Australia Part 3 : May 21 - June 12

Rockhampton, QLD: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Before leaving Hervey Bay, we visited a small park to see roosting fruit bats in the thousands. These were the ones that had flown over our apartment two nights before. It was quite a sight to see so many hanging from the trees. They certainly weren’t quiet either with lots of squawking and squabbling going on between individuals. There were three kinds of fruit bats on the different trees which surprised me. Sierra didn’t mind watching these ones as much as the ones in the cave in Uganda. She wasn’t as close to them this time but they still smelled very bad, so she was the first one back in the car. Meanwhile Brian and Brennan were practically stalking them to get a closer picture or a live action shot. I noticed all the bat droppings on the ground so I was trying not to be a target! Mom and dad had never seen anything like that before so they were thrilled although they still like birds better.

To keep us fortified on the long (and boring) drive to Rockhampton, we talked Brian into stopping at Mammino in Childers. Brian wasn’t pleased with the detour because he had finally passed a bunch of slow moving campers and large trucks just before the turnoff. Also the shop was hard to find because it once was a private house and was on a farm in the country. The owners were sugar cane producers and when the market value of this crop decreased, they diversified into ice cream production using their mother’s award winning recipe. It was certainly out of the way but the homemade macadamia nut ice cream was worth the extra kilometers. The kids found other creamy delights to taste because they don’t eat nuts. They had cookie and white chocolate ice cream for Sierra and coconut for Brennan. We were all so stuffed that we didn’t eat lunch until 2:30!

The road to Rockhampton (or Rockie as the locals call it) was lined with sugar cane. Acres and acres and acres and acres……….. You get the picture; it was a lot of the same scenery. As well as sugar cane production, we have been told that the area produces really good rum. The only exciting thing for my folks was that they finally saw a live kangaroo in the wild. Maybe if we had tried the rum, the drive would have been more exciting and we would have seen more interesting stuff.

Rockhampton was basically just a highway stop for us but it had a few eye-catching features. The main ones were six larger than life size bull figurines at some of the main round-a-bouts at the town’s entrances. Apparently on humid summer nights, graduating students and other tricksters steal the testicles from the concrete and fiberglass bulls. To top this, there is a council worker who regularly patrols the city with spare parts to repair the damage. What a job! Originally the town was a port for lumber, sheep, gold etc but now it is the center of the region’s cattle industry. It lies on the tropic of Capricorn which is approximately 23C south of the equator. So mom and dad got a chance to straddle the tropic and temperate zones this time.

We stayed at Motel 98 near the river. It was a typical motel in layout but it had upgraded furnishings and really good service including chocolates on the pillow, bedding turn down and a windshield wash of our vehicle before departing. I liked the last feature a lot because I usually do this job at the gas station while Brian pumps the gas. It was a good place to stay for one night.

Thursday, June 1, 2006: Airlie Beach, Australia

From the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast to the Fraser Coast to the Capricorn Coast, we headed today to the Whitsunday Coast. We passed one resort community after another in between longer stretches of sugar cane. The beaches along here were exceptional and it was easy to understand why the Australians love this area so much. The best part was that this section of the ocean didn’t have any saltwater or estuarine crocodiles, only sharks and jelly fish.

Airlie, a busy resort town with approximately 32,000 full time residents was the gateway to the famous Whitsunday Islands. The blue green waters surrounding these islands are a national marine park and fall within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. So it is a very popular vacation destination. At this time of the year the number of tourists was manageable for us; I wouldn’t want to be here during the summer. It would be gridlock on the narrow main street. We stayed in a fabulous apartment in the Mediterranean Resorts complex on Golden Orchid Drive overlooking the center of town. The way the building was designed and decorated with its location on the hill, it really reminded us of a European villa on the Mediterranean. It also had two lovely pools which we used extensively. Our other options would have been a so-so beach or an amazing manmade huge lagoon in town. It was just too hard to pass up an entire pool to ourselves, plus it was a steep hill to walk back up.

After a long day of driving, it felt wonderful just to kick back and put our feet up. So that’s what we did.

Friday, June 2, 2006: Airlie Beach, Australia

Yesterday we tried to book a boat trip out to some of the islands which included a snorkeling trip. Unfortunately the charter that appealed to us was full and the other choices involved inflatable jet boats, small racing yachts or other unsuitable modes of marine travel. (My mom who isn’t comfortable in the water is still willing to venture out on the water with us but we wouldn’t subject her to the less stable boats.) Brian had also attempted to arrange some scuba dives for himself and Brennan. He opted to pass when he discovered each dive would cost almost $200. He came up with an alternative plan to go out on the Great Barrier Reef at Cairns on a live aboard dive boat.

So instead we had a lazy day. We walked down to the beautiful boardwalk that stretched several kilometers from a sailing club on a point to a picturesque marina at the other end. Like most places in Australia, the walkways, surrounding gardens, homes, pools and beaches were very clean and well maintained. The Aussies love their “Tidy Towns” and in fact have yearly contests across the nation to see which towns are the neatest. Huge signs are posted at the entrance of any winning town proudly displaying their victory. As awards are given at both the state and national levels, there can be more than one winner each year. It is a big deal here!!!!!! We also checked out some of the local shops and replenished our reading material at a used book store. At the moment, we are carrying so many novels in a bag Brian’s that we jokingly refer to it as “the library”. The problem is that Brennan blows through the novels so fast and the rest of us can’t keep up.

After a long walk in the hot sun, the best thing to do was take a plunge in the pool. So we enjoyed several hours lazing about. It was a great way to spend the day. The only person who was a little disappointed was Brian who wistfully kept his eyes on the horizon. At one point during our trip, we had planned to charter a boat and sail around the islands ourselves. That was why we took marine courses in Victoria a couple of summers ago. Oh well, we will just have to come back…….

This region was famous for its barramundi fish and chips or “barra” as the Aussie’s call it. So we had to have fish and chips one more time and as expected it was delicious and the serving sizes were huge. We have discovered that Australians love to contract their words so breakfast is brekky, Tasmanian is Tassie, good day is g’day, football is footy, a cooler is an esky etc. Sometimes when we are listening to Australians speak, we do double takes to figure out what they are saying. The range of Australian accents is also huge from barely decipherable to very slight. ( NEXT PAGE )