I missed writing about a small adventure we did while in Hervey Bay. We drove down to catch a boat to K’gari Island. We saw warnings about Dingos on the Island. We traveled 50 minutes to the island in the rain on a boat. A nice looking resort there but, it is raining. We grabbed the recommended sticks on leaving the compound in case we ran into Dingos and hiked 5 miles along the coast round trip in the rain with no Dingos.
Really no animals at all. A fairly monotonous eucalyptus forest. We made it back to the port in time to catch the boat back and that was probably the highlight.
Up at Moore Park Beach we hiked around Baldwin Swamp in Bundy. Saw many different birds and turtles. Headed out to Coral Cove looking for a snorkel spot but the ocean was very muddy from all the rain runoff. We went into town for lunch but many places closed. Ended up at a Mexican chain restaurant. Burritos were actually pretty good but the margaritas were the frozen variety from a machine. Visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery for some tastes. Apparently it is famous for rum and the setting and gift shop made me think it is a big tourist stop. The rums were only good with cola! I guess we are not big rum drinkers. That night we walked a mile into the small town of Moore Park Beach. We saw several Kangas in the fields on the way. Our only goals up north here are to sit on the beach in the sun and good snorkeling. There was a 2 1/2 hr one way boat trip to Lady Musgrave for snorkeling but that was too much time traveling. We ended up flying on a small plane from Bundaberg to Lady Elliott Island.
Lady Elliott Island
The island is part of the southern most extension of the Great Barrier Reef. The island has an Eco Resort for people to stay for a few days but they do have a few day trippers and that was us. We sat through a briefing about how to snorkel and where and then we were off. We spent and hour and a half on our first snorkel. Cloudy water at first then gorgeous! Huge Green Sea Turtles, Squid, Black-tipped Reef Shark and numerous, new to us, colorful fish. I can’t wait to put the video together for this. By the end I was shivering though as I didn’t wear a wet suit. We laid in the sun, had lunch at the resort and I checked out a short wet suit. Then we had a great second snorkel. Flew back home. Walked into town for a modest dinner at the resort/sports bar/ casino/ restaurant. No kangas spotted one the way there this time. We spent Friday at our beach. We have a billabong on the property which is flush with Plumed Whistling Ducks and Australian Ibis.
Billabong
We’ve walked miles up and down the beach and we’ve sat in our camp chairs reading our books. This is what we were hoping for on the East Coast. We had to innovate for our dinner that night as the propane had run out. We ended up with probably our best dinner with pasta carbonara with peas and bacon along with a beet and cauliflower salad. Great use of the microwave and the electric water heater pot!
We had a relaxing morning with some sun and a short walk then a 4 hour drive to Brisbane. Dropping off the van was super easy we had enough insurance coverage that they didn’t seem to care what the van was like on return. We have now spent our last few days in Australia in Queensland’s capital city Brisbane, a gorgeous river city.
Riverwalk in Brisbane
Brisbane from South Park
Very vibrant with excellent restaurants and probably the cheapest city wide transportation system anywhere. We had a great Asian tapas meal yesterday and spent a bit of time riding the City Cats up and down the river. Turns out, you can go anywhere on the system including buses, trains, and ferries for 50 cents Australian a trip. That’s like 30 cents American. We walked 9 miles today. Sunny at times. Pouring rain at times. Kinda the usual for our past two weeks. That doesn’t detract from the beautiful city of Brisbane. They have laid out a spectacular riverfront that is so accessible and loaded with scenic restaurants and bars. Love it.
Now in the lounge waiting to board our plane home. Hopefully sunny today in the Bay Area or I guess I mean tomorrow though it will still be Tuesday!