Oops!! 16th February 2008 again (Ground Hog Day for real)

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16th February 2008
The rain has got through to the brain and yesterday's blog should have been labelled the 15th February 2008 and not the 16th February 2008.
We slept well last night lulled by the sound of the tropical storm raging. Today we woke up in Mackay to more torrential tropical rain. We decided to stick to our plans to visit the Whitsunday Islands and if possible the Great Barrier Reef. despite dire warnings to stay at home. No such thing when you're are a permenant tourist!
Our plans were soon thwarted when we tried to drive out of Mackay only to find the road to Proserpine was officially closed, however Al was not deterred and after a ford estate car came through albeit rather gingerly we set off through the flood. It was 300mm deep in places but skillful driving got us through safely. We got into Proserpine and had coffee and set off to Arlie beach where we were going to catch the boat to Long Island. About 2 kms from Proserpine the Shute Highway was very definitely closed with a barrier to deter the most adventurous. Back in Proserpine we sent Jo to enquire about rooms for the night, but she came back with insider information about a back route to Arlie Beach via Dingo Creek which was still passable. Armed with this information we set off again towards Arlie Beach (30kms away) and managed to avoid the closed road and made good progress.
As we broke clear of the floods it brightened up and stopped raining as we drove into Arlie Beach. As we went past the Marina we saw huge cranes lifting badly damaged boats (from a storm a couple of weeks ago), some backpackers had to be rescued by the SES , which you may have seen on the news), we stopped to watch them being lifted out of the sea and broken up to be put in a skip for scrap. Alan in the meantime had been on the internet to book us in to a resort hotel for two days on Long Island. We had to catch a ferry out to the resort but as we arrived it started raining again (tropical heavy rain) and we were back to the weather of the last two days. The resort is strangely quiet and very wet. However we have a comfortable bed and good food and internet access with Jo's computer.
We have tried out the spa pool which we had all to ourselves and was very pleasant in the pouring rain.
We went for our buffet evening meal which was a sea food special. We were joined by a yellow legged heron who was obviously a regular dinner.
The weather for the next few days is much of the same so I don't think we shall be going to the barrier reef but we could do this trip when we get to Cairns.

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