On our last morning in Hamilton Island, we had to be up early to catch the shuttle to the ferry jetty (dock), so we could catch the ferry back to the mainland, so we could head on our 6+-hour road trip to Mission Beach. Our bags were to be picked up at 6:30 am from the room, so we were up before 6, getting packed and showered. We really haven’t had a hard time getting up early on this trip, as we have always had an easterly facing room, looking over the ocean, and we’ve been sleeping with our blinds open. So we said good morning, and good-bye, to our balcony view for the last time.
Evidently, there was a miscommunication with the desk between a handful of the staff, and the shuttle left without us. No worries, though. The porter grabbed a buggy (golf cart) and drove us down to the jetty himself. Finally, we were down in the “downtown” area when there was some light, so we got a couple pictures of the limited shopping area on Hamilton Island.
Across the harbor, there’s a bakery and a couple restaurants. The bakery was only open from 7 am – 10 am, though, so we never made it over to check it out. By the bakery, there was also some beachwear, souvenirs, and boutique clothing shopping to be had.
This is one of the other hotels on the island, and while I don’t believe it’s the tallest hotel, because of its location on the island, I believe it’s the highest.
There was a little deli available for sandwiches and the like.
In general, the island was laid out a quiet island resort street, with all the establishments right on the water, with a harbor view.
At the end of this street, you can see Romano’s, where we had dinner the night prior.
There was a nice, quaint ice cream parlor, which we never made it to. They had some great-looking ice cream, and it was one of the more flexible establishments, in terms of operating hours, but ice cream just wasn’t in the cards for us.
At the ferry jetty, they had the sea state for FantaSea’s ReefWorld, where we saw the Great Barrier Reef. The incoming Cyclone Ului (category 3 hurricane), was headed right for Hamilton Island, and was coming via ReefWorld. The same reason our trip to the reef had been so rough, had now closed ReefWorld for the day (and probably through the Cyclone’s entire track), and was going to make our ferry right a bit interesting.
I know it’s hard to read, but it says 3.5-4 meter swells, and wind speeds from 30-40 knots.
Our ride back to the mainland, despite the fact that it was only 20 minutes, and despite the fact that the passage is largely protected by other islands, was rough. Several times our catamaran yawed hard, causing things to slide, and in one case, causing the five-foot high luggage cart to overturn. The crew was remarkably responsive, but completely unpanicked, which made the Wife and I feel a lot better. Both of us ended up feeling a little queasy. We had brought books, and were reading them during the trip, and by the time we realized that the reading and rolling wasn’t a good mix, we felt just the slightest bit uneasy. Not to worry, though, the short trip kept us from having any real problems.
From Shute Harbour, where the ferry dropped us off, we drove to the adjacent town of Airlie Beach. It was a fun little beach town, and we walked around looking for petrol (gas) and brekky.
The nice, quiet beach town was asleep when we got there at 8:30 am.
It had all the typical beach town amenities, though, including bright pastel signs.
They also had a Subway. We’ve heard that Australia has more Subways per capita than any other country, to include the U.S. For those of you that don’t know, I worked at a Subway in my hometown on and off for about five years, so Subway holds a special place in my heart. The smell of its fresh bread means more to me than just “eat fresh.” It also represents dozens of nights crawling into bed after a long day of school and subsequent work at Subway, drifting off to the smell of bread. I suppose there are worse things to drift off to sleep to.
As a side note, after years and years of FREE Subway food, though, I have a REALLY hard time paying for anything from Subway. Consequently, I love smelling the stores, but I rarely enjoy any of the food. To be fair, the owner of “my” Subway was a complete stickler for cleanliness. Our store was always remarkably clean, and high quality was always one of his big points. So I do NOT suffer from the problem that so many fast-food employees suffer from, of being unable to stomach food from my previous employer.
Once again, being a beach town, there was a pretty laid-back feeling to it all. Here is a picture of what, as best as I can tell, is a hive for backpackers and caravaners. This place helped travelers get travel caravans, find hostels or backpacker hotels (of which Airlie Beach had plenty), and provided some additional traveler services for backpackers and caravaners. Travel caravans have been very popular along our road trip. Think of a Volkswagen Vanagon, only a little smaller, with three or four people inside, along with a couple folding beds, cupboard, etc. Everywhere we’ve gone, there are caravan parks available for travel caravans.
As we walked around, looking for breakfast, we came across a couple interesting places. We decided on Capers, at the Airlie Beach Hotel. Really, what roped us in, was that they had percolated coffee on the menu!
They also had bagels on the menu, which we hadn’t seen anywhere. While we’re all about trying, experiencing and enjoying local cuisine and customs, sometimes it’s nice to have a slice of home in a foreign land. With a couple North American delights on the menu, we were hooked. Interestingly, the assistant manager (who handled our order), commented that they catered to North American.
So, this is the ONLY place I have seen brekky spelled like this, but I thought I would at least include the shot.
They were nice enough to define how to order and pay. We still haven’t gotten the hang of it, but it is getting easier.
It had a nice inside and outside seating area.
Once we sat down, CLEARLY they cater to North Americans, because they had ketchup (catsup?). This is the first time we’ve seen ketchup in Australia. Normally, if you want something like it, you ask for “tomato sauce,” and something very similar, but distinctly different is served to you. It’s usually a little thinner than ketchup, and definitively less sweet.
The Wife had a nice cappuccino and a bagel sandwich.
Both the bagels were served with hollandaise, as the sandwiches came with eggs Benedict on them. Interestingly, the eggs come completely cooked, with no soft yolk, which really significantly changes what we think of when we order eggs Benedict.
I had a bacon, Swiss, and eggs Benedict. I knew we probably wouldn’t be able to have lunch, as we would be pushing to get to Mission Beach before it gets too late, so I added a couple eggs on the side. Everything was so remarkably fresh, we could barely believe it. We were pretty hungry, but it didn’t change the fact that the food was delicious.
And finally, my percolated coffee in my beloved mug. The coffee was STRONG, but it had that distinct filtered texture, and I savored every drop.
After breakfast, we headed out to the beach, just to take a quick walk around before getting on the road. The beach was directly across the street from Capers. There was a nice park and a pleasant, manicured path all along the beach.
The weather doesn’t appear to be too rough, but it was somewhat windy. Otherwise, though, the weather was fantastic while we were in Airlie Beach.
We set up our tripod and got a quick picture of us.
A handful of landscapers were putting up this billboard showing the dangers of both the box and irukandji jellyfish. We thought it was interesting that while the box jellyfish is considered to be the most agonizing sting of any beast on earth, all jellyfish stings should be treated as an irukandji sting, when in doubt. Vinegar is used to flush the venom from a sting, and a bottle of vinegar was provided attached to the sign. Keep in mind, this wasn’t a small flyer, but an eight-foot tall sign.
Overall, we were remarkably pleased with Airie Beach and figured that, if given the option again, while Hamilton Island was fantastic, we probably could have spent a couple days in Airlie Beach, too, saved a couple nickels, and still had a fabulous time.
After Airlie Beach, we were off on another road trip, heading to Mission Beach. Stay tuned for our next post about our trip.
This stand of candy sticks takes me back to my childhood when my family would stop at a Cracker Barrel when driving cross country. I remember that I used to buy a handful of these with my allowance before getting back on the road.
One of the reasons Cracker Barrel was on the list of options for breakfast was that the Husband and I had heard about their Audiobooks selection. You can rent an audio book at one Cracker Barrel and return it at a later location. After looking through the selection, we learned that to sign up to the program, you have to pay the full price for the selection and then get a refund when you return it. We also learned that there are zero Cracker Barrels in Nevada!!! We decided to skip getting one and stick to our ipods and the radio for the rest of the drive.
The item we decided to split was an order of pancakes. The Husband normally just uses syrup but I was in a fruit mood and had strawberries added to it. Personally, I though the strawberries were better than the pancakes, but I’m not a huge pancake fan 🙂
The Husband and I each ordered eggs over easy and a form of breakfast meat. Turkey sausage patties for me. (These were good!)
As side dishes, the Husband’s meal came with grits (he added sugar) and biscuits and gravy. While he enjoyed the biscuits, he felt they were more like rolls than biscuits. The gravy had something left to be desired.
Breaksfast was just like any other Cracker Barrel meal. Fine, but not great. I go, rarely as it is, as a travel restaurant to experience the atmosphere. I leave you with a photo of one of my favorite parts of the Cracker Barrel porch. I hope to one day have a similar scene on a porch of my next or future home 🙂 
The Hungry Wanderers 