Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands

Day 112

Did you know that the Whitsunday Islands are named after the day (a Sunday) on which they were first discovered? Captain James Cook discovered the passage he named Whitsunday Passage on Whit Sunday, June 3, 1770. (Not sure how and when they became the Islands, though).

Whit Sunday, of course(!), is the day of the year on which the Christian Church celebrates the visitation of the Holy Spirits upon the Apostles during Pentecost. 

The Whitsunday Islands are a group of more than 200 islands in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. 

We spent a few hours in and about Airlie Beach, Queensland, a popular holiday destination in the Whitsundays. Again, the impossibly blue waters and creamy sands were inviting... but we did a quick tour of the area around it instead. 

Like in much of Australia, the pandemic had decimated a big chunk of the tourist industry. Tour guides were hard to find. We had a school bus driver masquerading as a tour guide. 

He drove us to Prosperine, a little rural town about 20 minutes from Airlie beach, with a sugar processing past. We stopped at a museum that depicted the town's history, and decorated local heroes. 

A handful of  photos from Airlie Beach and Prosperine below. 

Above 2 photos: Airlie Beach area from the bus 

Corrugated Iron homes for sugar workers in Prosperine - replica at the museum

Compositor's Desk - An interesting museum piece - the desk is about 2/3 the size of the original typesetter's workstation at Prosperine's weekly Guardian newspaper. It was reduced in size to fit the museum display requirements! Yup, it's that kind of museum. Quaint. The desk was built locally to house all the blocks of linotype needed to produce a newspaper! 

An exhibit depicting the Great Barrier Reef, and fauna that existed in the area at the time

Sugar processing operation in Prosperine today

Sugaracane in Prosperine

Prosperine countryside from the bus