Australian Vacation - Day 11
Airlie Beach
Got picked up by some chipper Aussie bloke at 8am in some sort of un-armored personnel carrier. The ride over to the starting spot for our Jet ski safari was bumpy, cramped and uncomfortable but the guide made it all worthwhile. He talked the whole way about all sorts of interesting facts about the area and the wildlife and I finally got an answer to that burning question about why Burger King is called Hungry Jacks.
Drove through some back woods and some dirt roads and eventually we found what must have been the only sunny part in all of Queensland, tucked in between some mountains. Got our safety lesson and hopped on the jet ski. The schedule for the day is pretty flexible so although we were originally going to head up to an island, the guide decided it was too windy and rough on the open ocean so he turned us back and we hugged the coast for a while until we found the mouth of a river.
Once we got to the river, we made our way up in search of salt water crocodiles and turtles. Well unfortunately we didn’t end up finding either, probably due to the insane downpour that started just as we headed up river. At even moderate speeds, falling rain feels like ice pellets hitting your face, and it was pouring so hard I was literally blinded, even though I was wearing sun glasses. We stopped briefly to put on some goggles they had provided and that definitely helped. The heavy rain didn’t last too long thankfully, but crocs typically like sunny weather, and that wasn’t happening so we were out of luck.
On our way back up river, we had the opportunity to change drivers, and this guy from Scotland took the helm of the jet ski in front of us. He started zigging and zagging, getting more and more aggressive. Andrea was more than clear in her disapproval of such behavior while clenching tightly at my vest from the back seat. Well it turns out her disapproval was spot on as the guy got too aggressive and hit a wave at high speed and ejected both him and his wife’s best friend off the jet ski in the middle of a crocodile infested river. They both ended up about 20m from the ski and the people closest to them said they had never seen two people swim so frantically.
In the end though, all was ok, everyone had a great time and even Andrea was eventually convinced to try her hand at driving. It was my first time on a jet ski and it was tons of fun. It’s definitely more fun on flat water since you can open up the throttle without worry of hitting a big wave. We had a delicious lunch before heading back to rainy Airlie beach. Airlie Beach is only supposed to get 80mm of rain in the month of November. I’m pretty sure it got that much today. It just dumped all day. I swear it must have rained so hard that it was raining frogs because on our drive back from dinner, we literally almost ran over a dozen frogs of all sizes. From teeny tiny ones to giant toads hopping way too slowly out of the way.
This unfortunately marks the end of our stay in Queensland. We fly back to Sydney tomorrow and that will also be our last full day in Australia. Boy how time flies.
