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Sand
Picture thirty SUVs, a couple of huge tour buses and an airplane speeding along this same beach, each one following it's own route. The towns we're passing through as we climb the east coast of Australia are all really different. One beachfront town will be quiet and unassuming , the next will be all decked out in million-dollar condos and over-the-top expensive shops. We liked Hervey Bay. Our campsite was right on the beach and it was magnificent to be able to wander along the sand or out into the water. The two caravan parks on the water are council-owned, not privately. It's a quiet and unassuming town; we liked that it isn't all decked out with expensive shops to trap the tourists. There are lots of holiday-lets but most of them seem to be empty at this time of year.
One day we took a tour over to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. It was a great day even though it was cloudy. We drove with 30 other people in a four-wheel drive bus onto the beach. Smaller 4WD vehicles (mostly rentals) are allowed on the beach too. I find it hard to understand why but people want to speed up and down the immensely wide beach like it's a highway. Believe it or not, there are 80/km.
speed signs listed on the sand and the 'road' doesn't have the benefit of painted lines down the middle to keep people safe (I know, I sound really OLD). We had to take extreme care when we got off the bus not to get hit by an SUV. Apparently the vehicles do no damage to the beach but I find that hard to believe. We live close to a beach in B.C. and we are horrified whenever we see the oystermen driving their vehicles on the beach; they crush all sorts of animal life.
We saw two dingoes on the Fraser Island beach. The dingoes on the island are the only 100% pure breed in Australia and there are upwards of 200 of them there. The bus driver got quite agitated when a woman wanted him to open the door so she could take a clearer picture. He told us later that two days earlier a 9-yr. old boy had been attacked and killed by three Fraser Island dingoes. They come down to the beach in hopes of getting a fish from a surf fisherman or some food from campers. If people would refuse to feed them they'd stay
off by themselves. We spent the afternoon walking through the woods to a couple of beautiful lakes but because it was a cool day nobody went swimming.
We could really tell we were getting into the tropics as we traveled north. We passed pineapple fields, banana orchards and sugar cane fields. When we got to Bundaberg we made a mistake and turned into an RV park we wouldn't have stopped at normally. It was in town and completely surrounded by industrial buildings. It turned out to be a happy accident because it turned out to be one of our best caravan parks. It's a BIG4 park. The owners were charming and their park was immaculate and quiet. The only restaurant nearby was a scary-looking tavern but on their advice we went there for dinner. Again, a happy accident as we had one of our best-ever meals there. Barry made an observance: often, at night, buildings look really dark and forbidding. He realized they're using black lights outside instead of yellow lights. It's probably to keep the bugs at bay - makes sense!
Bundaberg is quite a large town with lots of history. We spent two nights there and
Hooty On A Termite Hill
No owls were harmed in the taking of this photo. visited the Bundaberg Rum factory. Seeing the gigantic vats of molasses used for making rum was interesting. The rum is really good but since Australians like it so much there isn't that much left to export to other parts of the world. Here, cans of already-mixed Bundy and coke are sold in liquor stores, something we don't see in Canada. Bundy is a lovely town to wander through with some nice shops - I found a quilt shop - and we also visited a caravan sales lot. We climbed in and out of several caravans and you know which one we liked best? It's a Jayco 'Sterling'. It's one we would consider if they manufactured them at home. Trouble is, though, the prices are astronomical. A 22 ft. caravan costs more than twice what ours cost us in Canada.
We finally went snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef! We got to the town of 1770 (yes, that really is it's name), which is the closest town to the southern-most tip of the reef. Barry read about a tour company that takes people out to Lady Musgrave Island for snorkelling in an enclosed lagoon. We didn't waste any time getting
on the tour because it was supposed to rain for the next couple of days. It was a truly wonderful day. A group of 50 people went (there are up to 150 in high season) on the 1-1/2 hour boat ride to the island. The ocean was really calm, we were told, but some people were seasick on the way. On the way back they all slept so we suspect they'd been medicated for the return! We took a walking tour through the island first (the ground is composed of fractured coral and only birds and insects live there) then went back out to our pontoon boat.
The staff served us lunch then we all went snorkelling (obviously the old adage about waiting an hour before swimming is old-hat now). I'm a very nervous swimmer and Barry and I were both totally impressed with the staff. They gave me a wet suit so I wouldn't get cold - then politely told me I'd put it on backwards, explained how to snorkel properly then let me sit off to the side watching till I was ready to slide into the water. Not like in Mexico several years ago when
Rubber Girl
And it's on the right way too. I was almost flung off the boat once I got my flippers on!
Lady Musgrave Tours is the only tour company allowed to take people to that island and they're very careful of the reef. We were allowed to snorkel right over the top of the reef as long as we didn't let a flipper touch the coral. Barry and I swam back and forth through thousands of bright-coloured fish. It's quite an amazing experience. Barry remembers the latin names for most of them because of the years he kept a salt-water aquarium. We saw at least ten large turtles sitting on a rock beneath the surface while little cleaner-fish nibbled at their shells. We were in the water for two hours and had a great time. Barry had trouble with his face mask (we took our own) so will have to figure out what went wrong for next time. I had my mask on so tight I had a ring around my face for hours! We've been on some good tours but this one was probably the most professional one. We'd highly recommend it.
We got chatting to a man who said he was from Canada. Turns
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
A bit fuzzy because he's far away in the tree. out he grew up in our home town of Chilliwack and we have some mutual friends. He works at BCIT in Burnbaby, BC. Another small world thing.
A little further north, in Rockhampton, we were surprised/thrilled/dismayed/horrified at the bird behavior at night. No small and cute rainbow-coloured lorikeets there. The birds that gather in the trees at sunset are the huge and beautiful, white-bodied sulphur-crested cockatoos. They scrap and fight with each other in the branches and make an amazingly terrible screeching noise for a couple of hours. You wouldn't want to THINK about walking underneath one of the trees in the caravan park during twilight hours. We talked to an Aussie camper who told us that Aussies call the birds 'bloody cockatoos'. They tear gutters off houses and can rip apart decks looking for tasty treats.
We're in Airlie Beach now, on a bit of a holiday from our holiday. We want to go snorkeling again but the internet told us today would be raining. We booked for tomorrow instead. Thankfully, it did rain so we don't feel bad about missing a day of sightseeing! It will be a good day for doing laundry and a bit of housecleaning in the motorhome. I can handle ten minutes of that.
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