Wednesday January 6th.
The first day of the road trip when we haven't actually been on the road!
We started the day with an orientation trip to the nearby town and beaches. Airlie Beach is the starting point for many excursions, cruises and other boat trips to the Whitsundays Islands and to the Great Barrier reef, so it is quite a busy port, with tourism quite definitely the town's main industry .It's a backpackers paradise , full of hostels, bars and (apparently) lots of night life. This is possibly why our camp site, being about two kilometres from town is so wonderfully quiet. The lights go off at ten in the kitchen which is the hub of camp life and many campers are up at dawn, about 5 am. This early morning before the sun warms everything is a lovely, fresh time of the day. Average daily temperatures have been in the mid thirties with high humidity.
Near the campsite is a small bay with a protected beach so we had a swim there,
went into town including the town beach
and wandered round the tourist hotspots then spent the rest of the morning on practical things such as catching up with washing, booking tickets for the train to Melbourne and so on.
After lunch we spent some time at the lovely campsite pool
before a short shopping trip followed by Charles barbecuing swordfish. Delicious!
Thursday January 7th
Woken early again by the manic laughter of the kookaburra. I must try to record their dawn cacophony! Very excited as today was the day for something I have longed to do for ages - visit the Whitsundays. We chose a tour to Hamilton Island and a picnic on Whitehaven beach on Whitsundays island. (So named by Captain Cook when he first sailed into the bay). We were picked up early and taken to the boat which would take us to Hamilton Island. The sea was glassy smooth and shone bright blue in the morning sunlight.
and we were soon underway.
We had to change boats at Hamilton Island and spent the waiting time at the pool at Hamilton Resort.
A lovely pool but a typical resort hotel.
We were soon on the next boat sailing towards Whitsunday past homes belonging to Julia Roberts and to George Harrison with the most amazing scenery. My efforts really don't do it justice.
The first day of the road trip when we haven't actually been on the road!
We started the day with an orientation trip to the nearby town and beaches. Airlie Beach is the starting point for many excursions, cruises and other boat trips to the Whitsundays Islands and to the Great Barrier reef, so it is quite a busy port, with tourism quite definitely the town's main industry .It's a backpackers paradise , full of hostels, bars and (apparently) lots of night life. This is possibly why our camp site, being about two kilometres from town is so wonderfully quiet. The lights go off at ten in the kitchen which is the hub of camp life and many campers are up at dawn, about 5 am. This early morning before the sun warms everything is a lovely, fresh time of the day. Average daily temperatures have been in the mid thirties with high humidity.
Near the campsite is a small bay with a protected beach so we had a swim there,
and wandered round the tourist hotspots then spent the rest of the morning on practical things such as catching up with washing, booking tickets for the train to Melbourne and so on.
After lunch we spent some time at the lovely campsite pool
before a short shopping trip followed by Charles barbecuing swordfish. Delicious!
Thursday January 7th
Woken early again by the manic laughter of the kookaburra. I must try to record their dawn cacophony! Very excited as today was the day for something I have longed to do for ages - visit the Whitsundays. We chose a tour to Hamilton Island and a picnic on Whitehaven beach on Whitsundays island. (So named by Captain Cook when he first sailed into the bay). We were picked up early and taken to the boat which would take us to Hamilton Island. The sea was glassy smooth and shone bright blue in the morning sunlight.
and we were soon underway.
We had to change boats at Hamilton Island and spent the waiting time at the pool at Hamilton Resort.
We were soon on the next boat sailing towards Whitsunday past homes belonging to Julia Roberts and to George Harrison with the most amazing scenery. My efforts really don't do it justice.
Then the breathtaking Whitehaven Beach came into view
Indescribable!
I really can't describe how lovely it is. The sand is 98 per cent silica so very white and it squeaks underfoot! Whilst we were there some seaplanes arrived, the passengers donned the stinger suits (photo of Charles modelling one!)
and swam briefly before boarding the planes and flying off again. We had a picnic provided by the tour company, very good and substantial with plenty to drink.
All too soon it was time to return, but it really has been a wonderful day.
No comments:
Post a Comment