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Cruising Through the Whitsunday Islands
After
strolling around Airlie Beach for a while and trying not to ogle all the
beautiful, young women who had descended on this town at the beginning of Easter
weekend, I walked into the Tourist Information
center on the main street. Just about every town in Australia and New Zealand has a Tourist
Information place, marked with a huge letter "i," and they're a great
source of information for what to do in that area. They also make bookings
for free, they have tons of brochures, and if you don't have an AA motel guide,
which is a
must-have for every visitor to Australia, they're a good place to compare motel
rates.
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As you can imagine,
the Aussie group, The Little River Band, is pretty popular
here in Australia. I never saw the Little River, but I did
hear their music a lot on the radio. Here's Lady.
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Speaking
of motel rates, this is towards the end of "The Wet" (i.e., the summer
monsoon season) here in northeastern Australia, so it's still the
off-season. One nice thing about visiting during the The Wet is that motels often have so-called
"stand-by" rates that are sometimes as much as 60% less than the
standard "book rate," the rate you'd pay if you made a reservation. You can get a nice motel room
on the northeastern coast at this time of year for about US$35 a night, instead
of paying over twice that during the peak season, which lasts from May through
September.
I hadn't
done any scuba diving yet in the Great Barrier Reef, so I booked a scuba diving
trip the next morning. Unfortunately, when I got down to the dock the next
morning, I learned that the trip was cancelled, so I settled on an all-day
island-hopping trip through the beautiful Whitsundays. I've posted some
photos of my day-trip through the Whitsundays below. The Whitsunday
Islands are absolutely beautiful, and I'll definitely come back here the next time I visit Australia.
Above
left: Shute Harbor is on the northern coast,
just a few miles from
Airlie Beach. I hopped on a boat here
for a day-tour of the Whitsunday Islands and got a glimpse into the lifestyles
of the Rich and Famous.
Above
center: My first stop that day was on Long Island, the first of
three islands I visited.
Above
right: The Club Croc resort on Long Island.
Above
left: A palm tree. Duh.
Above
center: Sailing on Happy Bay (yes, that's really its name) at the Club Croc resort.
Above
right: After a few hours at Club Croc, I
headed over to South Molle Island, another resort in the Whitsunday Islands.
Here's the pier.
Above
left: The 9-hole golf course on South Molle. Of the three
resorts I visited this day, South Molle was my favorite. For "only"
US$150 a
night, you too can stay here.
Above
center: I kicked back here under a palm tree for an hour with
a cold drink...
Above
right: then
hopped on another water taxi....
Above
left: .. and headed over to Daydream Island. That's my
boat tied up to the dock.
Above
center: The swimming pool at Daydream Island. Daydream
Island was pretty hoity-toity and stuffy, so I didn't linger here too long.
Above
right: A tourist near Daydream Island died of jellyfish stings during the
previous week. Here's a stinger sign and a bottle of vinegar. Nope, I didn't go swimming.
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Left: Beachfront rooms on Daydream. Time to head back to
Airlie Beach. I had a great day cruising through the Whitsunday Islands...
and all for only $20. |
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Cruising Through the Whitsunday Islands
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