Today, we finally had to say goodbye to Cairns and make our way to the Whitsundays. During the bus ride, Jara made us do "speed dating," where the people in the aisle seats would have to rotate and everybody had to say their name, where they're from, etc. It was nice getting to talk to some people I hadn't talked to before, but she gave us so much time with each person that it felt more like a long term relationship than speed dating.
Finally, we made it to Townsville where we stopped for lunch. I found a McDonald's and had to get a picture because it was so different from the one where I work. They had a little case full of pastries and things, which is really different from the one back home. They also had something called a "Sydney Stack" on the menu. It was interesting to see just how different a place like McDonald's could be, even though it seems like it would be the same everywhere.
Then we dumped off the people doing the two day sailing option, which just left ten of us (me, Katherine, Jo, Lee, Nicola, Anita, Anthony, Corina, Anni, and Teresa). The boat ride out to Daydream Island was actually really cool. I didn't get seasick at all, and the views were pretty. When we got to Daydream Island, they gave us all necklaces as a welcome gift. Unfortunately, the resort had free wi-fi, so we lost the attention of Lee and Anthony as they became glued to their electronics. Boys.
Dinner that night was a pizza and pasta buffet right inside the resort. Nicola ordered a special gluten free pizza that ended up being HUGE. Anthony was more interested in the dessert table than anything else. It was one of the best dinners on the tour because I actually got to leave full. Those poor sailors don't know what they were missing. There were these birds on the island that kept coming into the restaurant and just walking around like it was totally normal. Eventually we got used to them.
After dinner, we walked around the island a little bit to check out the pool. It was enormous and took up most of the island, and it even had bridges that went across it and a little bar inside the pool. Just when it finally seemed like the pool had ended, another one started up. We also saw a wild kangaroo/wallaby thing hopping around by the pool that night. It was exciting at the time, but we got sick of them eventually. Katherine and Jo found a hammock, which was apparently the most amazing thing in the world. They both made a mad dash for it and I thought they were going to die. We found cool mermaid statues and looked up at the stars. It's amazing how much prettier the stars look in areas with less light pollution.
Since Anthony has his own room, Lee's the only quad share boy who didn't do the sailing, so he ended up scoring his own room for two nights. He made the mistake of telling us which room it was, and Katherine decided it would be fun to go knock on his door and then run back to our room before he answered... Then she did it about 50 more times before we finally went to bed. I have no idea why that kid still puts up with us. =P
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