Whitsundays – Oh! You Pretty Things
Initially, I wasn’t sure if we would make it up the coast of Queensland as far as the Whitsundays but, knowing how much I wanted to go there, Andy persuaded me it was possible, provided we drove for two days straight at the end of our trip. It would only give us a taster, something to come back and explore on the next trip to Australia, but I was really glad to go.
It was quite a drive up from Rockhampton to Airlie Beach so, after kick-out time from the campsite of 10am, we stopped in Rockhampton for a fortifying breakfast and a “spot the mullet” competition. Not that it was a competition, really, “spot the non-mullet” would have been more apt.
We mosied our way up the coast, singing our heads off to all our favourites (those same songs again, plus a few other star turns – the Punkrocker song got a few outings), and marvelling at the long, long stretches of road where you don’t see another vehicle for the longest time. You really get the sense of the sheer size of the country then, and can only imagine what it must be like to head either inland or further round the coast to the more remote areas. There were a couple of times when we cheered with relief at the sight of a petrol station.
We had planned to stop for lunch in Mackay, the largest town (well, technically it’s a city) between Rockhampton and Airlie Beach, but driving into town, we got a bit spooked. There was nobody about. Nobody. And this was mid-afternoon on a Saturday. The streets were deserted. Everything was shut. Honestly, it was like there’d been some kind of evacuation. It was a little bit American Warewolf in London for our liking – there might be life on Mars, but is there life in Mackay? Definitely not. Not feeling any love from Mackay, we hopped back into the Bowiemobile and headed back up the highway, stopping instead at MacDonalds. Needs must.
The weather came out in force to greet us to the Whitsundays. Rain, that is, and fog, and mist. I was on the last shift driving that day, and my windscreen wipers were working overtime. Never mind, we had made it. The end of the road. We settled in to our camp site, and headed out to a restaurant for the most delicious meal, lamb rubbed with Indian spices and served with roasted veg and mash. We were both still dreaming about it the next day. We went out to sample the nightlife of Airlie Beach and, after a couple of false starts, found a great bar, Paddy Shenanigans, playing our favourite tunes and, yet again, showed the people of Airlie Beach how we dance it up in the UK.
Even though our time in the Whitsundays were short, we wanted to see a bit more of them, and so went on a trip the next day to Long Island, the nearest and most accessible island to Airlie Beach. We were dropped off at a plush resort so, feeling a bit out of place, went for a wander to see more of an island. This idea soon went to seed, however, when we heard some strange noises, looked up, and saw the trees above us and round us were covered, literally covered, in the biggest bats I have ever seen in my life.
This was exceedingly freaky, and we soon did a sharp about-turn and headed back to the plush resort. We spent the day lounging around there, day-dreaming, watching the sea, and being amused by the kangaroos hopping around. It was an idyllic day, and it was lovely for once to be warm enough to be in a vest and shorts.
We tried to get more of the lamb that night but, alas, alas, the restaurant was closed. Still, we lived it up again, Whitsundays stylee, putting off the inevitable when we would have to turn round and set off for Brisbane the next morning.
Tags: Australia, Travel
Suzanne
Dwi’n caru ti suzanne x
That set of whitsunday photos are epic.