We’ve spent the last 2 days having a look around Airlie Beach and the surrounds. Unfortunately our yachting trip on the Great Barrier Reef was cancelled yesterday which was disappointing but the good news is we get to do it on Friday. Fingers crossed for good weather as yesterday was a perfect day for cruising the reef and snorkeling.

Being school holidays at the moment in Queensland, means there are many people in the region, all the caravan parks seem to be full, although I’m not sure on the resorts and AirBNB’s.

When you think of Airlie Beach, you straight away think of a beach full of white sand that you can swim from, well its not quite the case. There is one “beach” at Airlie Beach that is close but the tide is out for most of the day, so swimming is difficult. Fortunately there is the Airlie Beach Lagoon, basically I giant pool right beside the sea and just of the Main Street. We had a quick dip yesterday, all be it late in the day but it was good fun. I like it because there is no sand, if beaches didn’t have sand I would be there all the time!

Today we ventured to Proserpine, about 30 k’s inland from Airlie Beach, basically a Sugarcane town. Then to Conway & Wilson Beaches, both disappointing as the tides were so far out and they are frequented by Crocs. Cedar Creek Falls wasn’t bad but the falls had no water and we decided not to have a swim. So it was then off to find somewhere for lunch!

Fortunately we ended up on the northern side of Airlie Beach, known as the Northerlies, at a restaurant and a good decision that turned out to be. It was a great setting, looking back across the water to Airlie Beach. We had a very nice lunch and then spent some time having a drink on the beach looking out over Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. A very pleasant afternoon, topped off by Cold Rock ice cream on the way home. “Retirement, beautiful one day, perfect the next”!