Are we there yet? A loooong road trip, and three nights on the water

When we arrived in Sydney we still hadn't decided how much of mainland Australia we would tackle in the 6 weeks we had allotted. We considered driving from Sydney to Cairns, then Darwin and down to Melbourne, but after calculating the massive distances we realized that we would spend the majority of our time in the car. We came to terms with the fact that we'd be missing most of the country, and booked flights between Darwin, Melbourne and Brisbane so we could explore their environs. We arranged a three night sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands, and the most cost and time efficient way to get there by our byzantine calculations was to fly from Sydney to Brisbane, then rent a car for the journey north along Queensland's east coast.

Taking fifteen days to do the 2400 km round trip sounded okay but once we were in the car, driving on the wrong side of the road, with three kids fighting in the back seat, we found we were longing for the days when we travelled by bike. While we enjoyed the views of tall fields of sugarcane, palm trees and forest covered hillside seen from the car window 

it was hard to feel part of the landscape when speeding by at 100 km/hour. Plus, unlike the long summer days in Europe where our light lasted to 9 or 10 pm, spring in tropical Queensland meant it was blackest night by 630 pm, and we had to limit our driving to the day so as not add to the large number of kangaroo carcasses at the side of the road. 

Despite the amount of time in a car we were still able to appreciate the surroundings, so vastly different from home. We saw wildlife during the drive - spotting kangaroos standing in small pools of shadow from the trees, and a koala hugging the branches as it slept up in the fork of a tree - and heard  an amazing variety and volume of bird calls, early in the morning or at sunset. The tropical flora and fauna transformed the holiday campgrounds we stayed at into exotic getaways. Hervey Bay had a great pool and playground where Tom found a best buddy,

and a long stretch of beach where we watched the stars come out after sunset. 

On the way back we passed trees were filled with giant fruit bats called flying foxes, who hung upside down from the branches, chittered loudly, and flew into the night looking as if they were about to become vampires. Though harmless they were a bit eerie, especially when they swooped by with leathery wings during a 3 am walk back from the bathroom with only the moon and stars lighting my path. 

Our stop in Rockhampton was at a campground right off the main highway, but the starlit sky at night and the sounds of birds in early morning made us feel as if we were in the middle of the outback. 

The night before our sailing trip we had planned to stay in Airlie Beach, but the highway outside it was closed due to a bush fire, and though a long line of cars was waiting for it to reopen, 

the police advised that it might remain closed for two hours or more. Not wanting to get stuck on the highway after dark we decided to turn back and stop for the night instead at a quiet caravan park in Calen, 

with a small pool

where gorgeous crimson, green and blue parrots sipped nectar from carnelian flowers 

and lizards chirruped (sounding like chipmunks at home) once night set. Cane toads hopped by the side of the paths, looking innocent despite the massive devastation they are wreaking on Queensland wildlife. In the morning we ate passion fruits from the vine, and fresh coconut out of the tall trees which we hoped wouldn't drop more on our tent. 

The coconut was literally a tough nut to crack so we used a rakelike contraption to pry apart the outer shell, 

then Jacob and Kyra took turns smashing the inner nut on the ground until it cracked open so we could drink the water and eat the yummy white flesh within. 

We finally arrived at Airlie Beach, from where countless excursions depart to the Whitsunday Islands, famed for great beaches and the Great Barrier Reef offshore. Our sailboat didn't leave until the evening, so we had an afternoon to spend at the saltwater lagoon and park, 

swimming and relaxing, eating delicious local pineapple when we got hungry.

We were picked up by a bus and taken to the harbour at 7:30, where a long walk down the pier, past boats moored and lit with blue lights that glowed underwater and attracted huge fish, took us to our tall ship, the Solway Lass. The first two crew that met us were men, and after their initial welcome spiel Tom turned to me delightedly and exclaimed "I'm so glad the captain is a boy!!". When we asked why he replied "because girls always sink the ship", so clearly we need to work on some gender stereotyping issues with him. The crew gathered all 30 of us for a briefing on all the emergency exits and life raft locations, along with evacuation procedures, and I started having visions of Titanic and feeling apprehensive abaout heading out to sea for three days. But they concluded the presentation by saying in the worst case scenario, it would only be about 7-8 minutes until another boat picked us up, since so many other boats were in the area, so we felt reassured and after our dinner of squash soup and the ubiquitous Aussie meat pies we retired to our little cabin.

Our boat was an authentic tall ship, 

and the captain told us about its (I guess I should say her) illustrious 113 year old history. She had been through both world wars as a merchant vessel, lost at sea for two years after the captain died due to paraffin fumes in the engine room and the crew abandoned ship, and left for salvage in Fiji before being discovered and towed back to Australia in the 1980s. Fully restored, she cut a fine figure, with sails up or down, and Jacob loved sitting up at the bow while the spray splashed up from the sea.

I had been prepared for seasickness, so brought some ginger tablets and acupressure bracelets.  Unfortunately, my preparations didn't prevent me from being ill on the first day going over fairly big swells. However, it only lasted for an hour and after that I seemed to adjust. The rest of the family were great seafarers, though Jacob woke up our final night feeling extremely nauseous so we came up to the deck and slept under the stars until he felt well enough to complete the night's sleep down below in his berth.

The skies were blue 

but the winds were high on our trip so we headed to protected bays of Hook and Black Islands, and Nara inlet to snorkel, 

relax on the beach, 

and walk into the hills to see cave paintings. Because of the very small threat of killer jellyfish, we all wore lycra suits 

when we went out to see the beautiful colours and varieties of coral and the myriad fish that fed on it. Back at the ship we would leap into the water from the tarzan rope on the deck. Tom nearly took out Paul with one jump, Jacob practiced turning in mid air to dive in, 

Kyra held her nose every time, 

and Paul and I tried it a few times too. 

When we weren't in the water we relaxed, 

enjoyed the sun,

read, or just gazed out at the sea, which varied from teal green

to turquoise blue.

We spotted sea turtles surfacing and sea eagles swooping in the sky, climbed onto the roof to watch the sunsets, 

and got to know our fellow passengers. 

They included newlyweds from Dublin on their honeymoon, whose lilting tones convinced me that Irish is my favourite accent, an Australian ecologist and her author and naturalist husband who was a self-proclaimed Canadian by birth but Australian by choice, a couple from Minnesota who we talked hockey with, a Swiss family with655 whom Paul played Jass (a traditional Swiss card game), two young UKers who had won the whole trip in a competition through their travel agency, (how nice is that) and many more, all of whom had interesting stories to tell. The kids were initially disappointed that there were no other families on the trip, but the crew and passengers made sure the kids had a great time, chatting with them, 

playing pirates,

getting Tom cup after cup of Milo, and feeding a visiting cockatoo at Nara inlet.

I felt a little sad to say good-bye to everyone - it was close quarters but we all got along well. Solway Lass, class of 2015, come visit us in Canada anytime!