Airlie Beach Whitsundays

An average day today despite the sun shining with a top of 24 degrees.  We got away later than we had planned, not because we weren't ready, but because we got caught up talking to our neighbours from Albury.  On to Airlie Beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands.  We arrived at 10.30 AM ready to scout around for the best caravan park.  The "Big 4" was first and you could see why they charge nearly $100 a night, although I think its a rort.  Its paradise for the kids, with water slides, jumping pillow, pool, kids clubs, outdoor movies and so on.  Their systems were down and they couldn't tell us if they had a vacancy so we thought we'd check out the other parks while we waited to hear on availability.  None were a patch on it so we headed back hopeful of some good news.  An hour or so later they offered us a grass site at the back of the park with a deep creek just behind the van.  Ah I don't think so.  What part of wandering 2 year old dont you get?  We tried to negotiate but it was all too hard and left unhappy.  They could only offer us a decent site from Saturday, so we booked for three nights and went in search of another park until then.  After another stressful hour or so driving around and a few heated exchanges between a cranky pants mother and poor Rick, we finally settled on a site that looked clean but pretty ordinary in comparison.  The park filled up as the afternoon progressed and before we knew it, we had neighbours everywhere.  And they were all lovely, mostly grey nomads from NSW and VIC.  Things didn't seem so bad and Rick and I even managed a few pleasantries. The kids made friends with a brother and sister (7 and 6) within minutes of getting here. Bella and Matt were from Port Hedland and have been traveling for 7 months with their mum and dad. Could it be? Finally another young family traveling like us? We might need to explore this further. They coloured in, played on their scooters and went off to the playground. And Matt talked as much as Max, so he was happy.  Great, no more complaining about the other park. A quick trip off to the supermarket and the day was over. Good.