After Sarah and I took (intentionally) cold showers after our hike up Castle Hill, we had a relatively short drive to Airlie Beach. Sarah volunteered to drive though, so this would be her first experience driving on the “wrong side of the road.” Despite some initial nervousness, she did great and we made it to Airlie beach in just over three hours.
We were both pretty hungry for lunch by the time we arrived so we found a parking spot in town and grabbed a quick lunch at Jane’s Café. Jane herself was there to greet us and make my sandwich and Sarah’s salad – both were delicious, just what we were in the mood for! After lunch we checked into our hotel and, due to the rainy weather, we headed to another café in town to spend a few hours sorting out all our Great Barrier Reef photos and catching up on the blog. Sarah also did a little shopping, naturally.
The weather got worse as the evening progressed so we decided to just head back to our hotel, order a pizza and relax. It’s hard to motivate to do much else when it’s pouring rain outside!
Fortunately when we woke up today the weather was looking more promising. The sky was still overcast but all signs were pointing to sunshine in a few hours. We started the day by strolling around the weekly market in town, which was a little disappointing (heavy on generic trinkets). Then Sarah took me into the shops she had scouted out yesterday – we both needed a few more summertime items so it was a productive way to spend the morning.
We drove to the Fat Frog Café for lunch just as the last of the clouds burned off – it had really turned into a beautiful day! Once we finished our delicious lunches (Sarah swears she had the best coconut water she's ever had) we snapped a few pictures of the view and headed to Cedar Creek Falls for some fresh water swimming.
Cannonvale Beach, just across the street from the Fat Frog. That sailboat looks like it's listing pretty hard to one side...
We were told by many locals that the Falls would be “Awesome, mate!” due to all the rain yesterday. Well, we weren’t that impressed. It was nice to cool off in the water, but there was no waterfall…
Even with all the rain last night, no waterfall for us today. Oh well!
Once we had cooled off in the water, we headed back into town to see some of Airlie’s beaches. We ended up settling at The Lagoon – which was sort of like a public pool (very similar to the lagoon in Cairns). We spent a few hours relaxing by the water and enjoying the views.
Perfect afternoon to spend by the water.
Feeling a little restless, we decided to end the day with a walk along Airlie’s waterfront boardwalk. The boardwalk was only completed a couple years ago and it shows – it was immaculately maintained and offered some awesome sunset views!
Walking along the boardwalk.
Sunset on the marina.
We finished the walk right around dusk and headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up before dinner. We ate at Capers, right on the main drag in Airlie. Great atmosphere and we both really liked our food – worth a stop if you’re passing through Airlie. Tomorrow we have our big tour booked to see Whitehaven Beach so hopefully the weather is as nice as it was today!