We have spent the last two days enjoying the cute little picture postcard of a town that is Airlie Beach. Coastline on one side housing the Great Barrier Reef, rainforest and mountains on the other side… what’s not to love? Airlie calls itself the “Heart of the Reef” since they are a gateway town for all the southern reef visitors, but also because there is an incredible little perfectly heart-shaped coral formation off the coastline here. I would LOVE to go see it, but you can only see it from the air, and the helicopter tours are really pricey. My $15 casino win wasn’t quite enough to cover. 😂

We started off with a little “brekkie” and headed into town to explore. The heat was no joke today!

Airlie Beach Lagoon

Like Cairns and other big cities in Australia, they have a huge public pool here in Airlie, situated right on the beach/coastline that is free to everyone. We needed a way to beat the heat, so this worked! We spent a really nice morning bobbing around with several hundred of our Aussie neighbors.

Why My Guy Will Never Go Vegetarian

In the evening we walked back into town (our air bnb is just up a nearby hill) and gave Rob his heart’s desire: a dinner at a local grill specializing in Australian meats. He chose the “Australian Game Platter”, which (if you can’t read the menu below) had kangaroo, crocodile, emu, and wild boar on it. So yeah- Rob is the guys who hikes five miles with me to go see them in the wild… and then eats them. He enjoyed his food, and in the interest of adventurous spirit, I tried everything too. None of them would make my repeat dining list, but it was an adventure. After dinner we took a long, meat filled walk and found more beautiful lorikeets sleeping in the trees.

Cane Toad Racing

I love wandering new cities because you never know what you might find. On our walk last night, we could hear a big crowd roaring at a place called “Magnums”. Since Airlie has a kind of party vibe at night (while Cairns seemed more family oriented), there are lots of places downtown that have live music, and everything is open air. But this was particularly loud and crazy, so we wandered over to see what was going on. We came across our very first cane toad racing! Every Thursday this bar has two races per night with numbered cane toads (that they keep in a tank living there). The announcer comes out and “sells” the toad at auction , so you have the chance to have your own “toad in the race”. The most expensive one while we were there “sold” for over $600! And no, you don’t get to bring the toad home, but he is yours to cheer for in the race, and if your toad wins, you win the pool prize $. They have four toads, and after the auction, they are all put in a bucket in the middle of a ring. The first frog to reach a side wall wins. The auctioneer counts down, removes the bucket, and off they go! Or not. Some just sit there. It’s weird and funny and maybe a little sad (for the toads??) and grown adults are shrieking for frogs- it is crazy! In the end, when a frog finally reaches “the finish line”, the “owner” of that frog wins all of the pooled prize money, last night over $1500 for each of the races! So I guess it is an “investment “. I have a video of the full race (over 3 minutes), so if you are interested, email or message me and I can share it. It’s a sight!

Thanks for adventuring with us!