Well I've done it - I have finally left my life in Brisbane behind. It was extremely hard to leave, I have had a wonderful time in this beautiful city and have every intention of returning in the near future.
My departure was made more difficult by the fact that I had possibly the worst hangover in the world the day of my flight, following yet another 'leaving drinks'! Luckily, Becky took charge and we made the flight in time. But Jetstar had a surprise in store for us... we flew for about an hour before being told that there was a technical fault on the plane and we would have to fly back to Brisbane! We finally arrived in Airlie beach around 4pm and made our way to the hostel. We then threw on our swimmers and headed to the pool before heading into town to get some dinner. We both felt like a quiet beer before an early night, but Airlie beach on St Patricks day is not ideal for that - after a really good dinner we headed onto the main strip to be confronted with a jelly wrestling competition in one bar and a pretty vulgar quiz show in another.... so the grandmas decided to leave the kids to it and just sleep.
I was thankful for it the next day - we were leaving on the boat at 4pm and had to sort out a lot of stuff before then. This we did and I also had my first 'cold rock' experience - an extremely good ice cream shop where you choose not only your flavour but also a topping and a sauce - delicious and an essential ozzie experience.
Everyone from the boat company kept stressing that we needed to bring all our own alcohol on board, so we bought a couple of six packs believing that this would suffice....how wrong can you get.
As soon as the others arrived I realised we were in for a fairly crazy time. 6 Norwegian lads, each with a crate of beer on one shoulder and bottle of whisky in one hand, a couple of English lads drinking goon (the really cheap box wine that acts as a paint stripper) and a few girls carrying bottles of tequila.... Sobriety would not be an option.
We then met the crew and were shown to our cabins, and I am not joking when I say they were tiny - Becky and I had to share a bed and there was no room for our stuff anywhere. But as soon as we came back on deck and began sailing all of this was forgotten - the Whitsundays are absolutely stunning - the water is clear and the islands have white sand, black rocks and palm trees. It was a bit choppy on the way out but we soon found a calm spot where we moored for the night. And this is when the fun really began. We were diving the following morning so were warned that we had to stop drinking 8 hours before (so at around midnight), but apart from that were given carte blanche to drink as much as we wanted, in fact the crew not only joined in but were leading most of the drinking games. It was a beautiful evening and once I had been forced to 'ride the train' in one of the games (don't ask - seriously!), I retired to the front deck to relax with a beer and look at the stars. It was here that I saw my first shooting star in Australia, so I was pretty happy.
The following morning we all changed into our stinger suits and were handed our snorkles and masks, before loading into the dinghy and heading to the beach. I was one of the last people to be diving so headed out snorkling with one of the girls. We had no idea what to expect, but were absolutely gobsmacked by the range of colours in the fish. Bright yellow, blue, green and even gold, and all different shapes and sizes. Even more amazing was the fact that they weren't afraid at all, in fact they even swam with us! At one point we were just swimming along and a huge parrot fish, bright turquoise and about 1.2 metres long appeared! I admit I was pretty scared for a moment, but once I realised it wasn't a dangerous fish was amazed by the way it was swimming around with us. It had two cleaner fish swimming alongside it, cleaning its gills as it swam and it was a truly magical sight.
The diving was also extremely impressive, especially as I saw two anenemone fish (I think...!), more commonly known as Nemos! I actually felt like I was in that film, swimming around with all of the incredible fish. The coral is also amazing - really brightly coloured and such a variety of types and shapes. I was really glad that Becky was around as she dives a lot and knew what the different species were.
We spent the whole day exploring this island, snorkling and diving. I was surprised by how much you can actually see from the surface - the water is so clear and fairly shallow so he reef is very easy to see. Diving is a totally different experience though, as you are so close to everything, especially the coral and the fish that swim amongst them - incredible.
Dinner that evening was lovely once again, and the leftover meat we fed to some batfish swimming around and also a Sea Eagle, a huge white eagle that came soaring towards us before swooping down onto the water and grabbing the meat - it was a very impressive sight.
That evening was basically an even more rowdy version of the first night. I joined in with the drinking games for a while (and even added a few of my own!) but retired early once again to chat with Jen and Chris, a lovely English couple, before heading to bed. And boy was I glad as the next morning most people were truly a sight for sore eyes!
I chose to dive again and this time Becky and I were allowed to dive on our own. It was brilliant, much clearer and even better than the previous day. The Whitsundays are the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef, somewhere I have dreamed of diving for years, and I was truly amazed - it was like being at an aquarium! We explored the bay and found some very interesting coral, a giant clam and a couple of sea slugs, which are really brightly coloured and very beautiful as well as numerous types of exotic fish. Luckily Becky has an underwater camera so we were able to capture what we saw, but photos could never really do it justice - it is just nature at its most impressive, and I was totally in awe.
The journey back to Airlie beach was very rough, and I was even happier that I hadn't drunk much the previous evening! Everyone was pretty exhausted but sleep was impossible, so we just chatted and focused our energies on not being ill! After what seemed like hours, we pulled into the harbour and the trip was over. There was a party on that evening in Airlie beach, but for us the adventure was about to begin - our road trip started here! We were heading towards Eungella national park, home of the elusive platypus, before visiting the Atherton Tablelands and the Daintree rainforest....let the fun begin!
_________________________
On est arrive a Airlie Beach assez tard, suite a des problemes techniques a bord l'avion, et dans mon etat assez fragile (lendemain de grosse soiree), la journee a passe tres tres lentement! Airlie Beach est une petite ville connu par les voyageurs comme un endroit magnifique ou on fait la fete - et ce n'est pas une blague! Moi, j'ai fait ma grandmere, et je me suis couchee tot, par contre la rue etait pleine de jeunes qui cherchaient tous la meme chose - l'alcool pas cher et des jeux un peu bizarre!
J'etais fiere de moi le lendemain lorsque je me suis levee la tete claire, et surtout quand j'ai vu l'etat des autres dans notre auberge! En plus c'etait le jour du depart pour les Whitsundays Islands, un groupe d'Iles de sables blancs a une centaine de kilometres de la cote australienne qui forme la partie sud de la gande barriere de corail.
La compagnie par laquelle on avait reserve le bateau nous a prevenu (au moins 10 fois) qu'il fallait amener notre propre alcool, et je me suis vite rendu compte en voyant notre groupe que cela etait bien necessaire! Tout le monde avait sa caisse de biere, et je me suis senti un peu 'petite joueuse' avec mon pack de 6 bieres! Tant pis, l'objectif pour moi etait la plongee et pas l'alcool (comment j'ai grandi!).
Le bateau lui meme etait miniscule, et les chambres encore plus! J'ai du partager un lit avec Becky et le lit etait tres dur. Mais des qu'on a eu la premiere vue des iles et de l'espace completement vide autour de nous, il fallait arreter de se plaindre - c'etait magnifique - la mer est turquoise et pleine de poissons exotiques, le ciel est bleu et les iles sont formees de plages de sable blanc, de palmiers et d'enormes roches noires - Wow!
Le premier jour on a fait la connaissance de tout le monde, dont un group de Norwegiens completement fous, et des anglais bien sympas (evidemment!). Le soir, on a tranquillement bu des bieres avant de commencer les jeux a boire - je suis maintenant la reine des jeux a boire, je vous le previens!
Le lendemain matin, apres une nuit de pluie et de vent, on s'est reveille au calme et en plein soleil, pretes pour le snorkelling et la plongee. J'ai d'abord fait du snorkelling avec une autre fille, et j'etais toute de suite etonne par l'eau bien claire et les couleurs tres impressionantes - les poissons jaunes et bleu, vert, d'orree et le corail rose, rouge et bleu - c'est vraiment incroyable. Le poisson le plus spectaculaire que j'ai vu ce jour la s'appelle un 'giant parrot fish' - etait turquoise et faisait plus d'un metre - incroyable! Et le fait de nager avec tous ces animanux donne une sensation assez unique d'etre dans un autre monde. Cette sensation etait encore plus forte a la plongee - l'eau n'etait pas tres profonde mais ce n'etait franchement pas necessaire - et j'ai plongee avec Nemo! J'etais hors de moi.
On a passe toute la journee ici, et le soir on a regarde un coucher de soleil assez magnifique avant de recommencer les jeux a boire! Mais pas moi - j'ai prefere regarde les etoiles (et d'ailleurs j'ai vu ma premiere etoile filante) et discuter des choses serieuses (genre les plus beaux endroits dans ce pays de reve!)
Je me suis reveille tot le dernier jour car j'avais decide de plongee dans un autre endroit, qui devait etre encore meilleur que le premier - je n'etais pas decu. Ici j'ai pu plonger avec Becky et ensemble on a decouvert ce monde spectaculaire. Honnetement, je ne connais pas de mots pour expliquer a quel point c'etait magnifique - tout le monde devait venir ici - c'est un endroit magique. Bref - ca m'a plu pas mal!
Le trajet de retour etait difficile, surtout pour ceux qui avait un peu abuse la vieille, et on etait heureux de revoir le port d'Airlie Beach au bout de 2 heures! Le soir, l'equipe avait organise une fete pour le groupe, mais Becky et moi avions d'autres projets - on avait loue une voiture pour faire un tour dans le Queensland du nord - le depart du 'road trip'!!
|
Photos Australie
Carnets de voyage Australie
Vidéos Australie
Carte Australie
Guide de voyage Australie
Santé Australie
Billets d'avion Australie
