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Feb 24th – Townsville

Thursday, February 28th, 2008


Airlie Beach 069

Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

It is with a bit of sadness that we left Airlie Beach – the place has a great vibe about it and we actually at long last met a family who were travelling the world. The Macdonalds were such a lovely family from the UK with their 3 children. The eldest son was 10 and standing next to Josh was half his size! His knowledge of animals was second to none and I see a mini Steve Irwin in the making. It’s funny to swap ideas and find that you usually agree on things. We were all of the opinion that if we could travel 3 months then go home for a bit you would appreciate everything a little bit more. You see and experience so much on a daily basis that the bewilderment of it all dampens after a while. It’s the oh yes another waterfall – little wow syndrome. It takes something really spectacular to fire up your senses.

Townsville was wet – rain and flash flooding and I also managed to drop the laptop in Airlie beach so spent an extra day waiting for it to be repaired. It worked but the power jack had broken off inside and I didn’t help matters by pushing in a piece of blu tack to try and get it out again. The blu tack stayed in and yes it was embarrassing trying to explain to the technician what I had done but it was fixed and it wasn’t too expensive. We don’t feel quite so cut off anymore.

The town itself – full of backpackers. There is a great water park for kids on the seafront that has lots of buckets of water that fill up and then soak everyone underneath. It’s a big town and also has a huge RAAF base. The holiday park was next to the base so we saw lots of planes taking off and making what looked like some very dodgy landings.

Feb 22nd/23rd – Whipped Ice Cream

Thursday, February 28th, 2008


Airlie Beach 110

Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

Another splurge for today – we seem to be doing a lot of those in Australia. A day trip out to see The Whitsundays, I would have loved to have gone sailing for a few days but I think the kids would have been a bit bored and the budget just does not stretch that far. We opted for some fast paced ocean rafting instead. It was great – we had such a fab time. The skies were deep blue and the ocean a greeny turquoise with hardly any wind so we were lucky. On our way to our first snorkelling stop we saw the boat that during the storms had to airlift all the backpackers off – they were in the water for over 3 hours. On a peaceful day like today it’s hard to imagine nature being so fierce.

The Whitsundays are a collection of small islands set in idyllic ocean. The snorkelling was okay, not as fantastic as Mexico but with all the rain they have also had here it has meant visibility was not what it should be. You also have to wear the sexy lycra stinger suits to protect yourself from jellyfish – another glamorous outfit! There was coral and fish to see including a Giant Wrasse that looked like Elvis but no underwater world if that makes sense.

The next stop was the famous Whitehaven beach and OMG the sand is so white and fine it looks just like whipped ice cream. There were rays circling around our feet and small mangrove trees complete with leaves growing underwater, a very strange experience. We saw lots of turtles on the way back but again for poor O not the chance to swim with them! The scenery here is just so breathtaking, you cannot help but be relaxed by it. It was a shame to go home but we at least had some thrills – we tried to chase a 5 million dollar boat and could not beat it so zig-zaged in and out of it’s wake. The kids enjoyed it – they were sitting on the edge of the raft and O had changed places without me seeing, when I looked up to her previous seat and saw an empty space my heart stopped…………The crew were really relaxed and full of jokes so it was with heavy heart that we left the boat. It is just so beautiful here.

Feb 21st – Birdkids of Alcatraz

Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Airlie Beach 058 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour The highlight of today was staying at Lake Maraboon, just outside of Emerald. It’s a beautiful tranquil place full of wildlife. I put out some small bits of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb 20th – Sapphire

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Airlie Beach 025

Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

With names like Emerald, Rubyvale and Sapphire you know you are in the middle of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb 18th – Lashings Of Ginger Beer

Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Fraser Island 046 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour At last a visit to a drinks factory where the kids get to taste! No Josh did not sneak in under the radar, we paid a visit to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb 17th – Teenagers Meet Tiny Non Mutant Non Ninja Turtles

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Fraser Island 058 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour Bundy or Bundaberg is famous in Australia for Bundaberg Rum. We have done the beer and wine tours so now it was the turn of the rum. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb 16th – Fraser Island

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Fraser Island 022 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour The largest sand island in the world looked suspiciously green from Hervey bay side – full of foliage and trees which surely can’t grow on sand – wrong. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb 15th – A Walk On The Wild Side

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Fraser Island 004 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour Noosa is a very hip place – lots of surfers and tons of backpackers. The sun came out this morning so we decided to talk a walk along ... [Continue reading this entry]

Valentine’s At The Big Pineapple

Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Brisbane, Noosa 042 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour How can you describe the Big Pineapple? It’s a 3 storey Perspex building in the shape of a pineapple. Based at the Golden Circle plantation you can go ... [Continue reading this entry]

Home Of The Crocodile Hunter

Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Brisbane, Noosa 020 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour Beerwah – what a strange name for a town but this is where Australia zoo lies and was home to Steve Irwin before his untimely death. Little known ... [Continue reading this entry]