Airlie Beach Islands

Now, a day on the islands. This mostly consists of getting on a boat which takes you around to a number of spots on several islands where you do different stuff.

And here's the boat.
Hook Island. There was some reasonable snorkelling, a couple of tubes sunk to the sea-bed with windows (not really worth the effort - the windows are tiny and you can't see very much through them) and a glass-bottom boat trip.
That's the jetty with the underwater viewing entrance.
I stayed on the island while Kim went off on the glass-bottom boat. Here's the proof that they didn't throw her to the fishies.
Next up, Whitsunday Island. This has one of the best beaches on the planet - if you're into that sort of thing - and, yes, it really is that white.
The beach attracts a lot of visitors.
There are also a number of different trips while you are there.
And there it is in all it's glory.
Thence to Daydream Island which has a proper resort with swimming pool and crazy golf. Woohoo.

Airlie Beach Diving

After our practice dive in Botany Bay a few weeks ago - specifically to test the new underwater camera - which I forgot - finally, we get to dive together.

How was it? Well, let's have a look at our respective log-book entries...

Kim:

As Steve and I slipped into the azure depths I could not help but ponder the millennia of polyp activity that went into the slow construction of this wonder of the world. The Damsel Fish and Yellow Tails scattered before us as we invaded their sacred territory as if to suggest that, while we were welcome for a while, soon, too soon, we must turn our backs on this cathedral of life and finally return to the world we evolved to make our own.

Look but don't touch. Wonder but don't take. Leave only bubbles.

Steve :

No lobbies. Crap dive.


Kim does the 'Fly, my pretties' thing.
Yeah, and she found something willy-shaped, too. I mean, really, there's no taking her anywhere.
Ooo, Giant Clam.
And lots of Yellow Tails which would probably cook up a treat if I could ever get hold of one.

Airlie Beach Outer Reef

After shopping around the town for a trip to the outer reef that included some diving, we went for one that took us out to a moored raft. This was pretty posh and very, very expensive. Although the trip was good, the value for money wasn't all that flash and there's better diving in Cairns. Next time I would probably wait 'till then. Anyhoo, there pics...

Shute Harbour and the Calypso (presumably a reference to Jacques Cousteau's boat) awaits.
Went out past a resort that put some mermaids on the rocks.
That's the view over the pointy end.
Kim chills out at the blunt end.
As do I.
That's the destination, a raft (semi-?)permanently moored on the reef. It's got a restaurant / bar, underwater viewing gallery, submarine (well, sort of - really a glass-bottom boat) and snorkelling gear all included.
That's what the submarine shows you. Can't wait to get properly wet.

Airlie Beach Town

Got in to Proserpine airport and was immediately confronted by the written-by-kiddies Queensland smoking rules - a recurring theme on this trip - yes, we know you hate us but you don't have to remind us quite so often!

There is an OUTDOOR cafe at the airport where you can neither smoke nor drink alcohol! I asked if there was anything that I actually CAN do in Queensland and received a stony silence - so nothing, then.

Resisted temptation to get next flight to civilisation.

Anyhoo, the bus-ride to Airlie Beach was very nice and the town itself is great.

The room at Airlie Beach.
The view from the room's balcony.
Our daily visitors.
Couple of birds.
This was an acrobatic flight that you can go on. Woot.
The beach itself.
Us next to the lagoon.

APEC 2007

There was a party but we weren't invited.

For reasons that are a complete mystery to the ordinary citizens of Sydney, the federal government decided to host APEC here - rather than in Canberra where it belongs (Canberra was, after all, constructed to keep the political low-lifes out of everybody else's faces).

The result was a complete pigs breakfast. Unnecessary security as the pollies created a fenced security zone for the junket junkies that came to town. The cops invested in a water-cannon that they never got to use because, frankly, nobody around here really cares about APEC - eventually they had to resort to beating up a family man who decided to cross the road in the 'wrong' place. The general disruption was a real pain in the arse and nobody is quite sure what all this has to do with us anyway.

Still, there's always an upside. A TV comedy show managed to get a guy dressed up as Osama bin Laden through the 'layered' security. The cop's TV interview predictably concentrated on the exaggerated risk to the wags rather than the piss-poor job they did at securing an area that nobody wanted to get into anyway. We got a bit of decoration on the bridge - pointedly facing toward the conference and away from the citizens, and we also got to see the practice bit of a night-dingy display.

The bridge decoration. I had to reverse the image so that it spells APEC rather than CEPA - Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, apparently. Nothing to do with APEC then.
Light-up dingy practice - not for Joe Average's benefit.

Studio / Goldsbrough Mort Building

This one took a little more effort to sort out. The Commonwealth Bank, despite having a good 5 weeks to sort themselves out, pulled out of the finance 2 days before settlement! Reasoning was straight out of Risk Assessment for Dummies.

Step forward St George (the bank, not the mythical figure).

Oaks, again, did the refurb. And what a good job they did, too.
Ladies things.
This is a studio so it's quite small and the bed is right in the middle of the living area. Still, given that this is let out as a serviced apartment, and most of the clients are here for a short stay, studios like this are in great demand.
Nice telly and some corporate art hanging on the wall.
Something else the chicks would be interested in.
This one has a water view. Really. See that blue bit over the hedge. That's it.
A bit more of the living area.
That famous balcony lock which helps the insurance company sleep at night.
More balcony.
And by the lifts, this scary picture of demon sheep just to let any stray Welshies what they could be up against.

Whale Watching

Whale watching. What could be better than getting out on the harbour, thence to the open ocean, to meet with those magnificent denizens of the deep - the Hump-Back Whale.

As they track along the coast from their winter feeding grounds in the Antarctic to the warm waters of Queensland to breed, these creatures simply amaze as they blow spray high into the air and leap, full length, from the deep in sheer joy.

With much anticipation of the hunt to come, we gathered in Darling Harbour...

Across the harbour is the Maritime Museum - worth a couple of hours of anyone's life. And you get to go in a submarine. Woot!
A quick glance at our place as we head out.
From below the Harbour Bridge, you can see the bridge climbers on their way up. Good trip, that.
And finally out through the heads to the proper sea.
Nice look back at the city from the ocean.
And it looks like others have the same idea.
How to find a whale: tell a load of kids there's a whale out there and tell them to point at it when they spot one.
Spotted!
And, err, that's it. A hump back whale. Impressed?
Nice shot of this sea-plane on the way back in though.

Dunno why anyone would bother saving them, really. They're rubbish.

Blue Moon Party

...as in the second full moon in a month...
And here's the proof.
The Canuk contingent.
Pirates never had much in the way of faith.
Hiyawhoa?
Brandy wanted to go as a pimp.
Kim arrests Paris Hilton - again. If they were handing out costume prizes, Paris would have got it.

The Ecclesiastical section. And their supplier.