The Shitsundays

Magnetic island - named by Captain Cook as his compass played up when he sailed by in 1770 - provided us with a lovely setting for a couple of days rest and no driving - we had to leave Eric on the mainland which was very difficult and highly emotional. We took some lovely walks around the island , in particular the fort walks up to the lookout where Japanese invaders were intercepted during WWII. This was also the place where we saw our first Koala of the trip, they are the cutest things in the world (apart from Kim Jong-il that is).

We spent one evening catching up with a fellow 'hostie' from Reef encounters and then, unable to cope without him any longer, we headed back to be reunited with Eric and made our way to Airlie beach. This place was an altogether different experience and being a mainstay on the backpacker route meant that the bars were full every night of the week, many of them holding wet T-shirt competitions. With a $500 prize at stake I begged Matt to enter but he wasn't having any of it. That's the last time I'll listen to him moaning about our financial situation.

The reason this place is so popular is that it is the gateway to the Whitsundays, a group of seventy four islands that we decided to explore on a three day cruise aboard the Alexander Stewart - how decadent. A classic timber yacht known as 'The Romance of Sail', we enjoyed sunbathing, snorkeling, swimming and sleeping in a shite-smelling room. Oh yes, on the first night the toilet waste system overflowed right next to our cabin which meant we were staying in nothing better than a cess pit. Seeing as Australia is currently going through its worst drought in 100 years we could at least rely on the weather to make our days relaxing and blissful, couldn't we? OF COURSE WE COULDN'T. Whilst it was in no way dreadful, it was overcast a lot of the time and we had rain too. The inept crew members just added to the whole farce and Matt and I would often skulk back to our fragrant boudoir and laugh at how comical the situation was. What we couldn't work out was how the other fifteen passengers on board appeared to be having a lovely time and didn't bat an eyelid when we were served up "yummy scones" that were burnt alongside luke warm tea and coffee. Blaming ourselves for being whinging pommes we just got on with it and in all fairness had a nice time with some really nice people so we mustn't complain. Actually saying that, we have complained, formally, in writing, asking for some of our money back but that's by-the-by. Possibly the best thing about the cruise was getting back to dry land, catching up with Eric (again, how we neglect him) and meeting up with our fellow passengers in a local bar. Our faith in people was soon restored when we realised we weren't the only ones who had a less than great time and so we had a good old bitch about about the trip. No one had wanted to say too much whilst we were on board but we had a great time regaling the many stories and highlights from the trip. My favourite quote was the host asking a couple from Belgium "What colour is the Belgianese flag?". That sums it up for me.

Anyway the good (??) news is that that was only one half of what we paid for and we are now in Rainbow beach about to head out on the second part tomorrow, a 3-day four-wheel drive safari on Fraser island, the world's largest sand island. We spent last night sat around our campfire keeping our fingers crossed that our experience is slightly less smelly on land than it was at sea.