The next day I went on my trip to the Great Barrier Reef with the company Ocean Freedom and one of my roommates Moena. It was quite a ruff boat ride until we stopped at the place where we were going to snorkel. I imagined the reef to be colorful and full of fish, but what it really looked like was a million times more colorful than I would have every thought! There were so many different corals, fish, sea stars, jellyfish and even sea turtles that were so close to me that I could have touched them! Suddenly the sky turned black and it started raining so badly, but it didn't matter because we were already wet and still in the water ha ha - such a cool experience to be in the ocean and it is raining above you.

On the 5th of February I had a ten hours drive down towards  Airlie Beach where I stayed at the Nomads hostel. The next day I continued my trip to the Whitsundays with a 2 day and 1 night sailing cruise on the hammer with an amazing crew from Explore Whitsundays. We headed off at 8 am on a rainy and cloudy day, got a quick briefing and real yellow fisherman rain jackets. On the boat I met two very nice travelers, Kirstin and Ariel, who were also traveling on their own. First we went snorkeling at the Blue Pearl Bay, had lunch and went snorkeling again at the Langford Reef. Afterwards we sailed to our over night spot at the Nara Inlet, where we also saw a two meters long reef shark. Me and some others decided to sleep on deck that night which was a great idea.

In the morning we got woken up by dolphins playing in the water next to us. Luckily this day tuned out to be really sunny and hot, because we were heading towards the famous Whiteheaven Beach - it really is as beautiful as everyone says!

After an three hours adventurous sailing trip back "home", a pizza and an apple cider I fell in my bed like I was dead.

The next day I went exploring Airlie Beach, had breakfast in a cute café and layed down at the lagoon. At half past five I hopped in the bus towads Rainbow Beach. (-> east coast part 2)