Airlie Beach and the nightlife!

Friday 21^st July

So here we were driving to Airlie Beach and the (in) famous Whitsunday sailing tours. The drive was very pleasant, the turn off to Airlie about an hour from Proserpine where I’d dropped the two girls off. The weather was a bit odd as we drove through a very severe storm about half a kilometre wide before breaking out into sunshine on the other side. The road wasn’t even wet and yet behind the van, receding as we drove away, was a local weather system where the rain was so heavy, you couldn’t see more than 10 metres through the windscreen. Bizarre!

The final run into Airlie is down a hill which overlooks the bay and as we came in, I noticed again a lot of roadwork’s and building going on – in this case, a new shopping centre complex and petrol station base being put down. There were also a few people driving around in what I discovered are called ‘mini-mokes’ and these look like little go-karts, or customised golf carts! They looked fun anyway.

Finding the YHA was pretty straight-forward although to my surprise they were very full. I managed to get a YHA card here though, which entitles you to $3 off the room fee – bonus! 15 nights and I’ve covered the cost of the card.

L-R: Romy, Mark and Angus

It was here that I met another Canadian, Angus, who I presumed knew others in the group but in fact had tagged along with Mark as they shared the room. Who cares anyway, as after discovering he’s not a Yank, all was well! Unfortunately for poor Angus, we were to cross paths, share beers and laugh at crap jokes from now until the end of Angus’ holiday, but for me, they were happy times spent in the Company of a top bloke – but more of that later – first, we had the beers to navigate.

It ended up being a massive night – 5am finish – but that’s what it’s all about right!

Konrad downing his 'winnings'!

Needless to say, the Saturday was a write off but I did meet Konrad from Cologne – another top lad – it’s amazing though just how many Germans are here!!

I WILL go and check out some Whitsunday sailing trips Sunday, HONEST!!

Sunday 23rd July

The day started off well, healthy brekkie and a positive attitude towards getting a trip sorted but then I met Angus…. (Who’s no stranger to a glass or two of beer…!) And we decided that a pizza was in order, especially as it was on a 2-4-1 offer at the boozer….. Which was inevitably accompanied by a beer….. And so the Sunday sesh started! That said, I haven’t had a Sunday sesh in a long time so it was much needed and long overdue! The advantage of having to break from a boozing session to do something is that usually the ‘something’ gets done pretty quickly and in my case, this is what happened! I booked a trip to the Whitsunday’s on Eureka II for 2 days/2 nights, leaving Tuesday 25^th July and within 30 minutes was getting the round in back at the boozer! Efficiency or what! The day was a corker and went on into the night and having just booked a trip – I reckoned I deserved it!

Another inevitable Irish bar - with the gang!!

We were joined later by the rest of the gang and whiled away the evening listening to a guy who was jamming up on stage – he was actually excellent. We also fitted in a few games of ‘shithead’, with the winner taking a penalty of a shot – as I was already well puddled, I didn’t need the help anyway!

Managing to last until 1am was quite an achievement I thought, although Angus saw me off! I can remember when I was almost always the last man standing but I guess the time has come to hand over the crown!