Day 21
Our last day sailing, we started the day snorkelling a massive soft coral field with a cute little green turtle. From there, we slowly headed back to Airlie while admiring the incredible views of various Whitsunday Islands. It really was an amazing trip, and such a joyful group of people to experience this with.
Back on dry land, we were utterly exhausted. The late night conversations and early morning snorkelling really knocked the stuffing out of us! We had so many plans for the afternoon, but postponed them in favor of sleep. Sailing is exhausting!
Day 22
All of our time in Airlie Beach so far has been spent either booking trips or sailing. Now that everything serious had been dealt with, it was time to actually relax and enjoy the town! Airlie beach is full of shops and bars, so there is plenty to do and see. We spent the morning walking through town and window shopping all the creative and nifty stores. From there we made a delicious homemade coffee, and headed to the lagoon.
Having spent several months in Australia, I have begun to realize that having a lagoon is what really seperates a city from a town, and Aussies take their lagoons incredibly seriously. Airlie Beach has neither raised or lowered the bar with their spacious and deep lagoon. Not as lovely as Cairns certainly, but definitely a place made for spending an afternoon reading and cooking delicious grub. So, in an effort to fit in with the locals, we spent the afternoon doing just that! One delicious meal of Coconut Cream and Veal pasta later (mmmhhhhh), we had just enough sunlight for one last chapter before heading back to our campsite for the night.
Day 23
Today was a work day. Not the most glamourous thing, but hey, I got bills to pay.
We went to Happy Travels to spend the day working and charging up devices. If there is one thing I have experience with after 8 months, it is taking advantage of the various points where you can get a free charge and some wifi. Pro Tip: Happy Travels offer both unlimited plug-ins and fast wifi. Take advantage of it!
We spent all day in that little electronic paradise, editing photos and finishing up work that needed to get done. From there, we got ready for our big next day! Outer Reef time!
Day 24
Cairns is considered the best spot to access the Great Barrier Reef, which at the time we had every intention of doing. We did go to Green Island which is technically on the reef, and were surrounded by beautiful fish and turtles there. Green Island got us incredibly excited for our trip to the outer reef… until we went to Fitzroy island a couple weeks later.
Another island on the reef, Fitzroy is known to have some of the absolute best island snorkelling on the reef. Except.... It wasn’t. It was dead. Walking Fitzroy was one of the most disheartening things I have ever experienced, an snorkelling it was even worse. Everything was just white.
Maybe saying it was dead was a slight exaggeration. After talking to several locals on the matter, apparently coral can go white without dying, and it does during intense hot/dry spells. Cairns had been through an incredibly long and hot summer, and as such there was rumoured to be a lot of color loss in that region of the Reef. We decided not to snorkel around there, but rather saved our Outer Reef trip for farther south.
Which brings us to today; Outer Reef trip day! We were incredibly pumped to finally get to visit the magnificent corals, colours, and fish!
I wrote way too much about this, so I decided to make it it's own post. Check out my in-depth review of the Outer Reef trip here!
Day 25
Back in Airlie beach, we abused Happy Travels one more time to get some work done, then headed to our campsite for a nice, well deserved rest. Snorkelling really knocks the stuffing out of you!
I should let you know, the next week or so gets pretty boring, but it’s not my fault! You see, Australia is a weird country. They have these beautiful, lush coastlines that are rich with forests and people, while the middle of the country is barren desert. So travellers tend to stick to the coastlines. Moreover, they tend to stick to the East Coast for some unknown reason (ahem, extensive marketing). Because of this, most of the East Coast has been built up as a tourist destination, with tons of hostels and town esplenades. But these tourist areas are like any business, and they typically form in one area due to market forces. So you have patches of beautiful tourist area with long stretches of emptiness in between. I tell you this because for the next week we will be in an empty patch. But don’t worry! I’ll find some stories...
Day 26
We camped last night just north of a city named Mckay, so we spent today in the city exploring. The Mckay itself was nothing too exciting or special, but I still had a lovely and friendly vibe to it. They have a massive arts a cultural centre that was unfortunately closed, but we spent some time at the library next door admiring the architecture, enjoying the air conditioning, and napping on cushy chair. From there we went to the Mckay lagoon. Of all the lagoons we have seen so far, I think this one was the most beautiful, with three levels, a slide, and a freaking waterfall. All provided for free. Seriously.
We then headed to the information center to see what else there was to do in the area. Turns out there wasn’t much. So we decided to drive straight through to Rockhampton, a drive that ended up being very long and difficult.
It is roughly 347 kilometers between Rockhampton and Mckay, with no gas stations enroute. Our van has a 40 litre tank with the capacity to go roughly 320 kms on one tank. Basically we couldn’t make it straight to Rockhampton using the theoretical limits of our tank. We had no clue that there wasn’t gas enroute between Rockie and Mckay, as there was no warning or anything. So it was only by chance that we decided to top up the tank in Mckay, and then we headed out on what should have been an absolutely horrible and dangerous trip.
As we drove along, we started to leave the lush rainforest area of Northern Quensland, and entered the dry-er and redder southern portion. The transistion was realy apparent the farther we drove, and it was cool to be able to see how abruptly it changed. It was a very pleasant drive. And then the sun set. And we realized we had a problem.
The fuel guage was showing a quarter of a tank, but the signs were showing Rockhampton to be 200 kms out, it was pitch black, and we were beginning to freak out. Instantly I started doing the math that I should have done earlier, and I came to the conclusion that we just weren’t making it. Hands clutching the steering wheel, knuckles turning white, I watched as the fuel guage went from a quarter tank, to a 16th, to empty. The light went on, but we were still 20 kms out; essentially doomed. Yet we continued plugged along, attempting to preserve gas as best as possible. Finally, despite all odds, we saw the lights of Rockhampton at the bottom of the hill, just as I could feel the engine puttering out of gas. Clutch in, we rolled down that hill before perfectly sliding into a stop at a Caltex Gas Station. Despite all odds (and basic math), we made it. The van has a 40 litre tank, and at that gas station we put 39.8 litres in. Running dry, but we made it.
Day 27
We woke up in a campground just north of Rockhampton, and started the day off with a walk near Edna caves. Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to actually go into the caves, so instead we walked outside before driving to the capricorn caves. Here you were allowed to go into the caves, just for a significant fee. Being the broke backpackers we are, we decided to skip this particular attraction and head into the city itself to see what there was to see.
Rockie(hampton) is the Cow capital of Australia, kind of the Alberta to Australia’s Canada. So most of the attractions in town were cow related, and honestly I felt like I could get all of that back home. So we chose to skip all cow attractions, and tried to find some other things to do for the day. We finally settled on the Rockhampton zoo, which turned out to be an amazing decision.
First off, the Rockhampton Zoo is 100% free. Which is amazing for a zoo. Secondly it has an amzaing layout, set right beside the beautiful Botanic Gardens, and showcasing the animals in a way that felt spacious, freindly, and natural. The zoo features stunning birds (including a brightly coloured Cassowary), adorable locals (Roos, Koalas, Wombats, Emus, Crocs, the lot.), and monkeys that unfortunately were packed away for the day. And oh yeah, we saw our first dingos which was so cool! So I highly reccomend that zoo to absolutely everyone, as it was so amazing!
From the zoo we explored more of Rockhampton, but there was ultimately nothing of note in the city so I won’t describe them here. Late that afternoon we pressed on to our campsite in the town of Calliope, just south of Rockhampton. We stopped at a beautiful site overhanging a river, and had a pleasant evening eavesdropping on the beautiful music made by some nearby hippies. I miss playing music!
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