2 Crazy Sheilas

Wow so here we are, I’ve already completed almost half of my journey down the coast and I can’t believe where the time has gone. We have done so many cool things thus far and I can’t wait to tell you about the Whitsunday Island sail aboard the Derwent Hunter. 

Miranda and I woke early, and slowly, as the night before we had some fun with new friends laughing at drunk dancers. As we tiredly put our bags in storage and headed for the marina I grew more and more excited for the next three days aboard the Derwent Hunter, which was a cream and green colored tall sailing ship.

We boarded the boat settled our bags into our bearths, learned how to use the head, and exited the marina where we set sail for a coral beach in the distance. As we raised the sails and gradually got used to the salty, sticky damp feeling of ourselves and everything we owned, we cruised along the water and eventually came to a coral beach and ripped our feet apart when we walked along. Luckily we headed straight for the water and did some snorkeling, which I must say was not nearly as good as the Great Barrier Reef. Swiming over to the dingy to see our deckhand throw fish food into the water and see the fish go in a frenzy to get the food was a really wierd sight to see. Especially (contrary to Mirandas blog which says I’m on the beach, where she is very wrong, I was right there with her) when the deckhand threw the fish food onto us and all of the fish swarmed me and jumped and hit my mask and skurried past me, whereby I freaked out. I must say I like the look of fish from a distance, not when they are hitting me! After an interesting snorkel and a lounge on the very unconfortable beach, we were taken back to the boat for a huge lunch and another ride to our destination for the night.

We dropped anchor and listened to our skipper tell us about the stars while we had a nice dinner and a glass of wine before we went below deck and headed to bed.

The next day we awoke to cloudy and rainy weather, ate some breakfast and headed to the famous (top ten in the world) Whithaven Beach for the afternoon. After making a stop in Blue Pearl Bay to do a bushwalk up the the lookout of Whithaven beach we headed around the island and dropped anchor where we had lunch and the hopped onto the dingy to be taken to the beach. When we arrived on the beach it immediately started raining abd didn’t stop until we were picked up again…go figure! At first I tried to stay dry with a raincoat but after awhile I decided it was no use and I ditched it to cover my things and went for a walk down the beach with Miranda where we collected sand and coral, and drew pictures in the sand. We learned that the sand on the beach was actually silica, which is essentially glass I think, and we learned that it acted as a really good jewelry polisher whereby Miranda and I polished our earrings and rings! Although it was raining it was a beautiful beach, I couldn’t imagine what it could have looked like if it had been sunny!

After being picked up from the beach our tall ship headed for the second night destination, a bay-like inlet that blocked us from the ripping winds. We had a chat, wine and good dinner on the deck of the boat before I headed to bed.

When I woke the next morning and climbed to the deck of the ship I was really glad to see that the last day of our sailing trip was sunny! We immediately headed for a island that had the name Black something or something Black and went to whore where we did some more snorkeling and lounging on the beach. I was envious to hear that some people saw sea turtles and sting rays while snorkeling, which is something I didn’t see. After our sunny afternoon on the beach we Headed back to Airlie Beach. 

Our trip came to an end and we hopped off of the boat where Miranda and I smuggled Whithaven beach sand a shells past the coral sniffing dog and headed back to the city to do some much needed laundry and showering. Later that night we met up with the people on our trip and ate dinner and had a few drinks at a bar named Beaches. It was a really fun night, but being that I had been on a boat for days I was wuite tired so eventually, once the Sangria and free beer ran out, I headed back to the Hostel with Miranda and headed to bed.

This morning Miranda and I were able to sleep in, which I took full advantage of, sleeping until 11 and waking to see that Miranda was not there. I was very happy to sleep in and gain back some hours of much needed rest. Miranda and I went for lunch, bagels (yumm!), bought some books for some light reading, and then caught up on our blogs…whereby I had a little more catching up to do! But now that I am caught up I am very happy!

Tomorrow Miranda and I have to be on our Oz bus at 6:45 am, hopefully we are at the correct place, and we head to Kroombit for the night. Kroombit is a cattle station where we will get the chance to crac a whip and round up goats as well as see a mini rodeo. I can’t say whether of not I am excited for my rural adventure, I will let you all know what becomes of it.

Until then thank you for reading!

~Claire 

Today was the start of Miranda and I’s journey down the coast, and let me tell you I never thought it would come and now that its here I’m wondering where the time has gone!

Today was a rocky morning as Miranda and I took part in the 5 drinks for $12 dollars Tuesday night deal at a bar in the city center of Cairns named the Woolshed. It was a fun night as we both got our moneys worth and had a lot of fun with our Dutch friend Rody who we met in the Red Center and met up with again. We had a lot of laughs at the bar last night, as Miranda and Rody purchased auctioned goldfish and took part in a goldfish race with about 6 other contestants. The fish Miranda bought, named the Dutch Dike, was a dud, as it lost the first race and therefore was taken out of the braket in the first round. While Rodys fish, The Drunken Irishman, rallied all the way through to the finals, where he got completely comfused and refused to swim the right way down the water raceway. It was quite funny as some of the other fish contestants were Sushi from Japan, George W. Fish from the States, and a few others from Canada, Australia, and Sweden. I have never seen a worldwide goldfish reace in my life, let alone a goldfish race at all! It was quite fun and something I’ll always think of when I think of my last night in Cairns.

The next day we had to wake up VERY early and head to the city center and wait for our Oz bus to pick us up and take us to Townsville and over to Magnetic Island. As Miranda and I waited and waited for the bus to arrive, Miranda grew weary that we may have been in the wrong spot. I myself just sat tiredly and waited for Miranda to figure out if we were at the right pick-up place or not. While Miranda was phoning the STA headquarters I realized I had missed a call from the bus driver wondering where we were. Turns out we were in the wrong place and luckily the driver came back and picked us up. A rocky start to our adventure down the coast could have been off to a bad start! Once we were picked up from the Oz bus we headed south down the coast of Australia on our way to Townsville for the night. Along the way we stopped at a crocodile farm where we were able to hold numerous animals, including an olive python, a baby corocdile, some sort of lizard, and a cockatoo! After taking time holding each of the animals we were taken to the back where we hand fed kangaroos and gt to see the croc experts feed the huge prehistoric looking crocodiles! We were also able to see some wild boars, dingoes, emus (as well as a male emu incubating the females eggs) and even a cassowary from behind a fence. I had never seen a cassowary before, which are relatively the size of emus, but have a very colorful face and head with a wierd fin like think on the top of their heads. We learned that cassowaries are actually very dangerous and protective, and that they have a really big middle toe, whereby which they disembowel you if you get too close and cause them to be defensive. I didn’t really realize how dangerous they were until the trainer put his boot up to the fence and suddenly the giant bird flicked his claw almost immediately and let out a very intimidating hissing noise! I didn’t see the trainer put his boot up to the fence so it scared the crap out of me!

After the fun visit to the croc farm we hopped back onto the bus and headed to Townsville. In Townsville Miranda and I decided to take a ferry to a small island just off of the coast, Magnetic Island. On the way to the island we watched the most beautiful sunset and by the time we arrived it was dark. We headed to our hostel, which was the nicest hostel I have stayed in thus far, as it was right on the beach and equipped with a swimming pool, hammocks, a really spacious deck and a good bar. Mirand and I checked into our small A frame like houses and went and had some dinner on the deck and listened to the crashing waves before we headed to bed for an early night.

The next day we woke up and grabbed some breakfast before we hopped back on the ferry and arrived back in the city of Townsville where we boarded our bus and headed for Airlie Beach. The bus ride and day was very uneventful.

As Miranda and I arrived in Airlie Beach we found that our hostel was out of town, and when we arrived we found it to be the dirtiest, trashy hostel we have even stayed in before. The dirty carpet was littered with trash and out beds, which were not equipped with sheets, were full of holes. Seriously, we may have been better off sleeping in a cardboard box with the homeless! The second we arrived at the hostel we decided to take a walk into the city and grab some dinner, a drink, and reserve a room at another place for the following night.

After an early night in the dingiest hostel in history, Miranda and I checked out of our hostel and headed into town to another nicer place to lay our heads. We had the whole way free in Airlie Beach and what a better way to spend a nice sunny day than to spend money! Ha let me tell you spending money on this day was not the idea I had had in mind, but as the day drew to a close and a purchase of some jewelry and a digeridoo loomed on my credit card we decided to grab a cheap dinner and head to a bar that had drink deals. The night was a really fun one as we shared $8 pitchers of sangria and chatted with a new Irish friend and laughed at the drunken male dancers to the front of us, who busted a move to tunes like Living on a Prayer and YMCA. It was hilarious to see these men who were so drunk they didn’t realize just how rediculous they looked. I swear they pulled every bad move in the book, including the twist and the shopping cart. One guy couldn’t even raise his hands for the YMCA! But hey they were having fun, dancing like maniacs and thinking they were the best looking bunch in the bar! After laughing so hard that my stomach hurt at the dancers and a few glasses of Sangria Miranda and I decided to head to bed.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Whitsunday Islands on board the Derwent Hunter!

~Claire 

            It’s been a couple days but Claire and I have been unable to write because we’ve been sailing the Whitsundays.  Today was one of our first days to sleep in but because my body doesn’t know what that feels like anymore I’m writing while I let Claire sleep.

            Claire and I arrived in Airlie Beach on the 10th and realized our hostel was out of town so we tried to cancel but no luck.  The place was a dump.  Our mattresses looked like a pack of moths had ravaged them with tiny holes everywhere.  We found another hostel for the second night called Beaches and spent the day shopping.  That night we went to our hostel bar and met two guys, one from France and one from Ireland.  We laughed and drank while we watched drunk guys dance to tunes like Love Shack and Hey Micky.  One was so drunk he could only raise his arms half way while doing the YMCA. 

The next morning Claire and I boarded the Derwent Hunter, a light yellow tall ship and our home for the next three days.   We took off on the open blue and immediately the salty wind was rushing through my hair.  We passed dolphins and sailboats as we drove on.  I still can’t believe this is my life sometimes.

Our first stop was at a coral beach that abused our raw feet.  After the Great Barrier Reef this rocky and dying reef was no match.  However, it was fun (and freaky) when one of our crew threw fish food at us.  The fish swarmed, grazing my arms and legs.  They zoomed passed my goggles as I snapped the underwater camera.  When I stuck my head out of water Claire was on shore along with many others who thought the whole thing was crazy.

We sailed along until the stars were turning on and the half moon rose.  We pulled up along the other sailing ships and dropped anchor, their lights twinkling in the distance like the stars in the sky.  Our captain gave us a tour of the stars, constellations, and planets.  He showed us Jupiter, Mars, Saturn,  Leo, Virgo, and more before the night clouds swallowed them up.

Our cramped sleeping quarters left me sleeping under the top single and next to a German on the bottom double.  It was like sleeping in a coffin and I’m sure the girl from Germany didn’t appreciate me snoring in her ear.   When I woke and climbed above there was no sun to greet me but gray clouds that turned the water the same sad color.

We made some more stops our second day onboard.  We stopped at an island and took a small hike where we learned about ants whose bums taste like limes.  Only in Australia I tell ya!  But while our boat waited to take off we watched sea turtles break the surface to take a few breaths before they would disappear under the blue blanket.   From there we were dropped off on Whitehaven Beach where we got poured on!  Soaked from head to toe Claire and I walked along the beach writing messages in the sand and collecting some shells which were illegal to take but we’re quite sneaky.  I found a sand dollar that I couldn’t pass up.

Our final day felt so much better when the sun decided to push the clouds aside.  We went snorkeling yet again on Black Island.  Some saw sting rays and sea turtles but neither Claire or I were lucky enough to get a glimpse before the cold water made us head in.  Instead we laid on the beach soaking up the sun we missed out on yesterday.

As our boat sailed back to Airlie Beach our entire boat relaxed and enjoyed the waves.  Once docked there was a friendly dog and his owner who helped dock us.  We all took turns petting the tan and spotted visitor until we were told he was a coral sniffing dog.  As we went below to collect our belongings Claire and I left the coral we found washed up on shore, tucked in a matt.  Although the coral was already dead and the dog never sniffed either of us with our shells and sand we decided not to risk taking the natural contraband.         

So now we’re in Airlie Beach, leaving tomorrow where we will arrive in Kroombit.  Kroombit is a cattle station where Claire and I can learn how to crack a whip or join in a mini-rodeo.  yee-ha.  We’re a little nervous to see how that goes.

Thanks for reading J

Miranda