Trials and Tribulation; The Great Barrier Reef and RAIN!

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Hey everyone, we've done quite a bit since our last blog so here goes....

We tore ourselves away from our beloved Melbourne, we've both decided that we absolutely have to go back because it's so awesome. On our last couple of days we chilled out in the Botanic Gardens, went to the Ian Potter Centre for Aussie Art and went to the Museum (v. sadly the Neighbours set had been taken away!!) So with a sad farewell we got on our flight and jetted up to Cairns.

As we got off the plane we were hit with the most incredible humidity, we've never experienced it so bad, not even in Asia, we were immediate dripping with sweat (attractive imagery i know). We picked up our lovely new van, Morris, who is bigger and better than dear old Mavis, though we are still very fond of her. Morris has a little kitchen inside, a high roof so you can stand up and actually works rather well which is a novelty.

We didn't really see Cairns as we drove straight north to Cape Tribulation which was amazing. Through the Daintree Rainforest (the world's oldest forest apparently) we found a little campsite nestled in a clearing right on the beach. It was such a stunning setting with the forest ending on the the white sand with palm trees and really clear sea, it was really deserted too which was fab. We spent one night up here, even more humid than Cairns so we were constantly sweating, goodness only knows how people live here. We were very rudely awoken that night by our microwave beeping like crazy and could only stop it by unplugging Morris from the mains. Very annoying as we had to spend the next morning at a mechanic who unscrewed some boards and turned the microwave off, not the best start.


We then drove through the Tablelands, just inland from Cairns which had breathtaking landscapes and huge waterfalls which were very soothing after a morning at a garage. We stopped that night in a little town called Innisfail which had lots of Art Deco architecture and headed south down the East Coast via Townsville to Airlie beach. This is a pretty small town but crammed full of backpackers and tourists as it's the best way to cruise or visit the Whitsunday islands or go out to the Great Barrier Reef. We decided to stay 3 nights so we could visit both of these.

The Great Barrier Reef day was fantastic, we sailed out to Hardy Reef, 2 hours out from the mainland, where we spent ages snorkeling looking at all the coral, fish (we found Nemo!), giant clams and other sea creatures. 6 out of the 7 world's species of turtle live here but although everyone else saw one we didn't but everything else more than made up for it. We also went on a semi-sub where you sit on a boat but below the surface of the water so we could look out through windows, a great experience. We felt really lucky to have seen the reef as its our first of the 7 wonders of the world and has 1500 species of fish and has the same area as the UK! (I will be testing you later!) There are also very scary jellyfish out there so we had to wear extremely flattering full length stinger suits which show EVERY bump, needless to say photos will not be uploaded. We were also really lucky that we had good weather as we are in Queensland's rainy season and the sky is permanently grey and cloudy.

We were not so lucky with the weather the next day when we went on a trip around the Whitsundays. It rained all day so the natural beauty was not quite as great as the postcards. We still really enjoyed it though going to Daydream island, Hamilton island and having a swim on Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven is in the top 10 beaches in the world (apparently, no idea what the others are) as it's completely unspoilt and protected and the sand is 99.8% silica so it's really fine and white. We had to be prematurely evacuated from the beach though as the rain was quite tremendous.

Due to staying so long in Airlie Beach and needing to be in Sydney by the 18th (not long when we have over 2000 kilometres to drive) we were on the road by 7am this morning aiming to drive to Rockhampton. However about 30 minutes down the road we found that the roads have all been closed because of severe flooding. This is probably the worst situation possible as we were already strapped for time and were told by the police to hole up in a little town for the next day or two (!). This little town, Proserpine has nothing, so here we are trying to while away the hours until the roads are clear. No-one can tell us when this might be but we are just crossing our fingers that we'll make it to Sydney as we have a flight to New Zealand on the 20th! Ah well, life is full of little setbacks but what with rain and humidity we feel like we're never going to be dry again!

On a rather wet (but trying to be positive) note we say goodbye, hopefully you'll hear from us safe and dry in Sydney. We hope you're all good, happy Valentines Day for tomorrow! Lots of love, Cordy and Issie

P.S. A couple of exciting things have happened such as eating Kangaroo! it was really delicious, a bit like a subtler beef, I definetly recommend it! Issie also had a little scare when a caterpillar fell on her and she got a big red rash on her neck. We sought advice and an icepack sorted it out good and proper. Ah the joys of Aussie wildlife!

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Comments

[Katie]

Hello u lucky things!!
Hi guys!! Soooooo jealous of ur travels!! As usual I am useless at writing to u Issie but thought I would let u know that I am thinking of u (and u too of course Cordy!) and really hoping u are having a great time. A friend of mine has just got back from Oz and tells me it is gorgeous. Just to let u know that we are scraping ice off our cars in the morning here whilst u are tanning urselves! Lovely to read ur blogs - u should put them all in a book when u get back and do some art 'inspired by' the trip to illustrate the book!!! Can't wait to see u when u get back - we must organise a reunion!!! Take care of urselves and have lots of fun, lots love Katie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PS - pesky caterpillars!