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| Holidaymakers at Airlie Lagoon |
Welcome to our first' blog' page from Australia. We're now at Airlie Beach, part of the Whitsundays, about 270 kilometres south of Townsville, and 1150 kilometres north of Brisbane.
Airlie Beach is a major gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands, so there's a colossal number of tour options to the inner and outer reefs, and the more than seventy offshore islands. Rainforests cloak the surrounding hills, though the hill near the heart of the town is festooned with apartment buildings. There are lots of activities we hope to see and do in the next few days in this beautiful tropic area. Every day, the sea is a rich blue, and the multitude of islands offshore a deep green against a clear sky. But we digress from our last newsletter.
Bundaberg
Our last newsletter came from Hervey Bay, and after a week there, on April 29th, we shifted to Bundaberg, home of the famous Bundaberg Rum Factory. Staying at Bundaberg meant a compulsory tour of the rum factory, and a wee sampling of their products, of course. A half hour west of Bundaberg are the Mystery Craters, a series of solid rock craters covering around two acres. Not unlike the moon's surface, how the craters formed is a complete mystery as the closest similar type of rock is at Uluru (Ayers Rock) thousands of kilometres away. Bundaberg has interesting Botanic Gardens, complete with restored steam cane-trains taking happy passengers on a five minute loop around the gardens, sending water dragons and egrets scuttling out of the way Bundaberg's closest beaches, east of the city, are disappointing, mostly very rocky and uninviting. But this was more than compensated with the Sunday $3.90 roast meal and fine music that night at the local Brothers Sports Club.
Agnes Water
From Bundaberg, it was a two hour drive to Agnes Water, a delightful hideaway spot with a glorious sandy and palm lined beach bordering the caravan park. This was our next stop. Five kilometres away was 1770 - the town's proper name is "Town of 1770" - this name was bestowed by Captain Cook in May 1770 when he landed there to replenish water and collect flora. Perhaps he had been on the Bundaberg rum when he named it? Two nights at Agnes Water were enough to see most of the sights, and it was time to move on.
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| Raewyn and a brahma bull |
Voewood Cattle Station
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| Brahma herd |
At the Bundaberg Rum Factory, we'd met a cattle-breeder and his wife, who had invited us to their 14,500 acre farm 60 kilometres inland from Gladstone. Currently, they have only 3000 Brahma cattle - often they have up to 7000. We were fortunate to watch the branding of 90 cattle just brought in. And a drive around the station in their old pickup truck took us eleven kilometres to the back of the farm, passing several 'paddocks' of more than 100 acres each. Most were in grass up to a metre high, good for hiding the wildlife on the property. We saw mobs of kangaroos, and at night dingo howls pierced the stillness. Two nights were spent there, then it was time to move as the 'wet season' has now finished and thus is prime time to head north.
Rockhampton
Our next stop, Rockhampton, is one of the larger cities on the east coast, and sits almost astride the Tropic of Capricorn. Rockhampton's Botanic Gardens include a small free zoo, and both are well worth a visit. The drive up nearby Mt. Archer gave a cool forest outlook over the surrounding city and countryside. With several shopping centres, retail therapy was another major pastime in Rockhampton.( A replacement kettle bought there was returned as it had no base to plug into - until the shop assistant opened the kettle lid and showed us the base packed inside. Oh well.)
Our caravan park, beside the murky Fitzroy River which splits Rockhampton, was our first evidence of signs warning to stay away from the river edge as crocodiles dwell there. We didn't see any, but did have hundreds of screeching white cockatoos arrive each evening to nest in the tall trees around the camp - usually around happy hour. They certainly knew how to make a racket, and the same happened each morning when they woke around 6.00am.
Salonika Beach
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| The reason for not swimming at Salonika Beach |
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| Lonely Salonika Beach |
We had only two nights at Rockhampton
, and on May 8th shifted north to stay with friends at their house in Salonika Beach, a little known and isolated beach 35 kilometres south of Mackay. This wide sandy beach is about three kilometres long, bordered on the southern end by a small rocky headland, and on the northern end by the vast complex of the Hay Point Coal Exporting Port. Midway along Salonika beach, a tidal stream flows inland to a bush-lined foreboding creek, home of unknown predators.. At low tide, one can walk across the stream bed to explore the southern end of the beach. For most of each day, the beach is quite uninhabited, save for the occasional dog-walker and odd fisherman, though the modern housing estate is only a few metres away We did go for several walks and kite-flying excursions along the expansive sands, but stayed out of the sea because of possibility of stingers - that is, jellyfish. We did paddle our feet though. Perhaps the most dangerous thing was possibly getting hit on the head by coconuts falling from the many trees in the housing estate. Coconuts litter the ground in places, the locals oblivious to them. With a massive amount of our energy, we opened a couple, and they were beautiful, but most of it went to the family's dog, Zippa, who craved them and would chew the white meat out, leaving only the husk.
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| Hay Point Coal Port and Pier |
Three kilometres up the road from Salonika Beach, the Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point Coal Exporting Port is a massive undertaking employing over 2000 people. Each day, up to twenty trains arrive from inland mines, each carrying 10,000 tonnes of coal in a line of 100+ carriages, making a train up to two kilometres long. The coal is sorted and stacked, then loaded onto conveyor belts which transport it along a three kilometre pier to be loaded onto waiting super tankers. Up to thirty supertankers might be anchored offshore each day, waiting their turn at the loading berth.
Every few days we'd venture off to Mackay City for a day's shopping or sightseeing, but much of our time at Salonika was just having time out, especially when some rainy cold snaps passed over. Before we knew it, we'd been with our friends almost three weeks, so with the weather clearing and fine days coming up, it was time to hit the road again.
Now we find ourselves 200 kilometres further north of Salonika Beach, at Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays, with sunshine, warm days, beach lifestyle, and life as it should be. Airlie Beach has just been voted Queensland's friendliest town and it shows. We've booked in for three nights, but may stay longer as the weather is too nice. It's a hard life, but somebody has to do it.
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| Whitsunday Big 4 Caravan Park's swimming pool, Airlie Beach |
We'll have more photos from Airlie and the Whitsunday Islands in our next blog . Meantime, any comments from you are welcome.
Love from
Bryan and Raewyn
