Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands

Airlie Beach is beautiful, one of the most picturesque places I have visited in Australia so far. As we drove in along the coastal cliffside road we were greeted with an unbelievable view. Hundreds of gleaming white boats were moored up in the marina and the sun was just starting to set over the bright blue water.

This is what I came travelling for, to see places like this. The whole town is really laid back and our hostel was no different. It was so unlike the other hostels I have stayed in. Outside there were hammocks, big enough for 2 people to lie in (we know, we tried) that over looked the bay. On a night we would just lie there and look at the stars,

On Friday morning we parked up the car and walked along the boardwalk to the marina where we were to catch our boat, the Wings 3. We had decided to avoid the notorious party boat and opted for a more relaxed trip instead and we were glad we did. The boat held around 22 passengers and three crew members. Although we were expecting it to be a lot bigger, it was still deceptively spacious.  The group we went with was an eclectic mix made up of every nationality. Everyone was really friendly and the crew were great.

 

In typical Lucy style, within the first half an hour of being on the boat my bikini top popped open and I flashed to half of the boat. Mortified doesn’t even come close to how I felt but everyone else, Dean in particular, thought it was hilarious!

Embarrassing moment aside, we had chosen the perfect weekend to go sailing. There was no wind and the sea was like glass, good news for our seasickness as this is one of the things we had been worried about beforehand.

Our first port of call was the famous Hayman Island. This is where the rich and famous come and stay when they visit the Whisundays. It is privately owned and Rich, one of the crewmen, told us that Will Smith had once paid $40,000 to dive there. Luckily for us, the other side of the island is a national park and owned by the Australian government, meaning we could moor up the boat and go snorkelling.

As the water was so calm, it also meant it was perfectly clear. This by far stands out as my favourite snorkelling spot so far. It was so relaxed and peaceful and the fish we saw were beautiful. Now if I’m honest, I kind of had the attitude that a fish is a fish, you see one and you’ve seen them all but some of the ones we saw there were really incredible.

That night, as we were sailing towards our overnight destination and watching the sun go down, we saw Dolphins jumping next to the boat. I have seen dolphins in marine parks but never in the wild so this was really special for me and I think I will remember it for a long time.

 

The next morning, we woke up early to go and explore the stunning Whitehaven Beach, known for its beautiful white sands. It didn’t disappoint. The water was crystal clear and the views from the lookout were spectacular.  As far as views go, this is going to be pretty hard to top. Whitehaven is paradise.

 

 

Although nothing could top the morning, the afternoon was also pretty incredible as I saw my first sea turtle. It was huge and nothing like I expected. I have been diving and snorkelling about 4 times now and I had missed them every time so this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We are now back on dry land and at the beginning of an eight and a half hour drive to our next stop at 1770. This is where Captain Cook first landed when we discovered Australia. We are supposed to be going on the castaway experience but have been told that the plane that takes us there is broken so we aren’t sure if we will be able to now. Both myself and Dean will be pretty gutted if this is the case as it is one of the things we were both looking forward to.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If we don’t get to go on the trip I’ll update again after Fraser Island this weekend.

Much love to you all,

Luce xxx

Dalbeg and life after the farm

Life in Dalbeg was...interesting. When Amy and I pulled up at the Dalbeg Inn, I immediately thought I had landed in my own personal version of hell. My phone had stopped picking up signal about 5 minutes before we reached the farm which meant no calls, texts or, worst of all, internet.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I thought of the 'Dalbeg Inn'. I was used to outback pubs looking a little run down, even by English standards. That said, I was still expecting the Inn to at least be an Inn. What greeted us was a house with a shop/ common room tacked on to the side of it and a shed in which we were to pay $140 a week to sleep in.  One look at Amy's face and I knew she was wondering whether we had made a mistake going there.

That said, we soon settled in. The '1st generation' only had a couple more days left at work before getting their 2nd year visas signed off and everyone was in a really good mood.They all told us they had loved working on the farm and that their three months had gone so fast. They warned us that the boss was very strict and that at least half of the group they had started with had either quit or been fired. Luckily, the first week was pretty easy, especially for me (I had something like 5 days off out of 7) and we were still getting signed off for the days we didn't work. We were drinking every other night for various leaving parties and the days we worked we were usually finished by about 2 so we spent the rest of the day lazing about or heading into town.

After the old group left, the work started picking up and some days could be really tough. We were working from 7.30am to 6.30pm at night and everyone was exhausted. The only thing getting us all through was the thought of our second year visas and everyone else on the farm. In a short time we had become a family, eating and socialising together.

Unfortunately, 7 weeks into our stay, there was a crash in the market and our boss was failing to make a profit. We all went out one morning and when we came in for lunch she called a meeting and told us that she was closing the farm effective immediately. I was ok, I had another 7 months to do another 6 weeks worth of regional work and it meant that I could leave with Dean, the guy I had been seeing on the farm. He had already got his visa and was due to leave a month before me so in some ways it worked out well for me. It wasn't such good news for some of my friends who didnt have a lot of time to complete their regional work. We all had one last party that night to say goodbye before a group of us headed back up to Cairns the next morning.

As you all know, I had visited Cairns twice previously but I was happy to go back as I really love the place. I wanted to show it off as most of the people we were travelling with had never been and I wanted them to love it as much as I did.

While on the farm I had promised Dean that I would do a skydive once we got to Cairns so when we got there that was one of the first things we looked into. There was also a number of things we wanted to do as we travelled down the East Coast so myself, Dean and our friends Caroline and Richard all went into the travel agent and booked a reef trip, a 14,000ft skydive, a trip to fraser island, a trip around the Whitsundays and a castaway experience.

I had already been scuba diving on the great barrier reef but I didn't mind doing it again. I think I actually preferred it this time as I was more used to the feeling of breathing underwater so I could relax and enjoy it.

The thing I was most scared about was the skydive. We rang up on the Monday and booked it for the following Saturday. At the time, it felt like it would never happen but all too soon it was upon us. Saturday morning my stomach was in knots and by the time we were in the bus on the way to the airport my nerves had really kicked in. My instructor was great. He was a dick and kept winding me up, but in a way it made me relax. I think just having someone reassuring me would've just made me over think it all, he kept me distracted. The worst part was watching two girls jumping at 11,000ft.in what felt like no time at all we had climed the other 3,000ft and it was my turn. Happily, my friend Rich had to go first and watching him look so scared kept me from thinking about how scared I was. It turned out I didn't really have time to be scared anyway. Before I knew it I was out of the plane and trying to remember how to breathe, not easy when you are falling 200km an hour.

It was the most incredible experience of my life and by the time I reached the bottom I just wanted to go up and do it again, I can see how people get addicted. The one thing I was disappointed about was that I couldn't afford the video and if I do it again I will definitely get one.

I am now in Airlie beach for 2 days before going sailing around the Whitsunday's on Friday. The place is absolutely beautiful and the hostel is the most chilled out place I've stayed since I came to Oz. I've been here five months now and I am excited I am finally getting to travel as I haven't been able to since I arrived.

Once we finish our trips I am going straight back to work so I am treating this as a mini holiday.

Thinking back, I have done so much other stuff but this is turning into one mammoth entry so I will make the conscious effort to update more in future.

Hope everyone is well at home.

Much love to you all,

Luce xx