Whitsunday Islands is an archipelago in the Coral Sea amid the Great Barrier Reef. There are 74 islands in the group. There is no port deep enough to tie up at a dock. So we anchored off shore and tendered into Arlie Beach. This town was most interesting. As of the last census it has 875 fulltime residents. And 20,000 tourists at a time. It supposedly has more liquor licenses per capita than any city in the world. the main street is hotels, bars and restaurants. Once in a while there was a store for swimming. Not exactly interesting except to go to the reef. Instead we took an included (free) scenic tour inland. Our major stop was in the town of Proserpine, a major sugar producing area. The people obviously knew there was a ship in port and they would have several bus loads of tourists. They were out on the streets helping us any way they could. There was a quilt show just at the bus stop.
So we asked if there was a shop with native Aboriginal fabric. Yes, of course. So we went there. Two more meters of material is now safe in our suitcase under the bed. We also walked through a grocery store and bought a package of Custard Cream cookies. They were my favorite cookie when we lived in England.
The shore was a pretty area with high blue skies but difficult to get a good sharp picture. And it was very hot and humid. We have been warned that the further north we go in Australia, the hotter it will get.
Johnson's Travel 