Airlie Beach

 16 - 20 March 2025

We drove down from Eungella and stopped in Proserpine briefly before heading to Airlie Beach. Fortunately there was no rain around when we arrived so we were able to set about drying everything off again. We had more water in under the bed which Mick suspected was due to a seal on the side hatch not working as it should. Once again we pulled everything out and hung things up to dry. 

The rain held off for a while, but there was lots more forecast. We still had an old side wall / wind break from a car awning we used to have so we rigged it up to provide some extra protection on that side of the camper, while relying on the awning on the other. We crossed our fingers and hoped it would work.

We had a couple of days without too much rain and we were able to get out and do some shopping and to also go for a walk along the beach - with some birding added in for interest. We drove to Shute Harbour but moved on when we realised we would have to pay to park - even just to have a short stop at the lookout. We called in to a short walk in the rainforest in Conway National Park but didn't get far due to the very boggy track.

More grey skies

Most of the rain fell overnight, but that meant the canvas would be wet when we packed up if we stayed the three days we had planned, so we decided to watch the weather and make up our minds on a day by day basis. The caravan park staff were very happy to accommodate our needs, we just needed to them know by midday if we intended to stay. We booked an extra night and hoped for the best as the forecast suggested Thursday might not be too wet.

There was very little rain overnight on Wednesday and the sun was trying to poke through the clouds on Thursday morning. We did a bit of organising, and by morning tea time, the canvas was dry enough to be able to start packing up. We left Airlie Beach around 11:00 and started the journey to Townsville where we had arranged to spend the night with friends.