Airlie Beach

We had a bit of a shock on the road not far south of Townsville - a wild pig came running out of the bushes on the other side of the road and straight into us. We can only assume that it was being chased by something, as it was going like a bat out of hell and it didn't deviate. It hit us on the a-frame, at the front of the van, which is probably lucky, as if it had hit onto a wheel we could have had quite a nasty accident. As it is it knocked off the tap which is on the a-frame, and broke the end of the stabiliser at the front of the van (sort of like a leg which winds down to stop the van from rocking when you are parked up). The tap was easily screwed back on, and luckily the pipe wasn't broken as we haven't had any leaks. We will need to get a replacement foot for the stabiliser when we get somewhere a bit bigger. The incident gave us a nasty shock and shows how quickly disaster can strike - it certainly struck for the pig who after hitting into us then getting run over by the van is unlikely to be dashing anywhere ever again. After that stopping at the Big Mango at Bowen for some mango ice cream and a photo opportunity seemed rather tame!

Airlie Beach is a tourist resort on the Whitsunday Passage, nearly 300km south of Townsville. It is full of cafes, bars and offices booking tours and cruises to the Whitsunday Islands. We had been hoping for a game of golf, but the course that used to be here has closed down. Having been to a few barrier reef islands lately we weren't interested in any of the cruises, we did however do some walking in the nearby Conway National Park, providing magnificent views over the Whitsunday Passage and islands. It was actually lucky that we didn't have too much planned, as Wendy came down with a mysterious 24 hour tummy bug, so one day was spent lounging around the van not too far from the bathroom. Luckily 10 hours sleep that night saw her right.