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Published: September 14th 2007
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So g'day from down under!!! It doesnt feel weird to be upside down and we haven't even noticed the water down the plug hole thing yet!!!!! But first things first we must tell you about Singapore airport before we get onto Oz.
Before we arrived in oz, we departed from Singapore airport. This was like a holiday in itself. We checked our bags in and walked past duty free where we received free, yes free shots of alcohol. There was also an Elvis concert going on, a sudoku championship occurring and numerous other freebies like free internet, massage chairs and x-box’s.
Anyway, so we arrived into cairns, Queensland, Australia. The weather was cool as it is their winter here but it was a refreshing change from the sweltering heat in Asia. We stayed in cairns for three nights but got itchy feet to see more so we hired a campervan for three weeks to get from cairns to Brisbane. Here begins the Queensland road trip.
We started our journey by heading up north to the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation is tropical rainforest all the way down to the sea where it meets the Great Barrier Reef.
Here we explored many rainforests, mangroves and deserted beaches. We drove as far north as we could until the road turned to a dirt track. We stopped at some amazing campsites right on the beach or in the rainforest. The only thing about oz is that there are lots of large scary wildlife. On the second night we stopped at a small campsite in the middle of the rainforest. After we had camped up we saw a sign warning us to be vigilant for crocodiles, large lizards and cassowaries as these had all had recent sightings around the area. As you can guess we didn’t want to leave the van but had to in order to eat. So we ventured out to the camp kitchen where we half scared to death by a moth the size of a large bat!!!!!
We came back down the coast on the Captain Cook highway. This coastal hugging road gave us the opportunity to stop at some beautiful scenic beaches and lookout points including one place called Ellis beach where we just had to stay for the night. Once back down at Cairns we drove away from the coast and headed inland towards
the Atherton tablelands. This allowed us to stop off at gorges, waterfalls, rainforest walks and crater lakes. We were very brave and swam in the crystal clear but very COLD waters. After returning to the van after one walk we spotted one of Australia’s most deadly animals. No it wasn’t a spider or a snake but something even worse, a cassowary!!!!! This animal is classed as a bird, as tall as a grown man, three toes, a blue/purple/red head and a helmet like horn with black feathers on its body. These birds can be very aggressive and it’s said that they can disembowel you with one kick of its leg. Needless to say we didn’t think twice about returning swiftly to our van!
After our little venture inland we returned back to the coast and headed south towards Brisbane. At Mission Beach we took the water taxi out to a small island called Dunk Island. This island is inhabited by exotic birds and butterflies and surrounded by beautiful beaches. The day after we arrived in what sounds like an American city called Townsville. Here we visited the Reef HQ. This place is the HQ for what happens out on
the Barrier Reef. It is also an aquarium and exhibition centre and houses the largest coral reef display in the world containing sharks, turtles, rays and hundreds and hundreds types of fish.
The next four days we decided to base ourselves in Airlie beach and is the place which is the platform from which to sail around the famous Whitsunday Isles. Here we embarked on two trips; one around the Great Barrier Reef and the other sailing the Whitsunday Isles. On the Great Barrier Reef tour, we cruised to Knuckle Reef and here they were a purpose built pontoon which we hooked up to. The pontoon had its own submersible and glass bottom boat that did trips with a marine biologist which were very informative. It was also the perfect place to go snorkelling and this time we have been caught in wetsuits!!! Luke even found the real Nemo hiding amongst the many types of coral. When we told the diving instructors they were very impressed as they hadn’t even found him. There was also a huge fish swimming around us which allowed us to touch and stroke it.
The next day was the turn of the Whitsunday’s.
Sailing on a purple catamaran, called Chimera, it is one of the fastest catamarans in the world. We went to Daydream Island, sailed between South and North Molle Island to Hayman Island (one of the most exclusive islands in Australia), round Hook Island and stopped off at Whitehaven beach; which is one of the most famous beaches in Australia. On the way back we stopped to snorkel in the Hook passage, where unfortunately Kate got stung by sea lice (ugh!!!). The day was very good as we had a lovely bbq complimented with free alcohol all day long. We made some very good friends and had a very good day.
The next couple of days we decided to continue down the coast stopping off now and again at beaches and other places of interest. We stopped at one place called Cape Hillsborough where Kate saw her first ever live Kangaroo. (The others were all lying still by the side of the road). This time of year in Queensland, many humpback whales migrate back from the warm waters here down to the Antarctic region. To try and spot some of these huge animals we went on a whale watching trip
Our first cup of tea!
You can tell we're English from Hervey Bay around Fraser Island and into Platypus Bay. During the trip we were lucky enough to see two pods of whales and a solitary male. The whales were very inquisitive and they were watching us just as we were watching them. Even some dolphins decided to join in the fun. Just above Hervey bay is a little town called Rockhampton and this is where the Tropic of Capricorn runs through.
Further down the coast, we stopped at Rainbow Beach, named for its multicoloured cliffs made of sand. Above these cliffs is an expansive sand dune called Carlo sand blow. It was breathtaking and definitely took our breath away when we were trying to climb back up it! We had a bit of fun diving and rolling in the sand and couldn’t help but notice the numerous colours within the sand, ranging from jet black all through browns, oranges, reds to bleached white.
Crikey, the next day we arrived at Australia zoo, looking forward to wrestling some crocs. This is the home of the legendary Steve Irwin. We had a great day, in the rain even though this is called the Sunshine coast (and it did rain,
it was almost like England!!!). We saw crocs, snakes, tigers, fed elephants, fed and stroked kangaroos and patted koalas.
The next day we arrived in Brisbane. After a long and exciting trip consisting of 3000kms (that’s 1865 miles to us British people) and loads of petrol we had to return our van. Kate was very upset. We feel like we've really experienced the real oz this way. We've driven through bushfires and the outback, seen snakes by the road and even met a few of the crazy locals.
So we will leave it there for the moment and fill you in on more in a couple of weeks.
Lots of love to eveyone and hope your all ok
Take care
Luke and Kate xx
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