Queensland - Heading down coast from Cairns to Tweed Heads

Sat 9/10/10 – Cairns - 29 degrees in/out of water

The snorkelling trip was beyond my expectations, though it got started slowly at Green Island (boardwalk + beach walk mostly for 2hrs. I had a short snorkel and met a reef shark + large dinner plate shaped primitive looking fish. Vegetation was weed.

I was first off the Pontoon and into the water. The fish were the highlight incl views from the underwater observatory. The corals were very good, but not as colourfully vivid as the Solomon’s etc. The tide was untypically high, so by the time I did the 2^nd snorkel it was out and the coral was much more accessible. Early on my 1^st snorkel I met a 5 foot reef shark with its cleaner fish in sync below it. Then a whole school of 20 or more of those dinner plate primitive fish + so many more colourful fish incl Napoleon fish. To do a dive was $96 for 1^st dive – I never bothered, the best stuff was in the 1^st 5m and the dives looked pretty boring and slow with photos being taken, showings of sea cucumber and other boring stuff. The air and water was 27 degrees. I got cramp before cold – I was wearing Karens full body lycra suit and my long sleeve shirt 2mm silver suit.

We did a lovely walk along the jetties and a lap of the pool complex – really nice!

Spent evening with H+W.

Sun 10/10/10 – Cairns

Breakfast till mid-day with Keith and Charlotte. Really good catchup – they had moved from the Pier@Cairns ($600/wk) to Yorkeys knob (20km/40m Nth of Cairns). Afternoon with H+W over Bathurst, then I watched F1 + Moto GP. Karen went out to Seafood restaurant with H+W.

Mon 11/10/10 – Townsville – Robyn + Stephen Jess + Jake, Owen, Juliana & Erin

We left at 9:30am after saying our goodbyes to H+W. Drove straight to Paranella Park, where we did the 11am tour and wandered around the park till 12:45pm. It was $61 for 2 hrs after 10% Top Ten discount. We drove on to Tully where we did a drive-by of the town and wandered thru the Info Centre. Traffic was much busier than Inland, but between town’s was less busy but it was difficult to go much faster than the speed limit. We eventually arrived at 4:30pm and met Stephen + the kids and he cooked a very nice Spag Bol. The kids were very good at the table with Dad strictly on top of them - good on him!

Tue 12/10/10 – Townsville

Spent most of the morning with Robyn + kids at home before going down to the Rock Pool and had a very slow cafe lunch. We went for a swim after lunch and got home mid-avo. Stephen took his Sea Kayak down to the river & I paddled up and down to the Weir at each end (fresh water on Ross River). Awesome Sea Kayak and lovely river with Lilly Pads and walkways on both sides. BBQ dinner at home with the family.

Wed 13/10/10 – Townsville

Lazy morning with Robyn + kids and lunch before going to Castle Hill + the Airport viewing area at the top of the runway.

We took Karen’s broken computer to the PC repair shop at 10:30am.

Thu 14/10/10 – Townsville (Magnetic Island) - 27 degrees in/out of water

Got up early and caught the 8:45am ferry (30min wait) to Magnetic Island ($29 rtn ea). Wind was strong from South and upstairs on the Catamaran was doing my head in so I went downstairs to the back.

We caught a bus ($2.60ea) to Horseshoe at the NE end of Maggie. We walked along beach a little and climbed over the hills to NE beaches of Balding, Radical, Florence and Arthurs Bays and then back to Acadia Bay. The bus came by so we jumped aboard to Picnic Bay via the Nelly Bay ferry terminal. We took every back street to get there, so got a F1 tour of the burbs.

Picnic Bay was lovely. I climbed around headland on typical large granite rocks of MI.

We walked back to Nelly Bay and were very tired and thirsty when we got back. We had a v.nice choc/strawb thickshake at the ferry terminal, while we waiting for 1hr for next ferry. Back in Townsville by 5pm and home to Robyn’s via the s/market.

Fri 15/10/10 – Bowen – Queen’s beach caravan Park - $100 (town is v.full due to QLD Rail repair crews in town).

I picked up K’s fixed laptop from P3C repairs at Kerwin ($99 total cost of rebuilding laptop).

I bought some Toblerone + frogs and knife set for Robyn as a thankyou gift.

We left by 10:30am after Karen had a further nap after saying farewell and having b’fast with Stephen.

Drove out to Cungulla and Cape Ferguson – the tide was way out for the former and a security gate at the Marine Science centre meant we saw no beach!

We drove to Bowen, stopping at Ayr for an Info Centre + toilet stop. Did a quick main street walk and contd to Bowen.

Found accom via the Info Centre at Bowen in a packed out town due to QR workers + a w/end festival in town. We drove up Flagstaff Hill and read about Town etc on info boards at the interpretive centre. Great views from lookout up here!

We had a 45 min lay down and then I went to Queens, Grays and Cape Edgecumbe incl views of H7yorseshoe Bay from the lookout up the 10m walk. I rock hopped around the Cape and really enjoyed the big granite bolders.

We had a noodle/tuna/peas dinner and relatively early night. I spent some time on emails and diary. Karen crashed again.

Sat 16/10/10 – Airlie Beach – Flametree Caravan Park - $76 for villa ensuite.

Karen still resting, so I went back to the Horseshoe bay area for the 4km rtn walk around the bays incl Murray Bay, up and over the hills and down to the beaches and points. I had a snorkelat horseshoe bay around the rocks on the RHS ofthe bay – lovely temp, 5m vis (max) and hard and soft corals rather sparingly in the area. The rock fish were very prolific and not particularly colourful. There were divers out in the bay and more kitting up.

I got back to Cabin at 9:15 and we were gone by 9:40am. We had a look at Queens beach – long white sandy beach with a touch of black sand up high. The water was a lovely aqua colour, but certainly not the best beach in Bowen.

We had a quick look at hte murals in town and drove on to Hideaway and Dingo bay 30km NE of the main road. Hideaway was had a crusty rock layer of 10m above a white sandy coral beach. It looked lovely from the picnic lookout at the end of the road, but the march flies were maddening.

We limped on to Airlie Beach (Cannonvale actually) where we filled up the car – 41.5L of the 45L capacity – red low fuel light had been on for 30km. We did a Woolworths food shop in a very busy shopping centre.

Did a stop at 2 TIC offices looking for deals on Standby trips to the Whitsunday Islands. The pool complex out the back was packed with hot young things and families.

Checked into Cabin and signed up for the $100 Big FURY 3 Island trip tomorrow. Had a nap and then drove out to the very large Shute Harbour ferry terminal incl 2 car ferries and at least 7 berths for catamaran + med size trip boats.

We did the Coral beach 1km walk + 700m up to the lookout for pink striped cloud sunset + march flies and mozzies.

Sun 17/10/10 – Airlie Beach - 27 degrees in/out of water

Got out to do the Mt Rooper Walk just down the road from our accom. I went alone and did the 2.4km 1 way climb, with nice views over Shute Harbour and out to the Islands from the lookout. There really is many layers of Mtn ranges that represent the various islands in the Whitsunday group. We were picked up by the Big Fury boss vat 9:30am, who was full of grumbles about late people, poor staff ....

The boat left the Airlie beach marina at 10:30 and we went out to Catamaran bay on Boundary and had a snorkel in cold/windy/half cloudy day. Got a bit wet and rather cold on the trip out, but the boat handled beautifully.

The coral & fish were ok, the visibility was 5m max. Nothing on the outer reef, but well worth the snorkel. After 45mins we headed off to Whitehaven beach where we had lunch, sunbake and some swam. Almost perfect white sandy beach (1t of sand was taken by NASA to make the lens of the Hubble telescope). On the way home we passed the nearby Hill Inlet’s Swirling Sands (a perfectly protected inlet for boats in a storm). There were float planes, helicopters and perhaps 30+ boats, 50% of which are tourist boats like ours. The islands are very hilly (granite) and rainforest covered, quite dramatic....

We saw the cruise ship still in the harbour on our way home. We got home ~ 6pm. I watched moto-gp and did diary.

Mon 18/10/10 – Mackay – Central caravan park - $65 villa ensuite.

Left at 7am, after rising at 6am. Drove to Cedar Creek Falls. The falls were very pretty, and covered three tiers, though not huge. An awesome spot to freecamp overnight. We drove on to Conway Beach – very tidal and not that impressive a beach.

Drove South to Seaforth, a lovely quiet palm fringed beach with a cheap beachside caravan park. No march flies and nice water, unlike Airlie beach (Algies bay like).

Next stop was nearby Cape Hillsborough Nat Park. The twin beaches were very nice, with rock outcrops at each end. It was pretty warm climbing the volcanic peaks consisting of 4 lookouts. The lower parts were vine covered, and later it became mature trees and finally smaller trees at the top. We finished off with a boardwalk thru the mangroves. Pretty well done info.

We drove onto Mackay by 2pm, stopping at the TIC. No cheap accom at Eungella, so we had lunch and rested at the hotel. Karen got an insect in her ear, so went to a local Dr and got her ear syringed. We then went into town and did a Woolworths shop ($60). We did the river walk past the Blue Lagoon pool and funpark. Also wandered thru the old part of town with extremely noisy rosella’s preparing to roost for the night. Home by 6:30pm.

Tue 19/10/10 – Yepoon - $63.45

Up at 5:30 and left by 6:15am. Were walking around Mackay Botanical gardens at 6:30am with plenty of other walkers.

We did some lovely river/rainforest walks 80km west of Mackay in the hills in Eungella Nat Park. A coupe of lovely forest walks incl Kauri and Palm tree’s. Also did a lovely river walk with lovely views of cascades etc – very zen like!

I had two swims around lunchtime at Finch Hatton - pretty chilly, but very refreshing. The river/cascades walk was awesome! We left by 2pm.

We saw 2 snakes today. One a little tree snake and the other I met while we were both swimming below a waterfall. I turned around and made for the rocks, but it was only interested in getting out of the water (thankfully).

We spoke with M&D today and met them at St Lawrence (100km or so south of Mackay) where they were staying for the night.

We spent 2 hrs with them, while intending only to have a cuppa as we still had 200km to get to Yepoon (by the Sea near Rockhampton). They had been making pumpkin soup, so we had some of that.

We had a 200km night drive to get to Yepoon. No boing boing’s (Roo's) on the road, so that was good. Quite a quick trip and virtually no traffic.

Wed 20/10/10 – Emu Park with M&D (20km sth of Yepoon) - 27 degrees in/out of water

Met M&D at 10am at Yepoon. We drove north up the coast briefly and then went South stopping for walks at the local volcanoes on the coast. It was VERY windy, so not possible to sight turtles etc.

We got to Emu Park by 2pm and had a chat + walk along the beach + headland incl Cook’s chiming Sail. We had a rather expensive Thai meal that was so, so.

Thu 21/10/10 – Calliope (free camp)

Walked along river at Rockhampton, saw old buildings, had a subway for early lunch and did botanical garden’s incl Japanese garden in the drizzel with M&D. Then K & I wandered thru the adjoining zoo (free) which was small and rather sad. The chimps were broody and charged the glass in front of us when a jet fighter flew overhead. We saw a koala that was on speed and the chimps became human when a handicapped girl arrived – awesome to watch – kisses, hand touching etc etc.

We arrived at Calliope around 4:30pm and did a lap of the riverside on both sides with M&D. A very tranquil place at sunset.

Fri 22/10/10 – 1770 (Agnes Waters) - $60 (backpackers ensuite rm)

We left at 7:30am and wandered thru the modest botanical gardens and then headed for the Marina for the free industry tour to the Alumina and Aluminium smelters. The retiree guide for the Alumina smelter was like Uncle bob, but had a real monotone voice that put Karen to sleep in 10 mins. Both tours involved driving around the site incl the wharf to see the whole operation. Informative, but very dry and likely to be forgotten in 1 day! The Alumina plant was much more complex than I had given it credit for. Gladstone is really a heavy industry giant in QLD and possibly Oz. Close to coal, a good port and dry climate.

We had lunch on Auckland lookout and then drove out to 1770 and wandered around the lookout and along the harbour beach. We had a nap and walked to the surf beach at sunset – wrong side of the coast to see anything, but lovely rainforest.

Sat 23/10/10 – Bargara (coastal Bundaberg)

We wandered around 1770 on a lovely early morning and then headed to Bundaberg where we had a look at the Bundy brewery - $25 for a tour – no thanks! Interesting look though. We drove out to Burgara not expecting to see M&D, but there they were.

Sun 24/10/10 – Hervey Bay

Dad, K & I went for a 5:30am walk north along the coast – very nice – 2.5 hrs return.

We had a swim (Ex Karen) at the surf beach – 24 degrees perhaps – coolish! I drove the van to Bundy for practice and then we had a pointless lap around Bundy and then drove slow thru historic buildings of Childers and then onto Hervey bay via Toogoom where the tide was well out! Nice wharf/boat ramp harbour colours. Hervey bay was much nicer. We paid the deposit for our Fraser Island tour the next day and did a short walk.

Mon 25/10/10 – Hervey bay – Scarness beachside caravan park ($54 for 4) – 24/27 degrees in/out of water

The $165 tour started with a 7:20am pick-up, arriving at River heads jetty around 8:10am where we caught the 8:30am slow ferry to Fraser Island. We had a racing driver in our 4WD bus (52 seater) hounding the hell out of slower 4WD (everyone else). It was a comfortable bus, but quite bouncy and M&D felt a bit nauseous at times.

We got a bus to the harbour and a slow car ferry to the island, then the 4WD battle truck (bus) to lake McKenzie, did a rainforest walk along a lovely river and then lunch on the East coast.

We drove up the beach and stopped at a couple of attractions incl a NZ steamship and then retraced our steps incl a sunset ferry back to the mainland. We had to wait 30 mins for the tide to come in so we could leave the island - a very impressive effort to manoeuvre the ferry around the mudflats. Home by 6:30pm and a light snack dinner.

Tue 26/10/10 – Tin Can Bay - $50 cabin (no ensuite)

5am romantic walk along beach, followed by a swim and planning for funds transfer for van. We transferred funds for A$80k Camper van payment to M&D NZ ANZ a/c. M&D shouted us coffee and cake before we headed in different directions. We looked around historic Maryborough incl the Mary Poppins statue (where author was born). Had sandwich lunch on way to Tin Can bay (getting pretty tired in hot days sun), got a cheap cabin and slept for too long before going for sunset walk along both sides of the beach incl fish/ray spotting at Dolphin feeding area. Watched top gear + survivor then bed by 11:15pm.

Wed 27/10/10 – Noosaville - $56 for 4

Up at 6am and still getting some light showers on walk (solid showers at times thru night) along peninsula. We found the dolphins at their feeding spot very early at 7am with the volunteers in the water with two dolphins (humpback estuarine) already waiting for food/contact. The dolphins have been coming to this spot since 1951 for several generations after the first dolphin was nursed by the locals and many times since. The dolphins are no match for similar sized bull sharks etc, but collectively will kick a shark out of their territory with the pod of 20+ dolphins (or two +).

The cormorants and pelican were just as enjoyable. We left by 9am and drove to Rainbow beach and the sand dunes with their multicoloured streaks and coastline with lovely blue water below and sky above! We walked 30mins + on the dunes.

We went onto Noosaville via the Nat Park lookout 20km inland with stunning 360 degree views.

Had a swim with M&D and then went onto Noosa heads shops, beach (incl triathalons in prep of the Sat/Sun classic) + nat park peninsula/hbr entrance just before sunset. Raced back to campground for sunset with M&D on the beach + chips that we bought and mum cooked some fish + veges. We cleaned the car for sale and showed them our Borneo pics.

Thu 28/10/10 – Scarborough Caravan Park - $45 for 4

K & I went for a 5am walk for 45 mins before going over to Noosa heads lookouts + headlands walk/drive on the sth side of Noosa heads. We went to Brisbane to meet Vicky for lunch and spent 2.5 hours with her – really nice to catch up with this lovely lady. She was very glad to see us also. We then went down to the river (1km inland from Town hall) and enjoyed the view incl Jackaranda trees in full bloom. We got caught up in a massive downpour and slowly made our way out of town before driving along the coast to Scarborough (Redcliffe area). Spent another 2 hours cleaning + polishing the car and took M&D out to dinner at the local boating club. The seafood meals + 3 deserts & drinks came to $114.

Fri 29/10/10 – Tweed Heads Sth – Boyds Bay Holiday Park - $70 for 3 day w/end special – beautiful day – 27oC

Up at 5am and went for a short walk with Dad before driving to the airport with a stop to empty out M&D bags and put in our bags. I drove M&D to the airport while Karen started unpacking. We drove down to Tweed Heads and arrived by 10:10am and got the site setup and called M&D for a farewell and thankyou call.