Whitsundays To Brisbane
Awoke for sunrise once again. 5:30 AM, coffee in hand, gazing out on the horizon, sailing towards the sun. Absolutely incredible. Some of my mates on the boat wanted to do some yoga so I led us thru sun salutations, giving thanks for this day ahead of us. And then we sailed up to a sleeping humpback whale. I have seen so many whales living in Cabo but this was epic. It was sleeping right on top of the shore and we sailed right up, getting so close! And then we had brekkie- fruit salad, granola with almond milk, and gluten free toast with Vegemite and vegan butter. I know I'm probably crazy for saying it but I am digging Vegemite! Super salty and not that healthy but dang is it good. After a couple of hours of sailing, we arrived at our first snorkel spot, Saba Bay.
We put on some stinger suits and although it wasn't even 8:30 AM, I dove right in. Yes it was refreshing and a bit windy but my goodness was it delicious. Carla was my snorkel buddy and she thought it would be a good idea to tie our suits together. Turned out to be a bad idea HA! After snorkeling a bit on the Great Barrier Reef, we decided to hop on the dingy and couldn't manage to get on being tied together, but we couldn't untie it under water. I am laughing as I write this right now. Carla ended up cutting her foot on the reef in her attempt to get out of the water. We laughed way too much and spent some time riding around on the dingy with Reuben. We even cruised over to say hi to Nate on his boat and saw a sea turtle pop its head out of the water.
After some time of swimming, I decided to do some backflips off the front of the boat. First time was a bit of a fail considering it was more of a backflip belly flop, but my second go-around was more of a success. Then Carla and I hopped onto a kayak and paddled around a bit. I decided to attempt some headstands on it as well, which turned into another laughing fest. Eventually, we hopped back on the boat and sailed to another snorkel spot on the reef, Mackerel Bay. This site was beautiful! We saw heaps of jelly fish and all got together to take some group photos with the go-pro (soon to come). There were a lot of fish as well, and a sea cucumber, though I didn't find Nemo.
We spent several hours hanging in the sea and sun before getting ready for our 3 hour sail back to the marina at Airlie Beach. On our way, we enjoyed some lunch and made a massage train. Both were delicious! Captain Dave got us back by 3:45, just in time for me to catch my shuttle ride to the airport. We said our goodbyes, shared numbers and hugs all around, then I hopped on the Heart of the Reef shuttle (absolute best shuttle company, Michelle is incredible), and was off to Proserpine airport. Michelle picked up my backpack from Magnums hostel where I left it with reception yesterday before getting on the boat, no extra charge. She and HORS service is epic and I highly recommend contacting her for transportation when in Airlie Beach.
I got to the airport in my bikini (this is a reoccurring trend) so after security, I reorganized my pack and changed, sipped a glass of wine, boarded my flight and was off to Brisbane! Remember my British friend, Kerry, who I met on my tour to Fraser Island? Well she and I are meeting up and staying the night in Brisbane to party before going south to Byron Bay. I have been out twice since being in Aus and both nights were very mellow, so I am excited to have a girl by my side to have some drinks with and meet some people. Her bus arrived at the same time as my flight and we took the Translink train from the airport to the city (30 minutes ride using the Go Card).
We arrived and decided to stay at Nomads hostel, which has a bar attached to it. When we arrived to check-in, two fellas who were on my flight from Proserpine were checking-in as well. They were behind me in the security line and heard the TSA worker saying how brown I am. I think I am the tannest I've been in my life. People definitely do not think I'm from the U.S. right now. Most are guessing Aus, and I'm going with it!
The hostel has an elevator from 1911, so you can imagine what a trip it is taking the lift up to the third floor. We dropped our bags off and headed down to the bar. The front desk worker recommended Victory Hotel, so Kerry and I headed that way. Hotel is another word for bar out here, as many "hotels" are actually bars, and in Sydney the VIP lounges are casinos! But anyways, the streets were pretty quiet, but Victory was packed. It is like 3-4 separate bars in one: a karaoke bar, sports bar, live music area, and an EDM spot up top. We got a jug of beer for $10 AUD and found a spot to chill. Right away, there was an Aussie dude that lifted his glass to cheers me, saw that I hadn't filled my glass with anything yet, and poured me some beer from his jug. Kerry and I moved over to hang with Michael and Mark. Two Aussie blokes, super funny, cracking jokes, spilling beer, and dancing our bums off; Kerry and I had a blast with them, until they got kicked out HA! Figures. I'm cracking up writing this.
Anyways, we met another cool group of people and hung out with them until I had a sudden pizza craving. And there just so happened to be a pizza joint across the street. We walked over, I ordered a vegan pizza and proceeded to eat the whole thing on my own, plus a falafel. Yup, definitely not losing weight on this trip! The food was so good but we were in a food coma afterward (rightfully so). We walked back to Nomads hostel and decided to pop our heads into the bar next door, Down Under Bar. They had music from the 90s going, and even Spice Girls! I started rocking out, we met some more Aussie mates, had some drinks and got carried away on the dance floor (I even took my sandals off).
Around 4:00 AM we called it a night, headed up to our room, one of the bunk mates had a skateboard so I road around a bit in the room, laughing and cracking jokes, and then eventually climbed to the top bunk (that was a struggle) and passed out.
