A Rock, a Reef, and a Van

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What a week!
It was tough to say our goodbyes to Perth, but with a ride and a high-five from Mike & Rita at the airport, we were officially out of Perth and looking forward to the last 6 weeks of our trip!
First stop...Ayers Rock in a somewhat unconventional way.
For some reason Quantas (Australia's major airline) doesn't fly direct from Perth to Cairns, so we had to have a quick stop-over in Ayers Rock - which was great because we got some incredible fly-over pictures of Uluru (Ayers Rock)! It would have been amazing to be there for sunrise/sunset, and even climb it, but at least we can say that we've "been there, done that."

Cairns

Landing in Cairns we were immediately hit with the weather change - after 6 months of hot & dry Perth, it was a slap in the face to be in the tropical climate of the Queensland's rain forest. After eight consecutive weeks without rain in Perth, the occasional light showers in Cairns were a breath of fresh air. Phil, our hostel host from Tropic Days, picked us up at the airport and gave us the low down on Cairns. Tropic Days was without a doubt the best hostel we had ever stayed in. The hostel was designed with a rain forest vibe, complete with pool, outdoor pool table, hammocks in the garden, and of course Chili Pepper (the hostel dog). We hitched a ride into town on the hostel bus to get our free meal at 'The Woodshed' pub (yes, FREE meal - thank you Tropic Days!) and had a walk about the city center.
On day two we headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. We went with a company called "Reef Magic" who take you to a platform in the middle of the Reef where you dock and spend 5 hours snorkeling. We figured with Sheena's tendency for sea-sickness (and the ROUGH seas that day) that it would be best to get on a platform, rather than spending the entire day getting on and off a boat. After the rough 90 minute boat ride, we were the first ones off to don our "stinger suits" and hop into the water. Sure, we looked funny - but getting stung by one of the reef's many jelly-fish is no laughing matter (and yes, I still got stung by one on my lip. Luckily, it wasn't a deadly one, but it definitely tickled) We hopped in and were immediately hit by the beauty of the reef and the warmth of the water (29 C!). Plenty of fish, interesting coral, and clear waters made for a great snorkel. That, and "Wally" - a huge Napoleon Fish, who has made the reef her home - is now so used to humans that she isn't shy to get up close and personal for a picture!
In the afternoon we decided to pay a little extra to take a guided snorkel tour with the resident marine biologist before hopping back on the ship. It was a great way to end our Reef experience though Sheena's stomach suffered from the huge swells.
Monday night at the hostel is 'Auzzie BBQ night' complete with: Emu, Kangaroo, Crocodile, sausage, and Barramundi. Sheena stuck with fish and I gorged myself...for $10 pp it was a steal of a deal.
On day two in Cairns we decided to head up to the rainforest to a town called Karunda for a horseback riding tour. Sheena was especially excited about this one as she was interested to see how a farm kid like me would do on a horse (hard to believe that I had never been on a horse despite growing up on a farm). The trip up to Karunda was spectacular in itself - the world's longest gondola ride at 7.5km, up the hills into the rainforests of Queensland gave some spectacular views looking back to Cairns and the Coral Sea. Upon arrival in Karunda we found we had some time to kill - and what better way to spend it than at another zoo, right?! Sheena saw a sign for a 'Koala Zoo' and there was no turning back. She finally got to get up close and personal with a Koala which she soon declared 'was one of the best moments' of her life.
The horseback ride through the forest was great - we were the only ones on our tour so we got to chat a bit with our guide and he let us get up to a trot on our horses. Aunt Norma - you would have been proud of my skills, Sheena could barely keep up with me! While the sights were incredible, I couldn't get my head around the size of some of the ant/termite mounds along the trail - they were easily over a metre tall.
On our last night in Cairns we went back to the city center for one last round of sight seeing. On our way to dinner we looked up to the sky only to see THOUSANDS of bats making their way into the city to feed on the many fruit trees. And when I say thousands, I mean THOUSANDS. It looked like something out of a movie. These aren't your standard "I have a bat in my attic" sized things...think a fox with wings. They are huge.

On the road!

Wednesday we picked up our camper van - granted, its no Betsy, but our "Hippie Camper" was more than adequate. Day one with the van we decided to head straight for Mission Beach as it came highly recommended by many. After driving through some rainforest hoping to see the elusive Cassawary (Australia's biggest bird, known to attack humans) we pulled into a campsite where we backed the camper right onto the beach! Not a bad way to spend our first night.
Day two we had a lazy morning and decided to drive up a mountain to Wallaman Falls - Australia's largest waterfall at about 300m. Luckily there had been some rain in the weeks prior so the waterfall was flowing and was quite a spectacular site! After some debate on where to camp, we decided to try to drive the 500km to Airlie Beach that day, where we were scheduled to do an overnight boat cruise of the Whitsundays. It was a long drive, and with the sun setting early we were on the road just after dark. On some of the outback farms, farmers only fence one side of the road - so cows are free to graze the ditches on either side of the road. This makes for some tricky driving at night and we actually had to slow down at one point to dodge a huge cow that had been struck not minutes earlier. Needless to say, we cautiously pulled into Airlie Beach with a sigh of relief!
After some debate, we decided to cancel on the original plan of the boat cruise - with Sheena's tendency to get sea sick we figured our time would be better spent on land rather than on the sea. We left Airlie Beach first thing the next morning and set out on the 11 hour drive to Brisbane. That's right, 11 straight hours in one day stopping only for fuel along the way. We rolled into Brisbane late that evening and were greeted by Sheena's friend Stefanie (and her boyfriend Jakub). Stef and Jakub have been kind enough to host us during our time in Brisbane, so far we've had a great time. Their apartment has been a welcomed change of scenery, sleeping in the back of a van in the middle of summer in Australia certainly poses its challenges...the heat is unbearable at times.

For the next few days, we figure we'll make some trips in and around Brisbane. With the Gold and Sunshine coasts less than a two hour drive away, it'll be easy to just load up for a day and head out. We are also looking forward to Australia Day on Jan 26th, should be a full day of celebrations and BBQ's!

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Photos

Sexy Stinger Suits
We looked good!

Wally
Wally (Napoleon Fish) and Sheena!

Horseback
Notice that I'm leading, and Sheena is following..

Meal at Mission
Great View!

Room on wheels
Sheena basking in the luxurious backseat digs.

Lonely Road
Looking back on the hills in Queensland

Forest Fires
This was one of many fires we drove by on the way to Brisbane - controlled, of course!