January 5 - Airlee Beach

Another few hundred kilometers down the road...another amazing place

Then sun is shining and the water is blue. 

We slept at the 'sketchy' B&B in Townsville very well!  I slept in the latest yet!  I looked at my watch just before 6am, but slept again until almost 8am.  We were happy to load into the car, all our things were in tact and we made it out of town no problem. 

The views were gradually changing as we approached Townsville yesterday, but today we really noticed the sugar cane farms turning into ranching areas.  Signs indicated watching for cattle & sheep crossings on the main highway!  Good bye to rainforest country, although on in the costal towns it is still very tropical with the palms, it is significantly less humid.

By our host John & Di's recommendation,  we took a detour off the main highway to check out Bowen.  Incredibly beautiful beaches and views.  This is the town that the movie 'Australia' was filmed in.  In the movie the location was Darwin, but it was actually filmed in Bowen.  We were really glad we took the detour, dropped into an information centre, got some area maps and continued on our way to Airlee Beach.

We checked into our favorite place yet!  The Parkwood B&B is beautiful.  We have our own balcony, kitchen, bedroom & living space.  Brittany will be sleeping on a settee in front of a window with an AMAZING view.  The house is cut into the side of a hill (mountain to us), and over the tall trees you can see the harbour and sailing ships.  It's incredible.  The homeowners Ursula (from Switzerland) & George (from the Chech Republic) are incredibly helpful and kind.  George parked the car for me as it is down a steep narrow driveway...so steep that as you crest the top of the drive, you cannot see the driveway at all over the hood.  You feel like you are freefalling into a never-never land of tropical rain forest.  When we read some of the guest book, we saw that we weren't the first that George helped out!  Others commented on thanking him for his help as well.  Made me feel much better.  I am not a 'chicken', but this was/is extreme.

Brittany and I are in an internet cafe as the B&B does not have WiFi.  I'm not certain, but this may be the last communication we have with you for the next few days.  Tomorrow we board the ferry for 2 nights at Hamilton Island, and from there we catch the Whitsunday Blue for 2 nights on the seas in a catamaran.  Please do not worry if you don't hear from us until Monday.  You won't be getting any more pictures for a while either I expect, although when we can, you will have to sit down with a coffee and snack to get through them all I am sure.

We are having a wonderful time! Hope that you are all adjusting well to being back to work after the holidays :)  No...I am not rubbing it in, I mean it!

Until the next chance we have to check in,
Kim (and Brittany)