Taking the Long Way Home

After the Great Barrier Reef we hired a car and had a chance to do a little bit of exploring in some of northern Queensland's less famous- but still beautiful- areas. First off were the Atherton Tablelands.

Giant Cathedral Fig in the Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, Australia

From Wikipedia:

The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. it has an area of around 32,000 km² with an average altitude between 600 and 900m AHD.

The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River, which was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tinaroo.

The area was originally explored for its mining potential where deposits of tin and a little gold were found.

There are plenty of beautiful waterfalls to visit in the AT, and we visited several.

The water was freezing!

swimming hole in Atherton

The Atherton Tablelands are also home to some truly enormous cathedral fig trees:

There I am in the bottom, left-hand corner (to give you an idea of how massive this tree was)

Atherton is also home to quite a bit of opal mining...

We also took a cable car from the tablelands to the Daintree Rainforest, the largest contiguous area of rainforest in the whole of Australia, and at 165 million years old, the oldest rainforest in the world. Although it only accounts for 0.2% of Australia's total land surface, within Daintree one can find 30% of frog, marsupial and reptile species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species, and 20% of bird species. The cable car trip was pretty awesome, with several stops along the way where you could better acquaint yourself with different zones of the forest, and the flora and fauna.

Daintree Rainforest from above

The coast of northern Queensland from the air

Cheesy photos of us in the cable cars

After the cable car trip, we drove back to the coast and continued north to Cape Tribulation, the last pit stop on a paved road in northern Queensland and named so by Captain Cook in the 18th century. To travel north of Cape Trib, a 4 wheel drive (and rations) are necessary for the journey on unsealed track north.

Just like elsewhere, there are marine stingers present in the waters around Cape Trib. Boo, no swimming at the beach.

Beautiful beach in the Daintree

At Cape Tribulation, Meg and Catt

After finishing up in the Daintree, we drove back to Cairns and flew to Adelaide, South Australia... adventure to continue!

Yacht out to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Michaelmas Cay, off of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia

After our roadtrip up the Queensland coast we kissed our psychedelic van, Velma goodbye in the tropical city of Cairns and checked into a hostel. We were on the eve of one of the most exciting travel reunions of our year away: a month-long visit from Linda and Chuck, Megan's parents. They were to arrive the next morning, after spending an exciting few days on their own in Sydney.

We were exhausted after our long-haul north to Cairns and spent most of that afternoon and evening shamelessly lounging in the Travellers' Oasis backpackers' pool and chatting with a railroad conductor from Melbourne about the mining boom out west in Perth, the strength of the Aussie dollar, and the general economic awesomeness of Australia and suckiness of the US these days. By the time we got out of the pool it was dark, we were prunes, and our dorm-mates were fast asleep. Threw some quarters in the window A/C unit, and we were out.

The next day we moved accommodation to a flashier backpackers, the Northern Greenhouse (surprisingly awash in blue and teal decor despite the name,) whose quad room was complete with A/C and a TV and waited in the fan-cooled, spacious second-level common area for my parents. Sure enough, they arrived, fresh from Sydney that afternoon. We hadn't seen them in almost seven months! They were surprisingly well-adjusted from the grueling 20 hour different from Portland, OR and had managed to already have had several adventures during their time in Sydney- capped off by complimentary tickets to a show at the Sydney Opera House thanks to a friendly Turkish box-office employee who hit it off with Dad.

That evening we took a stroll down to the massive Cairns lagoon (pictures to come) on the waterfront. Like other lagoons, it was free to the public and a wonderful way to relax and unwind for a few hours on a hot afternoon. We stayed in the water, floating around and relaxing until well after sunset. Mom really developed a love of Queensland lagoons that day (she would talk about how great the Cairns lagoon was for weeks after!) Afterwards that evening Catt and I were able to catch about an hour long street performance done by some local "fire people" (quasi-hippy buskers that take their travelling roadshow to various street corners all over Aus.) There was a trike with flaming handle-bars, a flaming hat, and even a mermaid. Quite a show, considering it was free.

The next day dawned sparkling and blue, and the four of us made for the harbor and quite possibly one of the most exciting days of our year away: our trip out to Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef, and Catt and my intro scuba dive. There are a mind-boggling number of options if you want to do a cruise out to a cay on the GBF and have a snorkel or a dive. Best really to turn up in Cairns and research your options, since at any given time there is a good chance that at least one of the many cruise operators have a great deal on offer. The outfit we ended up using was Ocean Spirit- their "budget" boat was out of commission, so everyone was being bumped up to the luxury yacht. That, and for some reason, they were throwing a FREE introductory scuba dive into the package so long as you signed up in advance. Usually the dive alone sets you back at least $100- so of course we were in!

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs and is the largest single structure in the world composed of living organisms (coral polyps). It can even be seen from space! The Great Barrier Reef was selected as a World Heritage site in 1981.

The boat was fantastic. We were able to secure four mats on the deck of the yacht for a relaxing trip out to the reef. Here are some pictures from the journey:

Lantzes in their wetsuits

Fish in the water off of the Great Barrier Reef

Michaelmas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef from a distance

Meg and Catt on the Ocean Spirit boat- Michaelmas Cay in the background

Catt, Linda, Chuck and Megan on the Great Barrier Reef

The weather couldn't have been better- it was sunny, breezy, and the water and the sky were a glorious pallet of azure. After about an hour and a half at sea, we anchored about 100 meters off of Michaelmas Cay and Catt and I suited up for our dive. The only hitch in an almost perfect sail out was my seasickness- despite my love of water, I suffer from pretty intense motion sickness on boats... and yes, I did "feed the fish" my breakfast before suiting up for my dive. Not the best way to prepare for your first dive, but I soldiered through it...

Diving was thrilling, but a little bit scary, too. We had hoped to get our PADI open water certification when on Ko Tao in Thailand, but the bad weather out there and horrible visibility made it a no-go. Because of this, we didn't have certification and had to rely on our Dive Master to control our descent and ascent, which required us to trust him, and our equipment. Surprisingly, after a year of adventurous activity, Catt deemed diving to actually have been the scariest challenge for him (I voted for NZ bungy jumping, or crossing the street in any Vietnamese city I loved diving, but the oxygen tank and equipment definitely feels heavy and a little bit more confining than I had anticipated. We were also a little freaked out by the exercises at the beginning, where they ask you to take your regulator out of your mouth while underwater and practice putting it back in. All in all, though, we loved it. We dove down only about 20 meters, or 60ish feet. Once on the bottom we saw giant clams, all sorts of fish, and even a sea turtle from afar. No sharks this time. Pictures:

Before our dive

While we dove, Mom and Dad enjoyed snorkelling and beach combing off of Michaelmas Cay. After our dive, we joined them. Simply stunning beach, and the bluest water I have ever seen. They loved the snorkelling, too:

Meg and Catt post-dive on Michaelmas Cay, our boat in the background

Catt on gorgeous Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Meg on the beach at Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, with our boat in the background

Linda going out for a snorkel

Meg and the birds nesting on Michaelmas Cay

Linda and Chuck on Michaelmas Cay

Megan

We also had the chance to take a 20 minute trip in a submersible, where we got an up-close look at the reef and some turtles, as well:

Turtle from afar

Meg and Catt in the submersible, Great Barrier Reef

Linda and Chuck in submersible, Great Barrier Reef

After a day of snorkeling, diving, beachcombing and sunning (not to mention great snacking on the free food provided by our boat,) we headed back to Cairns. The sail back was beautiful... and we were presented with certificates for our dive, too!

On the sail back to Cairns...

Champagne on the trip back

Meg and Catt with newly-minted diving certificates

All in all it was a memorable trip. We can't wait to come back to the Great Barrier Reef again. It's important, though, to note that it is in danger- wikipedia:

The most significant threat to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change. Mass coral bleaching events due to rising ocean temperatures occurred in of the summers of 1998, 2002 and 2006, and coral bleaching will likely become an annual occurrence. Climate change has implications for other forms of life on the Great Barrier Reef as well - some fish's preferred temperature range lead them to seek new areas to live, thus causing chick mortality in seabirds that prey on the fish. Climate change will also affect the population and available habitat of sea turtles.

To learn more about planning a visit to the Great Barrier Reef and inform yourself re ongoing efforts to preserve it, please visit the official website:

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/

Next up: Atherton Tablelands, the Daintree, and Cape Tribulation!

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...