Sailing The Whitsundays

So I've travelled by plane, car, bus, train....and now by boat!

This week has seen me on a boating trip around the Whitsundays (a collection of 74 islands off the coast of Queensland).

There were 25 of us on the boat, and it did indeed get a little cramped at times (never enough room to sunbathe!). Despite the early starts - I once again had a really wonderful time. A great collection of people from all over the world made for a really great atmosphere, the wine was flowing, and the food was marvelous.

A great deal of time was spent cruising around the many islands taking in the really quite fabulous scenery - the islands are so sparsely populated, and the boats so seperated - we went for hours at a time with barely seeing another boat in sight - which is always a real treat.

Very early Tuesday morning was a visit to Whitehaven beach - voted one of the top three in the world. Mostly due to the white, extremely fine sand which is totally unique to this part of the world (something to do with a volcano being there before the ica age - I really should pay more attention...) Unfortuanetly the sun wasn't shining quite as bright as it could have been, so the place lacked a little of its magic, but I can really see why its so beautiful (although I still think you can't beat Rhosilli...).

We also spent a great deal of time snokelling which again - was a real highlight. The reef itself is just stunning, but then populated by about a hundred different fish is even greater! Didint see any sharks myself (although some were spotted..) but we did have an amazing encounter with a turtle, who let us swim along with him for quite some time - which was really quite special.

We encounetred a little bit of rain, which didnt quite turn into a thunderstorm - even though the sky certainly threatened it! (Thank goodness!!). Both nights, after a glass or two of terrible Australian wine slept on top deack under the stars; which are so incredibly bright and impressive here - feeling about a million miles away from London, assistant directing, teaching musical theatre students, the bookshop et al - missing home a lot - yet incredibly content at this incredibley cliched travelling moment under the stars!

Rich
xxx