Our Final Post (for this trip)

We have been very lucky with the weather this trip - only one night and morning of heavy rain in Carnarvon. It is definitely a good time to head north. Yes, nights and mornings can be cool, but days are beautiful and perfect for walking.

The highlights for me (other than just about everything we saw) usually are the surprises. I was surprised at the character of Charters Towers and the fun in panning rubble for sapphires at Rubyvale. Seeing Queensland's two highest mountains side by side with barely a cloud upon them was a stroke of luck and I was surprised by how much I loved the Atherton Tablelands.

Our 4WD trek out of Cooktown where we had our own private guide/driver meant that we spent time looking at the things we liked.  

But, above all, there was the beauty of Whitehaven Beach on a perfect day,  the electrifying flash of blue against dense greenery that signals the spectacular Ulysees butterfly, the views over the Whitsundays from our lunch stop at Bowen and raindrops sparkling like gems on lily pads. 

The highlights for Barbara (other than just about everything we saw) were the number and variety of walks on offer just about everywhere we went. The views over the Whitsundays from Bowen, the granite boulders tumbled into Mossman Gorge and Babinda Boulders and the variety of wildlife and birds we have seen have left a lasting impression.

We'll leave you with pictures of some of the wonderful textures we saw on our travels.

Paperbark:

The moss that abounds in the rain forest:

Iron oxide bleeding into the walls of the lava tubes:

The roots of a giant strangler fig:

Water smoothed rocks:

Limestone stalactites:

A gum stripped of bark:

Wind ripples in Whitehaven sand:

Bare tree limbs against a winter blue sky:

Sandbars at low tide:

And so we head back to normality tomorrow and to dream of the new places to explore. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

What a Wonderful Bird is the Pelican ...

After a delicious breakfast at the Bustard Cafe at Agnes Water, we drove down to 1770 in the hope that we could find a big enough park for the motorhome so we could take some pictures. We managed to find a park near the caravan park. The water was very still and one hardy swimmer was slowly crawling through the water.

With just over 230km to travel to Burrum Heads, we arrived with plenty of time to explore the sand banks at low tide and to take pictures of the many pelicans. Our van park is located next to the estuary and the good walking tracks that run beside it. A Foodworks, bakery and butcher shop are less than 100m away - a very convenient stop.

Cassowary Found!

There is one spot we went to this morning where we can almost guarantee you will spot a Cassowary - Rockhampton Zoo. This small, free admission zoo is in the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens - a great spot to wander.

Corella:

Royal Spoonbill:

Botanical Gardens:

We had a bit of excitement at Macdonalds in Gladstone. We stopped to get a takeaway coffee - whilst driving out of the car park, it felt as if the bottom of the motorhome scraped. I thought this was strange as the exit wasn't particularly raised. When I looked back in the review mirror, I saw that our spare tyre was lying in the driveway. Something had given way. So now we put the tyre out at night, locked to the motorhome step with a bicycle chain, and carry it in the motorhome during the day as we have no idea how to reattach it to the motorhome undercarriage. Definitely a job for a mechanic when I get home.

After a quick lunch stop at the Shell Service Station at Miriam Vale so Barbara could finally get her much talked about mud crab sandwich, we turned east towards 1770. We had planned to spend 2 nights there but unfortunately there were no sites large enough for my motorhome. We are staying at nearby Agnes Water for 1 night - we couldn't stay longer due to the hordes of southerners/grey nomads escaping winter. We didn't book ahead as we mistakenly thought we would have no trouble with school holidays finishing.

The van park at Agnes Water has direct access to a lovely beach:

We walked along the beach this afternoon and then thought we come back by road. We thought it would be a short trip back, but the curve of the beach versus roads was deceiving. A 500m beach walk resulted in a 2k walk back by road to the van park.

On the way back we came across a somewhat stagnant creek lined with lovely paperbarks:

We decided we will spend our last night of this trip at Burrum Heads. We've booked ahead this time!

I would drive 500 miles ...

Well, not 500 miles, but definitely 500 km - all to get to Rockhampton in time for my nephew's rugby league game tomorrow. It is an important game as it is his first maroon jersey.

We did manage to drive east to take a quick look at Shute Harbour and a last look at the beautiful Whitsundays.

It is a much windier day today so we think we saw the Whitsundays at their best yesterday.

Whilst we are still in the tropics, the landscape is drier south of Sarina. However, it is still beautiful with the low winter sun turning long grass golden:

Whitehaven

We were lucky to get a couple of places on the afternoon boat to Whitehaven today. All of the full day trips were booked out and there were only a few places left on the half day trip. The trip leaves from Abel Point boat harbour at Airlie Beach and picks up at Daydream and Hamilton Islands before making landfall at Whitehaven where you have about two hours to walk or swim or sit in the shade and admire the beauty of it all.

The photos below were either taken from the boat or on Whitehaven Beach (where the fine white sand is almost pure silica). 

At the end of the day, we sailed off into the sunset:

Beautiful, Bright and Blue Whitsundays

We had a 380km drive today to get to Airlie Beach and so we only had time for a couple of stops - but they were very special. It helped that it was a beautiful, mild and sunny North Queensland winter's day.

Alva is about 16km from Ayr. The tide can come in quickly and warning signs show the consequences if you don't take heed of tides. We were lucky enough to arrive at Lynch's Beach at Alva at low tide:

The wetlands behind Lynch's Beach (with a Royal Spoonbill on the left and a Eastern Great Egret just to the left of the middle):

We decided to call into Bowen for lunch, mainly because Baz Luhman used Bowen as his Darwin in the movie "Australia". We thought we would look at the old country buildings and eat some fish and chips by the boat harbour. Instead we saw a sign to Flagstaff Hill and the cafe perched on top so we thought we would see what was on offer. The northern end of the Whitsundays is near Bowen, so we hoping for some views from the top of the hill.

The first views you see as you go up the hill are of Kings Beach:

We thought this was beautiful - at least until we got to the top of the hill and what we saw can only be described as heartbreakingly beautiful. A gift of nature which makes your breath catch in the back of your throat:

It took 6 stitched photos to produce the image above - not nearly enough. We were lucky to be there at the right time of day, at the right time of year, on a clear, virtually haze free day.

A closer view:

Queensland- beautiful one day, perfect the next. Let's hope this is also true in the State of Origin match tonight.

We had a seafood platter at the cafe. It was meant for one, but we shared one between two and still couldn't eat it all - cooked fish, prawns and calamari with 4 large oysters and chips and salad. And we could sit and eat whilst looking over the Whitsundays. The cafe has an observation deck and this is where we took most of these photos. You can still get good pictures from the top of the hill without going into the cafe.

The view over Bowen Harbour:

We finally managed to leave the view behind to head to Airlie Beach where we are staying for the next two nights.