The Whitsundays

What a stunning place...the islands, the water, the marine life - all so beautiful.

When we sailed out on Sunday (1st June) it was raining quite heavily and the wind made the sea pretty choppy. It wasn't the most pleasant start but thankfully it also wasn't a sign of things to come!

The next day and a half were hot and sunny. We were taken by surprise the when we felt our skin burning in the heat at 9am whilst on Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island (one of 74 islands). Luckily this was shortly followed by snorkelling in two different bays. Both times I saw some bizarre growth at the bottom, a lot of weird and wonderful fish and a couple of HUGE fish. Many saw turtles too! On the final morning it was sunny and warm again but I gave the snorkelling a miss. And I'm glad I did as no one aside from Wez saw very much at all!

We were on a boat called Habibi (which means 'my friend' in arabic i think). The food was excellent, even for a vegie surprisingly. The skipper and two other staffers were great too. Everyone on board (27 people) was really nice, although no one really got to know the 4 Germans who never spoke to anyone lol.

I spoke to my uncle soon after I got back to find out Brisbane and the areas surrounding have been experiencing A LOT of rainfall...floods even. Other travellers we've spoken to have had their fraser island trips cancelled due to 100mph winds! It seems the storm we had on our last night at fraser was the start of a really bad week of weather. Really glad we've moved along as fast as we did now.

James and I booked a package for 3 activities in Cairns today. It was expensive but should make Cairns one of the best parts of the trip.

Tomorrow we move on to Townsville and straight onto a ferry to Magnetic (Maggie) Island. One night there and then one on Mission Beach. Nearly at the end of Australia....