Day 9 - Airlie Beach to Port Douglas (via Mackay and Cairns)
So we decided not to drive to Cairns but take a plane. Smart decision. The plane we took travels up the eastern seaboard like a bus would in your home town. So we had a quick stopover in Townsville and then the plane went roughly parallel the Great Barrier Reef with a great view of the ocean and the reef itself.Even I thought it not possible, it was even more humid in Cairns. Got a undermotorized rental and drove the 60 kms to Port Douglas. The road winds along the coast having great sights around every corner. This is one of the very few places in the world where tropical forest meet the sea.
Port Douglas in off-season is quite slow, lots of restaurants closed with “gone fishing”. Had a mojito in a nice bar and then dinner.
Australia seems to have lost the second cricket game against England in a row and is now out of something. Major national catastrophy.
airlie beach australia great barrier reef port douglas travelDay 8 - Airlie Beach
Went to the famous Airlie Beach lagoon, which is sort of a big out-door swimming pool. Somehow messed up with the Sunblock and got a huge sunburn on the back. 
Might have to sleep on the belly for the next few days. Still, relaxed in the Sun, watched the locals and tourists flock around.
Started the second book of my travel literature, “Weaveworld” by horror-famous Clive Barker. Was a recommendation (”great read”) from a friend of Kristin. I’m not that much into horror, but I will see how it plays out.
In the afternoon we went on a Sunset Sailing cruise. If you are ever around here, do that! We were lucky, the skipper told us that they have up to twenty people on that cruise, but this evening it was only Kristin, myself and a couple from Brisbane (If you read this: Hi folks!) and we had a great and tranquil time on the ocean watching the sun set, drinking champagne first and beer later.
After about a week, Australia really gets into your system. You sit back, relax, don’t take things seriously. I’m now eight days away from my mail and I do not intend to open my Inbox until it’s March.
For Dinner we went to a place called “Shipwreck” which is a sea food restaurant. Now, with me treating sea food the same way that a Veggie treats meat, this was not really the ideal place to go, but they still cook a mean steak and Kristin had a great sea food time. Ah, the things you do for love… 
Day 7 - Yeppoon to Airlie Beach
An uneventful drive. The roads have been cleared and not much traffic. We’ve seen lots of kangaroos and the odd koala. All dead: Road kills. Driving north has the advantage that the landscape slowly changes into real tropic vegetation. All shades of green from emerald to almost black. Sometimes I think that I do not emphasize enough how beautiful this country is. So here it is: Australia is great! If you can manage to get here off-season (like e.g. in the February), it is even better because the places are not really crowded.
Arrived in Airlie Beach (which is sort of the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands) early evening. Strolled down the Main Street and were greeted by roars and loud announcements from most bars and pubs. After a while, we found out that it is the first of the three-game finals between England and Australia. Cricket is to a German almost as cryptic as Football (the real thing) to an American. England won BTW and all of Australia is really upset. Had a nice dinner (while the kangaroo was still dead, this time it was medium-rare and came with chunky-style chips. Mmmmmmh, Kangaroo!).
airlie beach australia travel yeppoon