QLD - Day 5-7: Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday Islands!

Leaving Airlie Beach for our three day cruise!

Joanna setting the tone for the following couple of days - shades, hat & sun cream!

En-route to Whitehaven Beach!

Standing in the crystal clear waters and the beautiful white sands of Whitehaven Beach!

A pair of feet!

Two pairs of feet!

Whitehaven Beach, with the numerous visiting boats anchored off the beach.

Not entirely happy with this look, but hey!?

Classic Whitehaven scene!

More classic Whitehaven Beach!

You wouldn't believe from the collection of people (from our boat) but there were five kilometers of empty beach!! We ensured that we had our own space!!

As the sun set, the moon followed! Weird I know, but it did happen.

This is the view from Hill's Inlet towards Whitehaven Beach. These photo's were taken first thing in the morning, although the tide was out slightly.

Down on the white sands watching the tide coming in!

So, a little later I headed back to up to the lookout to take some more photos showing the crystal clear waters over the white sand.

One of the numerous sightings of migrating whales heading south with calves in tow! We also saw turtles, dolphins, stingrays and a range of tropical fish!

Just chillin' on the boat! It has been asked why Joanna is sitting at the back of the photo in her nice blue bikini. I think someone must have got confused or she's enjoying Melbourne's cafe culture too much!

The boat is fully decked-out, including a barbeque!

Looking into the galley wondering what culinary delights await us!

Sunrise the following morning, next to South Molle Island.

Views from Mount Jefferys on South Molle Island over the Whitsunday Islands. Ben, Jess & Joanna 'Going Asian'!

A few hours were spent relaxing in the Resort, before our return to Airlie.

This was our transport and accommodation for the three days. But just like our Great Barrier Reef trip there wasn't enough wind to sail, may be next time!

White Wine Wendy's back! The only reason was that it was free and courtesy of the Ragamuffin II! Which can, and did, lead to...

...a bit of confusion when trying to work out which way the 'C' went in YMCA! Don't worry about it girls, have another drink!!

Sculpture at Airlie Beach Lagoon.

A little light reading!!
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Accommodation Review: Bush Village, Airlie Beach, Australia
We stayed at the Bush Village for two nights, one before our sailing trip and the other when we returned. We had a double room, which had a shared bathroom & kitchen with one other room. The bedroom was clean and comfortable, with the bathroom being of a similar standard too. Shame that the kitchen area didn't match the bedroom & bathroom. The fridge in one of the lodges didn't work either, which is quite important in Queensland's heat! However, breakfast was included and we were allowed to park our car on site while we were sailing. We would recommend it for value for money, but the kitchen facilities let it down if you want to self-cater. Bush Village is located about a kilometre out of Airlie Beach, they do however run a shuttle bus.

Trip Review: Ragamuffin II (Southern Cross Sailing), Airlie Beach, Australia
We booked this trip direct with Southern Cross Sailing, located in Airlie Beach. The trip was a three day/two night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. We chose the Ragamuffin 2 for the small group experience. The boat was well equipped and surprisingly spacious, we had bunks in the bow of the boat. The crew (Ian & Benny) were attentive and knowledgeable. We visited Whitehaven Beach, Dunbell Island (for snorkelling) & South Molle Island. We saw loads of wildlife including whales, dolphins, & turtles. We would definitely recommend this trip if you'd like to just chill out for three days and just be taken places. Our itinerary was as follows:
Day 1: Airlie Beach to Whitehaven Beach (with 3 hours on the beach). Anchored at Hill's Inlet for the night.
Day 2: Hill's Inlet (with 3 hours at the lookout/beach) to Dunbell Island (snorkelling). Anchored at South Molle Island for the night.
Day 3: South Molle Island (Resort - 3 hours) returned to Airlie Beach.
We had a fantastic time, the weather was beautiful, although not enough wind to sail. If we had had wind then I expect that we would have been able to travel and seen a little more of the Islands. Some of the stop-off's are great, as you get to see the Islands from amazing vantage points but they can feel that they're a little too long sometimes (I'm not a 'sit on the beach' person). The snorkelling was the best we saw on our entire Queensland trip, with amazing colours and plenty of fish.

QLD - Day 4: Cairns to Airlie Beach

This day was always going to be a long one, with over 700 kilometers to cover and with a plan of arriving in Airlie Beach by 4pm to check in with our sailing trip. We left Cairns at the start of the Bruce Highway and headed south through the cane fields, banana plantations and the National Parks.

Our first stop en-route was at Mission Beach, we'd heard that it was an amazing palm-fringed beach where the rainforest met the sea (again) and we weren't disappointed! Only wished we had more time to relax there. We were also hoping with all the road signs, that we'd also get a chance to see a Cassowary...

...but yet again the only type of Cassowary we'd see would be a plastic one, although this one was the largest!

Perhaps the person who did the artwork for this sign hadn't seen a Cassowary either, or a real car for that matter!

A lovely spot to have a picnic! The Lagoon at Townsville.

Something else to add to the 'giant' section, this time a Mango!

The journey down was supposed to take around seven hours, but after coming across a number of road works it had taken this out to eight and a half! So we were slightly knackered by the end! Managed to check into our sailing trip, find our accommodation, and just about found something to eat - not easy when you have standards like ours and you're in backpackers-ville! Not sure what it is about Queensland, but it doesn't like to keep its businesses open too late either!

QLD - Day 3: Great Barrier Reef

Another early start heading out to the Great Barrier Reef for the day with 'check in' at Reef Fleet Terminal 7.30am! We took the 'Passions of Paradise' boat out to the outer reef which kicked off with coffee and muffins and the usual safety brief. We headed out to the Michaelmas Cay, which is a bird sanctuary sand island in the middle of the GBR and a 1.5 hour boat trip from Cairns.

Here Nathan and I did our 1st scuba dive! I had done an introductory dive a few years back so knew what to expect, however Nathan was a little overawed with the whole dive experience and was flapping around in the water with eyes like saucers behind his mask! I was just below the surface trying to avoid his fins! But he braved it and we both did a dive with our instructor Emma, she showed us some amazing coral and fish and we saw a clown fish in the soft coral just like Nemo!

Back on the boat we had a delicious lunch and headed to our next site. This was Paradise Reef, Nathan did a 2nd dive and went deeper for longer! I decided to snorkel and again we both saw some fantastic sights. The water was a little chilly and wetsuits were required it was also a bit murky as the tides were very high but overall it was great! Back on board for afternoon tea we headed back to Cairns for our final night before starting our massive road trip down the coast!

The Great Barrier Reef - in the sea!

All aboard the Passions of Paradise!

Joanna finds her spot!

Hmmm!

Nathan just chilling nautical style.

Arty shot of the mask, hmmmm again!

Looking out towards the reef with the wetsuits drying while we enjoy lunch.

Michaelmas Cay

Some BIG fish! Batfish and other random large ones who could move VERY fast when there was food involved!

Resuming the normal position!

A big silver cleat - Nathan being arty again.

And again

Cairns Esplanade with the lagoon behind

Cairns, looking north towards Cape Tribulation

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Accommodation Review: Cairns Central YHA, Cairns, Australia
Cairns YHA is a large hostel with plenty of bathroom, kitchen and living space. The bathrooms and kitchen was clean and tidy. We had a family room which was massive with plenty of room to spread! It's fairly close to the city centre about a 10-15 minute walk. Even though the YHA is a large hostel is wasn't noisy and we had a good stay. There is a pool and spa and the outdoor space is very pleasant to spend time there.


Trip Review: Passions of Paradise, Cairns, Australia
A great day trip which takes in the outer reef and provides some amazing diving and snorkelling experiences. Good value which includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. The Passions staff were great and were very knowledgeable about the reef and the dive masters made us feel safe and looked after us very well. A great day out!

QLD - Day 2: Cape Tribulation

A fairly early start was had again, with the complication of checking out of the hostel too! Fortunately we had moved all of our stuff, apart from a night bag to the YHA the evening before!

Anyway, we were met by John at 7am for our Billy Tea Bush Safari! This trip would take us to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. It was a good couple of hours drive along some pretty impressive coastline, a northern version of the Great Ocean Road.

Our first stop was for a cruise down the Daintree River, looking for wildlife that inhabit the Mangroves forest. With an assortment of birds and with the sighting of a snake or two, we finally saw what we'd been looking for, an estuarine crocodile! Actually we were very lucky to see a baby croc sunning itself on the riverbank. We even had a Green Tree Frog accompanying us on our boat too!

After a walk through the National Park Boardwalk, we headed to our lunch destination, which is also a Kangaroo Sanctuary. We had a delicious barbeque lunch - its okay it didn't include any kangaroo (disappointingly, have you tried it?!). After our fill we headed further north and up the Bloomfield track to Emmagen Creek. Fortunately the Bloomfield track was in a reasonable condition, after it have been recently 'graded' (means that they levelled & compacted it). Sections of the track are now sealed due to the dust caused by vehicles landing on the leaves of the delicate rainforest. This is the main road north to Cape York - this is a 'must' drive for the future!

Emmagen Creek is a fresh water creek, where you can see fishes and even the occasional turtle - no turtles this time, but a few people decided that they'd have a swim. Too cold, or 'fresh' for us! Then it was time for a nice cup of tea, made with the fresh water from the creek boiled in a billy tin & Daintree grown tea leaves. There was an interesting way of forcing the tea leaves to the bottom using centrifugal force, which worked a treat!

The journey back included a stop-off at Cape Tribulation Beach, where the Rainforest meets the Corel Sea, and the Daintree Ice Cream Company to sample their wares. 'No we don't do vanilla!'. Then it was straight back to Cairns for some well earned rest...

Map of the journey we took. It's quite a distance, but well worth it!

On the Daintree River, on the lookout for local inhabitants!

Estuarine Crocodiles. We were very fortunate to see the baby one - the guide had some amazing eyes!

A fellow traveller on the cruise!

On a guided walk through the rainforest.

Joanna petting a 'red', he got a little bored with her after she ran out of food!

One of the many creeks we passed over on our way to the Bloomsfield track.

Emmagen Creek was a lovely spot to have a cup of tea, some fruit and even a swim if you were brave enough! The tea was just enough for me! From this point onwards you need a 4x4 to travel further up the Bloomsfield track, although we did see some backpackers cross the creek in a Toyota Camry!

No camp fires in the rainforest, but you can have a burner! The tea was delicious!

So many warnings, if its not one thing that'll get you its something else!

Where the rainforest meets the beach!
You've been warned, but you have to be very lucky/unlucky for this ever to happen!

This was our mode of transport for the day and our excellent guide, John.

Views from the Daintree Ice Cream Company.

Looking out towards the Daintree River inlet.

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Trip Review: Billy Tea Bush Safaris, Cairns, Australia
We would recommend this trip for people who have limited time and would like to see what the tropical rainforests of the north have to offer. We did the day tour from Cairns, and our guide, John, was very knowledgeable and an excellent guide. We had a fantastic barbeque lunch and saw some amazing scenery and views along the way. The cruise down the Daintree River was also very good, with another excellent guide! This wasn't quite the 4x4 experience that was anticipated (I think you have to do the longer trips for that), but the trip was a great day out! If you want to experience the tropical north properly, a stay up there would be highly recommended - we're going to do this next time!!

QLD - Day 1: Kuranda

This is the first part of our two week trip to Queensland, where we travelled from Cairns to Brisbane enjoying many of the delights (and not so's) on offer on the way down!

The day after arriving in Cairns we had booked ourselves on a trip on the Skyrail to Kuranda (pronouced 'kur-ran-da'), which is a twenty minute drive (we got the courtesy bus at $10 each, one way only!). This trip allows you to take the scenic railway and the longest gondola in the world from the tablelands high into the tropical rainforest. The gondola allows you to stop-off en-route to delay the inevitable tourist trap that awaits!

At Red Peak Station you can take a guided ranger walk along the rainforest boardwalk in search of native critters that lurk in the undergrowth! And guess what, we didn't see anything apart from a snake skin! However, we did learn that if we came across a cassawary and it looked you in the eye, was to raise your hat to make yourself appear bigger. If you didn't have a hat then you had to run!

Next stop was Barron Falls Station. With some nice views across the Gorge and the river. The Scenic Railway stops on the other side of the Gorge on the way back down, where the views are even more impressive!

The final destination was Kuranda Village, with an impressive array of shops, markets, cafes and restaurants. It's only impressive if you like a lot of wooden artefacts and the classic bottle opener made from a pair of kangaroo balls!

For the trip back to Cairns we took the Scenic Railway, which takes about an hour and a half. The journey takes you through amazing scenery, with a commentary on how and why the railway was built. The early transportation into and out of the forest was very interesting. In fact you can still experience something similar at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains!! We saved ourselves $10 each by taking the train straight to Cairns Central, which just happened to be over the road from our hostel, the Travellers Oasis!

Kuranda is a 20 minute drive out of Cairns.

A Kauri Pine at Red Peak Station.

The Gondola coming into 'land'.

There are some amazing views over the rainforest as the 7.5 kilometre cableway stretches into the distance.

More of the rainforest.

A panoramic of Barron Falls. There is a hydro-electric power station, which is controlled by a dam at the top.

The Gondola travels over the Barron River.

The root system of the Banyan Tree!

If there's an award winning pie shop in the area, then you just have to try it for yourself...

...as Joanna demonstates! I still think the pies are a little bit small!

One of the many markets that Kuranda has to offer - it's a nice picture though!

Quick photo just to say that we were there as we head to the station to catch the Scenic Railway.

Fern buds!

Brits Abroad!

Our mode of transport back to Cairns!

Kuranda Signal Box

This is the of Barron Falls from the Scenic Railway, as you can see the view of the Gorge is much better.

'I've seen enough today, you go!' - Joanna just chillin' in the carriage!

We were coach thirteen and there were still a couple more behind us!

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Trip Review: The Skyrail Experience
Our trip on the Skyrail to Kuranda was excellent, but for the best flexibilty I would recommend to take the Scenic Railway up and the Gondola back. This means that you can spend as much or as little time in the village as you like. We did it the other way round, and were allocated a time to depart (a little bit too long for us). It also means that you should get some excellent views of Cairns and the bay as you head back down!

Accommodation Review: The Travellers Oasis, Cairns, Australia
Our accommodation was a double room in the Travellers Oasis hostel. Our room was small but clean and it had a fridge, fan and air conditioning (coin operated). The 2 kitchens were small, with a single cooker in each - not really suitable for 50 people. The bathrooms were also a little tired looking. A big group of people were up all night till morning shouting and talking VERY loudly which kept us awake, which is not great when you are being picked up for a trip at 6am! The hostel is a little out of town and doesn't feel the safest place to walk back to at night.