Airlie Beach is a small, one street town of 5000 souls, 685 miles north of Brisbane and 368 miles south of Cairns, with not much between on either side. It is, however, quite a tourist town for one reason, and one reason only. Airlie Beach has the good fortune to be an excellent gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, and tour boats are kept busy shuttling snorkelers back and forth to see the magnificent coral and the sea life it hosts.
That being said, and I don’t mean to be unduly harsh here, there’s no reason that I can think of to visit Airlie Beach except to see the Reef, and there’s no reason to see the reef unless the weather cooperates. Even swimming at Airlie Beach is limited to a couple small screened areas, because the ocean waters here are infested with crocodiles and “stingers,” tiny dime-sized jellyfish, that can make one’s day memorable in the wrong way.
So why did we stop here? Why, to see the reef, of course. Unfortunately, the weather was not especially cooperative due to rough seas, limiting access to the coral formations. It turns out that there’s an outer reef and an inner reef (who knew?), and all tours to the outer reef were canceled, leaving only excursions to the inner reef still on for the lucky passengers who had pre-booked them.
Michele was among those who were able to go out to the inner reef, and I won’t say much about it other than to pass along her report that the seas were pretty rough there too. I’m sure she’ll have more to say on her daily Facebook post, so be sure to check it out.
I, on the other hand, made one of those discretion-being-the-better-part-of-valor decisions and opted to go ashore on one of the port’s large tender boats. Once at the pier I hopped a bus for the forty minute ride to the town of Proserpine, where I spent the better part of an hour nosing around in the Proserpine Historical Museum.
I suppose if you’re a local resident and happen to be interested in local history, you might find the museum quite interesting. Alas, I’m not a local resident and have only a passing interest in the town’s history, so I made quick work of the exhibits. I’ll post some photos, as I don’t have much else to share with you today.
On the way back from Proserpine I hopped off the bus in Airlie Beach in order to walk down the six or eight blocks that make up the downtown business district. I mentioned earlier that Airlie Beach is a tourist town, and what there was of it was bustling, with the sidewalks, bars, restaurants, bars, pharmacies, bars, gift shops and a large liquor store all busy. I poked my head in a couple souvenir shops but mostly kept walking until I popped out the other end of the downtown, which ended quite abruptly, the way downtowns sometimes do in small towns.
I continued on down the road another quarter mile to a bus stop, where we had been told we could catch a shuttle bus back to the pier, which was a few more miles down the road. Perhaps we were given some incorrect information though, because the other cruise passenger and I at the bus stop watched forlornly as several cruise shuttles drove past us without stopping. Happily, after almost half an hour of this a kindly shuttle driver took pity on us and stopped in response to my frantic waving.
All’s well that ends well, though, and I am now back on the ship and looking forward to visiting Cairns tomorrow, where Michele and I have a most interesting tour booked. I’ll conclude by saying that we’re not looking at today as a negative. Michele got out to the reef and saw some coral, and I got to see some of rural Queensland. It’s all part of our big adventure, and another new experience on the far side of the world.
See you tomorrow after we get back from Cairns.
For a small town the museum in Proserpine was nicely done.
At the entrance there were volunteers who were happy to explain the exhibits to us. They had very thoughtfully put out a couple pitchers of water for us.
Old movie theater ticket booth.
Some of the exhibits were quite elaborate.
An old fire truck.
Telephone operator.
Miner.
Proserpine had a couple detailed exhibits honoring their citizens’ participation in the two World Wars.
And the Vietnam War.
An old bicycle.
World War Two era kitchen.
Another exhibit.
Lots to look at.
Cattle industry exhibit.
Sea turtle.
Sugar cane continues to be a big industry here.
This engine was used for years to haul sugar cane.
On our way out and back we passed miles and miles of sugar cane.
Because of its proximity to the reef, a lot of people keep their boats at Airlie Beach.
You can only swim inside the white net, which keeps out the tiny jellyfish and usually the crocodiles.
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