After our manic week before, we decided to have a couple of days relaxing. Our last day in Hervey bay presented us with a beautiful, sunny day complete with flat sea. We decided to walk down to the beach to a beach hire shop to look at renting a sea kayak for an hour. So I took Nicola out on a Jet Ski! I took her out for a spin first and I had to drive quite fast to drown out the sounds of her complaining/lightly screaming, especially when cornering, before swapping over and her taking us for an a nice afternoon along the beach.
Once Nicola had recovered from her ordeal, we headed up to Seventeen Seventy where I managed to find a kite. I’d been looking since Brisbane and of course all the following happened:
- There stopped being anything you could even refer to as a draft for the next several days.
- I paid over the odds for the kite.
- The colossal looking kite was actually only a fraction on the size in reality once removed from its packaging.
I’ve not yet seen another kite to buy so I will take it as a win that I didn’t immediately walk into another shop and find a bigger, better and cheaper one, as often happens with these kinds of impulse buys.
The next morning we checked out the marina and beaches in Seventeen Seventy and Agnes Water before finally getting around to renting a sea kayak for an hour and ambling along the mangroves and beaches, before having a paddle with small fish. As evening came over we headed up to a nice bush walk with a few lookouts over Captain Cook’s first landing point in Australia, where we bumped into some kangaroos. It struck us both as being a very Pirates of the Caribbean setting. Seventeen Seventy really is truly spectacular and the most beautiful place we’ve been to so far!
Saturday bought us another early morning boat trip, this time on a Lady Musgrave Day Cruise. Our large boat sped the hundred or so of us to Lady Musgrave Island before heading around to the entrance of the lagoon which surrounds the island. We sailed into the gorgeous lagoon and towards the equally gorgeous island where we moored up to a floating pontoon. As soon as we had moored up some fish were being fed off the side of the pontoon and it was a great introduction into the different species of fish inhabiting the coral reef surrounding us.
Our morning session was split between taking a glass bottom boat around the lagoon, going close in to the coral reef where we not only got to see different fish but also turtles at cleaning stations, sea cucumbers and of course the corals. Before we headed for the island our skipper took us past a small hole where a mating pair of clown fish had resided for the last 18 years! They mate and nest for life and once their partner dies, happily change sex and swim off to find another!
We were then dropped off at the island where a guide took us on a walk around the island, a great opportunity to see the nests for the various bird species that habit the island. As we were visiting in winter most of the inhabitants were north on holiday but even so the island provided a beautiful walk.
After lunch we had the afternoon to snorkel between the boat and the island, a nice one hour snorkel, going over and around the reefs. We were constantly surrounded by fish and even managed to find a turtle cleaning station, before heading back for afternoon tea and our return voyage.
Having enjoyed our first outing on the Kayak around Seventeen Seventy we decided to take another paddle before driving up to Yeppoon. It was another beautiful day and not long after we had turned around to start heading back we were greeted by some friendly dolphins playing around the moored boats which we were navigating through, not more than 50 metres from us. We drifted for a little while watching them until some speed boats passed and sent them away from the surface.
Afterwards we headed into Yeppoon which provided us with our first kangaroo near death experience! You only really appreciate these kinds of animals when they suddenly pop out into the road in front of you when you are doing 100 kph. Seeing the amount of carcasses on the road these kangaroos aren’t in short supply. That incident aside we managed to make it to Yeppoon alive!
We’d not been struck with Yeppoon when we arrived and the next morning we decided to cut our intended visit from two nights to just the one and get on the road. We made the effort to pop into the Tourist Information Office who pointed us in the direction of a nice drive down to Emu Point with a few good lookouts and a beach for me to finally fly my tiny stunt kite! We also called into the Marina for lunch before getting on the road and heading towards Mackay. We stopped near Cape Palmeston National Park at the nicest site we’ve yet stayed at, complete with its own stretch of gorgeous beach, a shame it was out of the way of things we wished to see and do, but a great overnight stop.
Today’s adventure took us up to Mackay and west to Eungella Ranges. The drive from MacKay itself bought out the little boy in me watching the sugar cane trains heading to and from the mills. I spent the drive out of Mackay force feeding my travel buddy information on the railways and she in turn, ignored it completely, but it helped to pass the time anyhow! I wonder if there’s work to be had driving the little trains for back packers?
Once we had survived another near vertical 1000 metre or so drive to the campsite on the ranges we were presented with an outstanding view, although at this point I am not so sure if the view from our camper inspires or frightens me! After lunch we took a walk along a creek and got to see some platypuses/platypusi/platypus whichever plural the little critters use! Tomorrow we get to head back down to Mackay and towards Airlie Beach so Nicola can once again have an hour and a half guided tour along the small railways as I’ve spent the evening looking up even more facts for her to enjoy!
A Ginger Down Under
29th July 2015