7/31
AIRLIE BEACH – WHITSUNDAYS ISLANDS
Day spent at the beach, waiting.
Tonight we leave for the cruise on a sailing boat, which has been booked a few days before, in Cairns. The fear, very well founded, was to get here and have to wait days before finding a free place.
There are several companies which organize cruises of this kind. We chose Oz Sail, just because it was the only one which had a boat leaving on the day suitable for us. Another very popular one, and slightly more expensive, is Pro Sail. Disreputable, according to many, the Tallarook. Then Next Sail, Sails Southern Cross, Aussie Adv Sails, etc. In any case, for all, the standard is generally 2-3 navigation nights. There are also different types of boats. The catamarans are more stable, but Hannu argues that those are not real boats and do not give the same feeling, then there are the racing boats, very fast and spartan, with no shelter outside and very little space for personal things and privacy inside. They assign to us Madison, a 19 meters two masts we will share with 10 other people, plus the skipper and the cook. Hannu, which is quite passionate on the subject, wanted the race boat, luckily he did not find any.
Madison, compared to the most of the available boats, has seating behind the helm, arranged in a horseshoe around the ladder to go below, and a kind of “cover” above this area, which allows us to shelter from the waves and cold wind without descending below deck.
Almost all 3 nights cruises promise on the brochure they will go to the outer reef, but in reality, very few do. As the skipper will explain later, the reef is very far away, at least 4 hours of navigation from the outer islands, with good sea conditions. So check carefully before you confirm, if your main purpose at Whitsundays is to go to the reef. In some areas, like Border Island, local snorkeling has nothing to envy to the reef one. This is what we are told … ..obviously we’ll never know.
We leave at 19.00. The other crew members are a German family of 5 people, a Scottish single girl, Cinda, I think, and two English couples, Sally & Rob and Milla & Dave.
Our skipper, Jason, native of Perth, was the youngest skipper of the entire Wester Australia. He has no home, he lives on the boat. How nice, I think.
All couples have a cabin with a bunk bed. Then there is a quadruple where the three German children and Cinda sleep. After two or three hours of sailing, while Jason tells us about his trip around the world, the boat docks in a sheltered bay and we go to sleep
8/1
WHITSUNDAYS
We stop a second at Hook Island resort. We buy various kinds of food at the shop, while many visit the toilets. There are two of them on the boat, but it’s not really a relaxing enterprise to use them. The weather is beautiful, but the wind gets up. We continue to Border Island, where we stop for snorkeling.
A rubber dinghy takes us to the beach. The clever ones, that’s to say almost everyone except me, rented a wetsuit, (in Ozsail shop cost 18 Aud for 3 days) because the water is freezing. The island is hilly, full of coniferous trees, many rocks around the beach, clear water. There are some beautiful dark-colored butterflies with turquoise spots.
After lunch, we take the open sea. Because there is too much wind, we use a single sail. For the first time in my life, I am on board a sailboat which uses only the wind power. The boat is very inclined, I point my feet against the tree to balance better and I enjoy life, the wind, splashes on my face, the high waves. Under Jason’s control, some volunteers try to steer. I do not even think about it!
The first is Dave. At certain moments, the boat tilts further and everybody clings to right and left not to fall into the water, Jason solves the situation which had become a little bit critic.
Hannu will prove to be the most experienced. Jason leaves him alone at the helm even while he goes to the prow to tidy some peaks, then orders him to watch Rob, apparently he trusts him. In fact, Hannu has some notions about sailing because some of his friends have boats, though not as large as Madison.
We spot two whales. In this period there are many of them in all the seas of Australia. They come here from Antarctica to breed. “Our” whale has a small baby, this means that we are lucky, because she will go up to the surface more often than usual to make him breathe. Another boat arrives, maybe going too close. Whales, whose back flickered on the water almost every two minutes, now disappear. We are all angry at the other boat that made them run away. But only apparently … The dorsal fin reappears a few meters from our boat. What an emotion!! I wonder why she chose to come so close, because I’m sure it is not by chance. Who looks at who, I would say ….
The scene goes on for half an hour, the spray of the breath of the two whales is silhouetted in the golden light of sunset. Peace, silence, wind, waves, a puff of cetaceans breath. No one dares to open his mouth.
Left the two whales, we drop anchor for the night in a sheltered bay of Hook Island, after stopping for another snorkeling session close to a beautiful beach made of 100% pure white coral. Night falls, the sky is clear and full of stars. A worthy end to a day far over the top. We begin to feel more close to other group members, especially to the two pairs of English. Dave & Milla live for a while in Australia, Hervey Bay, they are young doctors doing an internship.
In silence, after dinner, we hear, by radio, the rugby match between the Springboks and Wallabies in the Tri Nations tournament. We all are huddled on the seats around the helm. It’s cold. Nevertheless, no one goes below deck, all prefer to watch the stars and Mars, brighter as never …
8/2
WHITSUNDAYS
After breakfast, we leave for Whitsunday Island, the biggest island of the archipelago. Once on the beach we have to follow a path of less than half an hour, which allows us to get to the top of the Peak, the hill from which we can admire the famous panorama. The best time is noon, at low tide, when all the amazing shades of turquoise are more evident
It’s all just like the postcards, too good to be true. We remain a lot to contemplate the scenery, the viewpoint is not huge, but luckily it’s just for us.
It’s hard to leave something so beautiful. We take thousands of pictures, to imprint everything forever in our memory.
After lunch, Madison leads us to Whitehaven Beach, a white and desert beach. The sand is composed of a high percentage of silicon, it does not burn and produces a kind of squeak under our feet, as if we were walking on potato starch.
We go back, for the night, in another secluded bay at Hook Island, close to Mango, another smaller Oz Sail boat. All Mango occupants come to us to socialize after dinner. The Mango chief brings a guitar and plays very well, unfortunately not everybody of us are good singers. Jason is out of tune, but he does not care and screams loudly, Hannu, when a child, was a member of the Helsinki Cathedral choir, and still gets along well now that he has grown up. Same for Sally. Others follow as they can. Perhaps the best night of our holiday. Singing under the stars.
8/3
WHITSUNDAYS – AIRLIE BEACH – ROCKHAMPTON
Here we are at Hayman Island, one of the most exclusive and expensive islands. Obviously, no one is allowed to dock in the bay of the resort where people like of Nicole Kidman and Lady D were hosted. Then we go a little further.
After an hour of snorkeling, we arrive in a very picturesque spot, a sandbar in the middle of the sea that joins Langford, a small uninhabited national park island where camping is allowed, after having paid the entry / toll to rangers. The sea is beautiful ..
We arrive just in time to cross, the tide is rising quickly. We proceed one behind the other, on the narrow strip that now goes flooding. 
After lunch, unfortunately, it’s time to go back to Airlie Beach, and is also the time when Mango challenges Madison to see who will be the first to arrive. Mango approaches us, and the chef throws us a black bag full of garbage. This signs the beginning of hostilities, the sea of Queensland as the Hauraki Gulf.
This time, both sails are hoisted, the wind is blowing at 35 knots and Jason is committed to the maximum. The sea is rough; below deck, it happens a mess, everything is upside down. It’s good that Jason practically forced us to pack before leaving, otherwise all our stuff now would be rolling on the floor, just like some bottles and melons that someone had carelessly left on the kitchen counter.
What to say? A feeling of total freedom, we all are now repaired at the stern, as very hight waves hit the bows, and we risk to get soaked or drag away. Hannu is doing some balancing right and left to take pictures. I do not dare to move, I do not want to fall into the sea. During some veers, I really have the impression that the boat capsize, but Jason ensures that this cannot happen. If he says so …
Mango gives us a hard time at the beginning, but then there is no way and we are the first to cross the entry threshold of Airlie Beach harbor. Big hugs and kisses, a lump in my throat and some tear swallowed.
Memorable dinner at Neptune Food Esplanade. It’s a fish shop, we choose what we want at the counter and they cook it, serving it with a side of fries or salad. I order a reef trout, the meat is a little fat, but very delicate, laid on a thick layer of chips, total 6 or 7 Aud. French fries are really good, and plenty !
After eating, we go for a beer at Shute Harbour, a place 2 km far from Airlie Beach and then, reluctantly, Hannu and I leave, as at 23.00 we have to catch a bus which will lead us to Rockhampton