Queensland continued

03/01/07
Drove to Conway National Park, which is part of the same coastal mountain range as the Whitsunday Islands (the islands were cut off from the mainland following post ice-age floods, so the highest peaks of these mountains are now in fact the islands). Walked up Mount Rooper - free entertainment and kept us fit, but ‘mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun’ did spring to mind on numerous occasions – it was unbearably hot! After a couple of hours we made it to the summit and were rewarded with fabulous views of the Whitsunday Passage and some of the islands. Cooled down by the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon and fought competitively for the title of ‘crazy golf champion’ in the early evening (Wayne won – no surprise there!)
At this point I should probably mention our nightly ritual: a 30-40 minute regime which includes re-arranging luggage onto the floor of the campervan (‘storage’), transforming the inside seating area into a bed (the MDF boards are falling apart and this can be quite a tricky balancing act), exterminating the vans bug population – we think we have an ants nest which needs to be dealt with, making up the ‘bed’ with sheets that are too small for the ‘mattress’, fixing up the mozzie net over the curtain wire and pegging it to both the inside and outside of the van, and finally….climbing into the van over the front seats (as mozzie net is now blocking the side entrance)…this ensures a well aired, spacious, midge-free nights sleep (until 4.30am – as we haven’t figured out how to block out the birdsongs yet!)

04/01/07
Wayne woke up with a total of 57 bites on his body: from ankles up to biceps – we think this must have occurred before entering the midge-free oasis of the van, but who-knows?!? I think this makes up for his lack of suffering, as I have been attacked daily for the last 4 months (albeit moderate attacks of 4/5 bites) and Wayne thought he was invincible so hadn’t been bothering with the repellent! That will teach him!
Anyway, we rose early and were picked up from the campsite and taken to Abel Point Marina…we were boarding ANOTHER boat (wasn’t too keen after the last venture – but how else were we going to visit some of the Whitsunday Islands?)
Set sail on the Voyager; a 23m, high-speed catamaran. First stop: Day Dream Island, which is basically a resort island. We wondered around, lazed by their pool for about an hour and tried to enjoy the views of the Whitsunday Islands, but it was very foggy and we couldn’t see much! Set sail again and were dropped off at the infamous Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island. Although unbearably touristy (exacerbated by the fact that all us tourists were confined to the southern part of the beach because a movie (Fools Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey) was being shot on the beach further north), the beach is stunning and regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. There are no resorts here, so everyone was on a few hour drop-in visit. The sea was surprisingly cool (compared to Mission Beach) and we had to wear stinger suits (as there are no nets), which ruined the whole ‘paradise’ image, but it was beautiful place to stop. Since the weather had brightened up we were then able to enjoy the next leg of the trip: to Hook Island. By snorkeling in the surrounding waters (a Marine National Park) we absorbed spectacular views of the Great Barrier Reef, but a lot of the coral immediately offshore has been killed – this is probably due to poor leisure management, as these trips let anyone snorkel (and many people don’t seem to appreciate the fact that if you stand on the coral it dies!) There was, however, a lot of tropical fish in the area, and the captain of the ship kept throwing out bread to the fish, who scrambled in a mad rush to get a bite. I found this a bit scary when they rushed towards you bearing their teeth! Wayne thought this was amusing and kept getting bread from the captain to through in my direction – it’s pretty hard to scream through a snorkel without inhaling a mouthful of saltwater! Not pleasant.
Later on, when boarding the ship, the crew fed the fish again from the pier. This attracted a huge array of fish, including massive Mauri Mantas (1m in length) and turtles!! The mantas are all born female, but the dominant female in the shoal transforms into a male when its predecessor dies – strange fact. We also took a fleeting visit down a historic underwater observatory, which was a bit crap as there was more steel than glass so you couldn’t really see anything!
On the journey back we sailed past Hamilton Island, home to numerous celebrity cribs, including George Harrisons’ old abode. Overall we had an excellent day.
That evening we watched a free outdoor movie (Over the Hedge) on the big screen at our campsite. We sat on our camp chairs, it rained a little, but we enjoyed the al fresco viewing experience.

05/01/07 – 695 km, 20km of which I expertly navigated down one straight highway before Wayne got bored of being a passenger and decided to take over again! I think he wanted a laugh when he suggested I drive the van, but when I managed to pull it off without stalling, kangarooing etc. it got boring. There were no complaints from me – at least I can ‘read’ my way down the long straight roads. I now understand why the government insists on plastering the roads with signs every km. They are quite inventive: ‘Rest or RIP’, ‘Drive, Revive, Survive’, ‘Tired drivers die’, ‘Has your car got a knut loose at the wheel? K is a killer’….
As you can gather from that elaborate intro on ‘distance covered’, we set off again, back down the Bruce Highway with the hope of reaching Hervey Bay (we weren’t sure if it was manageable in 1 day). Passed 100’s of empty creeks (so dry here), paused in Rockhampton (Beef capital of Australia) for a coffee (not a steak), a random rest area (where we saw a kookaburra) for lunch and after 8 hours on the road (passing only 2 major towns) we arrived in Agnes Water (surfing capital of Queensland) in the hope of snatching a look at some turtle hatchings in nearby Deepwater National Park. Unfortunately we couldn’t get on the tour and since the track was only suitable for 4WD we couldn’t get there independently. Since it was getting late we abandoned the idea of getting to Hervey Bay and stopped the night in a campsite just outside Agnes Water (where kangaroos are renowned to bounce around.) Unfortunately we didn’t get a sighting (of either turtles or kangaroos)!

06/01/07 – 287 km
Back down the highway, took a brief stop in Bundaberg (pretty town; popular with working backpackers as there is a lot of fruit to pick, and birth town of Bert Hinkler, who made the first solo flight between the UK and Oz in 1928) and then parked up near Mon Repos Beach to try and get onto another turtle tour – waste of time!
Arrived at Hervey Bay early afternoon and wondered down the beach (where we can actually swim in the sea for the first time without the confines of stinger nets or suits!) Reason for this stop is to visit Fraser Island: the world’s largest sand island, which has been formed over 1000’s of years by longshore drift (useful case stuffy Rich!) Since its only accessible by 4WD (like much of Australia) we can’t take the camper there, so had to book a day trip.

07/01/07
Woken at 4.45am as usual by the birds. Carried out some chores (yes, we do have some): the laundry and grocery shopping and then hit the beach. Hervey Bay has a fantastic beach, beautiful and not too busy. It was a boiling hot day so the freezing cold, non-stinger infested water was very welcoming. This is how we imagined Australia to be. It seems to have become better the further south we’ve gone.

08/01/07 - Day Trip: Fraser Island; World Heritage Site and basically a giant sandbar (120km x 15km)!
Picked up at 7.30am and taken to River Heads Pier. Took the ferry across to Fraser Island and then climbed into a massive 4WD/offroad coach. Visited various locations around the island:
1. Central Station: an old logging village (now only 2 buildings) in the centre of the island (used to be a railway that ran to the coast). Fraser Island is incredibly green for a sand island and has a diverse array of fauna and flora. One of the trees here (name escapes me) is unique to the island and has been used in the construction of the London Docklands and the Suez Canal. We walked through the forest and saw 2000-year-old ferns, scribbly gum trees and a freshwater creek amongst other things.
2. Lake McKenzie: a beautiful freshwater lake with sandy beaches. This, as far as I’m concerned, is more like paradise than any other beach we’ve visited. The water was crystal clear and I could enjoy swimming in it without the fear of jellyfish, stingrays and sharks. Definitely my favourite swimming spot of the trip (well, on par with the blue lagoon in Laos). Would have liked to have spent more time there, but since we were on a tight schedule we were rushed off to lunch at Eurong Beach Resort and then driven down part of Seventy-Five Mile beach in the 4WD. This beach is more like a congested highway of 4WD vehicles than a beach. Stopped off at:
3. Maheno shipwreck, a former passenger liner, turned WW1 hospital ship. It was sold to the Japanese in 1935 but as they were tugging it back a cyclone hit and the Maheno was washed up onto Fraser Island. The Japanese didn’t react fast enough and the ship sunk into the sand making it too hard to remove and it has therefore been sitting there ever since. Fantastic sight. Inspired us to dive around a wreck.
4. Coloured Sands of the Pinnacles – bit of an anticlimax, not very colourful and at the end of the day only sand.
5. Eli Creek; a fast-moving, crystal clear waterway and a massive tourist spot. Very shallow, so we just waded in the water. Apparently 4 million litres flow of this freshwater source flow into the sea every hour! Considering Queensland is experiencing a drought I don’t understand why they don’t utilize this resource?
We were just about to head back down the beach in the coach when the tour guide mentions that there is a scenic flight available in a 7-seater plane that takes off and lands on the beach. “Anyone want a go?” I pretend to put my hand up – JOKING (as we are BUDGET travelers) which Wayne takes as a ‘yeah lets go for it’ hand up and shouts out ‘YEAH WE’LL GO!!!!!!!!!’ So we end up sitting in a tiny 7 seater plane which is zooming down a busy beach (full of thousands of tourists and hundreds of vehicles), evidently it acts as a highway and a runway! Although the take off was uncomfortably close to other objects, the views of Fraser Island were breathtaking (and it was actually only 20GBP each - too much for us, but reasonable for the actual trip). Wayne even managed to act as co-pilot; sitting in the front seat. We saw a butterfly shaped lake, the shipwreck from air, gigantic sandblows and a massive expanse of greenery.

09/01/07 – forgot to take a note, but about 400 km
Reacquainted ourselves with Bruce and stopped off at Rainbow Beach for about an hour to walk up to Carlo Sandblow; a truly awesome sight (like a mini-desert on the coast). We walked through the sand down to the cliff edge and then made the strenuous trudge back up again. Spent the rest of the day driving to Brisbane. Parked up at a site 12 minutes south of the city but not very impressed as there is no fridge and you have to pay for the BBQ’s and stoves!! (In the country where BBQ’s are free on the side of the highway – bloody cheek!)

10/01/07
We therefore moved to a site 4km north of the city, which has better facilities for a similar price, and then caught the bus into the city and explored. Visited City Hall (its museum and clock tower), browsed the shops, walked through the Botanical Gardens and walked across the bridge to the South Bank (where there is the standard lagoon – free public swimming pool). Weather wasn’t great so ended up sitting inside an internet café for most of the afternoon and here we are again! Finishing off where we left off… Its now midday 11/01/07 and I shall report back in a few weeks time…

Phew………………………. I’m done xxxx