Australia Zoo

We were on Fraser Island for two nights. We really liked the peace and quiet there. It was lovely to just sit on the balcony, alone with the noises of nature and just relaxing. We would have liked a bit longer there. We were up bright and early in order to get to Australia zoo in good time. We watched a film on the way about Steve Irwin's life and it was really inspirational. The zoo still has tons of photos of him everywhere even though he died in 2006. Nowadays it's his daughter Bindi who seems to get the publicity and she has lots of books for sale and she's only14 years old.

The zoo was very good, nice and clean and the animals seemed well looked after. The koalas are really cute and we still haven't seen any in the wild. We have now seen a few kangeroos and lots of exotic birds.

We have spent many hours on the coach. This country is vast and we've now traveled down most of the east coast. Much of the scenery is the same with lots of sugar cane and pine forests. Last night our stop was at Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was a busier place with a lot going on. Our room was on the 18th floor and we had terrific views on two sides. It was another early start and after a few minutes we had to turn back as Chris had left the video recorder charging in the room - he was really popular!

Tonight we are staying at Port Macquarie which is on the Hastings River. It was with relief that they have WiFi as the past few hotels either didn't have it or it was outrageously expensive. It was our farewell meal tonight as tomorrow is the last day of the tour. We have an extra night so that we can do the Sydney Harbour Climb. I'll add some photos to this post when I get a bit more time.

Fraser Island

Fraser Island couldn’t be more different to Daydream Island. The accommodation is very different and each room has a large balcony looking out onto water surrounded by trees.

View from our balcony

This is a sub-tropical island built on sand and there’s lots of wild life. In fact I awoke to the noises, the only problem was that it was 4am. The noise was deafening and is the equivalent of the ‘dawn chorus’. I couldn’t go back to sleep!

This morning we went on a morning trip into the centre of the island and the only way to get there is by 4-wheel drive. This vehicle was huge and our full group of 15 went together. The track is just sand and it was extremely bumpy. We then went on a track along the rain forest. They had a massive bush fire on the island last October and a lot of the trees are blackened. It’s amazing to see the new growth and fires are seen to be good for an area as it encourages regeneration.

After the walk we went for a swim in Lake McKenzie. The lake is 100% rainwater and it is so clear; it was fabulous and very welcome after the long, hot walk in the rain forest. The temperature here today has been 32 degrees, which is much more bearable than it has been in the past few weeks.

Tonight we walked down to the jetty to watch the sunset. On the way we saw stingrays and sea turtles.

It looks like we’ve left some bad weather behind us as there’s a couple of cyclones developing in the Cairns area and they are now having lots of wind and rain.

Tomorrow we make our way towards Brisbane and we’ll be spending some time at Australia Zoo, the one that the late Steve Irwin made famous.

Whitehaven Beach

This morning we sat on a beach called Lover's Cove which was really lovely and the palm trees gave some shade and a gentle breeze kept us reasonably cool. A wedding was due to take place in the afternoon and it would then be closed to the public. We left Daydream Island for the afternoon to take a boat to Whitehaven Beach which is in complete contrast to where we've been staying. It has miles of really white, fine sand. The boat (a catamaran) came really close to the shore and then a ramp was lowered from the front of the boat to let people off. The beach is miles long and is so white and fine, however, the huge black flies that bite spoil it a bit! The beach can only be reached by boat and there were a couple of private boats there and a sea plane. The sea was so clear and blue and I went straight in for a swim. I was told afterwards that I should have worn a stinger suit as the jelly fish are really dangerous and they are 'in season'. Chris was happy to wear one!

We leave Daydream Island early tomorrow morning and expect another long coach ride to make our way to Fraser Island with a night at Rockhampton to break the journey. We've just eaten and are ready to go and pack our bags again. This living out of a suitcase is a bit tedious!

Daydream Island

After travelling all day yesterday we arrived ready to board the boat to Daydream Island where we were to spend the next three nights. It had started to rain, which isn't unusual here as we are in the midst of the rainforest in the Whitsunday Islands. It is strange for it to rain so heavily and yet remain so warm. This is a small island which is designed specifically for the tourists. It reminds me of a TV programme from years ago called 'Fantasy Island'. There's really nice accommodation and lots of swimming pools and hammocks in really well-tended surroundings. Chris fell out of a hammock which was really amusing! The island is really a tropical rain forest and has lots of tropical things walking, flying and swimming nearby. A wallaby hopped past us last night when we were making our way back to our room.

I'm pleased to say that the rain didn't last long last night and we awoke this morning to clear blue skies and even brighter blue sea. It really is very beautiful. There's very little to do unless you have tons of money to splash out. I was going to treat myself to a massage but couldn't, in all conscience, spend the $175 for a 90 minutes massage - that's a lot of hard-earned money!

The temperature here is 30 degrees which is much lower than the Northern Territory. It is very humid here though and difficult to feel comfortable. This morning we walked the ten-minute walk to the other side of the island, had a drink and then walked the 20 minute rainforest track back again. We felt tired out and then just sat on a sun bed in the shade to try to cool down. I did manage to do some reading - thank goodness for my 'Kindle'! I keep thinking of all the wasted study time - shame I left my text books at home!

Tomorrow afternoon we are going for a cruise to see more of the coral reef.

Moving on

The carroboree was really good and we really enjoyed ourselves. Chris was 'dragged' onto the stage to join the aborigine dancers and he danced more like Elvis Presley but everyone seemed to like it. I recorded him and was laughing so much. The buffet afterwards was really good too.

We really liked Cairns and were reluctant to leave the fabulous hotel.

Hotel room at Cairns

We then spent the full day travelling further down the east coast of Queensland to a place called Mission Beach, where we spent the night. This was another great hotel. The place was very quiet and the beach was deserted. At this time of year it isn't safe to swim in the sea here due to the dangerous jelly fish. 

Mission Beach is where the indigenous aborigines in the area were brought when their land was taken from them.  Nowadays it is a tourist attraction with some nice hotels and houses. The aborigines still have huge problems and many still live in settlements.

Sunrise view from our room at Mission Beach

Cairns

The flight to Cairns was fine and no storm in sight although we saw several bush fires burning on the ground below as we made our way to Cairns. When we arrived at the airport a man was holding a card with our name on it. He led us outside of the airport where two cars were waiting, one stretch limo and the other just an ordinary one. Chris jokingly went to open the door of the limo for me and to our shock (and delight) the limo really was for us. We were grinning all the way to our hotel.

We are staying in a hotel called the Hotel Cairns and it is really lovely. We are on the top floor and have a lovely balcony, complete with palm trees and sun beds. The weather on the North East coast is hot and a bit humid but nothing like the fierce heat of the Northern Territory. We went out to Green Island this morning and I finally got to snorkel in the coral reef. It was totally amazing and I was swimming along with sea turtles and other fish that I don't know the names of. I only swallowed sea water once when I forgot how to breathe! I now have a bit of a suntan on my back but I had tons of sunscreen on so I didn't burn. Chris' back is red raw as he didn't intend to snorkel but ended up having a go.

This afternoon we went for a walk around Cairns and we could hear a right racket coming from the trees. We thought they were birds but it turned out to be bats. There must have been hundreds of them all hanging from the trees. They were 'baby flying foxes' and it is a breeding area for them.

Tonight we are being taken to a show at Tjapukai. We are to take part in an interactive carroboree before being led along a flame-lit path to dinner. Not sure about the interactive part but the regional cuisine sounds good.

Ayers Rock revisited

It was another early start this morning and we were ready for the coach at 4.30am. We were taken to a different viewing point. It was really dark and we were told to follow the path lit by the green and red lights. This took us to the various viewing platforms. It gets really busy and lots of people take tripods for their cameras and little chairs. We took lots of photographs that we’ll bore people to death with when we get back home!

After the sunrise, we made our way to the rim of the rock with the intention of walking to the top. Unfortunately it was closed due to the wind. (This closing things down before we get there is becoming a habit!) Looking at the walk, I doubt very much whether I would have been able to do it anyway as it is very steep, with only a wire rail to hold on to.

We then went to another part of the rock base where we went on a very nice walk around part of the rim. The path has a low wire to show where we were allowed to walk. We stopped on a raised platform to look at some rock drawings and one lady, totally oblivious to her error, had stepped over the wire and appeared in front of us all on the platform as she gazed within inches of the drawings and was happily snapping away with her camera. It was a really funny moment, as the look on everyone’s faces was a picture.

The rivers were pointed out to us as we travelled along and so far they have all been totally dry. Water isn’t a problem for them because it is available underground and is drinkable from the tap. It hasn’t rained here since April last year and as we were driving along, the sky got darker and darker and the massive fork lightening began and it started to rain, and rain, and rain. We were told that when it rains, the kangeroos make their way to the roads where the puddles gather but we didn’t see any. We made our way back to Alice Springs to spend another evening there and we are flying to Cairns on Sunday. (That’s today and I’ve finally got Wi-Fi again, hence the delay in bringing this blog up to date). We have until 2.30pm before we are taken to the airport. This will be flight number six.