GourmetguidetotheWhitsundays: Shopping,provisioning,andeating

ByDeniseLowden

Sailing around the Whitsundays can be lovely and, as sailing destinations go (whether Bareboat charter or owner), all in all, pretty easy. Proserpine airport is about 45 minutes from Coral Sea Marina (6) or Port of Airlie Marina (7), and there are a variety of taxi services, private car transfers, hire cars, and buses that will get you to and from the airport if you are driving in.

If you are arriving by boat, the town of Airlie Beach is in walking distance from both marinas, but you’ll need a taxi to get you back to the boat if you are fully laden with a big shop. Coral Sea and Port of Airlie Marinas have free courtesy cars that you can use for a few hours to get all your shopping done (assuming you are well organised).

If you are flying in, most private car transfers will stop and pick up a Click and Collect order for you and stop at various other stores to help you provision. We have always used Airlie Beach Transfers, a small family run company who are very accommodating re stops for food, alcohol, dive gear and more, just make sure you let them know in advance that you are requiring more than just the simple transfer so they can allow for the extra time (and boot space) that you may need.

There is a yacht provisioning company as well, we used one of these companies many years ago and were unimpressed with the price and the quality. Quite frankly, Click and far better option! I’ll go into more detail about Click and Collect at the end as there are a few helpful hints – remember it’s not like at home where you can just pop back and pick up that one vital ingredient if they were unable to supply it! Availability of produce in what is essentially regional Queensland is NOT the same as bigger towns and cities.

Alcohol

There are a variety of ‘Cellarbrations’ and ‘BWS’ stores located through town. ‘Cellarbrations’ in Cannonvale is the largest and best priced we found, but depending on where in Australia you are from you may find their wine range is not as broad as you might like. ‘Airlie Liquor and Tobacco’ (there are three of these – the largest is in Airlie itself) has a decent range, with some slightly more upmarket wines, however their wines seem to be about 20% more expensive.

If you are buying beer, soft drinks and mixers consider cans instead of bottles, they are lighter, far less inclined to break, and they crush down afterwards to reduce the amount of rubbish that you will need to store.

Fruit and Vegetables

Aside from Woolworths (1 and 2) and Coles (3), there is one other REALLY good fruit and vegetable store in Cannonvale well worth a visit for slightly harder to get items. The ‘Prickly Pineapple’ (2) has an amazing range, I have found items such as finger limes, Thai basil, giant couscous, vegan yoghurt, lemon grass, cheese pastes, dukkha, pastas (fresh and dried), and specialty chips there.

Meat

The ‘MBW on The Barbie’ (3), is the butcher store next to Coles. They have a nice range of continental meats and salamis prepackaged also.

Asian Grocery

There is really only one Asian grocer (3) in town and it is pretty small, located next to Coles (3) in Cannonvale. Its range is minimal, and in general I wouldn’t bother going there except for maybe a few curry pastes etc. Some Asian goods can be purchased from the ‘Prickly Pineapple’ next to Woolworths in Cannonvale and they can also be counted on for lots of fresh herbs, including Thai Basil, Vietnamese Mint, Lemongrass just to name a few (see above). Prior to living on our boat, when we were just charterers, I used to simply BYO curry pastes, powders, and spices rather that rely on the availability up here (and then the inevitable waste of throwing all those unused portions out once you leave).

Speciality seafood and cheeses

‘Fishi’ (5) in Cannonvale, just off the main road, has a great selection of fresh seafood, and also some awesome cheeses and other gourmet foods. They will package all this up for you if you contact them in advance.

Woolworths and Coles

Both are in Cannonvale and have a decent selection of grocery items, there is a second Woolworths just off the main strip in Airlie as well.

Bread

There is a ‘Brumby’s’ (2) in Cannonvale near Woolworths, however the best bread we found was in the Coles bakery section – a lovely range of sourdough and specialty breads.

Continental items

These are available in the deli Section of both Coles and Woolworths – reasonable quality, with Woolworths in Airlie Beach having a better selection of specialty pre-packaged sliced meats and cheeses.

Restaurants and Cafes

There are many to choose from in Airlie Beach, unfortunately most of them just repeat the same menu of burgers, pasta, pizza, and steak. Additionally, most of them have no table service and you spend most of the time lining up to order both your drinks and then later, food.

The standouts for us were (all these had table service and offered good to really good food):

• On the Airlie Beach Main Street: ‘Paradiso’ – which also has the bonus of an upstairs funky bar, and ‘La Tabella’.

• ‘La Marina Italia’ (Port of Airlie *7).

Notable mentions (not necessarily with table service):

*Click and Collect hints

• When selecting fresh produce like avocados – ask for a range of hardness so that they don’t all ripen at the same time.

• Remember you’ve probably got limited space on the yacht fridge (think of them as largish bar fridges) so things like bags of lettuce will take up huge amounts of space per meal, whereas heads of lettuce will supply heaps of meals for about the same amount of space.

• ALWAYS check the “unable to supply” list before you leave the store – that way you can make substitution decisions while you are still on land.

• Make bread decisions yourself, that way you can get the freshest bread.

• ‘Northerlies’ – 30 minutes out of town (but runs a free shuttle bus both ways) has great food, wood fired pizzas, and a huge outdoor area often with live music – well worth the trip if you have time.

• ‘The Rocks’ at Coral Sea Resort (6)

• ‘Sorrento’ at Coral Sea Marina (6)

• Roast chickens are an excellent lunch/ salad ingredient – I used to buy two, shred them into plastic containers, throw away the carcass before departing, and then freeze one container! www.lukimyu.com.au