28 March : Sydney

We awoke hungover. We closed down a rum bar and had to be let out by key from the bartender overnight. I wanted to avoid pharmaceuticals so we we went to Max Brenner Chocolate Shop. I got coffee and waffles with chocolate syrup and ice cream. I felt sooooo much better after consuming that.

We then packed up for another beautiful day and a ferry ride to Manly for day two of beach time while we can get it. [In other words, Seattle beaches just aren't the same.] +Jill went for a run while I scoped out lunch spots and sat on the sand.

We ended up eating on the 3rd story of a building on a patio overlooking the beach with some great food - tasty burgers. Most of lunchtime was up there alone and above the beach street chaos. I also went for my second chocolate of the day. A Maltesers chocolate milk shake. Yum.

Jill got a take away Kit Kat / peanut butter shake that was also good that I ended up consuming the significant portion of and boy was it filling.

After walking around the beach more, we caught the ferry back. BTW, more opera house photos were taken on the ferry (both directions). It's an addiction. We hung out at the hotel pool which has been the plan here in the last days before going back to the states.

Our hotel has a relatively new restaurant with decent reviews that uses wood and smoke on almost every dish so we went there for dinner. Delicious! The only downside of the day was the chocolate dessert had too much fruit for me so I didn't order it and my chocolate streak was ruined at the third meal. Probably for the best given the prior chocolate consumed on this one.

27 Mar: Sydney (NSW) --> Bondi Beach (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW) --> Bondi Beach (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW).

Marc in front of Bondi Icebergs after he swam and I ran the Bondi to Coogee trail (and back)

Ok, big day. We had the long awaited and infamous "Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb" as well as the "Revenge on Bondi Beach" on tap.

Breakfast at the hotel and as I was sorting some things out with the Concierge, I noticed +Marc talking to someone as though he knew him. Could it be we ran into someone in Sydney that we knew? Well, sort of. Some of you may remember the couple we met in Port Douglas that had the wife who was worried about getting seasick while snorkeling. Well, Marc recognized the husband and many laughs ensued. Turns out they had a great day snorkeling, which we were really happy to hear about.

We picked up week long metro passes, and then ventured out to Bondi. The last time we were there in early January, we had an unseasonal blustery and cloudy day, and our friends who lived there were very bummed. We knew we needed to get out there when the forecast was good, and sure enough, we had wonderful weather! We first hit a photo gallery called Aquabumps that +Jamie and Mel introduced us to and checked out some interesting photos.

Marc swam at Icebergs again and I was determined to do the full Bondi to Coogee run (out and back). It was more running than I had done on a single run in 2 months plus it was 32C with lots of hills. Brilliant idea, no? Well the run was beautiful and hard... But I did it. At lunch, the gal behind the counter chastised me with a dude reference and doing the run at 7am instead of midday. She probably had a point.

After that, we bussed back into town so we could be ready for the aforementioned "Bridge Climb". We had great weather and views. But without consulting each other, we both found it to be overrated. Seriously. For me, I got a much bigger rush from when I ran across the bridge when we initially arrived in Australia. And then Marc and I walked across it and we were able to get great pics ourselves. See - they don't let you take pics yourselves on the climb but then they gouge you on pics they take so you can "remember the moment". We have no problem spending money on fun and worthwhile things, but this was overpriced and overrated. I know many of you enjoyed it, so maybe it makes us killjoys or whatever, but running/walking across for us was way better and more meaningful.

Jamie, Marc and Jill at "The Corner House": Let's just say it was a late one.....

After the Bridge Climb, we showered and ventured back over to Bondi to meet up with Jamie. Unfortunately Mel was under the weather so she had to cancel. The place on tap was called Rum Diaries since they knew Marc likes his rum. Many laughs, many drinks with some food thrown in plus another rum place across the road made for a very late night for the 3 of us. To the point where we actually closed down the bar! Hmmm. Haven't done that in awhile. I am sure this will make for a very interesting morning.

But seriously.... Fun day for sure.

Thanks again for reading, commenting, liking and messaging.... It is all appreciated.

26 March : Port Douglas --> Sydney

We leisurely awoke and finished packing to leave hot and humid and buggy Queensland for a journey back to Sydney.

As we left the hotel, we went into downtown Port Douglas for breakfast and then made the beautiful coastal drive to Cairns to catch a flight south. We turned in our final rental car and made an uneventful flight back to Sydney.

The craziest part of the journey was 20-25 minutes in a taxi with a driver pushing the Koran on us the whole way into downtown. He was full on preaching the peaceful, happy, positive, embracing version. As we left him, he told me I should read it.

+Jill, and her Amex, got us upgraded at the Four Seasons for the final week. I am calling it The Final Countdown. Jill is referring to it as Closing Ceremonies. Our room has a view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge so we can take it in multiple times daily in comfort before we leave.

We ended up walking to dinner at a great seafood place (I had a garden salad and chicken). Then we had a nice stroll back before staring at the view for a while from the room.

25 Mar: Port Douglas (QLD).

Bridge over Mossman Gorge

So the only thing we didn't see while we were in the Daintree Rainforest was Mossman Gorge, which is considered a must-see. 

Side note: Did you know that the Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in history. Yes, older than the Amazon. See - we can be education oriented in these updates!

Anyway we ventured up the 20 km and put on what we hope is the last of the deet (aka poison) to protect us from the mossies. It was raining on and off, so we opted for the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the trailhead. We hiked about 2.5 miles, saw the Gorge, some cassowaries (animals) and other lizzies. It wasn't bad.

Red Claw for Jill

After returning back to Port, we packed, dumped clothes that we have seen way too much of on this trip, and then went out to the beach so Marc could swim and I could run. It was humid and I threw in a couple of speed intervals to see how I would do. All I can say is that I have a lot of work to do. Most of my runs have been of the consistent and steady variety so not having done speedwork in 6 months.... ouch when I am back home. +Marc swam in the "stinger free area" of the beach so it was good.

Marc and his "drink/dessert"

We basically spent the afternoon relaxing, catching some sun and prepping for Sydney, our final stop. Dinner was in town at a place that had some good local seafood other than barramundi (I am "barramundi'ed" out!). Tried some local red claw (crayfish) and snapper. Good stuff. Marc had an after dinner drink that would qualify as a dessert in most places. 

All in all, a nice way to end our time in Queensland. And yeah for hopefully no humidity in Sydney!

Thanks again for tuning in. Your notes are all appreciated.

24 March : Port Douglas (QLD)

Bittersweet day. We did laundry which is never that fun and exciting but it is also our LAST one so we see the inevitable on the horizon.

Before and after that adventure, we walked to and from the hotel (a mile+ each way) multiple times for breakfast and lunch (shuttle TO lunch though). Neither meal was much to write home about which was disappointing at least for lunch at "On The Inlet". Oh well.

Walking back to the hotel from lunch some dark clouds were rolling in so I was motivated to walk fast. I prefer strolling especially in humidity. As the rain started dumping, I was running which humored +Jill so at least someone enjoyed the moment.

The rain comes and goes quickly so we were able to enjoy the afternoon. We had our one meal at the better hotel restaurant here but only because the best restaurant in town - Harrisons - was closed so we couldn't go back there again.

Not a bad evening and quite relaxing without the walk/shuttle travel for the night.

23 Mar: Port Douglas (QLD) --> Tongue and Opal Reefs (QLD) --> Port Douglas (QLD).

Yeah, it was challenging capturing how rocky it was on the boat ride out to the reef

We had such a great time snorkeling on Thursday that we decided that we needed to go out for a 2nd time. The only debate we had was whether to go back out with the same company (they have 30+ sites so they would hit different ones if we went) or to go to a completely different part of the Great Barrier Reef. 

We opted for the latter. The weather was supposed to be windy for pretty much the remainder of our time in "Port" but today was the better of the days, so off we went. Let's just say that I was glad that I took the seasickness tablets first thing. In case you didn't know, they are only preventative so if you get seasick and haven't taken anything, you're pretty much on your own. The winds got up to 20 knots and it was a bumpy ride out. I stayed outside and took in the fresh air, which helped a lot. And I wasn't alone. +Marc, on the other hand, was enjoying the upper deck with about 5 other people including the Captain!

And we got to see this up close - just wow!

More awesomeness in the GBR

Anyway it was sunny at the 1st site and the visibility was pretty good. We saw some different fish and similar ones to the ones we saw the other day. We went off to the 2nd site, and it was raining. Fortunately it didn't affect the visibility so we saw more and more. It was a bit choppy out there so they didn't want us venturing too far away from the boat. Same for the 3rd site. 

The ride back was bumpy, but not as bad as the way out. We got off of the boat and saw one of the crew members from the boat on Thursday. She was laughing and asked about the conditions. Turns out her boat opted not to go out because of the winds. Go figure. Anyway it was nice seeing her for a quick chat before we caught the shuttle back to the hotel.

As we got off of the bus, a couple was waiting for the shuttle to head into town. We learned they were from the Bay Area and that the wife tends to get pretty seasick. And they were going out on the boat we went out on today. Oh boy. We gave them some tips and then gave them the rest of our seasickness tablets. Hope it worked out for them!

Nemo? Are you there?

We showered and had dinner in town at a place called Nautilus (I know what the Pequa folks are thinking). The motif was completely not what you would expect with a name like the Nautilus. I felt like I was in Bali at a resort there. Anyway the food and wine were pretty good, and we were able to get the shuttle back after a long day. Glad we get to sleep in tomorrow.

On another note, the guy from the East Bay reminded me of someone and I couldn't place it immediately. Then it came to me. This guy looked like Shaun O'Hara of Big Blue. Then I checked his Twitter account just to confirm that I wasn't an idiot for not recognizing him and his timeline confirmed he was in NJ. LOL. Bet +Danielle, +t razz, and +sharon would have defriended me for sure after that one! Maybe even +Jarrett as well!

Thanks again for tuning in. We continue to be grateful for all of the comments, likes, messages, emails, etc.

22 Mar: Port Douglas (QLD) --> Cairns (QLD) --> Port Douglas (QLD).

+Marc and I had to hit Cairns to take care of some errands - most notably paying the speeding ticket I got a couple of weeks earlier ($220 - ouch) and hitting Crossfit Great Barrier Reef. Upon arriving at CF, we noticed that they had bug repellent to offer for their members to use during the WOD. This is working out in the tropics, I guess. We did a basic warm-up and we were both drenched in sweat.

They were doing the 13.3 WOD for the Crossfit Open. 150 Wall Balls, 90 Double Unders and 30 Ring Rows - as far as you can get in 12 minutes. My wrist is still not well, so I couldn't do the Wall Balls and settled for 150 Dumbbell Push Presses on the left. It was a tough workout and we know we will be feeling it in the days to come. The coaches were very nice and gave us a local tip on which "DMV" to hit with the least amount of wait. Gotta love local knowledge.

Sure enough we went to the "DMV" and I was in/out in under 5 minutes but $220 AUD poorer. Ugh. 20 kilometers over the speed limit isn't that fast! Come on! We took care of some snack shopping and then headed back up to "Port" (as the locals call it). The weather still wasn't great so we just walked around the downtown area, picked up some final souvenirs for the family back home, and debated which snorkel trip we wanted to do tomorrow.

After getting the DVD of photos up on Google Drive (painful), we then ventured over to Palm Cove for dinner. Marc had a cocktail that literally was named after one of the lyrics from Barry Manilow's "Copa Cabana" and then a huge storm rolled in that sent everyone going further back in the restaurant (we were inside but the wind and rain were so powerful!). Fortunately the food, wine and service made up for the weather. It did calm down in time for the drive back to "Port", which was a lucky break.

Thanks again for tuning in. We continue to be grateful for all of the "likes", comments and private messages we are receiving.

21 March : Port Douglas & The Reef

We are now close the the Great Barrier Reef which is made up of many, many reef systems all up and down the coast here. It goes right up to the edge of the continental shelf. The further north away from the population the clearer the conditions. Also being out further and next to the continental shelf helps bring in some fresher, cooler water currents.

We booked the Poseidon which carries up to 90+ people of mixed scuba and snorkeling although on our day it was 50-60. +Jill and I were picked up from our hotel along with others at other hotels on the way to the marina. It was raining which was softening the mood as people got on the bus.

We arrived on the boat and checked in which included a picture and removing shoes. We hung out as other people filled the boat and then received our safety briefing while leaving the harbour. Once that was over with, we went upstairs for our snorkeling instructions and equipment. By the time this was all done, we were more than halfway out to Agincourt Reef which is a huge 10km by 5km reef on the outer portion near the continental shelf.

The divers entered immediately upon mooring and we slipped in shortly thereafter. This was so cool and amazing to swim around in! We rented a nice underwater camera due to the fact that I've managed to drop the non-GoPro multiple times and lost at least one of the sealing doors. The downside to this company is that they BURN our photos onto a CD. Who carries around something to read those with?

Our boat took us to two other mooring sites on Agincourt because the weather out there was superb with little wind and much sun. I found our second site to be the best of the three. We took so many photos that the guy had to burn 2 CDs for us (which he deserves for forcing these things upon us). We had a blast on the boat and this was a day I've been waiting for since we set foot in Australia (and many years before)...

20 March : Daintree --> Mossman --> Port Douglas

Leaving the rain forest (yay - goodbye mozzies) with an interesting tour: River Snorkeling. Crazy.

I had serious doubts about this in CROCODILE COUNTRY. I was assured by several sources, including Juan from yesterday's tree kangaroo search, that crocs like the tidal area of rivers/streams that are salty, murky, slow moving, and not too cold.

+Jill and I ended up having a blast in some nice refreshing cool water. Drifting down a river looking at logs, fish, and other objects. I spotted a turtle that everyone got to see after that because I announced it. It was not an adult and pretty small so it was a blessing to see it.

After this, we drove to Port Douglas and checked in for a few days. We relaxed by the pool today and ran on four mile beach. We also prepared for 1 of 2 snorkeling excursions to The Reef. I am very happy and excited about this - it's been on my list for a LONG time.

We walked a mile and a half to (and from) dinner at a really good restaurant called Harrisons, which made us think of our nephew, Harrison. It was rich and delicious.

19 Mar: Daintree Rainforest (QLD).

View of Daintree Rainforest from lookout point during search for tree kangaroos

So today was going to be the day that we accomplished the near impossible. Find a tree kangaroo! What? Kangaroos don't exist in trees! Well, they do in very rare instances including the Daintree Rainforest.

Of course, when have we ever been deterred by a "small" challenge, right? Sure they are shy, but so what?

View from Cape Tribulation looking north

Well +Marc and I got up bright and early, and our tour guide made some arrangements for us to see public and private land where the tree kangaroos would be hanging out. Well after a few hours of hiking in the rainforest, rain and other elements, we had to concede that we were going to come up empty handed. A bit unfortunate but oh well. We have had so much luck on seeing other native Australian animals in the wild that it would be incredibly ungracious to complain in this instance. Juan was a great guide as his family has been residents of the area for a couple of centuries and he can talk about the "mission" (occupation) times of when the Australian government took over the land from the indigenous folks living there. Juan was purposeful in discussing what happened, but never, ever bitter. Even when he could have been.

For the record, it wasn't because of a lack of effort from our guide, who was awesome. Anyway, we split off from him (the guide) and spent the afternoon looking at Cape Tribulation, cassowaries (type of animal in region), nice coastline and other areas of the rainforest. It was fun even if we came up slightly shorthanded and put on a boatload of Deet (aka poison) to protect ourselves from critters.... except....

Poor Marc had a visit from a couple of leeches

Marc got a leech or two on his ankle. So those wounds needed to be cleaned out and bandaged. Truthfully we have been lucky on this trip with respect to injuries, bites (more worrisome types), etc. That said, we needed to be mindful of bleeding with the leech after they were removed, etc.

We got back to Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa, walked to a local religious waterfall used by the local Aboriginal tribe and caught a drink at the bar for dinner. Nice dinner and we got to see a Canadian couple staying at the lodge who were avid trail runners. Puddle Thumper and Rocks 'n Roots would have loved this chat!

We crashed as we had a somewhat early start the next morning to go river snorkeling. I am told that NO CROCS ARE INVOLVED! We shall see!

18 March : Airlie Beach --> Daintree Rain Forest

Very early start today -- so early that +Jill and I were driving before breakfast. 700-800 km drive ahead of us meant we were hopping in the car and going.

After about 90 minutes, we detoured off the highway for coffee and a bit to eat. Jill took this opportunity to use the "Clean Rest Rooms".

For lunch, I found a town right on the Coral Sea that I figured would be perfect. Cardwell. Unfortunately it has been hit by 2 cyclones and is one huge construction site with no apparent end (and 4-5 months already under some insanity).

I took a couple of photos anyway while we waited for and then inhaled lunch which was actually pretty good. It's a shame that even walking on the sidewalk was a challenge. Businesses are suffering.

We continued on our journey to the rainforest north of Cairns and Port Douglas called Daintree. They have a waterfall that is filtered water coming from underground and used at our accommodation for all purposes.

It was also a sacred sight to the local Aboriginal women. So females can go in the water but men are only allowed to look at the waterfall. What a long day.

17 Mar: Airlie Beach (QLD) --> Cape Hillsborough National Park (QLD) --> Airlie Beach (QLD).

The sand crabs actually make these perfect balls out of the sand - kind of amazing

We got up "kinda" early because the hike we wanted to do was tide related and we needed to be there closer to low tide. +Marc and I have been following the Australian Geographic website for guidance on cool day hikes to do, so when we were going to be in a particular area, we have tried to tie it together.

So off we went to Cape Hillsborough. We saw signs for a Cape Hillsborough Resort, but when we got there, let's just say that the Australian definition of the term 'resort' differs from the American version. Good thing we weren't staying there! Anyway we got some guidance from the office on hiking around and saw lots of little sand crabs, interesting rock formations and lizzies along the hike. We were a bit too late to see the kangaroos by the water, but hey - you can't have everything. The hike itself was interesting but not as good as many of the other hikes on that list. 

Cape Hillsborough beach in Queensland

We ventured back to Airlie Beach to enjoy the sunshine a bit more at our B&B. The weather for the next week isn't looking great as we head up north so just trying to get in our Vitamin D where we can. We had dinner in town and then met another couple from the boat for a drink at the infamous "rum bar". Fun times. Needed to get to bed early because of the long drive tomorrow. Fortunately it is our last major drive of the trip... then again, that is a good thing and a bad thing, but hey - whatcha going to do?

Thanks again for tuning in. And in case you're wondering, St. Paddy's day in Airlie Beach was fairly nutty on Saturday night (the day before)...

16 Mar: Whitsundays (QLD) --> Airlie Beach (QLD).

Another early start to the day because it was going to be choppy coming back into port and we had a couple of folks who needed to get back to Airlie Beach so they could catch a ferry to Hammo (aka Hamilton Island). Brekkie and packing done before the ship set sail so things could be put away.

And boy was it breezy and choppy!! To the extent that people weren't allowed to move between the two main decks because lots of water was splashing up on the stairs and mid-deck. Sunny too, so a few of us were on the deck taking it all in and enjoying the chatter as we closed out this part of the adventure. +Marc and I lucked out with a great bunch of folks and an awesome crew considering that our original boat was cancelled 24 hours before we were scheduled to set sail. Screw the original folks... I am glad our money went to people who treated us well and cared about our experience (all of us).

We got back to Airlie Beach, did some laundry and chilled out by the pool at our B&B. More relaxation. The sun was out too. The forecast doesn't look great for the next 10 days or so because of Cyclone Tim, so we were getting in our Vitamin D. We were able to meet up with a bunch of our shipmates for a drink at the "rum bar" (lots of rum drinkers on the ship much to Marc's delight), and then we all ventured off to grab dinner at different places due to scheduling. It was fun seeing everyone for a beverage again (and showered too!).

Sometimes you gotta take what you are given and our time on the Pacific Sunrise was no exception. Fortunately it worked out better than expected, although the comedy on Saturday night was pretty good with a bunch of drunk backpackers decking out the streets of Airlie Beach in "kelly green".... Should be entertaining tomorrow, I guess.

Thanks for tuning in! We appreciate all of your DMs, likes and comments. Yes, we do! I promise!

15 March : Hook Island (Whitsunday Islands, Queensland)

After spending the night in Luncheon Bay, we motored over to Manta Ray Bay via the two onboard dingies for some decent snorkeling before any day vessels arrived.

Once we got back, a few people took a scuba diving expedition as the boat hung around. This allowed anyone that wanted more snorkeling in Luncheon Bay to do so. It looked like I'd be the only taker, but at the last minute as we were about to board the dingy, Rose joined me. Leon took us to different spots in the bay than yesterday and we spent a LONG time in the water. It was the most clear conditions I had yet. When I got out at the end, my fingers were wrinkled and waterlogged. This took a while to go away as we ate lunch and sailed on to Blue Pearl Bay.

They have 4 kayaks on board so we got to go out in these for a short time. These were 2 person kayaks and it was windy and wavy so the conditions were not ideal but +Jill and I had a short kayak over to a point and back.

For snorkeling, this bay had worse conditions: wavy, windy, and TONS of day parties out there. It was chaos. I still went out for my 3rd time and Jill's 2nd of the day. After all this time out on and in the water, I was ready for a cocktail a bit earlier than normal. It definitely wasn't 5pm yet, but I'd already consumed enough salt and water to last a while. I got a chocolatey, creamy cocktail they called Tobleron. It was nice.

The final dinner was delicious just like the other meals on this boat - Pacific Sunrise. The guests all got along great and we sang Happy Birthday to the First Mate Leon in 5 languages as well as playing a few games. What ended up as a last minute change of plans because our other boat cancelled on *us*, ended up being a fun 3 days and nights amidst some other travelers.

14 March : Whitsunday Islands

After a nice breakfast, we headed up around the northern tip of Whitsunday Island and down the east coast. The destination was Tongue Bay to anchor the boat and go ashore for a short hike to a lookout of Hill Inlet followed by a walk down to the beach to see sting rays, lemon sharks, many types of fish, and dugong. We saw all of these other than the dugong which is a bummer since the last several boats all saw them out here. The water was a little murky and most of the photos were a little too far away to realistically keep.

Before, during, and after lunch in Tongue Bay, I was on turtle lookout. I saw one but it took its breath (or breaths) and departed before the camera could zoom over on it. These things go down for 45 minutes at a time and slow their heart rate down at night so they can be down for 10+ hours. We headed north to Luncheon Bay.

As we approached the bay, I was so excited. This is our first snorkel in Queensland and there are so many fish and coral. I was first into the stinger suit sitting with my mask and snorkel over by the ladder ready to be taken by dingy over to the drop point. Of course, not everyone was so ready to get in the water on a moment notice so I spent 20 minutes baking in the sun in a 1mm black suit. Ouch.

+Jill and I saw a ton of fish and I tried to take good underwater photos but the water was just slightly too murky and it was partly to mostly cloudy obscuring the sun just enough. A lot of the photos ended up not very interesting. "You had to be there!" We did get a few shots that are worthwhile.

I was the last one out of the water to head back to our boat. Cocktail time! Then we had a great 3 course dinner by the onboard chef. It is amazing what he can do with such a small space and he took into account several allergies or "requests" with aplomb.

13 Mar: Airlie Beach (QLD) --> Whitsundays (QLD).

+Marc and I started off the morning with a run around Airlie Beach, which was nice and much needed. It felt good to get moving and we were also able to check out where we were going to meet the boat for our 3-day sail around the Whitsundays, a set of Islands off of the central coast of Queensland.

Marc and Jill - cocktails in hand at sunset

For awhile the weather didn't look favorable for this stretch but as we got closer, it seemed like things would be pretty nice for about 90% so we're hoping. After our run, we needed to check out of our B&B but the owner told us that we could hang out by the pool since we had some time before the boat departure. It was nice... Got some postcards done, took care of some administrative stuff, etc.

Before we knew it, it was time to grab lunch and walk
over to the marina. We met our boatmates, all of whom seem pretty nice. Mix of Americans, Brits, Canucks and a couple of token Aussies. :-) Our crew was a mix as well. We had splendid weather heading off from Airlie Beach. Everyone was chatting along about different places they had visited on their travels. 

Amazing food prepared by the chef on the boat with a very small kitchen

The onboard chef brought out some hors d'oeuvres and before we knew it, it was dinner time. It was amazing that this person put together a great 3 course sit-down dinner in such a small kitchen for 13 people! We anchored in The Nara Inlet off of Hook Island and got settled in our rooms. The size of the shower made us realize that we would be showering with the freshwater hose on deck... Very small and a large step-up. In other words, the shower in the bathroom was an accident waiting to happen. 

But we are excited to be onboard the Pacific Sunrise and hope to have fun with the 4 crew members and 11 crew mates through Saturday. Good start so far!

Thanks for tuning in!

12 March : Mackay --> Eungella --> Airlie Beach

A good one.

+Jill and I got up and asked the hotel owner where the good coffee was located in town. He sent us a couple of blocks away and off we went. We ended up ordering something to eat and I enjoyed the coffee with a meal.

As we were about to get the bill and pay, the hotel owner dropped into the coffee shop with a carry bag to take coffee back to work. He sat down and we exchanged travel stories. He and his wife are going to Seattle in May for an Alaska cruise which is how the entire conversation started.

They are spending 3 weeks on the road in Canada (Whistler, Banff, the Canadian Rockies, etc) and the Northeast US (Boston to Niagara Falls). He also managed to tell us about the time he was driving the family in the redwoods for a couple of hours and he spotted what he thought was a lake. It turns out it was Lake Pacific - as in the ocean. He still isn't living that one down.

After we left town, we drove to Eungella National Park where some platypii are known to live and hoped for the best. Dawn and dusk are the best times to see them out and about -- or overcast days. Score! Even though it was about 11 am, we saw one of them swimming in the river in the park. I got photos. We were happy and the trip here was worthwhile!

We headed North to Airlie Beach so that we could check into a B&B and get situated for our 3 night boat trip in the Whitsunday Islands. Things did not go well.

Google maps completely sent us down a dead end out of town and the phone line was constantly busy so we could not talk to anyone. We drove around downtown several times. The town is under total street renovation so all the streets are one massive detour in a single direction. We finally just parked and started asking local businesses where the boat place was located.

So just before we walked in the door to check in, the boat owner cancelled our tour. We walk in to find this out and find out that the booking agency is separate from the boating establishment and they cannot seem to communicate things like contact info for booked guests. The boat people had no way to talk to us not that it mattered much given the timing. Have you seen +Jill pissed off????

I'll leave out the bits about going into the travel agency office and just say that we ended up with an alternative boat for the same number of nights. As of now we are just hoping for a nice experience after all of this.

So we walked over to dinner but checked out Fish D'Lish's "Yum Rum!" bar to sample some stuff. While Jill sipped a sub-par white wine, I sampled 3 rums and found the bottle from Venezuela called Diplomatico to be very tasty.

We headed over to dinner and had a fabulous meal at a low key kind of place and headed home to prepare for a 3 day trip about a boat that better come out on the spectacular end of the scale.

11 Mar: Fraser Island (QLD) --> Mackay (QLD).

+Marc and I knew we had a long day ahead of us driving wise, so we requested to be on the 1st ferry off of Fraser Island. So we started at 6:15am so our bags could be picked up, etc. The ferry was a bit late but when all was said and done, we were back on the mainland and heading north at 9:15am. I figured it would be about 8 hours of driving with some rest stops/lunch.

What we didn't plan for was that most of the main motorway in Queensland was under major construction, which meant lots of stops. The bottom line was that this added 2 hours and 30 minutes of extra time in the car, which made for a very, very long day. The roadwork was due to both a road widening project and damage repairs from all of the torrential rains that flooded much of Queensland.

We stopped off for lunch in a town that was about a block long. Thank goodness they had a cafe (actually they had two!). As we got closer and closer, it was getting dark. Queensland doesn't do Daylight Savings Time so it gets dark around 6:30pm. The issue with that is that animals tend to come out at dusk and it can get pretty dangerous out there in terms of driving on dark roads and hitting animals. Plus mobile phone coverage was inconsistent at best if something happened.... like hitting a kangaroo, which happens regularly.

Fortunately nothing like that happened and I actually saw a couple of koalas in trees as Marc was driving along. We finally arrived in Mackay at 7:45pm and were pretty hungry. While I was driving, Marc went did a TripAdvisor search (last resort) for restaurants and came upon an Indian restaurant about 2 blocks from our hotel. Well this place ended up being awesome, especially after "crummy resort food for the past 3 days" (H/T: MM for the phrase). The service was great, the food was yummy and flavorful and we actually had more than 3 choices for wine. Woo woo!

All in all, a long day but we know that most of you would trade places with us in a second, so we know we are lucky. Unfortunately I also got a speeding ticket for going 119 km/h in an 100 zone. That's rather unfortunate but the constable said that appreciated my honesty when I said that I had no legally good reason to be over the speed limit. 

Once again, making Americans proud everywhere.

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10 March : Fraser Island

This was a relaxation day. We slept in as much as we could and had a leisurely breakfast. We spent some time organizing the vast amount of photos we've decided to save (as opposed to taken, which is even more) and added to our "best of" album. This is at about 20% of the 2500+ photos we've saved and we'll make another editing pass on this when we get home.

We also spent a few hours by the pool which likely included a nap by me. This is the earned relaxation period after the "go, go, and then go some more" tourism we have done prior to now. We will see some things, ahem, like the Great Barrier Reef, but we are now trying to enjoy it and relax some too.

9 March : Fraser Island

+Jill and I booked the other main tour offered here since we are staying for 4 nights and we only want 1 day hanging by the pool (tomorrow). Yesterday was the "Beauty Spots" tour and today we booked "Champagne Pools". It turns out that the 2nd tour has more beautiful stopping points. The pools are gorgeous and the hike led to a spectacular cliff with nice views. The beauty spots were a hike inside a dense forest with a stream on a trail that was damaged by storms and incomplete. The other stops were the pinnacles (which have NOTHING on the Western Australia ones) and a sunken, rusting ship. What's so beautiful about that anyway?

The other nice thing about the 2nd tour is only 9 people went on the bus - so we had a smaller bus (downside is feeling the bumps) that was easier to unload and load and stay on time.

A lot of time is spent crossing the island in a 4WD bus so we can get to the East beach which is easier to drive on than the soft sand throughout the entire island. Most of the West coach beaches are off limits to 4WD for ecological purposes.

We stopped at a spot to witness the winds blowing sand inland and see how the island is continually evolving and how it was formed.

Once we got to the champagne pools, we found out we were not alone. The place is popular with all of the people that stay on the island as well as the tour companies that drive people around. The place is beautiful and the ocean waves rolling over the rocks are mesmerizing. We enjoyed our time here as well as a lunch on the sand near where we parked.

We then departed so we could do a quick (10 min?) walk up some rocks to a cliff and point with views West and South to two huge beaches as well as the champagne pools in the distance. Just before we were heading back down, a quick sprinkle formed to expedite all the people back down to their vehicles.

We cruised south on the beach for a while and intentionally passed the turning point inland because we had time. This paid off in a dingo sighting on the beach. The wild dog was watching some fishermen and hoping for something out of it. We got some photos at a distance before the trek back across the island.

After cleaning up and some down time, we went over to the main restaurant for the "Seafood Sensations" buffet we had signed up for. Do not worry about me, they said at booking time that there were non-seafood options. When we arrived and looked at the menu, Jill was sad to find out that all the cold options were seafood (nothing warm) and all the warm options were not. It was a let down on a menu billed as "Sensations". We cancelled that and opted for the other restaurant. Sadly, my meal was over salted on both the starter and main. We had a heavy handed chef. Oh well.