Did you know Queensland, Australia doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings Time?
Don’t worry, I didn’t know either. In fact, I was so convinced they did, I got myself out of bed an hour earlier on day 4 of our trip because I thought my phone hadn’t adjusted automatically since it wasn’t connected to data. But no, it was because while a good portion Australia did “spring forward” that evening, the states of Queensland and Western Australia simply did not.
So in other words, the ladies and we got a head start on our 9-hour car ride to Airlie Beach because we got up at 5:30 am. This did, thankfully, give us time to stop and get coffee, even if the only place open was Zarraffa’s, something that appeared to be the Australia equivalent of Starbucks. (It was tasty though.)
I would like to say the drive was full of adventure and fun roadside attractions, but it wasn’t. The Pacific Coast Highway in Australia really requires more time than we had to truly explore and experience everything it has to offer. Meant to be done over a week, we drove the entire distance over 2 days, so we could check off another site (and one of my bucket-list items,) visiting the Whitsundays.
We broke up this day of driving with a brief stop in Townsville, the capital of tropical North Queensland. Everyone told us this was a place we had to stop, but honestly, there wasn’t much to see. Maybe this is because we didn’t have enough time to explore the area outside of downtown, but I’m not convinced.
But there was a bright spot. In a part of downtown that felt deserted and run down, we stumbled on a restaurant called “Simply Tops.” And this restaurant actually lived up to its name as it was simply, tops. That is to say, it was some of the tastiest food I had on the entire trip, and that’s saying something! Especially because all I ordered was a fish sandwich. (Which was served on white bread no less!)
Eventually, after miles and miles (or should I say kilometers and kilometers) of forest and land, we arrived in Airlie Beach: an adorable sea-side town with a “party” vibe. We didn’t spend much time out on the town though, choosing to instead buy groceries and bottles of liquor in hopes of saving money.
I have to say, the night-in was fun. This and was undoubtfully helped by the uniqueness of our lodging: the Kipara Tropical Rainforest Resort. Nestled in the jungle outside of the downtown, the resort offers guests a chance to stay in cabins or single rooms among the lush greenery of the rainforest. It was fun and novel, even if I got bit by a few mosquitoes.
