Week 29

Fraser Coast 15th - 20th July

We left on Monday and drove south to Maryborough. After a BBQ lunch we drove onto Tin Can bay. After exploring the small sea side town and having a look at where the dolphins are feed, we decided to drive further to Rainbow beach which was booked out so we stayed at Carlo point caravan park just down the road.

 

 

For the next four day we camped at Inskip point. The days were filled with many hours of fishing, walks along the beach.... relaxing watching the Fraser island barge's take the many vehicles to and from the sandy shores. 

 

 

 

On Saturday we melted marshmallows over a camp fire and spent the afternoon driving up and down Rainbow beach collecting samples of the many different colours.

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was all over the place until the forecast for Sunday and Monday looked good to go and enjoy a visit to the island. 

Fraser  Island

This was Guy’s top item on his must do list on our travels.  We had waited for the weather to clear up and for the tides to be just right. The kids were just as excited when they saw we were going on the barge and driving on the beach.

 

We watched dolphins swim by as we departed from Inskip point.

Off the barge we hit some soft sand but didn’t get bogged and on we went, from hook point north along the beach.

There is a 80km speed limit on the beach…. We were overtaken by quite a few tour bus drivers who were more worried about keeping to a schedule than the speed limit it seemed.

 

We didn’t realise planes landed on the beach too.

 

We saw our first Dingo trotting along the beach and saw a few more during our visit.

There were a few obstacles and after watching a bus go over these rocks we thought it would be safe enough to follow too.

We made it to the ship wreck and joined the many tourists taking photo’s and watching the fish swimming in the natural aquarium under the hull. 

We still had a few hours before the tide came in so we ventured further north towards Indian Head.

We stopped and the Pinnicales and Zach spotted whales breaching in front of the horizon..

 

It was time to for Rachel to have a go driving on the beach but when we got to Indian Head she didn’t want to go any further due to the You tube videos we have seen of people getting stuck. So we swapped and after a successful drive up we came across a rough section on top. In hindsight we should have approached the section slower and with more caution. Guy managed to get the car airborne and the rest is history… the pictures below shows what happened as there was no video or photo’s of the event.

 

The main casualty was Jake’s sandwich which flew out of his hand and he was most upset about it. Zach just laughed…. Rach’s look was priceless…..you know….when words aren’t enough but if looks could kill?  

We kept going and stopped on top of middle rock and walked down to the Champagne pools. It was too cold to go for a swim for us. (oh  yes …and Rachel fell down some stairs… all good.)

With time running out (tides coming in) we decided to leave.  This is when a mud flap got caught on a piece of timber in the sand and ripped off. (Rachel gave Guy another one of those looks…..)

 

On the way back we stopped at Eli creek .

 

It was only mid afternoon when we arrived at the Eurong Beach Resort so we decided to go and do Lake McKenzie. Halfway there we came across a large tour bus blocking the one way track. Not knowing what was going on Rachel went to investigate. A 4wd was bogged on the track ahead. We were advised it was not safe for us to continue and that only they had enough clearance to continue.

So after the bogged 4wd was pulled out we watched the two tour buses negotiate the very boggy sand. I’d hate to be in those buses. They bounced and twisted and almost tipped over against a tree but they made it through.  With no winch and by ourselves we decided to reverse a km back down to a cross road and head back.  Well we couldn’t. another 4wd just then came around the corner and blocked us in! we had a chat to them and explained what was around the next corner. The nice more experienced person behind us showed us how we could traverse ahead. So we made it through, thumbed our noses at the bus driver when we saw him at the next stop and checked out the lake.

It was amazing to see a rainforest in the middle of the island. We drove back and by sundown we checked in to our apartment and got ready for dinner. The kids were so excited to be staying a night out of the van they asked if we could live here.

The buffet dinner was great and we looked forward to the comforts of separate bedrooms and a comfy couch to relax on.

Zach and Amity had a swim in the resort pool the next morning before we left . we then spent the rest of the day fishing the beach on the way back to the barge for the boat ride back to Inskip and our van.

We stayed another night at Inskip and left Tuesday morning and headed for the Sunshine coast.

Week 28

Townsville to Rockhampton – 8^th July to the 14^th July.

Monday We left Mission Beach and headed for Townsville. We stayed at the top tourist park south of the town.

Tuesday, we visited Ayr and let the kids play whilst we had morning tea.

 We then had lunch further south at Queens beach in Bowen, we had a van tyre repaired.

 

 We left at 4:30pm, drove on for 2 hours further south and arrived at Seaforth (just north Mackay) in the dark and set up camp on the foreshore reserve for the night.

 

On Wednesday , we drove into Mackay and looked around the Northern beaches area. Then drove on to Flaggy Rock and stayed there for the night. The kids enjoy the open grass space of the once local school. $5 a night, no power. The kids found a new family member that they wanted to adopt.

Thursday came around quickly and we drove to Yeppoon. We stayed at the van park out of town at Causeway Lake. What a great spot for the kids they had boats, motorised and paddle for hire.

We left on Saturday to drive to Gladstone. A picnic lunch on the foreshore was a great break from the travelling. We had a look at the lookout then we stayed at a free camp spot halfway between Gladstone and Gin Gin. When we left we came across a truck roll over just 2 k’s down the road…

Sunday,  Bundaberg -  RUM RUM RUM! We had a look at Bundaberg distillery and the Ginger beer factory.

We stayed at the Bargara beach caravan park down the road. The kids loved playing at the Turtle playground and Nielson Park.

Nielson Park.

Week 27

Mission Beach 1st July – 8th July

 

We ended up staying in Mission Beach.  Our van was parked 10 metres from the beach and all for $110 for the week.

 

 

The kids had a ball playing at the beach each day.

 

 

Zach enjoyed his work out!!

The visitor centre has a tropical fruit tasting session once a week. We all gave it a go. Our taste buds got a work out from sweet, bitter, and sour. Then we had textures  from smooth, creamy, slimy  to crunch. Then there were the odours  and if you went from that, there were fruits you wouldn't even try. Over all, it was a great experience and the best way to try fruit that you have never heard of. It was only a cost of $20 for a family.

 

We did a visit to Tully and had to watch out for the wildlife.

 

 

And that’s about it. Just a nice relaxing week watching the waves roll in… the sunsets and rises…oh yeah…and  the crazy people jumping out of planes and landing on the beach in front of us… Rach was thinking about doing it…..

 

 

Week 26

Palm Cove and Cairns 24th June – 1st July

We stayed at the Palm Cove foreshore Caravan Park. It was undergoing an upgrade. The amenities were finished and they were building the new office.

It was such a great holiday destination we decided to have a holiday from our holiday! $192 for a week on a no powered site, at one of Australia’s top 10 beach destinations!.

The plan was to stay at the award winning Coconut cove resort but glad we didn’t. It was right next to the freeway out of town. So we based ourselves here for our Cairns leg of our adventure.



On Tuesday we ate Pizza for lunch at the foreshore water park. There were a lot of back packers having a bath (and drinking…). In the arvo we checked out the city shopping centre and look at the night markets in the evening.

We spent Wednesday relaxing most of the day apart for a short exploring drive around the local area like Yorkeys Knob.

 It was fun to watch the silly buggers doing bungy jumping at the AJ Hackett site. (sorry no photo’s)

 On Thursday, we visited the Crystal Cascades for picnic.

In the arvo , Rach and the kids played at the Cairns harbour tree house whilst Guy minded Curtis sleeping in the car.

 

On Friday, we spent the day doing the main attraction of the Scenic railway, followed by lunch at the Kuranda markets and then rode the Skyrail back down the mountain.

 

 

The Cairns esplanade markets was on Saturday morning so we headed into town to check them out. We also heard about the “Tank markets” next to the botanical gardens. It was on Sunday.

In the afternoon we found the  Muddy foreshore Playgrounds. A free play area with lots of cool activities for the kids. They didn’t want to leave.

On  our last full day we found the botanical gardens and also looked at the Tank market. It would be the best one we think to visit when here.  We also checked out the rusty market in the CBD. Good for fruit and vegies.

 

We left on Monday and headed south. We stopped at Josephine falls for lunch. There were a few tourists braving the cold water to have a go at sliding down the waterfall.

 

 

 

In the afternoon we visited the Paronella Park, something that Rachel just wanted to see.

We drove on further with plans to stay at Bingil Bay, just north of picture perfect Mission beach.

Well, it was a small place and we didn’t fit. Bugger…. What to do….