Airlie Beach

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A little late I know - but we've been very busy & the internet is so busy in most places we've been.
Well - here we are in Airlie Beach something like 800km down the coast from Cairns. This is the jumping off point to get onto the Whitsunday Islands, a group of supposedly gorgeous islands that were pushed through the ocean by the movement of the continental plates. They include Whitehaven beach - the 5th most beautiful beach in the world apparently! In about two hours Kate and I jump on a racing yacht and spend a couple of days(and nights) sailing around them. This will be something to look forward to, especially after having had a few days of poor weather, the clouds have finally parted and we're enjoying full on aussie sunshine.
Airlie is quite tropical, pretty much like all we've seen down the coast - palm trees fringing onto the rainforest. There are lots of people about - mainly English and the town has quite a touristy air. We arrived here last night whilst it was still dark - it's winter you know! - and had our first lie-in in a week this morning. So far its been bed at 9 or 10 and up at 6 or 7, but today we lay in til 8.30, luxury!
Right - this is going to have to be abridged - and I'll fill you all in when we're off the boat as time's running out and we've got to go and check in at the marina, and more importantly get some ginger tablets down us. We were both quite sick when we went to the reef a few days ago - indeed, I ended up feeding the fish!!!! so we're taking no chances. But that's another story and it will have to wait til I have a full evening with the internet. G'day!

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