Day 34 - Airlie Beach, Australia

Airlie Beach is a coastal locality in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Airlie Beach had a population of 1,208 people.

We had a coach tour to see sites, with just 2 stops. It sounded like a good way to see the small area of Airlie Beach and surrounding areas. It ended up being a little challenging. Once the large catamaran tender, that held 1K passengers, was almost full we headed toward shore. It became darker and darker with a huge downpour upon arrival. Anything not covered by a poncho or raincoat was soaked to the skin for the remainder of the day. The good news is it was not cold! Boarding our coach it was disappointing to find that the windows were so fogged up inside we could not see out. The poor driver was challenged having to wipe down his window constantly while driving. I felt bad for him, such a nice guy. On most of our tours the driver is also the tour guide. He did pass around paper towels to wipe down the windows so we had a brief minute or two to see out, between the streams of rain, before the window fogged up again. I might be making it sound worse than is was because despite all of this we had a good time. We saw sugar cane fields, some views of the bay from above, and even some wallaby's in a field. The driver and his great attitude and concern for us managed to make the tour still fun!

I may not of mentioned it before but we have been wanting to try an Australian Meat Pie, which we have heard much about. Now I suppose each country has their version: France and Canada have the tourtière, Mexico has the empanada, England has the Cornish pasty, India call them samosas, and Brazil has their pastel, and people in Latin America or Spain call them pastelillos or pastelitos. Whatever you call it, it is GOOD! The driver told us we could get one at the wharf terminal if they weren't sold out. We were overjoyed to find 4 different versions and we each bought 2 so we could try them all. Such an epicurean delight! Now I am speaking of rustic food that everyone enjoys from time to time. We were more than satisfied after that! 

Now it is time to board the "Longest Tender Ride" ever, 90 minutes!!! Little did we know what we were to experience when boarding. We seemed to start out alright but just a few minutes later we were turning toward the left and stalling. We sat there for some time bobbing around with no explanation. Soon people began to shout out asking what was going on. The innocent young man assisting at the steps, with poor English skills, managed to tell us that we had to wait for the large catamaran tender to pass so we could avoid the wake. I found that strange as the water was pretty calm and the catamaran doesn't leave much of a wake anyway. Ok, we wait. The catamaran passes and it seems we are still not moving other than floating toward rock banks at the edge of the harbor. Finally the engines start and we head toward the ship... but not for long, again we are turning left we barely made it past the bobbing green buoy... but we are dead in the water again. No explanation. There were many attempts to go, each ended in the same manner. There is a lot of chatter on the mic with the driver but no one knows what is going on. A few are disturbed and shouting out questions, a few are humorous and singing the theme from Gilligan's Island. I somewhat forget the order of things at this point but a big catamaran came and we thought we were transferring to that, but no. Next we saw in the distance another tender from the ship. Were they to rescue us? No, someone got on, talked with the pilot, did something, and we started going again. That tender was to follow us. It did but soon we were getting a signal to STOP. That was not communicated well to our pilot and finally some passengers shouted out to him to stop. We were never sure why we were supposed to stop. One of the passengers on our tender was communicating with her friend on the ship. She was told we looked like drunk driving weaving back and forth. Now this tender circled us for some time and then left. Now a small, fast, raft sort of boat was coming from the ship. This boat held just 2 people, with the obvious one in charge. He got on with a huge smile, which really did lower the possible anxiety some folks clearly had. He did several things, talked with our pilot, and told us we were all safe and we were heading back now. We did, but it was not an easy trip. This 3rd boat stuck with us, came onboard again, and eventually brought in a new driver that took us the rest of the way. So, it all turned out well since eventually we limped to safety! All that bobbing is hard on the tummy!

Sugar Cane Fields

Airlie Beach City Sign
Australian Meat Pies
Good Morning Airlie Beach Harbor
Wallaby's

Tender Ride Back

















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