The Wetsundays

So we arrived in Arlie beach, gateway to the whitsunday islands and suitably billed as 'a drinking town with a sailing problem'. The town is basically just one road that runs along the habour and is filled with backpacker pubs and clubs. We had a free night in a hostel before our three day sailing adventure. It was nice to be back in a room with a shower again.



We had to meet at the marina at 12.30 the next day to get a briefing and load up before leaving the dock. The boat we were on is called 'the broomstick' (they decided to change the name from marchioness as they thought it might put off some english customers!!!). The boat was a 75ft retired maxi racing yacht so we were looking forward to some good sailing action. We had 24 people on board plus a four man crew, one of whom looked suspiciously like one of the cranky's.





We didn't have to wait long to get our feet wet (literally), after motoring out of the habour we cranked up the main sail and got going. The crew were keen to get us stuck in, so a few of us got stuck in to grinding and hoisting the main masts, which is easily that it looks! Over our three days out at sea the water was pretty choppy and being sat on the high side with our feet dangliging over the sides, we got pretty soaked by all the giant waves crashing over us. It was a bit like a roller coaster ride being thrown around and some moments were alittle hairy flying through at a fast speed of 15 knotts (trust me, that's fast) and it felt as if the yacht was going to tip over any second, but it was all good fun.

We spent most of the day sailing betwen islands and had a brief stop at Whitehaven beach, apparently the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world and we could see why, as it was secluded national park land with perfect clear blue water. We all played cricket on the beacjh in the rain and as we had a walk alon the beach we even saw a leopard shark which was pretty awesome.



The only real downside of the trip came when we went to go snorkelling. We had been offered stinger suits (to protect from jellyfish stings) before getting on the boat, but told that it was up to us whether or not we wanted them as the high season was over and there was not much of a risk. However the crew on the boat said that we should not get in the water without them, and should have been told this before getting onboard. The skipper talked us through the risks, and said that if you get stung you notice a small goose bump like rash on your arm, before getting crippling cramps in your back and needing to be helicoptered out to intensive care for a week. He said that the risk would not stop him going in the water, as only about 20 people a year get stung. With this in mind we decided to have a go and were soon in the water, but it was bloody cold, so we swam around for about ten minutes and then went back on the boat. No problems.

But then lex goes down stairs to dry herself off and comes back on deck with these three patches of red goosebumps on her arm (the first sign of a sting). Everyone eld their breath for a little while, but luckily no other symptoms developed and iot was put down to a bit of coral burn! Panic over, no need to call the helicopter!

In the evenings we dropped anchor and quickly got out our goon (cheap boxed wine) ready for a night of dodgy jokes and drinking games. Our team (team broomstick) was pretty good on the whole with only a handful of irritating americans/canadians. There were two californian barbie dolls dressed head to toe in Dior, gucci etc, everything you don't want to be wearing on a boat (true dumb blondes!) and if this wasn't bad enough they didn't even know there was a war on, let alone heard of Iraq! This was also nicely topped off by yet another annoying canadian who thought he was a rockstar and unfortunately brought his guitar on board... it sadly is as bad as it sounds! Let's just say after a brilliant 3 days of sailing we were both very happy to see land again.



Oh, and adam broke his new digi camera!