Adventures of NaDave: NaDave Aussie: March 6-9 (Whitsunday Islands/Great Barrier Reef) (Part 1)

It was Labor Day weekend for the State of Victoria, so we had a Monday holiday. As a result, we took advantage by planning our trip to the Reef! Luckily, Category 4 Cyclone Marcia passed by the week before and missed theWhitsunday Islands, so there was no damage to where were heading.

Friday March 6

We met up at Melbourne Airport for our 6pm departure. Nadine took a relaxed shuttle & Dave was dropped off by his housemates. After enjoying some free wine tasting in the airport, we boarded our 1st flight to Brisbane. Then after a quick layover, we arrived into Mackay at 930p. We stepped off the plane and knew we were in a tropical area. The humidity made it feel like Mississippi...which was oddly comforting for each of us : )

We picked up our rental car and drove ~45 mins until we found a place to camp. We headed straight to bed, since we still needed to drive 1 hour to Airlie Beach, where we needed to board our Reef boat trip at 730am. The air was humid and dead, and we stuck to the top of our sleeping bags like flies on fly-paper.

Saturday March 7

The sun surprisingly came up at 6am, so we took down camp in the daylight. We drove straight to Airlie Beach, but along the way, the landscape looked similar to images of Vietnam/South Pacific. Large farming fields, with mountains surrounding. Very scenic and colorful way to start the day.

We arrived on time (yup, no story this time!) and hopped straight up to the top deck of our Cruise Whitsundays boat. We slopped on our sun cream, as it was a blue bird day! From Port of Airlie, we 1st boated over to Hamilton Island to pick up a 2nd set of passengers. From there we boated through the islands, and out to the reef!

As we arrived, the water color was a pretty light blue, and we boated up to a pontoon. We off-loaded and headed straight for the snorkel gear! (They offered a bunch of other services on the boat...scuba, heli-tours, massages, guided snorkels..but kept our wallet closed and noses in the water!) We suited up, hopped in, and then were blown away at what we saw. Fish everywhere. All colors, shapes, sizes. Huge sea clams & oysters. Along with hard & soft coral. Unexpectedly, the tide current was pretty strong, so if you were still in the water, you were pushed at a pretty good rate. (We each had waterproof cameras, so we have pictures & video galore

After 1.5 hrs, we came in and ate lunch. We nursed our toe blisters and sore faces (from the snorkel gear), but then slopped on more sunscreen, and headed out for another 1.5 hrs trip. We had to finish up by 3pm, so we didn't waste any time. The 2nd trip was a little better for each of us, as we got used to our gear. But nothing got old, the reef is so AWESOME!

At 3pm, we headed back into the Whitsundays & saw a dolphin along the way. We arrived 1st to Hamilton Island, then back to Port of Airlie. We then headed to a grocery store, got the NaDave classics (bread, pb, hummus, trail mix, & wine), and found a free dinner bench across the street from a pub with live music outdoors. We then drove to Conway Beach to set up camp, and get ready for our Whitsunday Island camping trip!!