Roadtripping northern Queensland, Australia

Looking out for cassowaries in Queensland, Australia

After our foray into all things sandy on Fraser Island, we made landfall again at Hervey Bay and continued our 1600 km/1 week slog up the Queensland coast of Australia. After passing through Rockhampton, the route became increasingly monotonous- albeit beautiful. Not much in landscape variation, save for the occasional cow, kangaroo, or train hauling sugarcane down to one of the numerous refineries which dotted the landscape. The drive was fantastic, though. We had really missed the freedom of the open road during our time in SE Asia, and it felt so liberating to be behind the wheel of our own vehicle- even an '87 Mitsubishi van that can't do over 65k/hour without violently rattling.

A view of the Queensland landscape from the car window

Piloting our van

Sugarcane fields

Australia is not without its Australiana... its own version of the eclectic, culturally quirky gems of Americana you'd find roadtripping through the forgotten roadside hamlets just off the highways our great coutry. In the pit-stop town of Bowen is the "Big Mango," a gigantic mango statue on the side of the highway. Apparently Aussies have a habit of taking everyday objects, building them on enormous scales, and then plunking knick-knacks shops next door and billing the whole shebang as a tourist trap. A full list of the "Bigs" can be found at this link: http://wikitravel.org/en/Big_things_in_Australia

Anyway, we felt we had to make the obligatory stop at Big Mango and take a photo:

Meg with the largest mango in the world

Sugarcane train crossing the highway in Queensland, Australia

Lorikeet bird at a campervan park in Queensland

Roadtripping Australia

Our typical lunch while on the road prepared out of the back of our van... at a rest stop

We continued north and visited wonderful Airlie and Mission Beaches. In Mission Beach, we stayed at the best campground/caravan park either of us had ever been to. It even had the obligatory northern Australian swimming pool, complete with fake rocks and waterfalls to boot. Blissful. The only problem when beach-going in Queensland if that as inviting as the blue-green water may appear, it is not safe to swim due to the presence of lethal marine stingers (jellyfish) for the majority of the year. The upshot is that because of this, the beaches are almost always stunning and devoid of people. We had the beaches at Airlie and Mission all to ourselves when we visited. Here's some more info on visiting beaches in Queensland:

From qldbeaches.com:

Dangerous Marine Stingers
The most notable concern when swimming at beaches in Queensland is marine stingers. All Queensland beaches north of Town of Seventeen Seventy (near Gladstone) can attract the marine stingers during the summer months of the year. Beaches in the northern section of Queensland have longer stinger seasons than beaches in the south due to the warmer water and greater prevalence of mangrove swamps.

Dangerous Marine Stingers are present at Queensland beaches during the following periods:
From Cape York to Townsville - October to June

From Townsville to Gladstone - December to March

Most popular beaches in areas prone to marine stingers have stinger-resistant enclosures so beach goers can enjoy swimming throughout the year. It is important to swim inside the enclosures as they are the only safe swimming zone on the beach.
The nets are constructed of a robust floating tube around the periphery of the swimming enclosure with a 25mm square mesh that descends to the ocean floor and is weighed down by a chain. The stinger nets are designed to prevent large box jellyfish and large segments of box jellyfish tentacles from entering the enclosure, thus keeping swimmers safe.

Stingers net at Townsville Beach

Knowing the buggers were in the water made it almost impossible to enjoy swimming, even when within the nets. It only gets worse when you read about what actually happens to you when you are stung by a box or irukandji jellyfish:

Watch out for the nasty Box Jellyfish. Found in shallow waters north of Gladstone, they can administer a sting that can inflict searing pain and leave prominent scares. A sting, if severe enough, can also be fatal.
Box Jellyfish breed in mangrove swamps and they are more numerous after rain, which flushes them out of river systems towards beaches. It is very important to swim in stinger net enclosures to avoid making contact with the Box Jellyfish.

Irukandji are much smaller than box jellyfish, and inhabit a large sea area that includes the Great Barrier Reef and beaches. At only 2cm in diameter, the Irukandji is most prevalent in northern waters of Queensland, such as beaches near Cairns. The sting is only moderately painful and scarring is minimal, but approximately 30 minutes after the sting the patient develops severe back and abdominal pain, limb or joint pain, nausea and vomiting, sweating and agitation.

Another feature at many Queensland beaches is that of the public lagoon, a shallow, inviting, aqua-blue swimming pool designed to fit in naturally with the landscape and usually constructed near the beach itself. We especially enjoyed the lagoon at Townsville. They're free, and usually have picnic facilities and change rooms nearby.

Velma the van hiding in the trees at Mission Beach Caravan Park

Railway crossing!

Beautiful Mission Beach

Townsville

By the time we stopped in at Airlie we were nearing the end of our roadtrip... soon we would be in Cairns, reunited with Meg's parents and no longer sleeping in the back of a van. It sure was fun while it lasted, though...