Hervey Bay (cont.)

Thursday 25 July

We again woke early to catch a shuttle bus to go whale watching on Hervey Bay. We boarded the Whalesong catamaran and, once out of the harbour, it wasn't long before we found a pod of Humpback Whales. These whales were only young with our captain telling us he estimated they were 3-4 years old but would already weigh 20-30 tonnes. Thankfully they put on a great display for us, breaching several times and giving us plenty of photo opportunities. Linda managed to get these brilliant photos of the whales. After several hours of following them, and also managing to come into contact with a few bottlenose

dolphins, we headed over near Big Woody Island for some calmer waters where we enjoyed a buffet lunch. While in these waters the captain invited the children on the boat to go up and have a steer. Declan took up this opportunity to sit in the captains chair. He very proudly steered the vessel while I took some photos.
After lunch we attempted to find some more dolphins and some turtles. The turtles unfortunately did not come to the surface much because of the cooler weather Hervey Bay had been experiencing. We were told they surface much more often in the warmer weather.

Steering the boat

On returning to our caravan park we booked the tennis court for an hour. The plexipave court was in very good condition and Declan, Thomas and I had a good hit.
Linda and I decided to leave the boys at the campsite to make their own dinner and enjoy ours at Wild Lotus, a restaurant we had seen while looking through the shops when we arrived in Hervey Bay. The main course was delicious and we topped it off with some magnificent deserts - what a way to finish a great day!

Hervey Bay

Wednesday 24 July

This morning we were picked up by a shuttle bus for a tour around Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island (123km long and 22km at it's widest). The bus arrived at our caravan park at 7:25 and took us to the ferry for the 30 minute crossing of the small stretch of water that would be very difficult to navigate because of the moving sand banks in the area. Once on Fraser Island  we were picked up by a 4WD bus to begin our days tour.

The first point of call was Central Station, an area formerly used as the lodging place for the timber industry that once cut trees on the island. Mike, our bus driver and tour guide, was very funny and mixed his sense of humour with a great knowledge of the island. On our short walk we descended down into a gully where a freshwater creek flowed. The water on the island is so clear it is not possible to see it in a photograph and because it flows over sand you cannot hear it either. For this reason they are called the invisible creeks.

Lake McKenzie

Our next stop was Lake McKenzie where we stopped for a swim. The water was a little chilly but we had come prepared and had bought our wetsuits. Mike had told us that when we got out of the water and dried off our skin would feel softer and hair feel like it had been conditioned and if we rubbed some wet sand over our skin it would exfoliate it because the

sand grains are round instead of sharp. He was right on all of these things, it was amazing!

Maheno Shipwreck 

We boarded the bus and arrived for lunch at Eurong Resort. Thomas was very happy as it was a buffet lunch and had both hot and cold foods.

After lunch we boarded the bus again to drive along Fraser Island's highway, 75 Mile Beach (which is only 73 miles long). Along here we saw the Coloured Sands, Maheno Shipwreck and Eli Creek. We learnt about the Maheno which used to be a luxury liner for many years before being converted to a hospital ship during WW2 and then back again before ending up on 75 Mile Beach after being towed during a cyclone. Declan had a lot of fun at Eli Creek, running along the boardwalk and hopping into the water and letting the current bring him back down to the beach.

On our way back off the island after an enjoyable day, our bus started to vibrate before the back dropped down. It felt like we had dropped into a hole but the wheel nuts had worked their way loose and the back tyre had fallen off. Another bus was quickly called and after making sure a 4WD behind the bus could get past us, we boarded the second bus and continued on our way back to the ferry. Unfortunately we missed the best part of the sunset but it was still pretty good.

Trip from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay

Monday 22 July

Unfortunately since we needed to start making serious inroads into our trip down to Brisbane, today was going to be a big travel day which meant an early start in the morning. Tom and Declan decided yesterday they should take their tent down while it was dry to make our exit in the morning quite fast. This worked really well and as we had booked a tour of the Mackay Sugar Mill at 9:30 we were on our way by 7:45.
We arrived at Mackay with about 10 minutes to spare and quickly changed to cover our legs and arms and put on enclosed toe shoes as this is now an OHS requirement. Linda remembers jumping into a massive pile of sugar when she visited a mill 30 years ago but times have changed.

Emptying the cane train carriages

The mill tour took about 2 hours and our guide ran through the whole process of converting sugar cane into raw sugar. The boys really enjoyed tasting the products at the different stages of the process of the conversion to raw sugar. It is amazing that the mill uses a lot of the same machinery as when it started it's life in the late 1800's although every part of the sugar cane is used now. In more recent times the mill has been upgraded to use the by-products of producing sugar rather than dispose of them.

Declan tasting sugar

The rest of the day was devoted to travel. After stoppping at a bakery for lunch we continued our drive to stop at a free campsite on the Calliope River. There were plenty of other campers who regarded this as a great campsite and, after a fast overnight setup where the boys sleep inside the camper trailer rather than their own tent, we had a quick meal before retiring for the night.

Tuesday 23 July

As we didn't have a lot of gear to pack up, we were back on the road quite early making our way to Hervey Bay. The roadworks on the Bruce Highway were really annoying - they seem to be repairing or upgrading the road every few kilometers and this added at least half an hour to our trip.

We arrived in Hervey Bay and after setting up the camper trailer wandered down to the main street for a bite of lunch. The boys were very happy with the cafe we found and each devoured a very big lunch. To work off the big meal we continued our walk down the street looking through the many shops before taking a stroll along the beach and returning to the caravan park. 

We are looking forward to the next couple of days as we have booked at tour of Fraser Island tomorrow and whale watching for Thursday.

Airlie Beach (cont.)

Sunday 21 July

On the way into Airlie Beach Linda saw some signs for a 10km Fun Run the Airlie Beach Running Club had organised and so decided to participate. Linda and I headed down to the foreshore this morning for the 7:00am start and found out there were 350 particpants. Linda ran very well to finish in 52mins 14secs as the 6th place woman and 22nd overall, an outstanding performance.
We thought, apart from the fun run, that today should be a relaxing day so Thomas and Declan went and hired putters for mini golf and played 2 rounds before Linda and I joined in for the last round.

Declan on the water slide

After lunch Tom and Declan played tennis for half an hour while Linda and I relaxed by the pool. Having finished their tennis they came to the pool and enjoyed going down the water slide.

We spent a few hours by the pool as it was heated and the sunshine was beautiful.

Tom enjoying his time in the pool

Airlie Beach

Saturday 20 July

Airlie Beach Market was advertised to start at 6:00am so Linda and I decided to take a look before the bus came to pick us up at 9:15 for Ocean Rafting. Upon getting to the foreshore at 6:15 we found many of the stall holders still setting up their site. We bought some nice fresh fruit and vegies and a coffee and hot chocolate before finding breakfast cooked by an ex-kiwi chef - delicious omelettes.

On arriving back at the campsite we found both boys had eaten breakfast and were eager to catch the shuttle bus into Airlie Beach for the Ocean Rafting. Once at Airlie Beach we boarded the boat, a large inflatable with a steel hull and 2 x 250 horsepower outboard motors on the back.

Ocean Rafting in "Wild Thing"

 The tour involved circling Whitsunday Island while stopping at Border Island for a 1 hour snorkel, visiting Hill Inlet lookout and eating lunch on Whitehaven Beach before heading back to Airlie Beach.

Declan snorkelling

The tour was fantastic. The snorkelling at Border Island was magnificent with the coral and fish probably better than that which we saw at Green Island.

Snorkelling with "Nemo"

From there we cruised around to Hill Inlet lookout to view the magnificent Whitehaven Beach from above. This is truly a stunning beach with the near-white sands contrasting against the aqua blue water and green vegetation.

Overlooking Hill Inlet at Whitehaven Beach

Once back aboard Wild Thing we cruised up the 7 kilometer length of Whitehaven Beach to have lunch at it's northern end. After a nice buffet lunch, while trying to stop the seagulls eating our meals, we relaxed on the beautiful beach sunbaking, swimming and playing beach cricket. On the return leg back to Airlie Beach we took in the sights of Hamilton Island and some of the exclusive resorts on the Whitsunday Islands before the drivers of our boat and one of the other Ocean Rafting boats thrilled all aboard with some surfing of the wakes of each boat and some "donuts". This was Declan's favourite part of the trip.

Wake surfing

Townsville to Airlie Beach

Friday 19 July

This morning Declan and I left Linda and Thomas at the campsite to go to Townsville Hospital for a quick check up. The doctor was very happy with the way Declan's burns are healing. They re-dressed the wounds and gave him some moisturiser to help prevent scarring.

When we arrived back at the caravan park Linda and Thomas were well under way with the packing up and it wasn't long before we were on our way towards Airlie Beach. 

Along the way we stoppped at an "award winning" bakery at Bowen for lunch. The food was really good and we stayed a little longer for Declan to have a play in a water park along the foreshore.

Water park at Bowen

Big Mango

On the way out of Bowen we came across the Big Mango. We thought we had to stop for a photo but it took a bit of persuasion for Tom to agree to be in the picture.
We finally arrived at Airlie Beach to some beautiful weather and, after a couple of days of nice weather in Townsville, it was great to see we hadn't driven away from it. We set up camp, booked Ocean Rafting for tomorrow, and put the boys to bed as it was going to be an early start. Linda and I decided to have a late night swim in the swimming pool before heading off to bed also. 

Townsville (cont.)

Thursday 18 July

Overlooking Magnetic Island From Castle Hill

This morning we drove into Townsville and up to Castle Hill to get a bigger picture of the layout of Townsville. I hadn't realised how sprawled Townsville is and from this height you can really get a great view of the large scale and compact nature of the industrial area as well as how far the housing extends. You can drive almost to the summit of Castle Hill and then there are a few short walks to view Townsville from all sides of the hill.
We have been able to persuade both boys they are in need of a haircut, so this morning we found a hairdresser and had their hair cut. This has been the best hair cuts we have had for both boys. They told us they need to come back here for their next cuts - I think they may have quite a few before we get back here.  

Following lunch we decided to go back to the Water Park on The Strand. When we were here yesterday we found the water park not running. Thankfully today it was operating so we put Declan's hand in a plastic bag with some tape holding it together so his dressings would not get wet. Even with our best efforts a little bit of water did get in so we had to abandon the water park and lie in the sun. It has finally arrived again!