Heron Island and the Proposal

July 20 – Heron Island

We woke up fairly early and left our little spot by the river to head into Gladstone. We stopped into Hungry Jacks for breakfast and I was able to Skype Mom and Dad. They seem to be doing well and things are looking good at the cottage. It had been awhile since we last Skyped. We chatted for a while then Beau and I had to go to catch our boat to Heron Island. This time we arrived at the harbour and checked in no problem. We paid for our trip at the tourist information center and only were charge $199/night about $120 c heaper than normal since we had had to reschedule our trip. We boarded the boat around 11am and hit the high seas. It was pretty windy and ride was a little rough but we made it in one piece about 2hrs later. Heron Island runs on “resort” time and is an hour ahead of the mainland. Once on the island we had a complimentary, non-alcoholic drink, and our welcome brief before we had lunch. Lunch was buffet style but delicious. We went to the Marine Center to get the down low on diving. It was a bit more expensive then we originally expected. There was a separate price equipment rental. It cost $65/day for dive gear and $65/dive. We decided we do two dives tomorrow so we'd only be charged for one day of gear hire. We got set up with dive kits and signed up for the 9am dive. We then hurried over to the information center where there was a reef walk going on. We grabbed some old sneakers and joined the group on the reef. The guide talked about sea cucumbers, sea stars, coral, crabs. We passed around some sea cucumbers and sea stars. He also managed to catch an epaulette shark which Beau had spotted. We was a really interesting walk and last about 2hrs. We headed back to shore and put on some warmer clothes. We hurried to catch the sunset but we had just missed it by the time we got to the bar. We bought a beer and took a few pictures of the lovely colours in the sky. We headed back to the room and I read while Beau played guitar for a little bit before dinner. Dinner was a three course meal and we both had seared scallops with bacon to start and a kangaroo fillet with sweet potato puree for dinner. The food was good but the service was a little slow and they forgot about our dessert. But we reminded them and I had a lemon-lime tart and Beau Vanilla Panacotta. The coffee is quite good and we enjoyed some brewed coffee with dessert. We took a tea to go and headed to the bar to listen to the live music for a bit. We played some a Jenga/Uno game which was pretty fun and then reclined on the couches for a bit. After the music had finished we were joined by an older Australian couple who wanted to catch the second half of a rugby game. Beau got into but I grabbed my book since I wasn't very interested. After the game we headed back to our room, had a shower and read for a bit more before bed.

Heron Island

Epaulette Shark

 

July 21 – The Perfect Day

Beau and I had set a 7:30am alarm so we could be up early for breakfast and have it fairly digested before we went diving at 9am. Breakfast was another buffet with eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, pancakes, waffles and much more. I was a little disappointed with the waffles they were like eggo and had to be toasted. I'm dying for real waffles! After breakfast we went back to the room and got our bathing suits on then headed down to the Marine Center. We struggled into our wetsuits and then waddles down to the jetty with our gear. We got our equipment set up and took a 2min boat ride to our dive site, Heron Bommie. There were 4 of us divers and 2 guides with us. As soon as we got in the water and down to depth our guide started tapping on his tank to point out a green sea turtle. A moment later he did it again and there was a white tipped reef shark. Again and there was a mantaray. Again and he pointed out a lion fish. It was like an amazing creature overload! We saw lots of other fishes and had an awesome 40min dive. The super thick wetsuit really helped keep me warmer although it did mess with my buoyancy. I had extra weight on but I was a little too heavy. We got back on the boat and were taken back to shore. Beau and I decided to go out on the 3pm dive so we could do some snorkeling around the island while it was high tide. We decided to hop in right away and snorkeled/drifted to around part of the island. We saw a sea turtle and lots of fish. Unfortunately we didn't see any lemon sharks that tend to hang around there. I was pretty cold by the time we got out and we went back to the room to rinse off. We sat by the pool for a little while suntanning before lunch time. Lunch was another awesome buffet and I tried not pig out too much. After lunch Beau was restless so went for a walk around the island while I sat and read. He came back around 2:30 and we got ready for another dive. This dive was at Coral Cascades just off the north of the island. It was another incredible dive with 2 types of turtles, a moray eel, a tiny pip fish, a huge lobster, a big white tip reef shark and tons of fishes. We also did some swim threws which were pretty sweet. Both dives today were pretty amazing. Back on the island we headed to our room and got showered up before heading to the bar. We got a beer and sat on some loungers writing up our dives. We chatted with a German couple for a little bit before someone came by claiming there were whales. We headed to the jetty but didn't see any whales but did get a beautiful sunset. We were both a little chilly by then from the wind so once the sun was gone we headed back to our room to put some pants on before dinner. Dinner was a seafood buffet and we pigged out. We also treated ourselves and bought a bottle of wine with dinner. We had crab, bugs, shrimp, muscles and oysters. I have to say I'm not that big on the oysters, they were okay but there is other seafood I'd much rather eat. We also had some really yummy dessert, there was cake with caramel sauce and strawberry mousse. Yum! We were both stuffed and had some of our bottle of wine left so we headed over to the bar to enjoy some live music. After the music had finished and we polished off our bottle we decided to head back to the room. Along the way Beau convinced me we should go down to the beach to look at the stars. We started to talking about how amazing our trip had been and how happy we both were travelling together. Before I knew it he was down on one knee asking me to be his life partner. Then he officially asked me to be his wife. Of course I said yes and he put a grass ring on my finger. (It wasn't actually grass more like a leafy needle thing obviously we'll get something a little more permanent when we get home). It was an amazing ending to an amazing day on an amazing trip. 

July 22 – Back to mainland

We slept in a bit compared to yesterday and were up around 8:30. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast before getting our room packed up. We left one bag on the doorstep for the porter to pick up then headed over to the reception to settle our bill. Afterwards we headed to the pool area and lounged around. I read my book and Beau played his guitar. We decided to go for a little walk about the island, Beau had done one yesterday but I hadn't. We put his guitar on the porter truck so we wouldn't have to worry/carry it about. We walked along the beach but as we came around the northern tip of the island the wind was raging so we opted to walk back through the center instead of the full perimeter. We was a nice albeit short walk. We ended back by the pool and lounge a bit more in the sunshine. Lunch time rolled around and we pigged out on our last meal. Before we knew it it was time to congregate at the jetty waiting for the boat to arrive. We took some pictures in the crazy wind then watched the Heron Islander bob into dock. We got loaded onto the boat and had a pretty rough ride back to land. I tried writing up but found it made me a little sea sick. So I had a nap instead. Once back in Gladstone we got our belongs and fired Dotti up. We picked up some groceries and returned a call about the van. We set up a meeting for tomorrow down on the Sunshine Coast. We drove about 100km out of Gladstone then pulled into a rest stop for the night. There was a well lit picnic area which aided us in making dinner. We passed the evening writing up and went to bed fairly early.

The Proposal Location

The type of tree my ring was made from

July 23 – Back to the Sunshine Coast

We awoke to another beautiful day. I called Mom and Dad after breakfast to tell them our awesome news and Beau gave his parents a call too. We started our drive down to the Sunshine Coast. We had said we'd be there about noon but that was a little optimistic. We stopped in Maryborough for lunch and to check our e-mails. We also got in touch with the woman we were supposed to meet and said it would be closer to 2pm. When we finally did hit the Sunshine Coast in a town called Coolroy it was about 2pm and we were about 20min for our destination. The check battery light came on again.... crap. We pulled into a mechanics and they had a quick inspection. Sounded like the alternator was about to go kaput. The owner called around and could get one in for us tomorrow. We just couldn't believe that when we were about to show the van the alternator went. We figure it's due to our battery issues from last week and the alternator getting over worked. We told the mechanic we'd see him in to morning then head slightly out of town to a rest stop. We also rescheduled to show the van tomorrow. At the rest stop I gave Elaine a call to tell her our good news and we had a little chat since we haven't talked in ages. The rest of the afternoon/evening passed with writing up, reading and guitar.

Agnes Waters/1770

June 27 – Agnes Waters/1770

We woke up fairly early this morning but the sky was against us again. We made some breakfast wraps but they weren't quite the same without cheese and bbq sauce, both of which we are out of. We drove up the road to the Town of 1770 which is even tinier than Agnes Waters. There was supposed to be a great lookout. We walked out to the lookout and while I can see it being awesome on a nice day it just didn't quite have the same effect in dreary weather. We then headed back to the library so I could update my blog. The internet was painfully slow though and took forever to upload a whole four photos. This morning we had seen some pamphlets at the hostel regarding some Whitsunday's Cruises so we decided to have a look at a few online. After the library closed for lunch we headed back to the hostel to make some lunch of our own. We then walked into “town” or rather to the few shops that make up the main hub. We picked up a few groceries and also finally bought stamps for our New Zealand postcards. We had forgotten about them and since we rediscovered them we thought we should send them out. We also popped into a travel agency and got a little more info on other Whitsunday's Cruises. Back at the hostel we discussed what we should do about that part of our trip since we knew it was something we really wanted to do but we were nervous about the weather. It's supposed to get nice tomorrow and remain that way for the foreseeable future but we want to go in a little over a week and weather predictions just aren't too accurate. We hummed and hawed and then debated which boat we should take. We opted for a nicer one that actually goes out to the GBR, Whitsunday Islands aren't actually a part of it, and also is 3 day 3 night. We talked to the guy that ran the hostel and we just had to put down a $50 cash deposit each to secure our spots on the boat for next Friday. We figure if the weather is brutal $50 each isn't much of a loss to not go. I read and Beau played guitar for a bit before we made some dinner. The kitchen and dinning area was pretty crowded but we shared a table with two Aussie dudes. We chatted with them for a bit and they might be visiting a buddy in NY State early next year to do some boarding. Beau gave them our contact info in case they decided to come up to Canada at all, assuming we'll be in Montreal too. We finished off the evening with my nose in a book and Beau on his i-Pod. It was pretty brisk out but the sky had cleared.

June 28 – Agnes Waters

We finally woke up to blue sky and sunshine! Although by the time we had breakfasted and showered it had clouded over quite a bit. We headed back to the library as Beau wanted to check his e-mail and I needed to fix some typos in my last blog entry. While there I had a peak at flights from Kelowna to Ottawa. We found an almost direct, it stops in Toronto, flight from Kelowna to Ottawa with AirCanada for $209. We figured it probably won't be much cheaper than that and not with that good of connections. It's only 6hrs of travel which is nice because we'll have a little monster with us. So we booked another flight. We've really broken the bank over the last few days. But our flights to get us back to Ontario are way better than they would have been if we had done a flight from Sydney to Toronto. So we are getting Sydney-Honolulu-Kelowna-Ottawa for about $1300pp I think I'm okay with that. I called AC to book Monty on the flight but since we are in Australia I dialled the Australian toll free number. I think the guy was a bit flabbergasted at my request. He didn't really know what to do but got all the information and said he'd get back to me... okay. After being a couple big spendas we went for a walk along the “Discovery Trail.” The map showed it to be a short walk but there seemed to be numerous paths we could take and not many signs. We made it to the lookout and then found our way down to Workman's Beach. We then made our way back to the van in a convoluted manner. We drove down to the main beach and soaked up some sun for a wee bit. We then made some lunch in the park before heading out of town. We drove towards Gladstone and pulled into a rest stop about 20min out of town. There were quite a few caravans and campervans at the rest stop but were back in a grassy area. We decided to it would be better back there further from the road. On pulling into that area we noticed a sign saying no camping or caravans, we sort of shrugged and figured it was fine since there were a bunch of people there. We had just gotten settled and were at a picnic table when a lady came by to and mentioned another lady had said there was a ranger around taking licence plates and if we were still here in the morning he would be handing out fines. What?! Another woman came around say she was passing on a message from the powers that be (I can't remember what she actually said) that we weren't allowed to stay in that area. We had to be on the other side of the posts and could only stay for a max of 20hrs. She was going to every site telling people this. We decided not to risk it and moved into what I guess is the designated rest area. Not sure why they haven't fenced off the other part or anything. I think they've been having issues with people staying for extended periods of times in the rest areas. They are all to a max of 20hrs but people have been abusing it. One guy said he'd been for a week and another lady for 3 months! On a separate note dude from AirCanada got back to me and “put in a request” for the the cat but is waiting for confirmation. He said there were no other animals booked on the flight so it should be fine. He also said I would pay for the cat at check-in. I've never done it that way but I think because I called the Australian people they don't exactly deal with it, hopefully I get e-mailed confirmation shortly and it'll all be taken care of.

June 29 – A Tropical Disappointment

We awoke early and full of excitement for our tropical excursion. We quickly packed up the van and headed into Gladstone. We stopped at an ATM and then got brekky and wifi at Hungry Jacks. We made our way down to the marina, parked the van, secured all our valuables and triple checked everything. As we headed to the Heron Island desk we overheard one of the girls apologizing to another guest and our hearts started to sink. We found out that the desalination plant on the island had broken down about 12 hrs earlier and they weren't going to be able to get a part out to fix it until later the following day. Because of this they weren't taking any guests out to the island and probably bring the people currently out there back early. They suggested we reschedule our trip to Wednesday.... that didn't really jive with our plans so we got a full refund and crushed hopes. When we asked about what there was to do in town the tourist information lady told us not much. Not only were our paradise island dreams shattered but we were stuck in a beachless industrial town on one of the first hot, blue sky, sunny days we'd had in a week! We drove up to a look out but it pretty much just gave us a good view of the coal plant. We bought some groceries and gas and high tailed it out of town. We drove to Rockhampton and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn in the process. The tourist info girls weren't too much help and the beach was about 40mins out of our way. We had some lunch in a busy park then carried on to a free campsite. We ended up driving about 300km today since we couldn't find anything better to do!