Day 8: Friday, March 21st

can you believe it? we are more than halfway through our trip. it's gone by pretty quickly. but here we are in Airlie Beach ready for our day at sea.

we woke up at 5:50am. we had to get up early, and the garbage men in the alley helped us with that.

so we woke up, packed, and checked out of our hostel and walked to the bus stop about a block down the main road. our bus was due at 7:10. right now it was about 6:50. there was a cafe down the street, perhaps a 1.5 minute walk, that was to open at 7am and they were serving BAGELS AND CREAM CHEESE on the menu! i don't think you understand how excited i was. i haven't had a bagel EVER in australia. they just don't eat them. and since we found out this cafe had them, it's all i could think about. so i send my sister down to the cafe to buy our bagels and she comes back at 6:57. the worker at Harry's Corner Cafe said they wouldn't be ready for another 10 minutes. so at 7:01 i decided to go back. we were gonna get our bagels, dangit.

they happily took my order at 7:03. but apparently it takes 9 minutes to toast a bagel and spread cream cheese on it. when the bus came at 7:10 my sister was a bit worried because i wasn't back. at 7:12 i appeared down the road and my sister waved at me frantically signing i should hurry. at first i thought she was just waving, as if i forgot where she was or something. then i realized what was happening. i sprint down the street (and frighten the bejeezus out of a girl turning the corner because she was greeted by me running at her).

so i make it to the bus, which ends up sitting there for another good 4 minutes. and as my sister and i take our first bite out of the heavenly bagels, the bus driver turns around and says no food allowed. oh man. what a tease!

anyway, the bus finally takes off (and by bus, i totally mean short bus) and it was probably a ride that lasted a minute and 40 seconds around a corner. but we checked in there with the yacht sailing people and we had a few minutes to hang out until the boat was to set sail. so we got to eat our bagels. and they were amazing. we also bought an underwater camera. more on that later.

so... i guess i didn't mention: but the plan for today was sail around on a huge catamaran (called The Camira) (supposedly a $4 million boat) and then end up at Long Island, where we would be staying for the next 2 nites. it was going to take us around 3 or 4 islands, all on top of the great barrier reef.

so we boarded our boat, along with 40 other people? i'm not good at estimating. and sat next to 2 british girls. who were pretty dumb and annoying. back on mainland they smoked right in front of this sign that said "no smoking". anyway, one girl had huge boobs. like, they looked painfully big. they were pulling at her skin. but she was proud of them. and anyway, the girls were pretty rude also. but the big boobed girl, as we set out, we were all laying around begining our journey and all of a sudden a HUGE wave popped up and she got completely soaked. we all laughed pretty heartily.

so off we were. we put on sun screen, started to relax, and then it was time to suit up for snorkeling! hooray! snorkeling to see the great barrier reef!

we got our awesome sting ray suits on, got our snorkel masks and snorkel (kid sized mind you) (we apparently have kid size faces) and got on the dinghy that took us close to an island, jumped out of the boat, and there we were. snorkeling. in cloudy water. (due to the recent amount of rain, the water was very cloudy) we coulnd't see anything. and by that i mean, i could hardly see my sister underwater when she was about a foot in front of me. so that was lame, but since we had our underwater camera, we had fun trying to take pictures of eachother. something my sister is not apparently good at. she almost drowned a few times trying to multitask in the water, so i can't wait to see what those pictures look like.

anyway, after that our next stop was the Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. a beautiful white-sanded beach with beautiful blue water.

our first move: play in the waves. which we did for a good 15 minutes, acting like 8 year old girls, but it was fun. then we played a little volleyball and then we built sand castles. beautiful sand castles, moat and all.

we all boarded the catamaran again and it was lunch time! and they had vegetarian patties for us! they also had rolls and cheese. mmm.. cheese roll sandwich.

as it turns out... even tho we re-applied our sun tan lotion about 2 or 3 times, we got FRIED on Whitehaven Beach. but we wouldn't realize the severity of it until later.

so after lunch we spent the next few hours sailing around.

then we came across this place. do you see what it looks like??

a monkey! but now i think they refer to it as homer simpson island.

they dropped us off at Daydream Island where we caught a ferry that was to take us to Long Island. first we went to the other side of Day Dream Island (which had bowling lanes, a billiard bar, and a huge outdoor movie screen!) (Day Dream Island looked awesome) (awesomely fun).

then we had to stop by South Molle Island, then back to damn Day Dream Island then finally got dropped off at Long Island.

as soon as we got there a staff member was feeding fishes off the dock and they were beautiful and huge. batfishes i think?

anyways, we checked in, and we were directed to the back of the island... where the poor backpackers are kept. anyway, we got to our room, dropped off our stuff and went to the main resort area for dinner. it was a buffet and it was good. we had corn on the cob, steamed vegetables, pasta, and dessert!

then we returned to our room and that's when we realized our tender our skin was. my sister ended up with an awesome burn on the tops of her feet and hands, and my shoulders were so red, they were almost purple. we were in so much pain. we poured aloe vera on ourselves and just laid in our beds not moving. my sister then picked up my newly bought book (The Last Juror... because i finished my other book) and she read the first chapter out loud while i laid there trying not think about my burning skin. my sister's feat were actually radiating heat.

anyway, tomorrow is our first day where we have no set agenda, and we are excited. i think we might even sleep in until 8am!! and our plan is to lay on the beach, and read, and sleep and eat. hopefully our skin will feel better tomorrow. damn you whitehaven beach!