Yaarrrrr!

Yo Ho Ho Ho, a pirates life for me. Well that was the image i had in my head before we went on this sailing trip (along with scurvy and lots of rum). Andrea and Elayne had images of the QE2, strawberries and champagne. I can say now, it was a lot closer to what I imagined.

It was a 3 day sailing adventure around the Whitsunday islands. We were greeted at the marina by Rohan (the skipper) and Jimmy(the deckhand), i'll get onto these two in a moment, they deserve their own section. Simply getting on the boat was a problem for the ladies, then the other bombshell came for them...not allowed to wear shoes on the boat. There was another group of 4 people coming with us, two Aussies and two kiwi's. We were given a brief guide of the rules whilst on deck, and then taken downstairs in pairs to our rooms. We could only go in pairs 'cause there really wasn't enough room downstairs. Andrea and my room (well i thought it would be Andrea and Elayne's) was right at the bow(front) of the ship. Gonna use nautical terms at it sounds like I learnt something. Anyway, here's the layout. Even with short arses like Andrea and myself, we could actually reach the end of the bed with our toes when on it. Tim, you really would of had a problem, not to mention a very sore head 'cause of it being so low. That tiny little bit of grey just above the cooker on the port side was where Elayne would eventually sleep. She said it was very comfy, but i think she was just being polite.

The first day we set sail for some snorkeling at Blue Pearl bay at Hayman Island, then snorkeled somewhere else probably just off the west coast of Hook Island. We saw some pretty nice fish and the most amazing coral whilst snorkeling throughout our trip here, far better than anywhere else we've snorkeled. Finally we set anchor for the evening at Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Definitely, no snorkeling here as it is a hammerhead shark breeding ground...gulp! Due to the fact that we were at the marina for 8 in the morning, sailing all day and stuff, you're pretty exhausted by the time sun goes down, so after some food and drinks it's pretty much time for bed. Sleep the first night was ok, a little weird getting used to the noises and the rocking but ok nonetheless. The skipper went to sleep in the main sail, whilst jimmy had this special seagoing tent/bivouac to sleep in on the deck. After a little rain in the first evening, the skipper got out of the sail and slept in the saloon section of the boat with Elayne, and also Brook (one of the 4) who couldn't sleep because of a power struggle for the duvet with her boyfriend.

Let me give you a little description of the skipper and the deckhand. Both, have lived their whole lives at sea. The skipper seemed to come from a very well to do family and was only 21, although experienced. Jimmy, was a 30 year old veteran fisherman, used to the really bad seas around Antarctica for months at a time. Jimmy had some pretty amazing tattoos. As you can tell these two were from completely different backgrounds, Jimmy spent most of his time shouting at Rohan for being a complete idiot. Fishermen can have some quite colourful language at times, probably not far off Dockers and Americans. Rohan is Jimmy's boss tho! you could never tell. Somehow, Rohan just took it all on the chin, i think he's a deep respect of Jimmy.

In the morning (around 7), it was up for small hike on hook island which would take in some aboriginal cave drawings and a great lookout. Andrea got bit in the cave 'cause of all the bugs there. Then back on board for breakfast. This day was going to involve a lot of sailing as everyone wanted to go onto Whitehaven beach, there was also a warning, it will be a rough journey for around 2 hours. When a sailor says this, he means it. You can't stay downstairs in rough weather unless you were a fisherman like Jimmy (who was studying), or stupid like me (who was just reading). Apart from the rocking around, i knew something was afoot when the skipper shouted down for Jimmy to get the waterproofs. I could see that the ones on deck were getting hammered by the waves, but it wasn't until i started to feel a bit sick and had to go up did i realise that they looked like drowned, miserable, rats. I could see all the romance of sailing shatter in Andrea's eyes.

When we got to our destination, it was a bite to eat, and then a dingy ride over to the beach on the other side of the peninsula to Whithaven beach. Then another hike, this time a longer one, which took in big Lizards and Green Tree Ants. Let me tell you that I licked an ants bum and it tasted of lemon sherbert, even Andrea did ! Elayne never, 'cause she never wanted to return to England and have that story to tell. If ever you're downunder, try it, it's quite weird...i wouldn't go putting them in your gin and tonic tho. Even wikipedia doesn't acknowledge that fact, hrm...might edit that page. The thing that tickled me about the ants was that when your finger got close to them, they reared up and got all aggressive probably saying stuff like "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough".

Whitehaven beach looked amazing from the air, but on it was amazing. Simply the best beach I have ever been on, and not a person or building in sight. The sand is that pure, that they use it for making lenses on mega telescopes (The Hubble was one). We played tri-nations beach cricket, and I can say that we did England proud that day. The Kiwi's and Aussies are a bunch of pansies. After the beach, it was a sail back the way we came, this time with the waves not against us, to anchor up on the west side of Whitsunday Island. This was to prove quite an interesting night.

After a little food and drink whilst watching the sunset, it was time for a spot of fishing. Now I love fishing lots and have done it most of my life (except not in Manchester), Andrea wanders along, on fire from catching her first ever fish in Fiji, and goes and catches a shark ! I caught nothing all night by the way. When i get permission to upload the picture of the shark (Andrea says she needs airbrushing like a top model) i'll put it up for all to see. The shark has already grown a foot since Andrea caught it...she'd make a great fisherman. By the time we're in England, expect I expect for her to expanded it to Jaws or Flipper size.

That night it blew an absolute gale ! The ship was rocking heavily, creaking, the wind truly howling. Most of us didn't get much sleep. The skipper, again made is way downstairs for the evening to sleep in the saloon with Elayne and Brook. The rocking was so bad, that at some point Rohan fell off his bed and straight down ontop of Brook! I don't quite know how she took that. Jimmy, the trooper he was, stayed tied onto the mast on deck, he said that he spent most of the night floating in the air :D.

The day after was some extreme snorkeling in the sea (i was getting washed away with the current so Jimmy had to pick me up in the dingy), a bit of food, then the journey back with a little sparkling wine. The trip back was great, nice winds and waves, sun beating, ipod playing on deck...it was almost as Andrea and Elayne imagined it :)

Flying over the best beach in the world

Well we finally made it to Whitsunday Islands, the town we where in is called Airlie Beach and the hotel is called Sunlit Waters. Me and Mum had discussed this beforehand and looking at the pictures decided it was going to be a cheap and cheerful place but not the best. We were really surprised how nice the apartment was, the view from the balcony was amazing. I was really please because since mum had been here the weather had been rotten and all we had been doing was travelling and whilst seeing Brisbane and Surfers Paradise was good, the apartment and the view just made the holiday. I would say the only down side about this apartment was that the owner was a bit of a perv and had a tendency to wander around all day seeing if you wanted your umbrella up or down and that meant he could look at you sunbathing or peep into the apartment and the fact that the hill the place was on was one hell of a hill and as it was so near to Airlie Beach centre you could not justify a taxi so walking up was very painful. This part of the holiday is about pure relaxing sat around the lagoon (you cant go in the sea because of the jelly fish), sat on the balcony or sat at the pool. Bliss





On the 2nd day we went on a Seaplane. This was to take us around the islands for an hour, and go over the great barrier reef and see Whitehaven beach(one of the best beaches in the world and it was gorgeous). Whithaven beach is something like 95% pure white sand and was just stunning to look at.
This was absolutely amazing, we were fortunate in that because it couldnt land on the sea as the waves were to big, they didnt pick up any other passengers so it was just us on this plane. Us 3 and the 2 pilots in a 10 seater plane. It was scary when it took off and extremely scary when it got a bit of turbulance but we did it and we didnt scream.
When we flew over the barrier reef we saw a reef shaped like a heart, this was very special and is on all the postcards, i was really pleased to see that.

Airlie Beach is definatly a backpacker town, we have advised gustavo to go as he will be in his element with all the girls out to have fun. Me and Simon had great fun in the evenings watching the pissed up people get more and more drunk, fall ill and then suddenly become lively again for the limbo dancing.

Mum and Surfers Paradise, Brisbane

Well mum arrived, it was so nice to see her and it felt like i had only just recently seen her. I think Simon finds it hard with 2 Popplewells. Everyone in the flat gave her a really nice welcome and on the first evening they all cooked a meal and we sat down and ate that together at the table. Daniels girlfriend who doesnt speak a word of english was sat with us as well, so it was difficult but amusing.
Since Mum arrived it has been the worse weather, cold and rainy. It was unbelivable how bad it was. We took her to Manly on the first day accross the sydney (or as mum likes to call it the Stanley) harbour on the very rocky ferry and on the 2nd day we went shopping. We were gonna go to Blue Mountains but the weather was just to bad. We therefore decided to bring the holiday forward a day and go to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was not planned but we were chasing the weather so we changed the flight to Brisbane and then got on a train (with a bus diversion and a traffic jam cos a car was on fire), down to Surfers Paradise. We got a really nice room in a hotel just off the beach, small but amazing views. We then immediately went down to explore the beach, pretty much sat on it and it started to rain, seems like the rain had followed us. It did stop though fairly quickly. We spent the evening at Hard Rock Cafe, i got some pins being the saddo that I am.
The next day we were off back to Brisbane on the train after spending the morning sunbathing and perving at the 60 year old Lifeguards. Thats me and my mum not Simon. Me and Simon was gonna do surfing lessons but the weather turned so we left for Brisbane.
Brisbane is a nice city no beach but a big river running through it, me and Simon left mum sunbathing at the hotel swimming pool and went exploring and ended up walking miles along the river and found a really nice fake beach. Its like a small Sydney. The evening was spent at the casino but to be honest we were all knackered from the travelling around. Since mum arrived 2 days ago we have done. Plane, Train, Taxis, Buses, Walking, Monorrail, Ferries and Catamaran. We are all a bit exhausted from packing up and moving around roll on the Whitsunday Islands.

Normal Service will resume shortly

Well, with Andrea's mum arriving in sunny Aussie land, it's all been a bit frantic. The biggest problem is that she seemed to of brought the lovely Manchester weather with her. We've already heard that it's pretty good there at the moment. Here, it's been...sh*t ! Rain, gales, more rain. So in true Popplewell fashion, we're chasing the weather north to Brisbane and the Surfers paradise for a couple of days and then onto the Whitsunday islands for around a week. We've decided not to take the laptop with us, so unless we get really bad withdrawl symptoms and have to dive into an Internet cafe, you're not gonna hear from us ;( We'll be giving a full update when we get back.

I can't believe we're having a holiday from our holiday !

NB: Oh, and for those in the know, sorry about the image...i was hoping of photoshopping Andrea's piccy onto that one above. Tim, Tony, Martin, & Pop you're free to have a bash...i'll put it up if you do ! woo ! What prize shall i give? ;)

Only 23 hours until Mummy is here

Well thats how long its gonna take her to get here from London, and shes about half way here now. Me and Simon (well Simon) have now spring cleaned our bedroom. Its looking extremely tidy. We have cleaned the bathroom which really needed a clean and even the guys have been trying to make an effort to get the flat clean. Im not entirely sure why, whether its a Brazilian thing but Gustavo and Daniel have offered to make a meal tomorrow night to welcome my mum here which is so nice. I think they think that my mum is gonna cook for them the rest of the time or something. They seem to be really excited about her arrival. Which i really do appreciate. If the flight was later in the day Daniel was gonna come to the airport and pick her up.

Ive now got over 2 weeks off work which is great. Really looking forward to some lazy time in the Whitsunday Islands.

On my way to work in the mornings, the first thing i do is get in the lift and check myself out in the long mirror. This morning there was a guy that we say hi to, so i said sorry but i have to be vain for a minute and just make sure i dont have any clothes inside out etc so can he move and let me look in the mirror. Well that got him chatting and we ended up chatting to him all the way to Town Hall. At that point we didnt have much to say to each other and id not had chance to get to read my book so luckily i had to buy a ticket at Town Hall so we partied ways otherwise we would have been on the train together as well.

He was a nice guy, he was an architect, lived on his own but his parents were over for deli, for a couple of weeks. He'd lived in San Francisco and had studied for a semester in england. He was telling me to go to Port Stephen or something and go sand surfing on the sand dumes and on way to go to Hunter valley so we might do that with mum. I did realise that what with the guys at home, the guys at work, i dont actually speak to any females. Perhaps i will just start chatting to people in the lift and it will mean i make friends or they think im a weirdo, nothing to lose. :-)

You know when you day dream about rubbish things as you are walking along, well, i was thinking about as a kid u used to find money on the floor, and i was also thinking about what would happen if i lost my bag, how would i get in touch with Simon and would i have to go round phone boxes and hunt out change. Anyway strange thoughts but that was what i was having and then suddenly i saw $5 on the floor (ground as nick pointed out not floor). Now thats weird. I did decide though that things do come in 3's so perhaps my money streak is over. I dont care as long as im lucky in other things instead.

1. Lottery after a seagull pooed in my kebab - £10
2. Heads and Tails scratch card - $20
3. Thinking about money on the floor means i find - $5

Getin in bath now, have to be up at 5 to meet mum at 6 at the airport, oh dear.

Oh yes and disaster on the shoe front again, yee old faithful have now broken again the strap has started to come lose and we paid a fortune to get them resoled instead.

freaky book worm

Andrea is quite the book worm. Not only that, she can get through them at some speed. I think she gets through about a book a week. You only need to look at the books she's read on the right here, and that's just the ones she's remembered! Back when we were living in Manly (Christmas time) Andrea has finished this book from the UK and went to the second hand book store there to trade it in for another one. This book was quite distinctive as it's not released in Aussie land yet. Anyway, yesterday during her lunch hour she was in another second hand book store on the other side of Sydney, when she came across that very book. It had the stamp from the Manly book store and the pages turned which Andrea uses as book marks. Pretty freaky.

I, on the other hand, like to read but do so slowly and not as much. I've gotten through one Bill Bryson book and one Java book since being here. :)

And the queen of quiz is?

Well, it was quiz night again last night. I met Andrea from work at Bondi Junction. Bondi Junction is actually a district of Sydney that's built around a train/bus station. There's a few others lurking about Sydney that are named like this: "Randwick Junction"; "Spit Junction" (Loads of people spitting at a crossroads?). It's strange naming convention, it's like having a district called "Didsbury Supermarket", or "Crewe Carpark". I'm not knocking the Aussies though, us Brits are far worse at naming places..."Ramsbottom", "Barton in the Beans, and of course "Pennycomequick".

Anyway, after meeting Andrea we went into the shopping centre there to have a look at the pet shop. Lot's of little puppies and kittens for Andrea to want. Getting bored of that, we went to the quiz at Bondi. We came second again this week, winning $25 boozer bucks ! woo! At the end of the first round we were first, but then fell apart in the second like we normally do. There was 9 of us in our team this week, which was a little higher than normal...some might say that's unfair, but hey, they're just jealous that they don't have those boozer bucks ! The highlight of the evening is always the heads/tails game with various prizes on offer for the winners. The last one is a chance to win $2000 hard cash !! and guess who won that !! Yup Andrea and her lucky head and bum !!! The winner has to go up on stage and do a scratch card that has around 20 boxes, you're allowed to scratch off 5. In order to win the $2000 you must reveal the 5 stars (only 5 on the card). I've never seen anyone here get more than 2 stars, so it was a surprise to see Andrea get three !!! She won $20 hard cash which for some strange reason will come via a cheque in the post.

I took some pictures of Andrea on stage, I'll get them up on this blog entry the moment I grab her camera out of her bag. Andrea, whilst looking for the camera at the quiz, pulled the company stapler out of her handbag! I have no idea what she uses it for, but would hazard a guess that she staples all of the used tissues together in her bag to keep them organised. Men have long tried to figure out what goes on inside the female mind, i say best leave it as it is and step away from the handbag.