The rainy season certainly lived up to its name in Eungella - it rained and it rained and it rained some more. The good news is that duck-billed platypuses are more likely to come out on grey days, so we did see one of the elusive creatures in the wild, along with some rather less elusive bush turkeys. And then we got back in the car, drove back to Mackay, and went to the cinema (Philomena — pretty good, 4 stars).
We tried some ziplining while we were in Eungella National Park. Don’t be fooled by the photos above…Sam is just on the practice zip line where you learn the knack of it. The real deal is 50 feet up and gives you fantastic views out over the rainforest, and has you right up amongst the resting fruit bats - so close you can see their babies clinging on for dear life, and probably closer than our lack of rabies vaccination probably warranted. Unfortunately, we had the dubious distinction of being the folks who clipped on the main line just as
View from our window: North Mackay, Queensland, Australia. 8:00 am, 09 January 2014.
The town of Mackay is surrounded by lovely beaches, some of which are patrolled and swept to eliminate the various water-borne killer gribblies. Oddly enough, no-one appears to use them.
The truth is, we’ve reached the point in the trip where we have sort of…stopped planning. So it was that we turned up in Airlie Beach, the jumping off point for the Whitsundays, and were unable to get on a boat tour for love nor money. So all we have are some lovely views taken from the coastline. But you know what? We’re kind of okay with that. We already had lots of time on the Great Barrier Reef, and the trip will not have any shortage of beaches. And then, we’re already planning how we’ll come back to
View from our window: Beaches Hostel, Airlie Beach, Australia. 9:57 am, 08 January 2014. No, we weren’t in prison.
Driving south from Cairns, the road passes mile after mile after mile of sugar cane fields. No other crops — it’s the most monocultural farmland I’ve ever seen. So the first picture is basically what we saw for around 1000 km or so. Still, this being Australia, you’re never far from a pretty beach (even if the crocodiles and jellyfish prevent any form of swimming). Lonely roads also make for easy stops to snap a sunset —especially one as good as this.
Presented without comment.
When you order an iced coffee in Australia (or at least in Queensland), you receive coffee with a scoop of ice-cream in it. This is either wonderful, or terrible, or possibly both. Regardless, it is definitely dessert, not coffee.
Paronella is a mad place, really. Built in the 1930s by a Spanish immigrant who had made his fortune in the nearby sugar cane fields, it was intended as a Spanish style castle, complete with ice cream parlor, bowling green, and ballroom in the middle of the Queensland rainforest. So yes, madness. It’s taken a pounding from various cyclones and fires over the years, along with the ever-encroaching tropical flora, and as a result is basically an 80 year-old ruin. But it has a certain bizarre charm, and we spent a very pleasant hour or so wandering its grounds, planted