The big drive through Queensland

After finishing in Yorkey’s we embarked on the next major part of our journey – the 1325 mile drive down through Queensland to Brisbane.

The drive has been pretty cool, the scenery was pretty diverse and it still seems a bit weird that we started it in a rainforest and ended in a city. Don’t know if any of you guys saw the news reports earlier this year of a tropical cyclone (called Larry) that hit northern Queensland but the damage was pretty extensive – some of the banana plantations are still decimated – and this is the reason why we haven’t had a ‘nana since we left the UK, cos there so damn expensive over here. We also saw some of the biggest sugar plantations ever and loads of mango groves (I wasn’t allowed to go scrumping for any though – boooo). Things got a bit remote at stages as most towns are very small and up to 50 miles apart, two of the more extreme ones being Childers – which was very picturesque & quaint, and Marlborough – which was ropey as hell, basically Hicksville. However, onto the towns we stayed at;

Townsville – No, not the home of the Powerpuff Girls, but a tourist gateway to Magnetic Island. This is yet another offshore paradise, but due to its size it has some resorts and so we didn’t worry about getting over to it. Instead we explored the weekend markets, the beach front lagoon, very odd exercise walk along the esplanade and did a bit of sunbathing (well, more like skin burning).

Airlie Beach – Bloody wonderful here. The place we stayed at was on the top of a hill overlooking the harbour & surrounding islands, and simply beautiful. Airlie is a bit of a backpacker’s haven mainly due to its close proximity to the Whitsunday Islands. These have some of the best island beaches in Oz but due to the increasing wind speed at sea it meant sailing out was very choppy. As this was just a stop over visit, time and conditions meant we had to pass on getting out to the Whitsunday’s so instead we took in some more exploration of town and some relaxing time in the pool. This is deffo a place to move to.

Rockhampton – Again another stop over town and our first motel experience. We just rocked up into town and got a room – this was now a proper road trip. Rocky is mainly a cattle town and known as the beef capital of Oz, and when we had our steak dinner we were not disappointed. Our rump steak was just as good as a fillet back home, so if anyone fancies a good meal, drop into Rocky. Not much to say about the town though, just normal but with cows.

Hervey Bay – Another pretty town with loads of picturesque wooden houses and despite the tourists, seems like a nice place to live. Our main reason for stopping here however, was to go whale watching. After mating in the Antarctic the whales travel to the tropical waters in north east Queensland to give birth and then travel back down to the Hervey Bay & Fraser Island area for a holiday with their babies. Despite our bad experience up north the sail out was so much better – proper sun drenched sailing on sparkling blue water. We saw a few dolphins and turtles to start with, which to be honest was more than we’d imagined we’d see. But then came the best, a mother whale and her calf just swimming by. It was totally amazing and difficult to show on our photos just how huge yet graceful these creatures are. There were several pods of mum & bub, some even had a third whale as escort for those with really young calves, however when we dropped anchor for lunch one of the calves started to be a bit nosey and swam towards. Although these whales don’t worry about the boats the mothers do have a tendency to swim in between calf & boat, but as this baby came over there was no sign of mum. Suddenly on the other side of the yacht, the mother actually raised her head out of the water to check us out before shepherding her calf away. It was mind blowing to see such tenderness in an animal so huge. As the afternoon moved on the whales got a bit playful and were singing and slapping their fins on the ocean surface. Our sail back was wonderful, in the lazy afternoon sun and a good day was had by all.

Beerwah - Ok we didn't actually stay here but this is where Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo is. The flowers, inflatable crocs & khaki shirts that have been lain as tribute to the great man were still to be seen everywhere - very moving. For any of you that saw some of his tribute ceremony the Crocoseum is a lot smaller in real life than on tv, so the service must have been quite snug. We got to see loads of crocs & reptiles but also some very cool juvenille tigers playing in a pool. And we got to contribute to the Wildlife Warriors fund. Good work by all. Then it was on to our last stop in Oz, Brissy...

One last note about the drive; for anyone whose read “The Yes Man” by Danny Wallace you’ll know what I’m talking about next. For those who haven’t, Australians have a penchant for Big Things. Not in an “everything is bigger in Texas” kinda way, but they seem to like large (but slightly ropey) concrete sculptures. So far we’ve seen a few including a big crab, a big hat, a big snake, a big mango, a big Captain Cook, a big strawberry, a big beer can, a big pineapple, a big horse, a big lawnmower, a big Ned Kelly and several big cows around Rocky. But as they’ve all been along the highway photos have been difficult to take.