Port of Airlie marina construction update

Latest pictures from marina construction site at Airlie Beach, October 2010.

Above: Widened road with roundabout at main road to Shute Harbour.

Above: Apartment complex with marina pilings and walkways just visible behind it. Marina area is now partially open to sea, so boats can enter.

Above: View more to east, showing marina area and apartment complexes.

Construction site: puddles and boats in the harbour

Rain fell overnight, leaving puddles to mark the low spots in the construction site. Several boats had come into the new harbour, presumably to seek shelter in case of wind and waves. That area has a usable boat ramp, handy if someone wants to come ashore in a dingy to shore, but we doubt that the gate is open to get a car in to the ramp.

Christmas view

Today is sunny, clear, hot (over 30C), and not at all humid (for here: only around 32%). Here is the more picturesque part of our view: Moving along to the right, here is the current state of the Port of Airlie construction: Compare with last year's picture.

Marina construction update

Although I complain about the noise and dust from the marina construction, it's often very entertaining. Yesterday was better than a 5-ring circus. In addition to the usual collection of diggers filling trucks with dirt to be taken from one part of the site to another, we had: a series of trucks delivering drainage pipes, sand, gravel, rolls of plastic, large boulders, and other constructions materials; two large diggers creating a big trench in the previously-flattened area and other equipment planting drainage pipes in the trench; trees being removed and preparations made for shifting the site offices to another part of the site; and—in the center ring!—the display and sales office (about the size of a 3-bedroom house) being moved several hundred yards to its new location. The latter process took all day and included 8 or 10 helmeted people peering intently under the building as it was jacked up and a huge flatbed truck moved underneath it, then a heavy tractor was attached by a chain to the front of the truck and hauled it part of the distance (probably a slight slope was involved and the truck couldn't cope on its own), after which the truck drove the rest of the way and made a complicated 5-point turn to get the building oriented as they wanted it, and finally—just before sunset—it was moved into position. This morning they reinstalled the jacks, removed the truck, and have now lowered the building to rest on concrete pads under the stumps. We have photos of the whole process; I hope to get them into an album and online soon.

A good old-fashioned wet season?

Yesterday and today have featured rain, lots of rain. A weather pattern centred on our immediate area has dumped over 350mm (14 inches) of rain on us, and it's still continuing. Last night a huge amount of runoff down a creek that runs under the main street of town met a high tide and spilled up through the drains, washing a load of mud against one of the buildings on the downhill side of a low spot in the road and breaking windows. The news reports said the supermarket was flooded, but in fact it was the chemist shop at the other end of the building, with the travel agency next door suffering too. Eric went out during a break in the rain around 9AM and took some photos, some of which are below. Meanwhile, the excavation at the site of the new marina has turned into a lake. The first photo below was taken on 5 January, just before the workers came back from their end-of-year break. Since then they have deepened and widened some of the excavation. Today they moved some of their equipment to higher ground and then presumably had the day off.

Marina construction update

We've had a lot of rain this week as well as king tides, so the holes dug in the bay are full of water, despite the best efforts of some heavy-duty pumps to keep up. The section they've been building up in preparation for construction has some large, but not deep, puddles. Good thing all the digging equipment had been brought in to high ground, or a lot of it would be well underwater by now.

Marina construction update

After working feverishly the past few days to tidy up the flat area visible in this photo, it looks like the construction crew will be taking the usual two-week Christmas break, because they've lined all of their equipment up near the road, presumably so the security people can keep an eye on it more easily.

Marina construction update

This photo shows most of the earthmoving equipment digging out what will eventually be the yacht harbour of the marina. Six of the seven dump trucks are visible, along with diggers, graders, and other equipment. Much of the dirt is being moved to this spot, which will eventually have a hotel and other buildings constructed on it.

Marina construction update

On the 30th and the 1st we had some real gully-washer thunderstorms: about 50mm (2 inches) of rain in less than half an hour each time. The next day, the diggers, trucks, graders, and other construction equipment in the marina area were busily moving more tons of dirt into the extensive puddles left by the weekend's rains. I've been mildly disappointed that so far no equipment seems to have got bogged in the mud, as it's quite entertaining to watch them extricating bogged items. Here are some photos of the latest stage of work.

Marina construction update

More earth movement. I wonder how many tonnes are being shifted? Much of the construction site looks to me like an open-cut mine, including the small mining trucks being used to shift the dirt.

Marina construction update

Vast amounts of digging and moving of dirt is going on.

Marina construction update

Most of the water has now been pumped out of the enclosed area and the mud is drying. As these photos show, digging equipment is removing the mud from some areas and dumping it in other parts of the site. Under the gray mud (which varies in depth) is a layer of clay or other (brown) dirt, which is being used to construct access roads (probably temporary). Lots of dust and noise is coming from this work. It's slightly better than the pounding noises when the metal barriers were being hammered into the dirt, but the beep-beep-beep of the backup warning signals on the trucks and other equipment is seriously tedious.

Marina construction update

Here are some recent photos of the marina construction going on below us. For some weeks the construction site has resembled an open-cut mine, which in a way it is. The area to be deepened has been enclosed and the water is being pumped out. Digging equipment and trucks (exactly like those used at open-cut coal mines and other mines) are trans­ferring mud, dirt, and rocks from one area to another that is being built up for eventual use as housing, a resort, a boat terminal, and so on. The dust and noise are quite impressive. This sequence goes from left to right across the bay.

Port of Airlie: more construction in a boom town

In the photos I posted yesterday, you will see a lot of trees in the foreground. These are mangrove trees lining the edge of Muddy Bay (also known as Boathaven, at least by the real estate agents). Most of the photos were taken from an open area near the Sailing Club. (Historical note: years ago this area was a caravan park, and the toilet/shower block is still there for the use of visitors to the picnic area and the beach at that end of town.) A portion of Muddy Bay is now under development for a new marina project known as Port of Airlie. An artist's impression of the development (superimposed on an aerial photograph) is here. [Links updated 18 April 2007.] When it is complete, this marina will no doubt be an attractive, though possibly noisy, addition to the view from our apartment, but for the next several years it is just another construction zone and an eyesore. Here are some photos taken from our balcony. Two years ago December 2006