Australia

23 Mar: Airlie Beach

From our bush campsite we drove up another 2 kilometres of dirt track, crossing a river bed or two before arriving at the Finch Hatton Gorge walking trails. We hiked a couple of kilometres to Araluen Falls, a waterfall with a nice swimming hole at its base. As it was still early, around 8:40 am we continued on the track towards the Wheel of Fire Falls. At one point the bridge crossing the river had been swept away by a flood, leaving us with the choice of either crossing the river by foot (knee high with a strong current) or abandoning the rest of the walk. Of course we chose the first option! François gallantly sacrificed his dry hiking shoes and socks to carry Gaelle and Sophie, piggy- back, across the river. At the end of the track we were rewarded with a refreshing swim in the swimming hole below the Wheel of Fire Falls. Once out of the water, we spied an eel and a small snake in the water! There are  really animals everywhere here!

After a few hours' drive, we stopped off for a barbecue lunch of marinated kangaroo kebabs at Proserpine, followed by  a quick food shop and visit to the tourist information office. After another half an hour's drive we arrived at Airlie Beach. We quickly booked a 3 island cruise around the Whitsunday Islands  for the next day and then headed to the nice artificial lagoon on the foreshore. We had a beer and dinner at Beaches, a hip bar-restaurant on the main street before crashing out for the night in the campervan in a discrete location ...

On the rocks at Wheel of Fire Falls	François giving Sophie a piggy-back ride across the river	Sophie in Airlie Beach lagoon

24 Mar: Whitsunday Islands

We had a 8am meeting at the Airlie Point Marina for our cruise. The rain dampened our spirits a little... Why is the weather bad each time we book a tour...?! Are we jinxed?! Our first destination on the 3 island cruise was the very famous Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. The beach is a long beautiful stretch of white sand, backed by rainforest and the sea a stunning turquoise - Paradise! We bathed in the waters with the stinger suits the tour operator kindly provided; oh yes, there are the potentially lethal Box jellyfish and Irukandji in these northern Queensland waters... Both are transparent, the first being the largest at up to 30cm across and the latter being almost totally invisible in the water at a mere 1-2 cms across. Makes you just love the fauna here!

Next stop was Hook Island for a spot of fish feeding and a quick look in the rather decrepit underwater observatory. We saw a large male Napoleon (Giant Wrasse) and 2 females, plus a variety of other smaller tropical fish coming to feed on the bread thrown in by our tour operator. Next, a trip on a glass bottom boat to a coral garden. Unfortunately the current was strong (about 7 knots) so the visibility was fairly poor, but we could still make out some of the beautiful and abundant soft and hard corals. Strangely however there were little fish... Afterwards we had a snorkelling session lined up. Equipped again with our stinger suits we snorkelled above the coral just off the shore with the staff providing security in a motorised dingy and throwing bread into the water to attract more fish. Not very eco-friendly, but it was impressive to see so many fish up so close; one even tried to bite a chunk out of François' ear!

The last stop of the day was at Daydream Island. This island is near the coast, so swimming in the sea even in stinger suits is not recommended due to the risk of jellyfish stings. We therefore swam in the resort's pool and admired the artificial lagoon filled with marine life - sting rays, several sharks, starfish and various species of tropical fish.

We decided to take the easy option and booked into a campsite for the night. Jenny updated the Internet pages in town (it's very difficult to get WIFI access in Airlie Point...) and François barbecued fresh prawns for dinner.

The stunning Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island	Dressed in stinger suits for a swim in the waters at Whitehaven	A stinger-free swim in DayDream Island Resort's pool

25 Mar: Townsville

We left Airlie Beach early and drove all morning to Townsville. We stopped off on the way for a coffee / Internet / play break at McDonalds'. We arrived at the Rock Pool on The Stand in Townsville, a man-made lagoon swimming pool and picnic area, where we barbecued some burgers for lunch. There were stinger warning signs all around despite the seemingly safe lagoon pool and stinger net enclosure on the beach. Concerned about the probability of jellyfish in the water, we sought advice from the lifeguard! To put our minds at rest for the rest of our stay in the north we decided to invest in some stinger suits for all the family so headed off to the local sport shops

Later we drove up Castle Hill to a lookout point for a nice view of the surrounding area including Magnetic Island just off the coast. Then back to the Rock Pool for a swim in our new stinger suits! Before sunset we drove a further 40 minutes to Saunders Beach where there is a lovely small free camp spot for campervans just behind the beach. There a re  toilets, fresh water, a children's playground, electric barbeques and picnic tables only a stone's throw from the beach - what more can you ask for! A great spot for the night.

Gaelle and Sophie at Castle Hill

26 Mar: Little Crystal Creek and Paluma

Jenny was up early for a run under a beautiful blue sky along the lovely deserted golden sands in Saunders Beach. After breakfast t he girls played in the playground and met 5 Australian sisters who were travelling with their parents in a caravan for one year! We then headed inland to Little Crystal Creek in Paluma National Park. It is written in one tourist guide that it is the best swimmimg hole in the north and it certainly deserves such a title! The river is beautifully clean and clear and there's a beautiful stone bridge built in the 1930's that spans the river. More importantly, the swimming hole is fantastic with its natural water slides. Everyone had a great time sliding down the smooth boulders into the river!

After our refreshing swim we ate a BBQ lunch and saw a lovely baby echidna, before heading further up to 1000m above sea level to the small village of Paluma. There we went on a rainforest walk to 2 lookouts. Next stop, Big Crystal Creek where we swam in the river again. We met some nice Australians from Melbourne who spotted a brown snake slither into the water! Panic aboard, everybody jumped out of the river!

We backtracked about 15 kms to spend the night in a recommended free camping at Balgal Beach. The spot' s lovely; there's a kids playground, a stinger net enclosure, picnic tables, BBQs, toilets, showers and even a fisherman's café with great fish and chips! We decided to treat ourselves to dinner and the girls had a whale of a time playing with a group of local kids eating there too.

Sliding down the rocks at Little Crystal Creek	A baby echidna	Gaelle and Sophie thrilled at seeing a baby echidna!

27 Mar: Murray River

We had a family walk on the beach collecting shells after breakfast and then a dip in the sea in the stinger net enclosure. With all the rivers and estuaries in the area, the sea is brown and unfortunately not as enticing as in the south. Plus estuary crocodiles just love murky waters...

We then drove a couple of hours north to Cardwell where we stopped for a picnic lunch behind the beach visited by crocodiles. We strolled  along the jetty, before heading inland to Murray Falls for a safe swim! We first did a 2km walk through a mosquito infested rainforest to the top of the f alls. There were quite a lot of large colourful butterflies including the Ulysse. The foot of the falls would have been a lovely spot for a swim but unfortunately it's fobidden; w e had to back track further down the river to swim. The swimming hole was surrounded by huge granite slabs which made good slides, but the current in some areas was strong so we had to closely supervise the girls. After a leisurely afternoon by the river we made our way to free riverside camping in Japoonvale for the night. We were met with a signpost forbidding camping and overnight stays - a nasty surprise... The only other option in the vicinity was near a bridge over a creek on the main highway. As it was almost dusk we had little choice, but to stay put... Everybody had a fairly bad night's sleep despite earplugs...

Murray Falls	Sliding down the rocks at Murray Falls	The 3 girls in Murray River!

29 Mar: Etty Bay and The Tablelands

We headed to the small coastal village of Etty Bay to try and spot a cassowary in the wild. A lady at the Cardwell information office told us that we probably had the best chance of seeing the elusive cassowary there. Upon arrival, a local told us we had just missed a male and his chick taking a walk along the beach. We went for a wander along the sands but saw only footprints... At the small beachside caravan park there was a laundry so we decided to stay put for a while and do our week's washing, in the hope that a cassowary might make itself seen. And one did! It strolled through the small caravan park only metres from us. We were thrilled! As it was nice and sunny and there were nice big waves, the 3 girls decided to take a dip with the bodyboard in the stinger net enclosure. When we'd finished playing in the sea it was already lunchtime. Whilst eating lunch, a male cassowary and his chick came strolling along the road and down to the sands. We hadn't seen a chick in a zoo before, so were surprised to see a brown feathery baby bird with no crest or colours.

In the afternoon we drove to The Tablelands to Malanda where we stopped to see the falls and have a look at Lake Tinaroo. We also visited the Curtain Fig, a couple of huge fig trees with aerial roots that hang down to form a amazing curtain of roots. We camped down for a quiet night in a park in Kairi.

Our first sighting of a cassowary in the wild	The 3 girls after a body board session at Etty Bay!	A cassowary and his chick on the beach in Etty Bay

29 Mar: The Tablelands

We headed back down south to Mount Hypipamee National Park to see a crater lake and Dinner Falls. The crater lake was formed by volcanic gas explosions which left a very deep hole in the earth! We viewed the lake's waters 60 metres below us, down a circular sheer rock crater. It's an impressive sight and the crater's lake is at least 80 metres deep; explorations haven't yet been able to go further than that down the crater's passage. We then looped around on the walking track to the succession of waterfalls at Dinner Falls before heading back to the car park where we spotted a possum up in a tree.

We then drove to Millaa Millaa to do the 15km waterfall circuit drive. Millaa Millaa Falls are postcard material, a perfect curtain of water falling down into an idyllic pool for swimming. Then Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls. We met a few huge spiders on the walks to the latter two falls and were quite horrified by their size, as big as François' hand - the biggest spiders we'd ever seen in the wild!

After lunch we went to the picturesque town of Yungaburra and did a walk along the river there, before heading to Atherton and The Crystal Caves. The girls had picked up a brochure at the tourist office and really wanted to go and see the geodes at the caves. The world's biggest amethyst geode is housed there at over 3m high and there is an impressive collection of crystals and fossils. The highlight of the afternoon was cracking open a geode with a sort of giant nutcracker and being able to take it home!

A possum in Mount Hypipamee National Park	Millaa Millaa Falls	The world's biggest amethyst geode!

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