Frazer and Whitsundays

So much to talk about and so little time.

I litteraly just got off a sailing ship after spending 3 days sailing through the Whitsundays.

When I last posted I was just heading out to go to Frazer Island. Frazer Island is the worlds largest sand island. The island itself is made of nothing but sand, inland there are freshwater lakes that are absolutely crystal clear, and the island is amazingly contrasted, on one side of a like there will be rain forests and on the other side will be a 40 foot high sand dune sloping down into the lake. The waters around Frazer and completely shark infested and I actually watched a couple of British fishermen one morning pull in a 3ft reef shark around dawn. You can't swim around the Island either because it is a breeding ground for tiger sharks which are one of the types of sharks that will attack people.

The trip across Frazer was pretty crazy, we were loaded up into big 4x4 jeeps and drove around the island, each vehicle having between 8-11 people in it. And its not norming driving around on roads I'm talking about it's crashing along sand roads that you sink 2 feet down into the sand and crusing along the beach. We did however get rained on one night while on Frazer and the rain continued through the second day on the island, all together though it was a great time.

I caught the over night bus up from Hervey Bay after leaving Frazer Island to Airlie Beach. I was originally supposed to go out on a sailing ship called "The Card," it was a ship that had come in 4th in the around the world race and its sister ship was actually the only ship to have won ever leg of the around the world race, unfortunately my cruse was cancled due to a lack of bookings, I was then transfered onto another Maxi racing boat but that cruise was also cancled, I was finally transfered onto the Enid a 3 masted sailing ship that managed to go out on time. The Enid isn't a Maxi sailing boat but it does actually make pretty good speed. The Skipper actually allowed me to pilot the ship back in from the Islands today, so I was piloting the ship for a little over 2 hours myself, I was also the only passenger that he allowed to take the wheel. It was a little uncomfortable when I started to steer the ship and we got out into some bigger wind and the sails catch the wind and the ship starts to pitch over on its side as the boat accelerates. Though once you get used to being on an angle all the time its really amazing.

The sailing trip was absolutely amazing, we spend most of the time either sailing or snorkeling. While snorkeling I saw everything from sea turtles, which I was actually able to swim up and pat their shells, to giant clams, and millions of tropical fish, and even a dolphin and some squids.