Day 50 - Sailing the Whitsundays....twice

We were supposed to go to diving in Great Keppel island but the weather was crap, so we decided to motor the 500km up to Airlie beach, figuring the weather would probably be better up there. We had a sailing trip booked for christmas day and were planning on doing some diving in the days before. Turned out that no-one operates a dedicated dive boat, so we would have to hop onto a one day cruise and dive from that. While sitting outside the dive shop looking at 1 day cruise brouchures, a boat charter owner walked past and said that we shouldn't bother going on those boats, he had just had 6 people cancel and had space on his boat -2 day, 2 night dive boat for $100 each! (down from $420) The only downside was the boat was leaving in 1 hour, so we had to get our stuff together and be back at the marina in 1 hour. For some reason, we sat there for 15 minutes deciding on whether this was a good idea or not and in the end realised it was and we should get our arses into gear. We made it with about 5 minutes to spare, including enough time to swing by the the booze shop!! The cruise was a bit backpackery, but every one was good fun and had a pretty cool time. The diving was pretty average though and felt like the dive sites had been over-dived (broken coral everywhere etc.) but we still did our first night dive which was cool.

We arrived back on the 24th, had one night in the campsite, before getting back down to the marina the next morning to get onto the boat we had actually booked. This was way more chilled we were pretty much left to do wht we liked which was nice. Fortunately, we went to different sites this time with Whitehaven Beach being the only place we saw twice. The beach is stunning, so we weren't complaining! We were also camping on the islands which was very cool. Literally. When we had booked, we wanted to get a private cabin but they were sold out - beach camping was the next best thing. However, with no aircon or real windows on the boat, everyone ended up sleeping on the wooden deck, which made our tent look like luxury!

Day 45 - Heron Island

Ok, I know I said Lady Musgrave Island was the best day so far..... that got its arse well and truly kicked by Heron Island! We were expecting to just do a dive day trip, but someone told us that no-one offers that; you have to stay on the resort on the island and dive from there. Arse. The guide book said the resort was pretty expensive, so we rang yup and managed to wangle some sort of last minute, 2 night + ferry for $300 each which is about 125 pounds or 160 euros. The boat was a 2.5 hour epic, but the weather was lovely and the sea calm. Upon arriving we were completely blown away. The island is about 1km by 0.5km in size and, surrounded by a huge coral cay. There was white sand, crystal clear water and as we walked up the jetty, 3 stingrays swam underneath. Despite being on the pikey deal, our room was a lovely private chalet with out own bathroom and verandah. If anyone reading this ever plans on visiting Australia, then this is one truly incredible places worth sticking on the list!





White tip reef shark:

We found Nemo!

Circling manta's. We were very lucky to see these guys:

Heron Island used to be Australia's top dive site, so we signed up for a whole load of dives and saw more turtles, reef sharks, manta rays, moray eels, stingrays! Unfortunately the days flew past, but on the last day a big storm crept in for the next few days, so we were also lucky to be leaving! This did, however, turn the ferry trip into a 3 hour chunder fest! Lucky for me, Jess is organised and brought sea-sick tablets with her as the shop on the resort had ran out!! I feel sorry for whoever has to mop down the boat after we got back...... haha! Happy times :)

Little cheeky bird running off with the kiwi from Jess' cocktail!:

Day 43 - Lady Musgrave Island

Today was probably one of the best of the holiday so far. We took a trip to Lady Musgrave Island which is a small national/marine park about 100km off the coast of Australia and is part of a group of islands called the Capricorns that mark the start of the Great Barrier Reef. It took about 2 hours to reach it by boat, but was worth it! We had two dives booked and the water was the bluest I have ever seen! Our first dive was on the outer reef and had to be more than 18 metres depth so we could get it as a credit for an advanced level diver. It was fairly uneventful until the very end when this huge manta Ray swam past! Jess actually spat her regulator out of her mouth! It was incredible - probably about 2 meters wing span and swam around us for a bit. I was really hoping that we might see a manta, but wasn't counting on it.

The manta ray:




We had about 2 hours for lunch, so after we went for a small snorkel off the pontoon. Apart for a load a fish, this really friendly Loggerhead turtle turned up. We swam together with her for a bit and I managed to get some very cool pics. Second dive was in the lagoon which was much shallower so visibility and colour was much better. Saw a lot of butterfly and angelfish as well as a barracuda. The dive wasn't that long as the boat needed to head back to the mainland. I really hope we get a few more days like this! Tomorrow we have a wreck dive planned and then we are catching a boat to Heron Island to stay for a couple of nights. Heron looks amazing too except we get to stay longer than a day which will be awesome!


Clown fish and a loggerhead turtle:

Loggerhead turtle:

Wobbegong Shark

Day 40 - Fraser Island and Bundy

One of the things we were really looking forward to was Fraser Island. Well, Jess was looking forward to it, I was more sold on the fact that I would get to drive a 4WD down the beach! Sweeet! Fraser Island is the world's biggest sand island and is about 30kms off the coast of Brisbane. All the roads are soft sand tracks, and only 4WD are permitted so we had to hire one. I was thinking of some kick-ass Mad Max style monster truck that would increase the size of my manhood 10 times!! oh yeah!! We got a Suzuki Jimmy. Not really much to say about it except Noddy and Big Ears would be proud.



Having said that the little beast did a pretty good job and we only had to dig ourselves out about 5 times. Jess' driving technique was pretty sweet - no matter how big the bump, sand dune, tree root etc. hit it at 50kmh and we'll make it! ;)










Jess found a coconut, which we tried to get the milk out off with little success:

.....still trying :(:

The Maheno shipwreck:


The remoteness of the whole island was pretty incredible. There were a couple of resorts with general stores but other than that not much else. The sea was off limits due to being a shark breeding zone, but in the middle of the island were some of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. The water was crystal clear, white sand and freshwater which made swimming in them absolutely amazing. We also saw some wild dingoes which roam the island and also the Maheno shipwreck on the beach. We had to camp for 2 nights. Camping is shit. I don't care what people say. Maybe if we had one of those mungo 5 room tents, then it would be good, but 2 days of sleeping on a crappy camping mat and I was looking forward to getting back to the 5 star-ness that is our campervan.

Wild dingo:


Lake MacKenzie (yes, I'm wearing speedos....gay, but I'm fed up of my legs looking like they belong to a dead guy)




After Fraser, we chilled out in Hervey Bay for a day before heading to Bundaberg so that Jess could do her dive course. The Great Barrier Reef pretty much starts here and the diving is some of the best in the world! Bundaberg itself is ok - teeming with fruit pickers and backpackers. Diving has been pretty cool - Jess saw a massive leopard stingray with a span of about 2 metres. Also saw highly venomous sea-snake, turtles and a shedload of fish. Long story short, Jess is now qualified and we have some amazing dives to look forward to :)




I miss my bike. A 50cc 4-stroke hairdryer is a poor substitute, but 2 wheels are still 2 wheels! Plus we got to look like Poncherello for 2 hours. Booya!



Last night we stayed in Mon Repos which is one of the main site for turtle nesting in the world. The Queensland Wildlife Service offer night-time tours to observe the female Loggerheads coming out of the sea, up into the dunes to lay their eggs. The whole experience was incredible as we watched a 40 year old Loggerhead lady drop her first lay of the season, burying them and then heading back down the beach and out to sea. The little guys will hatch in about 6-8 weeks.