I arrived at the hostel in Hervey bay from Fraser Island at 6pm and at 8.30pm I had the night bus for Airlie Beach where I would have started my sailing trip at the Whitsundays! I was excited but, as easily imaginable, destroyed!
The sailing trip required everyone to take their own drinks...and as much as I wanted to take beers, I couldn't be bothered to carry cans from the hostel to the Marina, so I decided to go without beers...At the Marina, I met the other 20 sailors :)
While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I heard two guys asking the staff where they could buy drinks, so I immediately introduced myself and said that I needed to buy beers too...and that's how I met Franz and Christoph: two Austrian guys travelling in Australia...
At the same time, Emilie and Kim, hearing us talking about going to buy drinks asked for some more...you know how much Swedish drink!! Yes, Emilie and Kim are Swedish and with them there were other two girls from the same land: Beatrice and Johanna. Next to them I looked the adopted sister :)
This impromptu request meant that the staff and the other passengers had to wait for us, which we had to call the taxi and go to the nearest shop in town...but hey, we couldn't leave without beers! :)
Arrived at the boat we started to socialise with the other people: Hugh and Bronwyn, two cousins from Melbourne; 4 English girls from Essex, two of which (we could bet) had the boobs job done :); 4 fun and lovely Brazilian boys; Mark and Shelley from California and a quiet couple from England and Sydney (yes, love at distance)!
Martina took care of our food, Andi - the first German with (too much) sense of humor - and Nigel were our dive instructors...
The first night was more about socialising and getting to know each others, but I went to sleep pretty early, especially when I heard that the alarm in the moring was at 7am...Jeez, it seems a survival tour, more than travelling with all these early mornings!
Anyway, the sleep was needed, so without saying anything I went to bed...
The day after we went to the famous and amazing Whitehaven beach...unfortunately it was cloudy and the picture don't make justice, but it was really stunning!
Still unfortunately, it's blue bottle (or deadly jelly fish) season so we had to wear the wet suit every time we wanted to bath, but still...it was fun!
Additionally, as you can see in the picture, there were many stingrays (those ones that killed the famous Australian Irwin a few years ago), so we had to be really carefully...and, yes I need to add something more: there were so many huge flayers, that seemed like they could eat us alive...which disturbed our paradise sensation, but put on a balance all these warnings and, on the other side, people, a crazy man wearing a bear suit, the stunning view, the amazing white sand and the heat...it was a winning situation!
The best way we found to socialise was to sing on the boat deck the National anthems of each of our countries...or, simply singing O Sole Mio, Imagine and other classics...and Emilie, for some reasons introduced the trip sound: WIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!
That night we had such a great fun playing "I've never ever...", which, as everyone that has played it before knows that it's a way to get intrusive in other people's lives about their sexual story/habits! It was pure fun and the litres of beers soon helped to open up! :)
Other than the lovely and truly fun crowd of boys and girls I was surrounded by, it was a real pleasure having met Mark, a charming 50 years old, business consultant from California...he's into environment and alternative energies industries and we got into so many interesting conversations that we decided to start collaborating about some ideas he and I have had for a while! This is actually pretty exciting as he gave me the right dose of inspiration to start writing down a business plan that has been stacked in my mind for at least one year!
The following day we did snorkeling: A M A Z I N G!!! When I did it back in Thailand, it was great, but here the coral is still alive and so colorful that looking at it in so many colours, it's as exciting as seeing fish! I saw rainbow fish and so many more, which I checked on the list but I forgot the names...just trust me! All amazingly colorful and playful!
Same day, reached the Great Barrier Reef, we could take advantage of a dive introduction...I really wanted to do it, but I was literally petrified! In fact, I asked Andi if he could take my hand while we were under the water! He took me seriously, so once under that water, I realised I looked silly, in a group of 4 people being the only one hand in hand with the instructor, so when I pointed to Andi that I felt OK and he could leave me alone, he refused! After, he explained me that when he tried to leave me, I went up so it was easy to hold me rather than keep pulling me down! Reasons? First I bicycle rather than slowly move the fins, second maybe I need more weight :)
It was really great (unfortunately I didn't see turtle - and most of the others did)...but I saw the Shrek fish: a big green/blue fish with big lips and big eyes which kept getting close to us and it seemed like he looked us with an attitude, almost like he was saying: I couldn't be bothered!!
This is wet season at the Tropics, so I knew that the weather was going to be a gamble, but I guess we'd been really lucky....no rain, except for one night (the Australia day, to allocate it properly) when the water was so rough and wavy that a few people were sea sick...and those that weren't sick, needed to lie down (preferably) on the deck outside...I was one of those!
Apart this (expected) moment, the sailing at Whitsundays win the price for the best and funniest experience on the East Coast of Australia!! The people, I guess contributed to win the nomination! Nice to meet you all :)
No comments:
Post a Comment