Fraser Island

We took a Hummer Tour of Fraser Island.  Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, it has more sand than the Sahara Desert.  You can only go by 4 wheel drive as no other vehicle would make it.  We were picked up at 7:45, by Roscoe, our driver and tour guide, at our Caravan Park, another bonus, we didn't have to drive anywhere, then we picked up a couple of young Swiss lads, Toby and Andy, from Zurich.  Off we went to catch the ferry to the island.  It was a 35 minute ride, the ferry was quite small and the vehicles had to back on.

This is the Hummer we had, I thought it would be bigger.

This is backing onto the ferry when we left the mainland for the Island.

Believe it or not, you are looking into a creek, the water is so clear you can hardly see it's there.  All the water on the island is rainwater and it is beautiful and clear, great for drinking and swimming.

This is a wild dingo, he is hoping the fisherman will share his catch.  The fisherman has rotten meat in a sack that he is brushing over the sand to catch worms for bait.  Like I said before, they really do things differently in Australia.

This is Roscoe setting out our morning tea, notice the tablecloth!  We had tea, coffee, cake and cookies, yum!

This is 75 Mile Beach, they call it that because it sounds better than 124km beach...It is a Queensland highway and there is a speed limit of 80km/hr. and you can also be fined for not wearing a seat belt during the busy season when the police are out.  Airplanes have the right of way.  It is very strange to be driving along the sand, swerving to miss fishermen, other cars and airplanes oh, and the odd dingo.

This is Eli Creek, it is a freshwater creek that you can swim in, people set up campsites with their kids because it isn't deep, the young kids can play and the older ones can tube down the canal as it does have a slight current.  It is very refreshing and safer than the ocean at this point as there are several types of sharks along this part of the coast.  There were lots of people enjoying the creek the day we were there.

The two Swiss lads, Andy in the blue and Toby in the red.  This is also at Eli Creek.

Dalton in the water, I wanted to get a shot of the tree behind him, the vegetation is very diverse on the island.

The planes are giving tours around the area.

This is called the Pinnacles or the Coloured Sands, it is a sacred place for Aboriginal women,   Aboriginal men are not allowed here.

Getting ready for the picnic lunch.

This is Lake McKenzie, it is a fantastic lake, it is all rainwater, clean, clear and warm.  The sand is a very fine, white silica sand.  If you make a paste out of it, it will shine up your jewellery and is a great exfoliator for your skin.  You feel like you are swimming in silk.

looks like snow doesn't it!

Our last break of the day, champagne, strawberries, chocolates and fresh fruit.  Again with a tablecloth and look at the beautiful setting.  We are really spoiled!

We had a really fantastic day, got delivered home at 6:00, we were totally exhausted and so happy.  Very glad we did it.

April 19, 20, 21, 22

We would have stayed in Airlie Beach longer but it wouldn't stop raining so we decided we better head south to the sunshine.

This is the Lagoon in downtown Airlie Beach.  Most of the Northern Queensland towns have beautiful lagoons as many times during the year you can't swim in the ocean.

This is the beach on the other side of the Lagoon, pretty nice eh!

We spent the entire day driving, stopped at Marleborough Van Park for the night.  Met a couple on their way up to Cairns, just spent a week in Hervey Bay and said it was a great spot, so we thought we would head there next.

It must have been house moving day in Queensland as we saw several houses being moved.  Not only do they have a pilot car leading the way but near towns of any size they also have police cars driving down the middle of the highway with their lights flashing making people get over.  They really do things differently down here.

We stopped at Rockhampton Heritage Centre, it was a very interesting place, we even got a ride in a very old double decker bus. They start it up every once in a while and drive it around the park, it was our lucky day.

We had to take a picture of this old car because it was made in Canada and shipped over to Australia, they have a big restoration shop at the Heritage Centre and they do a really good job.

Everyone should have one of these - if you can't tell they are chili peppers

Next we went to Gladstone and had lunch across the water from where we caught the boat to Heron's Island the last time we were down.  We wanted to see if anything looked familiar and it did.  We had a lovely picnic in the park and then took a drive around the area we stayed.  Our hotel was still there and the restaurant we had dinner in, however, they really spiffed up the area.  It was really nice.

That night we had a free camping spot at Gin Gin. 

We went to Bundaberg, we were going to have a tour of the Rum factory, however, they charge $25.00 per person and I don't even like the stuff, Dalton is a Scotch drinker so we decided to give it a miss.

We made it to Hervey Bay, stayed at the Torquay Caravan Park, it is one of the Hervey Bay Beach Front Caravan Parks, there are four and they are right on the beach, it was a really nice place, however, the woman looking after it was a bit of a bitch, I wanted to nominate her for the nastiest person in Australia, I am sure they must have some sort of contest for that, they seem to have a contest for everything else.

We also walked 6km for a pizza.  No, you didn't misread and it isn't a typo, we really did walk 6km for pizza, it was really good too.  Viva Italia, wood fired pizza and it is only $8.90 for a small one.

There is a beautiful walking path all along the Esplanade, wide enough for walkers and cyclists, they also have exercise equipment placed every few hundred meters.  During the day you can see people running, stopping and working out, I tell you, it made me very tired watching all that energy being used up.  There are toilet blocks along the way as well.  We didn't check but it seems like there is one about every 1-1 1/2kms.  I tell you, this place is really civilized.

Dalton played golf and we moved to the Point Vernon Caravan Park which is very nice and has lovely people running it.

Mission Beach to Airlie Beach

We looked around Mission Beach, decided we didn't want to stay, we thought we would head further south, we still have a long way to go and out time is getting shorter.

Before we reached Ingham we were stopped on the side of the road for about an hour as there must have been an accident, the traffic was backed up quite a long way and around a corner so we couldn't see what was happening but when we finally moved there were police cars and police all around, and also in someones car, we couldn't see if there was any damage, if there was it was on the side away from the road. 

There are sugar cane fields and banana plantations all the way along the Bruce Highway.

We stopped at Wallman Falls, Australia's highest sheer drop falls at 305m.  It was very foggy, when we first got there we couldn't even see the falls.  Luckily it cleared up a bit so we were able to get some photos.  It was a horribly long drive, a fairly steep and winding road.  It would have been awful if we couldn't have seen the falls after taking all that time to go there.

just cleared up enough to get a few pictures

Dalton taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him with the waterfall in the background

I just thought this was a beautiful picture, I love the plants here and wish I could grow them

We stayed at a place called Ayr for the night.  It had great showers, very large.  We bought a Big 4 Membership as we spend half the time in Big 4s as opposed to the Top Tourist that we get discounts at through AllSeasons.

We got to Airlie Beach, Dalton says it has changed a lot since he was last here.  It is supposed to rain for the next few days but it only rains on an off, you never know when it is going to happen and it never seems to last long enough to worry about.

a very pretty setting for our van

the pool, very refreshing

A tree full of Lorikeets, they know it is feeding time at 4:00 and they start arriving at 3:30 and they make quite a racket while they are waiting to be fed

They are really pretty birds, not very polite though

The little fellows have sharp claws, I have some skin missing now.  Some are gentle and some really hang on tight.

Dalton just wanted a picture of the cattle as they are pretty ugly, loads of skin hanging, among other things

They really take over the road and we were not planning on arguing with them

Cairns to Paronella Park

We had to take the van to an Electrical place to get the air conditioner looked at as it was not providing any cold air, only stirring it around and in this country, an air conditioner that works is a must.  The Clarkes followed us into town with their car, picked us up at the Electrical place and we went touring the beaches north or Cairns.  It was a great day for the beaches, nobody on them as it was raining so hard you could hardly keep it off the windshield.  We looked around at all the lovely homes and properties around the area, saw a field full of kangaroos, could have been upwards of 100, what an awesome sight, too far away to get a good picture and we couldn't stop on the highway anyhow.  We found a nice coffee place on the beach, as I mentioned before, no one here seems to care if it is raining or not, everyone just goes about their business.  The rain stops and everything dries quickly.  We went to an RSL (that's like a Legion only nicer) for lunch.  By that time the van was ready to be picked up so Paul and Kylie dropped us off and we went back to the Caravan Park.  We decided we were going to leave the next day because it was supposed to continue raining and we wanted to head on South.

We got up early to get a good start, we headed to the showers and much to my surprise, there is a man in there shaving as bold as brass.  You can't trust the Europeans, they think everything is unisex.   We said our good-byes to the Clarkes and received a list of places to stop on the way.  It is really good when people have seen things that are interesting and share the information.

We stopped at an Information Bureau in Innisfail (no not Alberta) for some information about Paronella Park, one of the places we were told to stop at.  We kept seeing signs about Cassowaries along the way so I asked if we were likely to see one.  We were directed to Etta Bay and lo and behold, we saw a female, her name is Etty and she is big

They are very big birds, about the size of an Emu and they walk all around tropical rainforests, we were told they are like the reforestation officers, their digestive system is such that all the seeds remain intact, so when they drop them, they just re-grow

Dalton saw a Goanna so he had to take a picture

Next we stopped at Paronella Park - this park was started in the 1940s by a fellow from Spain, Jose Paronella, who came to Australia to make his fortune.  He came to the area as a laborer, in the sugar cane industry, made enough money to buy a piece of property.  He had some fabulous ideas of what he wanted to do, it was too bad he didn't have a construction or engineering background and the buildings he constructed did not last.  It was very interesting what he tried to do, he even had hydro electric power to generate all the electricity around the place.

By day

By night

This picture is taken from the picnic area, he built it so the townsfolk could come out and enjoy themselves at no expense.  He remembered what it was like to be poor

This waterfall was named after his daughter Teresa

This is called the grand staircase and if you can see the yellow plaque over half way up - that is where the water level was when the flood happened in 1962

This is a beautiful fountain situated in front of the house that they lived in

This is another set of fountains down below the castle

And this is the King of the Castle!!!

There is a campground on the property so we were able to stay there.  We toured it by day, it was really a beautiful, peaceful place and we toured it again at night.  A very different experience.  We all had flashlights and we had to carry umbrellas as it was bucketing down rain, you would have been drenched in about a minute.  It rained for about 30 of the 45 minute tour.  Unfortunately, our camera didn't like taking pictures in the dark so we only managed to get the one. 

Cairns

We slowly drove from Port Douglas to Cairns, it is only about 65km but we took half the day as we stopped along every beach and drove through every little scenic spot we came across.

We found a nice little spot just out of city centre and booked in for a couple of nights.  We were just across from the swimming pool which we made good use of.

One day we took the public bus into Town and walked all around the Esplanade.  We found the Casino and went in for lunch and Dalton came out about $20.00 richer.  After leaving the Casino, while deciding what to do next, we got a phone call from the people we met a couple of weeks ago, they are also in Cairns and just happened to be driving by our location.  After meeting up with Paul and Kylie, we walked all around the Esplanade again.   Paul went into the Lagoon for a swim but the rest of us didn't have our swim suits on so we stayed out.   We had a leisurely beer in one of the open air cafes, caught up with the news from the past couple of weeks since we last saw each other and made plans for the next day.

We had to take the Van in for a service so we made plans to leave it there for the full day.  We took a bus up to Kuranda.  We wanted to take the train but there had been an avalanche along the track and it wasn't cleared yet so we opted for the bus.  We wandered around the Village for the day, took a boat ride down the river to learn more about the tropical rain-forest and took the Skyrail back down.  The Skyrail was awesome.  It is just like riding on a Gondola.

This is the river we went down

We stopped to feed the fish and try to feed the turtles along the way but they were too slow and the fish got all the food

The train station we should have come up on

This is one of the three engines, Dalton said that when he took it years ago, it only had one engine.  Tourism is a wonderful thing for some areas.

 Usually this waterfall is just a trickle but they have had so much rain lately that it now gushes

One of the other waterfalls we saw on the way down on the Skyrail

Dalton and his buddy, Paul

This is a man made lake that has a cable running around the top and you can water-ski without a boat.  Those long things are ski jumps.  So if you like to water ski and you don't have a boat...  What a novel idea

Port Douglas

We left the wet weather behind when we left the Tablelands.  We had a very leisurely trip to Port Douglas, it was a very pretty drive.  We arrived very early - 9:30, the stores were just opening.  We wandered around town, it is a very nice place, not very busy yet.  We checked out all the stores, made a reservation for a snorkel cruise for the next morning.  Had some lunch and Dalton went and got his B12 shot at the Medical Centre.

We stayed at a really nice park the Tropic Breeze Van Village, and just as the name says, only Vans are there so no big rigs or backpackers.  We stayed for 2 nights.

We were booked for a snorkel tour with Aristocat Snorkel Tours, they picked us up at 8:10 and delivered us to the wharf where we boarded a 100 passenger Catamaran - there were only 65 of us, so there was lots of space.  They took us to the outer reef, supplied us with "stinger suits", these are lightweight suites that cover you from head to toe in case there are any jellyfish in the water that might sting.  This is the end of the season for that, we think it was a liability issue, however, they were very easy to wear and it was also a protection from the sun.  We were in the water for 3 1/2 hours all together.  We went to visit 3 different reef sites.

They provided coffee, tea and muffins for breakfast, they had a lovely buffet lunch with an afternoon snack of fresh fruit and cheeses.  You could have hot drinks after each dive, however, the water was so nice we certainly didn't want anything warm.  There were hot showers for after it was all over, but we used the cold ones anyway.  The ocean was warmer than the swimming pool at our park.  We were delivered back to the Van Park when we arrived back to the wharf, we thought it was pretty good service.

We also met a nice young couple from Germany, Jan and Sondra.  They want to come to Canada to visit us next year.

We rented an underwater digital camera and Dalton took 91 pictures, here are a few:

It is just a different world under the ocean

Beautiful fish and very different looking coral

The fish are beautiful colors, all different shapes and sizes

Isn't that an interesting looking clam!

It's a real shame that the reef is dying, this further up than the oil spill that happened two weeks ago. 

The tips of these spiky things were the most vivid blue.

The color in this one was very vivid.

Yes, it's me in my lovely stinger suit.  Actually it's very slimming, I'm thinking of getting one for home...hahaha!

How would you like to look down and see this fellow looking up at you...he has several rows of very sharp teeth.  Lucky for me he had already been fed.  I think I scared him off by the terrified look on my face.

Now we want a pool in our back yard!!!