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17/03/06 - 20/03/06 -
AIRLIE BEACH
We arrived at Airlie Beach on Friday evening, St Paddy's Day. The first thing we did was book a package for the Whitsundays and Fraser Island which is further down the coasts. The Whitsundays are some beautiful islands off the coast of Airlie Beach that we'll go sailing round in a huge Pirates of the Caribbean style boat for 3 days/2 nights. Our boat would leave Sunday morning.
That night we went out for St Paddy's but it wasn't that great because everyone in town was far too drunk for their own good.
The next day we went to sort out our tickets for the Whitsundays and it was then that we found out about the cyclone that was coming. This meant our trip was postponed (and eventually cancelled!). The next Oz Experience bus out of there was on Tuesday morning so we had 3 days to kill. Airlie Beach is a tiny little tourist town and the ONLY thing to do there is sail the Whitsundays. So what does everyone do in a town where the only thing to do is cancelled? They drink. A lot.
We weren't allowed to drink in our rooms at the hostel but we decided to stick it to the man and fight the system by drinking in John and Hannah's room. Word got around and before you knew it there were 40 people drinking in an 8 person room! We called it the Cyclone Party 2006 (bare in mind we were very drunk).
The only other thing I did in Airlie Beach was buy an acoustic guitar. I was planning to get one in New Zealand but after seeing a few guys play in bars I was dying to get one. Plus I had the money refunded from my Whitsundays ticket to use. I never expected to find one in Airlie Beach but I looked in a CD shop (just as a long shot) in case they had one. They had three! One of them cost $180, I had a strum and it sounded good. They also had a good case for $35. The guy in the shop sold them both to me for $200! That's 88 pounds for a decent guitar and case, plus he gave me a couple of plecs! Bargain.
It was a shame missing out on the Whitsundays but I'm trying to prioritise the things to do on this trip with things you've got to do when you're (if you like) young, free and single. I figured the Whitsundays is something you can do when you're older, so I wasn't that disappointed. Plus we were lucky with the cyclone because it had completely flattened Mission Beach and Magnetic Island where I had only been a couple of days ago!
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