Friday 16th April 2021
We had a great night sleep. We got up to turn off fans, put on light sheets and later Madeline’s doona. This time she slept through. She woke up proud of herself, because she pulled up the doona all on her own. Small win for today.
We got ourselves together after waking at 645am. It was another partly cloudy day in Proserpine. It was a peaceful, calm night. The RV park had no noise overnight.
We set off for Airlie beach which was 20min East of Proserpine.
We parked near the lagoon and strolled over to a shady spot. We are trying to do some swimming practice with Madeline, but she’s appears absolutely fearful of going under water. We are trying to warm her up to it slowly. She will be having swimming lessons in Darwin.
We spent 2hrs in the water playing and swimming. We got out of the water at 1130, dried up, got changed and found a place to sit for lunch.
After lunch we walked to the playground where Madeline played with another girl, a year or two older than herself.
We then wondered down the Main Street of Airlie Beach, we did some window shopping.
We walked along the promenade for a little while and end up….you guessed it, at yet another playground.
We headed back to the car after a MacDonald icecream. We returned to Proserpine by 3pm.
Airlie Beach
Geography
Airlie beach is 275km South East of Townsville and lies within the Whitsunday region.
The official name was Airlie from 1936 until 1987, when it was amalgamated into the larger town of Whitsunday while Airlie Beach became the official name of the locality.
The town probably takes its name from the parish of Airlie – as in Airlie Castle and the Earl of Airlie – in Scotland.
Airlie Beach is one of many departure points for the Great Barrier Reef.
History
Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was occupied by members of the Darumbal Aboriginal language group.
In 1770 Captain Cook sailed up the coast and named Cape Conway.
In 1904 an early settler, Thomas Abell, took up land at Airlie Beach to grow vegetables and fruit.
In 1935 the Queensland Lands Department offered land beside the beach for sale.
In 2001 Airlie Beach lagoon with stinger-free swimming pools was opened.
Each year the residents of Airlie Beach celebrate The Blessing of the Fleet on Whitsunday or Pentecost Sunday.
Tomorrow
We leave Proserpine and travel to Bowen.
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