whitsunday

left for whitsunday on the 25th of jan, first thing we saw while driving to our hotel was wallabies everywhere..kinda like you see groundhogs everywhere in ottawa. then we got to our motel room and i looked out the window, and right outside is the bottle shop (think LCBO/Beer store drive-through)...nice. so obviously my dad and i go buy a case of beer to throw into the fridge. then we walked around the town (don't be fooled..."town" means one small street predominantly covered in travel agents...). the "town" was a real big change from sydney city...i loved it. i was starting to get REALLY bored of the city...
so whitsunday didn't have much to do, but as soon as you step into the travel agency there are hundreds of brochures up on the wall...diving, sailing, snorkelling, beaching, fishing, skydiving...soooo much to do...as long as you paid your hundreds of dollars to go...and since we're on vacation and i'm planning to come back to guelph and live off of kraft dinner, we went on lots of trips...but first...
later that night my dad and i settled ourselves in front of our tv, threw on some tennis, got out our beers and...dammit. we bought premium beer that wasn't twist topped, and we didn't have a bottle opener, so we had to bring the stupid things out into the hall outside our room and use the railing to open them...quickly, so the neighbours wouldn't see. and then, we went back into the room and my dad got into his bed with his beer, and he managed to rip his bedsheet in half...those cleaners have gotten so good at their job it's virtually impossible to get into bed without either: 1) ripping your bed sheet, or 2) jamming yourself so far into the bed that you can't get out with either: a) someone else's help, or b) ripping the bed sheet! so really, it wasn't his fault. and we made sure we loosened the sheets before we got into bed from there on in.
anyways, the next day (australia day) we decided to take a walk cause we hadn't booked any trips for that day (they were just coming off a week of bad weather...more rain had been recieved in those days that the past 4 years added together), so, we looked at our maps, and, lo and behold, a shopping centre just in the next town...let's do it. so we walked the whole treacherous route (no one else was doing it...i don't think it's a popular tourist attraction). it was a bit of a walk, it was hot, and sometimes there was no path, or, if there was a path, it was blocked off by ropes cause of falling rocks. anyways, we finally got there, and...apparently things don't open on australia day. hah. needless to say, we took the bus back. and ate dinner. at dominoes pizza.
the next day was a huge improvement. no more pizza...just seafood..mmm...oh yeah, and snorkelling and diving. also much better. the great barrier reef is wicked. more on that later. so, we went out on this huge pontoon thingy that had a semi submersible submarine, a viewing room, snorkelling, diving, eating, chilling. it was really nice. even though i get seasick (i could still function). don't worry though...everytime i went out on a boat over the two week period i got sick...so really, it's more of a natural feeling for me now.
the day after that i went to the rainforest (though i'm not sure if it was a real rainforest...it wasn't that big and there weren't very many animals). first we visited an awesome waterfall that usually isn't more than a trickle, but because of the previous weeks' rain, was wonderful. we even got to play in it. pictures to follow (or precede...my photos don't post with the right date, so they end up being in the wrong place). then, long walk in the rainforest. note to future rainforest walking self: bring mosquito repellant...and LOTS. anyways, saw lots of cool plants that could either 1) kill you, 2) not kill you, or 3) not kill you but cause lots of pain. i didn't touch anything.
Illusions, a sailboat made for 25 but only carrying 6 was the next day's plan. it was wonderful, having the sailboat virtually to ourselves. we got to dive again and see coral and tons of fish. then we were put on a beach that was completely made of coral (so cool to just sit in it and sift through the pieces) and we snorkelled around the shore. then, the guy in the dinghy told us to swim towards him, and so we did...there were fish EVERYWHERE, i couldn't even take an underwater picture of my dad who was a foot away cause the fish between us were so dense. in addition, i was distracted cause they kept biting my fingers...the guy in the boat was feeding the fish, and apparently my fingers look like food. anyways, we got to feed them and it was super cool...even cooler was that we got to sit in the boomnet (a huge net attached the back of the sail boat) and feed HUGE batfish some bread. these guys were HUGE. like, a meter long. and they jumped out of the water if you held the bread a little higher, and they would eat your toes if you weren't feeding them fast enough. sooo cool. after feeding, we went boomnetting (which basically involves holding onto the net for your dear life while the boat motors along).
we booked a fishing trip for the last day, but it got cancelled...which is really stupid cause apparently they cancelled cause of a mix up...and they didn't call us until 8:45 and since most trips start before that time, we couldn't even book another trip...boooooo.
whitsunday was good stuff. i didn't even talk about the food...basically, apart from pizza night, we chose quality over quantity and it was wonderful. mmmmmmm....i'm hungry...

signing off.