First I have to say that the state of the road, the dreaded Bruce, from Townsville to Airlie Beach, is much improved on previous years and made for a pleasant enough drive down the coast.
We were a bit apprehensive about going to Airlie Beach, it having copped a belting from Cyclone Debbie at Easter this year. We shouldn't have worried, the debris has largely been cleared away, the most substantial damage having been done to the vegetation, and some of the older, non-cyclone proof buildings.
The first surprise to us was that our caravan park, The Big4 Whitsunday Adventure at Cannonvale, just up the road from Airlie Beach, seemed a lot lighter and brighter than in previous years. They tell us that they carted away 300 trucks's worth of mulched vegetation.
Having been here heaps of times, we haven't been doing much in particular, and once again have resisted temptation to spend vast amounts of money to visit Whitehaven Beach and other sites.
Even though the pool is partially blocked off while they continue building a huge, massive waterslide park, its still a damn nice pool. It's heated, which is nice, and at 730 in the morning I have it mostly to myself so I'm getting some laps in and maybe getting a bit fitter. After a swim, it's time to go for a walk, and down by the marina is a pretty good start.
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| Old ocean buoy made to look like a martian / thing from the deep. Airlie Beach Qld |
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| Boardwalk from Abel point marina to Cannonvale Beach. Airlie Beach Qld |
One day, out of idle curiosity we took a drive down to Mackay, mostly to check out the caravan park at Black's Beach, which we have heard people go on about. Personally I didn't think it was up to much, but if you could get in, would be OK for a day or two. The beach itself is about the norm for up here, its basically a tidal mud flat.
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| Blacks Beach. Mackay Qld |
We took a detour on the way down via Midge Point, where the beach show all the signs of the cyclone damage.
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| Midge Point Beach. Midge Point Qld |
Race (yachts) week is on here in town and the sailors have taken over all the coffee shops etc. so we ended up at the next marina, the Port of Airlie, where we had a very pleasant lunch at the Coffee Club with a pretty fair view
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| Port of Airlie marina. Airlie Beach Qld |
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| The Seaview apartments, where we stayed in 1994. They are right across the road from the marina, which was just a mud-flat and mangrove swamp back then. Airlie Beach Qld |
The weather continues to be hot and dry, so we usually find ourselves a spot at the pool in our park and veg out for most of the day
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| JB testing the water at the Big4 pool. Note the waterslide park being built behind. Cannonvale Qld |
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Me doing 'not much'. Cannonvale Qld
Today the wind has picked up and pool-veging isn't really on. We decided to drive up the coast and check out Bowen, about which we have heard plenty, but seen little. It's actually a bit of an eye opener and we may well stay there next time we come down this way. |
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| Horseshoe Bay. Bowen Qld |
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| Had to grab a snap of this full size combivan painted on the back of a motor-home. Horseshoe Bay. Bowen Qld |
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| Site of the WWII Catalina flying base. Bowen Qld |
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| Ruins of the cafe on top of Flagstaff Hill. Bowen Qld |
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Mont St Bowen? At low tide the thing to do is to walk out to North Head island and look at the old lighthouse. Bowen Qld
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