No tags yet.
We left Alligator Creek just outside of Mackay for our next stop at Airlie Beach, I had booked ahead at a caravan park, The Island Gateway Holiday Park, for four nights but we were happy to extend this if we thought we wanted to. This park is 4 minutes outside of Airlie Beach and it was the closest one I could find. We last visited here when our eldest son was married on Daydream Island, probably 20+ years ago so we did notice how it had grown in that time. We drove to the park and found our spot that looked a little bit awkward to back into because of the cars all around, thankfully people popped out of the woodwork to move their cars to give us more turning room to back in. As it was we managed to back straight into the spot once we had the room to move. It doesn't take us long to set up, we have the whole process down pat now and I had prepared our lunch the day before so it wasn't long until we were sitting outside to eat. After lunch we thought we would drive to the closest information centre to find out what our options were for the next few days and also this was going to determine how long we stayed. We entered the Information Centre in the GPS but unfortunately it wasn't where we were directed so we drove from here into town to see if we could find what we needed there. We parked in the main street and hopped out of the car and looked each way up and down and found there were heaps of booking agents (Information Centres), we walked into the closest one and had a lovely guy by the name of Chris help us. Our first priority was to find a fishing charter for Robb because this is the hardest challenge we have ever had. A couple of years ago we drove up and down the three peninsulas off the South Australian Coast without having any luck finding a charter and some of these towns where the fishing capitals of Australia. Chris phoned the fishing charter that he recommended and true to form they hadn't had enough interest in them but would call us back if they had enough numbers to go out, we don't expect to hear from them. We walked over the road to take a look at Airlie beach and then walked back to Magnum's bar for a beer where we had a bit of a chat with a couple of people there before walking back to the booking agent and booking a sunset tour tomorrow night. From here we drove back to our van and it was nearly 4.00pm and each afternoon at this time they feed the birds at a particular part of the park so we walked up there to see the birds coming in to be fed. Both Robb and I took some of the food when offered and held our arms out and it wasn't long until we had birds coming from everywhere to feed from our hands, we both loved this experience and will return another night to take part. From here we returned to the van where I wanted to catch up on photos.
We both had a terrible night's sleep because once again we had been attacked by sandflies, we will find a chemist today to buy anti histamines to help with the itch. On recommendation from a friend we visited while in Mackay we took a trip today to Dingo Beach to have a look around, there isn't much there apart from a bar and a general store but the beach was very pretty. We drove from here onto Cape Gloucester Resort, again on the recommendation of our friend in Mackay. The resort welcomes all guests so we walked through and down to the beach to have a look and then we walked back to the bistro and bar where we sat and had a beer overlooking the resort grounds. From here we drove back to camp stopping on the way at Harvey Norman for Robb to purchase a new plug for his iPad charger because the other one wasn't working and then onto the chemist to get something for these bites The chemist was very helpful and we came away with Phenergen, a cream for the itch and a spray to stop the little buggers attacking us in the first place.
We had booked a sunset cruise for this afternoon and we had to meet down on a marina which we had driven to yesterday to get our bearing to make it easier today. We had to be at the meeting point by 4.15pm and from there we were led down to the boat and found our seats around a table in the centre of the boat. Robb wasn't very uncomfortable here so we moved to the lounges at the side of the boat. A glass of champagne was part of the tour and we went to pick ours up from the bar. This was a very easy no commitment type of tour culminating in a beautiful sunset and spotting a turtle in the water. Nibbles were passed around once we were on our way and the three staff members on the tour were very accommodating. Robb and I both enjoyed this tour.
When we arrived home we both took a Phenergen before dinner for our itches and then we took two each before going to bed. Obviously this was too much because once again we both had a terrible nights sleep but this time we didn't have an itch but I had jumpy legs and got up to wee about 10 times in an hour and both of us were so dry we were drinking water all night. We will never do that again but thankfully our itches have eased off considerably.
After a horrible night's sleep we decided just to do a bit of exploring of the local area. We started with a drive to Prosperpine where I had read there were some interesting old buildings and there were just not a lot and nothing spectacular. There was a sign to Peter Faust Dam so we followed that and soon arrived and parked the car. We had a quick look around but unfortunately we couldn't access the dam wall. We drove from here to Cedar Creek Falls where we were very pleasantly surprised. The falls are quite high and the water pool at the bottom is quite big and it seems to be a popular swimming hole in the area, we didn't swim because the floor of the pool is all stones and I couldn't have walked out on them into the water. We left here and drove down to Conway beach which wasn't far away before returning home.
We both feel much better this morning although we are still battling our sand fly bites. We had our coffee at home this morning which gave me time to catch up on a bit of reading. We had a bit of a chat with one of our neighbours before packing up and driving to Shute Harbour. When we were last in the area Shute Harbour was the entry point to Airlie Beach from the outlying islands, and at the time we were staying on Daydream Island, I can remember landing here and catching a bus into Airlie Beach where we had a look around and had lunch overlooking the water. I think now a lot of the tours and ferries may leave from one of the marinas at Airlie Beach. There is a lot of work going on at Shute Harbour, it looks like they are pulling down all the old jetties and rebuilding them, the road is closed off down to the harbour itself so we drove around to the Lookout which has beautiful views over the harbour. From here we drove down to Conway National Park where we had a quick look around before driving back to Airlie Beach.
We had to go to Woolworths to pick up and few items and we had plenty of time so we drove them back home before going to lunch. We then went to find somewhere to eat, we drove around the back of the food precinct in Airlie Beach and found a parking spot which was close to the Airlie Beach Hotel so we decided to eat here. It is a huge complex with accommodation, restaurant, bar and pokies. The menu had a good selection of food and we chose three entrees and a chips dish that looked good. We couldn't finish everything but we did enjoy the meal. From here we drove back home where we planned just to relax for the afternoon. We will be moving onto Townsville tomorrow and catching up with our good friends there, we have an idea where we will stay and a rough idea of our itinerary while there but we are still trying to find a fishing charter for Robb, we will have to see how our stay pans out.
Comments