Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sailing to and in Australia's Whitsunday Islands

Welcome to Whtiehaven Beach, voted, again, the # 1 beach in the world. It has been the top beach for about 5 of the last 10 years. The sand is pure silica and is almost as fine a icing sugar. There is no trash and in our case, there was hardly a soul. It was ours, we danced, made sand angels, drank champaigne, jumped and goofed around-it just came naturally. It is pure heaven!





































I'll let the photos do the talking. We left Mooloolaba May 19th(after Don Pedro's annual haulout-you see 2 shots of us covered in Avatar Blue) and took almost 2 weeks heading up the coast through gorgeous little islands with numerous protected anchorages and stunning beaches-all empty. Pick one-it's yours!! We did. For the last 10 days Linda and I, along with good friends, Dave and sis Delia who joined us for the last 4 days have been exploring and enjoying these beautiful islands and perfect sailing conditions. Also in this posting are some shots of our visit to the famous Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brissy(Brisbane-Aussies can't resist abbreviating every word in existence!) Melbourne is Melbs, chardonnay is chardy etc, etc. et. There are a couple of shots of a beach and anchorage, they are of Airlie Beach which is the nerve center and tourist departure hub for the Whitsundays. Also there is an odd shot of 4 women looking down towards a men's urinal-great sence of humor these Aussies have-bizarre, naughty but quite funny. I couldn't resist including it. There are a couple of photos of the couples who we spent a lot of time in OZ with, Glen, Marilyn and Jaryd off of Tin Soldier who hail from White Rock and Bruce, Nicola and their daughters off of the good ship, BOB, yep, they named their boat, BOB. They are Kiwis-need I say more!! Great people. Sorry Bruce, the only photo I have of you has some guys index finger right in front of your handsome face!!Linda returned to Canada yesterday to be with and help a very close friend. She'll be gone for about 6-7 weeks so I'm just hangin out at Airlie Beach and in the Whitsundays waiting for my youngest, Erin, who is coming to visit the beginning of August. So, without further ado-who invented THAT word, ado-it sounds toopid!!! As they say here(even tho they know they will never see you again, "See ya later"!