Days 18-21 - The Whitsunday Islands

Day 20 - Summertime
Originally uploaded by photog larry.

Next day was another early day to catch our flight out of Carins to the Whitsunday Islands, a little further down the coast. The flight was uneventful, and we landed in Hamilton Island (one of the Whitsunday Islands). We spent a bit of time on the island just waiting for our ferry and took a few pictures.

Just looking out at the harbour, we knew that this was going to be a great trip.

The ferry ride stopped enroute to Arlie Beach at another of the Islands, Daydream Island. Daydream and the rest of the Islands feature resorts that are both lavish and expensive, as noted by the welcome band when the ferry docked.

Alas, we had money to stay there, and had opted for our adventure sailing tour, so off we went to the mainland.

At port, we had to take a bus into town. We stared at the bus map for awhile, trying to figure out which bus we would have to take. After some trouble, asking questions, and looking at the map again, we realized that there was only one bus, and that it would take us exactly where we needed to go. Basically, there is one main road in Arlie Beach, and the rest is not really worth going around to.

We dropped our crap off at the hostel we would be staying at for the night, and headed for the main strip in search of food, internet, and the “Beach” at Arlie Beach. Unfortunately, there really is no Beach at Arlie Beach, just a fake, man made lagoon. Basically, a big swimming pool. We felt the beginnings of a scam….Nonetheless, we enjoyed a good swim. Rest of the day was pretty much a write off, checking into our sailboat, buying random crap that we thought we would need, and eating off of recommendations from the Lonely Planet (which were once again pretty accurate in their descriptions).

Next day, it was up early, and over to the docks, where we boarded our ship, the Summertime. The Summertime is a classic style wooden sailing yacht, with around 16 beds. 2 are “private” cabins – which basically amount to a useless door. Of course, we chose to have the private cabin, and I realized that we had been had. Fortunately, the “upgrade” had only cost us about $50AUD, so not a big deal. It did give us a bit of extra space and few extra hooks, so I guess it was ok…

Stangely, one of the couples (an Austrian couple) from our Uluru trip seemed to be following us everywhere. There were on our plane ride out of Alice Springs to Cairns, and now they suddenly appeared on our boat in the Whitsundays! Crazy. We didn’t talk to them a whole lot though, because of the severe laguage barrier.

The boat was pretty compact, but still managed to have 2 bathrooms, a dining area, a kitchen, a jacuzzi, and plenty of space on deck.

Though I had expected it, I didn’t feel clausterphobic at all. Anyways, we took off, and embarked on our sailing tour - and i realized that this was no scam. The cruise took us to various spots on the islands, in order to enjoy the views, the beach, diving, snorkelling, and kayaking. Every spot that they took us to was fantastic, including the pristine Whitehaven Beach. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our cameras there, because we were afraid of the silica sand on the beach. So we don’t have too many pictures available. Fortunately, a DVD with all of the group pics were available for sale by the crew…how convenient!

Anyways, we can’t explain everything on the trip, and really, the gist of it is in the pictures.

Here's the full set at flickr.

This areas is absolutely spectcular, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Kev said it was the highlight of his entire stay in Aussie, and I can’t say that I would disagree. It is simply breathtaking, and no $2000 camera can capture it correctly. You just gotta see it for yourself.

Linda ended up going on an introductory dive, and I unfortunately, came down with an ear infection. This was likely from the swim day on Uncle Brians, where we were swimming in all of those natural swim holes. Oh well, no regrets. Anyways, ear infections obviously preclude you from diving, since you need clear ears to regulate the pressure build up underwater. So I stuck to being careful with my ears and snorkelling. Its funny though, I have a feeling I saw more than Linda on her dive, because she was more concerned with learning how to dive, and missed a few things. In one instance, I was floating right above her, taking pictures, of the scuba guys floating around a giant clam. When I asked linda if she had seem it, she told me no, even though it was right in front of her. So I had to take her over to see it in snorkel gear. I still wish had had gotten to scuba, as I was really looking forward to it, but oh well – gives me an excuse to go back!

Anyways, that’s really all I will say about our 3 days in the Whitsundays. What a great time! We decompressed for a day on Arlie Beach before heading off to Sydney, for the final stop of our tour!