Back to the tropics - Eungella and Airlie Beach

On the day we left Hervey Bay we did two important things: we drove 700 km north to Mackay, and took out our shorts from the bags. Yes, we were back in the tropics, and no one was more happier than Lilya, who could finally defrost her bones.
Mackay itself is not an interesting town at all, but we did have to spend half a day there for arrangements. We slept in a caravan park which looked very cheep which indeed it was, or at least we thought so. We arrived late, so we called them and got a price for 3 people. In the morning we discovered that this price is only for one tent and they charged us double for having two small tents. At least we got to meat a Kiwi (New Zealander) that works in the mines near Mackay, and didn't stop complaining about this "damn owl" that disturbed his sleep. We never saw an owl until then so it was a good chance to see one. We did empathized with the Kiwi guy, since the owl was quite annoying, making loud noises all night long.
We didn't arrive to Mackay to see owls, though. We wanted to visit the Eungella national park in the mountains near the city. Again, like in Lamington, we drove on a winding road climbing up into the rainforest, but this time we were on a mission. Our mission was to track down and photograph a platypus - one of the strangest creatures among the already strange bunch of animals that gathered in Australia. The platypus is an egg laying mammal. It looks like a small beaver, with a strange mouth that looks like a duck's beak. Unfortunately, its strange appearance made it to be the the rejected kid in the animals school (animal kids can be soooooo cruel sometimes...), so the platypus became very shy. It can mostly be seen just after sunset or before sunrise, and only by the luckiest of people. Since we were very lucky until now, we became arrogant, sure that we are about to see at least two mating platypuses, a mother and a cab and at least three males fighting. Instead, when we came before sunset, we saw, well, nothing. One splash of water, far up the stream was claimed to be a diving platypus but we can't be sure.
We went to sleep in the most amazing campsite we've been in yet, on the edge of the mountains above Pioneer Valley, which is, as Lilya defined it, the most perfect valley. We woke up an hour before sunrise to go ambush the platypus again. This time we were much more patient and more humble, and we were rewarded with a glimpse on a small platypus not too far away.

We came back to eat breakfast ("Brekky" as the Ozies call it) which took us much longer than we planned, because, as happens many times during the trip, we met an Australian guy which was very happy to share his life story with us. We talked about anything from weather to sugar cane economy. We had little time so we did only a short (but incredibly beautiful) hike trough the rainforest, before getting back to the coast and driving to Airlie Beach.
Airlie Beach is one happy little town, which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Although it is not large, it has a really crowded main street full of tour agencies, backpackers hostels and pubs.
Whitsundays are a collection of small, beautiful islands not far from the coast of Hervey Bay. There are many cruises that go there, you just need to pick the right one for you. Since we were less interested in drinking and vomiting on the deck, and more interested in diving, we picked a company that offers just that. A 2 days and 2 nights cruise on a new catamaran with 25 other tourists. During those 2 days the vessel stops in 4 different reefs and you can either dive or snorkel there.
The crew of Wings2 were a treat by themselves. There were 3 lovely girls, two were Dive Masters and one hostess who prepared all our food and took care of other logistics, and one skipper. All of them were young and very fun.
All the other passengers were tourists from different parts of Europe, all in their late twenties/early thirties. We were considered to be very exotic, and were called "Team Israel". We didn't have the chance to get to know all of them, but the ones we did get to know were really nice. We even made friends with a group of Austrian scientists who came to Australia for a conference. So we had a small science club there.
The accommodation was somewhat claustrophobic (what can you expect from a boat). We slept on a triangular bed that was placed inside one of the two hulls of the catamaran. Right above us was Itay's bed. Besides us there were beds for 5 other people in the same tiny room.
The journey started with a long but humorous briefing by the crew members. One of the important rules on the boat is to sign some paper every time you come back to the boat (after diving and such). If you don't sign on time you will be forced to eat a full spoon of Vegemite. Vegemite is a dark brown paste made from yeast. Australians love it, but all the rest of the world doesn't, so that was a quite efficient threat.
During our 48 hours on the boat we had 4 dives in 4 different sites. Surprisingly enough most of the others didn't have a diving license, they only came to snorkel.
Few days before the cruise Avi and Liron (Lilya's friends) got married, so we wanted to take a special picture of a greeting for them. Before going on board we prepared a waterproof greeting and took it with us on the first dive.

The dives themselves were a bit disappointing. In this area the currents can be quite strong, which makes you struggle all through the dive, and even worse than that, it makes a very poor visibility. We did, however, see two really big cod fish and a ray. But the time we spent on board was so compensating that we didn't mind. The food was good and very diverse. The guys around us were really great too and we couldn't imagine that lying on the deck doing nothing while the sun is gently roasting you can be so pleasant. "This is how life should be..." we said to ourselves, and ourselves agreed.

The evening of the first day was also the evening of Rosh haShana (the Jewish New Year). Even though we were on a lovely cruise we didn't forget that. We brought with us some honey and few apples and after dinner shared them with all the rest. That was really exotic for them!
On our second day we visited the famous Whitehaven Beach. On the way there we tried to sunbath on the deck while nasty clouds kept interrupting us. At some point it even started drizzling. But at the second we got to the beach the sun went out again, enabling us to take lots of classical pictures from the amazingly white sand with the perfect clear turquoise water. We spent there about an hour, and when it was time to leave the skies became dark gray and it started raining, pretty heavily. How many times have you stood in a pouring rain while you are wearing nothing but your bathing suit?

On our last day we were in the water at 7:30am, even before breakfast. That wasn't easy at all especially for people like us who like to take it slow in the mornings. In the afternoon we were back in Hervey Bay, tanned and happy.

Tip 1: Oddly enough, in Australia the prices at the tourist agencies are much cheaper than the ones you will get from the tour operator itself. So it is batter to look for a good agent.
Tip 2: If you are looking for a cruise with a great atmosphere, try Wings2 or Wings3. Even if you don't dive, you'll have a wonderful time there.
Tip 3: If you are going to visit Whitehaven Beach take a very good care of your camera, or even consider not taking it with you. The sand particles are so small that they can enter the camera and destroy it.