The Whitsundays

The one thing we wanted to tick off on the East Coast was the Whitsundays. Bro had been before and loved it, so I was super keen to see what all of the fuss was about and it didn’t disappoint!

We went on a two-day, two-night boat trip on the Condor, an ex-racing boat which could host 30 people. After rather worrying weather reports we totally lucked out with incredible weather, not a spot of rain, and to remind us even more how lucky we were, we even had cracking views of the nasty thunder storm that was rumbling on the mainland.

We’d been told to take our own alcohol, so this time we made sure we weren’t the only dry couple in the group by picking up two boxes of 4litre wine (yes, a little overkill admittedly) that cost eleven bucks each!! Our smugness at having remembered this was somewhat subdued by the fact that the cashier took one look at us and said something to the effect of…”you know this isn’t proper wine, right?! This is ‘Goon’….(pause)…it’s what all the young backpackers drink”.

Age snub aside though, it was an absolutely fab few days of sun, fun and frolics on the boat with what can only be described as an awesome and eclectic bunch of people (25 Europeans and two rather disgruntled looking Chinese to whom I made frequent attempts to befriend but who just smiled politely in return). We went to Whitehaven Beach, which is just magnificent, and we went snorkelling on the coral reef (a fringe coral of the Great Barrier Reef). It was awesome! After one immensely sweaty night in the bunks (no aircon and plastic mattresses!!) we ended up spending the second night sleeping on deck under the stars which was pretty bloody spectacular, and meant I got to enjoy a rather gentle but magical sunrise before anyone else had woken up. One of those moments I’ll think about when I’m back at work this time next year! 

Pretty bloody awesome.