Whitsunday Islands – Cairns
Hello everyone,
So we have travelled all this way to the other side of the world and guess what, it’s raining. Typical! So we have decided to seek shelter and update you all on what we have been up to since we last spoke.
Our Whitsunday island trip was awesome although we didn’t have the most amazing weather. We were on a boat called “British Defender” which is an ex Whitbread (round the world) racing yacht. The first day we set off in the early afternoon, and although the sun only occasionally graced us with its pleasure we had some pretty good winds and, as Katie wants me to say -“Spent the afternoon sailing on our side -LITERALLY, on our side”. Needless to say, I had great fun.
The following day we went to Whitehaven beach where the sand is so fine you can polish jewlery and brush your teeth. Unfortunately, it wasn’t postcard perfect though because of the recent cyclone, but it was beautiful. We did however get up close and personal with some stingrays and got some good snaps. When we got back on the boat we were joined by two HUGE turtles which were really cool.
That afternoon we went snorkeling was good, but again, because of the recent cyclone the visibility wasn’t exceptional. We did see some pretty coral and fish, including a Nemo, starfish and parrot fish. Our guide also said that he saw a Manta Ray and although we gave chase we didn’t manage to see it.
The following day we sailed back to Airlie beach in the sun and I got to be the captain (at least for a while). When we arrived on dry land we headed straight for Magnetic Island.
On Maggie (as it’s known to the locals), we stayed in a hostel that was located within a wildlife sanctuary. While we were there we saw wild Koalas and also got the opportunity to hold a Koala, a crocodile, 3 different types of lizard, a snake and a black cockatoo. We also got to pat a wombat. We also discovered some incredible beaches that were deserted – some of the best that we have seen in OZ. We really enjoyed exploring Magnetic Island and to make it just that little bit better we had some fantastic weather.
After Maggie we drove up to Mission beach where we spent the night. It was quite a nice beach, and after a hectic few days we spent the day there just relaxing.
From there we went to the Atherton Tablelands. We went to Millaa Millaa falls. Known to some as the waterfall pictured in Heathrow Airport but to most as the waterfall from the Herbal Essences adverts! We also went to two other impressive waterfalls. We then drove down the Gillies which is a very windy mountain side road. Finally we visited Babinda’s boulders, which is apparently, according to the aboriginals, haunted. Legend has it that there was a beautiful woman who was dating the top guy from her tribe, but fell in love with a guy from another tribe. They got caught so the second guy was killed and she was outcast by her tribe. As a result she committed suicide at the boulders. Since then 19 guys have died there and no women. The aboriginals believe that she is enticing them into the water with her beauty. Others think that really it is because on the guys are stupid enough to jump off the huge boulders into the ridiculously strong current! And, if our visit was anything to go by, that was certainly the more probable since, there were 10 guys jumping in and no girls!!
The last couple of days we spent in Cape Tribulation. We had perfect weather and it was really beautiful. We did a number of walks and visited a number of look outs with amazing views of the rainforest and the reef at the same time (the only place in the world where you can do this!) Also while we were there, we did a river cruise where we saw no less that 5 wild crocodiles, a python and a number of birds including kingfishers and bats. On our way down to Cairns we stopped off at a lovely place called Mossman Gorge where we walked through the rainforest and went for a swim in the river. It was one of our favourite places, it really was beautiful.
This morning we said goodbye to our beloved van Goonah 🙁 We will miss her very much! Tomorrow we are going to do a scuba dive on the outer reef and are hoping that the weather forecast will improve before then (forecast is good). It feels like we have only just arrived in Australia but we only have 4 days left. We are however really looking forward to New Zealand.
Hope everyone is OK back home. Look forward to hearing what everyone has been up to. It sounds like Mum, Dad and J had a great road trip as well. Thanks for your mini-blog!
Take care
Lots of love
Chris and Katie
xxxx