Blogs from Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

o first, and foremost, my room is getting sprayed today! Hopefully, they will exterminate the beetle/cockroach thing, and also get the couple of lizards that are also squatting in my space! So my sleep was ok, but intermittent! The rain was crazy overnight! i heard it beating on everything it landed on! I got up to check my washing, but it was all good as it is well sheltered in the covered in balcony. I woke up to my alarm at 7:15, got a quick shower, arranged my handbag, and I was off for the day. I had pre-arranged breakfast with Angelika to meet at 7:45. Perfect timing, we met on our way into the restaurant area. I had a simple continental breakfast today. Just changing things up from eggs! I was amazed to see the ... read more

After two days at sea we are tendered at Airlie Beach. During those two days there was a medical emergency on board the ship and a helicopter was sent from Cairns to collect the seriously ill guest. This procedure was carried out efficiently and while the ship was moving. Airlie beach is the gateway to Queensland’s pristine Whitsunday Islands. James Cook named the islands in 1770 as he believed he passed through the area on Whit Sunday. It is now widely accepted that he didn’t actually pass through on that date as he failed to take account the yet to be bought into existence International Date Line. Each year the residents of Airlie beach celebrate the blessing of the fleet on Whit Sunday There are 74 islands in the Whitsundays and they are in the heart ... read more

The next section of our journey is to sail from Darwin to Airlie Beach in Queensland. We will sail across the Gulf of Carpentaria and south of Papua New Guinea. At the closest point between PNG and Australia is a cluster of small islands, Thursday Island being probably one of the best know, but not the largest. Prince of Wales Island is the largest, but our cruise will pass a number of the Torres Straight islands including St Joseph's and Kiriri (Hammond) Islands. It takes a couple of days to come around the top of the Northern Territory and cross the Gulf of Carpentaria. Unlike our flight to Singapore, this was calm sailing all the way as Pacific Dawn is actually a wonderfully stable ship even with winds and currents pushing her around. The top of ... read more

Day 3: Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach We got back to Townsville and parked in a McDonald’s car park (to avoid paying for car park!) and went to the information centre where we booked a day tour to the Whitsundays islands for the following day. The drive was nice and quiet. We stopped halfway to change drivers and arrived in Airlie Beach at 4pm. We stayed a bit away from the bustling village, in Backpackers by the Bay. We went for a walk on the coastal boardwalk and got an ice cream to cool us from the hot drive. Day 4: Boat trip to the Whitsundays On the next day, we did the boat tour to the Whitsunday Islands. We chose to go with Ocean Rafting, which added a bit of adventure to the trip. It ... read more

Um 8:00 Uhr sitzen alle mit geschmierten Broten in unserem hellblauen Hyundai i30 und es geht los. Vor uns liegen 650 KM Fahrt durch Australien. Wer schon einmal hier gewesen ist weiß: das ist etwas anderes, als die A7 von Hamburg in den Süden zu nehmen. Immer wieder gibt es Road Works bei denen schwer auszumachen ist, wer von den vielen im Einsatz befindlichen Menschen eigentlich auch etwas tut. Auch die Tatsache, dass man mit 100 km/h über Kreuzungen brettert, ist immer mal wieder befremdlich. Nach gut 2 Stunden Fahrt über Innisfail machen wir am Wasser Halt und frühstücken. Von den öffentlichen Essplätzen, die mit Kochfläche, fließend Wasser und Toiletten ausgestattet sind und eigentlich immer auch hygienisch sind, könnten auch wir uns noch eine Scheibe abschneiden. Unsere leckeren Sandwichs haben wir im Nu verputzt und schon ... read more