Airlie Beach, Whitsunday islands, Queensland, AU

 Tuesday, March 4, 2025

We wake up just as it is getting light out.  We added another hour to our clock last night.  So now we are only eight hours ahead of our Iowa time.  It is just after 6 am and I don't see any islands yet but there may be some on the port side.  We need to be in the Queen's Room at 8:45 to wait to go as a group to the tenders.  Transportation is provided by a shore company and they can carry upwards to 500 passengers as opposed to our 150 capacity tenders.  So, we shower and head to the 9th deck for breakfast.  It is warm already, and the forecast is for 32 degrees C, or about 90 degrees F.  We have plenty of time to eat and get back to the stateroom to change into our shore attire.  We have booked an "Airlie Beach Highlight" bus tour.  A scheduled three hour tour of the surrounding area with commentary from the driver.

By the time we get to the breakfast buffet we are anchored and we can see the populated areas in the distance but we are pretty far out.  The town of Airlie Beach at last census in 2021, was just over 10,600.  But now, it has nearly tripled!  I think probably to the chagrin of the locals.  We can see that it is very mountainous and hilly but also very green with vegetation.  

Our old friend Captain James Cook, named these islands the Whitsunday Islands after sailing through the area in 1770 because he was passing through them on Whitsunday,  a Christian holiday.  These islands, all 74 of them, are Australia's largest offshore island chain.  They are an extremely popular vacation destination mostly because of the GBR, Great Barrier Reef and all that it has to offer.  There were lots of excursions to the GBR but they were all booked by the time we decided to come aboard.

We gather in the Queen's Room and wait for our turn to board these huge catamaran tenders which will give us a 20 minute ride to the docking area.  They finally call our number and we board along with what seems to be half the ship.  After docking we are herded to our bus, thankfully it is air conditioned as it is really starting to get hot.  Our driver is a local who has lived here some 40 plus years.  We leave the dock area and through the town of Airlie Beach and into the hilly countryside.

Tree kangaroo with baby

  He tells us the mountains above us are part of the Conway Range which in turn is part of the Conway National Park.  The forest areas are home to lots of indigenous animals, including tree kangaroos, Koalas and the one of Australia's largest snakes, the Carpet Python.  

I never really associated Australia with palm trees but they are here in abundance.  Different kinds of course and including a coconut palm which is edible.  Gum trees also, which the Koalas like and ferns of all types.  There is a orange/red flowering tree which the driver says is the Australian Flame Tree and also an African Tulip tree which is considered and invasive species.  All this give a wonderous explosion of color as we travel.  

We make our way to Shute Habour which is a major area for boating and recreation.  As we enter the harbor area he stops the bus for a view of the harbor and says that there is a fishing boat that is coming in that has powered wheels and can take itself out of the water over to where it can be loaded on to a conventional trailer.  I watch in amazement as this is happening.  

fishing boat with powered wheels!

I can't get my camera out in time to video this but I found a link to where my fishing friends can witness this, cut and paste if interested. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=fishing+boat+with+powered+wheels&oq=fishing+boat+with+powered+wheels&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCTExMDIyajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:3d3ab943,vid:8FBozV_K37U,st:0 

We continue our travels through rural areas where there are some paddies, as our driver calls them.  Open areas where there are grazing cattle and cane fields.  Yes, cane fields, sugar cane that is.  This area is the major source of cane to be turned into sugar.  Reminds me of south Texas where there is a lot of cane sugar that the illegal Mexicans hide in during the day.  He says that one of the local cattle ranchers is selling off his land for housing development.  He doesn't like it of course but there's not much he can do about it.  Most of the cattle I see are Brahmans with their distinctive hump and long floppy ears.

We wind our way around through the hills to a place called Shute Harbour. 

Shute Harbour

It is a major water taxi port for traffic going to Hamilton Island which is the jumping off place for Great Barrier Reef experiences.  It has a large marina and plenty of larger boats anchored in the bay.  A very scenic area.

Shute Harbour

We continue on to Airlie Beach where we have the option to disembark and take a shuttle back to the landing where can get the tender back to the ship. 

Downtown Airlie Beach

We have several hours, so we choose to get off and look for a geocache.  As soon as we step off the air-conditioned bus, the heat wave hits us.  The temperature is in the 90s and being a coastal town, there is high humidity as well.  We stay in the shade as much as possible and our GPS takes us to the beach area. 

Pool area

They have a large inland pool area complete with lifegaurds.  Not sure if is fresh water or salt but it is full of younger people having fun. 

This area does not have a sand beach.  The shoreline is lined with large rock rip rap for erosion purposes I assume.  But there is plenty of grassy areas for sun worshippers exposing maximum amount of skin to get that perfect tan. 

Just a few of the sun worshippers

Of course, I didn't pay much attention to any of that.  We are geocaching after all.

I take a picture of Sue by the Airlie Beach sign and you can see our ship just on top of Sue's hat.  That is how far out we were anchored.  About 1.7 miles.

The geocache is located in the rip rap and we look for 10 or 15 minutes.  The rocks are so hot you can't stand to have your hands on them without protection and we need to do that as we look around and under them for the cache.  It is really hot and Sue is getting a little light headed so she heads for the shade and lays down on the grass.  I keep on looking for a while but without any luck.  We decide to go back on the main street and grab a cold drink and see if their calamari is any good.

We find a place called "Hogs Breath".  It is open aired but there is a nice breeze.  She gets a ginger beer and I get a lager called XXXX. 

Hogs Breath Bar

Both are very good and refreshing and needed for rehydration.  As we have experienced before, when we ordered the calamari, they also bring a large bottle of water that we can pour into smaller glasses they provide.  This was welcome as well.  The calamari was good, but not up to what we had in Sydney.  The bill came to AU$48 which is about US$30.

Hogs Breath calamari

While there Sue was reading over the cache description and she noticed a clue that made us want to go back and give it another look.  The clue was a pretty descriptive one and we still had trouble finding it.  Finally I stuck my hand clear under one of those 120 degree rocks and felt a piece of paper.  It was a replacement log.  I'm not sure what happened to the container, but Sue had a zip lock bag that we put it in after signing and dating.

Just as a side note, gas here is AU$1.70/liter, which converts to about US$4/gallon.

The heat has gotten to us so we go back to the shuttle stop and the timing was great as the bus was just loading to take us back to the landing. 

We are some of the first to board this huge catamaran so we are in for a bit of a wait.  It is fairly comfortable on the bottom enclosed area which we choose to get out of the sun.  It does take about twenty minutes for enough people to come aboard and for another tender to be about to dock. 

Lower deck of catamaran

Catamaran tender

Another 20 minute ride and probably at least 15 for everyone to offload.  It is a slow process as everyone has to go through security, empty pockets and run their bags through an x-ray machine.  Not to mention using our card to electronically check back in.

It was a fun day despite the heat.  

Next stop after a day at sea:  Yorkeys Knob