Airlie Beach and Rainbow Beach

Aierlie Beach

After Cairns the trip went on down to Airlie Beach. A good night sleep is what we needed and having time to look at the small town. Airlie beach is a small backpacker town, I would say a party place, and there is not a proper beach in Airlie however it is just a boat ride to Whitehaven beach.

After staying one night we were set for our boat trip, 2 days and 2 nights on a sailboat called the Broomstick. The Broomstick was used for racing between Africa and South America, and is a fast racer at 75 foot long. We cruised along at 10 knots with the winds. Even though we stopped for a snorkel and a stay 

on the Whitehaven beach, the sailing was the most fun.

Broomstick at the harbour.

 Broomstick at sea

Airlie Beach Harbour.

Broomstick can carry a total of 24 passengers and her crew of four. It was one of the more spectacular events I’ve attended while being here. I wouldn’t mind being a crew aboard one of the vessels. The crew was friendly and had a good knowledge of the boat and waters. Information about the Whitsundays and the Islands we passed was excellent. Our skipper, Ned, had a lot of sailing experience, however the most experienced there I would recon was a guy they just called “Chopper”. He’s participated in almost all Ocean races in Australia, and have 10000+ nautical miles of experience in competition. Although the crew was experienced the focus was on the passengers and creating a good experience for us.

So after this trip I’ve set myself a new goal, I want to learn how to sail properly and sail down the coast of Norway (north to south) and maybe even go down the coast of Europe. 

Rainbow Beach.

It’s said they call it Rainbow beach because of the sand ha a lot of different color, unfortunately we didn’t get to see that. I stayed there two nights and got to go sand surfing. That was cool, but a bit excusing. If it wasn’t too expensive I would definitive go to Fraser Island and do the 4x4 Tag along ride on the beach of Fraser. I instead decided that I would go back to Brisbane and head down to Melbourne. So I will be in Melbourne on the 25^th of November, and plan to do a tour of the Great Ocean Road, then head to Sydney for some fun in the sun.  

Rainbow beach, not by the water though.

Sand boarding is quite fun.

Cairns

After been in Brissy for too long, not finding any work that suits me, it was time to move along.  The trip went from Brissy to Cairns, in one haul. We were so lucky to get a ride with this guy named Jack. We were a total of three drivers, and four passengers. I'm travelling with a friend, she’s been here for a foreign exchange student in Brissy. The ride took around 22 hours, including stops. The road to Cairns is much like the E6 in Norway. A lot of single lane, it’s quite different from the city and suburbs of Brissy that has dual lane (or more) almost everywhere.

The 4^th passenger was a Kiwi/Egyptian, and a former drug dealer in Melbourne. Crazy guy! They (Jack and this guy) were heading up to Cairns for the Solar Eclipse festival. Around 7000 people was to gather at this festival, which I was told was in the middle of nowhere. I got a couple of good shots of the partial eclipse, however some clouds were in the way when the total eclipse occurred.  But it was still amazing. Within a few seconds daytime became night-time and the animals (birds) were pretty confused. The total eclipse lasted for around two minutes.

Twilight occurred during the Total Eclipse.

Partial of the Solar Eclipse

The partial of the Solar Eclipse.

Solar Eclipse starting to hide behind clouds.

We spent three days and two nights in Cairns. We booked a Skydive for the last day. The skydive was from 14.000 feet, and gives you around 50 seconds of free fall.  The feeling when you get out of the plane and start falling is amazing! Going toward the door of the plane you don’t have time to get scared. The jump just happened so suddenly and you are free falling. Screaming might help for your own mental state, but no one can hear you. It’s an adrenaline rush from another world. Then everything stops for a while as the parachute opens and you soar down and can enjoy the scenery.  The landing was also interesting, a few steep turns in the end before we landed and we dropped quite fast toward the drop zone. I’m here in one piece, which is awesome. When I get back to Norway I might try skydiving on my own. Although I don’t think you are dropped from 14000 feet in Norway, it still will be an experience.   I might also do another skydive when I’m here in Australia, cause that was just an awesome experience!

So now we are on the way to Airlie Beach to do a 2Day 2 Night boat trip in the withsundays. We are riding the Grayhound Bus, what is kinda funny is that the bus is red. So one night in Airlie Beach and then off to the ocean with snorkeling on the reef.