Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Airlie Beach - East Australia
Round The World Trip Journal

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(15th - 20th April) Airlie Beach - Around Town
Once the sun had come out at Bowen we were lucky in that it stayed out for the whole of our stay at Airlie which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. It’s a bit of a culture shock to start with cause it’s backpacker central and we hadn’t seen this since Cairns. But everything is open all the time and there are good eateries all over the place – including great tender steaks at the Hogs Breath Café (thanks for the recommendation Shaun and Jo!). We both remembered little about the town from our previous visits but they have obviously done so much work to the place in the last 10 years and improved the place big time. We both remembered the place as solely backpacker based but now Airlie has a lot more upmarket accommodation and is attracting the money people with big boats too! They have a lovely foreshore area with palm fringed beaches and a big lagoon area for safe stinger (jellyfish) free swimming. The photo with the big chrome triangles and the person shade-baking under a palm tree show the lagoon area. The best thing about Australia compared to the UK is that all these public areas are provided free of charge and they are beautifully maintained. Airlie is all about the sea and there are two access points to the Whitsundays - you can see the Marina at Able Point in the photo here – and the other is Shute Harbour. We spent a lovely day just chilling out around Airlie and had a long leisurely Barramundi and chips lunch overlooking the beach with a glass of wine – how decadent! We were the only ones in there and the service was great – even a free photo by the waitress so you can see just how much weight we’re putting on as a result of all this good living!

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The highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.