March 20th, 2025
First of all, Happy Birthday to our son, Josh, who turns 37 today!
We were up at six here in Airlie Beach and left the campground with Thomas and Sandra in our separate rigs to head to the harbour. We had all booked the Whitehaven Beach Cruise in the Whitsunday Islands. The tour includes lunch, protective stinger suits (more on that later) and over two hours free time at the beach. We boarded the boat at 7:15 am for what was called the “morning cruise” and it’s a 7 hour trip.
The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland. The island group is centered on Whitsunday Island, while the commercial centre is on Hamilton Island.
On Sunday 3 June 1770, (the day known as Whitsun (Pentecost) at the time, was celebrated on the Christian calendar) Captain James Cook sailed his ship HMB Endeavour, through a broad expanse of islands which provided an unimpeded passage to the north. Cook named the passage “Whitsundays’ Passage”. Cook’s recorded times and dates are often questioned. Time quoted is simply local time (calculated at noon), the date recorded is a little more confusing. Cook recorded nautical time (where the day starts at noon). Considering the International Date Line, and knowing today’s date on the east coast of Australia is calculated at GMT+10, Cook’s recorded date is fortuitously correct.
There is some contention as to exactly which islands are within the informally named Whitsunday Islands, in particular those at the southern extremity and the inclusions to the west. What is certain is that they lie within the chain named Cumberland Isles by Captain Cook and a reasonably defined section of that chain and surrounding waters have become known worldwide as The Whitsundays, based on a contraction of the Whitsunday Islands designation.
Whitehaven Beach, located on Whitsunday Island in Queensland, Australia, is renowned for its dazzling white silica sand and crystal-clear waters, often topping lists of the world’s best beaches. It’s located approximately 25km east of Airlie Beach.
The beach boasts 7km of shore with sand composed of 98% pure, tiny silica beads, making it incredibly white and fine. The waters are known for their crystal clarity and turquoise color.
Well it was kind of like a milk run cruise; first we stopped at Daydream Island to pick up/drop off, then Hamilton Island to do the same before reaching Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island shortly after nine.
Morning tea was included in the trip which was fruit and pastries. The announcements on board were not very clear so we weren’t always up to speed on stuff. The weather was clearing nicely though and the ride was pretty smooth. It took 4 tender trips to disembark everyone and even before that, they waited till we almost got there to distribute the stinger suits.
First look at Whitehaven Beach:
By the time we arrived at the beach, it was sunny and we took off right away to do the hike up to the lookouts first before it got any hotter.
We spotted a lace monitor that looked like it wanted to climb a tree:
Then we saw this skink:
This walk took about 50 minutes round trip and the second look out was the best.
First lookout view:
Second lookout:
It was rather warm, around 27C / 81F and of course, still humid. Upon arriving back at the beach, we spread our big beach sheet and got some drinks from the food/drink tents. Doug and Fran both went to change into swim suits and then played the game of “getting the stinger suit on”. Thomas and Sandra, opted not to go in the water except along the shore.
The reason for the protective stinger suits is the jellyfish. They inhabit the waters along the north coast of Australia and Queensland’s coast from November to May – basically ALL summer and some are deadly – the most common are the Box Jellyfish: a large but almost transparent jellyfish with a box-shaped bell up to 38cm in diameter. Up to 17 ribbon-like tentacles arise from each of the four corners. These may contract to about 10cm or may extend up to 3m.
and the Irukandji: a small transparent box jellyfish, 1-2cm in diameter, usually not seen. Some may be up to 10cm long.
Both types of stings require immediate attention with vinegar, removal of the stinger if visible and taken for medical attention as soon as possible as they both can be deadly if left untreated.
All this to say, in order to swim safely in this part of the world at this time you year, you wear a protective stinger suit. (Keep in mind on many beaches on the mainland on this north coast you have the threat of crocodiles too!)
The suits are generally made of thin lycra, have hoods, hand covers and zip up the front. There are straps that go under your feet so some of your feet are exposed so water shoes are also recommended. We forgot ours so Doug wore his socks and Fran took a chance.
Like wet suits, they are a pain to put on and take off but most people were wearing them so we all looked funny together!
We went in the water for about 20 minutes walking along looking at fish and hoping to see baby sharks or turtles.
Upon returning to our beach blanket we went to go get some of the lunch they provide only to learn it was all gone! WTH? They claim they do keep track of who takes how many and some come back for thirds and fourths so we were out of luck. Thomas had already had one but Sandra, like us, had not. The staff did not seemed surprised at all so this must happen a lot.
We packed up our stuff when they began sending the tender over to fetch people and when we were on the way back, everyone was shown a QR code to leave a review – none of the four of us left a good one. We were not impressed over all, and less impressed that 3 of us got NO lunch and nothing offered to compensate that, like free drinks or anything.
We were back at the dock on Hamilton Island where we had to disembark to catch a different boat back to Airlie Beach and even that one made another stop on at the Hamilton Island airport and then yet another stop at Daydream Island. We got back to our vehicles by 2:30 and returned to the campground after each making a pit stop for some items.
Click here to see all the Whitehaven Beach photos.
We had happy hour at five at our “slab” then went to the cafe for their pizza and beer special (1 pizza with one beer $25). It rained a bit on and off over night but warmed up quite a bit.
Doug did a half marathon long run on Saturday, Fran is back to doing yoga and we did chores (defrost the freezer, laundry, repairs and sanding as we are getting the rig ready to sell and want to touch up the paint inside). We had several on and off sprinkles/sunshine pretty much all afternoon into the night – it did get quite warm, back up to 33C / 92F and super humid.
Fran went for a short stroll on the boardwalk that goes all the way into the village:
This the link to all the Airlie Beach photos.
We had happy hour at 5 with Thomas and Sandra and retired for another on and off sprinkling night. We awoke to mostly sunny skies and after our morning routines we all left heading for Cape Hillsborough National Park for a night. Enroute we noticed that the windshield crack was growing so it seemed like repair was no longer an option.
Fran found a glass place further south in Bundaberg where we’ll be at the end of the month, and arranged an appointment for the 29th.
Note: We are both feeling much better, not quite 100% but pretty close – the coughing has practically fully subsided and we’re sleeping better.
The national park we are heading to is known for its wallabies and kangaroos who come out on the beach at dawn. We paid $43 for a premium beach site where we got power, non-potable water, a kitchen, bathrooms and Wi-Fi that didn’t always work and a bonus – a lovely pool.
We were at the campground there before noon, had breakfast, and afterThomas and Sandra arrived, we all took a stroll on the beach at low tide out to Wedge Island.
Then Thomas was up climb the hill to the lookout, Doug went back to the rig to get online and Sandra and Fran went for a long beach walk to Division Rocks.
After lunch we all went to the pool for a couple of hours of relaxation and we had happy hour on the beach tonight!
Monday morning we were up at 5 to be out on the beach for kangaroo and wallaby spotting by 5:30. The national park has taken some control here so that the animals are not stressed. A ranger comes out, delineates an area where people cannot go and then when the animals begin to appear, he puts out one scoop of feed out for each one.
The sunrise was beautiful and until almost 6 it was hard so see them. We ended up with three kangaroos and three wallabies and at the end, a bush turkey came out.
and later: 
It was very magical and Fran took WAY too many photos but here’s a a few:
And a bush turkey came by to pick on the left overs:
Once they were full and they didn’t all eat it all, they dispersed and two of the roos went up to the campground and hung around our site for a couple of hours! It was very cool.
The skies were overcast with a few thinner sections where the sun tried to come out but failed but at least it was dry. We all left together around 9, stopping at a nearby Diversity Boardwalk” stroll which took about 15 minutes – we saw no animals but many butterflies and weird trees – we are still in rainforest territory.
You can check out more photos of our time at Cape Hillsborough right here.
Our hope today was to do a couple of hikes and see platypus in the wild. Eungella National Park apparently has the best opportunity to do this and at first we thought that meant only at dusk and dawn but Thomas did some research and it is possible to see them during the day. We learned later that the odds are even better if it is overcast and it certainly was that. So we drove about 100 km / 60 mi inland and first stopped at the Fitch Hatton section of the part to do the gorge hike.
Getting to the hike we had a few water crossings – nothing major and obviously not enough to close the road:
Then another one:
It was quite wet and we crossed a few small creeks and walked in low running water on the trail a couple of times. We had planned to go to the second waterfalls so at the turn to the first one we skipped it for now and carried.
Then we reached an actual river crossing that looked like it flowing pretty good and looked deep in some sections so we decided to turn around.
We then turned around and took the turn off to Araluen Cascades and it was worth it – lots of water and a beautiful setting. There is a swimming hole too but we did not come prepared for that.
While there we learned about “famous pies” in the nearby town so we checked that out for lunch.
they were quite good and filling. We save an apple one for dessert tonight.
We carried on westward to the Broken River section of the part stopping at the “sky window” enroute. It was pretty fogged it but not too low of a ceiling. At this point we have climbed to about 800 m and it’s cooler but still very humid.
We made it to Broken River where there is a boardwalk going it two directions with one platform and a dirt trail to the left and two platforms to the right. We had been to go right but met some young men who’d seen two platypus to the left so off we went.
We did spot two of them but they were not close and these little creatures do not stay out of the water for more than 3-4 seconds so it’s hard to get photos. We watched for about 15-20 minutes. We also saw two turtles.
Then we went to the other two platforms where we were treated to one at each. The closer platform was near a bridge and there were turtles here as well. The videos are better than the photos as these little critters move fast and the water moves with them so it’s hard to get a still shot.
The further platform was the best; this little guy came out often and was on our side of the river.
So we probably spent a good hour here and were very happy – seeing them in the wild is so much better and no one was feeding them or coaxing them out; they were just living their lives.
It’s now after 2pm and we’re tired and decided to just go about 50 km / 30 mi to the small town of Mirani which has a municipal campground for $25 a night with power, water, kitchen, bathrooms and free access to the municipal pool.
It began to rain upon arriving here and it did so on and off all night and into the morning. We had happy hour under the cover of the camp kitchen and were joined by a couple of older single men camped alone. Graham and Eric talked about Australia and where they were from.
There are more pics of Eungella NP here.
Tuesday morning after exercising, showering and chores, we were on our way south along the coast once again. We have to be in Bundaberg by the 28th for the windscreen replacement and we fly out of there for our trip to Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef so we can travel slowly for the next few days. Thomas and Sandra went on their separate way and we will meet up again in Bundaberg.
A couple of weeks ago we reached out to a couple we met in southern Argentina, Pat & John, who live near the city of Rockhampton which is on our route. We arranged to go visit them on Wednesday so today, we only drove about 150 km / 93 miles from Mirani.
We have driven past a few huge sugar mills and today the one in Marian was right by the highway so we took a few photos:
We have been seeing sugar cane fields since before Daintree National Park and it seems like a huge business here.
Australia’s sugarcane industry is a significant agricultural sector, with approximately 95% of production concentrated in Queensland and the remaining 5% in northern New South Wales with sugar production worth $2.5 billion annually.. Sugarcane was brought to Australia in 1788 on the ships of the First Fleet.
Australia produces around 30-35 million tonnes of sugarcane annually, with 22 sugar mills processing the cane into approximately 4 million tonnes of raw sugar. More than 80% of Australia’s sugar production is exported as raw sugar, making Australia the second-largest raw sugar exporter in the world. Sugarcane is harvested from June to December, during the drier months in the cane-growing regions.
We stopped in Mackay and took a walk to check out its art deco buildings:
and then carried on to a less expensive campground on a small golf course (you could play 9 holes free if you wanted to as well) and spent the afternoon there. For $35 we got power and water with a concrete slab, access to bathrooms with showers and Wi-Fi. The couple that owns it are from the former country of Rhodesia and we had some good chats. They have a bar/restaurant and we went over there for happy hour chatting to the owner and a young couple from WA.
After another on and off wet night we left Brandybottle and made our way to Emu Park where Pat & John live.
We took a short detour to see the Clairview rest stop which is located on a dugong sanctuary – naturally we saw no dugongs (as they do not leave the water), but just before stopping Doug saw a marsupial roadkill that appeared to have a live baby in its pouch. We weren’t sure what it was (kinda looked like a large rat/small possum) but Fran got on the phone to call the “Injured Wildlife” hotline and was on hold for ten minutes. In the meantime, a vehicle was coming the other way and Doug flagged it down. The young couple inside the “ute” recognized the creature as a bandicoot and rescued the baby saying that it looked almost fully grown and they would take it somewhere in town to be nursed and released back into the wild. Liz and Jay put it in a sock and off they went. Here’s what a bandicoot looks like:
and here’s a pic of the little guy we helped rescue:
Bandicoots are small, omnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, known for their digging behavior and their pouch which opens backwards to protect their young while they forage. They are small, with a pointy snout, humped back, thin tail, and large hind feet, similar in size to a rabbit. Like kangaroos and koalas, bandicoots are marsupials, meaning they carry their young in a pouch. They use their front feet to dig for food, leaving small, cone-shaped holes in the ground. They are omnivores, feeding on insects, larvae, roots, and other plant matter. Most of them are not endangered.
Before reaching the city of Rockhampton for lunch, we noted that we’d not seen a sugar cane field since Mackay. (We learned later there are more in Central Queensland (Bundaberg region) as well but the majority of the fields are in norther Queensland.)
When began the drive to Emu Park the road our GPS said to take was closed; we told it to find us an alternate. It did but it turned to dirt quickly, then worse, then puddles then mud so we turned around and went the much longer highway route around. The only good part about this detour was we saw at least six roos!
Pat and John have lived in Emu Park for many years but they don’t have just a house – they also have a property nearby with a hangar – yes, an airplane hangar as Pat is a pilot. In the hangar, they keep a small plane, a few vintage vehicles, their current Australian motorhome and there’s lots of tools and stuff as well as a kitchen and a bedroom. She had made dinner at home and brought it here to warm up and after tea and a chat we had dinner. It was great to chat with them and catch up on our lives. They were most generous in helping Doug with a few things that needed doing on Matilda and they went “home” around 8.
They even took us on a ride in their 1924 car to see their little town:
We parked up beside the hangar, plugged in and had a quiet night. Next morning after exercising, Doug washed Matilda, fixed the passenger mirror, the stove cover and painted the hand grip into the camper with spray paint John lent him. Fran sewed the washed seat cushion cover back on.
Pat had an appointment at 10:30 so we went our separate ways before ten and said our goodbyes. We hope to meet up again someday, somewhere.
We drove into Rockhampton and stopped at Woollies for groceries before driving about 120 km / xx mi to a tiny town with a motel/caravan park for the afternoon/night. Green Acres Van Park was only $36 – not fancy but had power/water, bathrooms, laundry and a pool.
It continues to rain on and off even though we keep heading further south. We were told this is unusual this much moisture this long after summer – just our luck! The humidity level seems to be always at least 80% and it’s not nice.
After getting set up, we did some chores including remove the annual pass sticker from the windshield since it’s being replaced, and more before getting online for a while. Thomas and Sandra reached out and we’ve sorted where we’ll spend this coming weekend after our windscreen is replaced on Saturday morning. We fly out on Bundaberg on Monday morning to go to Lady Elliot Island and we sure hope the weather is better there! Fingers crossed.
It was another wet night and we packed up the next morning and carried on southward under cloudy, wet skies. After stopping for petrol before town, we arrived in Bundaberg and had a couple of errands to run before reaching our campsite for the night. We have decided to cover the kitchen countertop in tile as the paint that was on it practically wipes off which we dealt with but to sell it we want it to look better. We had some peel and stick tiles in mind and found a good price at K-Mart.
We arrived at Glenlodge Caravan Park around noon, paid the $36 overnight fee for which we got a slab site with power and water, bathrooms and a pool (which we probably won’t use in this weather!) and there is laundry as well but no Wi-Fi. Fran made us some oatmeal, then went for a walk and we spent the afternoon staying dry inside. The humidity is too high to begin painting so we’ll leave that until after our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
Saturday morning was our appointment for the windshield replacement. Our insurance has a $200 deductible and they arranged the appointment for us. We left around 7:30 to be there at 7:50 and left the truck in their capable hands while we went over to the mall nearby to walk indoors. It was raining when we got up but by the time we got to O’Brien’s Auto Glass it has stopped. Fran wanted to get a hair cut and the place in the mall had decent prices but doesn’t take appointments. She walked the mall for a while and then saw 3 people in line outside the salon at 8:30 so she joined the line. The place opened at 9 and she was in the chair by 9:20 and out 20 minutes later. Just before she was taken to a chair, the glass place called and the truck was ready so Doug went to get it and waited for her in the parking lot of the mall.
By now the clouds had mostly dispersed and it was lovely out – still quite humid but to see the blue sky with that big ball of fire up there was so rejuvenating and uplifting! It’s been missing from our lives lately!
We had booked two nights at Turtle Sands Caravan Park on the nearby coast (as had Thomas and Sandra) and we went over there. It was just after ten when we arrived but they let us in about 10:20 so that was good. After getting plugged in, we did a few chores and that partook of the burger truck that was parked in the campground today.
After lunch we began the job of redoing the kitchen countertop. Turns out we didn’t have enough tiles to do the back splash but we’ve decided to pick up another pack on Wednesday before leaving town as it will so look so much better.
This is an NRMA campground so we paid $96 for two nights with all amenities. The beach here is a turtle nesting ground but the evening tours ended last weekend. They said there may still be hatchlings heading to the sea so at night, all outside lights must be off and they close access to the beach from 6pm to 6am.
Thomas and Sandra arrived around 3:30; we went over to check out the beach:
and then arranged with them for happy hour on the beach at 5; we went for a swim to cool off. The pool here is large and turtle shaped and was a nice temperature.
That evening we had a HUGE thunder and lightning storm for a few hours but it was over by bedtime. Next morning it was all cleared up and the sun was back for us. Doug went for his long run, Fran walked the beach for over an hour hoping to spot baby turtles but no luck.
Fran did laundry and was able to hang it outside due to the nice weather and it was dry in less than two hours. We had brekkie over at the camp kitchen so we could use their toaster and then spent a few hours by the pool to relax and stay cool.
We’ve had one bite on our ad but the next day they changed their minds.
We had our KEGS monthly meeting at five today so no happy hour. We are leaving around 7:15 tomorrow to catch our flight to Lady Elliot Island and Thomas and Sandra are leaving even earlier as they have a tour that starts at 7:15 about two hours away. We hope to see them again. They have had a few bites on their camper and we wish them well selling it.
You can check out here for pics from Mackay to Bundaberg.
