Whitsunday Islands trip

Most fun to be had on a pontoon...
Originally uploaded by timbo262

Some might say we we're greedy to take a second holiday (after NZ) this past Christmas/New Year and they'd probably be right - but I've always been one for plenty of holidays to different places and remember something a good friend mad Geof once said "you've got to be out there doing stuff and not sitting around thinking about it"...

Anyhow, the trip to Whitsunday Islands up in Queensland, Australia was the idea of Kris and Sarah, friends from the UK who planned to be over for New Year. They suggested it way back in mid 2008 before I knew much about the Whitsunday area but knowing Kris as the well traveled bloke he is let them do all the organising. Him and Sarah got us a great apartment in Airlie Beach called Portside Apartments and Kallan and Nat the other couple coming along sorted cheap flights.

Airlie Beach is pretty small but has all you need and is a good base for trips out to the Islands themselves. After some debate (you know me) we all kinda agreed to go on one larger boat trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef and one smaller one to Whitsunday Island and the famous Whitehaven beach. Only two operators go to the GBR and unfortunately both take huge groups of people with not a lot of adventure involved. After a horrifically long journey to which Mel felt seasick all the way to the reef (our boat broke down) we we're dropped on the pontoon where the hoards of people filed off and into the enclosed area for snorkeling around (and over if you dare evade the security who are circling in boats which Mel and I did) a rather worn out and colourless reef. Before snorkeling with Mel I did shoot down for a scuba dive, the deepest we could go before hitting the bottom was about 13 metres and the diving was pretty unattractive but worthwhile only for the huge Maori Wrasse fish who pretty much followed us on the dive the whole 45 mins we we're down - awesome!
The only other activity worth mentioning on this day trip was the water slide off the pontoon into the ocean, always a crowd pleaser and a whole lot of fun for the big kids among us.

The second day trip we took on a smaller, faster speed boat with only 25 people was a lot better. We could get around Whitsunday Island quickly and go places the bigger boats couldn't get. Our captain, a friendly South African was great to talk to and very cautious while making sure we had some fun and got the adrenaline going. Hats off to Ocean Rafting, an award winning business who know how to organise a great day out on the water.

The rest of the trip was spent either in the apartments pool, eating, drinking or getting plenty of sleep.

A few tips if planning a trip to the Whitsundays:

1. don't believe the hype about 'stingers', they are there I'm sure but we didn't see any and the suits you can hire to protect yourself are no fuss at all
2. don't try to get to the outer Great Barrier Reef from Airlie Beach, save that for when you are further up North as I'm sure it's more spectacular than the disappointingly destroyed spot they take you to
3. go on a trip with Ocean Rafting, they rock in my opinion! Oh and make sure they take you to Mantaray Bay to snorkel, stunning!

Bonza
Tim

P.S. Mel's pregnant, but most of you already know that right...