Airlie Beach (Queensland, Australia)

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Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsundays - a colourful, cosmopolitan and inviting holiday town lying on the shores of a palm fringed beach and overlooking the calm waters of Pioneer Bay dotted with yachts.

Airlie is part of a picturesque peninsula that reaches out to the Whitsunday Passage and provides the ideal mainland base for holiday fun and adventure in the Whitsundays. As you drive into Airlie Beach through the neighbouring community of Cannonvale, the road climbs above Abel Point Marina, providing expansive views of the indented coastline, the aquamarine sea and the shapes of distant islands on the horizon. You can't avoid the holiday feeling that scene evokes, nor the relaxed tropical ambience as you wander around the village streets and down to the vast lagoon.

Set in landscaped parkland overlooking the bay, Airlie Lagoon provides stinger free swimming with lifeguard attendants and a children's pool. Airlie Beach has all the usual shops & services, a broad range of restaurants, bars, take-aways (YES - even KFC & McDonalds) whilst retaining its small, friendly village atmosphere. Golf, tennis, and lawnbowls are no more than 5 minutes drive, as are jetskis, waterskiing, parasailing. Another 5 minutes to the very special wildlife park (not just kangaroos, koalas & Crocodiles), quad-bikes, mountain-bikes, horse-riding and Laser-Skirmish in the rainforest. The Hinterland includes sugar-cane & cattle properties, plus the Conway National Park & State Forest, which contains one of the world's oldest Tropical RAINFORESTS, and is home to some unique flora & fauna, PLUS the Proserpine River WETLANDS- Home of the infamous saltwater CROCODILE.

Half & full-day eco-tours are also available, some self-drive tours, with National Park bush & rainforest walking tracks, now including One of Queensland's World Heritage "Great Walks" The famous Laguna Quays Golfcourse is only 40 minutes away.

Locality:

Airlie Beach is located between Cannonvale and Shute Harbour , and ideally situated at the bottom of the Conway Ranges beside a beautiful tropical beach, it is 1135 km north of Brisbane and 26 km east of Proserpine.

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Airlie Beach offers visitors a broad array of accommodation from stylish resort hotels on the water's edge and apartments on the hillside overlooking the panorama of beach, bay and islands, to bed and breakfast options, motels, camping and caravan parks as well as a host of backpacker accommodation.

Airlie provides many of the essential services for travellers in the region and the town's shopping areas are open seven days a week. Once a week, the foreshore parkland turns into a bustling market with stalls selling fresh fruit and veggies, local arts and crafts and all manner of goods under the shade of coconut palms. The mainland's dining and entertainment options centre around Airlie Beach, ranging from silver service resort dining to al fresco cafes and cheap eats, while Airlie's clubs and bars provide plenty of entertainment well into the night.

Attractions to consisder are: A trip to the Whitsundays - See

Whitsundays Billabong Sanctuary - This delightful animal sanctuary and theme park is the only tourist attraction in the Townsville area to be nationally accredited by the Eco tourism Association of Australia and one of the only two attractions in the Townsville - Whitsundays area to receive accreditation. It is also one of the only three of the 40 members of the Queensland Wildlife Parks Association that have been accredited.

Conway National Park - To the south of Airlie Beach (take the Conway Beach Road off Shute Harbour Road to the west of Cannonvale) are the Cedar Creek Falls which are set in a beautiful and mountainous region on the edge of the Conway National Park. The falls tumble 12 metres through rainforest into a stream which is ideal for swimming if you want to escape the heat and warmth of the ocean.

Popular Day trips include: GREAT BARRIER REEF: Access from Airlie Beach daily by fast motor cruiser around $120-$175 per adult including lunch, snorkelling gear, coral-viewing,submarine. SCUBA diving is an optional extra.

THE ISLANDS: daily from Airlie Beach by maxi-yacht, sailing catamaran, motor cruiser or fast motor catamaran. $32-$125 per adult, according to distance travelled, number of islands visited. The more attractive beaches & better coral reefs are on the outer islands. An average daytrip there incl lunch, snorkelling.etc.

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Population: 20.090.400
Languages: English 79%, native and other languages
Currency: Australian dollar
Currency code: AUD
Local Times:
Australia - Australian Capital Territory - Canberra

Australia - New South Wales - Sydney

Australia - Tasmania - Hobart

Australia - Western Australia - Perth

Country Dialling Code: +61
Voltage: 240V 50Hz
Electrical plugs:
Flat prongs, inverted 'V' positioned with earth connector

Flat prongs, inverted 'V' positioned with earth connector

Australia, officially called the Commonweath of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the continental mainland (the smallest of the World\'s continents).

The continent of Australia, with the island state of Tasmania, is approximately equal in area to the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). Mountain ranges run from north to south along the east coast, reaching their highest point in Mount Kosciusko (7,308 ft; 2,228 m). The western half of the continent is occupied by a desert plateau that rises into barren, rolling hills near the west coast. The Great Barrier Reef, extending about 1,245 mi (2,000 km), lies along the northeast coast. The island of Tasmania (26,178 sq mi; 67,800 sq km) is off the southeast coast.

It may be one of the world's most ancient lands with its mystical red centre and brooding rock formations, but Australia is also characterised by its youthful energy, its freshness and its \'no worries\' philosophy.

Most of the population lives within a few miles of the beach and with the working day beginning and ending early, it\'s not uncommon to see city slickers out of their suits and into the surf come 4.30pm.

In high summer many families will enjoy a simple backyard barbecue several times a week.

The 22-hour journey means most European people visit for at least a couple of weeks, allowing time for all that the country has to offer, including its chic cities, terracotta desert, lush bush and magical ocean reefs.

But the sheer size of Australia means that one visit is unlikely to be enough.

The most popular attractions are undoubtedly Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, but there are now more subtle incentives for a visit.

The wonderful fusion cuisine, the café society, the burgeoning art, culture and fashion scene, and the very real possibility of being the only person for miles around all conspire to make it a wholly alluring experience.

Australia is politically divided into six states and two territories, each one offering a different experience for the traveller. There is the drama of the remote \'Outback\', the colourful spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef and its coral islands, the excitement of the cosmopolitan cities, the sun and surf at some of the best beaches in the world, and the tropical rainforests of Western Australia. The list is endless in this diverse land of adventure, which boasts 2,000 national parks and 14 World Heritage-listed areas, along with more than 7,000 beaches.

Australia is a land of character too, with its melting pot of cultures. For more than 50,000 years the Aboriginal people lived and thrived in the continent\'s unique environment. It is believed the Aboriginals are the world\'s oldest civilisation, and in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in keeping the Aboriginal culture alive and flourishing.

The vast continent at the bottom of the world was the last landmass to be discovered by European explorers. Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay in 1770 and sparked off generations of emigration to Australia, which for some time served as a penal colony. It was not until 1860 that two explorers - Robert Burke and William Wills - became the first Europeans to cross Australia from south to north. The country remains a magnet for modern explorers and adventurers and has a great deal to offer tourists and holidaymakers.