We made it - the Final Frontier!

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All good things must come to an end and I guess the end of our fantastic six months is drawing nearer. The last couple of weeks in tropical north Queensland have been brilliant. It's been a real mix of water and boats, tropical rainforests, cassowaries and a four wheel drive to round it all off.


All things tropical! Water!


We enjoyed a trip on a purple catamaran 'Camira'. It was a great day's sail. After meeting our craft and crew we set sail (well not sail - there was absolutely no wind at all, the sea was like a mill pond, so we had to motor!) out amongst some of the 74 Whitsunday islands. Mike took up the challenge of a half hours snorkle, which he thoroughly enjoyed, as did I, as I spent the time sunning myself on deck! I thought I'd wait until we hit the warmer waters further north.


We were taken ashore at Whitehaven Beach, a beautiful prisine white sandy bay and enjoyed even more sun for a short time - we even managed a swim in the sea! We were really well looked after, wined and dined during a lovely relaxing day. After lunch we were all hoping for some wind - but alas, it was not to be so we we serenely motored back to the marina at the end of a superb day - my first sailing experience - a great success!


On the third of our four days at Airlie Beach we ourselves off to South Molle Island, where we could be a bit more active and spent the day walking the tracks that criss-crossed the island giving us fantastic views of some of the others in the group. The islands are very beautiful, but I'm not sure that I could sit still long enough to enjoy a holiday actually on one of them, most being quite small.


Many of the Whitsunday Islands have resorts on them, others are privately owned and building work is evident in many place - a real boom area.


The launching place for the Whitsundays is Arlie Beach, a real seaside resort with lots of cafes and bars, shops, lagoon - the beach isn't much to write home about, and a really nice boardwalk to the marina. We enjoyed the Saturday market, really colourful and fun.


Our next boat trip was to be very different - Cooper Creek in the Daintree National Park, where we were introduced to the local estaurine residents. May I add we kept well away from the bank and made sure we weren't tempted to splash our fingers in the warm waters. But this was a trip with no special effects, just information on these wonderful prehistoric aquatic creatures, an opportunity to see the crocodiles in their natural habitat. We saw four in total, all female and all sunning themselve trying to warm through which they need to do to enable them to digest their food - very uncomfortable otherwise! They all seemed quite docile, but we were warned they can move very swiftly and should be left very well alone! We were quite happy just to observe from a good distance.


A few days later we were to experience a different sort of aquatic wilderness. The Great Barrier Reef and the wonderful array of coloured fish that live in the area. On our journey to Port Douglas we heard on the weather that the last remaining days of our Queensland visit were to be quite windy and the seas less comfortable, so we immediately booked to go out to the reef the following day when the winds were only 15 - 20 knots.


From Port Douglas we motored out to the outer reef at Agincourt (about one and a half hours out to sea). Here we launched next to a pontoon where all the equipment was kept for the days activities. We donned very fectching blue lycra stingsuits (it's not the stinger season, but best to be safe than sorry!) - sorry no photos, collected our snorkles, masks and flippers and enjoyed the underwater world of the coral and fish. Another wow! Neither of us are strong swimmers, but we were well looked after and with your head under the water was like 'an out of this world' experience, you really felt as though you had become part of their world.


We were able to see a lot more of the reef by going on a semi-submerssible which took us further out from the pontoon looking out to the sea bed and the wonderful coral formations. The few hours we had went all too quickly and in no time at all we were heading back to land.


Rainforests - yes more rainforests!


It seemed very apt, but our last hostel was to be under the canopy of the rainforest. A tarpaulin cabin with mesh window, so that we could hear the sounds of the forest as we lay in bed at night and look for the beginning of day as the sun filtered through the treetops. Fantastic! If only you could bottle sound! It was a very popular hostel for families and the evenings were often spent in the lounge/dining area - again all under tarpaulin - with children playing board games and adults chatting over dinner and a drink - all under this complete canopy of ferns and palms. We met a couple from Melbourne, Mike and Marsha, and enjoyed their company during three of the four evenings we spent at Crocodylus - a very special place.


The hostel was at a place called Cow Bay, not far from Cape Tribulation, where two great wonders meet each other - the Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park join hands to give us rainforests that reach down to the sea and topple over on to the beach - how exotic can you get!


We did lots of boardwalks in the Cape Trib area and enjoyed visiting the mango swamps where these plants have adapted to survival in salt water by providing themselves with very intricate filtering systems. The fan palms gave our a wonderful show too. The whole eco system of the forests and swamps is very complicated and each and every plant is needed and relied upon to sustain the survival of the animals, plants, insects and snakes that live within it.


Cassowaries


As we arrived in the Mission Beach area, we began to come across signs that said 'Beware of Cassowaries', 'Cassowaries cross here', 'Cassowary area' - great - but what on earth are cassowaries - what should we be aware of? A bird - a bit like an emu in size and shape, the third largest bird in the world, flightless. So during our drives and walks we kept an eye out hoping we might see one of these shy reluctant birds. During the one full day that we had at Mission Beach (we stayed in a Tree House here - that was very different too), we spent the day covering some of the tracks in the area. On our way back to base, there was just one last walk we thought we could fit in before the sun set. It was a steep walk to a lookout over the bay, so we headed off at speed and wound our way up a hilly outcrop. Following the path we turned a corner and Mike came face to face, eye to eye to a cassowary standing at least 5' tall, a fully grown bird standing in the centre of the path blocking our way. He was superb and we were amazed.
We were delighted to have to opportunity to see one of these birds so closely (we have spoken to a lot of envious people since), but would it move, no way. In the end we had to back track and find another way to the top. We also saw a young cassowary from our cabin at Crocodylus, but he was just brown and hadn't yet gained his bright colours.


We made it to Cooktown!


Cooktown was to be our last frontier - the furthest north we were planning on travelling, but once in Cape Tribulation we took a look at the road - it was not for us! From this point north the road is unsealed and only 4 wheel drives are suitable. A new road inland was sealed just 18 months ago, but is much longer and nowhere near so interesting - so we booked ourselves onto a 4WD trip to Cooktown. Another 6 o'clock pick up, just 6 passengers and off we went. We watched the sun rise over the coral sea and then hit the Bloomfield track - you definitely needed a 4wd and Mike felt even if we had hired one, he would have been a bit concerned about driving the road. It was very unmade, but made for a great day out. We stopped at the Bloomfield Falls enroute, aboriginal land, where they do walking tours and have a very organised and healthy community, which was great to see. Alcohol is not permitted and there is a fine of $75000 if you get caught with it in the community.


Cooktown itself was very quiet and not the riotous town we had been warned about. We spent some time in the museum, where the anchor and one of the cannons from Capt Cooks Endeavour is on full view. Cook was incredible - a man I must find out more about, he has cropped up continuously on our travels and both the Kiwis and Oz's are so well informed of his conquests - a really interesting guy.


On our way back we stopped at the Black Mountains. This mountain range are made up of granite boulders which are covered in a black algae, giving the whole mountain the black appearance. we have never seen anything like these before - another first!


Lastly, we missed out this photo of the Roadtrain from our last blog - thought you might like to see what they're like - awesome - except when you are driving ofcourse! This was taken at Mount Isa from our camp site.


So, only one day to go before we fly to Singapore for a few days before our return home. Was it worth it? Well, I don't think we have to answer that - it has been fantastic. I couldn't have dreamed that we would see so much, experience so much, meet so many wonderful people and have the energy to keep going, thank goodness we didn't leave it for another five years as originally planned. Highlights? too many to mention - disappointments - none I can think of.

Thank you to all of you who have kept up with us and emailed us from time to time, it really has been great to keep in touch with you all.


So from both of us to all of you - Farewell for now!


Thursday 26th July - having problems publishing this blog - will try one more time. We've just had four days in Singapore - will tell more later and are awaiting our taxi for the airport and our flight home!!

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