Laters Airlie beach

The following day were going going t do some island hopping of our own. There is a ferry service that runs between the closer islands, however the weather and sea reports were not good, so instead we spent the day in Airlie and the afternoon relaxing by the lagoon.  The best view of the sea and Whitsunday Islands from Airlie Beach, has to be from the Airlie beach Sailing club grounds. We sat on a rock wall looking out to sea and we saw a stingray and a sea turtle swim by, amazing!

Saturday was our departure day from Airlie, but our train wasn’t until 8pm. The apartment owners were kind enough to store our luggage for us and arranged our shuttle bus to railway station. So we had a luggage free day. However if you are stuck with your luggage there are large lockers in Airlie beach  where you can store your luggage for a fee. 

Back home we have pigeons sitting on telephone wires, in Airlie beach they have cockatoos! 

A local market takes place on a Saturday morning selling local produce amongst other things. There was a stall there full of amazing shells, if I’d been able to carry them I would have bought loads.

Whilst we were staying in Townsville my friend had recommended ‘Cold Rock’ ice cream parlor. If you’re a keen reader of the blog you will know that me and Jamie love ice cream, and have eaten a lot of it, so when we recommend an ice cream parlor it is good! Just so happens that there was a cold rock in Airlie beach! So you pick whatever flavours of ice cream you would like, and then pick from a variety of toppings/ chocolates / sweets to mix in.

I recommend white chocolate ice cream with fudge and peanut m&m’s – Nom nom nom!

 Whilst we were waiting for the bus to the station there was the most beautiful sunset, and a huge moon, a fitting end to our stay at the beautiful Airlie Beach.

And so it was back to Proserpine and the 12 hour train journey through the night to Bundaberg. 


All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

So the suns back .......

After a week of torrential rain and thunderstorms, Cairns had more 154.22m of rain in around 2 hours on the evening of Sunday 18th March as shown below in the local newspaper.

An underground carpark was flooded and was having to drain the water out as shown in the photographs above. 

Although we were lucky as this was really the worst that we saw, on the local news it was documented that the local highway into Cairns was closed due to the flooding..... good job we dont want to leave just yet. 

The rain was so intense we hardly slept at all, I have never seen rain like it. But after chatting to staff at the place that we are staying we are lucky that Cairns didnt a cyclone scare like they did last year with cyclone Yasi. However the Cyclone Plan is still in place on the wall, Scary stuff!! 

                            

   

The harbour front during a dry spell, when it was raining heavily, with the oppressive clouds looming over the mountains. Below you can see how different it looks when the sun is shining! 

I think that what we have taken from experiencing the wet season in the tropical North is that wherever you are in the world, when it rains, it sucks!! 

HOWEVER... the wet season is coming to an end and I am pleased to announce that the sun has now come out and appears to be staying out! Bring on the sunburn! haha. 

The sun has been out for the last few days now so we have had time to enjoy the local town and the lagoon (as Cairns doesnt have a beach, a sea water lagoon pool instead)  So heres a few snapshots of the seafront and the harbour front 

    

      

      

1 of the many free bbq stations on the seafront 

Now the sun is out we have amazing sunsets, check these out....

     

     

Thats it for now as the fillet steaks ready, speak soon =) 

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell