Kroombit

Sunset was beautiful as we drove that evening
Sunset
Sunset

Sunset Sunset (photo taken when we stopped outside a supermarket)
Me trying to crack a whip (and looking like an idiot at the same time)

Mechanical bull
atop the Kroombit mountain
View from mount kroombit

View from mount Kroombit View from Mount Kroombit
Rodeo

Goats
Clay pigeon shooting
Grabbing the goat

My next stop from Airlie was Kroombit. The drive was a full days worth and so we left airlie at 7am!!!!

Our first proper stop was at a lawn bowling club and we teamed up and played a few games in the warm sunshine. We stopped again a few times for food. The last stop for fuel was particularly good as there was a brilliant sunset at it come out really well in the photos.

Kroombit is a fair few miles from the coast and is out in the Queensland outback. We stayed at a cattle station that is 10,000 acres big!!! After a quick wash we gather round the large tables in the centre of the site. We had a few drinks and got to know each other a bit better. It wasn’t long before we were being taught how to crack a whip. I was totally useless and couldn’t really crack it. The noise apparently is the whip breaking the sound barrier.

After that the mechanical bull was powered up and it was a contest between the training Oz Experience guides that were also at Kroombit, us, and the locals (miners). The longest anyone stayed on the bull was 19 seconds!!! A few fell straight off. After some drinking games was all called it a night and retired into our accommodation which was converted horse stables!!!

We had to get up at 5:30am the next day so that those helping to muster the goats could be up in time. Whilst they were doing that we went for a walk up one of the Kroombit mountains. The views were amazing and it was really hot work, even though it was 7am in the morning!!!!

Once the others were back we got the bus up to the goat pens were we were going to take part in the Goat Rodeo!!! First was learning how to throw a lasso and then was clay pigeon shooting. I had five shots and didn’t hit anything!!! I was absolutely rubbish!!!.

The goat rodeo was fun and entailed us getting into groups. We then had to round up a goat, lift it up, turn it over and brand it!!! Our team was rubbish and we came last!!!It was all good fun and we all got back on the bus stinking!!!

Sailing the Whitsundays

Airlie Beach
Airlie beach
Airlie beach
Cabin - i slept on that chair under the table!!
Our first overnight stop

Attractive
Whitehaven beach
Whitehaven beach

Everyone on the boat
Front of the boat
Back of the boat

We saw many rainbows during the trip
Eureka

Silent night

After leaving Magnetic Island we head for Airlie beach. Airlie beach is the departure point for sailing trips around the Whitsunday islands. These sailing trips are really popular on the backpacker circuit and just about everyone you meet has been sailing or is about to go. The Whitsunday islands are a group of 74 islands inside the great barrier reef off the coats of Australia. They are absolutely beautiful islands and everyone I have spoken to has told me that the sailing trip was the highlight of their Australian trip. I had a few days in Airlie beach before I went sailing and so I lazed around the very small town for a few days. There isn’t much to do here though. There is a lagoon on the foreshore and a few places to go out at night.

I booked my sailing trip from Sydney and so I was pretty much ready to go. I booked a trip on a Maxi sailing boat called Silent Night. The boats offering the sailing tours range from small Maxis to huge Catamarans. I opted for silent night as it was a sailing boat that was still raced and looked like great fun. All your food is included in the price, but you bring your own alcohol. I was really looking forward to the trip and had spent my two free days packing my day bag and buying things to take.

I had a afternoon departure and so had a nice breakfast before heading to the marina. I picked up some cans of pre-mixed Bourbon and coke. These cans are brilliant, they are really convenient and taste good. Shame we don’t get them in the UK.

I met up with the others going out on the boat and we got on board.

In my group of ten we had a Scottish brother and Sister, an English couple and the sister of the bloke, a Swiss German guy, and two German girls. We all seemed to get on well from the get go. Showing myself up as a right alcoholic I had bought the most alcohol!! The crew on the boat consisted of the captain (who turned out to jointly own a few of the boats that run these trips!) and a deck hand called Sam. The weather in Airlie over the last few days had been rainy and one of the days it rained constantly all day. We were hoping for some nice weather out at sea.

We set sail and we all sat down on the raised side of the boat. There was a fair bit of wind and a few clouds. We had all taken some sea sickness tablets before setting sail and luckily we did as the going was tough. The sea was choppy and after a while it started to rain. The plan for the first day was to get to our overnight stop and drop anchor. The winds pickled up once we were out of the shelter of the main Whitsunday Island. The winds were reaching 40 knots and we were sailing about 20 km per hour. It felt like we were racing. The captain called for attack quite often. When attack was called we had to climb over the boat to the other side as the boat was changing direction to catch the wind. This was sometimes tricky as we had to watch the boom and climb over the deck whilst the boat was tipping from one side to the other. It was really good fun though, even though we were freezing and soaked through. We got to our overnight spot which was in a bay on the main Whitsunday island. It was raining and quite dark so we didn’t go to the main island. Sam cooked us Lasagna and garlic bread and we settled down with some drink and had a chat. The captain set up a shelter up top and we mingled and drank.

The rain dried up and the stars came out. The night sky was amazing and we drank to around 12 ish. We spotted the milky way and the southern cross. Also we noticed some small fish who were using their bio-luminesance whilst swimming around the back of the boat. The captain was a typical aussie bloke and was making us all laugh with his jokes and stories. He admitted that the gear attached to one of the steering wheels had broken whilst we were sailing earlier and that he had to make do with steering from one side of the boat, which was safe but not ideal as he had to hold on tight when the high side wasn’t the one he to steer from!!!

As I was one of the tallest I was given the bed that doubled as one of the seats in the cabin. It was kind of uncomfortable as I had the table covering part of the seat. I did mange to get to sleep after a while.

I was woken early the next day as we had breakfast early so we could set sail for Whitehaven beach. There wasn’t really the possibility of having a shower on board and so we all had to make do with a “wash” in the tiny bathroom. I kept on bumping my head getting in and out of the bathroom and soon I had a really lumpy bumpy head and it was getting quite sore!!!!

We sat up top in our jackets through the wind and rain. We were sailing quite fast again and attacking a fair bit. All of a sudden we heard a big bang from under the boat. Everyone looked at each other and Sam said that it had come from under the boat. The captain slowed down and he checked that the instruments and equipment were all responding from up top. The captain said it was safe to continue and so we made our way to Whitehaven beach. Whitehaven beach is the beach that is pictured on all postcards from the Whitsundays. Its an absolutely beautiful beach with fine white silica sands. We jumped in the dingy and made our way to the beach. It was cloudy and cold but we all still went to the beach. We had to wear stinger suits and there was still a risk of jellyfish. The suits were tiny and skin tight. I couldn’t stand up straight in mine!!! I got a few laughs!!!

After a few hours on the beach we went back and the captain wanted a word with us all. He said that the big bang was the keel of the boat. It had dropped off the boat!!! The keel was a 7 tonne weight that basically kept us in the water and prevented us from tipping over when were sailing with the boat at 45 degrees in the water. We were therefore sailing at high speed at an angle of 45 degrees without a counter balance to keep us balanced in the water!!!!!

The captain asked us if we wanted to continue or go back to airlie beach. We all said that if it was safe we would like to continue so we made our way straight to our overnight spot. It was getting dark quick and the winds had picked up again. We were all a bit nervous as we moved from side to side of the boat as motored (instead of sailed) for the remainder of the day. We were all relieved when we got into the sheltered waters of the over night spot as the wind was blowing us around and we went up at least 45 degrees at one point. Sam cooked up a nice chicken dish and we sat down and had a few more drinks. The winds were still going strong and so we were spinning around the anchor for most of the night. It was okay as long as you didn’t look outside and see how fast we were spinning. We retired quite early but none of us got any sleep that night as aswell as worrying that the boat might flip over in the wind, we could hear the anchor chain hit the side of the boat at regular intervals. The rain was also hitting the boat which was quite noisy.

Early the next morning the captain said that we were going to be taken back by another boat as it wasn’t safe to go back in our boat. The Eureka came and picked us up and we were a bit disappointed and we bid farewell to the boat. The Eureka was a faster sailing boat that was a bit bigger than silent night. The winds had dropped off and so we basically motored back to airlie beach.

What an eventful trip!!!

Magnetic Island

Just outside the hostel
Beach with the nearest town in the distance
Hostel blocks

View from one of the fortified buildings
View from the forts
Boulder

One of the buildings that make up the forts
View from the Forts of Nelly bay
View from the forts on top the highest peak on the island

Koala
Boulders
One of the bays we found along the walk around the island

Giant boulders on the island
Echidna
Sunset at Horseshoe bay

I left Mission beach around midday and jumped on the bus headed for Townsville. Townsville is the capital of North (Tropical) Queensland. It is also the access point for Magnetic Island (Or "Maggie") as the locals call it. I heard that there is not much in Townsville and so I headed straight to Maggie.

It was named Magnetic island by Captain Cook whose compass was said to not work in the vicinity of the island. Magnetic island is 30 minutes off the coast and is roughly the shape of a triangle. Not many people live there and half of the island is a national park with the western coast being a marine park as well (reef). I'm staying in Base Backpackers which is a hostel in magnetic bay. Its a 20-30 minute walk to the nearest shops. The first night we got there and there was a full moon party. They were expecting about 1 and a half thousand people. Many people came over from the mainland.

They had a ministry of sound DJ there. The drinks were well expensive though and so many people (including me) walked to the local off licence in the dark to get some drinks beforehand and then drinking them under the stars on the beach. I met up with a really nice Irish couple and another random Irish girl and we all went together. After at least two hours on the beach we joined the party. The music was rubbish - i didn't like it at all.

It was quite a relaxed affair and most people were quite chilled out. They had a barbecue and some dancers/people with firethingys that they span in the air. The moon was brilliant and bright. It was supposed to end at 7am but i only lasted till 4:30 as i started to sober up. The Irish guy apparently was the last man standing when it finally finished at 5:50am.

The hostel is good as you are staying in cabins set in gardens. There is even a stream running through the hostel grounds. You can stay in tee-pee style tents. It is fairly noisy here though as the music is pumped out till about 2am every morning. It is like have a stereo in the room all night.

Mission Beach

Dubnk isalnd in the background
During the day
Dusk on the beach

Mountains in the background
On the beach
On the beach

My first stop off en route to brissie is Mission Beach. It is about 3 hours south of Cairns. There's not much to mission beach, except, erm, the beach.

In the 1800's two German religious men travelled to the area to try and convert the local Aboriginals. After three attempts (various fires, cyclones, Aboriginals not wanting them there, etc) they gave up, but the town is called Mission Beach after their efforts. The hostel I'm staying at is nice and is basically cabins around a pool. There's a TV room there and a food outlet. That's about it though unless you take a 20 minute walk (in the heat) into town. I was there for a couple of days and went to the beach (surprising how many others staying there didn't actually go to the beach??) and also chilled. Nice spot. Two days were enough though. I actually had the whole beach (as far as I could see) to myself for most of the day!!

I saw a killer sunset whilst I was there. It was a pink sunset!!! I mean bright, bright pink. It was amazing. I didn't have my camera though, which was a real bummer. The photos below were taken the night after and that sunset was 10 times better than the one in the photos.