Thursday March 12th, 2026 Queen Anne, Airlie Beach, Australia

Neil Wylie
Feb 16
4 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Before I get to Airlie Beach, I wanted to briefly touch on an event that occurred while we were at sea yesterday, March 11^th, 2026. Another Cunard ship, the Queen Mary 2, left Southampton in England on the same day we did here on Queen Anne; Queen Mary 2 set off on a world voyage going westward while we set off going eastward. This morning at 7:30AM the two ships passed each other off the east coast of Australia, this was the first time the two ships had met outside of a harbor. There had been a thunder and lightning storm that lasted all of the previous night, and when we went out on deck it was still raining quite heavily; we took cover while we waited the arrival of the QM2. Soon the QM2 appeared as a small blur on the horizon and the two ships slowly converged, thankfully the rain stopped and the skies brightened. When the QM2 was a few hundred yards off the port side our captain began his whistle salute with several loud, deep blasts – the QM2 returned the salute with her own blasts. The crowds on both ships began to cheer and wave as the ships glided gracefully passed each other, it was quite the occasion and I’m glad we got to witness this bit of history. The next time we will see the QM2 will be when both ships arrive back in Southampton from their world voyage on the same day at the end of April.

On to Airlie Beach…

While there are a few beaches close to town, and lots of bars and nightclubs, it seems the primary reason for visiting Airlie Beach is as a departure point for The Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands. The ship moored a good way out from the shore and ran a small fleet of tender boats consisting of some of the ship’s own lifeboats plus a few massive shore-based boats that looked to be specifically designed for visiting cruise ships. Since we had visited The Great Barrier Reef from Cairns back in 2023, and the Whitsunday Islands trips were designed for people to bake on a beach or spend a lot of time in the water, we opted for a low key self-guided tour of the town.

We took one of the large shore-based tender boats which took about 30 minutes to load approximately 300 passengers, and then only 10 minutes to cross in comfort to the small harbor just outside Airlie Beach. It was nicely warm, but the skies looked a bit angry and sure enough as we disembarked the tender we were met by a light rain before we boarded a shuttle bus for the 5 minute ride into town. Airlie Beach is spread in a thin strip between the foot of the inland hills and Pioneer Bay in the Coral Sea; it’s a proper resort town with many apartment complexes making their way up the hills and hotels nearer the sea.

The town is very small with a short main street; every business on the main street catered to tourists with many bars, nightclubs, cafes, restaurants and trinket shops. Many of the nightclubs were above the bars or shops and, to be honest, looked a bit seedy; the town seemed like a fantastic place for young kids to party and I could imagine it really hopping at night. It took only and about 15 minutes to walk the from one end of the main street and back; we did a bit of shopping and then found a place for lunch.

The Deck restaurant had been recommended by our bus driver, and I’d also looked it up to discover it had good ratings – it turned out to be the highlight of the day. The place was very busy, and I worried we’d have to wait for a table as we approached the hostess podium – but we were immediately seated at a corner table out on the deck overlooking Airlie Creek, a great location. A lively atmosphere, quick and polite service, and good food made for a nice diversion from the uninspiring main street. We opted for five “small” plates, it’s always difficult knowing how many small plates to order – but we always seem to err on the side of having too much food; God forbid we don’t order enough. The Deck’s small plates turned out to be large portions on small plates, so technically meeting the description on the menu – but it was a lot of food. The cauliflower cheese croquettes were a particular favorite – I know it’s hard to image what this is, but somehow, they’d managed to make a really tasty cauliflower cheese and then coat dollops of it in breadcrumbs and fry it – they were amazing. I also enjoyed a Byron Bay Lager, a nice crisp brew for a hot day.

Across the street from the Deck, and on the recommendation of a shop assistant, we had coffee at Le Shack – a tiny little café with only a few inside seats. The coffee was very good, and the atmosphere very laid back – very welcoming, run by young folks with lots of young customers, though we didn’t fell out of place.

Between the main street and the ocean we found the Airlie Beach Lagoon, a swimming pool made to look like an ocean lagoon – a haven for the young sun seeking swimmers. For much of the year swimming in the ocean in this area is not recommended due to the presence of stinger fish, the lagoon was created as a way to still offer some water based activities with being stung or having to don a “stinger suit”.

I wanted to like Airlie Beach, I really did; we found a nice place to eat and great coffee shop, but the main street was just dreary and the nightclubs, bars and beer gardens a bit seedy. I suppose if I was back in my college days I might have a different opinion, but that was so long ago I sometimes have trouble even remembering it.