All's well in Airlie

DAY 6
Location: Townsville/Airlie Beach
Temp: 26 C
Activities: Return ferry from Magnetic Island, Townsville proper, killing time, bus ride to Airlie, Airlie welcome drink at Down Under Bar!
Accommodation: XBase Airlie Beach Resort

I've fallen into this up-before-everyone-else trend. The nice bit is I usually have whatever place I'm at to myself in the early morning. I walked into Thomas as I went to get my breakfast purchased yesterday alongside the milk I needed for my pasta lunch, and we double-checked where our parties would be in the coming days. Thomas promised me his famous 'Australian Care Package' in exchange for doing some 'cheaper' shopping back in the states. Because seriously, things here are wicked expensive. My six-inch sub lunch at Subway cost $10! But I digress, we again agreed to meet at Noosa and I went to check on my clothes still hanging up on the line. Nothing stolen. That's nice. They were still a bit damp, and I went back to the bungalow to catch up on blog entries before my alarm went off and I had to pack up to check out. My clothes were still a bit damp when I yanked them from the line, but I got everything tucked away and was sorry to check out--this place was really neat!

I snuck aboard the top deck on the return trip from Magnetic Island to Townsville on the SeaLink ferry. This is us waiting in Nelly Bay.

Shuttle to ferry to Townsville took about forty minutes all together and I was starving when I got back to town, so I hauled my heavy backpack down mainstreet and pondered whether to shore up the cash for another Marlin Tavern repeat when I espied a Subway down Falinger St. As you've read, lunch was outrageous, but I exchanged banter with the girl working the counter as she apologized for not having the fixings for whatever a "Philly Cheesesteak" was. She asked me how Subway was different in the States and I told her more cheese selection, more toppings, and cheaper by far! She laughed about that.

Townsville's prominent face: Castle Hill as pictured from the SeaLink ferry. I regret not having the time to climb the beast.

Townsville's Great Barrier Reef Aquarium. I didn't feel inclined to see it after having dived the actual reef, but there it is!

This terrifying superstructure of a spider stretched its metal-work web above the street. Seriously, that thing was as big as the cars directly below it. 

I sat down to eat and glowered at majestic Castle Hill, the facing monolith rock of Townsville, and how I didn't have the time to hike it with my heavy load and get back to the bus stop in time. I headed back down the main drag and stopped in Anzac Memorial Park to swing for a bit, then continued on to the ferry station which also ports the Greyhound.

I wandered around Townsville's Anzac Memorial Park to kill some time waiting for the bus.

 I made friends with a Japanese girl who looked tired standing with all her things and scooted over for her to sit. When I tell folks out here I'm from Hawaii they freak out. "You're from...huh? ...HAWAII!?" Half don't believe me, and the other half ask what they should do for their vacation there. A handful have already been and they dish about their conquests which is always fun.

It was a long bus ride from Townsville to Airlie Beach and I almost tried to board a northbound bus. The driver took it in stride though, he must get that a lot. (In my own defense, our bus was late.) From 3:15, sunset chased us until 7 when we arrived. The bus roared past the XBase hostel and went on and on and I was like "Stop please, please stop! I already forget where it was..." but thankfully I wasn't the only one disoriented. A couple of riders were going to the same place and we banded together after getting directions from someone who overheard our directional troubles. Again the whole "WHERE are we going now that we're here?!" Thing. Plus it was dark! But man, even in the dark my first impression of this place is backpacker party central. Bars and al fresco eats were packed, disco lights flashing, pounding music, and somehow it only seemed to be getting started. If I was with a group of friends, I would be out in it, schedule be damned.

Despite being the very last hostel on the strip and farthest from the bus stop, this place is all right. It's a hostel that tries to act like a hotel, which suits me fine. I got soap! I was happy to be told I'd been upgraded to a 4-bed female dorm free of charge, and feeling glad for that, purchased a WiFi allowance to post since I've been disconnected for more than 48 hours; 47 hours too long. I also received a free drink voucher from the local bar, so after showering, posting catalogued blog posts, and checking mail, I went out to collect my free cocktail--a Sprite mixer with something blue and something purple--the bartender called it a "blue tingly" I believe. It was very good! I still have yet to try a XXXX, but I did have a can of Toohey which was actually quite good! I might become a beer drinker yet. I watched a pair of guys play a game of pool before taking my leave. The music was a bit too loud to start any conversations and I would have preferred having a wingman (lady?) to watch my back out there.

It's just as well, I have a date ripping around the Whitsundays tomorrow morning.