Australia pt. 2 Whitsundays and Central Queensland

Once the wedding was over, we took a 2.5 hour flight north to Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland. Apparantly there are more Golf buggy related deaths on this tiny island than anywhere else in the world but we didn't hang about long to find out why as we took the ferry over to the mainland and found a place to stay in Airlie Beach.

I'd always wanted to come here to try out one of the sailing trips around the islands and out to the Great Barrier Reef and we were lucky to get a big discount on a 3 night yacht trip which was leaving that same day. as well as the discount, we also managed to secure the 'presidential suite' on the boat, we just means we got our own room with a double bed at the back of the boat as opposed to the bunks crammed into the tiny cupboards at the front. This was made even better when we found out everyone who had booked ahead had paid 40% more..... until i got bitten to death by bed bugs that is :(

Bites (and Kasias sunburn) apart it was a really pleasant trip. We snorkelled on the barrier reef spotting reef sharks, turtles, doplphins and ALOT of fish, we had a trip to the 8km long secluded white sand Whitehaven Beach, had a go at pulling the ropes on the sails and we also ate and drank alot.

Once the sailing trip was over we stayed in the very easy going Airlie Beach for a couple of days before hiring a car and going inland to spot Platypus, Kangaroos, Wallabies and Emus as well as checking out some of the very nice national parks. We also spent our first nights in the tiny tent my mate Guy had kindly lent us. The lack of decent pillows, the annoying birds waking upto to sing at 4.30am, Kasia hogging all the space ;) and the early sun rise means sleep is a bit sporadic but it has saved us some money and most nights have been fine with the weather being so dry. It's also been fun building camp fires and cooking on the barbie. Mind you, we did experience a huge thunderstorm one night whilst in the tent in the Eungulla National Park. I don't think Kasia has ever held me so tightly before :) Thankfully we'd pitched on high ground so the run-off bypassed us.
After this we stayed a couple of nights on a ranch where we tried out some horseriding in the bush. It was actually pretty good fun, especially since Kasia's horse (called Molly) was the most disobedient of the lot staying still when she wanted to move and galloping when she told it to stop :) The terrain was relatively challenging too with lots of steep sections and some river crossings. Not sure I'll be getting on a horse any time again soon though. Bikes are far more controllable.