Airlie Beach - Whitsundays!!

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We got up bright and breezy at around 7.30am, had our brekkie and headed out of rather unimpressive Townsville and back on the road to Airlie Beach. Just at the right time too, as it was peeing it down! The rain continued to pour for most of the first couple of hours of our journey which made visibility virtually zero - especially when big double articulated lorries went hurtling past still with their feet to the boards, not letting up for the weather at all. Every passing truck was like being caught in a mini tornado! Thankfully Stu had slowed down to compensate for the conditions otherwise it might have turned very nasty very quickly. The rain eventually let up and we managed to make good time again. The distance to our stop off point called Proserpine was getting smaller and smaller so all was going well. We got to the 50km to go mark when we passed a petrol station, Stu glanced at the fuel gage which still read quarter full and said “nah, we will be fine until Proserpine” and carried on going......about 10km down the road the fuel warning light decided to let us know of its existence. Stu checked the gage again, this time the needle was on rock bottom - OH DEAR. The minutes that then passed seemed to take an eternity. We had arrived at a corner, peer round to the 4km straight and still see no sign of a petrol station, or in fact anything! Stu slowed down to 75km an hour to conserve fuel, needless to say we were overtaken by absolutely everything (we made sure we stayed over far enough to let traffic by without causing too much of a road block - on most national highways the speed limit is 100kph). Kerry had started to worry a little by this point as she started to point out things like “why didn't you stop for fuel back there like i said?” and “what happens if we run out of fuel?” and “we're not going to make it are we?”. Obviously this is what married life is meant to be like isn't it? :-)

Stu had it all under control - of course! Thats why he had started to get a lot hotter under the collar and was starting to wonder what the best technique for hitch hiking would be over here.....another 36 painful kilometers had passed when we finally saw a fantastic sight of a BP truck stop. Thank god they sold unleaded too. Stu's bacon now saved, we set off fully brimmed with go-go juice to our destination - Airlie Beach. We arrived at around 1pm and after a quick scan of the surrounding area we decided upon a campsite called Whitehaven Wanderers which was right in the thick of things. We parked up, connected the electricity and topped up our water then headed off out for a mooch around. We stopped at the nearest pub for a spot of lunch then carried on checking out our home town for the next few days. We did a bit of computer work, got the blog up-to-date and booked a trip around the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, something which we were both really excited about. We were starting to feel a little weary by this point, it was about 5.30pm so we stopped for a coffee, bought a huge book about card games and Stu decided he needed a hair cut has he hadn't had one since Singapore. Luckily, right next door to the coffee shop was a salon. 10 minutes later we left with Stu now sporting a flash new summer “do” - see pics. A spot of shopping for supplies was enough for us to then head back for another fun filled night in our luxurious accommodation - at least now we had some new card games to try and play.

WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS

Another earlyish start saw us needing to be at the bus stop outside our van park at 8.15am to catch our shuttle to the harbour in time for 9am sailing time. We got there just in time to see the coach arrive and got on board. A German girl also got on board but asked the driver to see if he could wait for a few more minutes while the boyfriend finished burning a CD in a local internet cafe. Now, normally the Aussies are very kind and benevolent breed (believe it or not - despite the cricket) but this bus driver had a strict deadline to meet, other passengers to pick up and did not appreciate being babbled at. He did have to raise his voice and told the girl to wait and he would come back for them. I think the rest of the people on the bus, us included would have just left them. Who else in their right mind burns a CD at 8am in the morning especially when you know that you have a bus to catch? Tourists eh! We got to the harbour and were directed to our very posh cruiser called Voyager. We went straight to the sun deck and sat in the comfy seats and got to know our ship mates. We shared a seating area with an elderly Aussie couple from Brisbane, a couple from Peru who were studying in Sydney and had brought the mother-in-law with them and also a really nice couple from - wait for it - SHEFFIELD. The bizarre thing was that they were also travelling and they got married in Sydney on the 30 December, the day after our wedding day. We all got on really really well and was soon at our first stop - WHITEHAVEN BEACH ON WHITSUNDAY ISLAND. Some people say this is the most beautiful beach in Oz, some people even say in the World. We thought it was awesome, pure silica white beach and crystal clear azure blue sea with a 5km shoreline - just perfect. As soon as we set foot on the beach Kerry needed a pee - typical! So we both headed to a purpose built wooden shack on stilts known as the local “dunnies”. Kerry went first and remarked on how many flies there were in there. Stu happened to look up and saw the biggest spider he had ever seen hanging from a single thread above Kerry's cubicle “what ever you do, dont look up!” he said. As soon as he had said it he knew he should have just kept his gob shut as there came an almost instant reply of “OH MY GOD” followed by Kerry slamming back through the door, skirt still hitched up around her waist, pulling her drawers back up with a petrified look on her face. She looked almost as surprised as the girl who was next in line who saw the whole thing and wondered what the hell was going on. The fact that the spider was dead didnt change things at all and Kerry decided to pee in the sea! Drama averted and found a nice spot on the beach, Kerry got down to some serious sunbathing and Kerry donned his very fetching lycra stinger suit and headed off for a splash about with his snorkel. We spent about 90 minutes there enjoying the sun, sand and sea-nery (sea what we did there?) (and there) before heading off to the next place - HOOK ISLAND. We had a slap up buffet lunch on the way - very tasty. First thing we did on hook was to have a wander around the historical underwater observatory located at the end of the pier. This was okay, you walk in down a spiral staircase to a small room about 6 metres below the surface with spy glass windows all around where you could observe the coral and local sea life but due to increased traffic in this stretch of water you couldn't really see that much unless the fish swam really close to your port hole. After this the crew gave a quick fish feeding display which kept us all entertained for a while. There were about 200 fish of all sizes fighting over scraps of bread. We were then lead to a semi-submersible boat which had viewing windows in the bottom for us to look at the goings on under the ocean without getting wet. We saw loads of different types of coral, loads of different types of fish, we even manged to catch a rare glimpse of a sea turtle on our way back to the pier. We then took a small forest walk through the headland to a beach where we could snorkel. Kerry was rather hesitant to join in, as she was back in Thailand, but after a bit of gentle persuasion she bravely entered the water wearing her stinger suit, snorkel, mask and flippers. Then we both set off for our underwater adventure together. The visibility was not as good as Thailand but until you travel for a few hours out to sea you will not get the clearest views anyway. Kerry was just getting into it when we had to make our way back to the shore to go to our next stop - DAYDREAM ISLAND. This tiny island was more like a miniature Butlins with a couple of bars, a clothes shop, a swimming pool, a fish pond including two reef sharks, crazy golf, kiddies playgrounds etc. We stayed a further 90 minutes here, had a drink in the bar, played pool, played crazy golf and Kez bought a new hat. We hopped back on board and chatted with our shipmates all the way back to the harbour enjoying a beer (Stu) and a glass of wine (Kez - duh!). We then got a couple of supplies for the van, did some washing, had our tea and went to bed shattered. A good day was had by all.

The following day was spent milling around, chilling out and planning the next part of our journey.

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Comments

[batty]

mmm
beautiful!!! not a lot more to say beautiful!! ttfn xx