Back in holiday mode – for Ian, it was his first flight in almost 3 years.  We’ve left Pete and Ilze holding the fort back home, and headed away for some midwinter warmth and to see some of the few parts of the Queensland coast that we haven’t been to before.

After hearing weeks of horror stories about cancelled and delayed flights, and lost luggage (much the same story as at Easter), we were up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6am for  our late morning direct flight to Proserpine.  All went smoothly, and it was wheels down more or less on time, soon after 3pm.  No sign of forecast rain or gale force wind – just sunshine and warmth.

Our bags appeared in record time, and before long we were on board the shuttle bus to Airlie Beach.  We disembarked in the centre of town, and were soon settling in to our holiday unit – selected for its proximity to the supermarket and the bus stop, rather than for anything sles – but so far it has proved comfortable and practical, with a serviceable kitchen and nice big bathroom.  The back door opens straight out onto the beach.

The only downside is the noise – during the day, the playground is overrun with excited kids; at night, the bustling pub next door is overrun with excited parents (presumably the kids have worn themselves out).  It advertises “live music till late”, which had us worried about getting any sleep at all, but it turns out that Queensland “late” is 10pm. Phew – a peaceful night’s sleep was had after all.

This morning we tackled the three “S”s – Sleep-in, Shower, and Shop.  With all three missions accomplished, the sunshine beckoned, so we set off to follow the Bicentennial Walk to Cannonvale, about 4 or 5 km away.  I had the new Nikon – yes, after many decades of being a dedicated Pentax user, I’ve switched sides and bought myself a new digital camera.

The pace was leisurely as we crossed the little tidal creek and strolled past the swimming lagoon.  The path meanders through the Coral Sea Resort and onto a short section of boardwalk. 

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Around the corner, it arrives at the new Coral Sea Marina, which is enormous.  We can’t figure out where people get the money from to own all these hugely expensive boats, which seem to stay moored most of the time.  Queensland is full of them.

We watched a flotilla of jetskiers returning from an excursion to Daydream Island, and other boats coming and going, before continuing to the other end of the marina, past another resort, and onto the longer stretch of boardwalk.  With the rocky shoreline, and the rainbow splashes of bougainvillea, it looked familiar.  As Ian said, “if the buildings were 500 years older, and you swapped the palm trees for vineyards, you could be on the Amalfi Coast”.  And if you swapped the giant yachts in the marina for gondolas, you could be in Venice.

I didn’t quite make it to the end of the walk, as I’m still recovering from my bout with covid 3 weeks ago, and am taking things easy for a bit longer.  But that leaves more to explore.  We head to Long Island tomorrow, for a 3 night stay (and will be pretty much off grid so will hold back on uploading more photos till we get back to the mainland); then up to Townsville and Magnetic Island, before a stint in the peace and tranquillity of Shute Harbour.