I was seeking for a final adventure in Australia as I requested to stay at a sailing boat via Couchsurfing. The acceptance came promptly, so I made my way to Airlie Beach/Whitsunday Coast. The “Wharoonga” is a nice boat at all, but in a bad condition, messy and cramped. Their owner Tim is living an alternative lifestyle as he’s sailing with his son around the Whitsunday Islands, hiring their sailing crew via Couchsurfing. 

Here I could learn some general things about sailing, but I found the absolute limit of my personal comfort zone, too. Not only because of the conditions at the Whanroonga, also because of the conditions at the Whitsundays at present. After cyclone Debbie it is still a disaster area. Many sections are still without electricity, almost every shop (including food shops) is closed, as well as hostels and other vital services, the ATMs are out of order. Many roads are blocked by fallen trees, the remaining trees seem dreary as they have almost no leafs anymore. You can see the masts of the sunken ships in the marina and the remains of completely destroyed ships at the coast. The sea is badly polluted by rubble, the former beautiful beaches are not existing anymore as the sand was blown away and the water is badly turbid. The underwater world of the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef seems to be badly damaged.

While it is definitely no area to spent some pleasant says, the tourism services still promise that everything is fine and they are still selling their trips for hundreds of dollars. I really understand that the region needs the income from tourism now more than ever, but I have no understanding for cheating the travelers, get their hard earned money off, for trips that are totally disappointing – everybody who booked a trip was totally angry. And I have really no sympathy for taking the risk that the travelers get serious problems because of the local situation. The few unclosed hotels start from $300/night, the possibility to get some food are rare, the mobility is badly limited.

Unfortunately I haven’t shoot any pictures of on-site situation as I just wanted to go away. I left the area directly when I could leave the ship. But I have met outstanding helpful travelers from Germany – as well as in other parts of Australia, too. It seems to me that the German traveller community is the best item of Australia at all. 

So, actually Australia is the first country where I felt a bit homesick (only a little little bit, Mom!). Now I’m already at Townsville airport, waiting for my flight to Bali eagerly. It is only a stopover before I will continue to the Philippines. As the nonstop connections between Australia and Manila are badly expensive and the connections to Bali are pretty cheap, I decided to pause at that beautiful island to make a short vacation from traveling 😎