Inland and Up North!

After our side trip to Stradbroke Island, we had a few days in Brisbane with our cousin, in which she took us to see some special treats of the area. One day, she drove us inland to the city of Toowoomba. The hope had been to show us the stunning view back through the mountain pass toward Brisbane. Unfortunately, that week, there had been an ongoing bush fire for several days, and the smoke was so thick, there was no sightseeing to be had. We compensated very effectively by going to the Cobb & Co. Museum. What a great time we had there! They had exhibits on all the transport systems of late 1800's Australia on display, from horse-drawn phaetons and stage coaches to the first automobiles, a natural history section, a display of Aborigine dance gear from the islands at the very northern tip of Australia, and an entire section devoted to teaching people arts and handicrafts from woodworking, stone carving, and iron working to silver smithing, stained glass work, felting and millinery. On weekends, they offer workshops at the museum so that the public can learn techniques directly from the artisans who make their livings doing these crafts. The next day, we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to see not only the koalas at all stages of life, but also kangaroos, wallabies, dingoes, emus, wombats, cassowaries, and an array of different birds and lizards. I can’t quite get used to the parrots and lorikeets flying around wild in Australia. It’s amazing to see them. I’ve included a shot of some Rainbow Lorikeets we saw up close at the Koala Sanctuary.

This is a bush turkey.

The birds in the sand are mynas having a dust bath--they landed so hard and fast, we thought they'd been hurt!

On our last day in Brisbane before our second Australian travel adventure, my son stayed at the house to complete a correspondence assignment while I went walking with our cousin through the Botanical Gardens and downtown of the city. Here are some of the ubiquitous Australian White Ibis in their nest at the gardens.

Our second travel adventure in Australia started out with an overnight train journey northward to Prosperpine, then a connection to Airlie beach, the town from which we would set off on two days sailing on a catamaran amongst the Whitsunday Islands!

What an experience! We met our sailing group in the late afternoon, and set out for the isles with a good wind in our sails. Our boat was the On Ice, sailed by the ISail Whitsundays company. It was just beautiful; the crew were super-friendly; the rest of the passengers were fun, interesting people from around the world; and, our initial impression that we would have a great time was completely confirmed over the two days! On the first morning, we woke up early to walk up through a forest reserve on Whitehaven Island to the hilltop from which I took this photo of the beach we would explore later in the day—talk about paradise!

 When we did go to the beach, we wore summer-weight wet suits to protect us from jellyfish, so we were able to swim longer than we would have otherwise. We also got to try stand-up paddle boarding! I was happily paddling along when I saw two large stingrays swim under me! I was very glad not to be swimming then, so of course that was when I fell backwards off the board! I never hurried to get out of the water so fast!

That evening, we were introduced to coral reef snorkelling at the head of Hook Island in Manta Ray Bay. WOW! There were so many different types of fish, and so many colours of coral! It was incredible! Then, just as I was getting out of the water, some others pointed out a dark shadow going past, and told me it was two manta rays hunting! Sure enough, whole arcs of fish started leaping out of the water to avoid the rays—what a sight! That night we moored in a quiet bay near Dolphin Point, where we were treated to a fabulous dinner while watching this beautiful sunset:

The next morning, we were just getting started when dolphins appeared off the port bow of our boat! How lucky were we to have these incredible wild animals appearing on demand at the places that were named for them? Very lucky, we were told—it hardly ever happens! After a little more snorkelling, and paddling about in a transparent canoe, through which we could see all kinds of fish going about their business, we moved off to our final stop before our return to Airlie Beach: a little sand island of which I can’t remember the name.  What was important was that we had one last chance to snorkel there—and we saw Sea Turtles! I saw one just hanging out at the bottom between some coral, then two more once I had climbed out of the water, into the dingy—they were just swimming along on the surface! We had one more wildlife sighting on our way back to port, when a solitary dolphin surfaced right by the boat as we sailed past!

Our time in Australia was brought to a lovely close with a few more days in Brisbane, in which we had two special treats: One was a pair of tickets to a play called Lipstick Dreams (which was absolutely hilarious!); the other was an invitation for lunch at the home of our cousin’s close friends, followed by a trip to the big Brisbane-Adelaide soccer match for my son (with the father and their kids) and a lovely tour around northern Brisbane for me (with our cousin and the mother of the family). What a great ending for our visit! As excited as we were to continue our trip, it was hard to leave.