A North Queensland Experience.
The 2nd. August 2004 is the start of another holiday. My sister Noeline and b.i.l.. Kevin from New Zealand are coming for a holiday.
I collected them from the Brisbane Airport arriving in brilliant sunshine, a contrast from the very wet they left at home. The drive to Mooloolaba where I live took about an hour and I proudly showed them the beach and Esplanade, then my unit on a canal before taking them to my sister Nancy and b.i.l’s place in Buderim Meadows where we plan to be together for a few days.
We hardly got there when Nancy’s daughter Carol and family from the Gold Coast arrived, also Nancy’s other daughter Linda came south from Coolum. It is rare for so many of my family to be together especially when we are scattered around Australia and New Zealand. We enjoyed a very tasty barbeque and lots of chatter.
Next morning there was a little light rain, (must have come over with the Kiwis) so this was a chance for some retail therapy at the huge Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore. The afternoon turned to more sunshine, we all had a nice meal at the R.S.L Club and introduced Kevin to the very tasty Tooheys Old beer which he said was a nice change, then found some time to explore the lovely Esplanade at Mooloolaba and view the nice white sands and sparkling ocean.
The next morning in brilliant sun we drove north to the Eumundi markets, these are held twice a week in a small country town selling all sorts of crafts locally produced and prices are always good. Moving on to Noosa, the finish of the Sunshine Coast, which is a very busy holiday resort town, then made our way south along the coastline passing many beautiful beaches, we called into Sunshine beach where we all had a nice luncheon at the restaurant where Linda works. We followed the interesting Sunshine Coast road back to Mooloolaba passing many lovely beaches and towns.
The Kawana Shopping, although not quite as big as the Sunshine plaza has many branch shops and well worth a visit, I collected some fresh prawns on the way home, peeled them, marinated them in garlic and cooked them on the barby, we had crabs and New Zealand mussels as well to make for a full seafood lunch. Our cousin Glenis and her husband Bob came south from Gympie to visit, it had been many years since we were altogether like this.
A perfect day for a drive into the hinterland, our first stop was for a lovely view of the Glass House Mountains at Mary Cairn Cross Park and rain forest. we travelled on to Montville through some nice rolling countryside, the craft town is always a fascination for visitors and never get sick of browsing around the many shops selling locally made product along with specialized places like the quaint cuckoo clock shop, all their product is imported direct from Germany. We drove on to Mapleton and enjoyed lunch at an old Queenslander hotel, I always order a meal of fish and chips and from the balcony you may see the coastline in the distance. We took a very hilly and narrow road further inland to Kenilworth, another small crafty village and a cheese factory, which sells a huge array of delicious cheeses of many flavours. We arrived back at my sister’s place in time to change and catch the courtesy bus to the Alexandra Surf Club to enjoy a few drinks and a meal.
Next day was a time for packing in preparation for our trip up north by train. Being another glorious day we joined some other friends for a farewell luncheon at the Mooloolaba Surf club and a chance to view the glorious beach and sunbathers and swimmers. My nephew Brian and one of his children arrived from the Gold Coast to spend some time with Noeline and Kevin. That evening we watched the Wallaby’s beat the All Blacks for the Bledesloe Cup.
Next morning Noeline, Kevin and I caught the Sunlander train for the long rail journey to Airlie Beach, being daylight hours we managed to amuse ourselves by watching the scenery which consisted of thousands of hectares of Sugar cane growing in many stages of maturity, the Club bar was next to our carriage and we spent many hours relaxing in the comfy loungers and talking to fellow passengers. We travelled north to Gympie, Maryborough, Gladstone and then Rockhampton where the electrified engine was changed to diesel and continued on the smooth track .The sugar cane seemed to go on for kilometres broken occasionally by banana plantations. There was a restaurant, which served hot meals, or there were snacks available in the Club car. The last few hours were in darkness and the comfortable seats in our carriage helped us catch some sleep. We arrived at Proserpine, the station for Airlie Beach at 4 am. Noeline & Kevin’s sons Simon and Regan were there to collect us for the half hour journey to the beach. We all managed to get some more sleep before starting to explore the magic of this lovely resort town in the Whitsunday’s. We first wandered into the town and enjoyed a nice family breakfast. My nephews had hired a car, they took us first to the Marina to take a look at the hundreds of pleasure boats, and then we visited some of the beauty spots, which included the jetty where the boats leave for the Islands and Great Barrier Reef. A popular waterfall and rock pools would look a lot better if there had been some rain; our return trip passed the local nudist club (very slowly), looked like they were involved in a serious game of croquet. The town seems to be expanding into the hilly surrounds, guess the glorious views and lovely blue waters had something to do with it.
The town is full of eating-places and there seems to be lots of back packer hostels to cope with the thousands of people who use Airlie beach as a base for the beautiful Islands.
The following morning dawned to glorious blue skies with sea view filtering through the shade trees and palms, a promise of a nice 27 degs. Temperature. We took advantage of the hired car and with the suggestions of my nephews we drove south on the Bruce highway turning west into Pioneer Valley, our destination the MacKay Highlands. The rental XR6 Falcon hit a huge pothole and bent a tyre rim, we were miles from any town, a wheel change soon got us on our journey again, we left the valley and climbed through some beautiful rain forests to the look- out settlement of Eungella with fabulous views of the valley below. The old pub served a nice range of luncheon food. We carried along a bit further to a colony of platypus, which we were fortunate to catch glimpses as they swam passed.
Time for a little exploring on foot so next morning we took advantage of another lovely sunny day and checked out the tourist trail and booked a day trip to Hamilton Island for the next day. Simon, who is skipper on a schooner called Providence surprised us with an afternoon trip around the coastline, it is a replica of an Americas cup racing class and is a totally manual sail ship, it usually goes out for three days at a time with 10-15 tourists who get the opportunity to work the sails and navigate. It was wonderfully peaceful just skimming through the water; the only sound was the flapping of the sails.
We were up early next morning and caught the tour bus to where the Catamaran left for an exciting day of cruising around the many Islands in the Whitsunday group. It was a smooth crossing to Hamilton Island, a haven for tourists and pleasure boat owners. There are many large apartment building and hotels to cater for the year round demand for accommodation, a novel way of getting around the Island is by buggy’s simular to what the golfers use. Back on board it was time for a tasty barbecue luncheon, then on our way to another Island and a relaxing stop on Whitehaven beach with it’s powdery white sand which you may use to polish gold jewellery, we were transported by raft style boats as there is no jetty there, there was time for people to swim if they wanted to or play volley ball and cricket on the sand. Our return to the mainland was via Molle and Daydream Islands, It was a most enjoyable day in glorious sunshine.
The sun is still brilliant so next morning we took the local bus to a wildlife park which had a large free flying Avery home to many varieties of birdlife, there were kangaroos, Dingoes, Emus, snakes and the main attraction was feeding time for the Crocodiles. The koalas were popular also; everyone loves to give them a cuddle.
Sunday is market day at Airline Beach, hundreds of craft stalls selling hand made jewellery, paintings, wood and glass ornaments and a wide range of fruit and vegetables. We later wandered around the lagoon and lovely swimming pools, the sea is not advisable for swimmers as there is a nasty box jellyfish they call stingers which gives a very painful sting and is there most of the year. This day I wore a black tee shirt which has the old pub at Puhoi in New Zealand on it’s front and is where I was born, five different people remarked asking me if I had been there, didn’t realise how well known it was.
Our last day in the lovely part of Queensland we took a long walk along the boardwalk to the marina to help digest all the food and drink we have had over the last week, we said goodbye to Simon who was preparing to take another bunch of tourists out for three days. Our train was leaving at 4 am in the morning and we caught the bus to the railway station for our ongoing trip to Cairns, this part of the journey north is 12 hours and only a short while in darkness so we were able to view once more the endless hectares of sugar cane and bananas.
We arrived at 4 pm and the courtesy bus was there to collect us and take us to the Leisure Park where we had a villa booked. The folk in the park were very friendly, especially our driver John, he gave us all the information we needed to start with. After settling into our comfortable rooms for the next few days we decided on booking the day long trip into the Kuranda Rain forest, then walked to the huge Brothers Club for a few drinks and a nice meal.
The tour bus collected us in the morning, along with some ex-Hamilton friends Don & Glad. We had made arrangements to meet; they are touring around Australia in their Mercedes camper van. We caught the old steam train for the very picturesque travel through lush rain forest, it made two stops so we could get off and take photos and view some waterfalls and valley scenes. The railway line was built over a hundred years ago to bring out Gold and Silver. There are 15 tunnels, all hand hewn, plus many bridges across deep ravines.
The tree lined township of Kuranda has many shops selling a wide range of locally made craft, artists displaying some lovely works, plus a wide range of food shops.
Our return journey was by Sky Rail, again a marvellous achievement of construction, seven kilometres of pylons supporting the cars high up and giving everyone a wonderful views gliding over the rain forest and coral seas in the distance. We made two stops along our journey for lovely views of waterfalls and forest, also a very interesting Rainforest Interpretive Centre. It was nice to spend some time with my old friends who have been travelling around Australia for nearly two years and have nearly circumnavigated the country.
Next day we hired a rental car and drove the 70 kilometres to Port Douglas, following the coastline of lovely blue waters and white sands most of the way. Port Douglass has a nice sheltered marina with many pleasure craft and charter boats to the great Barrier reef, a great lookout over four mile beach, a shame, it’s not a place for swimming as there are stingers here also. On returning to Cairns we took advantage of having the car and explored the city with its many tourist shops, a large marina and swimming complex right on the shore line, although quite a busy place there was that touch of holiday mood among it’s peoples.
Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Noeline and Kevin, it has been great to be able to spend some time with them and visit new places, they caught the plane to Melbourne to spend some time with their daughter, unfortunately Kevin’s father in N.Z. was very sick so they decided to go straight home, unfortunately arriving just after he died.
After my goodbyes I took the local bus into the city for some shopping and exploring the sea front. My friend John took me to the Brothers Club for a few drinks. Next day being my last I once again took the local bus into the city to take a last look around and that evening John took me to the club again and asked me to join him and his wife Brenda for dinner at their place which was very kind of them, I enjoyed a lovely meal and next morning John drove me to the rail station to catch the Sunlander for my long journey back to the Sunshine coast, a mere 26 hours travel. I was able to see a lot of scenery that we had travelled in darkness on the way up, still vast areas of sugar cane and bananas.
Once again my holidays have come to a close and I have been able to add lots of new places and scenery to my long list of places I’ve seen.
I have already booked another exciting journey, in October I fly to Melbourne, have two days there and catch a bus to Adelaide where I have three days to explore this city I have heard so much about, plus meeting up with three lots of friends who live there. Then I catch the Gahn train to Darwin, a very long journey of 47 hours, I am staying with some friends for two days before flying back to Brisbane.
In between my getaways I am having quite a few visitors from New Zealand and England so out comes the local tour books again to proudly show my friends what a wonderful place the Sunshine coast really is.
Till next time, take care
JIM.
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