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Published: October 22nd 2006
Monday 9th October Paul - Our lift to the harbour was made all the more amusing by the comedic stylings of our bus driver. I say even more amusing because we had two French couples with us and I was enjoying pointing out Scotlands triumph last night.
After a quick safety briefing ("If the boat does start sinking, rest assured the crew are all fully trained to save the alcohol on board") we were off for our cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. We'd booked a slightly pricier tour again in the hope to miss a "party" boat and it certainly paid off.
It was a beautiful ride over to our snorkelling stop for the day. There are 74 islands in the Whitsunday collection and we'd already gone past about 20 of these. It's all a National Park though, so no huge Benidorm style flats here.
After a fun hour snorkelling we lazed about on deck as we cruised over to a very famous lookout point. So famous in fact, that Laura and I had never heard of it. Apparently it's used as the promotional material for every advert for Australian holidays...
The view was superb. It
was like paradise. Just about worth the 15 minute walk behind some fatty who wouldn't move out the way so I could get past.
As we sailed over to the 6.5km long Whitsunday beach where we would be lazing for the afternoon we spotted two dolphins diving in and out of the water beside us. I'd never seen anything like this before and it was a wonderful sight.
Lazed around on the beach and then lazed around on deck for the afternoon. It was tough but someone's got to do it. Arrived back in Airlie and had a lovely BBQ on the Esplanade to cap off a great day.
Tuesday 10th October Laura - We didn't really get up to much today as we spent most of the day travelling. We are making our way down to Hervey Bay, but will stop at random places on the way. The first of our random stops was at a small town called Mackay, where we walked around a futuristic looking art gallery so Paul could stretch his legs. It took a whole 10 minutes to look at all the displays, it was that tiny.
We passed
through two little towns called Sarina and Marlborough. Both were quaint and pretty but didn't really have anything exciting to see so we drove on. The highlight of the journey came once again from local radio, this time it was 'the painting and decorating station' where people rang in to ask an expert on how best to paint their fences, roofs, doors etc. It was fascinating stuff. Dad, you would have LOVED it. Maybe you should ring up radio Ceredigion and offer them your services? There was also an amusing station which had a call in to tell everyone 'your best and worst plane journeys'. Again this was entertainment of the highest degree. Apart from local radio, the next most exciting part of the journey was when I thought I saw a koala hugging a tree. Unfortunately we were going too fast for me to have a proper look.
We parked up for the night in a free roadside rest stop just outside a town called Rockhampton. We amused ourselves laughing at hilarious hillbillies who were passing through to use the toilets, before having yet another very early night. There really is nothing to do in roadside rest stops
except sleep!
Wednesday 11th October Laura - Our first stop this morning was at 'Capricorn Caves' outside of Rockhampton. There were two kangaroos hopping around outside of the admission kiosk which I loved. As I pointed out to Paul "you don't get this in England".
We were soon informed that it would cost us $18 each to look around the caves and that we'd have to go on a guided tour. As the tour group involved a group of 30 school children, we decided against it. Instead we took a walk through 'the bush' looking out for snakes as we went.
Back in the van we drove on to Rockhampton and took a walk around the heritage buildings. They were very pretty but the blurb we picked up from the information centre was the most entertaining part of the trip. I read it out to Paul as we walked and it went into hilarious detail about every building. We now know what the use of the buildings have been since they were built, who has owned them, what companies were involved in building them, what material they are made from, and many random stories
that feature the buildings. It was very enlightening.
Apart from the informative tour, Rockhampton also has to offer some large statues of bulls and cows, and a 'Capricorn Spire', where the tropic of capricorn passes through the town.
We pulled up for lunch at a rest stop next to a 'heritage village'. It looked like the dullest attraction in the world. We were very sad it was closed.
On our way to Hervey bay we almost ran out of petrol on a very long stretch of road. I was concerned when I noticed the petrol light shining red as we were 35 km from the nearest town. Paul's response was "don't worry, we can walk to the next town." 'Eekk" was my rather reserved response.
Fortunately we just about made it to a town called Gin Gin before the van conked out. We filled up then finally made our way to Hervey Bay and checked into a campsite. We booked a couple of tours for the next 2 days and went for a short walk on the very pretty beach where there were pelicans swimming around on the shoreline. It looks like a very nice place
to linger for a couple of days, although I doubt we'll be joining the Pelicans in the sea as these are shark infested waters!
Thursday 12th October Paul - Up early to spot some whales! I was excited today as I've always wanted to see whales in the wild. Our boat had hilariously brilliant commentary provided by the local whale watching expert. He made sure we all understood that only 50%!o(MISSING)f baby whales make it to adult hood because of evil tiger sharks.
After cruising past Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world, more on that tomorrow) we saw a few huge splashes in the distance. Laura and I got quite excited and as we headed closer we saw our first glimpses of a humpback appearing out of the water. It was amazing.
As we got closer we could see it was 4 whales together, 2 mums and 2 pups. The pups were fantastic, jumping out of the water before crashing back into it. The tails on the mums were fantastic as well.
After that group had split up we followed a mum and her pup for a while. Amazingly they
turned around and headed straight for our boat! It was fantastic! They spent the next 10 minutes rubbing up against our boat, spraying water a couple of metres from us and the pup even jumped out of the water and opened his mouth!
More amazing whale watching later and we pulled back into shore after a beautiful cruise along the side of Fraser Island. Spent the afternoon lazing around in the sun before having fish and chips on the beach. Lovely.
Friday 13th October Laura - Another early morning start and another tour. We were taken by bus to the ferry terminal and were herded onto the huge vehicle carrying boat. It wasn't quite the 5 star sailing luxury that we'd been getting used to on other tours. Worse still, there was no complimentary coffee!
We pulled into Fraser Island at around 10am and jumped on a four wheel drive bus. I never knew there was such a thing! A very bumpy ride down a long sandy 'road' soon followed. The tour guide "Captain Kangaroo" pointed out various trees to us on the way and told us some interesting facts about the island. After a
while we made it to the island's "superhighway" which is actually just a very long beach that you are allowed to drive along!
The first stop along the 'highway' was a fast flowing creek (Eli creek). It had fresh water flowing down into the sea and it was very chilly but refreshing to wade through. Usually people swim down it and let the current carry them, but it was a bit too cold for that as the sun was hiding behind big nasty grey clouds!
The next stop was a huge rusting shipwreck lying on the shore line. It was very bizarre to see such a wreck on a perfectly sandy beach. We took a few photos then hopped back in the bus to get to some sand pinnacles further up the coast. This was another short photo taking stop then we were back in the bus again cruising down the beach.
We stopped for lunch at an island resort and had far more time than was necessary to eat and look around the tacky souvenier shop. Eventually we were on our way to our penultimate stop, called Central Station (I was dozing at the time and
have no idea where this name has come from) where we went through a short walk into the woods.
Our last stop of the day was the best by far and made the trip for me. It was at a huge freshwater lake, called Birrabeen, at the top of a very large sand dune. The water was perfectly clear and there was a beach lining the lake that was made of whiter than white sand. It was lovely. An extra bonus was that apparently the water has conditioning properties for your hair and the sand exfoliates your skin! I wasted no time in jumping in. After doing his David Bailey stint for a while, Paul joined me and we splashed around until it was time to go.
Paul - So a lovely day on Fraser Island was had by the awesome twosome. To cap it all off we saw two huge turtles having sex on the ferry on the way back. Marvellous!
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Mum
non-member comment
Well you really do seem to be having a brilliant time - the photos are fab and I love the one of you and Laura at the top of this blog page. Make the most of the weather cos it is beginning to feel a little chilly here in England, quite damp and cold at night. Well what has happened to the other conversationalists - reading the comments is sometimes more amusing than reading the blog - have you all fallen to sleep out there?? By the way Katie is that you on the Devil Wears Prada - now that you are in fashion - I imagine that is just what your job is like?? Hope you two are ok as well. Bi for now - love and kisses Mum xxx