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An Easter Weekend in Airlie Beach The next morning, my Camry and I left Ayr and continued heading south down Highway 1, bound for the like-sounding town of Airlie Beach. Driving in Australia is very different than driving in the U.S. because, among other things, most folks here don't drive faster than the posted speed limit, something I still haven't gotten used to. If the sign says 100 k.p.h. (62 miles an hour), just about everyone travels 90 to 100 k.p.h. and hardly anyone drives faster. Of course, back in the U.S., speed limits are more like "suggested" speeds and no one actually drives at the posted speed limit.
That difference isn't surprising, though, because Australians are generally more law-abiding than Americans and more considerate towards each other, one of many things I like about this country. The speed limit issue reflects something I've noticed here: a greater concern for the communal good as compared to the U.S., where most people are just out for themselves while showing little concern for their neighbor. It's one of many ways in which I wish American were more like Aussies.
This was the Thursday afternoon of Easter Weekend, which is a major four-day holiday in Australia. And when I say major, I mean MAJOR. Easter weekend in Australia is even bigger than Memorial Day or Labor Day weekend back in the U.S. If you've been reading my website, you know that the biggest problem I had in New Zealand was visiting during their two-month summer holiday season, when everyone and their grandmother was out on the highways. So with visions of that congested New Zealand experience dancing through my head, I was thankful to find a motel room that afternoon in Airlie Beach, which, as I learned, is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the entire country.
Although it is a bit touristy, Airlie Beach is a pretty nice place, something like a small version of Key West, Florida, given its tropical setting. There really isn't much of a beach here, however, and what little beach there is, you need to be careful of this time of year because of the "stingers," or deadly box jellyfish (see News: March 25, 2001). There's nothing like stepping on a box jellyfish to ruin your day. A guy here had stepped on one a few days earlier and died, and a week before that another tourist got stung by one and she died too. Yep, don't mess with stingers in northern Australia.
Airlie Beach is probably best known, though, for being the jumping-off point for a beautiful archipelago just offshore called the Whitsunday Islands, so-named by Captain James Cook back in the 1700s who sailed through them on Whitsunday (a religious holiday). Well, he THOUGHT it was Whitsunday, but because he had unknowingly crossed the International Date Line earlier in his trip, it was actually, um, Whitmonday. The Whitsundays are a beautiful group of islands, though, which I'll describe in more detail in my next update.
I unpacked at my motel room, then drove into Airlie Beach and walked around for about an hour. Like I say, it's really a great little town. Like Key West, Florida, it's a tropical town that's both a bit lively and a bit laid-back, and is drenched with lots of sun. What made it even nicer was that, for some reason, it was packed with hundreds of beautiful young women. I strolled down the main street while passing endless groups of tanned, bikini-clad vixens, feeling like I'd stepped onto another planet, especially after traveling across the estrogen-challenged Outback. After traveling across the desert for three weeks and seeing very few women there, I now realized where Australia was hiding all of them. But of course, I didn't stare. Right out of a Beach Boys song, there were literally "two girls for every boy" (actually three girls) here and it was that way all weekend, everywhere I went. But I'm not complaining.
Another thing that reminded me of Key West was the unfortunate abundance of kitschy t-shirt shops here. Well, no, there aren't QUITE as many here as in Key West, where just about every other shop on Duval Street has a big sign outside that screams "Three t-shirts for $10!!" But there are a lot of them.
I strolled into a t-shirt shop and chuckled at one of the shirts that was prominently displayed there, reflecting the risqué Australian sense of humor. The shirt featured a humorous comparison between women's chests and various kinds of fruits and had a dozen comical drawings of topless women with the name of the appropriate fruit underneath, such as "Watermelons," "Cherries" "Bananas," and so forth. I'm fairly modest and blushed a bit when I saw it, and would never wear something like that. But I thought my dad would get a laugh, so I bought it for him as a gag gift. He's pretty modest, too, and would never wear something like that, either, but I figured he might chuckle.
You probably wouldn't find a provocative t-shirt like that in any shop in the U.S., probably not even in Key West. But Australia, to be frank, and as I mentioned above, is a bit more sexist and less politically correct than the U.S. Some Americans might find that refreshing while others would find it unsettling, but like it or not, that's the way it is here.
While continuing my stroll through sunny downtown Airlie Beach, I popped into an Aboriginal shop, wandered past a hundred didgeridoos, and chatted with a cheerful guy there named Mick. After seeing me eye a didgeridoo, Mick suggested that I try to play it. He didn't need to twist my arm because I've been curious about didgeridoos ever since I saw "Crocodile Dundee." I'm not much of a musician, however, and proved it in my futile attempt to play one. The trick, as Mick told me, is to put your lips together and blow like you're blowing bubbles in water. Playing a didge is a lot harder than it looks, though. In fact, in my case, it was a didgeridon’t.
Above left: Unpacking in my motel room in Airlie Beach. Above right: After getting caught up with some e-mails in my room, I headed down to the beach.
Above left: Those darn stingers are everywhere. Above right: Palm trees on Airlie Beach. As I discovered (twice, in fact), this is a great place to eat fish and chips in the evening while watching the beautiful sunset.
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