Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

But we got sea legs and we're off tonight...

Song: "Sea Legs" by The Shins

April 21st

I woke up on the top of a boat. So awesome. It was our last day on the Condor (that was the name of the boat) and we hadn't showered in awhile so for that reason alone I was ok with leaving. We met a lot of really cool people on our boat, and it was all in all a great trip.

I slept here the second night:
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
I slept here the first night:
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
Crazy.

Anyway, we got back to our dock and went our separate ways, with our car full of girls heading off to Cairns. Our first stop though was at this little waterfall right by Airlie Beach that we were encouraged by Tones, the deck hand, to visit. It was gorgeous. I climbed a tree.
From On the way to Cairns
From On the way to Cairns

There also was a skinny dipper in the back stream we kept trying to get a picture of, with no luck. We brought cheese and crackers to the waterfall and had a nice little picnic before beginning our 8 hour journey to Cairns.

On the drive, a giant bug flew in the window causing Vilde to scream at the top of her lungs. The entire car freaked out, Bernie pulled over, and we took care of the situation. After everyone stopped screaming, we laughed and went on our way. Bernie wanted a cow picture.
From On the way to Cairns

On the way, we passed many large fruits. No joke.
Big Mango:
From On the way to Cairns
Big Watermelon:
From On the way to Cairns
Big Tractor, near the big watermelon:
From On the way to Cairns

I feel like later on I saw a giant thing of bananas, but we were pretty exhausted from pulling over at the mango and the watermelon. I really thought there was a fruit market at the watermelon stop, and I was sadly mistaken.

We finally got to Townsville, where we went to Castle Hill Lookout and saw the sun set. The drive up was filled with pedestrians and bikers going either up or down the hill. We were a bit worried we would hit one of them, but we made it safely up and back down again. We grabbed dinner at this cool restaurant where we had both regular and chocolate nachos. Did I mention how psyched I was that I could eat chocolate again?
From On the way to Cairns
Anyway, all was good and we arrived in Cairns safely, the bright lights of Gilligan's telling us we made it.

Everybody look at me 'cause I'm sailing on a boat!

Song: "I'm On A Boat" by Incredibad (The Lonely Island) feat. T. Pain

April 20th

Woke up on a boat. Crazy talk. I couldn't really sleep when I woke up from the hull of the boat, so I listened to my iPod for a bit.

From Whitsundays Sailing Trip

The other boat from our boat:
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip

We had breakfast and then got off the boat to go look out over Whitehaven Beach, the number three beach in the world.

It was gorgeous. The sand was so white and everything was picturesque.
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip

Anyway, gorgeous. We left the lookout and played on the island itself and it's 99.6% pure silica (quartz) sand due to a volcano nearby. We learned we could use the sand to brush our teeth, which was an interesting experiment. We had to swim in the water with our stinger suits on so we wouldn't get stung by any terrible Australian wildlife.

From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip

Unfortunately, we had to leave the beach and get back on the boat. I was content with staying much longer. Our next destination was a spot for snorkeling. I was terrified of this after my kayak snorkeling experience, but I tried again and it was much better this time. I also got cool photos with my underwater camera (I think, I need to develop them). The reefs we looked at here were just amazing. The fish were just as bright and exotic as you would expect. Even the reef, which I knew wasn't going to be as bright as the fake stuff in the Baltimore Aquarium, was still impressive. I was so worried that I might accidentally kick something the first half of the snorkel that I didn't enjoy myself, but toward the end I got a lot better. It was probably my favorite water related part of the trip.

After snorkeling, we went to a sand bar near where we were going to spend the night on the boat. The sand bar disappeared at high tide and we were about two hours away from it disappearing, so I ran to one side of it to take pictures.

From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
I got a funny one of the other girls on the other side when the water was coming up.
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
Bernie stole my camera for this one:
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
From Whitsundays Sailing Trip
Ahhhhawfawjefnkwffbaweflkwfet. I love sunsets.

I chose this evening to sleep on the deck of the boat. Greatest idea ever. It was so much less stuffy, and I got to fall asleep with the stars and wake up with the sunrise.
Correction: Ahhhhawfawjefnkwffbaweflkwfet. I love everything about the sky.