Airlie Beach September 2013

September 25^th, Before leaving Townsville we called into the Joyce Mayne Store and Val bought a “Stonedine” frying pan, which was on sale. She had been talking about getting one for a long time now and it was a bargain at $38 for the large size. We stopped at the ‘Big Mango’ at Bowen for lunch and found out that they don’t sell food (only drinks and ice-cream), so we made lunch in the Van and ate it at the rest area opposite. We had a good trip down to Airlie Beach, only 2 stops for roadworks on this stretch of the Bruce Highway, and booked into the Seabreeze Tourist Park for 2 weeks. After setting up, we were both buggered, so we drove into Town to grab a Maccas. It had been a few years since we were here last, so we were surprised to find the main street abuzz with young people after dark and finding a parking spot almost impossible. We took a little walk up and down the main drag; Val wanted to soak up the atmosphere. It reminded us of Surfers Paradise, without all the Japanese Shops. We enjoyed our Maccas and went home for an early night.

September 26^th, We put up Val’s signs around the Park, hoping to get some sales for her Jams, Pickles and Chutneys, while we are here. We took a drive around Town to see what it looked like in the daytime and found that there are more Cruise Booking places than Pubs or Restaurants. This is the hub of the Whitsunday Island Cruises. We were very impressed with The Lagoon built on the foreshore parkland. Our impression was, a small Tourist Town with the surrounding hills covered with houses with amazing ocean views.

September 28^th, Val has been busy replenishing her supplies of home made products and is now adding a chilli version of the Tomato Chutney to her range, at the request of our neighbour opposite. After a very hot day, just relaxing watching TV after dinner with a glass of wine, Val sat down on her Coleman’s Wide Padded Chair and the plastic arm snapped off at the hinge point. They have a 5 year Warranty, so on Monday I will be down to BCF to exchange it. That will be the 4^th replacement in less than 2 years.

September 30^th, BCF happily replaced our broken chair and even suggested that we might like to change it for another brand, as we had so many replacements. We decided to stay with the Coleman Chair and I noticed when I un-wrapped it at home, that this chair only has a 1 year replacement warranty.

October 3^rd, The Caravan Park put on a sausage sizzle tonight, with an entertainer, in the Camp Kitchen. Val got permission to set up a table with her products and donated several jars of her pickles for everyone to try on their sausage. It was a great night, Val sold lots of her products and the most popular was the “Fiery Chill Tomato Chutney”. We only had 4 jars of the Chilli Chutney, so had a few disappointed customers and the comments from the tastings were, nice but “Could be a bit hotter”!

October 6^th, We decided to have a day without any jam or pickle making, so we drove out to Shute Harbour, only a 15min. drive from Airlie Beach. It’s the Terminus for the Tour Boats that handle the trips out and around the Islands. We went up to the lookout and the views out over the very blue water to the off-shore Islands were spectacular.  We went back to Airlie Beach and walked along the Shops and stopped at The Whitsunday Seafood Bar, where Val had fish and chips and I had a works hamburger and chips for our lunch, with a great view out over the beachfront. We walked back along the opposite side of the road, looking in all the shops, until we found a Tavern and just had to check out their Pokies. 30 minutes later, we came out of the Tavern having had some fun and with our money still intact. We got home in good time to get set up to watch the NRL Grand Final between Manly and Eastern Suburbs and the Roosters were Victorious, Yea!

October 8^th, We packed up today, ready to leave in the morning. We have changed our mind again and are going to continue back down the coast to Yappoon, hoping for cooler weather on the coast and less chance of running into bushfires. Val had last minute sales for her Pickles, when our neighbours in the Park were reminded that we were leaving in the morning.