For all the Airlie Beach Backpackers out there!

To most Airlie Beach backpackers, Airlie Beach is commonly known as the gateway to the Whitsundays, a clustering string of 74 stunning islands of which only 8 are inhabited! Airlie Beach is a smaller town that offers many cruises, diving excursions, and (seasonal) whale watching from Abel Point Marina and Shute Harbour; definitely worth every cent if you ask me.

If you’re not into sailing there is also the Conway National Park that has a vast number of walking trails for all the happy feet out there, and it features many of the scenic highlights of the Whitsundays coast. There’s also the Vic Hislop Great White Shark and Whale Expo that everyone should check out. Jill’s still afraid of sharks, however she’d like everyone out there to watch a little documentary called SHARK WATER, it’ll definitely change your perception of these freaky fanged fear mongering fishes!

You can even fly into Airlie beach from the Whitsunday airport making it an easy destination to get to, infact most places in Australia you can get to from air which definitely makes it easier and less travel time lost for anyone not staying over a year, so definitely check out the Cheap Airline Tickets and cut any travel time in half!

Once you do get to Airlie Beach there are also a ton of shops, cafe’s, restaurants and funtastic nightlife along Shute Harbour Road that every Airlie Beach backpacker must check out! Just be wary of eating past 7:30p because most of these places were shut down before 8p! The wait staff at most restaurants will also be so kind as to let you know that there’s always “Macka’s” if you want to eat “late”. (In other words, snooze ya lose! Go to McDonalds fool!)

As for Jill and I, when we arrived in this adorable town we tried to hook ourselves up in one of the YHA’s but they were pretty booked out, so we tried the Airlie Beach Waterfront Backpackers resort.
The Waterfront Backpackers was alright, we paid something like $45/night for two twin beds and a room to ourselves. They also claim to have Wifi but the codes didn’t work, so we were a lil’ miffed at that but they returned our $ no problem. The rooms are clean but small, there’s air conditioning so we were pretty happy about that. In terms of service the girls at the front desk were busy most of the time but always polite, I saw some poor reviews on this place so in all fairness it wasn’t our favorite place to stay but for any other Airlie Beach backpackers out there its not so bad. You just might have to ask at the front desk for clean towels and toilet paper but no biggie.

For one of our first nights out we ventured to The Phoenix (mostly just because that was the name of Jill’s old bar she worked at in Toronto) it was a smaller bar and the music was ok, we found the drinks to be a bit pricey for our budget so we strutted ourselves outta there in our fun heels and cute dresses and went down the road to Magnums. Now we claimed to be Airlie Beach backpackers, however we were informed from the owner at Magnums (lovely man who bears an uncanny resemblance to Robin Williams) that we were officially flashpackers! He said he could tell we weren’t Airlie Beach backpackers because we had style, class, some swagga and probably wheels and designs on our suitcases… Of course Jill and I had a chuckle because we sorta just looked at each other and thought of our bright pink suitcases and zebra printed one – SO busted!

Magnums is DEFINITELY a hot spot for Airlie Beach backpackers this place (or complex) was definitely in full swing with maybe 300-400 backpackers on a Friday night. Magnums closes around midnight so most people then carry the party on down the road to one of the clubs. But me and granny Clark weren’t used to staying up past 9p, so by midnight we were ready to turn in.

The next day we did our Whitsunday cruise with Cruise Whitsundays bright and early at 7am! It was amazing!

We were originally scheduled to be on the yacht which has a gorgeous interior, I believe 3 different decks, a spa, and a glass case sub that people can pop down and explore the marine life without getting wet. We had just settled into our seats grabbing a coffee and some biscuits and making jokes with some of the staff when the boat just suddenly stopped…

We went to the upper deck to see what was wrong (and to sneak some photo ops). Turns out there was engine failure! EEK!

Duh Duh Duhhhhh….

To find out what happened read my blog on Feb. 4th! Happy trails Roo’ies!

SP