Two tides an evening, nine tables, not one machine
We took over the charter desk where half the town used to book its day boats, left the compressor and the tank rack where they stood, and filled the rest with felt and a kitchen. Points are scored, nothing is wagered and nothing is played online.
A dive shop that stopped filling tanks
For nineteen years this shed sold reef trips, wetsuit repairs and air fills. The boats still leave from the end of the road; the counter that sold the tickets is now the pass, and the shelving that held masks holds glassware.
The compressor stayed. So did the steel rack of tanks along the back wall, painted over once and otherwise untouched — it makes a better room divider than anything we could have built.
Ninety people fit comfortably across the kitchen and the tables. We stop taking walk-ins well before that, because a shed with a tin roof gets loud fast.
Nine tables
Felt, low lamps, house chips that keep score and buy absolutely nothing.
A reef kitchen
Whatever came off the trawlers at Shute Harbour that morning, cooked simply.
Five of us
Two in the kitchen, three on the floor, all of them locals.
Where we are and when we answer
The shed
12 Shute Harbour Road, Airlie Beach QLD 4802
Phone and email
+61 7 4946 3318 · bookings@reeflounges.com
Open
Tuesday to Sunday, 3pm – 11pm
Nine tables, split across two tides
The card floor takes the back two-thirds of the shed, under the rack. Games here are social: five hundred, cribbage, canasta, friendly hold'em. There is no stake on any hand and no prize pool at the end of any of them.
Chips belong to the house and count points for the evening. They cannot be bought, cannot be cashed and are tipped back into the tray at the end of the night.
Six tables run first-come. Three can be held over the phone for groups, and we hold them for twenty minutes past the agreed hour before letting them go.
First tide
3pm to 7pm — quieter, easier, good if you have never played.
Changeover
Twenty minutes at 7pm: tables reset, kitchen fires the mains.
Second tide
7:20pm to close — the full room, the loud one.
How the tides fall, night by night
Off the trawlers, onto the board
Coral trout, red emperor and barramundi come up the road most mornings. What we buy decides what gets written on the board, which is why the board is chalk and not print.
Mangoes, lychees and finger limes turn up in season and disappear when the season does. The desserts follow them around rather than the other way about.
Four taps of Queensland lager, a short list of whites that survive the humidity, and a fridge of soft drinks for anyone driving back to Cannonvale.
Off the boats
Two fish dishes a night, whichever two we could get whole.
From the trees
Tropical fruit in the desserts while it lasts, nothing frozen.
On tap
Four local lagers, poured cold enough to matter in January.
Six things people want cleared up
Is there a Reef Lounges app or an online room?
No, and there is no plan for one. This website tells you where the shed is and what is on the board. Every hand of cards is played in person on Shute Harbour Road.
Can I win money here?
Not a cent. Chips track points across the two tides, they cannot be bought or cashed, and there is no prize pool, no entry fee and no wagering of any sort.
Have you got pokies out the back?
No gaming machines at all, front or back. If that is what you came for, the trip up the hill will disappoint you.
What is a tide?
Our word for half an evening. Doors open, the first tide plays, everything resets at seven, and the second tide runs to close. You can come for one or both.
Do I need to know the games?
No. Ask for the dealer on a Wednesday and she will walk you through a hand of five hundred in about ten minutes. It costs nothing.
Can I bring my kids for dinner?
Sorry — no. The licence covers the whole shed, so the whole shed is over-18s.
What the house asks of everybody
- Everyone in the building is 18 or over — kitchen side included. Photo ID is asked for whenever staff feel like asking.
- House chips score points. They are never sold, never redeemed and hold no monetary value of any kind.
- No money crosses a table, ever. Do it once and the hand ends; do it twice and the night does.
- There are no poker machines here and there never will be — this is not that sort of room.
- Bare feet and wet boardies are fine. Shouting at the tables is not.
- The bar stops serving anyone who has clearly had enough, and we will happily ring a cab instead.
The shed, before and during a tide
Reef Lounges in four lines
Everything below is fixed. Anything that moves — the fish, the tide times, which tables are free — is chalked up on the wall each afternoon instead.
Ring us before the first tide
Somebody picks up from midday. Tell us whether you are eating, playing or both, and which tide suits — that is the whole booking process.
Call the shed