Although stunningly beautiful we are soon to discover that the postcards of the Whitsundays do not include 2m seas and trees blowing parallel to the ground. It is windy………. alot. We had been told that this was the worse year for wind in recent memory with it blowing 20knots or more for 70% of the time. Not fab for meandering between islands sipping cocktails, even less fab for entertaining small children.

Not to be discouraged, we devise a family management strategy which keeps everyone sane. We go out and stay out on the islands when it is blowing less than 15 knots and stay in the shelter of Port of Airlie Marina when the wind is having a bad hair day. Airlie is a great place with a mix of boaties, hippies and backpackers but we get the feeling that the rich are trying to buy it up and transform it into another Yuppyville holiday escape. It has a massive swimming lagoon in the centre of town, great walks and bike paths which are our go-to places when the little people are feeling energetic. We also score our own private swimming pool and spa courtesy of the Mantra apartments at the end of the Marina.

Annie at her Whitsundays windy home- Port of Airlie Marina

Whenever we are out at the islands the smiles are from ear to ear, it is simply stunning with so much to see and do. Highlights include:

• Hanging out with team Argos
• It’s like living in an aquarium! Fish and sea-life everywhere. Turtle riding, whales breaching around you, my intimate patting moment with a Maori Wrasse, feeding pet Batfish off the back and we learnt that if you take bread with you when snorkelling every fish in the bay will follow you like the Pied Piper. We also hooked quite possibly the biggest fish known to mankind off the top of Hook Island, we threw out the biggest lure we had thinking nothing would take it and 5 mins later WHAM went the rod but the quality of our Aldi tackle wasn’t up to the task and it snapped as the fish ran to the bottom. Whatever it was, it was big and it took me at least 3 days to get over not bringing it to the surface. Still to this day it is definitely the biggest fish ever hooked.
  

  Our own aquarium

  

  Wrasse

  

  Wrasse

  

  Harry and Wrasse

  

  Turtle riding

  

  Whale

  

  Batfish pets

  

  My new friend

  

  Batfish

  

  Big friendly Wrasse

   

• The wonderful people you meet. Budgie Smuggler Brian and his hilarious family, Noel and Steve, and ‘The world is their Oyster’ gorgeous Deb and Michael among many others. We don’t know how we will EVER go back to ‘normal life’ after meeting such characters. Maybe we just won’t…….
  

  Budgie Smuggler Brian

  

  

  Deb and Michaels stunning Oyster

  
• Spending time as a family…. Before we left, our munchkins were in childcare 4 days a week and the ‘quality’ time we had with them consisted of feeding them and watching them sleep….. High quality relationship founding stuff. Despite moments of wishing Ric and I were anchors from spending 24/7 with them in a tight space, we get them now and cannot imagine being away from their quirky little souls.
  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  DCIM103GOPRO

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

   

•  The scenery! Our eyes have developed a weird twitch from constantly looking at such natural beauty. It is like  Lord of the Rings water edition it is so pretty. Oh and we went to a pretty cool air show in Airlie hence the plane photos.
  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC

  

  SONY DSC