After our fantastic Barrier Reef adventure we had a couple of days on dry land before we headed back to sea for more fun. Whilst on dry land we stayed in a town called Mission Beach where we experienced a massive thunderstorm which left us without electricity for a night. We survived the ordeal(that being, missing our tea!)and were pleased to be finding our sea legs once more, a more relaxed trip this time, no diving but sailing around the Whitsunday Islands with some snorkeling thrown in.
Squeezed once again into delightfully flattering stinger suits(I think not, need to miss more teas I think) we enjoyed viewing the barrier reef at more shallow depths whilst snorkeling. Luckily there were no scary moments until......Mark appeared from our cabin looking like a Mormon. Well, I was considering our future together at this point until he revealed he planned to shave the rest of the beard off- he was just taking a break for lunch, honestly nothing gets between him and a good feed! The beard was no more-yeah! It had to go otherwise I'd be subjected to 3 days of moaning about a leaky snorkeling mask. Better sealed and even more squeezed into the suit he headed back to sea without a further mention of a leaky mask and another full tum.
The coral was fantastic, the colours really amazing and the beaches of the many Whitsunday Islands are picture-postcard perfect.
Back on dry land once more we chilled out for another day before heading out again across the waves to another Island, Fraser Island. There'd be no leaking masks this time though as we thought we pass on entering the shark infested waters around Fraser. There were going to be enough dangers on dry land, especially with us choosing to camp the 3 night trip. The Island is home to many spiders(including the deadly funnel web which we weren't expecting to worry about until Sydney), snakes, eels, mosquitoes and the purest form of the Aussie Dingo. The dingo looks like a cross between a wolf and a dog and although most are not thought to be a threat there had been a killing by a very territorial dingo some years ago. They like to creep into camp sites at night....this news had Grandad-bladder Mark a little perturbed as we tucked ourselves into our cosy tent for the night. I was all nice and relaxed after searching it from top to bottom for "creepy crawlies" knowing they'd be no need for me to pee for the next 8 hours. 3 hours later Mark's rustling around trying to locate a torch and trying to wake everyone else on the site and into the darkness he went. He was gone a while but I'd heard no girlie screams so wasn't surprised he'd survived the toilet trip but alarmed to hear he had actually come across a dingo en route. It was actually more interested in a good feed and continued it's scrounge in the bin, I wonder why a dog's a man's best friend!
Fraser Island was also beautiful, it's 124km long and the largest island in the world made entirely of sand. There are only sand tracks and the bumpy driving in the 4x4 was an experience in itself. As for our guide, he matched the Aussie stereotype perfectly. His favourite phrases being "No worries..no dramas...nice and easy...no dramas...no worries", even when no one was speaking to him these words could be heard over and over again. We swam in the lakes, trekked across the sand dunes, walked through rain forests, checked out the stars and generally had another wonderful trip.
After Fraser we headed to Brisbane where we are for a few days. I've been holding out and waiting for my first sighting of a kangaroo(can you believe in 7 weeks and all that land we've covered I've not seen a bloody roo!), well the city has delivered! I've now not only seen but fed my first kangaroo, unfortunately not roaming wild on the streets of Brisbane but nicely at home in the Lone Pine Sanctuary. Home to lots more too, I've decided I'm returning to earth as a Koala in the next life. They even have a retirement home for them here, much needed after a hard life of 20 hours of sleep per day, the rest eating and a bit of mating when they get be bothered-not bad I say. Mark's choice is an inland taipan, the most deadly snake worldwide- I had to tear him away from the cage- obsessed I say! We'll be heading to check out those funnel webs as we make our way to Sydney for Christmas, what a lovely treat!
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