Whitsunday Islands via Sailboat

On Thursday morning Debbie and I walked down to the Abel Marina in Airlie Beach to board a sailboat for the day.  We chose this particular boat because we were told he takes no more than eight passengers.  After being on the "tourist boats" twice already this trip we figured it was time for a different type of adventure.

The sailboat we travelled on (yes the sails were up when we were sailing) 

We were greeted by Julie, the husband of skipper Regge.  At this point we found out that there would be just three passengers on the boat - Debbie, myself, and a lady named Rachel.  The three of us boarded the boat and headed out to sea.  Regge was a very informative skipper and it was like he was taking three of his good friends out to sea.  Debbie and I both felt like we were living the high life.  We sailed between the Whitsunday Islands for about two and a half hours before stopping near Black Island.  Regge is the only day tour operator that is allowed to visit the island so Rachel, Debbie and I were left on our own little island. Before being brought to the island Regge made sure we all had snorkels, masks, and wetsuits.  We also had large fish approach us at the boat (Bat Fish I think).  We fed the fish some cookies and then Regge gave us clear instructions on where the good snorkeling was. He then dropped us off on the island.  I took a few photos and then started to snorkel.  Unfortunately at some point doing my snorkel my underwater camera bag decided to leak.  Needless to say my camera may have taken it's final photo.  (After some advice I have rinsed it with fresh water and now I'm just waiting to see if it dries and works again but if it doesn't at least it had a good long life in digital camera speak).

A bat fish (I think) right at the boat's edge.

Mr. Bat Fish under the water.

The wrecked camera bummed me out a bit, but it was old and I knew at some point it would need to be replaced so I didn't let it bother me too much.  After the snorkle Regge returned to the island with some lunch for us.  If I had my camera I would have taken a photo because the lunch looked fantastic.  It included smoked fish and a variety of fruits and vegetables as well as bread and cheese.  It also tasted fantastic.

The little boat that brought us from the sailboat to our private island.

Once lunch was finished we had a bit more time to take in some of the sun before heading back to the marina.  I guess I was feeling a bit cocky because on the trip home I decided not to put my sea bands on.  I figured I'd been on so many boats the past few days without getting sick that maybe I didn't need the bands any more.  Anyhow, big mistake of course.  The waters were super rough (and it was really windy) and my stomach started feeling very unsettled.  Thankfully I didn't throw up but I did spend a fair bit of time laying horizontally at the bottom of the boat for the ride back.  

Overall it was another fantastic day.  Even though my camera may be broken for good, and I spent a good part of the journey home on resting on the deck floor it was still by far my favourite boat journey of this vacation.

Our private reef and island.

Yes, it was a very tough day AGAIN.

Unfortunately Debbie and I are flying back to Melbourne later this evening.  It's been a really wonderful vacation and I even managed to get a bit of sun kissed skin.  It should help get me through the next few weeks of work before I head of to Darwin in early August.

Whitsunday Islands via Jet Boat

Today was the first of my two adventures in the Whitsundays.  My sister and I were booked on the Reefjet Whitehaven Beach and Islands Discovery Tour.  The shuttle bus picked us up just a little past eight and we boarded our ship.  The ride out to our first stop (Hill Inlet Lookout) was pretty rough and for those of you who know me from my dragon boat days I get sea sick real easily and real quickly.  Thankfully I armed myself with my seabands and some ginger motion sickness tablets.  I'm not sure which one was working harder but I managed to get to our first stop with only a tad bit of queeziness (sitting in the direct sea wind didn't hurt either).

 

The boat ride.

Our first stop Hill Inlet, Whitehaven Island

(We were brought to shore via a smaller boat to do a small hike to a look out).

View from the look out.

View from the look out looking towards Whitehaven Beach

We were at our first stop for about an hour as we needed to be shuttled via little boat from our big boat onto the island and back again.  While we waited for everyone to get back on board we saw a sea turtle swimming.  It was pretty cool.

Our next stop was the famous Whitehaven Beach.  It was incredible.  It stretched for miles.  The sand was white and real real soft.  The water was a variety of shade of blue/green and each time you looked at it it looked different. The only bad part was that the clouds were having fun with my sunshine.  But what ever, it was beautiful.  We spent about 90 minutes here.

Whitehaven Beach

(The boat I arrived on is in the background too)

Me sitting on Whitehaven Beach

From Whitehaven Beach, on Whitehaven Island we headed to our last stop - Border Island for snorkelling.  I didn't really know what to expect after snorkelling at the great barrier reef just a few days ago.  But again I was NOT disappointed.  This time I took a ton more photos (mainly coral again) but I did get some "wild life" pictures too.  I've included a couple of those for you to enjoy.

One of the fish I saw while snorkelling at Border Island.

A cool looking clam.

A sea turtle.

We stayed at the snorkel sight for about 90 minutes before we headed back to the mainland.  Again the waters were rough but again I managed to keep my stomach intact - thank goodness.  As we were approaching the marina the sun was setting.  It was a great way to end an excellent adventure.

Sunset from that boat as we were approaching the marina.

Tomorrow Debbie and I are heading back out to the islands, but this time we will be sailing.  I'm a bit worried that I really may get sick tomorrow but hopefully I won't and I'll be able to update this tomorrow.  We only have two more sleeps here in Queensland before we head back to REAL Australian winter in Melbourne.  Brrrrrrrrrr

 

A bit more of Surfer's Paradise and Airlie Beach - Day 1

On our final day in Surfer's Paradise Debbie and I were up early enough to catch the sunrise.  In addition I took a few more pictures of the Surfer's Paradise beach and I posted one here for you.  

Sunrise from our Surfer's Paradise apartment

Surfer's Paradise Beach just by our apartment.

Unfortunately our shuttle back to the airport in Brisbane forgot to pick up Debbie and I but once the error was noticed and corrected we still managed to get to Brisbane on time for our flight.  We arrived safely at Prosperine airport here in Queensland.  It's a very tiny airport where the luggage shows up on the vehicle that collects it from the plane and you pick it off the cart.  No worry though we found our bags.  We boarded the bus and were off to our apartment. The air was a bit cool but we could tell it would be warm during the days (remember it is winter here).  After a bite to eat and a stroll around the town we were off to bed.

This morning we woke to another great view.  We  spent the day exploring Airlie Beach and soaking in some sun.  I went on a 6 km walk along the shore line and soaked in the amazing views.  We also booked two day trips. On Wednesday (tomorrow) we're off on a boat cruise which will be traveling past many of the whitsunday islands  stopping at three islands including the famous Whitehaven Beach.  We will be snorkeling again too.  On Thursday we're on a small sailing vessel which will have no more than 8 guests on it.  I think we'll be part of the crew as we sail around the islands.  We will also go to one Island that only this boat is allowed to stay at.  Again there will be more snorkeling. I'm really excited for both adventures.  Anyhow here are a few photos I took today.  I'm sure there will be many more to come.  Enjoy.

The view I woke up to this morning.

The view from the shore - notice all the sailboats and the beautiful water.

A glimps at some of the 74 Whitsunday Islands

More coast line and sail boats.

Sunset from my apartment.

Sunset from my apartment a bit later on.

Surfer's Paradise and a Half Marathon Too!

Before I get on with my post from Surfer's Paradise I need to tell you that I DID see the most deadly snake in the world.  Thankfully it was already dead as you can see in the photo below with its guts hanging out.  Apparently when we were in Palm Cove there were snakes all over the place, we just thankfully never saw any.

Anyhow I arrived safely into Surfer's Paradise after an uneventful flight and drive from Brisbane.  I checked into my apartment and was blow away by my tenth story ocean view.  What a way to welcome me to Surfers.  Debbie arrived a few hours later.  We did our half marathon registration duties and checked out the town.  It's pretty touristy (to say the least) but the Gold Coast beaches are just amazing and seem to go on for miles and miles.  Needless to say we walked along the beach for a while.  Unfortunately it wasn't warm enough to lie out on the beach.

Sunset our first night.

On Saturday we walked around a bit and hoped onto a bus to the "UGG Factory".  While there I hummed and hawed a bit but in the end I didn't make a purchase this time because they didn't have what I was thinking about buying.  (I'll be back through here in September with my two good friends Tammy and Nancy B). Debbie was able to find a pair in the "seconds" bin for a great price.  We also spent a lot more time walking on the beach.

I'm leaning towards the pair on the left second shelf from the top

 but I'd like chocolate brown I think.

More Uggs to choose from.

A typical beach scene here on the Gold Coast.

Another beach typical scene.

Although it was my birthday we didn't do anything too exciting.  We were in bed pretty early too because the half marathon started at 6:20 am!  Needless to say the 4:40 am wake up was early.  The Gold Coast Marathon/Half Marathon/10km/and 5km event is very very well organized.  We were two small blocks to the bus pick up and easily made it to the race site.  It was quite chilly in the morning but as the sun rose the temperatures increased although it never got too warm. It was a beautiful course.  As you may or may not know I have run two 10 km runs, and two 90 min. runs since I signed up for this race five weeks ago.  It could be said that I was NOT trained AT ALL.  I went in with no time goals, just to have fun and to keep injuries at bay.  In the end it didn't take me nearly as long as I had figured and it wasn't even my slowest half marathon on record.  I was about 20 min slower than usual but who cares.  If you see the photos below you'll see that the views were well worth enjoying for an extra 20 minutes.  And the best part of all is that I'm not too sore today either.  Which makes me think... why train for these things anyhow???  Just kidding.  I will do my best to train for the next half on the agenda.

I just LOVED this shirt.  

It's a run club I could totally fit into.

We passed several little bays like this on the run.

(Notice the rough weather conditions - NOT!)

We ran along this shore for a while.

Overall it's been a good few days on the Gold Coast.  Debbie and I are off to Airlie Beach which is a jump off point for the Whitsunday Islands.  The weather is suppose to be a bit warmer (maybe mid 20's) which hopefully allow for a little r and r and on the beaches.  Melbourne winter is waiting for me and I'd like to return with a bit of sunshine memories.

Before I end this here are a couple more shots.  These last two shots were taken from my apartment here in Surfer's.  Now you'll understand what an incredible view we've had.

Keep in touch!

View from my apartment .

Sunset sky from my apartment window.

Northern Queensland - June 29 - July 3, 2009

School holidays term two couldn't have come quickly enough.  Melbourne winter hasn't been too bad (for a Canadian that is) but I was eager to get some warmth.  After what seemed like a long travel day I finally arrived in Palm Cove one of the Northern Beaches of Cairns.  Palm Cove reminded me a lot of Kanapali on Maui.  It has a beautiful beach but in general it's a pretty quiet place to be.  It was just what I needed to kick off my holiday.

Sunset from the Plane

Since my sister Debbie wasn't arriving until mid day on Tuesday I decided to book a day tour to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation.  It was a nice day adventure and I was able to see a bit more of Northern Queensland.  During the tour we visited Mossman Gorge, walked through a small part of the rainforest, visited a wild life park, tried exotic fruit ice cream, had lunch on the beach of Cape Tribulation (where the Great Barrier Reef meet the rainforest), took a river cruise on the Daintree River, and visited Port Douglas.

Mossman Gorge

Salt Water Crocodiles!!

Daintree River 

Cape Tribulation

My sister Debbie arrived safely and it was nice to see her.  We went for a nice dinner and planned her first full day in Australia.  We decided that since she had just travelled close to 24 hours a day of r and r was on the agenda.  After a short run Debbie and I spent the morning at the pool, the afternoon at the beach, and the evening in Cairns.  It was a very tough day but some how we survived it.  We also booked our tour to the Great Barrier reef for the following day.  Seeing Cairns I'm so glad Julie from work recommended that we stay in Palm Cove in stead of Cairns.  Cairns was just a bit tourist trap city while Palm Cove was pure luxury.

This is the little rainforest walk that was on our resort in Palm Cove.

(My sister is in the photo if you look closely enough)

Palm Cove Beach - yes a tough place to be!

On Thursday morning we were picked up and brought to Port Douglas to board our ship out to the Great Barrier Reef.  We were very lucky because conditions were perfect - limited wind, and clear visibility both above and below the water.  I DIDN'T get sea sick either - which is huge for me.  On the boat Debbie and I went to an introductory dive briefing.  Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to give it a go because of my asthma. Debbie was and gave it a go.  Unfortunately her ears wouldn't settle so she also had to bail on the idea.  But, the reef we went to (Opal Reef) was super shallow so we could still get up close.  I had a special case to make my digital camera water proof.  It didn't give me the best photos but I've included some of them below.  We did see a ton of cool colourful fish but none of them turned out too well.  Over all it was an excellent day.  We went with the Haba company and everything was just so relaxed, friendly, and well organized.

Sad me because I can't try a dive.

This is what the reef looks like from above the water.

Coral

More coral.

More coral.

You know what this is.

And this.

And finally this.

Me, on the boat.  You'll notice I'm with out a hat because it flew into the water and I'm sure is now being enjoyed by a SHARK!

A little island (I don't remember it's name).

Port Douglas

Right now I'm on the Gold Coast at Surfer's Paradise.  While it's a bit cooler here the sky is a beautiful blue, the sand is soft, and the water looks amazing.  Tomorrow Debbie and I are running the Gold Coast Half Marathon.  Since I really haven't trained I do look forward to taking many  photos along the way.

This isn't such a bad place to have a birthday.

I'll try to update again soon, I just don't know when I'll get internet access.  In Palm Cove it was a total rip off but thankfully for a cup of coffee at McD's I have free internet.  I just don't want to spend all my time here.  Until next time...