Airlie Beach, Queensland.

We made our way to Proserpine where we stayed at the town caravan park waiting to catch up with friends who were flying up from Melbourne to do the self Cattamaran Cruise.  Airlie beach was beautiful town.  Just the view of the city was magical.  We still enjoyed pretty good weather.
There is a little man made lagoon behind the city centre which was spectacular put to good us
by swimmers to enjoy.

We caught up with our friends who arrived by water craft after landing at Hamilton Island.  We
all spent the first night on the cattamaran.  I think we all spent a lot of time reading the manuals
provided on board.  There was so much information to take in and I actually thought that the
skipper wasn't as confident as he'd been in Melbourne.  Anyway our briefing was the next
morning which was supposed to be four hours but went for around 5 hours.  We left Abel Marina
to sail the Whitsundays around 1.30 in the afternoon with our first island hopping destination
to be Hayman Island.  Weather was around 21 degrees water was a little cooler than we had expected.

The Cattamaran had a dinghy attached which we could use to take us ashore.  Hayman Island Resort was actually closed to the public as it was being refurbished. But those of us who wanted to go for a walk ashore did so.  That night we were moored to a buoy.  We all slept pretty well on the vessel that night however the buoy woke a few of us up and we got a fright because we thought we'd drifted from the bouy and hit shore! 

Everyone was pretty much happy with the tour.  Weather wasn't as great as expected but we did manage to go for a dip at least once.  Each morning most were responsible to look after their
own breakfast.  Daniel had planned the meals for lunch and dinner.  By the end of the trip I think
we pretty much ran out of everything.  The sea air gave everyone good appetites.
Snorkelling was enjoyed by a few who had wet suits and were brave enough to snorkel in the cool waters.  We stopped at Whitehaven beach was was beautiful white sand, a National Park, so you couldn't fish.

Most of the time we taught the others to play cards which we all did for a few hours each day and often ran well into the night.  I brought some magazines and books for reading.  The skipper gave us some harrowing moments as he decided to head South East along the open ocean.  But with the waves reachin up to four metres in height decided to head back the other way so that we were pretty much shielded from strong winds.

We managed to fish in some areas and I caught a small coral trout which had to be put back.  But the boys did a great job fishing and pulled in some good catch for a night's dinner.  We sailed by Hamilton Island but didn't get to see the resort.  But on the final night of the journey
we made it to South Molle Island Resort, where we moored for the night.  We were able to use
the shower facilities which was fantastic as we were running out of fresh water on the vessel. 
The Resort was more for backpackers and 18 years and over pretty much.  The palms were beautiful the resort probably a little dated but still it was good.  We decided on having dinner there at the cafe before heading back to the cattamaran for the last night's sleep.

We arrived at Abel Marina the next day, passing through Daydream ISland.  Weather was a little rainy as we headed to shore to disembark.  The rain stopped luckily and we were all ready to head back home. We said our goodbyes as Daniel took the others to Proserpine Airport to catch their return flights.

It was a very good trip but I would loved to have done it when it was much warmer. Maybe next time!