'Stralia Day and Cyclone Dylan Ruins my Plans

On January 25th I left Cape Hillsborough National Park to head north to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, in order to find a place to stay for the Australia Day weekend.  I found a campsite right in town which was affiliated with Nomads Airlie Beach, a youth hostel.  The campsite was right in the heart of it all and had access to the hostel's bar, reception desk, tour booking office, pool, and even a slip 'n slide... that's how you know it's a youth hostel!  I immediately booked a day trip for Sunday the 26th...Australia Day!  The trip was with a company called Ocean Rafting to tour the Whitsunday Islands by boat, do some snorkelling, and spend some time on the beaches.  The day started out very rainy, windy and overcast and there were many warnings on the pier before the boat left that there could be waves up to 3m high and that anyone with a bad back should opt out because the ride would be very bumpy.  I decided to go despite the weather and am so glad I did!  It was an awesome day trip with a fast and fun boat ride, snorkeling stop, a short hike up to a viewpoint on Whitsunday Island with amazing views of Hope Inlet where sweeping curves of white sand (98% pure silica!) form a beautiful vista, and a lunch and swim stop on another beach.  I think it was the perfect way to spend Australia Day.

GORGEOUS!

 

 

The best cool Australian treat on a hot day.

 

Whitsunday Island; Hope Inlet

Spectacular Hope Inlet.  You can see three yellow boats on the sand spit for scale.

I had to laugh at this sign on the trail.  I think it was to get seeds off your shoes so you don't introduce foreign species to Whitsunday Island but it reads more like a donation box ;)

98% pure silica sand.  The sand is soft and powdery and works great to exfoliate your skin!

 

Swarms of hundreds of these roly-poly looking blue crabs would run along the sand flats and bury themselves when I got too close.

  

It is "stinger season" in northern Queensland which means that there is a risk of stings from jellyfish, some which can require hospitalization or may even be fatal.  Thin lycra bodysuits called stinger suits can protect you so that you can still enter the water to snorkel, surf, swim etc....but they look ridiculous...hence the following "Spandy Andy Pose Montage". Enjoy.

 

 

 

This guy did NOT take the warnings about stingers seriously.  Instead of doing the Spandy-Andy-Dance he's doing the Nearly-No-Pants-Dance.  Yup, he's wearing a man-thong.  Ewwwww.  Sadly he was on holidays with his wife and Daughter who must have been mortified by his outfit.

 

I wrapped up Australia Day by doing my laundry at the hostel and sheltering from the heavy rain while grabbing a beer and free BBQ dinner at the bar while my laundry ran.  It was kind of a bust since I'm sure I was the oldest person at the hostel by at least 15 years!  All the "kids" were friendly though and I chatted with a few about mining, travelling, oil and gas, and how I was as old as their moms.  Ugh.  Needless to say I turned in early (as old ladies do).  The BBQ consisted of bread, salad, beetroot, fried onions and sausages.  I'm certain my sausage was raw and I spent most of the night wondering if there would be serious repurcussions...thankfully there were not. 

 



 

 

The next day (Jan 27) I drove towards Ayr, where I was booked to do a dive the following day (Jan 28) at the Yongala Wreck, a dive site which had been highly recommended.  Sadly, by the time I reached Bowen, about an hour away from Ayr I checked my voicemail and found out that the dive had been cancelled due to inclement weather.  I decided to make the most of my day and do some sightseeing while I drove a bit further north.  I saw the giant Mango in Bowen, tried some Mango Sorbet (yum), learned that Bowen was the site where the movie Australia was filmed, went to a viewpoint overlooking the ocean, and walked around a lagoon in the center of town which had abundant and diverse birdlife.  I drove on through torrential rain and high winds and decided to stop before the sun set at Paluma Range National Park at the Big Crystal Creek Campground.  There were great facilities at this campsite, nice private campsites, firepits, and "Paradise Pool" a lovely crystal clear swimming hole surrounded by rounded granite outcrops.

 



Giant Mango near Bowen

 

January 28th, I decided to work my way north doing some short hikes and sightseeing on the way.  I started with a walk to Jourama Falls (still in the Paluma Range National Park).  These falls were beautiful with bright blue butterflies near the water, smoothed granite boulders and outcrops shaped by water with crystal clear rock pools stacked one above another which I was able to swim in, climb up to the next rockpool, swim, and continue like that until I was satisfied.  I was the only person there.  How's the serenity? So much serenity! (Yes, I have watched "The Castle")

Jourama Falls rockpools

Jourama Falls 

Very cool Goanna on the trail

Jourama Falls Rockpools

 

Next I went to Girringun National Park to see Wallaman Falls, Australia's longest permanent single drop waterfall (268m freefalling water) which were spectacular especially on the foggy, misty, rainy day that I arrived.

 

Wallaman Falls

 

Less spectacular, and more disgusting than the falls.  I stepped on this marsupial when I got out of my van.  I'm sure he was already dead but I was revolted.

  

Next I went to Cardwell to catch a glimpse of Hinchinbrook Island

Cassowary are the largest animals in the forests in Queenslands Tropical North and can be dangerous!  I still would love to see one but I liked that there was an information sign about how to fend off a Cassowary if it "confronts" you.

 

 

After another rainy drive with lots of roadwork delays I decided to camp near the Babinda Boulders at a little campsite (<10 sites) which was free and had nice toilets and even cold water showers!  When I arrived I put on my raincoat to brave the light rain and to walk to see the "boulders" but after only about 20 steps the light rain became a torrential downpour which sent me scurrying back to my campervan where I hid out for the rest of the evening reading a good book and only emerging to fry a grilled cheese sandwich when the rainfall slackened briefly.  I also went on an expedition to the toilet and it was a real adventure!  There was a huge moth on the wall and a frog inside one of the toilet seats.  It poured rain all night long and the next day (Jan 29) but I found a window to walk to the Babinda Boulders when only a light rain was falling.  After all that rain the waterfall was thundering and even the "safe" swimming hole had a strong current making for a workout to keep from drifting downstream towards the falls.

Bathroom expedition find #1 - enormous moth

Bathroom expedition find #2 - toilet frog

Babinda Boulders 

Babinda Boulders 

A spiny, dangerous jungle plant! 

A soft, friendly jungle fern

 

Well camouflaged Katydid

 

Swimming area at Babinda Boulders

 

My original plan was to drive from Brisbane to Cairns in order to do one day of scuba diving near Townsville (the Yongala Wreck) and to do the dive trip of a lifetime aboard Mike Ball's Spoilsport which is a liveaboard dive boat that travels i4  nights and 3 days to the outer Great Barrier Reef including the oceanic Osprey Island, provides up to 14 dives, and then returns via a low-altitude flight from Lizard Island back to Cairns so that guests can see the Great Barrier Reef from above.  I was shattered to learn the morning of Jan 29th that my trip (scheduled to depart Jan 30th) was cancelled due to the development of a low pressure system offshore which is likely to develop into a Category 1 Cyclone, if it does develop, it will be dubbed Cyclone Dylan.  I am  understandably disappointed about the trip being cancelled but I decided to go to submit a claim to my travel insurance, drive to Cairns, and check into a nice hotel to stay dry, lick my wounds, and come up with a new plan of attack.

Pointy mountain on the way to Cairns with ominous rain-fattened clouds above

 

Tomorrow (Jan 30th) I will try to ship my scuba gear ahead of me to South Africa to avoid lugging it around domestic flights between Cairns-Melbourne-Perth and then an international flight to S.Africa...and to avoid paying excess baggage fees multiple times.  I will move the rest of my luggage to a hostel (this fancy hotel cost over nearly five times as much as the cute hostel I found) and return my van.  After that I will let someone else do the driving (though the rain and wind if the cyclone develops) and opt for tours rather than driving myself around.  I'm eyeballing an outback tour, a tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Forest National Park, and I may even try to get one day of diving in on the Barrier Reef if the weather shapes up before I have to leave for Melbourne on Feb. 5th.

 

Time to kiss my van goodbye (sniff...it's been lots of fun)

On The Road Again: Brisbane North Towards Cairns

I had a lovely stay with Davey, Eliana, and Benji.  We went to the Museum of Modern Art and saw a couple of amazing exhibits.  I also got to see Curtis (my old summer student from way-back-when I worked at Talisseuman Energy) thanks to Eli and Davey who generously invited him and some of their friends over for an amazing brunch...WAFFLES!  Curtis still lives in Calgary but happened to be in Brisbane for work.  Another stroke of luck was that The Lumineers were playing a gig at a small venue in downtown Brisbane.  Curtis' friend got us tickets and we were able to go.  They played in the Tivoli Theater which has seating for only 700 and standing room for 1500 so it was really up-close and the sound was amazing.

The Lumineers at The Tivoli in Brisbane

 

 

"Heritage", 99 sculpted animals (not taxidermy) drinking from one pool of water

 

 

"Headlong" 99 sculpted wolves leaping into a glass wall and tumbling to the ground

Happy baby Benji and Daddy Davey at Brunch

 

I picked up my Jucy campervan on Tuesday Jan 21st and hit the road heading north towards Brisbane.  Before I forget to mention it, I have enjoyed some Australian company on all my drives in the form of my GPS voice "Adam".  Adam is a charming Aussie bloke who is very helpful when it comes to navigating and he is never judgemental.  If I take a wrong turn he tells me in his Aussie accent "Alright mate, when you get a chance turn around, and if those backseat drivers don't keep it down, drop 'em off at the next servo".  I ignored his advice once and kept driving the wrong way because I wanted to do the tourist drive and he eventually said "It's allright mate, chuck a U-ey".  Whenever I arrive somewhere I've planned to go he says "You have reached your destination, grab your sunnies, roll up the windows, and don't let the seagulls eat your chips".  Adam got me safely from Sydney to Brisbane and when I picked up my new campervan and GPS I thought I would try out the British fellow on the GPS.  He was very droll, spoke too slowly, and had nothing on Adam so I switched back.

 

I spent the first night near Noosa at a Scouts Camp beside a lake which was fully equipped with hot and cold showers, a kitchen area, powered sites for $12/night (WOW!).  I got up early to drive to Noosa for a surf lesson.  I've done one before in Hawaii and it just didn't stick.  I was able to get up on the board a few times but it was really hard work and resulted in full-on exhaustion after 2 hours, a bruised chest, and a sunburnt face.  But I'm glad I had another try!

Scout Camp campsite

 

The next day I headed up to the Town of 1770 (Seventeen Seventy on maps) because I had heard that Mantas frequent the waters offshore which marks the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef.  I spent the night in a campsite near town and signed up to do a cruise to Lady Musgrave Island (80km offshore) for first thing in the morning to do two dives.  The boat held 130 people and made it out to the island quickly and smoothly.  Upon reaching the coral-fringed Lady Musgrave Island the water changed from dark blue to a very light blue with greenish patterns visible where the corals were very close to the surface.  There were only 5 divers and the rest of the tourists were there to snorkel and to go for a walk on the island. Sadly we did not see any Mantas but the reef was colorful and the coral was relatively healthy... but no t the best I've seen.  Visibility was pretty poor with only 3m visibility on our second dive.

 

Corals of all shapes, sizes, and colors.  This view reminds me of a birds next in tree branches

This Giant Clam was the most beautiful shade of blue.  Note the moray eel photobombing from the upper left

After my dives I drove about an hour north to a free campsite which is a rest area that allows overnight guests.  There were even showers there and a friendly cat who showed up conveniently as I cooked my steak dinner ;)  The following day I had a long drive (6 hours) to Airlie Beach.  This is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and I wanted to spend Australia Day there (Jan 26) and do a tour of some of the islands, hence the long drive.  At one point of the drive I could see by my GPS that I was very close to the coast so I pulled over to have a look and found the most eerily beautiful wide sandy beach fringed by mangroves which were high and dry at low tide and beyond that desert-like scene was the most blue water you could imagine.

BLUE!

 

I stayed at a campsite recommended by one of the divers on the Lady Musgrave Island trip.  Smalleys Campsite in Cape Hillsborough National Park.  I think this is my favorite of all the campsites I've seen in Australia (well, maybe just ranked under Freemans Campsite in NSW because the water there was swimmable whereas there were warnings of marine stingers at Smalleys Beach).  The campsite has only 11 sites which rent out for something silly like $5.60/person/night, the sites are very private and serene, and my site (and most of the others) was a very short walk down to the water in a protected bay.  The best part was that the campsite was full of wildlife including Bush Stone Curlews (a long-legged big-eyed bird), a Frilled Lizard which I startled and got to see running on its hind legs, many Skinks, Wallabies, Cane Toads, Brush Turkeys, and even what I'm sure were Sugar Gliders flying between then scurrying around the treetops at dusk.

Path to the beach

Frilled Lizard

Turkey

The beach

Bush Stone Curlew

 

In the morning, a 10 minute drive took me to another beach within Cape Hillsborough National Park which had a number of walking tracks and a huge beach.  I did a 5km loop to a lookout and saw even more wildlife!

Wallaby...This type is called a "Pretty Face Wallaby"... no joke

 

Signs advising caution due to marine stingers with Vinegar for first aid

Kangaroo 

The lookout 

At low tide this causeway can be used to walk across to Wedge Island which is inaccessible at high tide.  If you time your hike badly you could get stranded on the island!

Beautiful patterns were formed on the beach by some creature rolling balls (probably of poo)...likely a small crab or shrimp

This rock formation looked like a wave or a serpents head

 

Driving in Queensland has been beautiful with big skies, long shadows, and a very "Saskatchewan" like quality of light that makes me nostalgic

 

TOMORROW IS AUSTRALIA DAY!