Airlie, the drinking town with a sailing problem

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And here we are now, in Airlie. When we arrived we were bit tired from the overnight bus, but actually not as bad as I'd expected. I even slept a bit on the bus, thanks to some sleeping pills I bought, I reckon. And we did cover quite a lot of km's this way, so that's a good thing. Our first day we decided to take it easy and have a relaxed day. After dropping our luggage at the hostel we went out for breakfast, first time we have done that since, uhhmmm, a really long time at least. After a very yummie breakfast we explored Airlie Beach a bit, which wasn't that hard, it's not that big 😉, and then we went to the lagoon to swim and relax a bit. We got ourselves a Subway-lunch/picnic and for the rest we haven't been up to that much anymore until the evening 😊. When we went out for dinner we discovered Airlie is quite happening at night. As they say, Airlie Beach is the drinking town with the sailing problem 😉. Especially now during schoolies (when high school graduates go out to celebrate) there are quite a lot of people, but fortunately schoolies is not as big over here as it is eg in Byron or Surfers' Paradise, so no Lloret-kind-of-atmosphere here thank god. But although we didn't stay out late, still tired from the last day and knowing we'd have to get up early for the sailing trip next day, we did enjoy the live music and the fun atmosphere.

Our 2nd day in Airlie, we went on a sailing trip to one of the Islands of the Whitsundays. This is pretty much a must-do over here, so, we figured we might as well also go on a sailing trip while we're here. Not cheap, but it was so much worth it! We were on a not too big boat with 9 other people, plus two crew men, so nice and cosy. Was lots of fun! Hmm, relaxing on the sun, the wind through your hairs, great view on the ocean, being carried by the waves... If I'd be filty rich I'd buy a boat myself, hihi (okay, then I would also buy the good weather to match it, guess that's different in Holland). Only on the way back the waves got higher for a while, so some people started to get a bit sea sick, but when after we'd headed to the complete front of the baot it was actually fine (only very wet). The destination of the trip was one of the Whitsunday islands, where we went snorkeling, and, we hadn't expected that ourselves actually, but also diving! We got the opportunity to make a dive for $45 per person, which is extremely cheap, so we figured, we might as well! was heaps of fun, although not as beautiful in Malaysia, but it was great to go diving again, especially for so little money. But I have to say we were lucky that it wasn't our first dive, cause after Emma had chatted a bit with the instructor we were allowed to go diving with another guy who had his PADI and the instructor, while the otters had to do an introductory course. I mean, they did go a bit fast, not lot of instruction or whatever (Emma and I both lost the group once, hmz, pretty confusing if you're deep down), but at least we got like 20-25 minutes under water, the introductory dive was like only 10 min's really diving! I would have been so annoyed of we would have paid $45 for that! But our dive was great, and after a bit of snorkeling we went back on the boat, for some lunch. The lunch was really not too bad, it was just a pity Emma couldn't really enjoy it since that was exactly when she started felling sick. Pity.. But altogether it was an awesome day!

After some freshing up ( we needed that!!) we went for a cheap dinner to same place as where we'd been the evening before, and, it's not even surprising anymore, we met Emma's friends, Rem&Mar again! So we had a nice dinner with them, Emma and I tried the potato wedges again, but unfortunately they weren't as nice as the last time, actually we have never gotten them as good as they were in Wollongong anymore.. naja, the salad was pretty good, and the beer/cider too, so no worries. After dinenr we went to a club, but unfortunately over there we did notice it was schoolies week: the places was packed with 18 yr olds.. Hmm, not an ideal evening out, but we tried to make the best of it.

Today is our last day in Airlie, also our last day with just the two of us, Marc will arrive in cairns tomorrow and Emma's gonna pick him up from the airport. But first we'll get some picnic lunch again, make a bush walk, have some sushi, and then finally head to the bus, for me to Townsville, for Emma to cairns, where I'll catch up with her again after two days..

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