Saturday - Due to our very late night we hoped the campsite
wouldn’t mind if we snuck out a little late.
After all, when you’re checking out of a patch of grass it doesn’t leave
much cleaning for housekeeping to do, does it?! I enjoyed watching a pair of
plovers chasing their two chicks around before we packed up and went to
leave at 1030am.
 |
| Bundle of fluff being chased by protective plover parent! |
Well, so much for sneaking out, we got stuck at the barrier
AGAIN! It turns out that the code we
were given on checking in was our own individual one. By helping a couple who were stuck at the
barrier on our way out last night by giving them our code, the park thought we
were on the premises. That’s why our
code didn’t work at 130 last night or this morning. Oops. We apologised, and
they let us out. I’m sure we weren’t the
first to mess with the system….
We drove an hour and a half each, swapped, had lunch and did
the same amount of driving again in the afternoon until we reached a small
village called Clairview. We had well
and truly arrived back in the tropics.
The temperature outside reached 39 degrees at one point today. After our experience in the west and the
northern territory we were concerned about how easy sleeping would be tonight. Luckily, our cheap campsite is on the coast,
so it felt a little cooler again.
 |
| The Cyber punk in front of Clairview bay |
Sunday - It turned out that our hard work yesterday had got
most of the drive to Airlie Beach out of the way. We arrived in the lively town early
afternoon. We made the decision to check
in to the X-Base hostel and campground despite the terrible reviews for a few
reasons:
1)
It was the closest campsite to our point of
departure tomorrow
2)
It let you park your camper there cheaply whilst
you went on your Whitsunday cruise
3)
It was the ONLY campsite in the town itself, and
so was walking distance to the bars and restaurants.
As expected, our ‘site’ was just a slot in a tarmac car park
and on examination, our amenities could have been cleaner and in better working
order, but we were only there for one night so how bad could it be?!
We went for a wander into Airlie and I had another
reminisce. Yes, I’d been here 21 years ago AS WELL! We wandered into Magnums, which I remembered
as a massive bar with a backpacker hostel attached to it.
 |
| Magnums of Airlie Beach |
Last time I was there, I stayed in a hut with
my travel pal and recall being visited by lots of possums and playing water
polo in the pool (us, not the possums).
No possums seen today and the pool has been removed, making space for
more dorm rooms. The place has lost its
charm as far as I can see. However, it was happy hour in the bar, there was
cricket on and a great live act was on stage to entertain us as well.
 |
| Australia does Sunday afternoons well - sheltered beer garden with palm tree view, big screen sports, live music... bosh! |
We were getting into the Sunday afternoon drinking a little
too well. We had to drag ourselves away because we still needed to pack for the
next two days. But it turned out that Sunday is the new Saturday in Airlie….
And X-Base was the place to be on a Sunday night.
 |
| This pool and bar area doesn't look too bad for a backpackers, does it? |
The shed bar by
the pool was in full swing and inconveniently close to our parking spot. We attempted going to bed early, but it was a
bit pointless with loud house music banging around our heads! I looked at my watch as midnight approached,
convinced that the party would be going on until at least 1 or 2am. I couldn’t
believe our luck when, at precisely 12 O’clock, the DJ fell silent and apart
from some pissed up backpackers staggering past us to their rooms singing, we
were able to get some peace.
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