Big 4 Airlie Beach

Well we have been at the Big 4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort in Airlie Beach since Wednesday and it is now Saturday night, and after discussing caravan parks in the last blog you may ask what does the Big 4 stand for?  Funny you may ask because I don't know.  It definitely has 4 big attractions- it's own mini golf course which is quality and if you have your own gear (which we do) you play for free; a great pool with 2 water slides; a jumping pillow with a big kids playground; and a tennis, badminton and volleyball court; not to mention the hotel style entrance with quality service, booking your boat trips for you, storing your caravan for free and giving you a free night when you return.  But I think it probably just means big 4 a caravan park.  We skyped Emma and Pete last night organising their Darwin to Broome trip for end of July and we hope to catch up with the Lummos in Trinity Beach and Fi and Ant in Port Douglas next month.  It has rained quite a lot but the weather has steadily got better.  This was a good opportunity to do some general repairs- curtains, door, bike, etc.
Yesterday we skateboarded down to the skatepark and saw Jeff Malley's boat in the marina and saw lots of fish swimming around including big flying fish called long tons.

 Today was sunny all day, so we had a great morning in the pool and had an obstacle course challenge- swim, run, waterslide climb then go down other, run through water around fountains then reverse back.  Arch won the first round in 1min 36, followed by Gaz 1min 55 and Wooz about 20secs behind.  So we had a second run and I got Arch by 2 secs in a 1.28 and Kirst had a go and fell back down the slide and pulled out after a strong start.  Then Wooz and NaDan had running races around the pool.  It won't be long before the boys crush us. We had the pool to ourselves for an hour and loved it. 



Then we fired up for the mini golf challenge after Arch beat Kirst and I and Paul off the stick by a big 4 shots yesterday, when we played with Paul and Karen, and Wooz was only 3 shots behind us.  We had given Nat a handicap of 20, Wooz 10 and Arch 5 but we had to rehandicap Wooz to 5 and Arch to scratch because we were playing for a double scoop icecream and it went right to the wire with Nat finishing on 49, Wooz 48, Arch 52 (had 1 bad hole), and Kirst and I finishing on 47 a piece.  Then sadly Kirst won in a playoff.

So off we went on a bike ride down the boardwalk for icecreams, funnily Kirst was the only one who didn't have a double- apparently the boys (meaning me) are all gluttonous and spend too much money!  But hey we are on official school holidays at the moment.

 So we rode down to the lagoon then on the way back stopped for beer and 2 for 1 pizzas.

Just as we were getting back to the caravan park we saw there was a bullriding rodeo on across the road (which brought me back to our engagement party), but we had never seen one before so went over to see some amazing action, those guys are tough because those bulls were crazy.

Wooz was freaking out at the start because a rider was stomped by the bull but soon relaxed into the cowboy scene.  I went over to the bar to get a bourbon not a shit Queensland bundy and the barmen told me you can tell a Victorian because you can't tell him much.  I guessed he must have heard I was thinking of skippering our own boat around the Whitsundays.  You will be pleased to know that we took the sensible option and are going on the Solway Lass for 3 days and 3 nights (leaving Tuesday night) which is a 100yr old tall ship with a big rope swing and looks like a lot of fun.  You can check it out at australiantallships.com.
To finish I need to discuss the 2 days before we arrived in Airlie just to clear the air a little, so to speak.  On our last day in Agnes we had a great arvo ride down to 1770 after another good morning of surf.  The swell got bigger and I plucked a few screamers.  Arch nearly got poleaxed by another out of control longboarder, then I gave his board a little ding with the nose of my board just sitting in the water together.  Lots of repairs needed for the Archman's board while it has a hard earned rest.  1770 is a really pretty spot with a great cafe/restaurant called The Tree and we stopped for milkshakes at another little cafe at the marina and the people there were super.  They gave us fish food to feed the fish off the marina and we said we would come back in the morning for brekky.  So we rode back to Kahuna's for dinner which was a cool surfie restaurant and pigged out on seafood then on the ride back in the dark Wooz got his thong caught in the bike and took all the skin off big his toe- very distressing but patched him up and went to bed.  Next morning we got up early thinking we would do a big drive to Clairview (over 400km) so we would only have about 300 the next day to Airlie Beach.  So we skipped our big brekky and took off, not stopping at Rocky for lunch thinking we would find somewhere nice in a small town.  Well between Rocky and Airlie we stepped into the twilight zone.  We stopped in Marlborough for a late lunch at 3 because we couldn't find anywhere else and the place looked deserted.  Inside the only shop that sold food was an old hag that just stared at us with a look of hatred and I am sure a shottie under the counter.  We made the mistake of ordering food of her and it was foul.  NaDan threw up in the car after that and when we arrived at the Clairview caravan park in the middle of nowhere the people there were really weird too.  Paul and Karen thought they were swingers, but they were definitely rednecks.  This flea bitten huge ugly dog jumped up on our car as we drove in as if to say "welcome suckers", and when we pulled up we found the cable from the camper to the car, for the electricals and breaks, had fallen out and completely severed off.  Then we tried to put up the camper and one of the poles that holds it up was broken.  Then the lights wouldn't work, and neither would the water filter and the water tasted like urine.  Where was E when we needed him?  Luckily the locals, be it weird were quite helpful, and we got a broomstick cut to hold the camper up, changed the fuse and locked ourselves safely in the camper.  By that stage the boys were completely troppo, as it had been such a long day, and we felt like yabbies boiling in a big pot.  The boys were stuffing whole bananas in their mouths and trying to chew and swallow them without choking!  So the next day we left by about 9 and found an auto electrician in Mackay that would fix our cable, but it did take a good couple of hours.  The Child rang at that time which broke up the boredom nicely and he put us onto iview (the abc tv on the net) to watch a surfing doco which we did that night and the boys got to learn about the hazards of drug taking, nudist camps, avoiding conscription and living off the land!  Anyways Wooz wanted to try the KFC Combo Pack because the boys had never had KFC and that was supposed to be "livin the dream" so we bit the bullet and stopped and got takeaways.  As we walked out to the car the heavens opened up and we got soaked, then Kirst got in the car and knocked her smoothy all over her and Wooz took one bite of the KFC and said he was going to throw up.  So we stopped in Porsepine and bought some quality strawberries (and strawberry jam), at the side of the road, and scoffed them to try and feel better.  It was raining in Airlie by the time we got there about 4pm but we got everything set up and Kirst cooked a nice spag bog.  Then we watched Bombora and finally felt cleansed of the last 2 days in the twilight zone.
Thank God for the Big 4.