Friday 30th March 2012. Green Island!

Because Jasine and Dwaynes birthdays and 18th Wedding Anniversary all fall over Easter weekend we decided to give our family an early present of a special trip to Green Island to see some of the beautiful Great Barrier Reef while we were on its doorstep.

We were very blessed to have a fine day to go considering we are only just coming out of the wet season, however it was very windy! This wasn't too much of a problem except for the trip over being quite rough due to the windy conditions! We did okay, but were all feeling pretty queasy by the time we saw Green Island (and not a minute too soon as Dwayne inparticular was also looking quite green!) but we made it without 'feeding any fishes'. (Which is more than we can say for all the Big Cat travellers!)

On arrival to the Island, we relaxed and walked the boardwalk and beautiful beach areas, the kids loving the fact that they could boast walking from one end of an Island to the other! (We won't tell anybody it is only about a km long!)

We went back to the Big Cat for our buffet lunch on board which was pretty scrumptious and delighted the kids that they could choose what they wanted on their plates. After lunch we hopped onto the glass bottom boat for a 1/2 hour look at the reef. Even though it was a bit greener today due to the winds, we were still lucky enough to see some beautiful corals, fish,a reef shark, clams and a green sea turtle!

We stepped off this boat and into the semi-submersible boat (a submerine type boat with glass walls) where we saw similar scenes from a slightly different point of view including fishfeeding from above, causing the huge schools of fish to swim right past our glass walls! I must admit though that the semi sub didn't do much for my stomach post lunch, but the kids loved it!

A little bit of shopping finished off our day on Green Island and we enjoyed our windy trip back to Cairns much more after being much better prepared and taking the complimentary ginger tablets and staying on the top deck in the fresh air! A special little extra event for the kids was being invited to sit in the Captains chair and steer on the trip back...pretty special. A super day and so amazing again to experience more of Gods creation our very own beautiful reef. 

The Waterfall Circuit...Atherton Tablelands

On the way home from our time in Cooktown we decided to take a detour and look at some of the local falls after all the recent rains. They were magnificent! We went to Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa Falls, all different and all amazing. Gods creation is still taking my breath away!

Wednesday 21st to Sunday 25th March 2012, Tablelands to Cooktown.

Leaving Captain Slow behind for this little trip, we travelled through the lovely Atherton Tablelands on Wednesday to arrive in the evening at quiet Newell Beach to stay. It was great to have some fine weather for some more exploring and even better, to have our Nanny and Poppy with us on this little trip. We drove through some beautiful areas on the Tablelands, some falls, Mareeba wetlands and one of my favourite spots on the journey, Mt Molloy...so pretty.

Newell Beach was lovely to wake up to on Thursday morning. We headed down to Port Douglas, only a short drive south, for some sightseeing but no swimming, as we didn't really want to meet up with a stinger or a croc! 4 Mile Beach looked amazing.

We then travelled onto Mossman Gorge in the Daintree for a picnic lunch with the bush turkeys beside the rapids. The gorge was breathtakingly beautiful! With plenty of recent rains, the water running through was incredible. We walked and looked and swam in this amazing little part of His creation. We drove onto see a little more of the Daintree including the Daintree River...with no sign of a croc...thank goodness.

Friday morning and we say goodbye to Nanny and Poppy for now at Mt Molloy as they head home and we head further north. Today we drive to Black Mountain National Park to our accomodation at The Lion's Den Hotel Camping Grounds. We are staying in an elevated Safari tent for the next 2 nights in amongst the trees and beside the beautiful Little Annan River. No tv, mobile or internet access, just us and rainforest! We spent a few hours swimming in the gorgeous river and then went up to the pub for tea. The pub has significant family history as Dwayne's Great Grandparents met there while she was governessing for the publican and he was mining so it was pretty special to see and eat there.

The following day we drove into Cooktown and enjoyed a day of sightseeing and learning the local history of Captain Cook and his landing here and the rich Aboriginal history of the Guugu Yimithirr people. The museum and sights in Cooktown are fabulous and provided some rich history education for our homeschooling lessons! A special place was grassy hill - a place Cook used to see 360 degrees around the region to navigate his next trip, so you can imagine the awesome views! We came back for another night in the trees after fish and chips on the wharf watching the sun setting over Endeavour River.

Sunday morning we head back to Innisfail via Mareeba Inland route after a lovely night with soft rain falling over our treehouse. Clear skies though for our drive back today which so far we have shared the road with lots of wallabies, cows and horses and haven't collided with any of them!

Saturday 17th March 2012. St Patricks Day!

Our Nanny just loves celebration days and St Patricks Day is no exception! Maybe her Irish ancestory and love for Ireland have a little to do with it too.

We started the day with green pancakes for breakfast. The house was decorated with Shemrocks, green balloons and Leprechauns and we all had to wear some green for the day, along with hats and badges for tea. Irish music serenaded in the background from a large collection of Irish CDs. We were set!

Aunty Nikki and cousin Ashy joined us for dinner which comprised of green mashed potato with roast and finished with a very green castle and dinasoar cake with green jelly and green cream (decorated by the kids during the afternoon)! What a green feast we had!

Sunday 11th March 2012. Arrival at Nanny and Poppys!

Our aim today was to get up to Innisfail where we would see Dwayne's parents, our Nanny and Poppy.

We drove to Townsville for a stop for a picnic lunch and a swim at the Lagoons near the Ross River. We met up with Dwayne's brother and family who live in Townsville and spent a few hours with them. It was a great break in the drive and lovely to catch up with more family.

We continued our travelling north in the late afternoon and arrived in Innisfail (just south of Cairns) about 7.30pm after meeting up with some heavy rain along the way, to a very excited Nanny and Poppy! And just as Nanny promised, she left the Christmas lights and Tree up for us to celebrate a second little Christmas day the following morning!

Our plan is to stay around until Easter here, using it to spend time with our family, as a base to explore more of Far North Qld, and to maybe even meet our newest member of our extended family - a new niece or nephew being due in early April in Townsville.

And although we don't mind the rain, we are hoping and praying we won't have to deal with any cyclones in Captain Slow!

Wed. 7th to Sat 9th March 2012. Travelling further North.

After 2 months in the Wide Bay area it turned out to be a long day repacking and reorganising ourselves and our van now nicknamed 'Captain Slow' for the next leg of the journey. We finally set off around 2pm from Maryborough, almost having to dig the van out of the mud after so much rain in the region! We we desparate to go after the Mary River flooded, not wanting to be stuck between flooded rivers.

We had a fantastic time exploring the Wide Bay area and loved the time we had there, even amidst the sadness.

Our first night further north was at Lake Monduran (about 20km north of Gin Gin), which apparently holds the largest Barramundi ever, so we felt quite like a 'fish out of water' when we were the only van without a boat attached!  Nice bushland spot though. It was here we managed to collect 2 black eyes; Reuben copped a hard sugar container landing above his right eyebrow from a high cupboard in the van, producing an instant purple egg, and Jasine walked straight into an open van window the following morning, slitting her eyelid and producing a swollen black left eye. What a pair!

Thursday morning we headed off to Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast. So many roadworks made it a long driving day and just prior Rocky a fatal accident had happened about an hour beforehand causing a total highway block and a not so fun dirt road detour for about 10km with Captain Slow in tow!

It was great to pull into lovely Emu Park on the Capricorn Coast of Rockhampton and relax. A quiet beachside spot. We enjoyed dinner on the beach watching the sunset, school under the trees and some swimming and scooting. It was so nice we stayed another day. On Friday night we drove into Rockhampton to walk down the riverside and watch the bullriding at The Great Western Pub - something you just have to do in the Beef Capital of Australia!

Saturday saw us travelling further north having lunch in Mackay and then settling for the night at Airlie Beach. We found a park tucked away in the mountain with sea breezes and a bay view away from the backpacker bustle of town. Even in the low season Airlie appears to be a 'backpacker capital'. A swim before tea and a nice breeze outside helped us all cool down and relax for the evening.

Tuesday 6th March 2012. Fraser Island.

What an amazing time on Fraser Island! What a stunning place! We were hesitant at first due to bad weather forcasts, but on arrival it was sunny, warm and still. No sign of a cyclone.

We had some pretty serious 4WDriving to do to reach Lake McKenzie which was absolutely stunning with pure white sand and clear blue fresh water. We enjoyed a swim and lunch here with no sign of a dingo. Did get very close to a kookaburra killing and eating a baby snake he found beside our car!

We drove on to Lake Wabby with amazing views and apparently bottomless. This is where we also met up with a nice slow goanna giving us a good look at him. Then onto the beach for a brief cruise across the sand before the tide came in. We had a lot of 'bumping around fun' in the beast and experienced some absolutely stunning creation, but STILL NO DINGO! Oh well, always a next time.