Airlie Beach our home for the last 6 weeks

We have now been gypsies for seven weeks with no TV , private bathroom or lounge and it feels like home. I have nearly forgotten TV exists until the footy started this week and the radio was our newest way to enjoy it.

Arriving here the day after Australia Day seems like a lifetime ago we arrived to Airlie after leaving the infamous Barracrab park at Clareview just after lunchtime the colour of the water really does blow your mind driving up and over the hill into Airlie the view is priceless and everyday never ever gets old. We began inspecting the parks in town driving back and forward through town to decide on the best one for us. It came down to two parks quite quickly with the two big 4 parks with staggering water playgrounds not enticing us overflowing with kids running around as we drove past.

We finally decided on Island Gateway Holiday Park the closest to town and the most shaded which is very important up here. We set up shop and settled down to a tooheys or two and watched the sun go down behind the moutains surrounding the park.

Lyam began work that Monday and we decided we would set the swag up and sleep in that so Lyam could easily leave for work in the morning without reshuffling the bed set up with his tools etc. Come Monday morning I awoke covered and I mean covered in midgie bites in Lyam's own words " She looked like she had a full on disease ". I as usual google diagnosed and found toothpaste would stop the itching so here I was walking around camp to and from showers etc covered in toothpaste to the amusment of some backpackers as I walked past.

The next day I found heavy duty Bushmans spray and ensure dawn and dusk to lather myself in it and have only had the odd few here and there from here on out. And back to sleeping the in troopy it was!

Lyam settled in to work while I kept looking busing it in and out of town handing in resumes anywhere I could. Lyam's jobsite is so terrible he overlooks Airlie beach and literally steps from the sand and netted off beach which we go for a swim in after work a couple of times a week.

(Lyams job site)

Lyam finished his first week at work and we headed off exploring the area on a crazy windy day and found the hidden gems Conway & Wilsons beach about 35 min south of Airlie. two little literally beachfront towns with a handful of old boatie shacks lining the foreshore with barely a soul in sight. We have since returned to Wilsons Beach a few times after work to have our go at catching a Barra with no such luck yet much to Lyams dismay.

(awesome letterbox at Conway Beach)

(Life is like a tyreswing @ Conway Beach)

( Wilsons Beach )

Airlie Beach is a great town but it is also has many,many MANY pubs and a very efficient bus service that runs every half hour making it very easy to hop on a bus directly out the front of our park and head into town which can then quickly turn two beers into a pub crawl. We are slowly getting better at this we think anyway!

The weather has thrown us some good ones over the last 6 weeks we have now moved camp three times due to a whole week of pretty much straight rain which turned our camp into a mudslide with no option but to sit under the tarp play uno and drink beer until it died down. We also have had some site work going on in the park digging up our original first camp spot and all around the unpowered to turn into powered sites this has come with its challenges but also some perks as we are now the only ones in the unpowered as they have closed it off to any new people coming through so we pretty much have the whole back area of the park to ourselves so we can't really complain. we did however get a couple of weeks free to apoligise for having to move camps and the unforeseen time this work is going to take and now at our third and hopefully last camp spot we are ona concrete slab so no more ankle deep in sludge everytime you get out of bed!

Pearl Lyam's sister arrived a few weeks later staying with friends across town for the weekend and then came to join our camp for the following week. We joined her and her friends on a snorkel day tour to Whitehaven Beach. WHAT A DAY it was worth every penny from the boat to the staff to the stunning scenery and fish oh the fish!. we snorkelled at two spots both being amazing the second the staff threw ,fish pellets off the boat to where we were snorkelling with massive GT's , to other fricken huge fish the size of small sharks jumping up and all around you for the food this was an experience we will never forget. On arrival to Whitehaven Beach it was everything everyone had ever said and it deserves to be the second best beach in the world the sand originally is actuall clear quartz crushed over time which gives it the whiteness. The tour guide mentioned it was believed to give you youthfulness so a mini facial scrub while we sat in the water after lunch I had to do with a few funny looks.

( coming into Whitehaven )

(seaplane on Whitehaven)

A seaplane literally took off before our eyes a few metres from where we were sitting and on the way back to Airlie we stopped at a private resort on Long island where we could purchase beer and cocktails from the bar before heading back which was really hard to take!

While Lyam headed back to work I had some company with Pearl being here and she became my driving/ Tai Chi teacher as I am trying to learn manual so I to can drive Nelly. I made real progress she was a much more patient and gentle teacher than old mate Lyam and by the time she left I picked Lyam up from work all by myself which I was stoked about and to Lyams disbelief haha!

While Pearl was here I had an interview and got the job the same day so am pretty stoked to be back working and contributing towards our next leg. It covers everything from marine to hardware to tinting paint a very different environment but am learning so much and not needing a gym membership with the heavy lifting that comes with this paint tinting process!

Last weekend after my first week of work ended we headed to Dingo Beach & Hydeaway Beach about 40 north of Airlie as we had heard good ting realting to fishing and scenery. And what a spot! , we headed to Hydeway bay as we had heard the Cape Gloucester resort there had a bar on the waterfront and if you bought a drink you could use their beachfront pool! , The view was amazing and from there still a bit dusty from the night before out on the town in Airlie the though and effort of getting the boat off the roof into the water seemed too much so we decided to head back to Dingo Beach and have a beer at the pub there and what a spot we loved everything about it from the styrofoam stubby holders provided with every beer with a simple DBH written in permanent marker to the locals we ended up befriending and pulling our troopy up in front of one of their units as there was no camping in Dingo Beach and had wanred the rangers will be out early. A 50s and 60s band played away while Lyam for the first time in his life smashed me in pool not once but twice !

( from my seat at dingo beach hotel )

( View at Cape Gloucester resort )

( band @ DBH )

( the boat at dingo beach)

( My shell collection so far )

So we have been having a ball and learning something new everyday, We now know why the locals call it the "Wetsundays " and I have learnt how to go from third to fourth gear , While Lyam has learnt how much he can think,research,dream, talk daily/nightly about getting a bigger boat!

All in all we still are having pinch me moments and discovering the Whitsundays in our own step to step way. This is happening and this is our life of indefinite leave and we are learning and savouring every moment and will be back in a couple of weeks with our next instalment :)