Airlie Beach Queensland Australia

Australia is home to some of the best holiday spots and beaches in the world. Amongst the top spots, few surpass Airlie Beach, in the Whitsunday Islands. I was fortunate enough to live there for three months in the summer of 2002, and enjoyed the warmth of the water, and the warmth of the people.

Airlie Beach is a totally tourist town. It exists only for that purpose. It is located about 20° South on the north east coast of tropical Australia, about 1,100 km north of Brisbane. It is in the heartland of the world famous Whitsunday Islands, a chain of 74 islands, mostly holiday resorts, on the Great Barrier Reef.

Airlie has the lot: sailing: hiking: swimming: fishing; flights over the Whitsundays and Reef; parasailing, to name but a few. Even in summer, when the beaches are prone to deadly box jelly fish, there is still the beautiful man-made lagoon on Airlie Beach itself, where swimmers can swim in complete safety in the oceans water.

I used to enjoy the weekend markets at the lagoon, the many boutiques, the night clubs (the main street seems to have a never ending stream of them), and getting pampered at a relaxing day spa. I also liked the fishing, where I could just relax, and contemplate whatever writing I was working on at the time.

The Whitsundays have an interesting history. They were discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770. He named them thus because he mistakenly believed he was passing through them on the Christian holy day Whit Sunday, the International Date Line not known about back then . The locals at Airlie have a Blessing of the Fleet each Pentecost (Whit Sunday), to honour Cook’s discovery.

I made several trips between Airlie and Brisbane during the time I was there. Twice I enjoyed the 17 hour train trip on Queensland Rail. The train stops and Proserpine (a sugar producing community nearby), and then a bus shuttles everyone who wants to go over to Airlie. The Jetstar and Qantas flights to Proserpine are much quicker, but if I have the time, I much prefer rail travel.

The main fault with Airlie is that it is a first and foremost a party town. Secondly it is a retirement place, particularly for retired sailors. There is little in the way of theatre, arts, fine restaurants or the like, which I also enjoy. And it is extremely isolated. After three months of the party life, I was partied out. The place had lost its appeal.

But it was a hell of a good party, and one that I’ll always remember.