The Whitsundays

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On to The Whitsundays……

Our domestic flight left Brisbane airport just 20 minutes late which given the appalling weather conditions (torrential rain and high winds!), was not so bad.

Unable to see anything from the plane owing to the thick and high cloud we dozed for the majority of the hour and half flight. We arrived in Proserpine just as the clouds were beginning to lift.

Proserpine is a sugar town and a major transit point for the Whitsunday region.
A tiny airport, we collected our bags from a trolley outside before boarding the shuttle coach to Airlie Beach and our home, the Azure Sea Resort, for the next 7 nights.

The journey was only 30 minutes long but the scenery and surrounds were very different from that which we have been accustomed to so far on our trip to Oz.
Aside from the road kill (possum, kangaroo, cassowary?? Difficult to tell!), the surrounding landscape consists mainly of sugar cane and a few small coffee plantations with low-rise Queenslander houses and pine-forested hills all around.

The move towards, and into, Queensland’s Tropical Coast is more obvious than simply passing the Tropic of Capricorn - the landscape is much browner as the temperatures are higher and the Great Dividing Range edges coastwards as it progresses north. Offshore, the onset of the tropics is marked by the appearance of the Great Barrier Reef and the nature of the coastline is drastically changed by the reef blocking incoming surf and producing currents that deflect ocean-borne sand far out to sea.

Our apartment building is based at the foot of pine-forested hills, 500m from the main drag at Airlie Beach and with the most fantastic views of the Coral Sea. When we checked in we were told that we had been upgraded (for free!) to the Penthouse Suite!! We figured mentioning that we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary this year when making our booking was probably one of our more smarter moves!!

From our (huge!) balcony the views are breathtakingly beautiful. The islands that we can see are part of The Whitsunday Islands and look just like the mountain peaks they once were before rising sea levels cut them off from the mainland six thousand years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.



Since arriving we have spent our time enjoying the resort complex which aside from our Suite(!), includes a BBQ, gym and infinity pool.

Outside of our accommodation we have explored the local area mainly on foot. The main esplanade is a haven for backpackers and there are plenty of accommodation options and places to eat and drink. Despite the name, Airlie Beach has only a couple of gritty stretches of sand though the view of the deep turquoise bay, dotted with yachts and cruisers, is very pretty. There is also a fine open-air landscaped lagoon which comes into its own during “stinger” season! Box-jelly fish amongst others are prolific during the summer months.

Birdlife is plentiful here and in addition to the Rainbow Lorikeets, Indian Mynas and Australian Magpies we have seen bright green budgies, black and white wagtails, several types we have yet to identify(!), but all very pretty and flocks of cockatiels! We even have a pair who have been joining us for breakfast on the balcony of a morning!!

A coastal walkway from Airlie Beach to Cannonvale was well worth the effort with sublime views of the Coral Sea and Marina.

Tomorrow we have a cruise of the islands to look forward to…………watch this space!

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Photos

Azure Apartment
Penthouse Suite!