Airlie Beach

Good evening everyone,

We spent a little time in Mackay and headed off to see some platypuses in the Eungella national park. Luckily our van, Pinky, just about made it up the mountain ranges and we did see one platypus (we think - could have been a turtle), before we got lost heading back for the hotel... but we did eventually make it, and the hot shower in the morning was still absolutely brilliant.

Stopped off at Cape Hillsborough - absolutely stunning. Rainforest comes down onto a deserted beach with white sands and clear waters. Unfortunately still the threat of poisonous jellyfish and we didn't have stinger suits, so couldn't cool off in the water, but it was absolutely beautiful. Very rare to find such a gorgeous beach like that - and practically deserted too! We stopped off at Seaforth to go swimming in the nets so safe from jellyfish... but unfortunately the tide was out and the nets are stationary. So no water in them. Oops.

We headed along and made it to Airlie Beach yesterday afternoon. It's not a great place, but nice enough. Basically one main road with loads of tourist offices for trips to the Whitsunday islands, internet cafes, restaurants, bars... but we actually paid for a campsite last night, and it was brilliant. Proper loos, hot showers (whenever we want them!) and somewhere to wash up our pots and pans... heaven. Lucky with the weather too...

Today we went to Cedar Falls - a beautiful couple of waterfalls into a turquoise pool of clear water in the middle of a forested area. Stunning, and small. Only a couple of people there - was gorgeous swimming in the water and generally relaxing before making our way back to Airlie...

Tomorrow we head off to see the Whitsunday Islands on Pegasus - a boat. We will be on the boat for 2 nights, so will return early Tuesday. Got a dive booked up for Thursday in Ayr, so will hopefully get a chance to check in sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday again. Don't worry if we're not in contact for a bit, we'll be busy snorkelling and diving on the Great Barrier reef... such a hard life! (Still got Oz phone on us though for emergencies or general happy text messages, but not sure about reception at sea...)

Anyways, loads of love to you all,
Alice xxx