Airlie Beach

We thought we would splurge on accomodation at Airlie Beach.  We went to the Big4 Whitsundays, a very pretty and well established caravan park.  We had bribed the kids for the three hour drive that there would be lots to do and there certainly was.  We spent five days swimming in the pool (with two waterslides), playing mini golf, jumping pillow and playing tennis.  There was even an outdoor movie.  You can imagine how excited our kids were.  They started running all morning and didn't stop all day.  Needless to say, they slept well at night! I should mention that school term had finished and we actually were on school holidays.
We had a bit of a look around Airlie Beach.  A pretty scenic area, especially as you drive in but it is so over commercialised.  I would love to have been here thirty years ago before it was taken over by back packers.  The main street of Airlie  is either tourist info centres, takeaway shops or surf shops, about a trillion of each!!!  Apparently there's a new name for backpackers, those who travel with money, they are called 'flashpackers', they stay in cheap hostels but spend the day jetskiing and the nights drinking their or their parents money away.  Now I may sound a little jaded but I really am kinda jealous!!  Plus I had a few chuckles listening to quite a few of their conversations!!
Airlie has a free lagoon swimming area and nice playground.  We went for a walk around to the marina along the waters edge.  The craziest thing about Airlie Beach is that it doesn't have a decent beach, not sure how it got its name?  We planned to take the kids on a day trip out to the islands and to the reef but of course mother nature had other ideas.  It was really windy and 3 metre swells, not exactly snorkelling weather.  Another time maybe.

Out for lunch on fathers day.

We meet some nice people at Airlie Beach and generally spent 5 days relaxing and enjoying ourselves, oh life is truly hard!  Next stop Townsville, pretty excited mum and dad are coming from Tassie to visit.