Airlie Beach

We arrived in Airlie bright and early after yet another lengthy overnight bus ride. We had high hopes for the little town seeing as we were both running out of money and had heard that job prospects where pretty good. Well whoever told us that was lying through their teeth. After papering the main drag with resumes we had only heard back from a travel company which would only reimburse us with travel dollars. Which are as good as monopoly money. We figured we had to move on pretty quickly, but not without having some fun first!

A friend of ours from Winnipeg had been au pairing in Airlie since September and was eager to meet up with us before we left. Tricia had grown up with Sabrina and she and I had gone through elementary school together. Ironically it was both girls birthdays the week we landed in Airlie. Tricia took us out on the town and we celebrated Sabrinas champagne birthday with some bubbly. The night was lots of fun and it was great to see another familiar face.

Its stinger season until the end of April in northern Queensland, so swimming in the ocean is pretty much out of the question. Luckily Airlie has a lovely little lagoon that we hung out at while the sun was out. From there we could watch the big sailboats coming in from the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately we had to leave Airlie before we had a chance to get on a boat and go for a trip around the Islands it would have been amazing. Whitehaven beach has the whitest sand of any beach in the world making the Whitsundays world famous. I figure because I missed out this time it just means that I'll have to come back and see them on another trip!

Airlie was hit pretty badly by a cyclone in March. Nobody was seriously injured but there is still some debris lying around from boats that had been washed ashore during the storm.

A Rainy Island

Fraser Island was our next stop. The trip out to the giant sandbar lasted three days and was an adventure to say the least. Much to our relief we got to leave our giant packs at our hostel in Hervey Bay. Armed with only our small backpacks, we headed to our early morning (6:30 am) meeting on the day of departure. Before heading to the ferry there were some things that needed to be taken care of. Mainly shopping for essentials like groceries and alcohol. Also everyone who was over twenty two and had a drivers license had to get briefed about driving on the island. That left Sabrina and I as passengers and the group shoppers. With a lengthy list and $160 in our pockets, we headed to the store with the non-drivers from the other six groups also heading to Fraser. The experience was a cross between bumper carts and an episode of Dinner Impossible, the nice old store clerk even offered each of us a banana to fuel our frantic shopping.  

Back to the group and we rushed to pack the 4WD truck before racing to catch the eleven o'clock ferry over to the island. Our group was made up of six other people hailing from all over the world. Of the two guys in our group one was from Switzerland, and the other from England, three of the girls were from Denmark, and one was from Germany. The ice was broken pretty quickly as we hopped off the ferry and started making our way to Central Station along the sand roads. We all got thrown around in the back of the truck  for a solid hour before reaching our first destination. The Station had a short but beautiful walking path through the surrounding forest. Seeing trees sprouting from the sand is the strangest thing. The forest floor also had a stream running through it that was so clear you had to take a second look before actually seeing it.

 

Our next stop was Lake Wabby. The water hole was a forty five minute trek through more forest and over a desert of giant sand dunes. The walk became pretty stressful thanks to Sabrina's new found fear of spiders. But I have to say I was definitely getting shivers from the monsters lining the path. So after six or so panic attacks we made in to the beautiful emerald lake at the base of a very steep dune. The water was warm and clear enough to see catfish swimming lazily near the shore. A few unsuccessful attempts where made to catch one bare handed.

We then headed to the Maheno shipwreck. The carcass of an old Chinese oil tanker has been rusting on the beach for years, and the constant battering from wind and waves have created giant holes in the ships remaining frame. We snapped a bunch of pictures before heading to Eli creek which was our last stop of the day and our first sighting of a dingo! The creek was another clear freshwater estuary that ran through the forest and spilled out onto the beach. As we were walking along the boardwalk a dingo sauntered passed us in the opposite direction. It looked at us with little more interest than if we had been just another tree. We got warned in our briefing that the Dingoes on the island can be vicious and not to approach them especially not with food. But the animal looks so much like a regular dog that its hard to be very precautions.

And with that we were off to find our campsite and set up before the sun set. The site was owned by aboriginals that live in the area and was very well accommodated with flushing toilets and a large eating area. In our briefing we also learned some ways to respect the aboriginal beliefs and traditions, some of these being no whistling after dark and to never spit on a fire. With that in mind we cooked up a delicious meal and proceeded to party the night away.

The next day we headed to Indian Heads to see if we could spot any tiger sharks feeding which is a regular occurrence near the headland. The water was really choppy so we didn't see anything but the views of the island from there were breathtaking. The next stop was the Champagne Pools a short walk down the beach. As we were walking I kept looking back at the quickly darkening sky behind us. Within minutes a vicious swell had come off the water and we were soaked within seconds. We were twenty minutes from the truck but having my camera and other valuables with me I was worried that we wouldn't make it to the pools. Half of us headed back to the truck to take cover and assess the damage. Everything of mine was fine but Sabrina's passport got absolutely soaked. We decided to head back to camp early to dry out and nap seeing as there was a lack of sleep the night before.

The next morning was another early one. We had to make it on to the beach before the tide came in so we could make it to the two lakes we had on the itinerary for the day. The first was a serene strip of white sand beach on the edge of bright blue water. The sun was finally visible after a gloomy morning but the weather wasn't finished yet. Five minutes after getting into the bikini it clouded over and started to rain again. We gave up and headed for the famous Lake Mackenzie. Another hour on the bumpy as inland tracks and we found the lake with little problem. It was a lot busier here judging by the parking lot. Once we stepped out of the bush we could see why it was so popular. The sun was again shining and the sugar coloured sand was blinding in contrast with the deep turquoise of the water. From the beach a steep drop off was visible about 15 meters out. We spent the remainder of the day laying on the beach and swimming in the crystal clear freshwater lake. Being able to see my feet from the surface while treading water is an understated example of just how clear the water is.

We jumped on the ferry and made our way back to the hostel on the mainland. Dirty, tired and hungry we unpacked then made a mad dash for the showers. We had a couple hours to chill out with our Fraser family before getting on our overnight bus to Airlie Beach. It was sad to leave but the trip was a big highlight in the coast so far.