The Tongara!!

We has a 2 night cruise spread over 3 days on board the Tongara, the best party boat in the area. We boarded the catermeran, which was conveniently the same colour as rust! But it had an engine, sails and 2 blokes, so we were in safe hands!!! As soon as we got on, we started drinking (well we had the safety breif first). It was great. We went to a place called Hook Island and anchored there for the night. Apparently the water was infested with Hammerhead sharks, so that stopped us from going from a mid night skinny dip! We slept on the deck of the boat both night, under the stars. The sky was so clear, it was an unbelievable sight. There was the stars which are in the shape of the stars on the Australian flag...that was pretty cool, as well as all the shooting stars, which were amazing and we could see the milky way as well - no not the choccy bar!!! On the 2nd day we went snorkling in the morning. We've still not found nemo!!! But there were loads of amazing fish, and we also saw a Hump back whale, not while we were snorkeling though, that was later on when we were on our was to Whitehaven Beach! There are no real words to discribe Whitehaven beach. It one of the most Beautiful places on earth! The beach is actually on Whitsunday Island (the largest of the 'Whitsunday Islands') and the sand is litterally white. It is really weird as well, because it is so fine that it sort of squeaks under your feet as you walk on it. We also saw loads of Sting rays in the water. The closest you can get to them is aboutt 3 meters, not because you want to do a steve impression, but because they swim away very quickly! We also treked up to the viewing point on the island, which gives you the most fantasic view of the beach. The water is crystal clear there, it is the perfect postcard picture, and everyone loved it so much that we actually were late back to the boat. We decided that if all 22 of us delayed, then they couldnt do anything about it, and if they left without us, we wouldnt care because we all would have happily stayed there forever!!
Anyway, back on the boat after such an amazing afternoon, we put the sails up for the first time (it was much faster than using the engine!!), and sailed properly for about an hour. By the time we got moored up we were treated to an amazing sun set!! We partied into the night. We were drinking 'goon', which is what they call boxed wine! We were playing drinking games with it (and we have a few more games to all impose on people when we get back - were looking forward to our welcome back party by the way!!!). It was such a good laugh. Mike, one of the german guys who was on the trip was so wasted and watching him try and take part in the drinking games was just hilarious. It was such an amazing day! Then just as we were going to sleep on the deck it started getting pretty rough out on the water. The boat was rocking and rolling! We had to move the boat as we were in quite a vunrable area, but to be honest it didnt really make much difference.
We soon got to sleep, and when it was morning, the water was still pretty rough. Some people didnt cope with it too well, and Massa, a Japanese chap was abit sea sick. We all survived though and after about a 2 hour journey to our next stop (because of the rough water - it should have taken about 45mins) we all went snorkling again. This time there were loads more fish, and they would swim so close to you. There was also loads of coral as well, it is so amazing that you can get all that under the sea. If you get the opportunity to go snorkeling around some coral you have to do it!!
After snorkling we got back on the boat and it was time to return to Airlie beach. All 22 of us had an amazing time, and we made some good friends there was well. There was Ross, a canadian guy, and then Team America - Alex, Joe, Marjorie, and Malissa, they were a good bunch and hopefully we are gonna meet up with Joe in LA and maybe Malissa in Washington DC. We got email address' from most people and then we all went to the Lagoon and just chilled there for the rest of the afternoon!

Later on we got the Greyhound over night to Hervey Bay, but just before, we went to Dominos for a cheap dinner! While we were in there it was really weird, this girl went up to Tom and said "Excuse me, did you go to Taunton School?" turned out she was the year above tom at Taunton. Apparently she thought he looked familiar, but it was only went i spoke to tom in a west country accent that she said something. It was really weird. Anyway, i forget her surname now, but she was called Pippa and she lives a couple of doors down from Chloe Bush in Hatch Beauchamp, but we might be meeting up with her in Fiji!

But to sum up this essay...Whitsundays Rocks!!!