Around the World

I went to the shop early to work on a car called, spooky, that Alan was going to let us borrow for the trip around northern Queensland. There were some electrical problems that I couldn't fix. So we decided to take a rental car that we got a discount on from Australian-Rent-A-Car. As we were leaving town we discovered the code on the radio was lost. We stopped and called the agency for the radio code (this should have been a warning for a future battery problem).

We kept driving north until late at night. I ran over a stick on the road. But after I got out to check for damage to the car, it was actually a huge brown snake we ran over. We continued on looking for a place to camp. After driving to a few cemeteries and a dump, we found a rest stop in Gin Gin to set up our tent.

We were up early and headed north for Gladstone. We visited the info center at the Marina. Then took a drive around the city. We ate lunch at Barney Beach were I found a lot of shells in the sand.

We drove onward to Rockhampton and took a walk in the town center. It is the beef capital of Queensland. We then took the scenic drive to Emu Park. We drove up to see the Singing Ship (a sculpture of pipes that create a sound from the wind). The rental car battery died when were were parked there. The RACQ came out and put a new battery in while we had fish and chips, then we were on our way. We made it to Finch Hatton, a place near the base of Eungella National Park. We visited the bar in town for a drink and camped out in our tent.

After getting a fill up of gas for the long trip up the mountain, we drove to Eungella National Park. When we got there a talkative ranger told us all about the park.

We started with a walk on the Crediton Creek Trail that went alongside the Broken River. While hiking through the rainforest, we discovered our boots and legs were covered with leaches. After getting the leaches off and out of our boots we put some repellant on, hoping it would keep them off. While hiking the trail we came upon a huge lizard. It had a very long tail. At the end of the trail we caught a ride back to our car. We then drove to the sky window and saw a beautiful view of the valley below.

In the evening we went back to the river and waited for the Duck-billed Platypus to come out. I saw the first one. It was so awesome to see the little creatures swimming around in the wild. I watched as they dived under the water to feed and then come up for air. While we were watching them it began to rain.

When it got late we took off and drove to Airlie Beach to camp. When we got into town a cop pulled me over for a breath test. I hadn't had any drinks that night because it was Good Friday and the bars don't serve alcohol unless its with a meal (seemed a bit strange). It was hard to find a campground with space so we stopped in a construction area. We used the park bathrooms before we went out to camp.

We woke up to an airplane buzzing over our tent. To our surprise we had camped at the end of an airport runway. We quickly threw everything into the car and sped off.

Airlie Beach is a seaside village in the Whitsunday Shire. The actual town has many attractions to speak of including the Whitsundy Islands. The beach is small and the sea is inhabited by marine stingers (a type of jellyfish) from November to May. I found many small circular sea shells with pinholes in the middle while beachcombing. After we had a look around Airlie Beach we drove to Townsville.

The first place we visited in Townsville was the aquarium. It had some excellent displays and informative talks. There was a tunnel through a shark tank. Later we went for a walk in Anzac Memorial Park. It was a nice quiet afternoon and we saw a wedding in progress and snuck up to have a look. While we were watching, I leaned on a metal post near me. Suddenly a loudspeaker started blaring out some national anthem. I had set off a memorial for war veterans. Music kept playing and we took off running, embarrassed of what happened. We ended up at some piers and had a look at some of the boats docked there. That evening we had pizza in the tent. We stayed at a nice campground just outside of Townsville. We even had washing machines to do our laundry.

We started the day with some pancakes at McDonalds. We went to Sacred Heart Catholic Church for Easter mass. We stood in the back against a nice cool brick wall, a relief from the heat. It was a full church. After mass, we continued driving north. There is a great Fish and Chips place in Cardwell that we stopped for lunch. I had been there before in '93. Their grilled fish just melts in your mouth.

Later, as we drove north, we stopped at Murray Falls, a 30m drop with spectacular sculptured rocks and crystal clear rock pools. A 1km up-hill walk, through lush rainforest, was rewarded with views of the falls and surrounding valley from a wooden platform. I climbed past the barricade to see a huge pool of water and feel the power of the down draft that the waterfall created. Then we drove on and stopped to see some more waterfalls called Jourama Falls. There was a lot of water flowing down this one. We stopped in Cairns for dinner and continued on to Mossman via the Cook Highway.

The Cook Highway travels north from Cairns, through canefields, surrounded by spectacular mountains of rainforest, past the Northern Beaches. It is one of the world's great scenic ocean roads. The highway continues on along the coast to Hartley's Creek Crocodile Farm and then on to Port Douglas. Next stop is Mossman, a sleepy town on the outskirts of the Daintree River. That evening we saw Grant, my college mate, and met his dog, Dana. Grant has a nice duplex that he shares with a roommate. He teaches at a local school now. We stayed at his place.