It had been a very wet start to winter for the east coast of Australia which made me wonder if our holiday would be much fun. Phil surprised us with business class seats on the way up to Brisbane and Mackay. It was pretty nice being “VIPs” as Catherine called it. We were given breakfast on our Brisbane flight and dinner on our flight to Mackay. We had about a 7-hour layover in Brisbane and decided to head into the city and explore.
Brisbane brought out the sun for us. It was a beautiful day warm day (18°C). We had a delicious lunch by the river at the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) Bistro. This was followed by a session at the Chiharu Shiota exhibit, an immersive experience. We walked along South Bank afterwards and had some treats from San Churro and Starbucks. We browsed through the markets before getting an Uber back to the airport. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at the Virgin Airlines lounge. Our flight into Mackay arrived around 10pm. We picked up our car rental and drove in the pouring rain around the perimeter of the airport to our hotel for the night.
We woke up to more rain and drove out to Airlie Beach. The drive took about 2 hours and was a bit challenging and a little scary with heavy rain. We made it safely to our accommodation and welcomed the space and luxury for the next few days. The next 2 wet days meant we stayed in and watched as much of the free movies we could.
On the third day, the sun finally came out for what was to be a most amazing day. After a slight hiccup and needing a ride from the tour company, Ocean Rafting, to pick up some medication from our hotel, we set off to the Whitsunday Islands. We had the best time. It was so good to see the kids enjoying themselves and really appreciating the beauty of this part of Australia.
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There were 25 of us on our tour for the day and 2 guides. After leaving Airlie Beach and doing a few thrilling donuts on the bay, we were on the fast boat for about an hour before we reached Whitsunday Island. We disembarked at the breathtaking Whitehaven Beach and hiked up to Hill Inlet Lookout. Lunch was provided back on the beach where we were able to relax and take in the scenery. We went back on the boat where we saw a manta ray, which Ocean Rafting is tracking for research, along the way to our first snorkelling stop off of Hook Island. We saw some of the remarkable Great Barrier Reef after some (swimming) effort for some of us. Catherine was a bit nervous, as was I, but eventually she went into the water. “I’m just going to go in.” I was so proud of her. On the way to the next snorkelling stop, we spotted a whale! The adventure ended with feeding and swimming with fish, enjoying the ride back to Airlie Beach and more donuts on the bay. It was such a happy day for Nicholas. “This was the best day of my life! This was better than Disneyland!”
We had our last buffet breakfast on the fourth day. We checked out of our apartment and explored a bit more of Airlie Beach before driving to Cape Hillsborough. There was no more rain for the rest of our time up north, but on our drive, we did have to navigate pot holes and road work to fix the pot holes.
Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park was a stark contrast to the Mirage Whitsundays. We had a basic cabin for the next two nights and no wi-fi. We made our own meals with the exception of the last night when fish and chips and pizza was available to order at the tourist park. Outdoor family movies were also on each night. We were surrounded by National Park and saw wallabies, kangaroos, bush turkeys and kookaburras right at our doorstep. We woke up to see the kangaroos on the beach at sunrise and explored a rocky Wedge Island at low tide. It was so refreshing to be immersed in nature and a bit sad when it was time to go back home to cold Canberra (5°C).
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