Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Whitsunday Rib Day - East Australia
Round The World Trip Journal

Text By Jo & Photos By Mike

(18th April) Airlie Beach - Rib / Snorkel Day
Another early start to get ourselves kitted out for a day on the ocean that was the complete opposite of our cruising yesterday. We did the Northern Exposure Tour on a RIB (rigid inflatable). We left the jetty at top speed and almost straight away the driver was zig-zagging across other boat’s wakes and making really sharp turns. This set the pace for the rest of the day! We clung on for dear life and, as expected, we got very wet! After an hour of bumping and pounding across the waves we arrived at Hill Inlet Lookout Point on Whitsunday Island. This gives the most amazing views out over Whitehaven Beach – pristine white silica sand – the only place in the Whitsundays where they have this apparently and you can see just how turquoise it makes the sea! We then stopped at a little beach up the inlet for lunch and you can see Jo stuffing her face. Our next stop was Hook Island for our first snorkeling stop at Mantaray Bay. We all had stinger suits – lovely full body lycra suits. We had expected them to be fluorescent pink and green but they were black and blue and since everyone wore them we didn’t feel too stupid! This was the most amazing snorkeling we have done. Jo was petrified and wasn’t looking forward to swimming with shoals of fish but once in and gripping tight onto Mike’s hand, the sight of it all just replaces the fear with wonder. There were fish everywhere – right up close to us, swimming between us and all around us. The whole bay was full of beautiful coral in lovely colours. Lots of stag and brain coral and also floaty coral which we hadn’t seen on the West Coast. And we saw Nemo’s for the first time – fiercely defending their little anemone! We spent and hour and a half here and really made the most of it. Our next stop was just around the corner at Maureen’s Cove. Jo was too cold and tired by this stage so Mike went in alone. This was a drift snorkel along the rocky edge which was lined with coral. Here Mike was lucky enough to see Fat Albert – a huge 3ft long Maori Wrasse! After this we headed back to the mainland and had to endure a really bumpy ride – the people at the front were thrown so hard into the air that they crashed back down onto their bottoms! They moved to the back with us. We thought we had got away with just a few waves and lots of spray but just as we came back towards the marina our driver kindly drove right through 9ft ball of water in the wake of a big fishing boat. This resulted in a big wave of water crashing down on our heads. We were drenched to the bone! Mike thought this was fantastic and wanted more but by now Jo was having a sense of humour failure and just wanted dry land! All in all an adrenaline packed day with the best snorkeling.

Highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.