Blue Seas, Blue Skies & White Water

We started week 3 of the east coast trip with a Monday sailing for Whitsundays. Whitsundays is a collection of islands and barrier reef that you access from Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach, aptly named, has no actual beach but is the camp zero for all your sailing trips in and around Whitsundays. We left on an overcast Monday, hoping that we would get one day of sunshine for a few decent pics.

The plan of action for the Pride of Airlie boat that we traveled on was two nights on Mole Island, the first day sailing straight there and the second day sailing to see White Haven Beach and do some snorkeling before returning to the island. We had some fun on the boat and the first night getting to know the other 51 people on the boat. We were with the guys and gals from Fraser Island again, Pete, Rebecca, Anna & Sarah so there were some familiar faces already on board.

We partied from 7.30 the second day, enjoying the views and the ride on the boat. We got some sun bathing in on one of the nicest beaches in the world, some beverages on top deck and some diving and snorkeling. We even managed some golf when we got back to Mole Island! The third day involved getting back to the main land with some lunch and snorkeling along the way. The sea was remarkably rougher the third day, which made for some interesting events on the sea sickness/bit hungover side. We arrived back, hit the hay for an hour and all met up that night for a few drinks to laugh and joke about the last two nights and three days. A cool time, in a quality place, with some crazy people. We loved it!

Now that we had gotten Fraser Island and Whitsundays out of the way on our east coast exploration we turned our sights on some adventure in Mission Beach. Matt wanted to do the skydive (mine will be over snow in New Zealand) and we said we'd give white water rafting a go too. On the Saturday morning Matt got up, ready for his pick up at 7.30. He was nervous, he'll admit that himself, but he was significantly more calm that I'll be when I wake up the morning of my jump so I won't slag him off. I got up after he left and walked to Mission Beach to see if I could see him land. I arrived at the beach at 9 o' clock on the dot to see 10 tiny black spots on the blue sky jumping from an aircraft 14,000 feet above me. Sixty seconds of free fall and three minutes of parachuting later Matt swung overhead. He was buzzing when he hit the ground, a smile a mile wide on his face. The pictures don't do it justice. His DVD is quite literally amazing to watch but still not a patch on the real thing.

The next day was rafting time. 7.30 pickup again for myself, Matt & Pete this time. Rafting was quality! We were due to spend the day on the Tully River, a grade 4 river with both technical and high volume rapids. We got a stroke of luck when there were 3 empty spaces on the Xtreme rafting boats so it meant we would also be doing rock jumps, rock slides and plunge pools, and some swimming through rapids. It was an amazing day! We loved every second of it, a bit sore typing this the next day but definitely worth it.

Not a bad week so... Snorkeling on the Great Barrier reef, lounging on some of the best beaches in the world, partying to the wee hours on a boat, sky diving and some white water action thrown in. How was your week? Haha

The sun sets on Mole Island on the first night

Just a bit hungover day two, an apple will help

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