Whitsunday Islands Favorites

Favorite thing: After the ceremony our photographer, Sue Consodine, had us all messing about on the beach, good on ya Sue!
From left to right; Amanda (my best man & Steff's bridesmaid) Steff, myself and Ivan Conway the Celebrant who married us.
You can find this picture on Ivans web site too Whitsunday Weddings

Favorite thing: The perfect setting for our wedding, Whitehaven Beach.
Presenting the wedding certificate is the Whitsunday's Celebrant Ivan Conway who got so carried away posing for piccies he forgot to sign the certificate, we only noticed when we got home so it had to be sent back to Australia for the finishing touch, Thanks Ivan.
Australian certificates are a lot more colourful than their British equivalents.

Favorite thing: If you're lucky enough to have good conditions and a skipper who likes to sail you may just get to become an America's Cup sailor for one day and have your own personal regatta with another boat! We were just so lucky to have god conditions and a boat of equal size that wanted a piece of us.

Fondest memory: We gave "Hammer" (as the vanquished boat was dubbed) a headstart and still managed to blow it out of the water during a race around part of Whitsunday Island. It's pretty fun spinning the cranks and yanking on the sails and having the boom swing over your head. Quite the rush! We even had a rematch against the same boat and kicked it's butt even worse on the way back to port! Yay British Defender!

Favorite thing: he lead sail is the harder of the two sails to hoist and thus requires 3 people to hoist up the mast. This may sounds like it makes it easy but if you don't cordinate your efforts you end up working against yourselves and having the skipper yell obscenities at you until you do it. Again the harder you make it for yourselves the faster it gets diificult and the faster you get tired!

Fondest memory: I had a couple goes at this one. The first was not so succesful as our techniue was terrible and we couldn't seem to coordinate our efforts into the '7' pattern. The second go it was myself and two hulking Irishmen, which made my task alot easier plus we were all veterans by this point and hoisted that bad boy up in record time!

Favorite thing: Another fun way to interact on the boat is to manually hoist the sail by pulling on a rope that raises either the lead sail or the main sail before the winches take over. Thi is not easy and it is all about technique. The basic idea is to pull the rope in the shape of a seven (Out, Down, In). It gets exponentially harder as you have gravity working against you more and more the higher you hoist the sail!

Fondest memory: Poor Mikey was stuck doing this a few times on the last day. After the rest of the crew saw how tired he was after the first go at it nobody volunteered and he was stuck doing it again. I'll say one thing it's a damn good workout!

Favorite thing: One of the best things about sailing is the interactive experience! On board our vessel there was a 4 man rew but they can't do all the work so volunteers are needed to help hoist the sails. The main sail is raised manually and then it is winched in and crank up the remainder of the way by 4-6 people. Also when the boat is Jibing or Tacking crankers are needed to switch the sails position.

Fondest memory: It's pretty fun spinning your arms like a madman wih your partner and you get to feel like your in the middle of an America's Cup race! It's not easy though. I was left out of breath a few times!

Favorite thing: If you love pretty birds (of the feathered kind that is) then you will love the Rainbow Lorikeets that seem to be all over South Molle Island and at Airlie Beach (and I'm sure they are all over the other areas in the Whitsundays too)...

Most of the lorikeets are so friendly that they will land on your hands, head or shoulders - as long as you have some bread or apple for them to eat.

Favorite thing: The area of Whitehaven Beach that is world-renowned for its beauty is called the Hill Inlet. Without a doubt, this place deserves the fame. The hike to the Hill Inlet Overlook is worth every sweaty step. Because the views at the end are one of a kind.

The sand mosaic that is produced by the mix of sand and water here, changes with every single tide. As the water comes in, the sand moves around, and as the area drains, the sand is laid back down in a different pattern each and every time.

What will yours look like?