We left town, and headed the last 200kms to Cairns. Cairns is the city we shall be flying from in 10 days, so we shall be based around here till then.

We arrived at the caravan park, and settled in… Then went for a swim in the pool and played a few rounds of ping pong.. I won, which means Jen cooks dinner! Sweet..

Now we are off for a spot of tennis to decide who does the washing up!

Today we left Townsville and headed into the Girrigun National Park where we spent a couple of hours walking through the bush down to Wallaman Waterfall. The tallest waterfall in Australia. It was a bit of a hike, but once we were there, it was worth the effort… only trouble was, we had to come back up which was exhausting on the knees! Jen even went for a little dip in the chilly water while I tried to protect the camera from the constant mist/rain.

On the way up the bush walk, a snake crossed my path…. didn’t manage to get the camera out but googled it and found the sucker below.. A red bellied snake… venomous!!!

Anyway, after we crawled back to the camper we headed to Mission Beach and arrived about 18:00 …. ready for grub and beer…. and kip.

Also, as Australia is in the midst of Lottery Fever, we purchased a ticket for tonight’s record $90 million draw… If we win, we shall be flying home by our Lear Jet.

SD

Day 25, in the big camper house.

We woke up and shifted our motorhome to the town car park, and spent a couple of hours relaxing by the town pool. Due to the danger of Jellyfish in the sea, it is highly recommended that you swim in the public pool (next to the sea) instead of actually in the ocean, unless you are wearing a “stinger suit” which still does not protect you completely.

Anyway, after chilling for while, we made our way to the marina, where we packed our bags, hid our valuables and made our way onto the boat.

Once we had settled into our cabin, which was a tad on the small side, we left port heading for the outer regions of the Great Barrier Reef. We had dinner and retired.

During the night the weather turned a bit ugly, so the crew made the decision to not go for the outer reef, and instead anchor down in a bay for the rest of the night.

The next morning, we woke and had breakfast early before taking a dive in the bay. This was our 1st proper dive in Australia, and we were both left very unimpressed. The visibility was less than 5 metres, there was a severe lack of sealife, and the coral was severely damaged or dying. We took part in another dive later that day, at a different spot and the conditions were pretty much the same. The only highlight of the dives was 2 turtles spotted on the 2nd dive. The water temperature was 24 degrees which is pretty chilly, and having to wear a full length “stinger suit” as well as wetsuit, was quite restricting. But a dive is a dive…. and I’m sure the water will improve on our next boat trip in a few days.

We slept well that night…going to bed at 9.30pm (!!!)

Waking the next day, we were dropped off at Whitehaven Beach for a couple of hours. This beach is 99.89 % silica, which makes the sand extremely white, squeaky to walk on, very good for the skin, and it never gets hot in the sun…. very nice not to do the usual stupid “burning feet dance” as you run for shade.

That afternoon we headed to another bay, where we spent about half an hour snorkelling (it was all I could take cos it was sooo cold!). Again, it was bad visibility and a lack of anything that excited us. Then we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Today, we woke early (again!) and were dropped off on South Molle Island. We then walked a few kms to a viewpoint over the Whitsundays. Then we walked back and got on the boat…. finally chilling on the top deck before returning to Airle Beach.

We then motored North, back in our faithful camper, to Townsville…. no plans as yet for tomorrow… all we do know is we have to be in Cairns by Thursday night to prepare for our next boat ride!