The carnival had come to town on arrival at Airlee. Children everywhere with floats of colour and music passing up and down the main street. It was certainly a welcome to remember, giving the place an instant feel of party, which defiantly turned out to be the case. Airlee is the launch pad for the Whit Sundays, the place where backpackers and holiday makers come before boarding a boat to see the world heritage sight of White Haven and its surrounding Island. Its also the place where much alcohol is consumed, and booze cruise begins. The Whit Sundays are a collection of Islands just of the coast of main land Aus, proving to be the major tourist attraction in
Queensland. Hence its another one of those boxes that just had to be ticked. There are hundreds of boats docked in the marina ready to take tourists out and around. From 5* hotels on water to the large boats made for taking as many people in one go for a more affordable price, there was a whole host of choice. I'm happy to say that the decision was easy and the large cheap option courtesy of Peter Pans one hands down, and it turned out to be bloody awesome. The Maxi Sailing boat Boomerang was our home for the next two nights, along with 26 fellow passengers. With cramp living conditions probably like those of the old slave ships, it would have been unbearable for any longer period time, but us was ideal environment to get to know some of our fellow travellers. Kerry, Ian, Mark, Steveo
, Ben & Kerry, Matt and Kieran to name a few. Each with their own stories to tell and abnormalities (Ian and Bens feet were weird), time with all was brilliant and thus made the trip pass a little too quickly. Two memories dominate the entire trip, White Haven Sands which is probably the most jaw dropping sight I have and will ever see, and a night at a pub located in the middle of nowhere on an island with nothing else around for miles. Saying that though the sunset was something special, as well as the snorkeling which easily rivalled that we experienced in Cairns if not beat it hands down just due to the large amount of sea life present.
White Haven is the mother of all beaches. So named I would imagine due to its perfectly white sand, the contrast in turquoise blue of the sea creates a canvas no painter could recreate. I'm sure the mass photo's both Adam and I took will never do this place justice and to truly appreciate this place I recommend everyone come. When walking on the sand, its so fine that it makes the sound of "crunching" like snow. in fact apparently the sand here is the finest natural source in the world hence why it was used for the mirror on Hubble.
With our Stinger Suits on (my god we all looked like prats) we ran into the sea Baywatch style. Warmer than a bath at home, it provided a refreshing opportunity away from the tight confinement on Boomerang. We spent the entire afternoon playing football, sunbathing, and generally mucking around with our fellow travellers, lapping up the beautiful surrounding we found ourselves in. It still wasn't enough time, and I could have quite easily spent a few days here. 
Later that evening when back on Boomerang we sailed to our stop over point for the night, parking as it were next to a pub situated in the middle of nowhere. With a little persuasion, well actually a lot of nagging from all the passengers to Jimmie the skipper, we took the dingy across for a couple of drinks. A small contingency of us continued the party when back on Boomer continued the festivities in a ritual in finishing of the Esky (admittedly half of it wasn't even our alcohol but this was the last night and we couldn't see any harm).
The trip ended and we all arranged to meet up at Beeches later that night. Firstly because it would be a good laugh to see everyone out and about other than on the boat, and secondly because for every 4 people that turned a free jug of beer was provided. There's nothing like alcohol to draw in a crowd.The evening ended up being another night of drinking and pissing about, with the lads (well nearly all) ending up in a club where a female topless competition was taking place. Oh yeah I should have said that apart from alcohol, there's nothing like half naked women to draw in a crown of men. After many Snake Bites (which they make with cherry cordial out here, very nice) I was pretty wrecked and Adam and I stumbled back to the hostel.
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