Airlie Beach/Whitsundays, Australia

I got out of the car and headed for McDonald's, or more accurately, the free wifi at McDonald's. I sent a couch surfing request to a host in Airlie Beach that had declined my request, but said that I should stop by his office for a coffee. I (correctly) interpreted this as a test so that he can see if he wants to host me. I logged into CS, sent a quick message to him that I had arrived in Airlie and was headed to his office and would be there just as soon as I could find it. Finding it took some time because I am terrible at those things. I arrived, introduced myself to John and his couch surfer/assistant/employee/volunteer Steph. He offered me some water.

At this point, over the previous 36ish hours I had consumed one alcoholic cider, about 1/3 of a loaf of bread, less the portion that had been partially eaten by some animal, and some gummy bears.

After some talking I asked John directly if I could couch surf at his place and he said yes. Here is where I need to explain John's couch. His couch could much more accurately be described as a boat, because he lives on a boat. He maintains an office in the marina (where Steph slept most of the time) and he sleeps on the boat. Couch surfing with John not only means you are sleeping on a boat, which is cool enough, but it also means that he will take you sailing around the Whitsundays if you are there long enough and/or catch him at a time when he is going out. I was lucky enough to do so. The typical trip to the Whitsundays for a backpacker is a 2 day/2 day arrangement that costs about AU$300-350. John took me out basically for the cost of some food and some beer (though the beer is expensive, it is not AU$300 expensive).

John is an interesting character. He speaks very rapidly and appears constantly busy. He works for himself in IT, maintaining several tourism websites and does freelance work for businesses in the area. He does well and always seems to be working. Steph points out that he does not sleep because of his workload. However, I noticed that he takes a nap in the afternoon just about everyday for a couple hours and, though he does wake up early in the morning, he, as best as I can tell, gets plenty of sleep. That said, I was only there for about a week and Steph had been there for months so her sample size is larger but I saw what I saw, plus it does not really matter. Steph is German and into media, mostly videography. She is kind of couch surfing with John but also does a lot of work for him. They made no arrangement for monetary compensation, just accommodation, though John sometimes pays her. She is travelling in Australia hoping to make a documentary on the Aborigines and is trying to accumulate the appropriate equipment and funds to do so. We ended up hanging out a lot together as other than the sailing there is almost nothing to do in Airlie Beach and I ended up staying for an extra couple of days because the cost of a flight to Brisbane plummeted and John said doing so was not a problem.

The only significant negative about doing my Whitsundays trip with John was that I had no control or input over where we went. When he goes out he is generally doing so with a purpose and sails to where it makes sense for him, not to where I, a tourist, wants to go. So, though I went to the Whitsundays, I did not go to the main tourist draw of Whitehaven Beach. I did get to go to and see things that most tourists do not get to do so it is a trade off. I simply say that it means now I have an excuse to go back.

Airlie Beach is not much of a town. In fact, it kind of sucks. If the Whitsundays where elsewhere nobody would ever go near the place. Fortunately of it, the Whitsundays, which is among the most beautiful places in the world, is just off its shores and it is the lucky heir to an endless stream of tourists. The Whitsundays, however, is stunning. John says he lives where he lives because he thinks it is paradise and sure looks like it could be.

While not sailing around the Whitsundays, I tried to help out around John's business. Mostly this meant keeping Steph company while she did things and holding stuff but Steph was legitimately appreciative and said directly that her days went by quicker when in my company. (Go me.)

On my last night there a not serious but not mild storm was due to come in. John was planning on joining Steph in the office for the night and said I could sleep in the van he has instead of the boat. I said whatever he thought was best was fine with me, but when Steph said she wanted to sleep in the boat, John and I both thought it best that I went out on the boat as well. John does not dock the boat in the marina. He anchors it a bit off shore to avoid paying the huge marina docking fee. To get to the boat you use what he calls a dingy, which might be what it is actually called but I had never heard it called this. The dingy is a raft that is propelled by a motor. Simple. Steph and I walked to the dingy in some light rain. When we reached the dingy the rain had picked up a bit so we took cover in one of the boats nearby to let the rain die down before we set off. We waited and when the rain slowed he headed out. About a minute after we started moving the rain picked up again, this time harder. And then harder still. Then we remembered that by accident John had anchored further off shore than he normally does meaning not only would be have to traverse more water than usual and expected but that actually finding the boat among the dozens of boats out there would be more difficult that normal. Steph, at the helm, found the boat without issue though we were still soaked by the time we got there. She tied the dingy to the boat and then we went inside. I got myself one of the beers that was left over from the Whitsundays excursion, we put on some music, and started chatting with Stevie Wonder and the rain in the background. After a little bit Steph noticed the dingy was gone. "Gone?" I questioned, taking a swig. "Yes, gone. As in, gone," she replied. I put the beer down and stepped out into the rain where Steph was to see the dingy floating away. Knowing it was not the right thing to do, I made the snap decision to dive in and try to retrieve it. In a storm you are not supposed to leave the boat, but, in truth the storm really was not that bad and I know I can tread water for a really long time, and I figured that if I did manage to get the dingy back John would be super appreciative. Also, even if I did not get it back, it would be a decent story. I stripped down to my boxers and jumped in. As soon as I started off I could tell the dingy was moving faster than me. The only chance I had is that if the wind or something else slowed it down or carried back the other way. I kept going for a bit but it became apparent I had no chance and turned around. The water was not that cold at all (I was cold later once I got out of the water) and doing this was pretty cool and I was happy with my decision to try to get it back. After swimming back I learned of the other drama afoot.

Apparently while I was in the water a boat that was anchored close to ours nearly hit us. By "nearly" I mean within a foot, according to Steph. A collision of boats would be exponentially worse than a missing dingy. The occupants of the other boat had noticed how close our boat was and got out to yell at Steph, who was waiting outside watching me swim. I am not sure exactly how it happened because I was elsewhere, but I believe Steph explained that our boat was not that one that was moving (which we determined was true even though she just made it up at the time) and why she was outside in the first place. The other boat, possibly in an act of apology, said they would try to get our dingy back. Once I got aboard again they made sure I was OK, and then set off. We knew the odds of them getting it were low but at that point we had no option. Steph had called John about the near-collision and missing dingy. He was displeased that she did not tie up the dingy as she was supposed to (hoist it off the water) and displeased that I got in the water to try to get it back (dangerous) but more than relieved that there was no collision. After a bit the other boat flashed its lights, which we took to mean they were giving up and anchoring over where they were to avoid another incident.

We went back inside. Steph, who was trying to eat nothing but fruit, vegetables, and nuts for six weeks broke into some crackers or cookies or something. I stripped off my boxers and tied a towel around my waist (I had no other clothes on the boat) and assumed drinking my beer again. Stepth was pretty stressed; she said that even though up until now her time with John had been nothing but positive this is the kind of thing that could turn the whole thing sour. Its true, but of course I could not admit so out loud. I reminded her that John did not seem to upset on the phone, which she had told me, and was more relieved that there was no collision than anything. Then we saw a flashing light again. It was the boat returning...with the dingy. Steph was ecstatic. We thanked them and hoisted the dingy as far off the water as we could. Steph happily called John again. I got another beer. We talked a bit more and then went to sleep.

Then next day I went to the nearby town of Proserpine to catch a flight to Brisbane.