Posted the blog last night. Then we had a light dinner and watched some tv. Then discovered tiny bugs in our room. They were around the kitchen area and coming out of some cracks in the wall behind the bed, too. They were tiny, around the size of a pin head. So, we decided to leave around 10 pm. We cleaned up as much as we could and carried our bags down three stairways to the ground floor and our car. Mark called the number on the office door and told them we were leaving due to the bugs. He told them he left the room key in their door as the office was locked up. Then he checked and found another motel a couple of blocks away. We were able to get a late room and climbed up only one floor as we didn't take many bags with us. We watched the 2nd Mama Mia movie, but didn't watch it till the end as we were exhausted. I woke up around 5 am and could not fall back asleep. We discovered more bugs at this hotel, around the kitchen area. This was horrible. We went thru everything in our bags and repacked our food in clean zip locks. It took quite a while. We did not want to eat in there, so we packed up and gave feedback to the office. They apologized. We are hoping that booking.com will refund our hotel rates. We drove thru rain at one point. The dark skies blocked the sunshine so the temperature dropped to 26C. The rain didn't last long and the rest of the day was clear and hot enough.
We started our 3-hour drive to Airlie Beach where we had reservations. We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds, for the first time, in Ayr. Then we spotted a car wash across the street and knew that we needed to hose off some of the dead bugs off the front of our car. Along the way were field after field of sugar cane. We saw lots of cattle in colors of brown, beige and black. There were also some sheep farms and we were guessing mango trees. The one town we passed a town called, Mango. We saw some grape farms too. Then in some places it looked like empty fields with protective plastic strips, maybe covering some newly planted crops. Lots of green areas along our way. Many more houses along our drive. As we drove out of Ayr, we spotted signs for the Inkerman's Lookout. We drove up to the top and walked out thru their trails. Lots of great views of the mountains around us. The temperature reached 29C today. However, it was hazy in the distant mountains and it looked like rain.
We took a side tour of Bowden Beach. We stopped and walked the beach for a bit to get some exercise. There was a golf course and caravan park close by. Then we waited to have lunch in Airley Beach. We stopped at a shopping mall which also had a gas station. Fuel was down to $1.38 which was the cheapest so far on this trip. Mark had a ham & cheese panini while I had some vegetables and rice for mine. We bought some more bottles of water and a couple other things. Then headed to our flat which we rented for two nights. The place is up the hill overlooking Airley Beach. What a beautiful place. Our condo is on the same level as the twin infinity pools. There is also a hot tub, also overlooking the many boats in the marina and anchorage below. Our resort also offered an additional discount on their tours. So, we picked up several flyers and took most of our bags up to the flat. It's a 2-bedroom but we are only using one. It has a beautiful large kitchen, living room, bathroom and washer & dryer. There is also a balcony. We selected one of the tours for tomorrow, which is a boat ride out to a pontoon located on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef so we can snorkel over it. I have seen this place on a national geographic show years ago. They will provide food, drinks and snorkel gear as well as a stinger suits and wet suits too. Once our tour was arranged, we got into our swim suits and checked out the pool. The water in the two infinity pools was very cold. I'm surprised I actually got in. However, after a while, you didn't notice how cold the water was. It was so amazing and we enjoyed hanging onto the edge and watching some sailboats heading out thru the anchorage for the Wednesday night races. Then we enjoyed the hot tub. Mark turned on the jets and we enjoyed a water massage. Heading back to our flat and showered. Then had a short nap as we will up far too early this morning. We needed some soap for the washing machine and some rinse too. So, we drove down the beach, which isn't too far away, but we wanted to drive around the marina and see exactly where we need to be at 7 am tomorrow. Mark picked up some wine and popcorn and we added the clothes detergent. We drove around Airley Beach which has a lot of restaurants and shops. The waterfront was lovely. We drove back up the mountain to our flat. I started one load of laundry and we have a few more to do before we leave this place. We also decided to stay for 3 nights. It's such a perfect place. We may select another tour too, but know we will be tired out. It will take our ship 3 hours to get to the Heart Pontoon. It's 39 miles from shore on Hardy Reef, passing the Whitsundays Islands along the way. I'm excited and looking forward to our snorkel. They also have a semi-submersible as well as an underwater observatory. Can't wait to see it all. The first thing Mark did when we got back tonight, was make a bag of microwave popcorn. We enjoyed it with the wine and my Baileys & almond milk drink. It was plenty dark out but we could see the anchor lights on the sailboats in the anchorage, plus the running lights for the sailboats returning to the marina. What a great view. This is one of the best places we have seen on our land travels. Thanks for the many emails and messages. A very happy birthday, to my sister, Elizabeth!