The fastest and economical way to travel in Australia is the bus. In the country, 2 large bus companies are present, or Greyhound and Premier Motor Services. For my trip, I decided to take a bus going between Byron Bay and Cairns. It is simply a pass (at a very affordable price) so you can make unlimited stops between your first route (Byron Bay in my case) and end your travel (Cairns in my case). Thus, after having spent 24 hours exploring the region of Noosa, I took a bus to go to Airlie Beach, located more than 15 hours of bus. Fifteen hours because, of course, stops are planned along the way to eat in convenience stores in different cities (those stores usually containing a mini fast food restaurant with a menu similar to the British food). I left Monday evening at 18h for reach their destination the next morning ... at 9am!
Tuesday, October 5 ---------------------
Airlie Beach is a town (village) located near the famous Great Barrier coral and crowded with tourists because it is simply the starting point for exploring the archipelago Whitsundays. The latter is composed of 74 volcanic islands including the famous Whitsunday Island which has a beach (Whitehaven Beach) composed of 99% pure and fine sand! The simplest way to discover these islands is to take a cruise a few days, unfortunately, is not always at an affordable price. When I planned my trip there a few months ago, I decided not to stop due to the high price Whitsundays cruises. A work colleague who was in Australia a few years ago told me recently that he had managed to find a good deal during his stay in Airlie Beach and so finally, I was back on my decision .
So I arrived in Airlie Beach on Tuesday morning under clear skies with a high heat. I then headed to my hostel for my registration and the employee informed me I could possibly have a free night if I used the tour operator to book the hostel for a cruise in the Whitsundays. Having already pre-booked a cruise for a day, I found the idea interesting but I had to first see if there were actually more attractive options than mine. So I took some time to shop in a few shops in the city to see what was the price for a cruise for 2 or 3 days. My itinerary would be amended again but who cares! Airlie Beach
'm a village, it feels like a bit like the great tourist cities (Like Cancun): massive presence of shops and tourists and every tour operator claims to have the best deal the region. Finally, in late morning, after having managed to cancel my cruise I had originally booked, I decided to book a cruise 2 days / 1 night on a sailboat through the tour operator in my hostel that m ' offered a $ 30 off the regular price! As an added benefit, there was the possibility of a dive (bottle) at a time during the cruise. Finally, I would stay a day longer than planned in the region.
In the afternoon, I went for a swim in the lagoon at Airlie Beach, a municipal pool that was built to replace the beach because, from November to May, the sea is infested with killer jellyfish. I also made my knowledge of my dorm mates at the hostel: some Dutch, an English touring the world and a Scottish finishing an internship in Australia.
'm a village, it feels like a bit like the great tourist cities (Like Cancun): massive presence of shops and tourists and every tour operator claims to have the best deal the region. Finally, in late morning, after having managed to cancel my cruise I had originally booked, I decided to book a cruise 2 days / 1 night on a sailboat through the tour operator in my hostel that m ' offered a $ 30 off the regular price! As an added benefit, there was the possibility of a dive (bottle) at a time during the cruise. Finally, I would stay a day longer than planned in the region.
In the afternoon, I went for a swim in the lagoon at Airlie Beach, a municipal pool that was built to replace the beach because, from November to May, the sea is infested with killer jellyfish. I also made my knowledge of my dorm mates at the hostel: some Dutch, an English touring the world and a Scottish finishing an internship in Australia.
Later that evening, the cafe's internet hostel closes early (9:30 p.m. see here), I went looking for another internet cafe still open. That's when I stumbled upon a mini fast food who initially seemed very ordinary. Besides the traditional hamburgers, meat pies (put "traditional" Australian) and fries, I notice it appears on the menu "Putin - Canadian chips, gravy sauce, top cheese"! Yikes! Quebec poutine is found in Australia, in a village of 2,000 inhabitants situated more than 12 000 km from Canada! In addition, a lack of orthogrape was introduced along the way .... Not very hungry, I could not try the famous "Putin" in Australia but I was speechless. Wednesday, October 6
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The heat is still at the rendezvous, I had an appointment this morning around 7:30 at the Marina Airlie Beach for the start of my cruise 2 days / 1 night in the Whitsundays. We were about a dozen enrolled, our group consisting of Germans, Dutch, Korean and a Canadian, I, myself.
At 8am, we were able to proceed with the shipment, with 3 crew on a sailboat 23 m named Condor. After a discourse on the various instructions for the proper conduct of the trip, we were able to proceed with the opening of the veil, once visited the high seas. In my case, it was the first time I was sailing experience ... was quite interesting. Our first stop was the Whitsunday Island where we spent the afternoon in the national park and the famous Whitehaven Beach. In Queensland, the sun sets early (at 18h ... we are closer to the equator). So we set sail from the end of the afternoon on Hook Island, our parking spot where we could spend the night. Thursday, October 7
---------------------- The next morning, after breakfast, we sailed into the area of the (very ) luxurious Hayman Island which has some diving spots. We stopped at a place called Blue Pearl Bay . This place, located near the Great Barrier Reef, part of what we call the inner reef , ie, the inner reefs are located at shallow depth just a few meters from shore. We started exploring the site by a snorkeling (mask and snorkel). Subsequently, later in the morning, a few other people in our boat and I, we headed to another boat acting as a platform for boarding for our famous scuba diving. As in Byron Bay, PADI instructors were very friendly and professional the preparation of our dive. So we went for a dive lasting just over 30 minutes. By chance, my buddy was a guy from Toronto! Like fish, I could see parrot fish, batfish of a napoleon fish (unfortunately not very big) and a sea cucumber . However, contrary to what was said by our guide, we saw no turtle or barracuda. Our dive was a bit shorter than I expected because in Queensland, there is a rule that the dive must be terminated at 50 bar (pressure reserve in the bottle).
In the afternoon, before returning to Airlie Beach for the end of our cruise, we were diving in apnea Cave Coves is located in the area of Hook Island. The cruise ended in late after-noon. It was very interesting although I was expecting to see maybe a little more than 2 islands in two days. By mid-evening, I left Airlie Beach by bus to arrive, about 5 hours later in Townsville which was my next point on my journey of this wonderful trip in Australia ...
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The heat is still at the rendezvous, I had an appointment this morning around 7:30 at the Marina Airlie Beach for the start of my cruise 2 days / 1 night in the Whitsundays. We were about a dozen enrolled, our group consisting of Germans, Dutch, Korean and a Canadian, I, myself.
At 8am, we were able to proceed with the shipment, with 3 crew on a sailboat 23 m named Condor. After a discourse on the various instructions for the proper conduct of the trip, we were able to proceed with the opening of the veil, once visited the high seas. In my case, it was the first time I was sailing experience ... was quite interesting. Our first stop was the Whitsunday Island where we spent the afternoon in the national park and the famous Whitehaven Beach. In Queensland, the sun sets early (at 18h ... we are closer to the equator). So we set sail from the end of the afternoon on Hook Island, our parking spot where we could spend the night. Thursday, October 7
---------------------- The next morning, after breakfast, we sailed into the area of the (very ) luxurious Hayman Island which has some diving spots. We stopped at a place called Blue Pearl Bay . This place, located near the Great Barrier Reef, part of what we call the inner reef , ie, the inner reefs are located at shallow depth just a few meters from shore. We started exploring the site by a snorkeling (mask and snorkel). Subsequently, later in the morning, a few other people in our boat and I, we headed to another boat acting as a platform for boarding for our famous scuba diving. As in Byron Bay, PADI instructors were very friendly and professional the preparation of our dive. So we went for a dive lasting just over 30 minutes. By chance, my buddy was a guy from Toronto! Like fish, I could see parrot fish, batfish of a napoleon fish (unfortunately not very big) and a sea cucumber . However, contrary to what was said by our guide, we saw no turtle or barracuda. Our dive was a bit shorter than I expected because in Queensland, there is a rule that the dive must be terminated at 50 bar (pressure reserve in the bottle).
In the afternoon, before returning to Airlie Beach for the end of our cruise, we were diving in apnea Cave Coves is located in the area of Hook Island. The cruise ended in late after-noon. It was very interesting although I was expecting to see maybe a little more than 2 islands in two days. By mid-evening, I left Airlie Beach by bus to arrive, about 5 hours later in Townsville which was my next point on my journey of this wonderful trip in Australia ...
