Airlie Beach Getaway, Queensland – February 2023

Being an ‘Owner’ within Wyndham Resorts for more than 2 decades these COVID years has made it so difficult to book an opening in all Wyndham Australia resorts due to very limited owners travelling overseas so I was quite shocked some months ago in securing a 10day getaway. With February not the prime month to visit Airlie Beach … but hey, all places are worth the shot seeing Australia does have the best climate in the world. Some ‘off seasons’ are really pleasant. It’s up to you to embrace what the universe provides. Airlie Beach was the prime backpacker haven; however, things have redeveloped somewhat and really suited to families now and a very good recovery is well underway from the devastation from Cyclone Debbie in 2017. Airlie is back on board for all visitors.

The timeframe from Christmas, New Year & now to February is just a blink so I gave myself less time to plan my activities time. I’m a person that does the initial setup then stay in The Present, so plans don’t go astray & get disappointed. Scanning the What to Do websites I secured a Sailing Whitsunday Cruise Day for Whitehaven Beach, etc on the catamaran, Camira for $191.90 using my pension card (10% discount). I also took the advantage of using the voucher option so that I could pick the best weather day provided I confirm 48hrs in advance. The voucher also carries for 3 years too if things go astray. The Camira sails out of The Port of Airlie directly down the steep hill of Club Wyndham Airlie Beach, 8mins walk too.

To backtrack, I left my new hometown of Yamba NSW to stay overnight at my son’s & daughter-in-law home at Banora Point (NSW/ QLD Border). We had a great meal dining out and also with another son staying with them also. The following morning, they dropped me off at the southern end of the G/Coast rail line, Varsity Lakes. The single adult trip cost $42AUD .. WOW!! That has increased! The rail network of Brisbane & Greater Brisbane is the worst design, ever!! No foresight in planning at all. It basically consists of a human hand with 5 fingers going out to outer suburbs in the main compass directions however, each one terminates at the end of the line. There are no loops in the system. It really is a disgrace. End of rant!

Oh, not really! More rant! For the next few weekends there are major works scheduled for the CBD line to the airports. I am already on the airport train and now I have to alight at the CBD Roma St platform for the setup of shuttle buses (R700) included in the fare. This added another 50mins to the trip so I was fortunate, or checked is better, that I went online to see the timetable & that’s where I discovered the planned changes.  I always plan to be at airports extra early as the norm, so I’m well covered for this change.

I usually fly Virgin Airlines within Australia, cheaper & still great service & they keep to their timetable, unlike Jetstar & co. To get to Airlie Beach you have to fly out of Brisbane Airport to Proserpine Airport, 14klms South from Proserpine township & then a further 25klms NE to Airlie. To journey to Airlie Beach, you can only get there by a 13hr car drive or commercially through Brisbane Airport, not Gold Coast Airport, Sydney Airport, etc. Booking my flight, I noticed the going out costs change somewhat, and I took advantage of that by arriving a day later (losing a night/ day at the resort) & gained the 50% cheaper fare. Flying Saturday is dearer than other days. Leaving Brisbane is competitive & varies in pricing, whereas arriving in Brisbane is uniformly dearer from all airlines & any day is full price. My departure price was $165 & the return flight $365.

My flight was 2hrs (1,090klms = 13hrs straight car driving) from Brisbane and went extremely well. It’s been over 4yrs since I last flew. I did a train trip to Sydney last November if you read my last blog due to my flying COVID concerns. Airlie Beach is a bit North of the larger city of Mackay and it’s best to land at Proserpine Airport. Being a small airport in the scheme of things you climb down the stairs front & back of the plane & walk the hot tarmac. There are several options on getting to Airlie with taxis the most expensive or a range of shuttle buses with Connection Shuttle Bus the cheapest at $36 return fare which is the cheaper offer. Single fare is $22. The bus will also pick you up out the front of your resort too however, they can’t negotiate the steep hill of Wyndham with the large bus, so I’ll be down at the roadside kerb for pickup. The other major shuttle bus company was $42 return so be careful. You can book ahead giving your flight details or you can go to the counter at baggage collection & pay from there. The smaller shuttle buses must only be booked online.

My large shuttle bus dropped me off at the roadside kerb as per normal practice however, despite the driver’s calls to reception he could not get them to meet myself & others at the roadside with their golf buggy so it’s the long walk up. Seriously, if you are not fit & healthy, do NOT attempt this street Mount Whitsunday Drive hillside. When booking your resort just check if they provide their own shuttle connection as Airlie Beach Hotel does with their accommodation. Most connection buses regularly quote the $22 single fare and if they are sited on the hill without a golf buggy ride pickup from sea level, look out you’re in for a goat trip. You may have to get a taxi to scale this ‘mountain’.

Photos above are of my Club Wyndham unit & the pool/ spa below. My first 2 Airlie Beach days was venturing the CBD, drinking at various places, having lunch & dinner out, listening to live music and getting a taxi back to the reception of my resort for $8.50. Over the next week the taxi fares from the same spots went from $7.40 to $10.15 & that remains a mystery into their charges (same company). The first few mornings I had to have brekky out too, as the resort didn’t provide a menu at the time & also when going to Woolworths for food essentials it closed on my arrival Sunday night at 6pm sharp. I got there at 6.02pm. The other days they close at 9pm. Coles & my bank (ATM) are located outside of Airlie at Whitsunday Shopping Centre (Centro) some 4mins by taxi however, I used the cash out at Woolies. The Post Office I needed is located further out in an industrial area with a McDonalds I not placed on Google Maps yet. The rest of the day was enquiring & booking activities to fill in my 9 days. My resort has a CBD shuttle bus service (3 services per day, 9.30, 1.30 & 4.30pm), so it is best to fit in with them or a taxi to avoid my mountain street.

The Pub under The Airlie Beach Hotel is the place to be. A little bit pricey in some quarters but Airlie Beach is another level of expenditure, so make sure you pack your budget. You’ve been warned .. although I’m a pensioner & conscience about funds, so it maybe just me. I have paid $12 a schooner here so what’s your thoughts? I drank their own beer, Airlie Beach Hotel Lager @ $9 schooner & that was quite good .. but not as good as my cousin’s Wobbly Chook beer back at Yamba .. & cheaper. This location is an upgrade from the rest of Airlie Beach & they have a great live band stage with a superb sound system and cater for a lot of people with varying tastes of music & food. The band plays at certain times on Fri, Sat & Sunday nights.

Photos above are of the Airlie Lagoon/ bay, Club Wyndham set halfway up the steep hill (Grey/ blue roofs) & The Pub with beer & band. Paradiso Restaurant & Pavilion has a great waterview located along the parkland & shoreline behind the main street shops & if the wind is favourable the humidity water sprays, like in Las Vegas are most welcome. Today is a real humid day and the water sprays not really coming to our table areas with the breeze. Arghhh!! They serve great pizza, pasta & meat dinners and uses the QR scan code for ordering so I suspect there is a credit card surcharge applied at the end. Limited beers here so not as vast as The Pub. They have two locations opposite each other. One with high tables & stools, the other with normal dining, but the same kitchen.

Other great places for all dining are The Deck (middle of the main street) with brekky 6.30-11am, lunch 12-2.30pm, Pizza & cocktails 3-5pm, Dinner from 5pm & Mika (Mexican, pizza & meat) with happy hour 4-6pm & 1^st floor dining. The local, more Aussie ‘pub’ is Magnums with accommodation on the main shopping street with Woolworths directly behind. Here you get the backpacker & real aussie feel & culture.

My first Airlie Beach outing was the Hamilton Island Day trip 7/02 booked through Sailing Whitsundays $134.00 for a 50mins cruise out of the Port of Airlie, where you are given 3 included tickets (2 for the ferry & 1 for lunch). I took the slightly dearer lunch at the Marina Tavern as opposed to the cheaper Popeye fish & chip option.  The Marina Tavern is left of the terminal & past the Marina Café, so don’t get confused. I had the tavern’s Angus Beef burger with chips, valued at $26 using my ticket. This day was of intermittent rain at the island which made the pedestrian journeys very awkward so the shuttle buses were in full use running at 15mins loop of the island. The Green bus does the North to South streets from the marina terminal, Aldi grocery, Post office & shops to the Hamilton Island Resort while the Blue bus does the rest of the island except the marina area. You can of course splurge out for your own golf buggy hire @ $72 for the day once you take the Green bus near the resort. The buggy shop is near the Nature Animals ‘island zoo’ where you can see a glass cage of a snake, 2 koalas (Yindi & Billy) in an enclosure & a couple of lizards for free in the courtyard. To gain further entry, & pat the koalas, costs $32 each adult, kids unknown. The public has almost free reign at the resort facilities (Catseye Beach, lagoon open pool, billiard & table tennis, etc). The adjacent Whitsunday Resort is off limits. 

Hamilton Island has its own concrete plant and the other bulk materials come in by the large barge I saw at the marina. I wonder how they get the concrete into the steep hillsides of the resorts and massive houses. They must use massive line pumps as a truck would really struggle on these hills. The island also has a State School for all the residents and of course well-equipped for everything else in living on an island of this standard.

With a rainy day this island becomes quite limited outside of the resort facilities. For example, I would have stayed for the 15mins bus interval to sat & walk around One Tree Hill where you can overlook the crystal clear blue of ocean water and look back at almost the full frontal of the resort & apartments but I had to settle for the quick glimpse out of the water-shedding bus window.

Photos above are of Hamilton Island showing leaving from Port of Airlie, resort lagoon, resort apartment frontage, satellite photo of Hamilton & Dent Islands & Billy at the nature/ zoo. After my voucher lunch at The Marina Tavern (Angus Beef Hamburger & chips) + a stubbie of beer I noticed the rain was clearing and decided to do another circuit of the Green Bus back to the resort and from there I was more confident of a bit of time prior to the next cloud downpour and took to the resort trail (behind the resort apartments up to the Resort Lookout).

With very little for me to do in regards to the resort facilities I took the gravel winding nature sandstone gravel pathway to the top of the resort lookout (2^nd highest lookout at 560’ .. 170m), while the highest being 230m at Passage Peak. The trek path is quite steep and a bit slippery in parts so don’t do this if you have health issues & it is best to let someone know that you’re undertaking this walk. That was the last comment on the trek sign .. so, I laughed knowing there was no-one within 500m of me. Oh .. well .. here goes!! When you reach the summit of the Resort Lookout it has a large flat plain and slightly hidden on the right lies the lookout platform with a binocular setup and an island viewpoint map and almost 360° view with the airport below too. Certainly, worth the walk up & what a view!

Photos above involve the Resort Lookout and the views. With taking some obligatory photos I scrambled back down the path to be met with some Japanese looking tourists (they could have been Australians so you can’t instantly assume they are international nowadays). The man & 2 women were about my age so I let them know about the summit & they were getting close to it and to walk safely & rest often. I hope they reached the resort safe & well?

More Resort Lookout view photos above. Finishing my little trek at 2pm I caught the Green Bus out the front of the apartment building back to the Marine Tavern where I noticed several places (shops, bakery & Popeye café) were closing leaving basically the tavern to await the ferry back to Airlie. Another stubbie of beer to replenish & re-hydrate while watching the rain start again. Without much ado I patiently waited by the terminal for the ferry and despite the rain & the wind pickup it was a pleasant return journey.

Alighting from the cruiser I walked back to my resort and up the Whitsunday Island Drive (steep hill) but feeling more fit I did it without much hassle and to sink another stubbie & some nibblies watching the sunset background happening over the marina and headland to the East & fellow resort people enjoying the spa & pool below. Cheers to another great day in Airlie.

I’ll end this blog here and start another one of my other tours within the Airlie Beach region with some great photos of this wonderous area, knowing the weather will improve from the drizzle rain @ 28°C to 35-39°C temp with 83% humidity … wow!!!