Airlie Beach
The bus arrived at 9:30 AM to Airlie Beach! 14 hours wasn't so bad (thought it was 12 originally), though I am very grateful I found the flight and won't be taking the 19 hour bus ride back down South. I walked to Magnums hostel, which my friend Kerry recommended to me. $28 AUD for the night. Once I dropped my bags in the room, I went walking 5 minutes down the road to Whitsundays Sailing Adventures to check-in for my tour tomorrow with SV Whitehaven.
After checking-in, I had to organize transportation from the marina to the airport since I will finish my tour at 4:00 PM on Saturday and my flight is at 5:40 PM. I thought I would take an Uber but there are no Uber's here in Airlie Beach. My second thought was a taxi, but it turns out they charge $90 AUD for the 25 minute airport run. I contacted some shuttle services but the timing wasn't going to work out in my favor. So I stopped and chatted with one of the taxi drivers to see what he would recommend, and he suggested I call Michelle with Heart of the Reef Shuttles. She was absolutely incredible and I recommend everyone contacting her for transport when in Airlie Beach. She is going to meet me at the marina at 4:05 when I get off the boat, and not only that but she is going to stop by my hostel first to pickup my backpack because we cannot take our packs on the boat due to lack of space. All of this for $20 AUD. What a life saver!
I headed back to the hostel and spent over an hour writing about my last week. After I finished, I walked down the main street until I stumbled upon a place called Garuma and when I took a look at the menu, I saw a vegan sandwich with pumpkin, avocado, and heaps of other yums for only $9.50! I went in, ordered my sandwich with a side of fries, and did some more writing while nibbling on my lunch.
Airlie beach is quite a small town so after lunch, I walked back in the opposite direction to get to Boathaven beach, which is more of a locals spot. I walked the whole way barefoot, strolling along the sidewalk in my bikini top and tie-dye wrap. I saw a market nearby, stopped to have a peak, chatted some locals, then continued on my way. Boathaven, also known as New Beach to the locals, is a manmade beach and much newer than the main beach (hence "New Beach"). I laid in the sand, swam in the water, and chatted my friend Sabrina from Cabo.
On my walk back to my hostel, I got stopped by a "follower of God" who shared some brochures with me and her opinion on religion. It was an interesting interaction that I had to cut short because my belly was gurgling for food. Back at my hostel I had a sumo orange (the absolute best & juiciest orange) while sitting at the picnic tables before hopping into the shower.
I was feeling like having noodles for dinner but when I walked to the shop, they said they couldn't do anything vegan. Understandable, because the menu and place was quite tiny, but this is the first time I've heard that in my three weeks of traveling Aus. But I saw my Austrian friend, Jacob, eating there! I met Jacob last night on the overnight bus from Rainbow Beach to Airlie Beach, then I ran into him while I was eating lunch at Garuma and now I ran into him again. So we swapped numbers to meet up later for a beer.
For dinner, I decided to go to Woolworths, the grocery store, for some salad and soup, and then proceeded back to my hostel to eat. Two Israeli's invited me to sit with them, Itai and Ron, and join them for dinner. Itai is vegetarian and shared his rice and veggies with me. I have met so many Israeli's on this trip! After dinner, they invited me up to theirs for a beer and a smoke. And after, we popped down to the bar in our hostel to meet Jacob for a drink. They sell jugs of beer for $10, so we filled up, sat down, and shared our traveling stories amongst heaps of laughter and banter for a couple hours. Eventually, around 1:00 AM, I made my way to bed for a somewhat disturbed slumber because my sinuses are started to act up. Oh the life of a traveling gringa!
