Keeping my retrieve driver happy April 21- May 12

We took a break from paragliding and did things on Mary Beth's list.

 

Saturday, April 21, 2012   Currumbin Valley         Dinner with Heike and Brett

We left river gums very early in the morning and arrived in Currumbin Valley south of Brisbane.   We found Bret and Heike’s house easily. They have a beautiful house in an Eco development nestled in the hills above the ocean.  They collect rainwater and have solar cells for electricity among other things.  Lots of wildlife around them.  There’s at least one Koala in the neighborhood.  Heike took us on a short walk around the area and through the woods.  Best not to wear sandals or leave too much skin uncovered when walking out in the bush.  We found out they also have leaches and ticks in the deep grass. 

Heike shows off her garden

We had a nice evening catching up with them.  Brett seems to be more interested in surfing now than flying paragliders.  That’s probably a good thing since he is only 20 minutes from the beach.  Heike not quite the free spirit paraglider I met some years ago and now seems focused on, among other things, paying down the mortgage on her beautiful house. 

April 22-23 , 2012               Rainbow Beach            

Sunday we had a nice breakfast at the Currumbin Valley Surf club and then headed to Surfers Paradise.  I wanted to get a Hard Rock Café T-shirt.  At $35 I think maybe I have bought my last shirt.  Surfer’s paradise reminded me of Las Vegas by the sea.  Not the calm and peaceful resorts that Mary Beth and I like.  We headed for Rainbow beach and Debbie’s place. 

Vew of Rainbow beach from lower than I had hoped for

Winds were not good for flying when we arrived but looked promising later.  Unfortunately it was just a short window that we missed when the automatic transmission on the Jackaroo hiccupped.  Turned out to be nothing but by the time we got to the parking area we met a pilot hiking down.  The winds had died.
Monday turned out to be a similar situation.  I hiked to the sand blow and met a pilot packing up.  I decided to wait and see.  A couple of other pilots were waiting.  There was a squall out in the distance that looked like it might provide a short window to fly down to the beach.  Not really a good idea but I got the wing out and could not get it ready in time.  The squall moved in very quickly even though the winds never got really strong.  I got soaked along with the wing.  It was no fun hiking back to the car park.  But I was lucky I didn’t make it into the air.  Not the best judgment on my part.  You get in a mode where you want to get a flight at a site and it can cloud your judgment to the point that you make decisions you would not make at your home site.

Tuesday April 24, 2012 Mackay    

We left Rainbow and headed for Mackay.  Just a 6 hour drive and a rest stop before heading on to Eungella.  I found a park there to kite, dry out, and repack my wing.  Mary Beth found a couple ticks on her from the hike at Brett and Heike’s place so we headed for Woolworths to find some tweezers to remove them.  That was about it for the excitement in Mackay.

April 25-27 Eungella
April 25^th is ANZAC day in Australia.  It’s the equivalent of veteran’s and Memorial Day in the U.S.   Dawn services, parades, special breakfasts and lots of celebrating involving alcohol.  It commemorates Australia and New Zealand’s first wartime service by its soldiers at Gallipoli in World War I.  Wednesday morning we saw the crowds forming for the parade as we headed for Eungella.  Later we saw some of the ceremonies on TV.  Very moving.

There is a national park in Eungella where you can view the Platypus and also a flying site.  There is also a campground right next to the paraglider launch with a cabin overlooking the launch site.  Unfortunately we had reservations at a resort at the national park—otherwise we would have stayed at that campground.

Vew from launch

While we were checking out launch an Italian pilot showed up.  I thought the winds were just a little too strong and decided not to launch.  He got away safely but did not find any thermals and soon was on the ground.

We drove to the National park just 7 k away and checked in to our room.  Looking at the weather for the next few days I decided if I didn’t fly today I probably wouldn’t fly at all so we headed back to launch. 
Cloud cover had increased with a few dark ones out there but I was undeterred.  I set up switched on the GoPro and launched.  Staying up was easy and I made a few passes in front of launch to get some picture and then headed out along the north side of the valley.  It was getting easier and easier to  stay up.  WARNING, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!  In a few minutes as I headed out into the valley I was on full speed bar and big ears to keep from getting sucked up into the clouds.  Groundspeed had dropped to 5 kilometers per hour.  Slowly I pushed my way out to the valley  and found a nice field to land in.  It took a while to get the glider down and on the ground but I made a nice one step landing.  I was happy to be on the ground.  When I went to switch off the GoPro I discovered that it had only taken a few pictures and then switched to standby so I had no pictures from the flight.  Ugh!  Probably just as well, since the pictures showed a sky much darker when I was just off launch than what I recalled from when I launched.  This is another instance of wanting to get a flight clouding my judgment. 

What ws I thinking?

The adventure wasn’t quite over.  I had to ford a creek to get back to the road where Mary Beth was waiting with the Jackaroo.  I managed it without getting wet.
In the evening we went to the creek at the national park and I tried my hardest to photograph the platypus.  You have to look for them at dawn and dusk.  They generally sleep during the day when the sun is bright. They stay submerged most of the time just coming up for air.  So you have to look for bubbles and shoot pictures in low light with your telephoto lens.  You need a very sensitive camera with a big lens.  I did my best but most of my pictures came out blurry.  It’s hard to tell which end is which in them.

We had dinner in the lodge.  Very friendly people there.  They have an opossum feeding station on their deck and a python living under their deck that was busy crushing a mouse while we were there.  That was our evening’s entertainment.  The food was good but a bit expensive. 
Thursday the weather was overcast. We tried for more platypus pictures, took a hike through the rain forest and drove a four wheel drive track.  We got about two thirds along the Four wheel track to a point where it and had a creek to ford that looked a little too deep.  We turned around and headed back to the resort.  That was our excitement for the day.


Friday, April 27, 2012  Hiking Finch Hatton Gorge and a Townsville pit stop
Friday we drove from Eungella to Townsville.  Along the way we stopped for a hike Finch Hatton Gorge.  We hiked 2.8 kilometers out and back to Araluen Cascades.  The sign at the trailhead read “moderate”.   It’s a very pretty water fall.  The main reason to mention it is that Mary Beth was able to do the hike.  No complaints on the new knee.  The other knee now bothers her more than the new one.  But this is a hike she would never have considered before the knee replacement. 

Araluen Cascades

Now it was on to Townsville.  We booked a room at a hostel there and did laundry in the evening before heading on to Port Douglas.  The irony of doing laundry there at one of the Laundromats was when we got to Port Douglas the place we were staying had a washer and dryer in our room.  Oh well.

 April 28-May 4, 2012  Port Douglas  Rest and Relaxation
Saturday we headed further north top Port Douglas.  We had booked six nights in the Regal along with a tour of the Daintree and a snorkeling tour. 

Along the way we stopped at Rex Viewpoint just south of Port Douglas.  It’s a great launch for hang gliders and a little tricky for paragliders.  There is a sharp break that the hangs like but creates a dead zone for the wind where paragliders lay out.  Not very far behind the layout point is a stone retaining wall 6 feet high where the tourists stand and look out.  It it is too strong you risk getting picked up and slammed into the wall or worse yet getting blown on the  fairly heavily traveled highway behind the retaining wall.



Rex Viewpoint launch

The local club asks visiting pilots to contribute $20 for site maintenance, be HGFA members and have an orientation.  I did all three of those but chose not to fly on Saturday and while I watched the weather the winds stayed too strong for the entire time we were there.

In the evening we had a short walk to the main shopping street in town with all the restaurants.  Prices vary from moderate to expensive but very good meals.

Sunday morning we went on a snorkeling trip to the low isles on the “Sail Away”.  We had a great time.  Only 14 of us on the boat designed for 30 and we had the dive spot pretty much to ourselves. It was easy snorkeling in water around 4—5 feet deep.  Lots of soft coral.  Talking to some people this trip was probably better than some of the boats that go out to the reef.  Less time getting to and from and quieter on the sailboat than the diesel powered craft.

Link to more pictures

Monday we had an all day tour of the Daintree area north of Port Douglas.  It’s a rainforest with plenty of rivers and creeks where you can see lots of different vegetation and of course crocodiles.  The weather was overcast so not the best for photography.  We went as far as Cape Tribulation where Captain Cook ran aground and then back for a croc hunting trip on a boat in the river.  Then we had a trip on a 4wd track to a beautiful waterfall where we could have had a swim if it had been a little warmer and we didn’t mind sharing the water with an eel.   Highlight of the trip was probably catching a glimpse of a Cassowary crossing the road with his chick.  You don’t often see them in the wild.  And if you do you need to keep your distance as they  easily rip you to shreds with the claws on their feet.

Beach at Cape Tribulation

Link to more Daintree pictures

Tuesday we visited the Wildlife habitat in Port Douglas. They had a good collection of wildlife native to northern Australia.  Mary Beth really loved feeding the swamp wallabies.

Link to Wildlife Habitat pictures

Wednesday we just relaxed at the beach and in Jacuzzi on the deck of our apartment at the Regal.  Another great, but expensive, meal in the evening.  

Four Mile Beach

Thursday we headed down towards Cairns and took a skyway ride up a mountain over the rain forest canopy to the town of Kuranda.  Kuranda was at one time just a sleepy little hippy community but now it is a tourist town.  Lots of shops with expensive things to buy.  We escaped with  just a few.  Dan now has his own kangaroo skin and a bottle opener with a handle made from the parts that make a male Kangaroo a male.  It will make a great white elephant gift come Christmas time.  From Kuranda there is a train that runs back down the mountain to a town just outside Cairns.  Coaches are restored 19^th century and the views from the train are spectacular.

On the Railroad...

Friday was another just hang out day in Port Douglas.  More beach time and a little planning for where we were going next.  We packed the car Friday night for an early departure on Saturday morning.

May 5-7 Airlie Beach and the WhitSunday Islands
Saturday we drove to Airlie Beach.  We got there late in the afternoon.  The Traveler’s Auto Barn brochure had recommended this as a place.  It was definitely a place where there were lots of backpackers.  We had a room on the hill overlooking the harbor and Witsundy islands.   The view was great and it was a short walk to down to the main “strip” in town where all the bars and restaurants are.  A short walk but very vertical.  Advil and alchohol made the return trip home up the hill bearable for Mary Beth.   We made arrangements to do the half day cruise to Whitehaven beach in the Whitsunday Islands. 

Whitehaven Beach

More pictures from the Whitsundays

Sunday was a nice sunny day and the cruise through the Whitsunday islands was beautiful.  I think the sail trip to snorkel at Port Douglas spoiled us a bit relative to transportation on water.  The diesel boat was very noisy.  Whitehaven is on the top 10 beach list (don’t recall who’s list).  We had a great time just walking down the beach and wading in the surf.

In the evening we stopped at the hotel bar for a drink and ended staying there for dinner.  Good food but rather slow service.  Anyway we got back to the room early enough to get plenty of sleep before heading to Rockhampton the next morning.

May 7 Travel to Rockhampton
Monday we drove on to Rockhampton.  It was about an hour away from Gladstone where the boat to Heron leaves from but it was the only place we could find relatively low cost accommodation.  Apparently the mining boom has put rooms in demand and we couldn’t find anything in Gladstone for under $200 a night.  We had intended to do some shopping for snorkeling equipment and wine before heading to Heron Island.  Surprise.  It was Labor Day in Queensland and everything was closed except for restaurants and the movie theater.  We made the best of it.  Mary Beth got to see “Hunger Games”.  She had read the book and was happy to see that they had changed very little in the movie version.

May 8-12 Heron Island
We arrived at the Gladstone early and I spent an hour looking for some snorkeling equipment that was cheaper than the $45 we were going to pay renting.  No luck with that so we went on to the harbor.  We put the Jackaroo in covered secure parking about an hour before the ferry left and settled in doing last minute E-mails and (god forgive us) Facebook.

 It was a nice smooth ride on the twin hulled ferry over to the island.  Sunshine and calm seas made the trip very pleasant.  Trying to photograph the birds flying along the water looking for fish was next to impossible.  Too far away and too hard to focus on them.  I spotted one lone sea turtle on the trip but we went by him too fast for a good photograph.

Heron Island was originally a turtle canning factory at the beginning of the century.  The owners soon figured out that this would not be a sustainable operation and converted the island buildings into a resort.  It’s changed over the years and now is $400 a night Eco resort.   At least the meals are included.   It’s a bit expensive for my taste but its Mary Beth’s reward for all the paradriving and staying in some of the more basic accommodations during the last three months.  You can do a little rationalizing.  Here you don’t have to pay $200 dollars and spend two hours sailing out to the reef and when you consider what you would spend at Port Douglas for a nice hotel, snorkeling trips and three great meals a day it’s a BARGAIN.  At least I keep telling myself that.

We had a garden view cabin with lots of birds to watch in the trees.  If you wanted to see the ocean it was a short two minute walk to the beach. 
After unpacking on the first day we took a guided reef walk.  At low tide there were lots of varieties of sea cucumbers, shell fish, and even a small shark to check out.  We got a great sunset picture of the shore at low tide with a beautiful sunset.

The meals here are great.  Amazingly on the first night none of the main dishes were fish.  Mary Beth had kangaroo and I had Angus beef.  Alcohol is not included in the rate.  Mary Beth had a $16 cocktail before dinner and we had a very nice bottle of Cab-Shiraz blend for only $35.  That was the cheapest wine on the menu.

Wednesday morning we picked up our snorkeling equipment and took a tour of the marine center that is located on the island along with the resort.  In the afternoon we headed out on the boat with the divers for an hour of guided snorkeling.  We were out on the edge of the reef where the water was around 3-10 meters deep.  Because of the relatively strong tides of the last few days the water was not as clear as it might have been.   We did manage to see a huge green sea turtle among other things.  Mary Beth was glowing when she got out of the water.  Her knees felt great and she had just ticked off one of the items on her bucket list.

After snorkeling we went to the info center for an hour presentation on sea turtles.  It was interesting to see how attitudes have changed over the years.  From the turtle cannery that started the settlement on the island to a resort where they had turtle riding till the 60’s and now with all the protection the green turtles on this part of the barrier reef are coming back strong. 
Thursday morning we went on an island walk.  We saw something pretty uncommon for this time of year. There were tracks on the sand up to the forest where a turtle had come ashore to build a nest and lay her eggs.  This turtle was about 60 days later than the rest.   The guide explained how the island was formed and some of the specific vegetation and birds that can only be found here and on a few other islands on the reef.

After the tour we went snorkeling.  You simply walk down the beach a ways and jump in the water and head out.  We were shooting for high tide.  The water was only 3-4 feet deep with bits of coral and sea grass spread out between larger areas where you could stand up without damaging anything.  I had the camera and spent lots of time just pointing and shooting.  It was very difficult to see what was framed exactly in the camera.  There were lots of fish to photograph.  The trick is getting close enough to them before they hide in the sea grass or under/around the coral.
There was a  Lemon shark (probably more than one) out there with us.  I saw him swimming right under Mary Beth at one point and swam over to tell her but he was gone.  Then I saw him again and managed to get a few photographs.  The theme from “Jaws” started playing in my mind and even though these sharks are not aggressive I decided it was time to call it quits for the day.  I already had taken over 100 photos.  When we got to shore a lady told me that she had seen the shark swimming behind me earlier.  He must have been chasing the same fish I was.

In the afternoon we took the bird watching walk.  It was only an hour but there were plenty of opportunities to see and photograph the birds.  We chilled out in the bar until nearly sunset.  Then we raced to the jetty to get some pictures.  I think sunset is better from the beach.  But still pretty fantastic any way you look at it.
Friday was our last full day.  Mary Beth decided we should head for the north tip of the island for snorkeling.  We did an hour in the morning, had lunch and then another hour in the afternoon.  We retired to the bar to relax and sort through the 169 underwater photos.  No turtles but lots of small fish and coral this time.

We decided that snorkeling off the beach is better than the dive boat—at least for the on trip we took.  At the edge of the reef you have to dive down to get close to anything and we didn’t see nearly as many fish.
It was tough to leave this place.  When the sun is shining and the water is warm there doesn’t seem to be a better place to be on earth. 

More Heron Island pictures