We Made It!!!! Townsville to Mission Beach

   The Big Drive is over. We arrived at Mission Beach this afternoon.....details to follow!

Airlie Beach to Townsville

 

 We are closing in on Mission Beach.  Tonight is our last night on the road.  We are in Townsville which is a larger coastal city of over 180,000. We can see Magnetic Island from our hotel balcony and we are parallel to the Barrier Reef.  Townsville has many heritage buildings as well as a beautiful waterfront made for people to enjoy with pools, exercise parks, beach, walking tracks, and beautiful park lands. We spent some time at the ANZAC Memorial Park as well as at the tribute to Olympians dating back to 1960.  Townsville has many residents who participated in wars as well as The Games.

Distance: 172 miles.  Time: 3.5 hours

Next stop: Mission Beach 

Airlie Beach

   Airlie Beach is a great little sailing town which is a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands. We earned lots of steps just walking around town, stopping for our favorite flat white coffee and wading through the Airlie Lagoon.

   This part of the world, while spectacularly beautiful, has its dangers. Death adders, one of the most venomous snakes in the world, are common in the Whitsundays as are stingers, nasty jellyfish with a killer bite, and warnings are everywhere. If you snorkel, you must wear a head to toe stinger suit. Airlie Lagoon solves that problem for the general public. It's basically a public pool that looks like an actual lagoon with varying depths, lap lanes and sun-shaded areas. People sun bathe on the grass which overlooks the real beach.

   We took a catamaran day cruise through the Whitsunday Islands, part of the Great Barrier Reef National Marine Park, met some delightful Australian couples, watched a beach cricket game and waded through clear ocean water with transparent fish of all sizes. Maybe you can see them in the photo.  We lunched at the Sailing Club and just relaxed in this laid back beach town.

Next stop: Townsville 

Rockhampton to Airlie Beach

Airlie Beach....another little piece of Paradise. We'll be here for four nights. The weather is hot, sunny and a tad humid....we are definitely in the tropics. Arrived last night in time for our evening happy hour and were joined by some locals in search of a poolside beverage.

Distance: 296 miles.  Time: 5.5 hours

Hervey Bay to Rockhampton

   Didn't make it the extra few klicks to coastal Yeppoon as we were tired, the skies were threatening, accommodations were limited as this is Labor Day Weekend for Australia, and Rockhampton is right on the A1 highway. So we are overnighting at the Criterion Hotel, a heritage property, which serves a breakfast with our favorite "flat white" coffee (Sherry, do you know how to make a flat white?), and we'll be on our way early tomorrow.

   The big event of the day was that geographically, we are on the Tropic of Capricorn, (nerd fact coming...) which marks the most southerly latitude where the sun can be seen directly overhead at noon at the December Solstice.  We are officially in the tropics.

    Rockhampton is on the Fitzroy River and is in a pretty location. It has many, many stunning heritage buildings, but seems to have seen better days. Perhaps a victim of the pandemic.  Next stop and final long drive day: Airlie Beach

Distance: 250 miles  Time: 5 hours

Noosa to Hervey Bay/ K'gari (Fraser Island)

 

 This is our last week on the road. We are about 15 hours from Mission Beach which is about the same drive time as from Santa Fe, NM, to St Louis, MO. 

   We drove to Hervey Bay as it is the jumping off point for the ferry to Fraser Island, now known by its aboriginal name K'gari (meaning "paradise"). It is a UNESCO world heritage site and is also managed and protected by its original caretakers, the Butchulla people, as well as the Great Sandy National Park. It is the largest sand island in the world and the only place where rainforest grows in sand.

   Our tour was incredible from the start. After a 40-minute ferry ride across the Great Sandy Strait, we boarded a special 4-wheel drive bus and traveled down sandy, in-land single track "roads". We bumped, jumped, jiggled and swerved around the island through sub-tropical rainforest and eucalyptus forests hoping not to meet up with another 4x4 coming our way. It made a Pink Jeep tour seem like a kiddie ride. We knew our backs would either be really sore or really loose by the end of the day.

   We visited crystal clear freshwater lakes and streams.

   We walked through wet and wonderful rainforest and spotted an azure kingfisher.

We drove over a half hour on the 75-mile Beach, dodging waves and beachwalkers, tooted at fishermen who had caught a snapper, and saw three wild dingoes doing their own beach walk. You are warned continually to avoid confrontation with these animals as they can be aggressive to people....especially small ones. Maybe this is where Elaine's famous line from the Seinfeld show originated.

We rode past the remains of the S.S. Maheno, wrecked by a cyclone in 1935. It began as an ocean liner and served during World War I as a hospital ship for the New Zealand Naval Force (people gather at the wreck on ANZAC Day).

Our memorable day ended with a sunset ferry ride (and a glass of wine and a beer) back to the mainland.

Distance: 115 miles.  Time: 2.5 hours

Next stop: Yeppoon

Robina to Noosa Heads

Noosa is a wonderful vacation spot if you love beaches, water sports, and Nature. Situated on the Coral Sea as well as the  Noosa River, it is the perfect spot for surfing, swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking and rowing. Our balcony overlooked the tidal river and we were often treated to watching a variety of water activities. The town is filled with shops and restaurants and the Noosa National Park is great for bush walks. Unfortunately, the weather was often uncooperative with rain and wind in the mornings, but we managed to still enjoy this little bit of paradise.

Distance: 136 miles.  Time: 2.5 hours

Next stop: Hervey Bay