We arrived in Airlie Beach around 9 o’clock in the morning (11th of March) after approximately half a day greyhound bus ride out of Hervey Bay. I don’t think I’m exaggerating, when I say half the bus was full of Swedish or at least Scandinavian speaking passengers between the ages of 18-22. Even before I arrived in Airlie Beach I had a notion I would really like Airlie Beach…
Our bed and breakfast was on a steep hill about 5-10 minutes walk from the town centre, we took a taxi as our bags were weighing us down and we didn’t really know where we were going. Also taxis are way cheaper in OZ then in Sweden, so this was luxury we treated ourselves to many a time during our holiday. Our B&B turned out to be just lovely with an almost private pool and a great view. After checking-in and leaving our bags we headed back down to town for some breakfast and to explore our new surroundings. We ended up at the man-made lagoon (as you can’t swim in the see due to the deadly jelly-fish), which for being man-made really was quite lovely. After relaxing at the lagoon for a while we headed for some lunch. The restaurant we chose was nice but we got the least service-minded waitress in history I think… In a somewhat bad mood after our not so great lunch experience, we headed back to our B&B to meet the lady who I had booked our stay with. She wasn’t available when we checked in and now we were to have a brief meeting to receive our voucher for the excursions we had booked through her and also adding an other excursion to our plans, a trip to The Great Barrier Reef. Included in our package I had booked at the B&B there was sparkling wine and chocolates included. We decided to enjoy this out by the pool, this was not difficult! In the evening we went back to town for dinner and ate some beef I believe and finished off with a drink a few doors further down. We didn’t make it late as we knew we had an early morning next day.
On the 12th of March we had an outing to Whitehaven beach with The Camira, a very purple Catamaran, with a pick-up early morning. The weather wasn’t picture perfect but good enough and we were excited to do some snorkeling and to see Whitehaven Beach, ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Our first stop was to do a little snorkeling just outside one of the many (74) Islands belonging to The Whitsunday’s. After putting on our stinger suits for protection against the deadly box jelly-fish we plunged into the water. Unfortunately this was no good at all and all we saw was brown water and sand… A little disappointed we continued our trip towards Whitehaven Beach. As we started to get close to the beach we were very lucky to see a giant sea turtle in the distance. The beach was beautiful and very bright as the sand was so white. The high percentage of silica even made it possible to polish jewelry (just like the sand at Lake McKenzie). Back on the boat after an hour or so at the beach, we enjoyed a delicious grilled lunch on board the boat heading back to Airlie beach. It was first on our way back Peter realized it was an open bar and made sure to make the most of that before getting of the boat in the late afternoon… After having freshened up back at our B&B we went to town for some dinner and drinks. That evening Peter kept on “collecting” friends for us in the bar and we ended up with an English vet, an English marine biologist and a young back-packer from Switzerland I think it was at our table.
The next day (13th of March) after having changed rooms (as we decided to stay on it was necessary to change rooms) we finally had a bit of a “slow” day and we enjoyed a pick-nick by the sea and a slower pace. In the evening we had dinner at The Hogs Breath, that we had been recommended by the cabdriver on our first day in Airlie Beach.
On our last day in Airlie Beach (14th of March), after yet another early start, we headed out to a pontoon on The Great Barrier Reef . The trip to the reef was to put it least “difficult”. Even though I had taken a seasickness pill I felt very sea-sick and just managed to make to the Reef a couple of hours out of the port without throwing up. The crew warned everyone about the rough sea and highly recommended anyone who was prone to seasickness to take seasickness pills. Even though, many people were sick and the crew were busy handing out bags to throw up in, nice… not! Despite the rocky boat ride to the potoon it was well worth it! After getting into our stinger suits and snorkeling gear we jumped into the sea and this time not to be disappointed. The first fish to greet us was a huge bright blue fish that they call Wally. Even though his size, we were not intimidated as he was a very kind fish and we could pat him without difficulty. We continued to enjoy a guided tour in the water by a marine biologist and saw many other beautiful fish and sea-creatures. After lunch aboard the potoon we headed home and even if it was a very bumpy ride, I felt much better then on the way out. In the evening we had dinner at the same place we had dinner on our first evening in Airlie beach, before heading to the bus-station and Cairns…
