'Tropical' North Queensland

Well hello again! It's unlike us to be posting again this soon we know but as we're leaving Australia and jetting off for Auckland later on today we figured we should probably let you know what we've been up to the last couple of weeks so we can try to stay vaguely up to date rather than posting retrospectively once we're back in England.

We know we gave you a brief itinerary of what we'd been doing so this is mainly to add a bit of detail and provide lots of pretty pictures!

Our first day out of Brisbane we went to Australia Zoo, (home of the late Steve Irwin) where we made sure we saw all the Aussie creatures we'd missed, including Echidnas, Kangaroos, Wombats etc. And we also saw a rather spectacular crocodile show, some extremely well trained tigers and even hand fed elephants!

Us at Lake Mackenzie

Next day we woke up bright and early for the trip to 'Rainbow' Beach (the guidebook mentioned 74 shades of sand but we only saw evidence of white black and grey). After staying the night we headed off to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, complete with a 75 mile long beach which also happens to be an official state highway! We were booked onto a 2day 4WD coach trip (think bright pink coach crossed with a unimog) which took in the main sights such as famous Lake Mackenzie, rainforest walks, freshwater creeks, rockpools big enough to bathe in and nature spotting (we saw rays, a turtle, eagles and of course lots of dingoes). Unfortunately it was very wet and windy so our pictures aren't quite as picturesque as the brochures but we had a great time nonetheless.

Paddle Boarding!!

At Hervey Bay where the Fraser tour ended we spent the night before continuing up the Queensland coastline on a 12 hour overnight coach to Airlie Beach (despite all there is to see, the downside to the size of Australia is how long it takes to get anywhere). Airlie is where all the Whitsunday Island sailing tours depart from, we arrived at 9am had to check in by 10am then had most of the day to wander around before setting sail at 4pm for a 2 night trip onboard a 12 berth, 14 foot, catamaran. Thankfully we'd actually managed to get some sleep on the coach so weren't too zombie like, unfortunately though the weather caught up with us making for a choppy sail from the mainland out to the islands and I (leah) discovered I'm somewhat more prone to seasickness than I'd anticipated! Still, after the 2hour trip out we moored in a calm bay had dinner, got some sleep and woke bright and early for our first snorkel which actually made it all worth it. The clarity of the water and colours and diversity of both fish and coral were spectacular, it was Mat's first time snorkelling but he got right into it! Later in the day we visited iconic Whitehaven Beach and were 2 of only 3 brave enough to put a damp wetsuit back on in order to try paddle boarding. We then went sailing again moving to Hayman Island where we moored. Another snorkelling session in the morning was well rewarded by some sunshine and the presence of Manta Rays on top of all the other amazing fish. In case you don't know I can tell you first hand that they're absolutely huge! They're harmless but it got the adrenaline going when a couple were swimming straight at you all the same! Later in the day we went for another snorkel somewhere turtles had been sighted, Mat momentarily came face to face but I didn't (yet). After a couple of very action packed days we sailed back to shore for a nights sleep on land before our next leg.

From Airlie we caught a coach up to Townsville (the delayed service we wrote the last blog on!) from where we got the ferry over to picturesque magnetic island. There's not an awful lot on magnetic island but that was kind of the point, it was somewhere to chill for a day or two before heading on. We stayed in a cute little cabin at the YHA and spent our time wandering along the beach and through the bushland along the coastline to a gorgeous sunny bay where we intended to snorkel. Unfortunately though geniuses that we are we completely forgot about the tides and by the time we got into the water the reef was only covered by a few inches of water so we just went back to reading and sunbathing in the end and enjoyed the sunset on the walk home! Next day we just got ice cream and wrote postcards at the beach before getting the ferry back to the mainland and boarding our last Greyhound service up to Cairns.

Through a glass bottomed boat

Cairns exceeded our expectations. We'd heard it was a very small city and there wasn't much there except for the reef trips but we've found that it has a friendly, relaxed vibe and plenty of places along the esplanade to grab a drink or bite to eat. The hostel's nice too and we had an awesome experience on our boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. We were on a smallish boat (only 26 people) which ploughed out to Arlington reef where we were the only boat, initially the weather was a bit dull but cleared up as the day went on and once you're underwater the clarity makes a bigger difference than the weather anyway! We were in the first group to go on a dive, with another couple and an instructor, for Mat (and the other guy) it was his first experience scuba diving so we had a basic briefing and the instructor promised to hold onto and guide the beginners then we got suited up and straight into the water alongside the boat to get used to the equipment and hand signals. It was very choppy at the surface which made it very hard to hold yourself still and was a bit scary initially but once we were a few metres under it improved a lot and all agreed it was amazing. We did take an underwater camera but haven't had a chance to get it developed yet so no pretty pictures I'm afraid but take it from us that the reef's reputation is well deserved and it really was every bit as spectacular as the postcards. Bright and varied fish and corals and it all looked close enough to touch because of the underwater perspective. We saw plenty of nemos, 3 turtles (finally I can check the box!), and even a nurse shark resting on the bottom and it was so exciting! Mat agrees that even though diving isn't as relaxing as snorkelling (being an unnatural environment you feel somewhat out of control!) it was well worth it for what you see as there's no other way to get the same viewpoint.

The next day we rented a car and Mat drove us from Cairns up into the Daintree rainforest where we got a wildlife spotting river cruise. We saw Herons, Birds of prey such as owls, Kites and a Jailbird, lots of snakes and of course saltwater crocs, the biggest of which was easily over 2metres! We then spent the evening relaxing in Port Douglas, a famous winter holiday destination amongst Aussies- it's 25° and sunny here whilst it's 14° and rainy in the south. Most of the next day was devoted to the beach and more postcard writing before heading back to Cairns to get ourselves sorted for the flight to Aukland this evening!

The view on the return journey to cairns

We'll try to send some sunshine your way and will keep you updated on our travels through New Zealand.

Aussie love,

Leah and Mat :)