After making a quick stop at Townsville we headed south to a place called Bowen. We couldn't find much on the area online but it turned out to be a really nice spot. We managed to get a whole little beach to ourselves and spent the day exploring all of the secluded rocky bays along the coast. We also had fun trying to get some action shots of the waves, though it wasn't as fun for Sean.
When you can't afford individual ice creams, go for the $2 tub
Ever since arriving in Australia one of the must do's for Sean was a skydive. I can't say it was ever something I wanted to do but it was now or never. We decided one of the best places to do it would be over the Whitsunday islands near Airlie beach.
The lead up to the jump we were both surprisingly calm. Even when we were getting the harness on and waiting for the plane to set off it was more excitement rather than nerves. But as soon as that door opened at 15'000ft and the people in front started filtering out one by one, it was the most terrifying moment of my life. Luckily they don't actually ask you if you're ready and you kind of just get pushed to the door without any time to think. The feeling when you finally start to fall is honestly indescribable. It actually feels more like having an industrial fan blowing on you rather than falling, and it isn't until they pull the parachute when you can start to process where you are and what's happening. Obviously the views over the Whitsunday islands were amazing, and we so glad we had chosen that location.
We had gone for one of the earlier jumps of the day so it was only 9am by the time we finished so spent the rest of the morning exploring Airlie beach. It was definitely a strange feeling going from jumping out of a plane to walking around a market. Sean was still pumped from the adrenaline for a good few hours.
The following day we did our Whitsundays tour, which began with a boat ride out to one of the inner reefs for an hour of snorkelling. We were actually doing the trip primarily to see the islands so we didn't really have any expectations for the snorkelling but we were pleasantly surprised. Being nearer the coast meant the water wasn't any where near as clear but the colours and fish were still fantastic. Unfortunately our underwater camera stopped working a couple of days previous which was quite annoying.
The next stop was Whitehaven beach, known for having the purest silica sand in the world. It felt more like walking on flour than sand, it was that incredibly soft.
We had lunch on the boat before walking up to hill inlet to see the swirly sands from above.
Paradise
Next stop, Cape hillsborough. This wasn't actually planned but somebody who we're travelling with (more on that later) told us about seeing some kangaroos that go to the beach every morning at sunrise here. So we didn't want to miss out. We stayed at a campsite nearby and met 2 other couples that night, and after having a few drinks and some cards games, decided that we would get up early and all go together. It wasn't fun waking up at 4am but totally worth it to see the gorgeous sunrise and the kangaroos gathered on the beach.
We've been doing our best to stay at free campsites since we started doing the outback but even more so since being on the east coast. It's not been easy though as they really are few and far between. This means that many of the places we've had to stop at have been service stations or fields next to pubs or rest stops or as we are currently, a carpark behind a hostel. Funnily enough though we've met more people doing it this way than we have staying in paid campsites. When we were staying at Airlie beach we met a couple from Manchester who were also travelling south towards Brisbane on the same time scale as us so since then we've sort of stuck together and had some good nights playing games, monopoly and just having a laugh. You definitely start to miss friends and interacting with other people when it's just the two of you. A downside of free campsites however is often the lack of showers. So carrying on from going to see the kangaroos - we found there were free showers at the local outdoor swimming lagoons so we all headed there, had a swim around and a few games of piggy in the middle and enjoyed a free shower at the end.
We were really lucky to have done the trips when we did because almost as soon as we left Cape Hillsborough the rain came, and it didn't stop for a good few days, and I mean literally did not stop. Roads and creeks were flooded. We found a free campsite and stayed put for a few days until it finally passed.
Bundaberg was next. Home of the well known Australian Bundaberg rum, so a visit to the distillery couldn't be missed. Also, as Sean has recently found a new love for Rum, he enjoyed trying all of the different flavours, and I enjoyed realising I hated every kind of Rum no matter what flavour.
After here, we travelled just an hour south to Hervey Bay. It's a popular hotspot for the migrating Whales to stop off with their young new calves so we immediately booked onto one of the many whale watching tours. It didn't fail. We had been on the boat maybe half an hour before we saw our first glimpses of a mother and calf, and it was just the first of many. They seemed to be popping up all over the place. We even saw a few doing some huge jumps out of the water but it was too far for the camera to get a good photo.
We got back to land really pleased with what we had seen and then met up with Danny and Lauren (our travel buddies). We were driving along the esplanade looking for something to do and came across an empty tennis court, so decided to rent some rackets for an hour and have a few games. It seemed like a good idea at the time but none of us are fit as we used to be and were aching like crazy the next day.
We then went to Rainbow beach and went to see the Carlo sand blow, which was basically just a huge hillside of sand between the trees leading all the way down to the water. It's quite hard to describe but really impressive in person.
We heard the rain was going to come again today so decided to chuck on our swimwear and embrace it by having a game of volleyball in the pool. It was fun but we didn't quite expect it to be as heavy or as cold as it turned out to be.
We've had to put off our next little trip for a couple of days until it stops but more on that next time.
:)
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