Airlie warning

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Airlie Beach is the main departure point for cruises to the Whitsunday Islands and as such it's full of cruise agents, hostels and tat shops. Lest this sound like a miniature Cairns, I should state that it's nothing of the sort - whereas Cairns at night had a great atmosphere, Airlie Beach at night bore more than a faint whiff of English lager louts, and various girls I spoke to said they received much more unwanted hassle here than in Cairns.

One exception to this was the hostel I stayed in, where people were uniformly friendly (and 90% German). Over the course of my stay, I received free beer and an offer of a lift to Rockhampton, plus the chance to demonstrate my newfound Uno ability. On top of that, everyone seemed to think I was 30 years old - amazing.

The name of the place is a little misleading, as there's only about 10 yards of proper beach. The main sunbathing spot is a man-made lagoon which at night doubles as an open-air shagging arena. The view of the turquoise bay, littered with bobbing boats, is the most special thing about Airlie.

Nightlife concentrates on 2 main pubs, Magnums and Beaches, both sprawling affairs attached to hostels. You can fill your evenings at these with wet T-shirt contests, pole-dancing, jelly wrestling, and any other activity that 18 year old female backpackers can be persuaded to take part in when $500 is waved in front of them as an incentive for winning.

Airlie marked the first place on my east coast travels where I started having repeat encounters with people met previously. These included the 2 Dutch prize-winning goldfish racers and mad Welsh dorm-mate from Cairns, a member of my rafting boat from Mission Beach, and the weird American guy from way back when in Quorn/Port Augusta. Maaike and Denise from my scuba course also arrived - they almost qualify as old friends as I spent 5 solid days with them on the course, which is an epoch in backpacking terms. I suspect I'll be seeing all of these people, and more, on the way south.

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Photos

Great swimming
Apart from the risk of death

Magnums mayhem
L to R: Denise, Simon, Maaike