Sailing (day 3) and afternoon on Hamilton Island

Edd and I have had rather different experiences over the last three days, I feel guilty and spoilt because it really is a once in a life time experience. The Great Barrier Reef is incredible but I am so pleased to be back on dry land!!

For me the last three days have been focused on staying warm, dry and trying not to be sick!! I was worried about being stuck on a boat for 3 days and being exposed to the heat. What I hadn't considered was being on a boat for 3 days feeling sick and uncomfortable.

There were good bits; the group we were with were a funny bunch but all sweet, the German couple had us laughing at nothing in particular but their laugh. Our host was lovely, an Aussie who also spoke German which helped with the language barriers. The skipper, also Aussie, pretended to be grumbly and uninterested, 'says it how it is' kinda guy, but he was very kind, let Edd get involved and knew how to make our holiday special.

The snorkelling was impressive but between staying warm, not swallowing too much salt water and really hyperventilating from fear of what I was going to bump into I sort of missed all the calm, relaxing beauty Edd is talking about. I tended to dip underwater for a few seconds, see the odd fish before panicking or overacting at something cool and having to come up, empty mouth, nose and eyes of sea water and re locate Edd. The snorkelling experience is all a bit of a blur to me.

Interestingly it was the first time I haven't snorkels with flippers, they are soon to be banned in this area because people are accidentally damaging the reef as its so close to the surface. It works fine except you have to remember to swim to move and just kicking your legs doesn't get you very far! It meant I couldn't cling on to Edd as much as I'd have liked, especially when we got surround by jelly fish.

I would then have this difficult time of shaking with cold whilst I had to get my wet suit off and try and get warm and showered in the smallest 'bathroom' you could possibly imagine! At that point I desperately wanted to be on solid dry land with a big towel and not swaying from side to side.

Today was lovely, we sailed on flat seas back to mainland at about 5/6 knots (about 5/6 miles an hour) with both sails up, Edd got to help with all the ropes, he looked to know what he was doing, and the skipper let us drive the boat for a bit. The weather was stunning and we got back to blistering heat. It felt blistering because both Edd and I are sunburnt from yesterday! It's always the way, you look back and feel stupid for not protecting yourself enough.

On white haven island the sun was out but with the cold breeze I just didn't realise how hot it was. I sun creamed just too late. We went to bed feeling a little sore on the forehead and I woke up in the middle of the night seriously burnt almost head to toe. My legs especially are extremely sore. Trying to share a tiny hole of a bed whilst both radiating heat is hard work and Edd got batted off me throughout the night as I tried to get comfortable.

We got a ferry to the Hamilton Islands and passed a few very inactive humpback whales, we didn't see much as the ferry continued pass them on it route. We were both positively impressed with our lovely appartment with the best view of the holiday so far! I'm not sure how we got so lucky with a 10th floor appt!

It's a very weird environment where the whole island is geared towards posh holidays and everyone has paid a fortune to be on the island. We paid £180 for the cheapest room on the island. We wandered down to the marina, avoiding all the golf buggies everyone uses to get about and picked up a sausage roll and meat pie from the bakery on the dock.

I wasn't feeling great from 3 days at sea and a lot of sunburn so we headed back with some shopping bags of dinner, this sort of place will cost us a fortune to eat out so Edd is spoiling us with home cooking. There's no need to leave the apartment with the best views from up here. We also seem to have cockatoos flying passed to visit us which is cool!

For the rest of the afternoon I slept and Edd spent the afternoon on the balcony. He appears to be loving his kindle and chuckling away to Bill Bryson. For dinner Edd had a steak and I had chicken kievs. It's a really beautiful spot here, we ate dinner overlooking the islands as the sun went down.

Early flight to cairns tomorrow which is hotter than here, the sun burn isn't going to cope too well!!