Arriving in Airlie Beach

We arrived in the Whitsundays at around 2:30pm this afternoon; the weather was atrocious and any dream we had of having a paradise-like experience over the next couple of days had been washed away with the rain. Still, it was a holiday-within-a-holiday and so there really was no way we were going to be put off.

After spending the rest of the afternoon running around and booking tours and trips for the three days that we were staying there, we settled for some food across the way from where we were staying that night.

It really was awesome. It was like a food court thing, with backpackers all out having a good time, eating or drinking or playing cards, with live music being performed on the stage to the left. We even had Neighbours being projected on a screen above us. I had that wonderful feeling of having nothing else to worry about (probably due to being twice removed from home) and it was great. Surreal, but great.