Day 52-54 Gary and the Gold Coast

Just a short post today. We're back on the road after a rest and admin day. We know we are heading toward home so the feeling of adventure is beginning to make way for thoughts and plans about our route home post theme parks. I'd like to travel as much along the coast as possible.

We've both been to Byron several times so were happy to skip this part... however neither of us have been to Tamworth. I'm much of a country music guy, but darn it, im a music fan so it seems right to pass through here on our way home. Like the early part of our journey from home, we'll be eating up many miles in a short period time. We'll cover nearly 2000 km's in about 8 days. I've mapped a rough outline of what our entire journey should look like once were home.

In the meantime, what have we been doing the last few days? Some mucking around in Hervey Bay, a visit to a friend in Nerangba and then onto the Gold Coast. After many family meetings we all agree that Movie world, Wet n wild and Sea world are the ones for us.

On our way to the gold coast, we spent half a day with a retired work colleague and friend Gary May. Gary has a deep interest in flora and fauna so I new Em and the kids would hit it off.


A visit to this botanist's house is a genuine eye opener. He has the largest collection of air plants in Australia. People near and far seek out Gary's plants and we could see why... For those who are not familiar, air plants are a tropical American plant that can grow on trees, wires or anything really. They have long, narrow leaves that absorb water and nutrients from the atmosphere instead of the ground or whatever they are attached to. Mostly beautiful and very different, they remind me of something out of a sci fi movie... Such is Gary's skill, he managed to create 4 entirely new species and is currently working on publishing a book.

This video is Gary sharing some bush tucker with us. Wish I could remember the name of these tiny tiny melons... in any case, they are good eating.

Gary also gave us honey to sample from this bee hives that  house several colonies of native bees. We also played with a camera microscope, studying all sorts of things from the garden. Josh's freckles under the microscope were also on show.

After Gary's house, we headed further south, past the theme parks, through heeaps of traffic and into yet another caravan park. Being the Gold Coast, this one had to have the largest water slide we've seen in a caravan park yet. 

I was very happy to see our fuel economy improve considerably on the smooth highways close to brissy. Think we got as low at 16.5 L/100kms (unheard of on any other highway so far). Along the way we stopped to fill up for the 48 thousandth time. I felt somewhat guilty about our diesel consumption after peering over to see a mostly empty electric car charging station sheltered under a huge solar panels - one of the smartest things I've seen in Qld. I also love the Qld highway trivia signs. Instead of a benign "drowsy drivers die" message, in Qld the signs ask you trivia questions, then give you the answer about a km later. Great idea... why don't we have these back home I wonder...

Day 47-51 Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

After 400km drive to Hervey Bay, we all crashed very weary from travel and adventure. With hindsight, the wise move would have been to take a rest day, but we'd already booked in our car ferry to Fraser island and 3 nights accommodation. Fraser has been on my bucket list for yonks.



So next morning, we packed our pristine, unused vehicle recovery gear, said good buy to our tiny home and boarded the car ferry. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world. A ranger informed us they'd seen no rain for months making the soft sandy tracks as rough and difficult as they get.


 Here's me letting down the tyres on the ferry (this gives the tyres more surface area and better grip). I'll admit I was anxious about driving in sand and salt, getting horribly stuck and/or completely trashing the car. My only experience getting a bogged car out of sand was watching about a hundred youtube videos...

Off the ferry and quickly into the sand. The plan was to keep momentum through the deeper dry sand sections. Its a strange feeling as the car churned through the sand meandering pretty much wherever the deep ruts took us. The traffic on Fraser is also a real handful as the tracks are single lane. In some parts the track has been worn 10 feet into the earth from repetitive use, you find yourself driving through what feels like narrow cuttings. Its not unusual to find your self in a stand off with a large tourist bus. Because of their sheer size, the buses barrel through the tracks faster than any of the cars can go and command right of way - they are the ocean liners of the sandy tracks. There are escape sections to allow vehicles to pass, but no one wants to stop in the deep sand, so most maneuvers are frantic and slightly stressful. I lost count of the times Em and I breathed a sigh of relief as we negotiated difficult uphill sections, blind corners or having to reverse through difficult sections to a refuge spot to let convoys of vehicles through. It certainly would have been much more fun with a companion vehicle in tow

It was almost impossible to jump out and get a video of the really tough sections as they are very narrow, deep and we didn't want to risk being caught stationary for fear of bogging or being run over by a another charging vehicle.

The actual beach driving was simple and in some sections the speedo will reach 85km/h. The island is about 120 km's long and impossible to cover in the short time we were there.

Some of the stuff we did:

A swim at Lake MacKenzie was pretty cool. Its a large freshwater lake with crystal clear water. This place was buzzing with 2 types, either people with beer cans cemented to their palms, or selfie obsessed millennials. Perhaps we were there at a busy time post schoolies, but we felt out of place most of the time on the island.

Close by the lake we saw a very large monitor lizard hanging onto the far side of the tree Josh is looking at in the pic below. I reckon it was at least 160 cms top to tail.

Josh and I grabbed some lilos and went floating down the famed Eli creek. First float down we encountered a small eel. Apparently 4 millions litres of fresh water flow from Eli creek into the ocean every hour - hard to wrap my brain around that fact, seems like a huge waste. This time lapse is us walking to the start of the creek float, then the next is... well... you'll see

Shipwreck - SS Maheno. This boat was washed ashore by a cyclone in 1935, since then she has remained here rusting away

Kingfisher Bay Resort - Although we stayed at Eurong on the popular beach highway side of the island, we very much enjoyed our final day relaxing at the quiet family friendly resort. Eurong resort was... well... terrible. The rooms had less charm than a hospital ward, average food and very dirty. Tom asked "why does my bed smell like dog"? We turned a fan on in a bedroom and thick dust dislodged all over the bed - yes we complained and were pretty relived to check out in the end. The place was packed with 20 somethings and loud tour buses.

Much to my excitement, we were flagged down to help someone out of a pickle. While doing this we swapped 4wd stories with another couple. Their stories of getting bogged reminded us to stay alert at the wheel and keep that momentum through the tricky uphill tracks.

One of our missions was to see a wild Dingo. The tip was to check out the beach at dusk. Dingos tend to lurk around the fisherman. So from our car we patrolled the beach, Josh's keen eyes spotted this one blending into the sand - stalking a nearby fisherman who looked alone, frustrated and understandably distracted. You'll notice this dingo has a tracking collar fitted... we learnt later dingos with these collars are the naughty ones, prone to aggression... in hind sight we probably should have done more for the solitary fisherman.















Oh yes, all this "momentum" and bouncing around did take its toll on our beloved bus. The bash plate took some punishment. The car was due for a service, so on our return we had the car serviced and checked. They straightened the bash-plate as much as possible and assured me the slightly bent radiator has no cracks or leaks and should be fine... I'm tipping we'll need to replace that sometime in the near future. So you may be wondering how or who was responsible - both of us drove and both hit obstacles with some force... so... naturally we'll chalk it up as Emma's doing. Perhaps we could have eased back on the "momentum".

Looking back through these photo's it looks like a pretty awesome place.. and it truly is. However, it was a taxing trip to some already weary travelers. So it was welcome relief for us all when we arrived back to our mobile abode, familiar beds and no sand!! (you should have seen me at the car wash)

Next we make our way further south to the Gold Coast, on the way we catch up with some friends and family. After that we're onto theme parks before setting a course for Ballarat. Were planning to be home by Dec 17th.

Days 42-46 Airlie to Rockhampton via Capricorn Caves

I'm behind in my posts - lots to tell and not enough time, excuse me if this sounds rushed. We're about to board a ferry to Fraser Island after which I dont expect to have much reception so thought I'd try and put in a quick post. Here are some pics and plenty of videos of our wondrous adventure at Capricorn Caves. We did not plan to come here... just needed a place to stay on our way thru to Rocky. After one trip into these caves we had to stay another night. Here's Josh enjoying the empty camp sites on his scooter.

Met an interesting lady here. I was on my way to the camp kitchen to watch the cricket. A 65 year old french woman was headed in the same direction, we got talking and her eyes lit up when I mentioned I was off to watch the cricket... I had found an unlikely cricket buddy. What a fascinating woman she is, we spoke for hours about travel, cricket and family life. Aliene had chased a man to Australia 35 years ago, married him and started a family living on a farm. Heaps more to tell, suffice to say we later shared a meal which ended when Aliene challenged the kids to an eating and burping contest - lots of fun and she taught us plenty.

The cave system here is incredible. We did two tours and we're all very proud of Em who conquered her claustrophobia to venture inside and through some of the more challenging sections. The kids far out did me by taking on the seemingly impossible nooks and crevasses

This one was called the whales belly - way too tight for me, but the kids got through without to much trouble.

Cant believe I haven't heard of these caves - they blew us away. Lots of educational talks and astonishing stories of the first pioneers who explored these caves by candle light in the 1880's. Sections of these caves are used for weddings and opera performances such is the acoustics.

Here's one of the boys emerging from the whales belly section. Em and I were pretty anxious just listening and watching them attempt it. I don't remember having these fears as a young man. 

While travelling to Rockhampton we heard the QLD Symphony Orchestra was performing famous movie anthems  (Bond, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman, Superman, Jurassic Park and others). We just had to go and it was pretty incredible, highly recommend this sort of thing for families. The conductor from the Melb symphony was here to lead them. There were also a bunch of people dressed up in movie costumes laced into the performances. It wasn't just orchestral music there where interesting or comical interludes during and in between songs... 

Days 39-41 Whitsunday Tall Ship Cruise.

So a lot of stuff has happened since the last post. Really difficult to keep it brief...

MIDGES
The night before leaving I was annihilated by midges. What are midges you ask...?? Tiny biting flies I'd never heard of. They hit me at 230 am and after some relief from the leaf of an aloe vera plant and anti histamines, I covered up top to tail, cranked the AC and managed to get back to sleep. Next morning Em counted 126 bites with 49 on my right leg alone. I guess they liked me as the kids thankfully didn't get bitten and Em had just the 12 bites. The bites came up in large red spots. They itch a lot and 5 days later it still looks like I have the pox.


WHITSUNDAY CRUISE:

• We boarded a tall ship called Solway Las
• 5 crew, 28 passengers, 2 night voyage
• Boat was built in Holland from German steel in 1902, stolen by the Brits soon after, served all over the world as a cargo vessel and during the war as a decoy vessel for cargo convoys (aka Q ship). 

• Re-captured by the Germans and at different times throughout it's history: 

• Was sunk 3 times, 
• had its bow blown off by a sea mine, 
• was abandoned during a mutiny. 
• Spent 5 years at the bottom of the sea.
• Was recovered refurbished and refitted countless times. Barely 10% of the original boat remains.

• It's crew throughout the decades had sworn it was haunted. Apparently for its 100 year birthday, the local indigenous in Airlie conducted a ceremony to release the spirits... and now its no longer haunted... or maybe that's just the story they told us so we wouldn't freak. Its hard to believe this vessel is still in action after all it been through

We were the only Australians aboard and we estimate the average age of the passengers (excluding us), was around 25-30. We counted 10 nationalities aboard, mostly young travelling professionals. The group was lively, sociable and heaps of fun. All of the passengers were happy to share their personal stories and show genuine interest in ours. We all have a fond spot for the people we shared this adventure with.

SOME STUFF THAT HAPPENED ON THE CRUISE (from Em):

Its not all rainbows and sunshine. The start of the cruise was hell. There was a mix up with the bookings and was not enough food so we were left with the smallest amount of dinner which we had to eat sitting on the deck in the dark as there were not enough chairs. Followed by very loud slightly drunken guests while trying to get the kids to sleep, then again at midnight. Ship cabins have very thin walls!

The following morning we were going to Whitehaven beach. Yay. However we were let out on a small beach around the corner and were assured that it was a nice easy walk. After approx 1km up steps with Mike trying to manage me a few hundred feet behind the rest of the group. I turned back to a central point and mike went to catch up with the group and the kids. Only to find out when he arrived at the lookout that Tom was missing. In the mean time I had heard a voice I recognized calling for help from a path in the opposite direction. I ran yes ran down and found Tom alone coming back from another beach, he had thought he was with our group but could not find us. So Mike has created a scene at the lookout and come running back looking for Tom, by which stage I had him. All said and done I was beyond angry. Our son had been lost and I had been sent on a massive walk that hurt and was told 'a 75 year old did it easy'. Ok. Tom and I were prepared to swim back if we had to after unleashing hell on the crew. 

Luckily we then had to spend 2 hours at Whitehaven beach before going back to the boat. Your temper cools down quickly in such beautiful water with stingrays cruising past.

During the search the four of us separated. Josh got to hang out with an Austrian member of the group - of course, he talked her ear off and she fell in love. We know cos he had the video camera and left it running (sorry too long and shaky to post here)

After that It was lunch on the boat. From there it was all clear sailing. The first part of the trip was awful, however once the crew knew our stuff, it turned around so much, that I am now half seriously looking on Gumtree for a boat as the best way to avoid the fires on the way home.

The snorkeling was the best I have seen anywhere, so many fish.

To see the kids sit down and have conversations with the rest of the group was amazing. They tried everything, snorkeling, stand up paddle boarding, diving off the boat, and rope swing from the boat. It was just amazing.

STUFF THAT HAPPENED, (from Mike):

• Two snorkel sessions. I finally ticked off a turtle sighting. Barely any wind on the final day, in fact not enough to hoist the sails, so we spent a big chunk snorkeling and water play off the boat. Incredible conditions. I may still be in the after glow, but the Whitsundays is the most beautiful playground I have ever seen.
• Mikes version on the the mission to Whitehaven beach. We marched through snow white silica sand, saw lots of stingrays and a few too many other tour groups. During this away mission, we managed to lose Tom for about 30 minutes on one of the hikes to the lookout. There were lots of tour groups here. While I was helping Em with the hike, Josh and Tom raced off to the front of the group. There was a fork in the track, we went one way, Tom went another. After several stern words with the frustratingly laconic guide and some semi frantic running around, I found Tom sitting safe and sound with Em at the fork. 

• Plunging off the boat via a giant rope swing. Despite the lack of pics all 4 of us had a go. Tom could not let go of the rope during his first attempt and we all thought he was going to hit the boat on the return swing. I was super proud of Tom who was clearly very anxious and just as determined to conqueror the rope swing. Eventually he did and the entire boat applauded.

• Josh helped hoist the sails.
• Incredible sun sets and dead calm early mornings
• Trivia night - correct questions earned you a tea spoon of Nutella, incorrect answers = a teaspoon of vegemite. Kids starred again. 
• Plenty of nature, history and geography talks about the boat, reefs and islands (of which there are 90).

Trivia nite with vegemite and nutella.

While snorkeling I was shadowed by the tiny flashy fish called an orange peel. Apparently they latch onto what ever the biggest moving creature is in the water  eh' hem.... Was this nature telling me to lose some weight?? This timid little guy stayed with me for 45 minutes

No idea what our next move is... The fires down south have us a feeling for the affected people while also wondering what our safest route home will be. Hope we stay here a little while longer and manage another Whitesunday adventure.