Brisbane to Whitsundays
Trip Start
Sep 14, 2008
1
10
15
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wow, it seems a long time since we've written because we've done so many cool things!
We saw the main bits of Brisbane by taking a bus tour. Brisbane is a pretty small city, but it did have some nice parts, such as the south bank, Mt. Coot-tha, which had a great look out over the CBD and some fantastic botanical gardens and Anzac square which has an eternal flame burning for those who fought in WW I and II.
We then headed up to the Sunshine Coast. The first stop of this was the famous Australia Zoo (made famous by the late Steve Irwin). We saw so much, but our favourite bits were; hand-feeding kangaroos, seeing cassowaries, the rainforest aviary, stroking koalas, the "crocuseum" show (including crocs, snakes and tropical birds) and the birds of prey display. That night we spent in Caloundra right on the coast, a sleeply little town.
The next day we headed up the sunshine coast (except it wasn't particularly sunshiney that day!), but we still got to make lots of stops to see the pretty vistas and walks along beaches. We ended up in a place called Noosa, which was pretty cool. Most of the headlands in Oz have been developed, but Noosa has kept theirs as a national park so there were still very pretty unspoilt beaches, bushwalks and a slightly scary inlet, aptly named "hells gates", as you wouldn't last a minute if you fell in there! On our walk here we spotted some wild dolphins which was a treat to see.
The next day we bit the bullet and had a surf lesson! We both stood up towards the end of it, although we spent much more time underwater and being bashed by big waves, nonetheless, it was an amazing feeling of achievement when we did actually stand! Our instructor was really funny too which kept momentum up.
We were kind of sad to leave Noosa as it was a great little place, but we carried on up to a place called Rainbow beach. Named so because of the coloured cliffs, which are part of a famous aboriginal legend. We couldn't get to them though as you have to walk along the beach and we happened to get there at high tide so it was blocked off. We did get to see however, the Carlo sandblow, which is essentially just a massive field of sand blowing itself inwards (but not quite like a dune).
Up to Bundaberg next (famous for rum!) and the Mon Repos turtle rookery. This beach is where many loggerhead turtles come to lay their eggs at this time of year at night. So we diligently went down there in the dark and waited with many other for five hours, but to no avail. There was a turtle up there that night, but unfortunately we went on a night when a massive school group did, so they got to see the turtle but not us. We were pretty disheartened by this, but it was still a beautiful evening to be down on a beach as we had a full moon- we also got to see the tracks of the turtle and it's nest.
Driving through the fields of sugar canes which this area of QLD is known for, we went up to Rockhampton and stayed at the coastal town of Yeppoon. It was a sweet enough little place, but was let down by it's muddy-looking sea and smelly beach- and the massive insects that seemed to inhabit the caravan park! Eugh.
There was not much to see for a while north of Rockhampton, so we had an express day yesterday up to Airlie beach (the gateway to the Whitsunday islands). It's a very touristy/backpackery town, but at least that means cheap internet!! Today we went on our "reefjet" cruise. We had a few stops, first of all they took us to a little spot to do some snorkelling- which was incredible! Even just the coral of the great barrier reef was interesting, all it's shapes and colours, but then there were this brightly coloured fish everywhere! We saw so many different kinds of fish- so massive, some tiny, of all colours imaginable. No scary sharks or rays though fortunately. We did have to wear "stinger suits" though, because of the jellyfish (Matt saw one!). We were quite sad when we had to get back on the boat. The next stop was to do a short bush walk to a look out where you could see a beautiful lagoon with crystal white sand, everyone's idea of paradise. After lunch, we were on one of those beaches (Whitehaven beach). Now, a bit of science for everyone- The sand is so white and fine because it is 99.86% pure silica (this is the purest in the world!!!). NASA used it to make the lenses in the hubble telescope. It is so fine because of the tectonic plates rubbing right in the middle of the Whitsundays. Or so our helpful guides told us. On our way back we saw a turtle! Which made up a little bit for not seeing one at Mon Repos.
We're pretty tired now because of all the days activities, and plan to hang out in the public lagoon pool tomorrow morning before heading north.
Love to all, let us know how you are,
Matt and Annabel xxx
