Airlie Beach is mainly a jumping off point for tours to the Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays. We didn’t go on any of the “excursions” organised by the cruise line as they were all ridiculously overpriced, and the timing didn’t really work out for going on any we organised ourselves.
We therefore spent most of the day wandering around the town. The town itself is pleasant enough as places like this go, but doesn’t have a whole lot to do. As with many towns up this way, as you can’t swim in the sea due to stingers, the council has built a swimming lagoon which is quite nicely done. At the back of the town there is a trail leading to a waterfall. We saw a few decent size goannas and nearly stepped on a snake.


The place is a real backpacker town, so there are plenty of drinking establishments that presumably got going at night but there wasn’t much doing during the daylight hours we were there.
Did you go on the bucking bull at the pub?