After an easy flight from Christchurch we found ourselves in Brisbane.
Central Westend apartments are very conveniently located for the South Bank which has its own lagoon and beach set just back from the river complete with lifeguards and surfboards.
Lunch with Virginia who I used to work with from London in a cafe overlooking the river. Lots of suggestions on places to visit. There’s also a good view from the Goodwill foot/cycle bridge over the river. Another bridge is beautifully lit up at night.
A good introduction to Brisbane is to take a trip on the river. We went on the City Cat which zigzags its way across the river. The weather was a bit of a change after NZ. About 28 degrees with lots of humidity. The river trip was a welcome excursion with a lovely breeze.
Back to the airport again and off to Proserpine which serves the Whitsunday coast. A tiny little airport where they bring out the baggage on trucks and you help yourself. As it was just after Easter the flight was full.
Heather, an old friend of my mother’s, collected us from the airport. Air conditioned cars are wonderful as the humidity was even higher. Heather is letting us stay in her ‘unit’ which is a one bedroom apartment on their property. Fantastic views over the Whitsunday Islands – beautiful blue seas and skies. Apparently green turtles are common here and dugongs (like manatees) like the local bays. As do the crocodiles we were told. There is a ‘saltie’ in the next bay along so no swimming there. Also at this time of year there are box jellyfish in the water which can be most unpleasant if they sting you. Stinger suits are the order of the day if you go into the water unless it is an area netted off against them.
Cyclone Ului hit Airlie Beach about 3 weeks ago. Luckily it came at it from the land side so the damage wasn’t too bad. It was (only!) a category 3 (it goes up to 5) but enough to mean that power, telephones and internet were all out for a few days. Lots of trees damaged as well. Heather’s property in Cannonvale was protected by the hill behind it but still lots of clearing up to do afterwards.
Heather’s sister Sheena is a ‘Wally sitter’. What may you ask is that? Adult wallabies are sometimes hit by cars and killed but their joeys survive and need someone to help look after them until they can be released into the wild at about 1 year old. Sheena has two of them which she is looking after for someone else for two weeks. They require 4 feeds a day at around every 5 hours so it is quite a commitment. She brought them round to Heather’s house and we went out on a walk on our first evening. Heather, Sheena, Chris and I accompanied by Guinness the dog (half greyhound and half Staffordshire bull terrier) and one of the wallies which I carried around in a cloth bag. It was very curious about everything and kept putting its head out of the bag to see what was going on.
Cedar Creek Falls are a well known local attraction. A lovely waterfall and a deep pool in which you can swim. It’s great swimming in freshwater as you don’t have to worry about showering off the salt afterwards. Our little Sunday afternoon expedition included all of the people and animals mentioned in my previous paragraph plus the second Wally. Sheena and I sharing the backseat of the car with the dog and the wallies was very cosy. Guinness took up most of it.
The first few days up here were lovely weather and very hot. A shopping trip to buy some lighter clothes and haircuts helped sort us out.
We booked a day cruise on Reefjet – a jet powered boat which only needs 0.6m of water to be able to move. A couple of short dives (in stinger suits rather than wetsuits) off Cateran Bay showed the damage the cyclone had wrought – sand everywhere and very poor visibility – only about 3 metres. It was like being in the English channel but in warmer water as the sea temperature was 27 degrees. Lots of lovely corals and some fish but no good for taking photographs. Our guide pointed out a glass shrimp which is quite rare. A tiny creature smaller than my fingernail.
Hill Inlet has lovely views across to Whitehaven Beach and on a sunny day the beach looks pure white as it is almost pure silica. When we visited it was rather cloudy and didn’t seem that much different from other beaches although the sand was finer when we walked on it.
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