Whitsunday Sailing & Gav's Birthday! - 26th March

The weather was still very windy and rainy, so we set off at 7am and arrived safely back at Airlie Beach at 11am – all feeling a bit seasick, and glad to be back on land.

Once we grabbed our backpacks back out of the luggage store and dumped them in our room, we were determined to make the most of Gav’s birthday. Our friends Lee and Jess had just got off their Whitsundays Sailing trip and were waiting for their room to become available. We met up with them for a pint to kill some time for them and celebrate. It was great to compare notes on the past couple of weeks that we hadn’t seen each other.

As we walked out of the bar, we saw Lynsey, Zoe and Rhod from our Fraser Island trip and they started singing Happy Birthday really loudly so the whole street could hear, suitably showing us up! It was great to see them all and they told us that they were going to a free Didgeridoo lesson later in the day and so we arranged to see them at that. Quite random but sounded great!

In the time that we had to kill, we went shopping and Gav bought a thin jumper that he liked for his birthday. Mand also managed to sneak back to the bar that we planned to drink in that evening and drop off some chocolate birthday cake!

The didgeridoo lesson was fun. It was in a family run shop, where they sold lots of different didgeridoos made by aboriginals, which they can airmail back home for you. The brother and sister running the shop had their father locating the gems for them to sell in the shop too. The lesson started off by teaching the basics of how to breathe and hold your mouth. By this point the shop was jam packed full and Amanda was still swaying from the boat and got busy so she made her way to the door and watched from there under the air conditioning unit! Gav learnt with the group on how to make animal noises, create a beat and manage your breathing with a fast/continuous note –all very clever! There were also signs around the shop explaining what the symbols and animals used to decorate the didgeridoos actually mean – Mand is planning on decorating the one that we have at home when we get back.

With about half an hour to shower and get ready, we planned on meeting all of the friends that we had made, in the local Chinese restaurant. As we were seated, we noticed some amazingly wrapped presents (using local leaflets) that Zoe, Rhod and Lynsey had got that day! Gav was chuffed, especially to unwrap a Barbie, or should we say Barbette, and a fireman dressing up kit (age 6 – 7)! Brilliant! No expense spared!  The Chinese food was nice, and the company was even better! 

We had a great laugh then made our way to the bar where everyone from our boat, including the crew, were having an after-party! The cakes were brought out and the whole bar (about 200 people, including a rugby team) and the guy singing live music sang Happy Birthday to Gav! We ended the night in the Pheonix bar, with a few more drinks, Jagerbombs and a boogy! Our bus was departing at 9am the next morning so we called it a night at 1am, promising to meet friends once we get back to England.

Whitsunday Sailing - 25th March

Although we had to get up at 6am, we had only had about an hours sleep all night and so it wasn’t too hard to ‘wake up’. We jumped into the powerboat that was fixed to the back of the boat and got taken over to Hook Island. With sharp stones and shells on the small beach, we slipped on our flipflops and walked up the boulders and rock steps up to a viewpoint and aboriginal cave with real stencil art from 100s of years ago. We took a few snaps but rushed back down to the sea and there were so many mosquitoes, we wanted to avoid getting bitten more than we already had. Mand said she felt like she was on some ‘fat camp’ – having lack of sleep and walking up a steep path in the morning heat!

By 7am we were sailing towards Whitehaven beach which is a massive stretch of sand on the biggest island in the Whitsundays, called Whitsunday Island, believe it or not. It took 3 and a half hours to sail this bit so we were all ready to step on land again by the time we got there. We were given 2 and a half hours at this stop and so Gav walked up to a lookout point and took some stunning pictures of the ice white sand and bright blue sea, whilst Amanda waited on the beach with Gillian and Hannah, girls from the boat. 

The sand on this beach is so fine that it was used to make the glass for the Hubble Telescope! It also meant you had to be really careful with your camera – a lot of people we’ve met have had cameras break on them because of fine sand – we have had a geeky bright blue waterproof case to keep ours safe and it’s done us proud so far!

As we were leaving the beach, a huge black raincloud came over us all and it started raining really heavy – we were lucky to get some good pictures before this happened. Once it rains here, it’s so so heavy, not like the light rain in England! We will never complain again! 

As we were waiting for the powerboat to pick us up, we were waiting in the rainforest sheltering from the rain and Mand decided to start a friendly conversation with 2 lads opposite. She said “Hi, which boat are you on?”, everyone went silent and started laughing as they replied “The same as you” – clearly the tiredness had kicked in! In an earlier conversation on the beach, Hannah had been talking about the cook and Mand said “Is his name Dave?” when she knew it was Steve (##Correction by Gav – his name is actually Alex...!!!##). Maybe you had to be there with these blonde moments, but it was making us all chuckle.

Once we were all back on the boat – people that Amanda recognised and didn’t – we sailed for a few moments to a beach more protected from the storm, and had another snorkel. Here, we were surrounded by maybe 300 fish on a few occasions, the more you kicked into a different area, more fish came circling. It was absolutely amazing, such a magical experience! Once we swam back to the boat, the crew were throwing bread out to the fish – something that you aren’t meant to do but it meant that people worried about snorkelling got to see lots of fish too – there were fish the size of dinner plates, grey and yellow jumping to the surface. Safe on the boat and suddenly a big group of fish jumped out of the water on the other side of the boat, which meant that there was a prediator in the water they were trying to get away from – more than likely a big shark. The crew called everyone back on to the boat and we moored up for the night.

On our sail to our overnight stay the crew were throwing bits of meat to some massive birds of prey which were flying right next to the boat - it was super impressive to see them swooping down and catching the meat with their claws.

Tonight’s tea cooked by Steve/Dave/Alex was a roast beef dinner! So tasty with mash and vegetables! Unfortunately it wasn’t ready until 10pm but they gave us some dips with veg to keep us all going. We couldn’t knock the food, it was all really well cooked and there was always enough for seconds and even thirds sometimes!

We had a bit of forward planning for tonight’s bed for the night and grabbed the sofa indoors which was a lot comfier and we actually got some good sleep in. The crew had made a big undercover area on one of the trampolines with a tarpaulin which was great, but it was still really windy! The Canadian lads stayed out there and at one point, their pillows lifted from the strong wind whilst their heads were resting on them!

Although we were lying down for bed at 10pm from the tiredness, we were fast asleep when the crew sneaked up to Gav so sing Happy Birthday to him at midnight! He had his eyemask and earplugs on and so once he was tapped on the shoulder, woke up to about 12 faces staring at him, and a video playing on a mobile phone. The captain had a lady saying “Hey Birthday boy, I’ve got a little song to sing to you, oo I’m all embarrassed now...” and then sang Happy Birthday in a seductive tone. It was really funny....but after they played it 27 times, the joke had worn off a bit, as everyone was tired – the captain couldn’t stop giggling at his own video! In the morning it was almost as if we dreamt the strange encounter in the middle of our deep sleep! But Gav went back to sleep having turned the grand age of 27! 

Whitsunday Sailing - 24th March

We put our big rucksacks in storage at the hostel, packing just a small soft bag to take on the boat, with a towel and change of clothes etc. We had the morning in Airlie Beach as the boat wasn’t set to sail until 3pm.

We had a pastry from the local bakery for breakfast – really fresh and yummy, and the people that worked there clearly loved their jobs, it was great! There was a small market in the morning so we wondered around here – lots of locals selling jewellery, souvenirs, pictures, clothing etc. with a local singer on a small stage right next to the white beach and palm trees – there was a great atmosphere, very chilled out. A friendly local nearly sprayed Amanda all over with insect repellent, it took quite an insistent “No, I have my own, Thank you” to get him to back off – he was only being friendly and was dancing away to the music! Mand bought a small aboriginal print that we hope will survive the journey home.

From here, we went to the local hairdressers! Gav had been putting up with his hair getting more and more massive, to the point where he was getting really hot and bothered by it – it was time to get rid! The lady hairdresser knew what she was doing, but with it being her first cut of the day, she said she needed a tea break afterwards because it was hardwork! Gav could again feel the wind passing his head and was ready and raring for the boat trip.

Whilst waiting for the boat, we met a few people that were joining us on Avatar – our handsome Trimaran! A welsh girl called Hannah and welsh guy called Dannie, both realising within minutes that they grew up in the same town in Swansea! And we also had Napoleon Dynamite and his friend Charlotte on our boat! Now, here’s a story – don’t think we have told you about these 2 before. They were also on our Fraser Island trip – part of the Danish car. They both have slightly annoying characteristics of pushing past people and shouting loudly. All of which annoyed people on Fraser Island – everyone that was in our vehicle, after hearing we had Napoleon and Charlotte on our boat felt really sorry for us. In fact, they did manage to annoy people on the boat but kept a lower profile and weren’t quite as annoying.

So, we all jumped on the boat and set sail, having a safety briefing whilst we were moving. There were 3 members of staff on the boat and 26 passengers. The captain, cook and skipper were friendly guys that loved doing what they did and we all felt that we were in safe hands. On the boat, there were 2 excitable Canadian lads, 2 friendly welsh, 3 very nice Swiss girls, 5 English, 1 Irish and 11 Germans!

We sailed for 2 and a half hours on the first day, and reached Hook Island, which used to be an aboriginal settlement. We slipped on our stinger suits (thin suits that protected you from being stung by jellyfish – they covered from your wrists, where you slipped a loop around your thumb, then there’s a zip up the front all the way up to your neck, and there’s loops at the bottom that go round your foot) and went for our first snorkelling experience. Napoleon made us all laugh by jumping out of his cabin in his stinger suit singing “I’m sexy and I know it” – Gav got a good photo of him but he wouldn’t let us video him sing. The snorkelling was good.

lots and lots of beautiful coral but not as many fish as we were expecting. There were some cool fish with black and white stripes and lots of anemone but no Nemo!

We anchored up here too, in between other boats that had moored up for the night. We were all ready for the yummy Spag Bol that Steve the Cook made us – with garlic bread too – it was so nice to be cooked for, rather than having to cook in a boiling hot kitchen amongst lots of other people.

As for bedtime, our sleeping quarters had been allocated – there were 8 double bed cabins around the outside of the boat for couples/friends that didn’t mind sharing. The cabins were small, hot and very claustrophobic – with fibreglass walls, no windows, a plastic mattress to sweat on and a airtight lid, we lasted a whole hour before we couldn’t stand it anymore. 

We ended up sleeping outside on the big trampolines. Not 100% comfy as we kept hearing lots of splashing in the water below and the trampoline was hard plastic too. However, lying under the beautiful night stars with a relaxing sea breeze brushing past was an awesome experience – bit strange lying like sardines in between people we met just a few hours before!

Airlie Beach - 23nd March

After another mammoth lie-in, we then had a greasy bacon and egg roll! And because the lagoon was really pretty, and because it is about the only thing in Airlie Beach to do, other than wonder the shops, we spent the day here again...it’s a hard life! Gav enjoyed playing throw and catch in the lagoon with Alex (a guy from our Fraser Island tour) – apparently, just about a sport, that boys can enjoy for hours! Easy amused!

We popped into the Oz Sail office – the company that we have our Whitsundays Sailing trip booked with – to pick up the paperwork where we sign our lives away! They also gave us a list of things that they suggest we take on board, so we popped to the supermarket to buy some snacks and beers!

Sausage pasta with onions and BBQ sauce was on the menu for tonight! Pasta again!

Airlie Beach - 22nd March

We arrived in Airlie Beach at 3.30am and by the time we found our hostel – Magnums - and called security to let us in it was more like 4.30am – we were well ready for the sleep! Our room was part of a large wooden building set back from the main resort in the middle of a rainforest area – a beautiful canopy of palm trees. The only downsides were the insects and the rain had made the wooden building smell a bit damp. Some a/c soon sorted that out though! We were both surprised that we had slept through til 12pm! Half the day gone already!! Must have needed it though.

Airlie Beach is not a very big beach resort and is the hub for most of the Whitsunday boat trips. People tend to stay a night either side of the trip. However we kept bumping into more and more people that we knew. We thought this was very strange but we learnt that the buses were no longer running any further north of the town due to the flooding. There were even some towns further south that had been isolated by flood water. One bus had even tried to get through a flood and got stuck. The passengers had to climb out the sunroof and be rescued by boat – all their belongings in the bottom of the bus, totally immersed!! This meant that there was a congregation of people in the town all trying to get out! Our friends Lee and Jess were stuck in Agnes Water (south) and had to charter a 4 man airplane to fly them out otherwise they would have missed their Whitsunday trip and lost a lot of money! Also, a German brother and sister, Matias and Patricia (that we met in Fraser) spent 12 hours on a bus one day trying to get north, just to return back to Airlie Beach having made no progress at all! How frustrating! We were very lucky in not getting caught in any of this.

We spent the rest of the day at the manmade lagoon pool. You are not allowed to swim in the sea because of jellyfish that sting so bad that they will kill you! Not to mention the saltwater crocs and sharks! Whilst at the lagoon we bumped into a few more people who we had made friends with along the way!

Back at the hostel we treated ourselves to some 2 minute noodles and went to the hostel bar for a while. Jugs of beer were on special at $8 so it was rude not to really!

Gav had a quick catch up with his parents and then Amanda wanted to sample the local McDonalds... just to check if it was the same as everywhere else!! We both enjoyed the junk food! 

On the walk back to the hostel Amanda saw something in the corner of her eye... there was a good sized brown snake slithering its way down the main street, just minding its own business!! It was the first proper wildlife we had seen in a built up area! A bit scary so we gave it a wide berth and heading to the hostel.

Rockhampton to Airlie Beach - 21st March

It rained like a monsoon until early afternoon. Our bus to Airlie Beach was not until 8pm and we had to vacate the room at 10am! We had no choice but to sit in the communal area of the hostel, amongst the flies and ants and watched films on the laptop. We watched The Inbetweeners and kept getting funny looks from people we were sharing the common room with, as we were crying with laughter watching the funnier scenes more than once! The rain was so heavy that gutters in the hostel were overflowing and there were rivers running everywhere!

As soon as the rain stopped we headed out for a walk to a shopping centre just up the road to pass some time.

The hostel bus took us back to the greyhound stop at around 7.30pm. We heard from the hostel bus driver that because of the weather the bus would be delayed. There were a few of us in the same position so it was ok.

We were talking to our hostel bus driver who was a kiwi working in Oz for a while when an aboriginal guy who was steaming drunk came over. There was an exchange of words and the next thing we knew there were punches thrown. Just goes to show there is still hostility between Kiwis and Aussies – and between White and Black people in both NZ and OZ!  It all calmed down quickly, and although we felt a bit uncomfortable, the group that we were waiting with stuck together, talking about our travels so far.

By 9pm the bus had arrived and a Zoe and Lynsey (two girls from our Fraser Island trip) got off – we were excited to see them! We had a couple of minutes to catch up with them before we were heading on the 7 hour journey to Airlie Beach. The driver put a movie on for the first couple of hours and then it was time to get some sleep. Luckily the bus was quiet so we could have a couple of seats each!

Rockhampton - 20th March

We had heard that the weather was not going to be great and that a Cyclone was coming in so we had to make the most of the dry(ish) day. We walked from the hostel in to the city and along the river embankment. Rockhampton (Rocky) was originally intended to be the capital of Australia, so there are some pretty impressive buildings around. It was however decided that it was too far away from any major ports and larger cities so the idea was scrapped. Now it is synonymous with cattle production for meat and dairy products.

Our first stop in the city was the art gallery, which had a very interesting exhibit on an Australian photographer called Richard Green. He has his own helicopter and flies to very remote locations to take panoramic scenic photos. Some of them were beautiful and worth checking out here: http://www.richardgreen.net.au/ also in the exhibit was art from Australia and Europe.

We walked further along the riverside and stopped to eat our lunch. Where we sat was under 2 meters of water this time last year, it is really surprising how little signs there are of damage considering the scale of the flooding!

We admired some of the beautiful buildings before heading to the high street and wandering around the shops. There was not much happening so we went to a cafe called ‘The Giddy Goat’ and had an ice cream smoothie each – yum yum! It was a funky cafe with a game console installed into one of the tables – we had a match off with a few games but neither of us that skilful with a joystick.

As we were walking home the heavens opened so Amanda invested $1.24 into an umbrella, which could barely stand up to the very light wind in Rocky.... she will have no chance of using it at home, it would just get destroyed!! It did the job though and kept Amanda relatively dry til we got back to the hostel.

The rain was persistent so we watched some films and TV on the laptop before getting some rest. 

Bundaberg to Rockhampton - 19th March

We enjoyed another night in our luxurious room. Our bus to the next destination was at 3pm. Check out of the motel was supposed to be 10am, however the owners said we could stay in the room as long as we wanted as we had been ‘very good guests’ so we used the opportunity to catch up on some blogs and Facebook, as well as sorting out our bags – living the dream!

At around 1pm we started the mammoth 20 minutes walk with all of our bags. Luckily it was quite cloudy so the heat didn’t drain us too much. We arrived at the bus stop in plenty of time so Gav headed off to buy some food supplies to keep us going.

The bus took around 4 hours to get to Rockhampton which was our next stop. We arranged a shuttle to the YHA from the Greyhound stop. It was down a very dark lane behind an industrial estate, so first impressions were not great. We had booked a double room and it was a nice surprise to find that the doubles were in fact en-suite cabins with a/c and a fridge. 

The cabins were actually purpose built to house athletes and the media for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and then sold on afterwards to accommodation businesses. There was a nice plaque in the room detailing that it was officially used for the Olympics.

Hungry and not in any mood to cook, we headed out for a walk and came across a take-away called ‘Noodle Box’. Freshly made noodles to order in a box - just like you see in American films. They were absolutely delicious – probably the best we have ever eaten - and there was enough to last us for a meal the next day also!

Bundaberg - 18th March

After a good lie in we sorted ourselves out and did our washing. There was sand everywhere from the island so we desperately needed it!

After lunch we headed to Bundaberg town centre. 

Bundaberg is associated with a few things –

1)      Bert Hinkler – the famous aviator

2)      Sugar production

3)      Probably most famously – Bundaberg Rum

Apart from these things, there is not much else! The town is set up for farm work and a lot of travellers stop there to satisfy their visa requirements. So it didn’t take long to walk around the historical town. We bought a few bits before heading back to the motel. On the way we walked down Gavin Street - it would have been rude not to take a photo!

Gav watched the full Grand Prix before we got ready for the main event of the day...

Our Motel owner took us 20 minutes down the road to a place called Mon Repos. The bay is named Mon Repos (meaning My Rest in French) after the beach house that was built there many years ago by a French gentleman. We arrived at 7pm and waited in a visitor centre to be called down to the beach. At 11.15pm our call came so we followed a guide through the pitch black and driving rain. When we eventually stopped we were surrounding a nest of a giant loggerhead turtle which was laid around 3 months earlier. We were going to watch baby turtles hatching from the nest and making their way to the freedom of the big ocean! However, as it had been quite cold and rained most of the day, not many nests were hatching and the nest we had surrounded had already hatched earlier in the night. Amanda was so disappointed that there may be nothing to see after all that wait! The guide explained that they would dig out the nest and show us inside, including the broken eggs. They said that if we were lucky there may be one turtle still in there.

The guide dug out one big handful of sand and to everybody’s surprise two little turtles appeared! Wow! They put them into a holding pen while they finished digging. Further into the nest was a clump of grass roots and when the guide removed that, everyone was so excited to see 25 more little turtles appear from the nest. They were so small – shells about the size of a 50p! If the conservation workers had not been there, those turtles would have suffocated in their nest as they would not have the strength to break the roots! They brought a couple of the little guys around to show everybody and allowed us to take some snaps. We could feel the strength in their arms as they tried to move forward – it felt like small nails scratching the palm of your hand.

The next step was to guide them to the water. To do this everybody had to line up from the beach to the water with their legs apart. When you shine your torch in front of you the turtles will walk towards the light. This guides them to the sea. It was beautiful to see them all scurrying down the beach towards the waves. One of them climbed up Amanda’s shoe by accident and then flipped onto its back – very cute! It got itself back on its feet and was on its way!

We left the beach very happy that we had waited around for so long and not even bothered that we were soaked to the bones from the rain! It was a magical experience that neither of us will ever forget! We learnt so much about the amazing animals too – seeing some pretty horrific photos of them being eaten by Aboriginals before they were protected, and lots of examples of plastic floating in the sea killing them. It was amazing to see how much time, effort and money has been put in to research and understand the life cycle of the Sea Turtles.

Hervey Bay to Bundaberg - 17th March

We both slept amazingly well but were still pretty tired in the morning. Our bus to Bundaberg was leaving just after lunch so we had the morning to fill. We decided to investigate the town a little bit. 

On our way out of the hostel we bumped into 4 other people from our Fraser Island group who were lost for something to do so they tagged along with us. We walked around the shops for a while before finding the only Irish Bar in the town. There were two good reasons to buy a pint at 11am... one, it was St Patricks Day and two, Laura, one of the girls with us, was Irish!! It had to be done. As it was Paddy’s day the bar was giving out free green sunglasses, so most of us got a pair and we helped Laura celebrate.... just an excuse for the rest of us really!

We left the others in the bar as we needed to get to the hostel for our bus transfer. Before we left the manager of the tour company approached us.... a 19 year old German girl from our trip had made a formal complaint that our 40-something year old tour guide took advantage of her while she was drunk on the island.... did we know anything about it?! We heard a rumour but couldn’t confirm anything. We later heard that he got the sack!! What a scandal!

We were dropped off for our Greyhound bus and relaxed for the two hour journey to Bundaberg. We had treated ourselves to a motel here as we needed some TLC after the trip and also heard that the hostels are pretty horrible! We were so glad we made that decision! The owner of the hostel collected us from the Greyhound in his swishy car and took us to the motel. We had a lovely big queen bed, air con, a massive TV, own bathroom! What a treat! 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and Gav watched the first F1 qualifying session of the year – at the Melbourne Albert Park circuit where we had been a couple of weeks ago! It was funny to recognise the circuit and specific corners of the track!

Gav made a call to his mum as it was her birthday. It was nice to catch up with home.

Following this was one of the best sleeps we have had on the whole trip!! Well worth the extra Wonga for the room!

Hervey Bay - 16th March

It was our last day on the island and although it was an amazing experience, we were ready to shower the sand off us and get a good sleep!

After performing the March Fly Dance again we packed up camp and drove to Lake Mackenzie – probably the most famous lake on the island. When we arrived it was very cloudy and drizzling so the plan was to have a quick swim then head to a nearby hotel resort for lunch and to escape the weather. However we were so pleased that we hung around because the sun came out and we could really appreciate how beautiful the lake actually was – pristine white sand, emerald green and sky blue water, set against lush green rainforest – stunning. 

A few people, including Mand had stayed back at the vans to stay dry, however when the weather turned they decided to come to the lake, when Mand got out of our van she went to the back, where the door had been left open, and she found a dingo with its head buried in the boot! She screamed and ran back into the van. The dingo pulled out a cooler bag from the back and ran off with it. Mand called over the guide who shut up the back doors and Mand got back out the van. The dingo was still not far away, struggling to lift the cooler bag over a fence, so instead it ripped it open and stole a block of cheese and ran into the bush. The cheese had actually been in the bag for the three days in the hot van, so nobody was going to miss it. After a couple of minutes the dog came back looking for more. It was happy to walk around the vans and have its photo taken, not bothered by humans, only wanting food! Mand got some good shots and rushed down to the beach to show the rest of the group! They were all jealous that Mand had seen the dog and they had not!

We had a great laugh with the group, posing for photos and playing games before heading back to the vans for lunch (what little food we had left!!).

There was a short drive back to the Ferry Terminal and we were on our way back to the main land. Everybody was very quiet on the ferry – the motion of the boat rocked most people to sleep!

Once back at the hostel we emptied the vans and checked in to our room again. We had been given a six bed room sharing with 3 other people from the group so it was good to know everybody there! We toyed with the idea of cooking some food, however the hostel was offering all you can eat dominoes pizza for $10 each.... too good to resist! Most of the group made the same decision. It was the best pizza we had tasted after 3 days with not too much food and lack of sleep!

Fraser Island - 15th March

At dawn and dusk the island fills with March Flies – a large fly roughly the size of a bumble bee, but green in colour! They land on you and will draw blood, but don’t leave a sting like a mosquito. They are quite docile so when they land on you it is possible to swat them! This meant that once everybody was awake, we were all doing the ‘March Fly Dance’ slapping our legs and arms like lunatics! Funny to watch but irritating at the same time. One morning we killed 15 during breaky!

After some cornflakes with warm milk (nice!) and a market-traders wash (a wet wipe and fresh deodorant – even nicer!) we were back in the vans again. The next drive was mostly over the hard sand beach so Manda decided it would be a good opportunity to practice her off-road 4WD skills. She drove for around 20 miles along the 75 mile beach which makes up the whole east side of the island. There was even some pretty extreme off road sections which she took in her stride. The whole group agreed she did an amazing job. Before long we arrived at the bottom of a section which had very deep loose sand. Our guide instructed us to select ‘Low Range’ and 2^nd gear and ‘Don’t be scared to use the accelerator.... a lot!’ Mand hit the gas and we snaked our way through the sand, the engine revving to a deafening pitch! 

We had made it and Mand was extremely pleased with her efforts! We had arrived at Champagne Pools... a section of beach with a natural rock structure just off the shore line. The large waves crash over the rocks and into the salt water pools, causing a Jacuzzi effect in the water – or champagne bubbles as it is cleverly marketed! We had a little swim but the water was very cold and had stingers in it so we spent most of the time catching some rays with the rest of the group.

After a couple of hours we headed back through the boggy sand to the start of a short walk. The ‘short walk’ turned out to be about 15 minutes up a steep hill in the midday sun. Not very pleasant. Although when we emerged at the top we were 65m above sea level on land that stuck out in to the Pacific Ocean, with beautiful views. The place was called Indian Heads and on a calm day you can clearly see sharks, rays, dolphins and wales out to sea. Today the sea was rough so visibility was poor!

Back in the vans again Rhod navigated us back down the beach to our lunch spot – Cathedral Beach. Here there was a little shop and some picnic benches. We devoured our remaining pasta and Gav treated himself to an ice cream. There was some impressive wildlife at this stop = Iguanas the size of dogs roaming round and some VERY large spiders in webs. At one point Gav was talking to Courtney about their dislike of spiders whilst looking at a very large example. At the same time a large ant ran up Gav’s leg and he screamed like a girl, thinking it was spider!! That was very funny but what happened next turned the group into hysterics again. Around 20meters away a large iguana had crawled up a tree and one of the German ladies from our trip was talking a nice close photo of it. Gav’s scream startled the Iguana and it fell from the tree on to its back, right next to the German lady... this then made her scream!! It may have been one of those moments that ‘you had to be there’ but in our tired state it made us laugh!

Lynsey, one of the English girls, decided to have a go driving after lunch. She had never driven anything bigger than a little hatchback and that was more than 2 years ago! After some good encouragement from the group she was on her way and took us too ‘The Pinnacles’ which is a large rock formation – very rare on this sand island! It reminded us of Pancake rocks in New Zealand. Very pretty.

Only a couple of minutes further down the beach, there was a very large shipwreck of the Maheno; a luxury cruise ship that was larger than The Titanic. Bought by the Japanese it was being towed to Japan when it got washed ashore in a storm. It has never moved since. A third of the ship is missing as it was used for target practice in the Second World War. Before this, people actually lived on the wreck and it was used as a school! It is now half under the sand but is still extremely impressive to see the big waves crashing through the tattered frame.

To finish a long day we headed to Eli Creak – a fresh water creek pumping out 4 million litres an hour! It was refreshing (and well overdue) to have a wash in some clean fresh water! Our guide blew up a double inflatable mattress and we floated down the creek under the canopy of the trees, feeding the march flies to the fish as we went!

We headed back to camp just in time as there was a massive storm heading our way. We all huddled under the tarpaulin canopy of the cooking area and the rain pelted down. The canopy started to flood so we had to keep emptying it. Unfortunately our private tent (‘the honeymoon suite’ as it was nicknamed) didn’t stand up to the storm and got flooded! Gav emptied our bags out tent and kept wonderfully dry with a bin-bag dress! Which meant that we ended up gate crashing a tent with Rhod and Alex (2 people from our car)! It was a very hot uncomfortable night!!