Saturday, June 26, 2010

Whitsundays islands

I'm glad you like our trip to Fraser Island. It was just amazing.

We went back to Brisbane to catch a plane to Proserpine Airport. I like the name, it sounds like a Greek tragedy... It is far from being a tragedy, but it looks like a toy airport. Imagine the bush, with nothing but trees and grass, and a building in the middle of nowhere. At each end of that building, there is a gate with a shelter, one for Jetstar, one for Virgin Blue. The luggages are delivered under the shelter, while you register for a bus or a taxi to bring you to Airlee Beach. This is a 40 mn drive. All very cozy. The driver and the other passenger were quite willing to chat and to explain how life was in this little paradise.

I had booked a 2-days trip from Airlee Beach to Whitsundays islands. I was a bit worried because we would arrive in the lateafternoon in Airlee Beach and might be late to check in at the office. To my surprise, the lady call us at the airport to make sure we did arrive safely, and to remind us to come to their office that night, to check our wet suits. Their office was a short walk away from our accomodation (in fact, Airlee Beach is a small village, with only few minutes walks), and the staff was very friendly.

We had a great trip! The group on the boat was nice, the crew was nice too. And the landscapes!!!!!!!!!!
The only detail I did not like was racing. Our boat had quite a racing past, and her skipper was very proud of that. The first afternoon was spent racing with another boat, and I just hated that :-) I did not hate the race, I hated changing places all the time, and the boat at a 45 degree angle with the horizontal... I said "never again" but I know I would do it again, sigh... If you want to see more of that boat, go here.

Here we are, at the start
Emilie and I getting ready for snorkelling
(The wet suit is mostly against jelly fishes...)
Snorkelling, wow, that was an experience. I was not prepared to what I discovered once I put my head in the water. If I could, I'd still be there. Corals, plants, fishes of all shapes and colors, in quantity. That was amazing.
Sun rise 
Tongue Bay






Back to Airlee beach



7 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

It just keeps getting better and better. What a wonderful visit to the Islands. You got to see a wild cockatoo too. Wow. I love to snorkle. I have only done it one time when I was on a cruise.

Anonymous said...

Merci Véro pour ces belles photos qui me font rêver( et tiens si je me faisais un p'tit voyage....)
Mais tu pourrais venir nous raconter ton voyage , en français le 2 juillet . On fait une journée abeilles-bricolage(plein de trucs sympa) on serait contentes de te voir!
gros bisous
annick

Anonymous said...

tit'rectif le 2 c'est mon rendez-vous chez le dentiste c'est le samedi 3 la journée abeilles....je n'en ferai jamais d'autres....j'espère que tu n'avais pas déjà posé une journée pour venir!!!!!

Jackie said...

What an amazing adventure. I am envious but don't think I cpuld get in the wetsuit!

Gail said...

I did the same boat trip with my two daugthers about 4 or 5 years ago. It really is the best part of my wide brown country, girthed by sea (apologies to Dorothea McKellar).

neki desu said...

i don not know how you came back home!

Susan Elliott said...

I have been enjoying your trip chronicles very much. You look SO CUTE in your snorkle outfit!!~