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!
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