Saturday early morning I drove with the rented car back into the town and returned it, so Heather didn’t need to give me a lift. Nevertheless, I needed to walk 2.5 km to the railway station with all my belongings, and as I was some minutes late, but also the train was supposed to be – but you’ll never no, I better worried up. And after 25 minutes I arrived at the platform, exactly the same time as the train did, and sweated already. After departure from Mackay I could see the sunrise from the train and the lovely early morning. It was only a short ride until Proserpine, where I already got off the train. The transfer bus to Airlie beach already waited, and after less than half an hour I got dropped off in the middle of thsi tourist town. After the rain shower during noon I started some hiking. I crossed the town and ascended on the other side, at the start of the Honey Eater trail. Luckily this trail was mostly shaded, but nevertheless the high humidity made you immediately sweat. The trail was steadily going uphill, but easily to follow, just some patches were a bit muddy and slippery due to the recent rainfall. In total after less than two hours I arrived at the Honey Eater lookout, which give you a great view over Airlie Beach to the Whitsunday islands. The afternoon thunderstorm was just approaching, and this made a spectacular view over the bay. Luckily the trail was only partly affected by some rain drops. The main enemy were all the mosquitoes. The spray obviously doesn’t work anymore, as you just sweat it away, so I only relied on my clothing. I made a break on the lookout and observed how the thunderstorm passed by, before I made my way back down. More or less opposite to the supermarket the Airlie Creek trail starts. That’s a short one way walk along the creek, basically through the same forest as the Honey Eater trail. So even as it is a pretty nice and calm walk, it’s not really any added value, after you did the Honey Eater trail.
