Day 65 – Wednesday 22 September 2021 – 176 Km

My goodness, was it ever windy during the night & still blowing very strongly this morning. Our washing is first item on the agenda today, followed by breakfast. Our clothesline under the back of the van gets filled again, a very handy spot.

The drive to Cedar Creek Falls takes only around 20 minutes through cane farms then cattle farms then bush. The car park is full & overflowing back down the road, we are lucky that someone is just leaving. The falls are not that far from the carpark & they are not falling, it is the dry season, so no rain. The large pool at the base of the falls looks a little stagnant & no-one is in swimming. A few people are at the top of the falls, one person is throwing large rocks over the edge to hear the splash. There are warning signs about not jumping from the top all around, there have been deaths & serious injury.

Next is another short drive to Conway Beach, this is again through small farms and ends at the mouth of the Proserpine River with a collection of around 50 houses plus a caravan park in the back. The wind is blowing very strongly & the sea is covered in whitecaps with the sea a muddy brown colour. It is not very pleasant standing on the beachfront so we get back into our car & drive to Wilson Beach, another small hamlet with about the same number of houses, but no caravan park. We don’t get out of the car, it is so windy. We then decide to drive to Shute Harbour through Airlie Beach. Again more cane farms but as we get closer suburbia is expanding rapidly out from the coastline, it has changed so much since we were last here 16 years ago.

Shute Harbour is very windy as well, we notice a yacht that has been blown onto rocks next to the road.  We stop at the Lion’s Lookout overlooking the ferry terminal & the wind is whipping down the harbour so we get back into our warm car. Airlie Beach is very busy, it is school holiday time & there are lots of people around. We are fortunate to get a carpark in the main street then we go looking for a seafood place for lunch. There is one not too far away & it is fairly busy, we have around a 20 minute wait for our seafood. The view is pleasant, looking out over the park to the bay that is packed with sailing boats sitting on water that is such an amazing blue colour. There is a nice path along the beachfront & we have a short walk along it, there are lots of people. On the beachfront is a really large public lagoon that is free to use & caters for all ages, it is a great facility to have. There are lots of people sitting around on the grass under the swaying palm trees.

We refuel at Cannonvale & head back to Proserpine then out through it a further 21km to Peter Faust Dam, the water storage facility for Proserpine & the Whitsunday coast. This is a really large dam with a collection of caravans & motorhomes camped on the shoreline. It is really windy here as well & there is no-one on the water. This dam is usually a very popular fishing spot, but today it is just so windy. The drive back through the cane farms is pleasant & we get back to camp at around 4pm, collect the washing & prepare dinner. Another great day.