Auf nach Airlie Beach!

As I wrote in the last entry, we set off in a southerly direction from Balgal Beach on Sunday. After a short stop at the library in Townsville, we continued in the afternoon. We actually wanted to go to Bowen and sleep there at a campground recommended by tomato colleagues, which only costs $5 per person. Unfortunately, we didn't make it there because it was already quite dark and we didn't dare to continue driving. So we stopped at a rest area to go to the toilet and when we realized that you can also stay overnight there, we decided to stay. The rest area wasn't particularly nice, but it was okay, and the funny thing was that we had already stopped at this rest area three times without consciously looking for it on Wikicamps or anywhere else :D

In the evening we had delicious "Frankfurts" with garlic bread. Something different and very good. The next day we continued after breakfast. We drove into Bowen and wanted to snorkel again. We went to the visitor information and got information about the jellyfish danger. They said that you can also rent stinger suits at Horseshoe Bay. So we drove there because Horseshoe Bay is the most protected and best bay for snorkeling anyway. In addition, it was low tide and you can see the reef better. In the end, we didn't rent a stinger suit because it would have cost $20. You could have bought one for $40. But the suits just look really stupid because they are made of a transparent black fabric like ladies' tights. And then you wear it all over your body :D The woman at the rental said that as a child she always wore tights or other long-sleeved clothes because stinger suits hadn't been invented yet. Besides, it's much cheaper than buying a suit. But we thought that we can do without it now and went into the water anyway.

And the snorkeling was soooooo amazing!!! The last few times we were at Horseshoe Bay, the wind was always quite strong and the waves were high. But this time the sea was very calm and we could see so many fish underwater! From quite big ones to small ones swimming in huge schools. Everywhere we could discover new fish and we even saw a black-tipped reef shark swimming there between the rocks and once around me. Sooo cool. There were also really beautiful corals. I didn't expect that, so close to the shore. We were in the water for ages and absorbed the whole underwater landscape. But at some point it got a bit cold and we got out.

In Bowen we also went to a lookout, the Flagstaff Hill, and from there we had a great view of the sea and the islands in front of the city. There was also a tree with flowers that attracted hundreds of butterflies. Really, there were butterflies like flies in the outback!! Super cool. Later, at a rest area near Bowen, we also saw so many butterflies. It looked like small yellow leaves swirling through the air in autumn, but it was all butterflies. Very beautiful.

From Bowen we drove directly to Airlie Beach. The small tourist town that practically consists only of backpackers and is the starting point for sailing tours to the Whitsunday Islands. There we first made our way to the visitor information and got information about tours. At the moment there don't seem to be many spontaneous opportunities to go somewhere because it's "backpacker season" and everything is quite booked out. It's the main season from September to December. We hoped that by booking spontaneously we could fill up some places and save some money. After the first round of information, we went to Backpacker World Travel, where we had already booked the Great Barrier Reef tour. They recommended another boat to us and actually could make a good price for the next trip on Thursday because there were only 2 places left. Because everything sounded good, we booked the tour and now we're going on a 2-day-2-night tour on a sailboat tomorrow. Wuhuuu! We paid exactly $400 per person for that and now our earnings from the tomatoes are finally used up :D

After the successful afternoon, we looked for a campground and now we're at the Airlie Beach Cove Resort, where you stay for 3 nights and only pay for 2. The offer was perfect for us because we had 3 nights left until our ship departs. On Tuesday we didn't do anything except laundry, shopping and chilling by the pool. It was nice too.

Today we drove towards Shute Harbour in the morning, a small town south of Airlie Beach, and did a 3.4 km walk in Conway Conservation Park. It led through a forest to Coral Beach and then continued to a lookout point. The lookout was a bit disappointing, but the beach was all the more impressive because it consists entirely of stones and corals. Tons of dead corals and stones were piled up there due to cyclones, so that's how you find the beach today. It looks really unusual. The walk through the forest was quite nice, even though we kept running into spider webs all the time.

At noon we made chicken schnitzel at the campground. The evening before we had a mega delicious meal of grilled chicken skewers, a barramundi fillet, mixed seafood for Andi, garlic baguette and free lemon parsley butter from the fish counter. We have discovered the meat and fish counter for ourselves because it's not more expensive (sometimes even cheaper) than the packaged shelf and we can buy exactly as much as we need. Perfect for people without long-term storage options for cooling things :D

In the afternoon we went back to the pool and used the cool slide there. It's really short, but you still go really fast and sliding down there was just sooo much fun. We slid down in the most impossible positions, almost flew off and made funny videos of it. That was great :D

Afterwards we had to go into town again to check in for our tour tomorrow and also took a look at the promenade of Airlie Beach and the lagoon. Really pretty everything!

Now it's evening and we're full of anticipation for tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be as great as it is described everywhere! But actually you don't have to worry, after all, it's the Whitsundays :D I'll write again when the tour is over and hopefully I can only rave about it :)