Queensland

The last place we visited in New South Wales was Coffs Harbour which was only a stop on the epic journey from Sydney to Port Douglas. After a mixed weather week in Sydney it decided to pour down all the way. There was a surfing competition taking place and the ocean was a bit rough due to the bad weather, I don’t know how they ride waves of that size but it was very interesting to watch.

Next stop was Noosa Heads just North of Brisbane where we rented a superb apartment with views over the river to the ocean. There were lots of parrots, kookaburras and wild turkeys roaming the gardens and although they were quite noisy, were well worth watching. The Noosa area is very nice with small villages dotted around the area and they were all quite upmarket. One night while we were having dinner on the terrace and the ferry went past on the river with a jazz band playing on it, very surreal. The weather is hot and sticky so it takes a bit of time getting used to it.

Onwards to a place called Agnes Water and a little town down the road called 1770 which is named because Captain Cook landed there on the 24th May 1770. Both these villages are very small and can only be described as ½ horse towns. The views overlooking the bay were outstanding and its claim to fame is that it is the only place on the Eastern seaboard of Australia that the sun sets over the water. One redeeming factor was that it had a really good tavern. The whole place was very, very quiet.

Airlie Beach was not exactly as we expected, full of backpackers and the town mostly catered for them. The accommodation was high on the hillside with views over the Whitsunday Islands. Sitting on the balcony late afternoon we were joined by Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets who enjoyed several slices of bread straight out of our hands and returned early in the mornings and afternoons for the days we were staying. The car was being kept in a garage under the accommodation and one day as we were about to take it out a chit chat (gecko) appeared on the roof, I thought it had jumped off but as I was driving down the high street it climbed down the windscreen in front of me.

As the distance to our destination was still 9 hours drive away we stayed overnight at a place called Port Hinchinbrook which had a beautiful marina.

The final destination was Port Douglas, after 3000 Km, but it was well worth the trip and is probably the best town we visited during our stay in Australia. It is one of those places that gets into your blood and cannot be explained why. The weather on arrival was rainy but the following days were perfect with low humidity and lots of sunshine. Days were spent on the beach, although always in the shade as the UV levels in this part of the world are very high around 16.
There is a Sunday market in Port Douglas where you could buy all sorts of goods including crocodile feet but we did have a fresh coconut. One site we did visit was Mossman Gorge around 10 Km north of Port Douglas, there were cascading rivers flowing through the gorge which created several pools full of river perch. There was a rainforest walk of around 3 Km and when we had travelled a couple of hundred metres we realised we were getting a free sauna. Half way along the track I was attacked by a ‘Wait-a-while’ vine which has barbed hooks along its length and proceeded to rip the skin on my arm to bits.

This was the only town that we really regretted leaving but the lure of revisiting New Zealand was stronger and we flew back to Auckland on the 4th of March for a three week stay.