Whitsundays

We left for the airport Sunday morning. We were meeting Meribeth's sister Jamie lee at the airport so we could jump on the plane and head right to Airlie beach. The plain ride was about an hour and a half.
Once we got there we just jumped right out of the plane. There was no walkway to the airport. Really there was no airport...We walked out of the plane and the runway was so windy it almost knocked me off my feet! We walked into the airport (and I use the term loosely). There were two little check in stands, a tiny little cafe stand and a waiting room for people to wait for their planes in. We walked through the airport and wandered around aimlessly trying to figure out where the heck we pick up our luggage. I overhead someone say the luggage outside so we ventured out to the side of the building. Over on the side of the builiding a guy pulled up with a trailer and swarms of people invaded the trailer trying to find their luggage.
After we picked up our luggage we loaded a bus and headed into the town of Airlie beach which was about 20 minutes from the airport.
We checked into our room and walked around to check out the rest of the place. Airlie beach was a cute little beach town fillied with little stores and bars. There were people walking around all over the streets in board shorts and tank tops. The town is considered a party town so even at 5 in the afternoon the bars were pretty full. We walked out by the beach, there was a lagoon for swimming next to the beach because you can't swim in the water around there. There are too many jelly fish in the water and some types are lethal so people stay out.
We headed over to one of the bars and grabbed some dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and read, watched t.v. and pretty much went right to bed.
The next morning we woke up got dressed and headed out on the street. Went to the grocery store and bought some breakfast. Then we walked out to the beach to eat our breakfast and enjoy the views. The area was absolutely beautiful. We had to go pretty quick because we had to go pick up our tickets for the boat. So we went to the guy we booked our tickets through and then we made our way over to the check in place. We picked up our snorkelling gear and information for the boat. We had a meeting at 1:15 to prepare us for the boat. It was only about 11 so we walked around a bit to kill some time.
At 1:15 we headed over to the bar that the meeting was being held. We were some of the first people there so we sat around and watched all the others make their way up. About the first 50 people were girls, so this was not looking like a very exciting trip. A large group of about 12 people showed up and they were all very loud! We were trying to decide if they were American or Canadian, and to our suprise they were all Canadian. We didn't know Canadians had it in them to be such big partiers. Later more guys showed up but the majority of the group was girls.
After the meeting we headed down to the wharf. We had to pick up our stinger suits to wear in the water. Out in Whitsundays there are deadly jelly fish that can kill you instantly. There are others that can sting you and they are so painful that you need morphine or the highest medications that can be administered to make you comfortable. So I said great let me jump right in!
While we were waiting for the boat we also had to get some alcohol for the trip. Apparently, we were on the party boat where everyone drinks all day and parties all night. So in order to fit in we bought some beer. I didn't want to be left out mom, so I had to do it...
We checked in and headed to the boat. There were 67 people total on our boat. So wow was this boat going to be big! ya, not so much. It felt like we were trying to fit a sleeping bag into one of those little bags they come with. You know that they're supposed to fit but it just isn't happening when you try and put it in. Well there were so many people loading onto this boat and it did not look big enough to carry that many.
Everybody loaded on the boat, and it took a few minutes because the three tons of alcohol that everyone brought had to be loaded into the eskies. I think we brought enough alcohol that if we sunk you could drink the ocean and get drunk. So we were ready for a good time. Somehow we all managed to fit and so we got on our way.
There was a crew of 4 people on the boat to sail it, feed us, and keep us in control. I picked a spot up on the top of the boat so I would have plenty of room to lay out and relax.
After a very explicit speech about what can go down the toilets on the boat, we set sail. Well sort of. the boat was a catamaran and didn't really need the sail at the time. It was about a 2 hour boat ride until we got to the island we were staying on.
It was a beautiful ride and the weather was pretty nice. There are 74 islands in the Whitsundays and it's on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
We arrived on the island about 5:00 which was the start of Happy Hour. So we had a short speech on the island and then we headed off to Happy Hour. We didn't even set our bags off into the rooms. Meribeth, Jamie Lee, and I ordered a pitcher and we sat for a while. We started to realize people were dissappearing. A lot of people went to their rooms to put their stuff up and change their clothes. We decided to stay and so did a few other groups. There were about 15 people left so I got out my cards and asked a group of guys if they wanted to play drinking games with us.
So we headed over to their table and the night began. We played drinking games, broke for dinner, and played more drinking games. The boat crew got everyone together and we played drinking games as a whole group. My team won! There were 5 guys that we were hanging out with and 3 girls. We continued to drink all night and had a great time. I'm not sure what time I rolled into bed but it wasn't to much before it was time to wake up...
So we had to get up about 7 am and make our way down to the bar area for breakfast. It was a pretty good breakfast, cereal, toast, ham, eggs, and an assortment of juices. We got our breakfast and made our way to the table. There were very colorful birds hanging out around the tables. If something was left on the table they would come through like an army and take over the table.I wasn't drinking my juice so one of the birds thought that was an invitation for him to have it. He started drinking out of my juice and a thousand of birds swarmed me and my table, knocking over the drinks and eating the leftover food. I decided breakfast was over.
We all loaded the boat and we headed out for a 3 hour ride to Whitehaven beach. It was a very rocky boat ride because they are expecting some rough weather out there, and we were getting the very beginning of it. 67 hangover and rough water made for a very interesting ride. A few people lost their breakfast over the edge of the boat. We made it safely to the beach but because it took so long we didn't have too long at the beach. Which was okay because there was not a whole lot to do anyways. We were already laying out on the boat. It was a very entertaining few minutes for everyone when people started putting on their stinger suits. They are not made for fashion let me tell you. Especially for some of the chunkier girls. I didn't put mine on right away because I was more scared of jelly fish than the suit so I took a boat over to the beach.
We hung out on the beach for a little while. The conditions were too rough for snorkelling so we just hung out for a while and then headed back to the boat. I decided to swim back to the boat which ended up being pretty cool. We saw giant sea turtles, and some pretty cool looking fish on the way back to the boat.
After that we headed back to the island for another 3 hour ride back. It kind of seemed silly to me to go all that way for a small little beach. I guess I did sign up for a sailing trip though...
So we headed back to the island and I needed a shower very badly from sitting out all day and being in the water. So we all took showers and then headed back to the bar for happy hour. The boys were already there waiting for us to start some drinking games. so we did it all over again. We danced a little and shut down the bar.
The next morning we woke up and headed down to breakfast. We loaded the boat and headed to an island for some snorkelling. It was pretty fun to snorkel, we saw some really colorful fish. The coral at the bottom was beautiful when the sun shone down on it. We had noodles to lay down on when we didn't want to swim. It was fun. We got back on the boat and headed towards inland.
We turned in all our equipment and headed back to check in the hostel. There were two guys in the hostel when we got there. Meribeth's bed was dirty so she asked for some new sheets. A woman came in all angry and upset. She cleaned the bed but she was not happy about it and she let Meribeth know that. We took showers and Meribeth and her sister went out while I took a nap. We tried to go out but it just didn't happen. So we ended up going to bed pretty early.
The next morning we woke up got some food and headed to a bead shop to make some bracelets. We had 10 minutes before our bus got there so we had to run over to the stop to get on it. we made it just in time. We took the 20 minute ride back to the airport. Our plane was delayed almost an hour so I picked up a magazine and we waited...and waited. Finally the plane came and we walked out to load up. The plane ride was easy.
We hopped off grabbed our luggage and Meribeth rented a car for her and her sister.
We had a good time. it was not what I expected it to be but it was fun. We definitely were on the party boat.