Heading towards Noosa

We had a couple of big travel days, about 6 hours the first day and then 5. 

There were a lot of roadworks, or road work in Aussie terms, road work. On the second day our last hour was through torrential rain.

At one point we came across a sign that said "smoke hazard", and it was certainly so. For a few kms the ground was smoldering and in some cases still burning fiercely.

It was quite scary at times.

Our first stay was in a studio unit in a camping ground in Rockhampton. Not the standard of our recent accommodation but nowhere near the cost either.

The next night we stayed in Maryborough. Its claim to fame is that the author of Mary Poppins was born here.

In both towns we looked around the CBD and walked along the river. Maybe it was the rain, but the main streets seemed dead, many buildings were empty and there were very few places to sit out to eat or drink. It seems the recession is hitting small town Australia quite hard.

Airlee beach

After a three and a half hour drive, and stopping to eat our homemade chicken and avocado wraps, we arrived at our next destination. We drove along the main street looking for our apartment but didn't find it. Eventually we looked up the address, plugged it into the GPS, and found it was up a very steep street quite some way from the water!

But to get a view like this....

or this, you obviously need to be some distance above the water.

The apartment was gorgeous.

There was a cruise ship in town so there were people everywhere. But the next day was much quieter. 

We went to find a geocache which took us walking much further than we would otherwise have done, and found a lovely bar by the marina.

We didn't find the geocache, mostly because there were so many muggles around we couldn't go off the boardwalk to look for it.

The other notable experience was the sulphur crested cockatoos.

They took a special interest in Graham.

Townsville

A drive of just an hour or so took us to Townsville, and our next apartment at Aquarius on the beach.

Our view reminded me a little of the photo I took in Lericci, in Italy.

We had stunning views out to Magnetic Island, and the sunsets and sunrises were gorgeous.

Next morning we took the ferry to Magnetic Island. We took the special deal which included an all day bus pass so we were able to visit all four main bays.

Picnic Bay was our favourite, or maybe it was because by the time we got there it was beer o'clock and we were able to sit and enjoy the view with a drink.

We had a walk around downtown but didn't think much of it. There was no one there and half the shops were closed.

Later we found there was a Vietnam Veterans' memorial service that day, so we didn't get too much of a fright when 8 helicopters started flying by.

Lucinda

We spent two days at a place it seems few people have heard of, even the Australians. It is near the south end of Hinchinbrook Island and apparently a great place for fishing.

It was still showery when we arrived, but 22 degrees and the view from the balcony was pretty good.

Next day we did a walk around the town.

Had to stop for a sugar cane train on our way into town from the resort. Lucinda has a sugar processing factory, and the world's longest bulk sugar loading jetty at 5.7km long.

Our walk around the estuary kept the jetty in sight.

Fortunately there were no crocodiles in sight, though this sign was rather scary.

After brunch we went to the pool for a while. The sun had come out and we had the pool to ourselves, very pleasant.

Heading south

From Port Douglas we headed back to a Reject Shop in Cairns for a few cheap goodies and a bad coffee, then in to Mission Beach. We had booked a cheap room the night before, which turned out to have no kitchen. 

We found a lovely resort with a nice bar, but the deck chairs looked a bit close to the coconut trees!

The photo is a bit dark as the weather was a bit gloomy, but Graham's white shirt stands out.

We found a restaurant and bar a short walk from our resort that had $10 pizzas so in the end we were glad there was nowhere to cook our sausages!

Crocodiles

We took a trip on the Lady Douglas. The price was good, $30 each for an hour and a half with a free drink and nibbles. We were very luck that the tide and the sun were right so we saw a male crocodile,

Then a baby,

and later on a female. The tour guide had a very dry sense of humour, and was very informative about crocs' breeding and territorial habits. I hadn't realised that they ate each other, which sometimes happens when a new croc moves in and there is a fight for territory.

We also went out towards the sea to have a look at Port Douglas from the water. We learnt that the big park on the foresaw had been an old housing area till recently.

As it was late afternoon and the tide was going out, we saw a lot of the big boats coming back from the reef.

The one with the big sail goes to the Low Isles where you can snorkel in shallow water.

Sky rail

There were not as many markets as I remembered, but then, it was 24 years ago that I was last in Kuranda!

The trip back was by gondola, and pretty impressive, gliding across the top of the rainforest canopy, who knows how high above the ground.

For someone who doesn't like heights, Graham was amazingly relaxed.

There were gorgeous views out to the coast and down to Cairns.

Kuranda

We took the train up to Kuranda, gold class.

This gave us a quiet carriage with comfy chairs, drinks and some yummy food that was our breakfast and lunch.

The train went through many tunnels and over dozens of bridges. The railway was built to carry people and supplies to the goldfields in the 1880s, an amazing piece of engineering.

We went on the river walk, the jungle walk, and a creek walk, all in all about an hour and a half that took us to the far end if town, a ten minute walk back to the station.

Port Douglas

On Sunday we headed to Port Douglas. It was warm but quite wet, in fact there was very heavy rain for part of the journey. As we arrived too early to check in we drove past the resort and into town. It was chokka!

We had a cheap lunch at the pub and decided to leave looking around till another day. Found the supermarket and bought a few supplies before checking in. The apartment is a little tired but comfortable enough, doesn't quite live up to its write-up on the internet.

However we found the balcony was pretty nice to sit out in.

The next day we drove back into town and had a good look around. We found a geocache at the marina, and had a look at the main part of the beach.

Cairns

We found our apartment without too much bother. Graham had devised an easier way to carry the bags. It was a lovely apartment with a patio overlooking one of the three pools. We were disappointed that the spa pool was no warmer than the other pools, so didn't venture in.

Cairns was prettier than I remembered. There is a gorgeous free swimming pool down by the boardwalk.

It was a warm Saturday so there were plenty of people about.

This boat was selling fresh prawns, we liked the name!

Train trip 2

The cabin was very comfortable, with a three seater sofa and two comfy bunks for night time.

We had a nice relaxing time in the cabin, and a bit of time in the lounge, though we could only take a couple of the Aussie women in small doses!

This was the view of the sunrise from the bottom bunk.

The food was delicious, especially the seafood platter.

We didn't get a lot of sleep even though the beds were comfy, as the train rolling stock was not in good condition. It will no longer be in service next year, so I don't think they have upgraded it for a while.

The terrain changed from bush to empty land to sugar cane to bananas.

At least that's what we think they were, hiding in what looked like mens' suit bags. As you can see the weather turned from sunny to tropical rain, but it had eased off to nothing much by the time we  walked to our apartment.

The train trip

We arrived at the station in plenty of time, and were amazed at how many times people had to be told they were not allowed to board yet.

It was quite a long train with two engines. The Queenslander class people had their own bar and dining cars.

We met most of the people at the bar or during meals, an America family but the rest were Australian pensioners taking advantage of their cheap rates.

Brisbane

 Catching a flight later in the day just gave Graham more time to stress. He had covered the car the day before but the cover blew off in the rain and wind overnight, so he spent ages (unsuccessfully) trying to devise a way to keep it on. Then when he went to get his handy black bag the strap was missing so more time was spent looking for that. Eventually he used an alternative bag and we were on our way.

The flight was uneventful, landing through a few bumps after lunch and a movie. We took the train to Central station, which was a lot bigger than we had thought, so it took us a while to get out and pointing in the right direction for our hotel. It took a while to get there as we hadn't counted on carrying duty-free bourbon and perfume, but we made it. The hotel room was very small but we had a lovely meal at the restaurant downstairs.

Next morning we went exploring and found the river wasn't too far away. We walked across a pedestrian/cycle bridge to the greener side.

This is a swimming pool right by the river.

And this is the river walk.

Back home tonight - briefly

Our housesit has come to an end. Only 4 more sleeps till our 2014 Aussie adventure.