The Great Barrier Reef Day 1

July 12 – The Great Barrier Reef Day 1

We were up very early this morning and had Hungry Jacks for brekky. We parked in an area that was pointed out to us as free parking and walked the short block down to Cairns Dive Center. We got checked in, filled out safety paper work then were loaded in a mini bus and driven down to the dock. We boarded Reefkist, the day boat the would be taking us out to the liveaboard, Kangaroo Explorer. We boated out to the reef with a stop at Fitzroy Island. We also stopped for a bit of whale watching along the way and saw a couple of whales breaching. It was awesome they were actually jumping out of the water. We made it out the reef and transferred over to Kangaroo Explorer. We went through the welcome brief then got a tour of the boat before being assigned our cabins. Compared to the last boat we were on these cabins were luxurious. Actually compared to the van it was spacious too. We had some yummy lunch then got ready for our first dive. The first dive was with a guide so they could assess our skills. We went in at East Timor on Moores Reef with Tanya the Dive Master. She is very energetic. We got to hold sea cucumbers, Tanya loves sea cucumbers, and touch some giant clams. I went through my air fairly quickly though. I'm not sure if I just was cold, excited, nervous or what. Previously Beau would go through air faster than me but then again I'm not sure if we really had equal amounts in our tanks. They were also smaller tanks so the air doesn't last as long either. Anyways it was still a good dive. We then moved dive sites to the Fish Bowl at Briggs Reef. Beau and I had our first unguided dive and really enjoyed it. We saw several sea turtles, one only had three legs! A few more giant clams and tons of fish. We also decided to rent a dive camera and attempted to take lots of photos. After that dive we had a break and some dinner before our very first night dive! Since it was our first night dive we had to hire a guide. There were 6 of us in our group plus the guide and it felt crowded. I guess we have been spoilt in the past since we usually have 4 or less in a group. We did see a bunch of white tip reef sharks as well as a sleeping turtle and some red bass. The red bass use the torch lights to help them hunt but we didn't get to see them in action. After our night dive we had a shower then were pretty much too pooped to do anything else so we went to bed.

Cairns

A breaching humpback whale

The Kangaroo Explorer

Underwater Beau

Underwater Diane!

Turtle

Can you find Nemo?

Turtle!

Trumpet Fish

Three legged turtle :(

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Queensland!

June 17 – Tweed Coast

Well it was back to oatmeal this morning as we finished off our eggs yesterday. I guess I've gone a few days with out it but man I didn't miss it. We got showered and battened down the hatches before hitting the road. We popped into a chemist on the way out of Byron Bay so we could get us more sunscreen, me some cough meds and Beau new soap. I still have chesty cough going on so I figured I should try to do something about it. We got back on the highway for a bit then off of it for another tourist drive. On our way through Hastings Point we stopped at a lookout which was quite spectacular. It's also a gorgeous sunny day so that helps. In the distance we could see huge splashes of water from whales jumping and breaching. Sadly they we much too far away for my little camera, but it was pretty cool to see. We drove up to Tweed Heads and made some tuna sandwiches at Rainbow Bay. We had a walk along the beach in the sunshine but since we hadn't put sunscreen on that morning I didn't want to be out in it too long. I think we'll have to start slathering up every morning again. We started down the road again but stopped when we saw a “Welcome to New South Wales” sign. We were confused until we realized that the state boarder runs through the middle of town! Strangely there was no “Welcome to Queensland” sign. After taking a picture with the boarder marker we set out again and headed up the Gold Coast. We drove through the towns along the beach like Surfers Paradise. The ocean looked amazing but there were tons of high rises everywhere. Beau was also getting quite frustrated with the traffic since every time we almost got up to speed we'd hit a red light. We got out of the Gold Coast snarl and back on the freeway into Brisbane. We found our caravan park with little trouble, only one U-turn needed because we missed the turn due to the itty bitty street signs. After checking in we left shortly after for Linda's place, Mom's cousin. We found Linda's street with little difficulty but had a touch of trouble finding the house. We parked and walked up the street but knew we had gone to far, then we found the teeny tiny numbers that denoted 93. We accidentally came around the back because we went in the wrong gate but we made it. We had a lovely evening with Linda, we told her all about our trip and she shared her plans and some pictures of her daughter and grandson. Dinner was amazing with roast chicken and potatoes as well as Pavlova for dessert. A proper Sunday dinner. We said our good byes and hope to see each other again some time. We had a little trouble getting back to the park since a coupe streets we couldn't turn right onto but we eventually made it onto the right road only to get caught in a random breathalyser check. We were both a little nervous since we had some wine at dinner but Beau blew a triple zero (or 0.000) so it didn't even detect his glass of wine. Phew. We made it back to the park without further incident and wrapped up our evening in the usual way

Hastings Point

Humpback Whale

Queensland-New South Wales Boarder

Dinner with Linda

June 18 – Brisbane

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day, perfect for exploring Brisbane. It was only four km into the city from our park so we decided to bike in. Our bike ride turned out to be a little more strenuous than we thought since we had to go up a few hills. We biked along the sidewalk till we found the bike path into the city. We reached the CBD and started off at the Queen Elizabeth Mall which was actually a pedestrian street. It also had the information center. We got the down low on sights to see and started out on a self guided walking tour. We quickly gave up on our walking tour since we kept missing the alleged sights it was also the arts and architecture tour. Brisbane is on a river and there a bunch of pedestrian bridges crossing it. We took a funky one across and started walking along a riverside boardwalk. We knew we wanted to take a ferry along the river but had to figure out which to take. We were in the area called South Bank and popped into another info place where we got the dl on the ferries and were recommended to walk along the river to next ferry terminal along. South Bank was very cool with some restaurants and shops as well as a pool with a man made beach. Seemed like the spot to be on a gorgeous day. We continued our way along the boardwalk past the Maritime Museum. We walked up to the top of the cliffs that run along the south bank and were rewarded with a great view of the city. Once we reached our ferry wharf we hopped on the City Ferry and were taken across the river where we had to change boats to a City Cat. The City Cats are the fast ferries and go up and down the river for some distance. We were headed down stream. There were soooo many massive houses along the water with huge boats out front. It was really enjoyable to see the city from the river. We went to almost the end of the ferry's route which took about 30min from where we started then headed back up stream and alighted outside of the Queen Elizabeth Mall. We were feeling a bit peaked after all our biking, walking and sun so decided to head back, we also didn't want to bike in the dark. We were side tracked by a spraypaint street artist who we watched work for a little bit and then picked up some fish and fococcia bread for dinner. We wanted naan but there wasn't any so we are substituting fococcia. We retrieved our bikes and set out for home. We arrived back at the park just before the sun finished setting. We made some delicious fish curry and the focaccia went surprisingly well with it.

A City Cat on Brisbane River

Brisbane

A City Ferry

Story Book Bridge

Brisbane River

June 19 – Glasshouse Mountains

We awoke to another blindingly sunny day and enjoyed our oatmeal and coffee in it. We hit the road then hit up a grocery store and a gas station. Back on the road we start heading out of Brisbane but pulled into a McD's after not too long. Beau wanted to send his resume off to his buddy's boss at Bombardier but the internet was too slow to upload the file. We had some 30 cent ice cream cones than gave up on the uploading. We'll find a library tomorrow and do it then. Back on the road we drove for about 60km then turned off for the Glasshouse Mountains scenic drive. The Glasshouse Mountains were once a volcanic range surrounded by sandstone that eroded away over many 20 odd million years and left only the plugs of the volcanoes. We headed into one of the parks and made some lunch. Then went for a short hike to a lookout point. The look out was pretty good but the sun made photo's next to impossible. We drove up the road a short ways to another look out and got some great views of the surrounding mountains. I also got some pictures this time. After having our fill of the mountains we decided to check out a rest stop hoping it might be okay. Turns out it was back far enough from the main road that the noise wasn't substantial. Since we still had a bit of day light we set to work patching a small hole in the canvas was well as reattaching some velcro for the screens. With those jobs out of the way I did some crocheting while Beau played guitar. We made some sidekick like pasta with a bunch of vegetables thrown in. It turned out alright but there wasn't a lot of flavour to the sauce. We finished off our box of wine and did some more crocheting and reading. 

Mt Coonowrin

Mt Beerwah

Glasshouse Mountains

Us at the Glasshouse Mountains

Eurobodalla Coast and Northward

May 27 – Bermagui-Tilba-Narooma

I had heard some plastic rustling in the night but couldn't figure out what was causing it. We found out quickly when we started getting things out from breakfast. Someone had broken into our oatmeal! We couldn't figure out how the thief had gotten in but we cleaned out all the cupboards. Since we had no other choice we still had oatmeal for breakfast. Fortunately our almost finished bag was the only victim and the thief didn't get into our dried apricots or currants. After packing up we headed up the road to Bermagui. Along the way we noticed some huge surf crashing in and a bunch of cars parked by the beach. We pulled over and watched some surfers. They had some sweet looking waves but there were a lot of them out there and some rocks close to shore. I can see it being a bit of a challenge to dodge rocks and people while keeping your balance on a wave. In Bermagui we stopped into the visitors center to find out some info on the area but the volunteer was next to useless. She did suggest we go see the blue pools which turned out to be a sort of natural/man made ocean swimming pool. It's too bad it wasn't nicer out so we could have enjoyed the pool. On the way out of town we stopped at Camel Rock as well. We only knew about this because of a picture we had seen in one of our many pamphlets. We tried to take a picture with the rock but between the angle and the wind they are all awful! Oh well. We continued on to the Historic Village of Tilba. It was mostly vintage buildings but is quite touristy with the shops. We did go into the Wood Turning Gallery which had some absolutely beautiful items in it. Being in wood working stores always reminds of Grandad. I wish I could afford some of the pieces but $1300 for a coffee table is a little steep for our budget even if it's made out of red gum. After leaving Tilba we had seen in another brochure a cool looking rock formation near Narooma called Glasshouse Rock. We made a guess at where to turn, Glasshouse Rock Rd, and followed the road to a cemetery. The view from one side over looked a nice beach but it didn't look like the rock formation. We walked around to the other side of the cemetery/point and there were the rocks we had hoped for. It looked pretty cool and there was some other very interesting rocks nearby as well. Once into Narooma we hit up the bank, info center and gas station. The girl at this information center was much more helpful and suggested a free rest stop to us for the night. We head down to the waterfront to make use of some electric bbqs to make lunch. We attempted our tuna cheese toastie again but it didn't turn out as delicious as the last time. After lunch we hit the road again. We decided to have a peek at the rest stop to see if it might be okay for the night. Turns out it's back from the road a bit and very well treed so the road noise is minimal. We made a cup of joe while I read and Beau played some more guitar. We made vegetable soup for dinner, it was a tinned soup but we majorly beefed it up with carrots, zucchini and an under ripe avocado. The rest of the evening passed with wine and some writing up.

Some surfing

The Blue Pools

Camel Rock

Cool Rocks by Glasshouse Rock

Glasshouse Rock

May 28 – Eurobodalla Coast

Our rest stop proved to be not a bad spot and it looks like our thief was left behind in the Park. Our journey took us onwards and we followed a tourist drive. We stopped at Broulee Nature Reserve and had a walk along the beach and around the reserve. It was a scenic little spot. Our next walk was at Guerilla Bay out on to Burawarra Point. There was an old WW2 bunker on the point. I guess that might have something to do with the bay's name. The walk had many banksia trees along it. They have these weird nut/pine cone like things that can get turned into really cool trinkets. They are holey and furry and woody all at the same time. I thought it would be cool to collect a few and try to carve them ourselves but we don't have the tools. There was some nice views along the way but the path started to become less visible and we had to do a little bush whacking to get back to the main path. By this time we were quite hungry so we made our down to Malua Bay where there were some beach side BBQ's. We had baked beans on cheese toast. Yum! Beau added fried garlic and onions to it too. We were going to stop in to the Bateman's Bay Library for some Wifi but they charge for it here! We were very put out so decided against it. We ended up using some free McD's wifi and found a campsite in town for the night. We got some more groceries and checked in. There was a Bunnings (Rona) right next door so we popped in to see if they had a Robertson bit and voila they did. This meant we were able to get the battery to be secured in place again. Beau also took the opportunity to shave down our one drawer a little. Some water got in at some point and made the wood swell so one of the drawers has been awful to open. But it's all fixed now! It's nice to get our few odd jobs out of the way.

Broulee Nature Reserve

Burawarra Point

Malua Bay

May 29 – Ulladulla

Our day started with the loud speak and forklifts going over at Bunnings. The caravan park backed on to Bunnings. We showered and had breakfast before heading out. We bought some fuel along the way to Ulladulla. Once in the town we spotted a Super Cheap Auto so we stopped in to find out if it would be reasonable to buy a battery charger so while we are plugged in we can be charging the battery and running the fridge. Turns out we wouldn't be able to do this but while we were stopped I topped up the cell phone and bought so egg rings (it'll keep the egg in place when on the bbq). We then headed out to Warden Head for a walk. We pulled into a car park and had a nice walk along the beach. There were a bunch of people surfing and boogie boarding on some great crashing waves. There was a dog on the beach whose owner was out surfing. I think the dog was a little upset about being left behind. We had thought there was going to be a path to lead us to the heads and light house but we couldn't find it. Instead of hopping in the van to go we hopped on our bikes for a short ride down the road. At the light house we were able to see some humpbacked whales! They were a little hard to see and we kicked ourselves for not having binoculars. My camera was able to zoom in some though; it was neat to see them. Afterwards we continued through town and stopped into the information center. The girl gave us some info on places to see further up and also some possibilities for places to stay for the night. We headed over to a park across the road and made bacon, eggs and homefries for lunch. It was delicious but greasier than normal since we were using a stainless steel bbq/grill. After our artery clogger we went back to the info center/library for wifi. Once we got updated we hit the road with hopes of a nice rest stop. The rest stop was a big disappointment so we continued on to Nowra. We had been told the Showgrounds had reasonably priced camping but unfortunately when we arrived we were supposed to have pre-purchased a permit from the information center in town which was now closed. I didn't want to risk a ticket so we made some phone calls to other parks in town of which only one was answering. We ended up at Shady Willows Park but it was definitely shady. Most people there were live-ins and the bathroom smelled like cigarettes. We didn't have too many options so we stayed there for the night. 

Warden Head

A humpback whale

Two humpback whales