Back on the road after an awesome one month stay in Cairns and North Queensland’s Wet Tropics World Heritage area. We are off to explore the coast from Cairns to Brisbane with our terrific friends Mary and Dave who made the very long trip across the US and the big Pacific Ocean pond to spend two weeks with us! We had a couple of days in Cairns which included a trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
For more on our month in Cairns click here!
We pulled out of Cairns with Mary and Dave around 9:30 am and headed south for the two-week exploration along the coast to Brisbane. First, a taste of the tropical rainforest area just south of Cairns through areas of sugarcane fields. After about 30 minutes and just off the Bruce Highway we made a stop at Babinda Boulders and Josephine Falls in the rain…to be expected in the Wet Tropics rainforest! Both sites are in the foothills of the Bartle Frere, Queensland highest mountain at over 1,600 meters (5,200 feet).
The Babinda Boulders are enormous granite boulders found along the Babinda Creek that is surrounded by lush tropical rainforest thick with trees, vines, ferns and moss. This area is one of the wettest in Australia. It receives over 4,600 mm (15 feet) of rain per year! Despite the rain we had some good views and chose not to slide down the Josephine Falls. The rainfall had actually made for some turbulent water and we watched one tour guide operator jump into the pool below the falls to assist a struggling “slider”!
Our journey continued south along more sugarcane fields, mango trees and banana palms. This will be a common theme nearly all the way down the coast with the addition of some macadamia nut trees a little further down the coast! We did stop at some of the roadside self-serve fresh fruit stands to pick up some bananas. These are common around Australia (and we saw many of these in New Zealand as well) where the fruit is left in a small stand with a designated price and spot to leave the appropriate cash. Great to see the honesty here! Reminded us of the Ivan’s Stress Free, self-serve, honesty bar on BVI’s Jost Van Dyke! But I digress!
We made a turnoff for the nearby coast onto Murdering Point Road and came upon the Murdering Point Winery. The naming of the area of “Murdering Point” comes from the story of a shipwreck that occurred in the area. I will spare the gory details and not spoil the ending. But if you want to read more about the story, please click here . Anyway, the winery is known as a “tropical fruit” winery. 
After we sampled every type (a dozen or so), we ended up going for the 12 bottles for the price of 10! Obviously we were all presently surprised by the taste which ranged from mango, lychee, and passionfruit to plum, ginger, mulberry and pineapple. After our wine tasting and making our purchase we were off to see and chase down the cassowaries at the beach!
The area is actually called the Cassowary Coast, but our stop at Kurrimine Beach, a long beautiful beach with golden sand, did not yield any sightings of the elusive big bird. We did however meet Dennis at the caravan park, a wonderful Aussie mate who is spending his retirement driving around Australia and other parts of the world, often with his fifth wheel. Dennis was from the Murray River area down on the southern coast and had traveled around the US, Canada and up to Alaska in a caravan. He told us the story about crocs in the river the night before that were swimming with a couple blokes that were in his words “torqued”. Apparently, once the blokes saw that there was some distance between the “red spots” they were seeing, i.e. the crocs eyes, they hastily decided to exit the river!
We stopped for lunch at Mission Beach, The Garage Bar and Grill, a little late…4 pm. It was a great spot with some live music just starting, unfortunately we had to miss it, as we were back on the road to our Townsville home for the next two nights.
Townsville!
After getting settled in our two-bedroom apartment, we had a great time catching up more with Mary and Dave. Tracey and Mary spent a lot of time catching up into the wee hours of the morn! So the next morning came a bit slowly, but after some coffee, brekky and some grocery shopping, we made it up to Castle Hill for some beautiful views of Townsville harbor and nearby Magnetic Island. The walk around Castle Hill and a brief walk along the “Strand”, the waterfront in Townsville, our appetites were worked up for a wonderful lunch at the Longboard Bar and Grill on the Strand and waterfront.
Again, another late lunch, but we left just in time to make it to the Billabong Sanctuary (another fancy creative name, lol) just outside of Townsville to see the key exhibits! I must say this was a stop that had potential “cheesy” written on it, but this was one that exceeded expectations. It was well done and I would recommend this stop. It gave us a chance to see some Australian wildlife in one place and seems to be done well in terms of how the animals are treated. We saw crocs, including a 15 footer named Jupiter that was found walking along the Strand in downtown Townsville. Apparently they just had an attack by a croc on a handler. The handler was lucky apparently only “cracking” one arm. We also saw some beautiful dingoes. We were able to get close to these beautiful creatures.
Next we moved on to the wombat and koala both of which we were able to hold. The Wombat, a male (you can tell in the photo), was a young one that is expected to double in weight! It was quite the slug. And the Koala, known for its “sleepiness” seemed to be just that…but very soft as well. 
We were also able to feed the roaming kangaroo, young and old. We also saw the large Cassowary, which we have not yet seen in the wild. There are also emu in the park which we have seen in many parts of Australia in the wild.
Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands
After two nights in Townsville and a drive south we arrive in Airlie Beach. Wow, it is a beautiful seaside town with a well-protected bay, condos and homes set on the hillside with terrific views. It is the jumping off point for the stunning Whitsunday Islands, which arguably have some of the world’s most beautiful beaches!
We enjoyed so much of this area, including a night of dinner, music, and dancing at KC’s Bar and Grill on the first night. The next morning, we took a walk along the waterfront and then a drive over to Shute Bay, stopping at Air Whitsundays Air Whitsundays, now one of my favorite airports in the world, and then a walk on Funnel Bay.
We are ready for our trip to the Whitsunday Islands and White Haven Beach. Our transport? A seaplane captained by Taiki Kudo with Air Whitsunday. Taiki flew us over the area and to our destination beach in the single engine Cessna with our mate Mary co-piloting! The beauty of this area is an absolute dream. The streams and swirls of white sand en route, as well as, the numerous islands and bays dotted by yachts throughout are amazing.
We had a smooth landing just off the beach, then a bit of bubbly served up by Taiki! 
After a walk down this gorgeous beach Mary and I snorkeled while Tracey did some sunbathing on the beautiful powdery white sand. Dave explored the rocks and photographed this amazing place. Our flight back to the mainland was just as breathtaking.
We were home by noon for a little lunch and then off to new adventures at Banjos Bar and Bistro… a local hang out. We are getting better at detecting the English accents. We met Heather behind the bar from Scotland who served us a couple of Super Dries and the girls had a couple wet spots. Then off to the Rum Bar at Fish D’vine for some awesome mojitos. All finished off with some cocktails back at the rooftop Anchor Bar Anchor Bar at our place, served by Abbey and Mel.
Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays is a tropical place that deserves more time…but more to explore!
Yeppoon
We got a good start from Airlie beach to Yeppoon by 9 am! A nice cool morning in the upper 50’s, with expected sunny highs in the 70’s. We made stops at Cedar Creek Falls and Notch Point along the 5 hour drive. We packed our sandwich wraps the night before.
Cedar Falls are a beautiful spot with a large pool beneath them. Even though this is considered the dry season there was plenty of water and the falls were beautiful. The falls are fairly high and apparently some folks jump from the top of the falls to the pool below. There are several warning signs saying deaths and serious injury have occurred here. The signs, the steep walk to the top and the cold water were plenty of deterrent for us to avoid swimming!
Onward we drove, again passing through miles and miles of sugarcane, making a brief stop to drive through Mackay. Mackay is a larger town with a population over 70,000. Mackay was devastated by a cyclone in 1918, where over 1,000 building were destroyed, in part from a near 12 foot storm surge. Many buildings were rebuilt in an art deco fashion … 14 to be exact. A beautiful downtown area!
We took a small detour to drive out to Notch Point. Notch Point is another great coastal area with virtually no people, at least when we visited. Just incredible to have this magnificent expanse of beach and wide open spaces all to ourselves! The drive is 12 km from Ilbilbie, out unsealed Notch Point Road and eventually down a 4-wheel drive track that crosses a couple of creeks.
Out on Notch Point itself are beautiful views of the coast and bay. Much of this area has a protected reef. There were a few small groups camping at this spot right on the water. An area on the bay, or inlet, had a plaque remembering a camper that was apparently taken by a croc a few years ago while swimming in the area. That aside, this would be a great spot to hang out, camp and fish for a bit. We enjoyed our lunch, walk and drive around the area!
On the way in we saw a flock of black cockatoo. On the way out we saw a five or six-foot carpet snake sunning across the road! Initially, I thought it was a stick in the road…Tracey said I just ran over a snake! We backed up, I had passed over it but did not hit it. These apparently are the “friendly” type that someone told us you actually want around your house, even in the attic, to take care of rodents!
From here we journeyed on about three hours to Yeppoon. It was a drive lined with more sugarcane, forest, bush, rivers and even a few kangaroo along the way! We pooled into our place for the next couple of nights after dark and had dinner at a small Thai restaurant in town. We enjoyed some music, a couple cocktails and conversation with some locals at the Strand Hotel. The coal industry is apparently still cooking in this area and some of the mates worked in the industry.
On Saturday we made a visit to the Capricorn Caves. The most spectacular section of this cave is the cathedral. The acoustics in this section are said to be better than the Sydney Opera House. We were treated to an Adele song through their sound system that just blew us away. Tears were flowing. They do have opera events and offer the space for weddings. The crew was setting up for a wedding when we were there, red carpet and all. Truly awe struck.
We enjoyed spending some time with our hosts, Arran and Shannon, Arran’s sister and some friendly neighbors who invited us to a bonfire on our second night. We enjoyed some cocktails, sharing some bourbon and a bit of guitar playing and “singing” around the fire! Our hosts had a dog that looked a lot like our late great flat-coated retriever “Andy”. So no doubt we enjoyed spending some cuddling time with “Ellie” who was very friendly and affectionate! Dave and Mary also spent some time loving on the calico cat “Tinker Bell”.
Yeppoon to Urangan and Fraser Island
We pulled out of Yeppoon early with a lot on the agenda on the way to Urangun. We took another 4-wheel drive trek to Eurumbula National Park. The trek was about 10 km from the main Agnes Water Road that included a stop at Ganoonga Noonga with views of the coast and paperbark swamps. Not much water to ford as it is the winter dry season, but heavily forested with many paperbark trees.
Our drive ended at another beautiful isolated expanse of beach with views of the town of 1776 to the south. We took a break for lunch at this great beach spot. At the north end of the beach was a camping area that looked like a great spot to hang out and veg for a few days of camping! But not much rest for us, as we had to make it to our overnight accommodations in Urangan just outside of Hervey Bay and a bit of sleep before our trip to Frasier Island the next day.
Fraser Island
After a fairly short night, we woke early to catch our ride to the World Heritage listed Fraser Island for the day. Fraser Island is known as the world’s largest “sand” island. It is made up of sand that has been accumulating on volcanic bedrock for 750,000 years! The island is rich with flora and fauna, including rainforests, swamps, sand dunes, heathland and of course many gum trees! Dingoes, swamp wallabies and echidna are among the mammals. It is a 127 km long island which includes a 75-mile beach which all is mostly drivable. The island’s highest point is 240 meters and is 27 km at its widest point.
We took an all-terrain vehicle tour of the island for the day with 17 folks from all over the world. Only 4-wheel drive vehicles can access the island because of the sand roads. The vehicle was loaded on the ferry for a 30-minute journey across the strait from Hervey Bay to an unassuming landing point on the island for unloading. Hervey Bay is known as the whale watching capital of the world. We didn’t see any on the ferry ride out but this may be on our list next trip!
Our first stop after the first part of our bouncy bumpy 4-wheel drive trek is Lake McKenzie. There are over 100 freshwater lakes on the island, including perched Lake McKenzie that has some of the cleanest clearest water in the world, atop a nearly pure silica sand beach. Perched lakes sit atop the water table and are fed by rainwater. Fraser Island apparently is home to over half of the world’s perched lakes! The vivid blue water is also acidic, having a low pH which contributes to its purity and inability to support much “life”.
After our morning stop at Lake McKenzie we traveled for another 30 minutes or so along the sandy rut-filled road to Central Station on Wanggoolba Creek. Central Station is in the middle of a beautiful fern and tree filled rainforest that was once an important aboriginal site and then a small village when the area was forested. The walkways to the creek are lined with epiphytes and the angiopteris ferns , an ancient species boasting the largest single fern fronds in the world. We enjoyed our lunch at this beautiful spot.
After lunch we traveled again on the sandy, rut-filled road, with lots of grunts from the vehicle’s passengers as we bounced along. After another 30 minutes or so of this, we passed through the Fraser Island Kingfisher Eco Resort and Village and then to amazing 75-mile beach! This stretch of sand is on the east coast of Fraser Island and is fairly active with 4-wheel drive activity, as well as, small planes using it as a runway! We made stops at the old Maheno shipwreck and for a swim at crystal clear Eli Creek, the largest creek on the island.
We had dinner in Hervey Bay after our day’s adventure and ran into a beautiful couple we met during the day on the Fraser Island tour, Dili and Terrance. We shared some wine a few great stories from the day and our trip to date!
Fraser Island is definitely a stop to make when visiting Australia. Ideally one could spend a minimum of two days exploring the island, but our one-day tour gave us a nice taste!
Mt. Coolum and onto Goondiwindi!
Unfortunately, we did not have time to take our great Urangan Airbnb host up on his offer to take us sailing and the next morning we left for Mt. Coolum. We made a stop for lunch in the mountain town of Maleny, a quaint touristy old town that offered great views of Mt. Coolum, the mountains, plains and ocean. We checked into our accommodations for the night and barbequed salmon and kangaroo for dinner!
The stay in Mt. Coolum was short, really doing it no justice to the area. The next morning we were on the road to Goondiwindi , about 200 miles west of Brisbane. Our wonderful Aussie mates, Lyn and Warren, that we met in Patagonia in 2013 are hosting us for a couple of evenings on their 400-acre farm, including a roasted lamb camp oven dinner on one of the nights. The trip will give our U.S. mates, Mary and Dave, a chance to see a bit of Australia’s interior, passing through some mountain ranges, a bit of heath, farmland and the wildlife that it brings!
We arrived at the Goondiwindi farm late afternoon and settled into our friend’s beautiful home. We met the two awesome dogs, Coco Channel (an English bull dog) and Gucci (an Irish Setter). It’s great to have the furry friends around, as well! The dogs enjoyed the 4-wheel ATV farm tour with everyone. For dinner we had a great Chinese meal family style at New Dynasty in Goodniwindi. Lots of great stories, laughs, wine and food!
We woke up to drizzle and later in the day steady rain, but that didn’t stop the Goondiwindi, McIntyre River area and more farm tours! Over the course of the day we saw lots of wildlife including kangaroo, emu and many birds; white pelicans, cockatoo and other parrots. 
We also made a trip out to a sheep farm, but no sheering lessons today!
The rain did cancel the “camp oven” lamb but Lyn roasted it indoors. It was an outstanding home cooked meal with the potatoes, pumpkin, green beans and apple pie for dessert…and of course lots of good Australian wine and Crowther Whiskey for a night cap!
We all loved the awesome hospitality, furry friends, great conversation, the beautiful accommodations, fresh food down to the fresh mandarin oranges and pink grapefruit right from the trees. It was such a treat to be “taken care” of like family. Also great ideas from Warren and Lyn on our remaining Australia travels and other world-wide adventures we are planning! We are definitely looking forward to our paths crossing again!
We had a beautiful drive back into Brisbane and a terrific Japanese dinner with our mates, Mary and Dave. It was emotional leaving our good friends at the Brisbane airport Saturday morning as they make their way back to Florida. Never enough time, but it was a tremendous two weeks of travel making great memories with great friends!
And a few more pics from this great trip!
