Wonderful Whitsundays

This morning we got up at 7:45am as we had a full day of activities ahead of us. We were picked up from our hostel at 8:25 and were driven down to Abellpoint marina to get on a boat day trip called the "Thundercat" around the Whitsunday Islands, which are a group of 74 islands. Lauren and I were sitting right at the front, across the aisle from a group of Asian people. We sailed really fast and we're flying over the waves, off the water, getting absolutely soaked. The Asian people were sitting with towels over their faces.

The first island we went to was Whitsunday Island, home to Whitehaven beach, the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. We got off the boat and walked 15 minutes up to Hill Point to look out of the beach. It was such a beautiful view. On the way up JJ, one of the boat crew/tour guide, picked up an ants nest, shook it a bit and told us the ants, called Lemon Drop ants, tasted like lemon, before licking one. Everyone was a bit disgusted. He offered one to the group and one boy took up the offer and licked an ant. He agreed it tasted like lemon. I didn't really fancy trying one so took their word for it.

After everyone had taken plenty of photos we headed on to the beach. The sand was so fine. Apparently it's 97% pure silica. Fraser Island is 94%. It reflects the light and heat so was cool to walk on. Apparently it's the only place in the world to have such sand. Turtles can't lay their eggs there because it's not warm enough. Whilst we were on hill point looking over the beach we saw a big lemon shark swimming around the beach. This didn't stop us getting in the beautiful blue water.  We splashed around for a bit, taking photos etc, before heading back to the boat for lunch. We sat moored on the boat in Tongue Bay, which is a breeding and feeding ground for turtles. Unfortunately we didn't see any but it was a beautiful setting for lunch.

After lunch we sailed to the most northern point of Hook Island, the largest of the  Whitsunday islands for some snorkeling. Hook Island has an abandoned resort on it that's been abandoned around 15 years. It looked kind of creepy but we were snorkeling around the other side.  We were given stinger suits to protect us from jellyfish and masks. When we were pulling up to moor the boat we saw some very large jellyfish but we didn't actually see any when we were in the water.  We went into the water off the side of the boat and swam to the designated snorkeling area. We put our masks on and put our faces in the water. There were fish everywhere.  They were coming so close. There were hundreds of fish about the size of my hand and every one and then a couple of huge fish would swim past. It was so much fun.

After snorkeling for a while we got back on the boat and headed to a second snorkel site, just off Langford Island. There were less fish here but a lot more interesting plants and coral to see. We snorkeled there for a while before getting back on the boat and heading back to the mainland. It was an absolutely fab trip. We both had such a good time. I can't wait to do some more snorkeling in Cairns!

After we returned to the hostel and showered and made ourselves presentable again, we headed out to the Down Under bar and grill as we had been told that we could get cheaper drinks and food if we told them we were on a boat trip. I paid extra to have my schnitzel with mash and veg instead of chips (hope you're happy Waj!). I ate all the veg, which was green beans, broccoli and courgette. (Yes mum, even the broccoli). Lauren had steak.

After dinner we entered a beer pong tournament, played using water. We got into the third round but got knocked out by a boy/girl pair where the girl literally did all the work. We then walked home in the rain, which had thankfully held off all day. Tomorrow morning we are getting on a 11 hour bus to Cairns.

Here are some photos.  More will be added when the WiFi cooperates.