Drive to Double Island Point - Noosa

This is such an amazing place I've decided it needs a post of its own!

The only way to get to Double Island Point is using the magnificent beach highway which runs meters from the ocean. Checking the tides is also very important as it's possible to get to Double Island Point and not get back until the high tide has passed.

Double Island is the end point of the beach in the Great Sandy National Park in Noosa - about 65 kms from point of entry onto the beach highway. As I attempted to describe in my previous post roaring along the beach so close to the ocean is totally thrilling - something that has to be experienced. The sights along the way are often unique - both the activities of the rare humans with their fishing rods, caravans!!, tents, 4wds and the Mad Max brigade (the ropey boat they were towing was called FKDD3!) - and of course, the sparkling, turquoise ocean. For 15 km along the beach track there are great camping facilities where anyone who loves the beach can pitch their tent. You would need to be fully self contained. We were very tempted to come for a night or 2. It would be fantastic!

Once we parked our car at the end of the beach we made the steep climb to get to the lighthouse at the top of the point. We were very proud of ourselves as we made it!! Many people go half way and never get to the top. We met a great volunteer couple who were given a turn to man a tiny information centre for 2 hours a day for a week. They were ex-Zimbabweans and were having a ball having just spotted a pod of whales migrating North. We just missed them!

The views from the top of the point were amazing as was the "playing" on the beach before the tide came in and we had to return to our starting point.

It was a day we'll always remember - yet another one!!

Noosa – the place to be!

The impression one often gets of Noosa is that of the rich and famous walking down Hastings Street. This is rather far from the truth as the place is stunningly beautiful - the Noosa river and its ferry over to the North Shore, the parks along its banks, bike tracks all over the town, the ability to drive for miles and miles in the Great Sandy National Park in a 4wd one meter from the ocean (our poor navlady was stressing thinking we were driving in the sea!!), the stunning views over the ocean from accessible walkways, the forests, small coves along the beaches for safe, year round swimming and amazing hinterland views – and of course, the family, who have all been so kind to us! (This is what we have seen. We would need a few more weeks to enjoy what we haven't.)

Hastings Street is there with its funky coffee shops and upmarket shops, restaurants and boutiques, often very original and inviting…if you are one of the rich and famous. Picnics on the beach for lunch, at the end of a 4 wheel drive or after a long forest walk along the edge of the azure ocean does us fine!

It appears to be the perfect place to settle though property is exceptionally expensive. Many people we spoke to and observed appear to be retired (though lots of young ones too), environmentally conscious, keen on exercise, willing to help us when we kept getting lost using the marvelous maze of bike tracks, beach and 4 wd lovers - all fiercely protective of their “place” in Noosa – perfectly justified. I even spotted the university of the third age. My current university is Radio National!!

I think if one has “made it” this is the place to come though I believe the summer is very hot and humid. The one good thing about Noosa is that the ocean is swimmable all year round – no life-threatening jellyfish!

We are loving every minute in Noosa and are so glad we chose to stay for 8 days before heading down to Brisbane.

(I will post all the family photos on the blo.g after the weekend as Denize has arranged a picnic on the river for all the family on Saturday evening. It should be fun. The only thing missing will be the family in Perth!)

P.S. Chris couldn't resist the "Mad Max" look on the beach with the 4wds all in a row! and the last picture is of Coolum beach about 20 mins from Noosa.

The Whales in Hervey Bay

This experience had to have its own post!!

We spent 4 and a half hours on the outer edges of Harvey Bay watching the huge humpback whales that migrate each year into warmer waters from the Antarctic. We could almost touch the whales - they came that close to our boat. Catching them breaching is not easy - I seemed to click just a moment too late!

It was a totally AWESOME experience watching them "play". It is an experience we will always treasure.

Hervey Bay is a beautiful place too!

On the way down the east coast

After leaving Finch Hatton we started making our way down the east coast towards Noosa where we are planning to stay for 8 days to visit family, and a friend who was in my class at school - 40 years ago!

It isn't easy choosing where to stay as we want to avoid large towns yet don't want to miss them either. I have to explore everything!! Travelling down the east coast on the Bruce Highway is fairly hair raising and one has to have all your wits about you negotiating fast moving trucks, more caravans and fast cars travelling between Brisbane and Cairns (I presume). Once off the highway all the beautiful places can be discovered. We would need months and months in central Queensland to visit all the beautiful places there are.

We ended up choosing to stay at the The Caves -outside Rockhampton - in a fantastic bush camp which is part of the Capricorn Caves tourist park, Seventeen Seventy - an absolutely beautiful town on the coast named in memory of Captain Cook's landing in 1770 and Burrum Heads - half an hour out of Hervey Bay where we couldn't resist going to see the whales that migrate from the Antarctic. We stayed a few days at each place and just enjoy discovering what each place has to offer by walking, driving or riding our bikes.

We can't believe how lucky we have been to have managed to choose such beautiful places to stay. The beaches, the ocean, the sunsets are just amazing and no photos do justice to some of the beautiful sights we see. We continue to meet great people too. One couple we met live in a very interesting sounding eco village in Adelaide. They were so touched when I invited them to share pancakes with us one morning and have invited us to visit them in their village when we pass through Adelaide one day.

With all we have experienced I feel we are just too spoilt!

Eungella - "Home in the clouds" and the platypuses

After visiting Airlie Beach we decided that we would head to the Platypus Bush Camp (close to Finch Hatton) -about 45mins out of Mackay, a large town on the coast. We find we need quiet, inland places after being surrounded by lots of people like ourselves!!!
Luckily we unhitched our van in the showgrounds of the charming place,Finch Hatton, a tiny, sugar-cane town at the foothills of the Eungella Range before heading to the Platypus Bush Camp. The showgrounds have place for caravans, cost $20.00 per night, have an abundance of manicured green lawns, loads of uncluttered space, very few caravans and magnificent mountain views. They are managed by a lovely man who acts as caretaker together with his dog, Maggie. It was also very interesting watching and hearing the loaded sugar-cane trains pass by.
Once unhitched we took a drive down to Platypus Bush Camp. We decided it was not for us, and besides we wouldn't have been able to negotiate the dips, stones and bends in the road with our caravan. It was on the way to the Finch Hatton Gorge in the rain forest. It also seemed to be occupied by some rather odd forest folk that inhabit the area - not that we mind odd forest folk!!
I had a chuckle at one of the folk climbing a ladder over her fence into her house as her gate was broken. I just missed getting a photo but got the ladder! We also couldn't believe seeing the house with a log through the middle. Chris chatted with the local historian of the town in the small museum and he explained that the whole community had offered to help the man remove the log but he had declined the offer. The town had been struck by a severe cyclone in March and a lot of property and trees were damaged. We loved the blue and purple house next door!
We drove up into the ranges twice as the first time we went we were too early for the platypuses. Instead we walked through the rain forest and had morning tea in a little cafe run by a weird woman who made some beautiful beaded animals in her gorgeous mountain style log house/cafe.
The small township of Eungella is right at the top of the mountain range and has the most magnificent views. The "home in the clouds" is exactly what it is. Close by is the Broken River where we saw the platypuses that I was determined to see. There are not many places left in Australia to see platypuses in the wild. The second time we went was closer to dusk and after waiting quietly by the side of Broken River we saw them! They are so delicate and sweet - far smaller than I ever imagined! It was a treat to see them swimming up and down the river with their beak shaped fronts. We absolutely loved the sight.
We stayed 4 days in a small piece of paradise!