James, Henry's younger brother came out
to visit for just under 2 exciting weeks. The morning he got in the
four of us, and James, went to breakfast. After that we came back,
packed our bags and headed to the Great Ocean Road for a fun filled
weekend trip. I went previously with Melissa when she came out, but
Henry hadn't been and neither had James. I was looking forward to
going again, it's really a wonderful drive. We stopped at many of the
places I had been to before, but there were also some places we
didn't get to see when we were on our tour. The weather was sunny but
cold, windy, and rainy all throughout the trip. We were lucky enough
though that most of the time it rained when we were driving to each
destination, but stopped when we arrived. We spent the night at a
free campground and got an earlier start the next morning.
For the next couple of days, I took
James around since Henry had to work. We went to Melbourne Museum,
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), met Henry for lunch,
Emma and I took him to breakfast, went out for dinner, etc.
Here are some pictures along the Great Ocean Road.
This is near our FREE campsite. Didn't realize how close we were to the ocean till morning.
So windy, thought I was going to blow over!
We then hopped on a plane for a five
day trip up to Queensland, Australia. We were looking forward to the
warmer weather, Melbourne has been really cold and raining
constantly. We flew to Townsville and spent the night in a motel, got
up early the next morning to get the rental car and grab some
breakfast in town. After breakfast we walked around for a bit and
came across a waterpark, so cool. Had it been a little warmer we
might have jumped in. After more wandering around we headed up to
Castle Hill which has a stunning
360 degree view of the coastline and inland.
Our rental car.
This was called the Rock Pool, and basically it's a huge pool filled with ocean water. Since the ocean is often filled with box jellyfish durning the summer months, this allows people to enjoy the ocean without actually getting in it, BUT as you see below, there are still warning signs that they could be present in the water. YIKES! The most dangerous marine stingers are found in Queensland. Box jellyfish are extremely dangerous, and can be fatal if not treated immediately. The stings are very painful and can leave scaring. They provide vinegar stations at majority of the beaches and when poured on the stung area it deactivates the stinging cells, but not the pain. They also have set up swimming areas with nets to keep them out in other beaches, but that is still not convince me enough to get in the water...haha.
Next, we drove for 4 hours down to
Airlie Beach, and the Whitsunday Island. We got in around 5pm, found
a place to stay the night in the downtown area where there were
several shops and restaurants. They had a small camping area which
was fine with us, we just needed a place big enough to put up both of
our tents. Didn't get much sleep the two nights we were there because
we were right behind the main street where all the bars are open
late, the music is loud, people having a good time, and bottles
crashing into the big trash bins in the back of the bars. Lesson
learned. We booked an Ocean Rafting tour that took us to the
Whitsunday Island and two snorkelling reefs. It took about an hour
from Airlie Beach.
The Whitsunday Islands are a group of
74 islands formed by volcanic activity many moons ago off the coast
of Queensland. The largest island is the Whitsunday Island. They are
considered 'continental' islands which means they were once connected
to Australia. Also, some of islands have been declared national parks
and there are six of them. Our tour took us to the Whitsunday Islands
National Park where Whitehaven Beach is located. This beach is
famous for the pure white sandy beaches, and clear blue water as well
as a breathtaking view...OMGoodness. We took LOTS of pictures, and
had lunch on the beach. After that we headed off for some good
snorkelling.
$10 per night to camp, can't beat that price.
Just stunning! Wish you all could have been there.
Yup, we are in sweatshirts, it was a bit chilly with the wind.
Action shot.
Wish I could say we did the sand sculpture.
The next day we drove 8 hours up to
Cairns. I drove for the first time in 7 months! It wasn't as weird
driving on the other side of the road as I thought it was going to
be, but it is definitely different. We arrived in the early afternoon
and headed to the downtown area for some sight-seeing and then found
a caravan park to set up our tents. The next morning we had book a
boat tour to do some snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef. They took
us to Michaelmas Cay which is a national park and also a bird
sanctuary. There were tons of birds, and it smelled a little bit, but
we were in the water so it didn't bother us. It was so much fun, and
just amazing. Never thought I would be snorkelling in the Great
Barrier Reef, and I think Henry and James felt the same way. It was
an awesome experience to share with both of them. After a full day of
snorkelling we headed back and spotted a small group of whales to
top off the day. They didn't fully breach, but it was still cool to
see.
Flying Foxes just hanging out. They are noisy little suckers.
On our way to the Great Barrier Reef.
Happy campers.
Look at all the shades of blue.
Humpback whales.
We went to breakfast at this place called Caffiend which was down an alley way with graffiti covering the walls. Just wanted to share a few pictures.
The last day in Cairns we went up to
Kuranda which is 25km (approx. 15 miles) northwest of Cairns. It is a
village surrounded by World Heritage Rainforest. It is a cute little
town with shops, restaurants and other tourist attractions. We went
on a paved hiking trail through the rainforest, then headed over to
the Barron Falls. During the wet season there is a high volume of
water that comes pouring out, unfortunately we are here during the
dry season so there wasn't much water, but still very impressive and
beautiful. After that we headed back in to town for a meat pie
(similar to a chicken pot pie) and some home-made ice cream. After
our belly's were full we headed over to the Koala Gardens wildlife
park where James got his picture taken holding a Koala. It was so
cute and fluffy. Then we headed into a gated area to hang out with
some kangaroo's and wallaby's. Talk about being up close and
personal...haha.
So cute and fluffy!
We headed back to Melbourne that
evening just exhausted from our 5 day packed holiday. It was another
great trip.
