Too Sexy For My Stinger Suit

From the sunny and beautiful Sunshine, Gold and Fraser coasts we have made our way to North Queensland towards Cairns through Agnes Water, Bundaberg, Airlie Beach and Mission Beach.

We travelled north to Agnes Water where the kids were able to surf one last time before the Great Barrier Reef starts and eliminates all the surfing waves. They really love the sport and being in the water all the time. They are a little bummed that there will be no more chances so hopefully we haven't created a couple future hippie surfers.

Next was Bundaberg where we made a stop at the rum distillery and stopped at Jeff's old hostel which he called home for many months. I am assuming and hoping it was in better shape 19 years ago, mind you Jeff was in better shape then too.

Airlie Beach was the next stop a couple days later which is a major access point to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. With constant rain and a lot of rain in the forecast all the way up the coast we were quite worried we were not going to be able to get out on the reef snorkeling. So we took a chance and booked a trip to the reef on the lightest of forecast rain days and luckily it worked out for us. Although we didn't have perfectly clear weather it didn't rain while we were out on the water. We were able to see beautiful Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island which is a World Heritage protected site and the island is complete with wildlife such as hand sized Golden Orb spiders and Goannas which are massive lizards. After that we snorkelled amongst colorful coral and all sizes of fish. Also turns out that this time of year is Box Jellyfish season so we had to wear stinger suits while in the water to prevent any potential attacks...as you can see below some of us looked much better than others in our snorkel gear. Actually, the Box Jellyfish is the most dangerous animal in Australia ahead of snakes and spiders. Depending on the size of sting an individual only has 90 seconds to live. Needless to say between beaches being closed due to jellyfish and the weather we have been unable to hit the beach north of Bundaberg.

There has been a definite change in scenery, humidity and weather in Northern Queensland. The scenery is composed of beautiful beaches, fields of sugar cane and tropical rain forests. However, with tropical weather comes muggy weather and monsoon seasons which evidently is this time of year. We have had rain everyday since the last post somedays upwards of 300mm which has really limited any sight seeing.

To escape the rain we have returned the campervan and are flying out to the Outback to see Uluru (Ayers Rock) which should be hot and dry. We'll update again once we are ready to leave Australia. Bye for now!!