Whitsunday's & Airlie Beach

Things just keep getting better and better as we go along. Airlie Beach is the sparkling jewel and main centre of the Whitsunday coast. The hills surrounding the town offer views to die for and are peppered with four star resorts and accommodations. Our gorgeous and delightful niece and nephew showed us around town and encouraged us to take a sailing adventure aboard the famous racing yacht "Ragamuffin". Maxi Ragamuffin launched in 1979 as Bumblebee 4 started her racing life with outright line honours in that year's Sydney to Hobart race. In 1983 she was renamed Ragamuffin and set about making her mark in Australia by winning race after race many years running. She is a spectacular 80ft (24 metre) racing yacht and is Big & Fast!
We boarded the yacht early on a beautiful sunny, windy day and headed out to Whitehaven Beach for a picnic lunch on the beach. Stretching like a pure-white ribbon beside a sea of crystal turquoise water, Whitehaven Beach is stunning and considered one of the top 10 beaches in the world. After being shuttled ashore by tender we spent two glorious hours lounging ashore and swimming in the crystal clear waters and then enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch. Then it was back on board for the journey home under full sail. What a thrilling ride. It was one of the days that we will always look back on and smile. This laid back tropical lifestyle is definitely addictive and seducing.

Bowen &Whitsundays

After spending a week at Kurrimine Beach we headed south back to Townsville to spend a few days with cousin Stephen and family. Stephen is the owner/skipper of a huge prawn boat and kept us supplied with some of the biggest and best prawns we have ever had. Him and wife Leanne have a lovely big property outside of Townsville. Even the local peacocks like to come for a visit and the "big puppy" doesn't seem to mind them coming around. We stopped for a few days in the town of Bowen which has a huge shipping jetty and is blessed with beautiful beaches and great fishing. Today Bowen has been placed firmly on the international map following the filming of the epic movie, "Australia", starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. More than 700 head of shorthorn cattle and 33 stock and quarter horses also featured in the film.
They learnt their moves at the Bowen Turf Club grounds. The area was transformed into a 1930's town through the addition of tonnes of red dirt and temporary buildings. The film attracted over 22,000 visitors from all over Australia and world wide. The film generated casual employment of 98 volunteers and 600 people cast as extras for the movie. The film was released on the big screen in late 2008.

Bob,s Skydiving

 

Well I got to tell you the most amazing day of my life. It started out with Maryanne and I going for a tour through the sugar mill inTully. We missed the tour as it had already started so, the next best thing to do was take a drive down to Mission Beach about 20 k away. It's a lovely spot as you can see on the  photos. There were skydivers landing on the beach. It was fantastic to watch them coming in to land. I got to talk with a few of them that just had made the jump and all of them where just so hyped up with the adrenalin rush from the dive. Some how I finished up back in the skydive office. There was another group getting ready to take the bus to the airport and I started talking to this rather pretty girl from Byron Bay who was running the office. She had jumped a few times herself and was telling me it was no big deal as the professional divers will walk you through it. She said there was one space available in this next jump, and with her nice blue eyes looking at me, and that smile I could not say no. She bought the forms over for me to fill in and I was shaking so bad that  Maryanne had to fill them in for me. It was a rush job as they where all waiting for me.  The bus to the airport was wild, with the hyped up music and every one was" high fiveing" each other saying, hey man we can do this. I needed a beer real bad as I was still shaking. The plane was ready to go when we arrived at the airport. We climbed to 14 thousand feet which is the highest jump zone in Australia. The view from that high was fantastic and you could see the great barrier reef with its small dotted islands and the air as clean as can be. I couldn't help thinking what a beautiful day to die.

The door rolled up and the cool air rushed in. Every one started sliding to the door. My dive partner hooked up to me was telling me to lean back and arch my hips forward, It's not a good feeling to watch someone jump out of a plane! It just doesn't seem right. I was the last one to go and words can't describe the sensation.We dropped 4 thousand feet, face first in one minute. I was yelling most of that time like frrrrrrrrrrk. The best feeling was when the parachute opened but, at the same time it almost knocks the breath out of you, as you slow down that fast. You go from 10 thousand feet down to the landing spot on the beach in about 6 minutes. The dive master had me pulling on the control ropes going right then left. We came in so fast I thought I would break a leg for sure. My feet where sticking out in front of me and were skimming across the beach at break neck speed, then he said put your feet down and we landed on our feet! Wow, what a rush! Two hours later I was still on an adrenalin rush. It was all filmed and put onto a CD. I had to take a sleeping pill last night as I was still wound up at bed time.  

This was a day I will always remember!!  

Tinarroo & Etty Bay

Just for a change of pace we headed inland through the Atherton tablelands. This is an area of rich, lush farmlands and rainforest's. We stayed in the town of Tinarro Falls for over a week and fell in love with the place. Lake Tinarro is a huge man-made lake with an abundance of Baramundi and red claw crabs.
Our niece Tracy, husband Brendon & their best mate Buddy came down for the weekend and we all spent a day on the lake trying to catch a feed of fish and crabs. We didn't have much luck with the baramundi but after leaving the crab nets out overnight we managed to get a feed of red-claws.
Our next stop over was in beautiful Etty Bay with magnificent ocean views, and interesting wildlife. We had a visit from one of the local Cassowaries and Bob made a new friend. The largest animal in Australia's tropical rainforest's, the endangered Cassowary stands as high as a human and weighs over 60kg when full grown.
We also had a visit from a huge goanna but he wasn't quite as friendly as big bird!
We then took a day trip into the town of Tully which is a rich sugar cane growing area. The caning industry has come a long way from the days when Bob was a cane cutter and everything was done by hand. Nowadays, machinery cut the cane and then haul it by small trains into the sugar mill. Tully is also famous for the large amount of annual rainfall they have. The huge boot in the photo stands 7.9 metres tall and this represents the record annual rainfall of 7.9 metres in 1950. Now that folks is serious rainfall!

Townsville, Cairns & Port Douglas

Townsville is another example of the many beautiful cities on the northeast coast of Australia.
We took a walk along the waterfront and stopped for lunch at one of the pubs along the way and then went up the mountain for a glorious view of the town. After spending a few relaxing days outside of town at one of the council parks we headed to Cairns. The drive north was nothing short of spectacular as we travelled  through miles and miles of sugarcane fields. The sugar mills are running at full capacity as this is a busy  time of year for them.Cairns itself is a beautiful tropical paradise nestled between the mountains and the Coral Sea. We got adventurous and took a scenic train ride up the mountains to the town of Kuranda. After touring the many art galleries and gift shops we got a ride back down via the chair lift. Being a little afraid of heights I found the ride thrilling and scary at the same time. It was worth the trip though as the scenery coming down the mountains was amazing. We landed safely at the bottom of our descent and headed home for a much needed drink. The following day we drove a little further north to Port Douglas which is itself another tropical paradise. The entire landscape is covered in lush green rainforest's and the beaches are endless stretches of sand and palm trees. A little slice of heaven on earth!