A fun week with mum!

Hi- we are now enjoying our final night in this lovely spacious apartment at Trinity Beach. It’s been a fun 6 days with mum here visiting.
We went to Port Douglas one day (the photo above was taken on the scenic drive there) and had lunch and mum and I indulged in treatments at a day spa…all very luxurious…mum had a body wrap and I had a Jurlique facial which was excellent!

On another day we took the Skyway gondola up to Kuranda on the tablelands….did some short rainforest walks, and went into a wonderful butterfly sanctuary and also a huge bird enclosure- really good.

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday- thanks so much to those of you who sent me a message or called. We had pancakes for breakfast…went to the beach, and in the afternoon I went to the hairdressers and had my shoulder length hair all chopped off! I now have short hair once again (the first time in years) and I love it! Mum and Adam really love the new look too. To celebrate my birthday we went out to a lovely dinner…mum had scallops and I had a beautiful king prawn dish while Adam had a woodfired seafood pizza. That's us out to dinner in the photo- and me with my new shorter haircut. :-)

It’s Adam’s 34th birthday in a few days- so I guess we have another excuse for a good meal out!

Today we drove up to Mossman Gorge… a beautiful spot in the rainforest. Went for a circuit walk and also we all jumped in for a swim in the crystal clear waters- it was freezing but really refreshing and good fun!

Sadly, the weather has remained unseasonably windy. In fact very strong south easterly winds have been blowing on the coast as we’ve been traveling north for quite some time now. The locals keep saying they don’t know when they are going to stop. The weather is warm, about 26 most days and we’ve had rain and sun. But the wind (often about 30k an hour) has meant mum and I haven’t been able to go out to the reef to do any snorkel trips- a major disappointment for us both as we both love it and that was the main reason mum chose this particular destination to catch up with us….ah well- that aside it’s been a wonderful week, spending time together in a nice part of the world.

We have also spied a couple more crocs, on mud flats as we’ve been driving to places.

Tomorrow mum heads back home and we are heading north to Cape Tribulation for 3-4 days, before coming back down and starting our trek west, through the Atherton Tablelands to begin with. We’ve decided not to bother pushing further north than Cape Trib. I am really going to miss mum when she goes! We’ll also miss all this space!

Hope you are all doing well. It’s always a pleasure to receive an email or sms so please do keep in touch.
Love Emma and Adam xx

A fun week with mum!

Hi- we are now enjoying our final night in this lovely spacious apartment at Trinity Beach. It’s been a fun 6 days with mum here visiting.
We went to Port Douglas one day (the photo above was taken on the scenic drive there) and had lunch and mum and I indulged in treatments at a day spa…all very luxurious…mum had a body wrap and I had a Jurlique facial which was excellent!

On another day we took the Skyway gondola up to Kuranda on the tablelands….did some short rainforest walks, and went into a wonderful butterfly sanctuary and also a huge bird enclosure- really good.

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday- thanks so much to those of you who sent me a message or called. We had pancakes for breakfast…went to the beach, and in the afternoon I went to the hairdressers and had my shoulder length hair all chopped off! I now have short hair once again (the first time in years) and I love it! Mum and Adam really love the new look too. To celebrate my birthday we went out to a lovely dinner…mum had scallops and I had a beautiful king prawn dish while Adam had a woodfired seafood pizza. That's us out to dinner in the photo- and me with my new shorter haircut. :-)

It’s Adam’s 34th birthday in a few days- so I guess we have another excuse for a good meal out!

Today we drove up to Mossman Gorge… a beautiful spot in the rainforest. Went for a circuit walk and also we all jumped in for a swim in the crystal clear waters- it was freezing but really refreshing and good fun!

Sadly, the weather has remained unseasonably windy. In fact very strong south easterly winds have been blowing on the coast as we’ve been traveling north for quite some time now. The locals keep saying they don’t know when they are going to stop. The weather is warm, about 26 most days and we’ve had rain and sun. But the wind (often about 30k an hour) has meant mum and I haven’t been able to go out to the reef to do any snorkel trips- a major disappointment for us both as we both love it and that was the main reason mum chose this particular destination to catch up with us….ah well- that aside it’s been a wonderful week, spending time together in a nice part of the world.

We have also spied a couple more crocs, on mud flats as we’ve been driving to places.

Tomorrow mum heads back home and we are heading north to Cape Tribulation for 3-4 days, before coming back down and starting our trek west, through the Atherton Tablelands to begin with. We’ve decided not to bother pushing further north than Cape Trib. I am really going to miss mum when she goes! We’ll also miss all this space!

Hope you are all doing well. It’s always a pleasure to receive an email or sms so please do keep in touch.
Love Emma and Adam xx

Sliding down rapids at Murray Falls, near Cardwell!

Adam and I had heaps of fun on this afternoon! We had coffee in a thermos and some tim tams...read our books, and then despite the cold temperature of the water and a general lack of sunshine, jumped into this crystal clear waterhole for a swim...Adam tested out sliding down over the smooth rocks down this little rapid, then following his lead, I had a go...lots of fun...once you get to the bottom the water holds you under for a while, before you pop up a little way down the stream :-)

Hinchinbrook Island photos!

Adam walking on Ramsay Beach...in the background you can see a peak sticking up (not in cloud...that's the one we walked up).. plus our treehouses!

Hinchinbrook Island and now at Cairns!

Hello! Well, we hit Cairns yesterday and met up with mum, who flew up to spend six nights with us. It’s great to see mum and we are staying in a fantastic beachfront apartment at Trinity Beach, about 20 mins north of Cairns. Talk about a luxury break from the caravan!- I am sitting on our spacious balcony typing this…just across the road from the water. We have 3 bedrooms and a huge kitchen and living area..plus, probably the best bit as far as I am concerned at this point- a huge spa bath…bliss…and so much better than a narrow caravan amenity block shower!!

Before driving up here Adam and I had a lovely stay at Hinchinbrook Island in a treehouse. We were placed in probably the best treehouse in the tiny resort ..right up high with great views. The resort is very eco-tourism (Hinchinbrook is a huge national park) and the accommodation was built to blend in with the environment…basically our treehouse was built around existing trees and rocks…part of the bedroom wall was a huge boulder- it was pretty cool. It also gave us some time to relax and not rush about! We did a couple of big bushwalks, including a guided hike up to Nina Peak which had great views over the beaches and extensive mangrove system below. Apart from that though, we relaxed…we took over some of our own food (the treehouse was not self-contained, but the island’s food package was so ridiculously expensive we decided against it, and instead took some cereal and bowls and long life milk , tuna, crackers etc in our luggage!)…so we sat and ate in the fabulous treehouse, and went down to the lodge restaurant for a five star dinner and dessert on each of the three nights there which was a real treat. We also read books (yep- even Adam, who has now read this month’s Book Club book- Mao’s Last Dancer!) and played scrabble…after a three game losing streak I finally won a game…by just one point! Adam is now a very tough Scrabble opponent and surprise, surprise- we both get quite competitive ;-)

We saw more nice birds on the island, plus on our way out there on the boat, saw a crocodile sunning itself on the muddy banks just coming out of the marina at Cardwell!

We saw some beautiful waterfalls on our way up to Cairns and today we are all relaxing with lots of things planned for the rest of our stay here with mum..including a trip to the Barrier Reef to snorkel and to the Daintree etc.

From here, Adam and I will head on to spend some time at Cape Tribulation. I am sure the van will be a bit of a shock after our stay here. Living in a 12ft caravan certainly makes you appreciate the smaller luxuries of a normal apartment. J

Internet reception here for our wireless connection is very slow…so no photos just now…perhaps if I go to an internet café I can upload some soon.

Love to all…xx

A few more photos!...

...Emma feeding dolphins at Tin Can Bay...
Adam relaxing on board our catamaran cruise to Great Keppel Island...
And views from a bushwalk at Cape Hillsborough NP near Mackay....
(click on any pics for a larger view)

Townsville and Magnetic Island

Hello...we've spent the past couple of days at Townsville...we were going to stop at Bowen, but it was so windy we kept driving north...Bowen proved a good spot for a morning tea break and a wander around though!

We rode our bikes around Townsville when we arrived- the waterfront area has been done up nicely. The caravan park we arrived at was so full, we had to take an unpowered site while we were there, so out came the camp laterns etc.

The next day we took off on the ferry to Magnetic Island- about 25 mins on the ferry to get there. We took our bikes over and rode around the island, which was good fun, but pretty hard work as it was really hilly! We also hiked up to a lookout and went to the beach and had some lunch. Magnetic Island has a population of about 2500 people, and a nice feel to it, with lots of little coves and bushwalks to explore. It was a big day for us, and by the time we got back to the mainland we were really tired and hungry...we indulged and went out, and ended up going to Hogs Breath...havent been there for years and years! It was OK, and the steak and chips were welcome after the days activities.

Today we drove on to Cardwell, which is the launching point for boats out to Hinchinbrook Island... On the way we detoured a short way off the highway and went into Paluma National Park and walked up to Jourama Falls and a series of beautiful swimming holes....it was such a lovely spot, and we were so glad we went in to have a look- we ended up grabbing some food from the car fridge and walking back in to have a swim and a picnic. The sun was out too so it was really nice.
Then we continued on the hour or so to Cardwell.

There isn't a great deal at Cardwell...a small seaside town, popular for fishing, with lots of places offering mud crab sandwiches!- might have to try one of those tomorrow.
We plan to spend tomorrow checking out some other waterfalls near here and driving to some nice walks/lookouts etc.
The day after we go to Hinchinbrook island-we are staying in the resort, in a treehouse style cabin for 3 nights! cant wait for that. The weather has improved. Mainly sunny days, still with a lot of cloud and wind about though- so hoping its ok when we are on the island- either way it will be beautiful...it's not far off the coast and we have a great view of the mountainous and lush Hinchinbrook Island from here...its basically one huge national park.

We are only about 180kms from Cairns now...will meet mum there after Hinchinbrook...looking forward to seeing mum and spending some time together up there.

Sending all the best to everyone...thanks for checking in. Love Em and Ad xx

Finally a couple of photos to share!

Here are some of us enjoying the crystal clear waters of Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island....sadly the internet even at this cafe is not very fast...so no more photos just yet! More soon hopefully...

Cape Hillsborough NP and the Whitsundays...

Hi everyone...I am sitting in an internet cafe in Airlie Beach...faster using broadband here. The past few days since I last wrote have been fun, despite a run of bad weather.

We stayed at Cape Hillsborough NationalPark,which is just near Mackay for a couple of days...a really stunning spot- quite a rugged stretch of coastline,with lots of rocky cliffs down to the beach and a real mix of vegetation, with everything from gum trees,to pinesand palm trees (something iswrong with the spacebar on this keyboard,so sorry for any lack ofspaces!!) . Went for a couple of lovely bushwalks...past top lookouts,andin some cases through the mist and rain...the low lying cloud hanging eerily around the beach and the cliffs. Saw some unusual types of wallabies right on the beach too, which was pretty cool. The rainy times we just read books...or put on rainjackets and kept doing things!

Airlie Beach is a nice,busy kind of place,full of backpackers! Yesterday we took a gamble on the weather(forecastwas for clearingto sunshine) and took a boat trip out around the Whitsunday Islands. Sadly the weather didn't exactly cooperate...it was windy and cloudy and pretty chilly! Nevertheless it was great to see the islands- very beautiful andheavily wooded. We stopped at Whitsunday Island which is all National Park and saw famous Whitehaven Beach with its pure white silica sand and went for a walk there. I also went for a scuba dive...saw some lovely fish- visibility not as good as it could have been owingto the weather though.

Off to Bowen from here....and soon we stay at Hinchinbrook Island- a treat to ourselves which we bookedbeforewe left!

Hope all's well at home. Love Emma and Adam.

Eungella NP and our first ever sighting of a platypus in the wild!

Well, after another nice day at Yeppoon we headed north for Mackay and Eungella National Park. We are now staying in a tiny caravan park at a town called Finch Hatton, about 60kms west of Mackay and just outside the National Park.

The reason for our diversion to this particular national park, is that my extensive travel research before we left (those of you who know me well, know just how many travel books I devoured before we set out) revealed that this is one of the best places in Australia, many say the very best, to see a platypus in the wild. Platypus are not uncommon in waterways in Australia, but they are extremely timid and therefore rarely seen. However, at Eungella National Park, which is a stunning pocket of rainforest on the ranges here, there is a regular platypus colony, which over the years has become used to human spectators and are therefore likely to be seen swimming in the river. The National Parks service has even built a special viewing platform.

Dawn and dusk are the best times for viewing the elusive platypus. Therefore after we had arrived and set up at Finch Hatton late yesterday afternoon, we jumped straight back in the car and headed for the National Park (about 25kms further west from where we are staying). We walked to the viewing platform and within about half an hour were delighted to spy our first glimpse of a platypus in the wild, foraging for food in the river below. Adam and I have turned into fairly keen wildlife watchers and we were both really excited, standing there with big grins, trying to catch a photo of the tiny little mammal in the water below us. It was smaller than we imagined too and looked really cute as it swam and dived under for food.

This morning, keen to for another viewing, and hoping to get a clearer photo, we rose, pre-dawn at about 5am and drove up the mountain back to the viewing spot. It was still dark when we got there! We listened to the forest come to life, with lots and lots of birdlife around us….and then, shortly before actual sunrise, we saw the platypus, busy in the water below. We watched for a while as it swam about and nosed in the mud and around logs on the shore. A few other people turned up to watch too. Then we saw a second one! It was really great.

We then set off on about an 8km rainforest walk (and it did actually start to rain and a heavy mist rolled in- it was pretty chilly and we actually put our beanies on!) which was nice and really pretty and eerie in the mist, before returning mid morning to the viewing platform…just in case the platypus could still be seen.

To our surprise, we once again saw two of them! We were the only people there and we stood and watched for ages. By then it was about 10.45 am….so much for normally only seeing them at dawn and dusk!

After that we were cold, wet and tired so we had a Devonshire tea at a local café, before heading back to the caravan. It’s been raining the rest of the day so it’s been a good afternoon for catching up on chores and having some much needed down time.

Hope all’s well in your part of the world. We head off soon for a coastal national park just north-east of here. Love, Emma and Adam. xx

Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island- beautiful!

hi- well we keep finding places we love! Now at a lovely family run caravan park at Kinka Beach, south of Yeppoon which is on the coast east of Rockhampton- its a beautiful spot and once again, nice and quiet. The weather is cool at night, warm in the day, with cool westerly winds. So clear! Today we had a fantastic day- took a day trip on a catamaran to Keppel islands...did some snorkelling- not as good as my Fitzroy reef experience in general...but a few great highlights which really made our day- that being we saw two green turtles and they were so close and so apparently unconcerned by us- I even swam along with my hand resting on ones back! It was great- Adam and I both agree that experience was a highlight of our trip so far. We also had a couple of ours on Great Keppel island- white sandy beaches, lots of gum trees- actually quite dry land all around here and water shortages. We walked up to a lookout and had some lunch on the beach.
Yesterday we also did a great lookout walk near Yeppoon.
Heading on from here in a day.
Internet very slow here again, so can't upload photos yet!
Love Emma and Adam xoxox

The lovely town of 1770 and southern Barrier Reef

We have just had a wonderful few days at the very beautiful Town of 1770! This is probably our favourite spot of the journey so far. Quiet, with gorgeous waterways and beaches. We have also been blessed with clear sunny days. The day we arrived we road our bikes around to check out the place, before going for a swim. We also had a great pizza at a local café/pizzeria.

Yesterday I took a tour to the outer Great Barrier Reef, to go snorkeling on Fitzroy Reef, which is south of Heron Island (but basically when you are out there all you can see is water!) and was about a 2 hour trip out from 1770. Adam gave it a miss, as he and boats don’t always mix too well, so he had a relaxing day on his own, while I enjoyed some wonderful snorkeling, a buffet lunch, tasty morning and afternoon tea (cakes and slices..yummo! ) on the boat. There were so many fish out there, it was lovely.

Today we relaxed- we both felt tired, and yesterday the full day on the water and in the sun took it out of me. We went to a little beach accessed by a sandy 4WD track and enjoyed it there, before returning to our lovely caravan park right on the water at 1770…we ate lunch on our chairs under the shade of a tree on the beach and sat for hours, reading and relaxing. Excellent! We both needed a slower day I think, and this has been a great stop. We even cleaned up the van a bit, washed sheets and clothes etc. so we are now recharged and ready for the next stop which is at Yeppoon, we estimate about a 3 hour drive north of here. We plan to get away early tomorrow.

I won’t post photos today as the internet here is very slow. It should be quicker when we are closer to a major centre such as Rockhampton. I look forward to sharing some photos soon though- we have already taken so many!

We have also had happy news that a friend of ours has had a healthy baby boy-congrats to mum, dad and your new little soul! Thinking of you.
Love Emma and Adam xoxo
(p.s thanks for the comment Ames!)