Mercaders took the biscuit. She had hoped we would do this at some point on our travels so for it to happen here was amazing. She loves turtles.

Next stop Noosa Heads.