Lou’s week with us was completely splendid, and completely un-luxurious. He traveled for 20 hours + each way to sleep in a tent with a bunch of back-packers, then share some very cramped foredeck cabins with the rest of his family and a young student called Tristram. I like to think that our attitude towards both meant that this was more a heady return to the days of our youth than a reminder that we are getting old!

Now to the fabulous part… Thalie and Luke have already covered Fraser Island. After a night in Noosa, we back-tracked to Brisbane to catch a plane to Proserpine, where the glorious Whitsunday Islands are based. 30-odd kilometers out from there is the start of the Great Barrier Reef, so we took a 3 day boat trip with Captain Brent, through the islands to dive and snorkel in its great expanse. Blissful!

Our boat slept 17 including crew, and was full of a jovial mix of nationalities. We stopped at the divine Whitehaven beach, donned our ninja stinger-suits (see Luke’s post on jellyfish), and set out to explore the gorgeous wilderness (well, except for the other 1000s of beery backpackers doing same).It is DIVINE, but slightly disconcerting to have to put on full body protection to have a quick paddle. I had done an even more student-y trip here about 20 years ago and there were no suits in existence – I guess the grim statistics on the consequences of getting stung changed things a little.

After passing the islands we really lived on the boat, getting up at 6am for early morning dives and snorkels, staring at the extraordinarily large and menacing-looking fish that ‘guarded’ the boat, and alternating cups of tea with beer. We had the most perfect weather – sunny, with just the right amount of wind for a long sail back.