Airlie Beach - Whitsunday Islands -

After a week long visit in Emerald we were off again to the Whitsunday Islands. Finally, we are back into tropical Australia so even though it is the winter over here the temperatures are quite nice (low-mid 20's). Airlie Beach is the gateway to the islands and is a strip of tourist booking shops, souvenir shops, hostels, cafes, restaurants and bars. It was a pretty happening place...lots of people everywhere. Especially also because it is just the end of the school holidays. There is a lagoon area overlooking the ocean (a great place to swim b/c of all the jelly fish in the ocean), although we didn't swim there.

The "typical" thing to do here is take a 3 day sailing trip around the islands. However, Bren and I opted for a day tour instead (just to save some $$$...). We had three stops during the day. The first was to the Hill Inlet Lookout where we got an amazing view of the white, white sands and turquoise waters.

Then we stopped at the famous Whitehaven Beach. We were watching a travel show one night about Australia's top beaches and Whitehaven was Number 1...how could we miss Australia's best beach!! It was amazing....9km long, finest sand and clearest water. We spent just over an hour lazing on the beach. And then lunch and off to snorkel at Border Island....fringing reef area.

The morning we left Airlie we went to the Saturday markets on the Esplanade. Neat stalls with crafts, fresh produce, touristy things (pictures, postcards...all that stuff) and live music. So it was a nice way to start off the day. We drove pretty well all day (10am-4pm) to Mission Beach which was much smaller with only a few cafes and bars...but nice beach area. Bren took this picture of the palm tree last night with our new tripod!

We are now in Cairns for the next week and 2 days. Bren is looking to do a Dive certification course and I will maybe pick up some temporary work, or volunteer in a school or just relax....haven't decided yet!