Airlie Beach is a town in
the Whitsunday Region of Queensland
, Australia. At the
2006
census, Airlie Beach had a
population of 2,751.
Airlie Beach is one of many departure points for the Great Barrier
Reef it usually takes about 2-3hours to get out to the reef from
nearby Shute Harbour depending on ocean conditions.
Near latitude 20 degrees south, Airlie Beach, Proserpine and the nearby Whitsunday
Islands
enjoy a tropical climate and
lifestyle.
The
Whitsunday
Islands, named by James Cook in
1770 are a sailors' paradise. Cook named the islands as he
believed he passed through the area on the Christian festival day
of Whit Sunday.
It is now widely accepted that he didn't
actually pass through on this date, as he had failed to take into
account the yet to be brought into existence International
Date Line
à la Phileas
Fogg.
Each year the residents of Airlie Beach celebrate The Blessing of
the Fleet on Whit Sunday or
Pentecost
Sunday. The Blessing was started by Father Keith Felgate.
Airlie Beach is a tourist destination. Its beach is small and the
sea is inhabited by marine stingers (a type of
jellyfish) from November to May.
In order to provide
somewhere for the visitors tourists to
swim, the local council, has built
a small - medium sized swimming lagoon on the foreshore, similar to
the lagoon found in Cairns
.
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