Australia : Whitsunday Islands, Mission Beach & Atherton Tablelands

Whitsunday Islands (13th – 15th Jan)

We arrived into Airlie Beach after a couple of rainy days……and the weather got worse from here on in ! Our main objective here was to get out on a cruise to do some snorkeling off the surrounding reef around the many islands in the area which marks the beginning of the “Great Barrier Reef”. We done just that but unfortunately we ended up getting wetter on the boat than we did in the water…..such was the glorious down-pour throughout the day. Hey ho….

We still had a cracking time snorkeling and saw some superb tropical fish and reef. Unfortunately no-one else seemed to be up for catching some fish and sticking them on the barbie. Spoil sports. The only downside to the snorkeling was the ridiculous stinger suits that they made us wear. Between November and March its classed as jellyfish stinger season along the whole of the West Coast of Queensland so unless you fancy some nasty paralysing stings you have to wear these all-in-one lycra suits. Not the most snazzy outfits as the photo attached testifies. To be honest I’m wondering if this may not be a conspiracy as I didn’t see one jellyfish whilst in the water. I think the tourist companies just like to have a laugh at us all in these ridiculous outfits.

It was on this cruise that I realised that I am being haunted by Rod Stewart throughout this trip. At every single stopover (and I mean every) I have been plagued by Rod Stewart songs and videos. He’s everywhere. And going with form the captain decided to put a DVD on the TV whilst we were travelling back to shore and you guessed it……Rod Stewart live ! I mean come on. Keeps Amy happy though as shes happy having a wee sing-along but I just find myself reaching for another VB beer to dull the pain.

Anyway as I wandered around the boat (anywhere away from the TV) I got chatting to a woman who turned out to be from Castle Douglas and had family in Annan. Yet more evidence that us Dumfries and Galloway do all we can to get away from the area !

Back to the campsite and we were in the camp kitchen and got chatting to a local lad who was……how can I put this politely…….thick as mince. He was a definite yokel but a pleasant enough chap. Anyhoo……..we’ve been noticing through Tropical Queensland that the toads are massive ! Turns out these guys are actually cane toads and are destructive to all animals indigenous to Oz as they have toxins that kill pretty much anything that tries to eat them. As such it’s the done thing in Queensland to kill any that you see. In fact some smaller towns have “fun days” that climax in a cane toad massacre with the winner being the one to bring most toad corpses to the table. All good gun. Anyway……to prove the point we were talking to the yokel lad about fishing (seemed to be our only common ground) and all of a sudden he darted over the table and grabbed a broom. Then proceed to bash the living crap out of a cane toad that had haplessly wandered into the kitchen. As you can imagine Amy enjoyed that experience ! And with that we were on the road again

Mission Beach (16th Jan)

Mission Beach is a beautiful wee Tropical beach to the South of Cairns. We stopped in here for an overnight stay to split the trip up a bit. As we were driving there we put the radio on and heard that Airlie Beach (where we had been the day before” had been cut off due to floods and people were trapped in the town. It stayed this way for 3 days. Talk about leaving a trail of destruction in your wake !

As the rain continued to pour the heat began to rise causing a less than comfortable 36 degree rainy spell. I’ll never again utter the words “ooohhh…..its muggy today”.

We stayed at a beach campsite and even though it was raining it was still hot enough to go for a swim. The beach here had stinger nets to keep the nasty jellyfish away. Unfortunately due to the flooding even the ocean around the beach had become a reddy browny colour with all of the erosion nearby so we didn’t spend to long there.

Amy wasn’t feeling to great (no wonder considering the weather) so she had a lie down and I went of wandering. I done a wee rainforest walk hoping to spot a cassowary (bizarre looking prehistoric birds of the emu family) but had no luck. I did however get caught up in a massive cobweb in an Indiana Jones styleee. Not very pleasant and had me suddenly scampering back along the track swatting at my back as I went.

Atherton Tablelands (17th & 18th Jan)

Next was on up to the Atherton highlands to the West of Cairns. It was good to get into some mountainous coutryside as most of our trip thus far had taken us along the coast. The countryside surrounding the Atherton region is not dis-similar to much of New Zealand. Its very green and lush with waterfalls everywhere. The windy uphill roads certainly gave the campervan a good test on its final stretch of the trip. It passed thankfully as mobile phone reception left a lot to be desired.

After the delights of the highlands it was on to Cairns to part company with the campervan that had served us well. We certainly left our mark on it over the 2 weeks……or at least it smelt that way anyway !