Speed

Dear, I'm terribly sorry, I have been so remiss in writing this and my last entry was a tad luck lustre. For these things I apologise and will now explain.

As I mentioned before I met 3 very nice Kendal dwellers and a terribly young 18 year old girl on an overnight trip to the rainforest that I then went on to inbibe several alcoholic beverages with.
Well, the following days were spent primarily with one of these mint cake eaters, a girl who seemly has limitless energy and a very high alcohol tolerence. I will call her Judy. As we were both travelling South on the greyhound (a cheap bus service) we decided to go together and the night before we left Cairns we went to friend of hers house to swim in his pool. This quiet night morphed into a wine from a bag drinking frenzy (they call it a goon bag for future reference) causing a panicked bag packing and very uncomfortable bus journey to Magnetic Island the next day.

Now Magnetic Island on the brochures is a delightful place full of amazing activites and jolly times. Now the reality is slightly different. The hostel we stayed was beach front, although due to the time of year, giant stingrays and jelly fish are present and you cannot swim in the sea in safety. The rooms in this place were little shacks with very shoddy craftsmanship and multiple portals for nasty beasties to enter into and were complete ovens at night. The first day was spent somewhat pleasently. I nursed my hangover and lay by the pool. That evening was Paddy's day and the bar at the hostel put green food dye into all the drinks. This sounds interesting, but trust me by the end of an evening, a hundred drunken teens with green tongues was not amusing especially as I was still nursing my poor head. The next day was miserable weather, I tried to book a horse riding trip in spite of this, but when I turned up they said they had not been told about me (I'm sure the girl I spoke to on the phone was the one that turned me away - very suspect) and I couldn't go. As there was nothing to do in the evenings, again the hostel bar was our destination and even more alcohol was consumed, but not by me.

The next day we were joined by the very young 18 year old and hired a small car to go round the island. The island has one road and is only 10 kms long. The car didn't go far. Still we had a jolly time and had a BBQ by the beach. That evening it was destination bar again. I reminded them both politely that we had an early start to get the bus to Airlie beach the next day. They assured me that they would be ready in time and then at half 5 in the evening cracked into a 4 litre goon bag and proceeded to drink most it. The young girl was put to bed with a bucket by me at approximately half past 9 and Judy had to be located the next morning and hurried out of the hostel to catch the ferry (to get the bus you see, it was an island).

However, we did make it, but by this stage I was getting a tad weary of the near constant alcohol abuse and when we arrived in Airlie beach I selected a hostel a bit out of town and for the last few days have been revelling in a dry atmosphere eating lots of chocolate. Don't get me wrong both girls are delightful, but I can't hack the pace and neither could my liver.

Airlie beach in my opinion is very similar to Magnetic Island in the sense the only after hours activity appears to destroying ones brain cells and as such my slightly out of town hostel has been a god send. Fortunately it differs in the fact that there are good things to do during the day and it's larger than 10 km squared. Unfortunately, due to a mild illness (don't worry I am fine) I had to spend the vast majority of my first day waiting to see a GP to get a prescription, the total of my 2 minute consultation and drugs coming to over 100 dollars (God love the NHS, I will never take it for granted again). This meant that buy the time I went to try and get a boat trip, I couldn't get the one that I wanted and the others available didn't suit my plans. Instead I had to opt for a day trip.

Now at first I was very disappointed by this. The whole point of coming to Airlie beach is to sail the Whit Sunday Islands and spend a night on a boat. However, my day trip turned out be fantastic. Now when I booked my day trip, I knew there was beach walks and snorkling involved. What I failed to realise was it was a speed boat. Yes, indeed. I looked over the jetty and thought dear lord what have I done!? The 3 crew were 3 completely delightful young men who proceeded to circum-navigate almost all the islands in a break neck fashion, but still stopped long enugh to have lunch on a beach, walk the beaches and snorkle some very nice reef. So it may have been short, but I thoroughly enjoyed my day, saw all the islands and saved about 200 dollars (well that's how I see it).

I must go as there are many people waiting for this one computer, but that's me practically up to date. Just remember, love the NHS.