Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

We left Townsville and headed south along the Bruce Highway. The winds were strong and our little campa, with its high top and short wheel base, was blown all over the road. Both the driver and the passenger were feeling a little frazzled. These vehicles are not at all aerodynamic. We were wishing we had rented the Kea camper van with the pop up (therefore pop down) top instead. After a quick lunch on King's Beach in Bowen and a photograph at the giant mango, we decided to press on to Airlie Beach which was a mere 45 minutes away.

We were rather disappointed to find out that Airlie Beach's beach is only 200 feet long. There is a beautiful marina filled with expensive boats and a giant man-made swimming lagoon, but the beach itself is minimal. Airlie Beach's claim to fame is that it is the gateway to the Whitsunday islands. The only way to access the Whitsundays is by boat. We had not factored a sailing expedition into our travel plans, but we quickly realized that we would be making a big mistake if we cheaped out and kept on going. So on Thursday we went shopping ("Here we go again," says Craig) for a sailing trip. There are dozens of companies on the main street selling dozens of sailing trips. Our options were limited by the fact that we were booking at the last minute, but by noon, we had secured ourselves passage on the Whitsunday Drifter for 3 days and 2 nights. Our biggest fears were backpackers and bed bugs. Backpackers because the town is full of them and they are all going on sailing trips, and bed bugs because the literature on the boat informed us that we weren't allowed to bring bags with zippers aboard because that's where the pesky creatures hide. ("Great," says Lynda. "I've been eaten alive by sand flies and now I have to worry about bed bugs.")

At 9:00 am Friday morning we headed down to the marina to board our sailing vessel. The Whitsunday Drifter is a 54 foot schooner made from Fijian timber. The crew consisted of our captain, Nathan, and our first mate/cook/scuba instructor, Liz. Once the correct passenger manifest materialized, the paying passengers included Irene and Riccard from Spain, Ben and Susie from Melbourne, brothers Peter and Mark from Brisbane and Sydney respectively and Julie and Raap (Oops, I mean Craig and Lynda) from Canada. We are happy to report that it was a group of "normal" people. There was not a backpacker in sight. An added note: it seems that Lynda (the rule follower) was the only one reading the rules about the zippers because we were the only ones who brought bags without them.

So, off we sailed. Craig was in his glory. He quickly shed his pluggers and was put to work pulling ropes, tying knots and hoisting sails. His dream of being a deckhand in Australia had come to life. We sailed directly out to the islands and our first stop was the world famous Whitehaven Beach. It is remarkable because the beach is made up not of sand or coral, but white silica, a mineral that comes out of crevasses under the water that are several hundred metres deep. This sand is so pure that it was used to make the mirror of the Hubbel telescope. It is truly a gorgeous sight. We spent our first night anchored in a passage between Hook island and Whitsunday island.
After breakfast on day 2 we sailed to the windward side of Hook Island to some secluded beaches with coral reefs where we had the opportunity to snorkel. Craig was the only one brave (or medically fit) enough to try his hand at scuba diving. Craig and Liz started diving just off the beach and worked their way out to bigger and more amazing coral formations. The deeper they went, the bigger the fish got. In the end they made it down to 12 metres.

After a lunch of sausage sangers, no one was energetic enough to snorkel. Nathan, Liz and Craig provided some free entertainment. Nathan, in the dinghy, and Craig and Liz in the water, swam and fed two large Maori Wrasse and a couple of Travalis. They are very gentle fish, but when they open their mouths and take your whole hand inside, it can be startling.We stayed on the north side of Hook Island that night and were able to watch an amazing sunset. Lynda was more interested in the 15 million dollar yacht that was anchored beside us

Early on the morning of day 3 we anchored off a beach on the exclusive (a.k.a. expensive) Hayman Island where we spent several hours snorkelling. We returned to the ship for lunch and then summoned all our new learned sailing skills, trimmed our sails for maximum spead and headed back to Airlie Beach. Even with our best efforts the backpackers in thier sleek racing yachts had a four or five knot advantage. We were all very sad to see the trip come to an end, even those of us who were anxious to return to our accommodation and take a long, hot shower.

Later that evening, we all met up

for a delicious dinner at Fish Divine. We must have been a tolerable group because even our Captain, Nathan, joined us.

Since the end of the sailing trip we have been slowly making our way to McKay to see another one of Lynda's cousins. We spent Monday night at a campground in Conway Beach and are currently at a campground in Midge Point. It took four weeks, but Lynda has discovered that 30 sunscreen really does work and failing to apply it does result in sunburn. Luckily her lips have returned to their normal size and she no longer looks like someone who has had an overdose of Botox. Craig, on the other hand, is waiting for the water to drain out of his sinuses so he can hear again. Perhaps he was not that medically fit after all.
Ahhh, life is an adventure. Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone!

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