Airlie Beach

Getting Stuck

Deep Washouts and an overgrown track

On Friday we decided to hike up the little hill (which we saw the evening before from the beach) to enjoy the views. And on Google Earth we found a nice little track going up. So we unhooked the caravan and went for a bit of a 4WD drive. We didn't expect the track to be washed out and overgrown so badly that eventually we had to abandon our hiking plans and turn around. 

Off we went to Proserpine for lunch. Good parking on the side of the main street. Unfortunately the road had a strong chamfer (fall to the side) and I parked the caravan so close to the side that we nearly touched the side posts of the sidewalk verandah. After lunch we tried to manoeuvre the caravan out of this tricky parking, but the more I tried the closer I got to the posts. The only way to get out was to unhook the caravan and manually back the caravan out with the ratchet on the jockey wheel. This whole manoeuvre took us a good 30 minutes, but at least we were abel to continue our trip without any damage to anything.

Airlie Beach

Sarah enjoys playing with Brooke, Airlie Beach scenery and the Dragon at the Saturday markets

We continued to Airlie Beach, were we stayed with Brooke, Marissa and Scott whom we know from the mothers group back in Brisbane. They are running a business doing customised 3D printing on phone covers (http://www.mybffmobile.com).

Sarah loved going to the markets, splashing in the water and playing with her friend Brooke. They even showed us their block of land overlooking the islands on which they want to build their dream home later this year. The weather is cloudy, so the pictures aren't as picturesque, but this is certainly a stunning corner of Australia with turquoise waters and lush green hills.

Man style excercise 

What a fishing trip!

Yeah! My first fishing trip. I went out on Sunday morning with the guys from Reel Deal Fishing charters for a stretch of my arms. After about one hours trip we drifted over a gutter in about 50 meters of water. It only took a couple of minutes for me to hook onto the first fish of the day and another minute or so later I landed my first of 3 Nanagi. What a beautiful fish with its pink/red colour and just perfect in size about 60-80 cm. We fished for about 2 hours and 8 guys managed about 20+ Nanagi, some Trevally, a Spanish Mackerel, and some other species. One guy even landed a Chinamen, which is protected and had to go back into the water.
Back on shore the 2 crew cleaned and filleted all the fish for us. What a service! All I had to do in the evening was cock and enjoy some Spanish Mackerel.