Tallships and Cowboys
We're in Hervey Bay now and have a lot to catch up on since our last posting. The sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands was absolutely amazing (although terrifying for Liz at times). The trip started bright and early at the Airlie Beach marina where we met our group of 17 passengers plus the 4 crew. We dropped our shoes in a bin for the 3 days as we weren't allowed to wear them on-board. At the time we didn't know why but later it became quite clear. We sorted out our cabins and met most of our group as we left the marina. We had to cross the Whitsunday passage to get out to the islands in 30 knot winds and 3 metre waves. The crew went to work on raising the sails for the trip across only to find a rip in our main sail as we were out in the open water. This being the case they couldn't use it until they were able to inspect it at one of our island stops. The trip across the passage was windy and very wet as waves came crashing over the bow and sides of the boat. There were several sea sick passengers (not Stefan or Liz though - stomachs of steel!). Anyways, we managed to pull into calmer waters about 2 hours later when we learned that 4 of the passengers wanted to get off the boat and not continue on for the 3 days. Our captain, Craig, had to radio another boat in the area that was heading back to Airlie Beach that day and we had to put them in the dingy and ship them off to this boat. Now we were 13 (more food for us!). The sun now came out and the water was calm (why did they get off? oh well!). We pulled our ship (The Alexander Stewart) into a cove on Haymen Island for a few hours of amazing snorkeling. Haymen Island is a very hoiety island as it has an exclusive resort on it where there is a maximum 500 guests allowed at one time and when there are 500 guests at the resort, there are 600 staff for them! This resort was the resort where Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had their honeymoon so we had our honeymoon in the same place as the stars! Haha...not exactly as we snorkeled on the other side of the island where the resort was not in sight but still pretty exciting. The fish at this snorkeling stop were amazing. Our deckhand, Phil (from Halifax - cool!), came out in the dingy boat and fed the fish on top of where we were snorkeling and hundreds of them flocked around us. Liz couldn't stop giggling because they felt so funny. Back on the boat now for some lunch and off we were sailing again over to an inlet on Hook Island for the evening. The sunset on our way over to the inlet was absolutely amazing. We put anchor here for the evening and lay out on the deck looking at the stars. We saw the southern cross, Sagittarius and Scorpio constellations. We drank some wine ($15.95 for a box!! You could get Kokanee bottles at the bottle shop at Airlie Beach too and for 6 it cost $25...for Kokanee). We had dinner and then were away to our cabins for the night.
The next morning we awoke bright and early to more sunny (and yes windy!) weather. Stefan and Liz had a great sleep while others complained about the moving water, boat noises etc. We had breakfast and set out to Whitehaven Beach (voted the best beach in the world!). A good while later we landed on shore at Whitsunday National Park at Whitehaven Beach. First, we walked up to a lookout and saw Hill Inlet and took some awesome photos of it. Next, we clambered back down to the white silica sands of Whitehaven Beach. The sand felt like pillows and was as white as snow - it also squeaked when you walked on it. We took our beach towels etc. over to a spot down the beach and sat down to yes, blow up a gigantic beach ball that Rachel and Evan gave us for our wedding. Rachel, we hope you are impressed that we took it to this beach. We took some more photos and then were off to the boat again for lunch. After lunch we set off to another part of Hook Island again. The wind conditions were excellent for sailing so the crew worked to hoist all the sails. This is where Stefan hoisted the main sail for us. It was a great sail reaching speeds of 8.6 knots. When we got out to a point on Hook Island we saw a humpback whale out in the waves. We circled it for a bit but it kept mostly underwater. We then took the sails down and pulled into Maureen's Cove for the night. We feasted again and drank some more of our fine wine.
Day 3 we awoke again nice and early to breakfast. We then went snorkeling right at Maureen's Cove which had some amazing coral; however, the tide made it very shallow and you had to be careful not to kick or move your arms in places as to not hit the coral. Next, we set off for more snorkeling on the other side of Hook Island. At this stop, we jumped right off the boat into the green water. We think the coral was best at this location with colours of orange, blue, green etc. We went back to the boat for lunch and prepared to cross the Whitsunday Passage again back to the mainland. The trip back across the passage wasn't as rough as the trip over but Liz was still scared the boat was going to tip over on its side at times (other people were scared too but not Stefan!). We made it back to Airlie Beach around 4:00pm, said good-bye to the crew, took a few more photos and made it back to our hostel for a shower (lots of salt!). Later this evening, we met the group and crew again at a local pub for dinner and "heaps of free beer". The trip was absolutely amazing and the food was the best we ate our entire trip here.
The next morning we began our longest bus ride. 10.5 hours on the with only a few stops so that the driver could rest. Not really much to say about the ride, but we ended up at a cattle station in Kroombit (they call it a "station" instead of a "ranch") and had a great roast beef dinner. We all gathered around the fire and listened to the owner tell us all about the place and its history. Then he taught us how to properly crack a whip. We looked like fools standing around in our safety goggles waving whips around, but you could hear the occasional crack. After that it was time for the mechanical bull! We each got a turn trying to stay on for 8 seconds. Stefan lasted about 6 seconds and Liz about 1 second. Don't worry, we got a good picture of Liz on the bull so she can claim that she lasted longer.
After an early morning rise and a quick breakfast we went a short bush walk up a small hill that gave us a 360 degree view of the area. It's funny to see what Australians call a "mountain"! Some of the group had spent the morning rounding up the sheep for our Oz Experience Rodeo. First we learned how to use a lasso. The first event was stepping into the pen, pick a goat and then see how fast you can lasso it. Liz was so good at it that she managed to not only lasso the goat that she picked, but she also got another goat at the same time! For the second event, we split up into teams of three. The got all the other goats out of the pen and each team had to catch and brand (not really brand, just pretend brand) to goat. Liz, Stefan and a Swiss girl won this event by a long shot. 17 seconds and we were done! On the side of the rodeo, Stefan did some trap shooting. He missed his first shot, but then got 4 straight. Once all that was over it was back on the bus and heading for Hervey Bay.
We've spent today looking around to book a trip out to Fraser Island. We think we've found one that we're going to do; a 2 day, 1 night tour and we'll likely also spend a day whale watching while we're in Hervey Bay. One week left before we have to be in Brisbane so it looks like our timing had been quite good so far. We'll update you again once we're back from Fraser Island!
The next morning we awoke bright and early to more sunny (and yes windy!) weather. Stefan and Liz had a great sleep while others complained about the moving water, boat noises etc. We had breakfast and set out to Whitehaven Beach (voted the best beach in the world!). A good while later we landed on shore at Whitsunday National Park at Whitehaven Beach. First, we walked up to a lookout and saw Hill Inlet and took some awesome photos of it. Next, we clambered back down to the white silica sands of Whitehaven Beach. The sand felt like pillows and was as white as snow - it also squeaked when you walked on it. We took our beach towels etc. over to a spot down the beach and sat down to yes, blow up a gigantic beach ball that Rachel and Evan gave us for our wedding. Rachel, we hope you are impressed that we took it to this beach. We took some more photos and then were off to the boat again for lunch. After lunch we set off to another part of Hook Island again. The wind conditions were excellent for sailing so the crew worked to hoist all the sails. This is where Stefan hoisted the main sail for us. It was a great sail reaching speeds of 8.6 knots. When we got out to a point on Hook Island we saw a humpback whale out in the waves. We circled it for a bit but it kept mostly underwater. We then took the sails down and pulled into Maureen's Cove for the night. We feasted again and drank some more of our fine wine.
Day 3 we awoke again nice and early to breakfast. We then went snorkeling right at Maureen's Cove which had some amazing coral; however, the tide made it very shallow and you had to be careful not to kick or move your arms in places as to not hit the coral. Next, we set off for more snorkeling on the other side of Hook Island. At this stop, we jumped right off the boat into the green water. We think the coral was best at this location with colours of orange, blue, green etc. We went back to the boat for lunch and prepared to cross the Whitsunday Passage again back to the mainland. The trip back across the passage wasn't as rough as the trip over but Liz was still scared the boat was going to tip over on its side at times (other people were scared too but not Stefan!). We made it back to Airlie Beach around 4:00pm, said good-bye to the crew, took a few more photos and made it back to our hostel for a shower (lots of salt!). Later this evening, we met the group and crew again at a local pub for dinner and "heaps of free beer". The trip was absolutely amazing and the food was the best we ate our entire trip here.
The next morning we began our longest bus ride. 10.5 hours on the with only a few stops so that the driver could rest. Not really much to say about the ride, but we ended up at a cattle station in Kroombit (they call it a "station" instead of a "ranch") and had a great roast beef dinner. We all gathered around the fire and listened to the owner tell us all about the place and its history. Then he taught us how to properly crack a whip. We looked like fools standing around in our safety goggles waving whips around, but you could hear the occasional crack. After that it was time for the mechanical bull! We each got a turn trying to stay on for 8 seconds. Stefan lasted about 6 seconds and Liz about 1 second. Don't worry, we got a good picture of Liz on the bull so she can claim that she lasted longer.
After an early morning rise and a quick breakfast we went a short bush walk up a small hill that gave us a 360 degree view of the area. It's funny to see what Australians call a "mountain"! Some of the group had spent the morning rounding up the sheep for our Oz Experience Rodeo. First we learned how to use a lasso. The first event was stepping into the pen, pick a goat and then see how fast you can lasso it. Liz was so good at it that she managed to not only lasso the goat that she picked, but she also got another goat at the same time! For the second event, we split up into teams of three. The got all the other goats out of the pen and each team had to catch and brand (not really brand, just pretend brand) to goat. Liz, Stefan and a Swiss girl won this event by a long shot. 17 seconds and we were done! On the side of the rodeo, Stefan did some trap shooting. He missed his first shot, but then got 4 straight. Once all that was over it was back on the bus and heading for Hervey Bay.
We've spent today looking around to book a trip out to Fraser Island. We think we've found one that we're going to do; a 2 day, 1 night tour and we'll likely also spend a day whale watching while we're in Hervey Bay. One week left before we have to be in Brisbane so it looks like our timing had been quite good so far. We'll update you again once we're back from Fraser Island!
posted by Stefan Moser at
5:21 PM
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