| Frank & Lisa's Amazing Cross-Australia Adventures |
| The Queensland Coast (5) |
| on to more Queensland Coast ...or |
| Whitsundays - revisited |
| We set out from Townsville bright and early to ensure that we were at the Coral Sea Resort immediately at check-in time. This was our big indulgence of the trip. Our room had a hammock and spa on the balcony overlooking the Airlie Beach bay. We spent our afternoon sipping champagne, indulging in fine food, and lounging on the balcony (pics below). We headed down to the pool for a swim and ordered fabulous room service dinners. We were booked in on a trip with Ocean Rafting at 8am and would not be returning until 5pm the next night. That meant a very early morning check out before our return to campground reality the next evening! |
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| Frank & I met our Southern Exposure Ocena Rafting tour guide and captain at the Coral Sea jetty on schedule. My sister & I took a trip with Ocean Rafting the previous year and had an excellent time. We were supposed to go on this trip, but were switched to their Nothern Exposure tour due to low booking numbers. Our first stop |
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| them. They go so fast that they leap right out of the water while they do it! We got off of the boat at the tip of Nara Inlet to take in the view and see some cave paintings done by this now virtually extinct tribe. This tribe was slaughtered by whites early in this century, leaving only 2 known survivors. It was shocking to see that the site has been obviously vandalized by people adding fake paintings of their own. The cross-hatched ovals are true samples of their art, but no Australian aboriginals used or drew arrows (pic right). From there we were off to |
| was at Daydream Island to pick up some extra passengers. It is famous for these mermaid sculptures, which cost a cool $1 million each (pic left). During high tide they actually look like they're floating in the water. From there we headed towards Nara Inlet. On the way we ran into a school of tuna feeding (pic left). Apparently they herd fish up to the top of the water and then rush up under them to eat |
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| Whitehaven beach(pic below left). It is listed as one of the World's Top 10 most beautiful beaches. It is fine white silica sand. Hill Inlet sits at one end of Whitehaven Beach, while today we sailed the length of it to moor at the far end. We ate our lunch and had a bit of a throw of a (regulation size) frisbee with Captain Dan (pic below right) before heading off for a bit of a snorkel near Mantaray Bay. |
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| This was a really nice treat because this trip didn't have a diving option, so Frank & I finally got to spend some time exploring the coral reef together! At this location we saw lots of blue clams (pic belowleft) and a huge school of parrotfish (pic below right). |
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| Bundaberg & Mon Repos |
| The next day we awoke bright and early in order to do another marathon drive, arriving in Bundaberg by dinnertime. In fact, we were staying in Mon Repos some 10 minutes outside of Bundaberg. Our campground, the Turtle Sands, was located next to the Mon Repos Turtle Rookery. Over the next 2 months thousands of nature lovers would flock to this spot to witness loggerhead turtles nesting. The research station at Mon Repos manages the negative impacts that these huge numbers of tourists could have on the loggerheads' breeding cycle by bringing them to the beach in small groups under monitored conditions to watch the tutrles lay their eggs. Turtles only arive on the beaches at night, so that evening Frank & I made our way tot he station, paid our money, were assigned to a group, and waited. It was early in the season, so there was a possibiliy that no turtles would come that night. Sure enough, by 2am not a turtle arrived and we were sent off home. We did, however, get to go out on a patrol of the beach with the lead researcher first, looking for turtle tracks or signs that a mother may be coming out of the ocean. We left disappointed, but we knew that we still had a chance the next night. |
| The next day we did what all normal tourists do in Bundaberg - we toured the Bundaberg Rum Distillery pic right)! Bundabeg Rum is the only uniquely Australian spirit. The famous Bundaberg Rum bottle and the Bundy polar bear (see the top sticker on the bottle) are iconic in Australia. The bottle was designed by Stewart McMahon, brother of former Prime Minister Kyle McMahon, and uncle to actor Julian McMahon of Charmed & Nip & Tuck fame. |
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| Northern Territory: Red Centre , 2 / Top End , 2 NSW & ACT: Hunter Valley / Sydney / Canberra , 2 Queensland Coast: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 South Australia: Barossa Valley / Kangaroo Island / McLaren Vale & Coonawarra Victoria: Great Ocean Road , 2 , 3 / Melbourne New Zealand (North Island): Aukland / Rotorua / Tongariro / Wellington (South Island): Nelson / Westland / Queenstown / Milford / Dunedin / Mt Cook / Christchurch |