QLD Trip 2011: An update from Airlie Beach

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick update before we leave Airlie Beach. We have had a relaxing 5 days here at Airlie Beach. It's been a little wet therefore not everything that we have wanted to do has been done, but the park that we are staying at has provided us with much entertainment.
Kids have had a few trips to the pool, water slides being the main attraction there. Airlie Beach itself is a nice little town, lots of shops to look in and plenty to eat at! Pheobe was rather happy with her trip to the bead shop, making a necklace, earings and a bracelet for herself among other things. Maurice had a trip to a toy shop and got himself a new leggo helicopter, so he's right now for a while! Flick is just Flick, still tagging along and making herself known when she has to.

So, because of the weather we didn't really make any plans to do much, but today we took a trip over to Hamilton Island and to Whitsunday Island on to Whitehaven Beach. It was a pretty good day, the best bit getting to play on the wonderful beach at Whitehaven. We had some breaky on the boat before we got to the Island. It was an early start with a bus picking us up at 6.55am to take us to Shute Harbour where the boats leave from to go to the Islands.
Hamilton Island was nice to visit but unless we were staying at a resort there isn't heaps to do with the kids. Trent and I could fill in our time there no probs, so a trip back one day for us only is on the cards! We did take a bus tour over the Island and saw all the places to stay, all the private houses, the airport, golf course and went to the lookout, but again, because of the weather we weren't able to see anything from the fog! We took a walk around the marina at Hamilton Island, there had just been a race week there for yachts, so there was still some lovely ones to look at. Saw Wild Oats 11 up close which was good because we had heard of that boat from the Sydney to Hobart race!
Anyway, we then got back onto anther boat which took us to Whitsunday Island. We had a BBQ lunch on board then were dropped off at Whitehaven Beach for a few hours. We had to get off the front of the boat into the water before we got onto the beach! We had so much fun playing in the sand and in the water swimming. The adventure cruise boat that we took over there also have two staff members on the beach with us and they brought all sorts of activities for us to do and play. The kids had fun with the buckets and spades! We had beach cricket, balls, beach volley ball and plenty more!
When it was time to go the boat came back from being just off shore to collect us. We had to walk a little through the water again to get up onto the boat. Afternoon tea was supplied while the crew packed everything up and then we were on our way back to Hamilton Island. Once there, we boarded another boat which took us back to Shute Harbour on the mainland. We then got on our bus which was waiting for us. Kids were so tired that Flick and Maurice had a sleep on the way home. The bus took us right to the front of the caravan park, Once back at the van, we bathed the kids, got them some dinner and now they are all in bed exhausted from the days events. I think the Mum and Dad are too!!

So, not exactly sure what and where we are up to and going next. Half a plan to go only to Bowen because if the weather improves in the next day or so we'd like to do a trip over to Daydream Island for a night with the kids and stay at the resort there. All very kid friendly, but we don't want to do unless the weather is fine. If we only go as far as Bowen, then it's not all that far to come back to do that.

Hope everyone is well and we will blog again when there is more to tell you all.
Lots of love to everyone,
The Guye Gang! xo