Day 202 - Tuesday 18 July - On to Airlie Beach

Day 202

Tuesday

18 July 2017

Bowen – Airlie Beach

And here we go again. Paul was awake and reading when I finally surfaced. He didn’t hang around for long, heading off for a shower while I continued to laze before reading. When he returned he expected me up too so I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and went off for a shower, returning to have breakfast and then it was all stations go. We moved the van down the drive to allow us enough room to put the car on the trailer and then we began our journey to Airlie Beach an hour south and about 85km.

We left Bowen with beautiful blue skies and once we deviated inland the clouds rolled in and it was cool and quite threatening, however when we turned on to the Airlie Beach road and moved closer to the coast the clouds parted and the sun shone through.

The area was quite built up with a large shopping centre and numerous housing lots, many perched on the side of mountains. We navigated through the main township that was overrun with vehicles and pedestrians and then emerged at the other end and continued on a further 10km before we reached Flametree Tourist Park. 

We were met with plenty of smiles as we checked in and then we made our way into the park, finding our drive through space and setting up. We took a break, sitting inside and having a snack before Paul rang Mike to espouse how great the traveling life is.

After the call, we packed up our lunch and drove back into town, finding a space to park behind Woollies. We did a walk along the shop fronts and then along the beachfront. There is a lot work being done around town, like Bowen; both towns were hit hard by Cyclone Debbie and there is much repair work going on. The park we are staying at was out of action for ten weeks and has only been accepting patrons for three weeks. The pool was reopened last week and the wifi will hopefully be on tomorrow. 

Lagoon under repair

Roof needs replacing

There is a large man made swimming lagoon on the waterfront which is currently behind fencing as it undergoes repairs and many of the shops and accommodation along the front have scaffolding, repair works or signs stating they are out of action as they go about the clean up.

We wandered all the way along the footpath, noting the large number of young backpackers from nations all over the world who have descended on Airlie Beach most here to get amongst the Great Barrier Reef and the diving and by the look of them a fair bit of beach time too.

We stopped in at Woollies for rolls and then took our lunch to the front again to sit, eat and enjoy the view. The tide was out, so the beach started about 50m from shore, with a muddy and rocky looking approach, certainly not like the appealing beaches back home, but the colour of the water certainly makes up for the lack of white sand.

When lunch was done, we did a shop before returning back to the van. I organised a tour to Whitehaven Beach and Hamilton Island for later in the week and then enjoyed the sun and the warm while reading my book, Paul prefers the aircon and the bed. It was just another delightful day. 

By 3.30pm we figured we should head back in to town, but first I had to capture a kookaburra who had flown in to sit on the stump of a near by palm. Once in town, we posted some cards and then walked the bicentennial walk this time towards Abell Marina where we would take the Derwent Hunter tomorrow, thankfully though they offer a courtesy bus, so we didn’t need to go looking for the berth.

We took in the view of Airlie Bay which now had a significant amount of water and was much more appealing. We walked along a wooden deck before reaching the north marina. There were plenty of boats moored and a number of tours making there way back.

We continued on to the South Marina and watched the Derwent return from today’s excursion. We are both looking forward to getting out on it tomorrow and doing some more snorkelling and exploring of the Whitsundays. 

We walked all the way to Shingley Beach before we turned back for the town site. I spent a day wandering Airlie Beach back in January 2000, when I visited a mate working on Hamilton Island, but none of it is familiar to me now. It has a Port Douglas feel to it, but on a larger scale.

We stopped at one of the pubs for an afternoon drink, enjoying watching the crowd wander by and remarking at how we had found another piece of paradise. We got talking to some locals, one offering to take us out on his sailing boat if we were so inclined. I took his phone number, but we didn’t think we would.

We returned to the van starving, so it was straight into dinner before we sorted all we needed for tomorrow, as it is a 7.10am pick up!  We then fell into our evening quiet routine.