06 January 2009

Post Office boxes

The Airlie Beach Post Office's site lease expired at the end of July, but it has stayed open pending various negotiations. Meanwhile rumours abounded regarding the possibility of a local business running a post office agency in town (with the main PO moved to Cannonvale, the next suburb), and the eventual fate of the Airlie Beach post office boxes. This has been of considerable interest to us, because Australia Post does not deliver mail to where we live.

We finally got the official word in a letter from Australia Post (dated 30 Dec 08) that arrived today. The official Post Office in Airlie Beach is to close. A Post Office agency will be available in February 2009 via the Newsagency.

Most Airlie Beach PO Boxes will be moved to the Cannonvale Post Office, with the PO Box number (and the Airlie Beach designation) unchanged. Residents of Airlie Beach and Jubilee Pocket have the option of applying for a PO Box physically located in Airlie Beach itself but with a new PO Box number.

If we were not moving out of town anyway, this would be a hard decision. On the one hand, walking to the nearby Post Office five times a week is an important part of our exercise program; walking every day to Cannonvale (nearly 4 km), especially in summer, just isn't going to happen. On the other hand, changing our box number doesn't appeal either, even with the PO giving a free six-month redirection.

Since we are moving, we've decided to keep the box number and just collect the mail once a week when we drive to the supermarket in Cannonvale for our regular shopping. No need to change box numbers when we'll be changing our postal address completely later this year anyway.

More about the post office on Eric's Airlie Beach Bum website.