O.K.

For all those who might have thought we were eaten by a shark or caught by the Australian police for squatting resorts because I haven’t posted an entry on the blog for a couple of weeks—-WE ARE O.K.

Now that you know we are alive and well, I can try and briefly skim through the past couple of weeks. 

After Port Douglas, we traveled further north to Daintree. We had intended on going to the Daintree rainforest but changed our minds when we realized that we had to pay 25 dollars to take a ferry. Instead, we headed back to Cairns for the night. 

International Connections

The following day we prepared the van for our first guests. In a few quick movements we transformed our bedroom into a living room and picked up our Parsian friends from the airport. (The van had never been so clean). We gave them a tour of the city and finished the day by spending the night at the Tanks (Cairn’s cultural center) for a poetry slam event. As you can imagine the night did not stop there but for the sake of being brief and to keep our “model children” reputation, I will just say that we were not caught doing any illegal activities and went to bed like the sweet little angels our parents know us to be. 

Chance Happenings

After Cairns, we started heading South to Airlie Beach (the gateway to the Whitsunday islands) where a three-day, two-night stay on a sailboat was awaiting us. On the way, we stopped at a couple places to sleep and kept running into the same people by chance.
At Airlie Beach, shopping at the local supermarket, we were checking out when we discerned a familiar face. The person checking out next to us happened to be our roommate from Brisbane who was also road-tripping. On our way back to the car, we laughed when we found that our roommate had parked his car just next to our 5***** van. 

Scuba-diving with James Bond

23 backpackers ranging from 20-28, one 47 year old playboy and his son, three crew man including one nationalistic Kiwi Captain, and the clear blue sea…
Three days and two nights barbecuing (yes, on the sailboat), scuba-diving the Great Barrier Reef, and walking around White Haven Beach (2nd most beautiful beach in the world with 98% silica sand).

Day one: We went to Hayman island (the northern most island of the Whitsundays) and spent the afternoon snorkeling. We also had a 30 min scuba diving introductory lesson where we went as deep as 3,7 meters. Apart from the numerous number of fishes and coral reefs, we witnessed the Giant Napolean Maori Wrasse, locally named Elvis, just beneath a wall of tiny fish. That night we played a few get to know each other games where we had to give our name, country of origin, and either dance or tell a sexual story. Most people picked the dance but our 47 year old playboy from the Netherlands picked the later. The rest of the night was spent gazing at the stars with the sound of whales and dolphins jumping out of the water in the background.

Day two: We woke up early and went to Whitehaven beach. (Look for the next post with pictures for words can not do this place justice). We then sailed for a bit and stopped a few times to gaze at the whales. We did this a few times as we were smack in the middle of whale season. We snorkeled the rest of the afternoon away and were astonished at the beaches that were not covered with sand but with dead coral instead which resembled tiny bones. Luckily, as we traveled to our next spot (Hamilton Island) we barbecued on the boat while watching the sun set. The night was finished off with fireworks from a nearby island full of resorts. (Here is another time when we took advantage of other people’s wallets).

Day three: Snorkeling snorkeling and more snorkeling. We then headed back towards Airlie beach but stopped for a bit of swimming away from the islands and dived to hear the sound of whales singing. It was refreshing to take a dip without the wetsuits with the view of splashing whales not too far away in the distance. As we pulled into Airlie beach we witnessed a boat race with hundreds of sailboats around us.

Not too bad of a way to end our four-week road trip but it was not quite over yet….