Made it to Airlie Beach yesterday afternoon... eventually! Great flight up, with some fantastic views of the coast, islands and sea from the plane.

As if the travelling time wasn't long enough, we even managed to get a puncture on the bus taking us from Proserpine airport to Airlie beach... it was only about 20 minute delay and what's 20 minutes when you've been travelling for about 24 hours?!!

Lazy day today... I loaded our photos on... Rach got her legs waxed! Apparently they were so hairy it took 40 minutes, which is well above average, she tells me!!!

Airlie's got some awesome scenery, though the town is a bit like... i'm not sure where... Newquay, maybe??! Tijuana, perhaps?!! I keep expecting to see a load of yankee college kids come roaring down the street screaming "Wooh! Spring Break!", the bars have got that sort of frat party feel to them... That hasn't happened yet, but there's plenty of time, i suppose! Let's hope the windmill stays packed away... for my sake!

Still, it's the place for heading out to the Whitsunday Islands and the Reef and they do a mean steak up the road!

Guy who runs Bush Village BackPackers where we're staying is the spitting image of you, Wilko... i'll try and get a photo... we went to extend our stay this morning and he was frying sausages on the hob in his flip-flops, shorts and t-shirt... thought i was back in Norwich!!!

We're getting picked up at 7.30am tomorrow to catch the Whitsunday Cruise Catamaran out to the Barrier Reef, where we'll have abuot 4 hours on the floating platform, snorkelling on the reef, checking out the fish and coral from the submersible, enjoying the delicious buffet lunch (steering clear of the prawns - never good from a buffet!) and maybe finishing off with a beer or two. Should be awesome...

Wednesday we're getting some crazy speedboat thing out to Whitehaven beach... looks amazing too - provided i manage to stay in the boat!

Anyway, better dash... should go make the most of the sunshine now Rach is back with smooth legs (given that is was cloudy and rainy when we arrived yesterday!)