Surprisingly I got some sleep on the bus last night. I sat on the aisle seat this time and I found it better as I could stretch my legs out. The bus also had usb chargers, although the WiFi was down which was another reason I fell asleep. We stopped off at Mackay en route for one of the compulsory dinner stops, before making up time and arriving in Airlie Beach at around 7.
I again had nothing planned for today, as I had just booked a pre night here before my sailing trip round the Whitsundays, so I opted for a walk round the small town known also as the heart of the great barrier reef. The bus station was slightly out of town, so first stop was my hostel to check into my hostel and drop off my luggage, although I got the added bonus of having a room ready for me. I therefore took this opportunity to have a quick breakfast of toast and wafers here. If you're wondering why I always buy wafers, they are considerably cheaper than every other biscuit out here!
Airlie Beach basically consists of a large street full of shops, including McDonalds to get free WiFi, along with the majority of houses on the surrounding hillside. I headed for the seafront to find two caches, and also follow the Bicentennial walkway to the neighbouring town of Cannonvale. After a quick paddle in the manmade lagoon, I continued along this wooden walkway to find my first cache in this rocky garden area, not so easy in sandals!
I then continued round the walkway to Abel Marina, getting cracking views of the islands en route. This is where I leave for my sailing trip tomorrow. It was then past shingley beach, which was like it says in the name, before heading into the newly constructed botanic gardens. Airlie seems to be going through a lot of modernization as the bus station I arrived in was new, the marina is getting landscaped with additional car parks, and there is even a new big supermarket due to be opened soon. It was a very clean area the botanic gardens, and I found the other cache I wanted here.
I then headed back for Airlie, saving the other two caches for the afternoon. It was funny walking through the shops seeing people I at least recognised, and some people who remembered me! I had the same when both boarding and disembarking the bus earlier in the day. En route I stopped at the travel bugs for free internet, before getting back to hostel to get my long overdue laundry completed.
After an absolute mission trying to find some soap powder, I was finally able to sit back and relax as I waited for everything to be done. When finally leaving the laundry it was back to the hostel where I met some people also going on the sailing trip. I didn't really do much in the afternoon other than relax and walk round the town.
By about 4 I headed off in search of the other two caches, which needed to be found at low tide as I needed access to this island which was accessible by this sand strip at low tide. When arriving at Pigeon Island, which turned out to be really rocky, I headed round, seeing what was either a snake or eel en route before clambering up these rocks to find the cache. The other cache was a dnf, which was supposedly on this boat which sank offshore a couple of the years ago. I found the boat, which was packed with tourists looking at the boat which the owner claims he cannot afford to remove, but not the cache.
I then returned to the hostel for dinner which was once again pasta, the consequence of buying food to cook for one, before heading off for Skype. It was really difficult finding a working computer but I found one eventually. I'm tempted to download the Skype app to my phone and use WiFi. I then returned to my room which was an absolute tip. It was as if everyone had unpacked their stuff! I struggled to keep my eyes open when laying down, although it was funny seeing this German guy cutting his own hair as I drifted off.
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