Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Left the "Bates Motel" as quickly as we could, and headed to Hervey Bay for a half day whale watching trip, which we scheduled just the night before on Bill's laptop.  Reportedly the humpbacks stop over in the bay to take a rest from their migration along the coast, and we were lucky enough to see multiple whales, some with calves.  The captain turned off the engines and for 20 or 30 minutes we got to watch 3 jueveniles "spy hopping" around our boat.  They were almost close enough to touch, and when they swam underneath the boat, it rocked like crazy, and it was a very big boat.   Great way to end our trip, flew back to Perth from Brisbane that night. 

Monday, September 6, continued...

When the tide went out we were able to do a reef walk, seemed so strange to realize we were walking on the reef, but as long as you stay on the sand and off the coral, no damage is done.  Interesting to see all the strange critters like these big sea cucumbers and beautiful clam shells. 

Unfortunately we had to leave the island today, but it's been very relaxing and low-key.  There are no locks on the doors so no keys to bother with, and they say there has never been a problem with theft.  Everyone was very friendly and there is a fairly large marine research station on the island, associated with the University of Queensland. 

We took the boat back to the mainland, then drove to a small, historic town called Marysborough.  I booked a hotel that was described as being quaint and historic, but turned out to be a derelict, falling down, positively scary place and we felt lucky to wake up the next morning without having been bludgeoned in our sleep.  When we tried to check in, there was no one at the desk, and although we kept calling the number, no one responded, so we left to get some dinner.  However, Marysborough basically rolls up the sidewalks at 6:00pm because there was not a restaurant open, which explained why no one was manning the hotel desk - after all, it was almost dark outside!  If there had been anything else availbable, we would not have gone back to the hotel, but since it appeared to be the only place in town, we checked in and held our breath.  The hotel apparently has a rather large number of "permanent residents" and the sign on the soda machine said, "If you continue to put slugs in, the owners of the machine have threatened to take it out - you have been warned!"  Very high class clientele.  Anyway, we left as quickly as possible the next morning, and headed for Hervey Bay.

Monday, September 6, 2010

While Bill went diving, I joined the bird walk, to learn something about the over 100,000 birds that nest here every year.  These are Black Noddies, and there are over 70,000 of them.  They're fairly quiet though, at least compared to the Mutton Birds, which thankfully do not arrive until next month.  We were told they sound like cats being strangled, and they keep it up all night long. 

I also saw this White Breasted Sea Eagle and its mate - huge birds.  They nest on a nearby island but come to Heron Island to hunt, and this one had a smaller bird in its talons.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bill went diving, again, and then we both went out on the snorkel boat to the outer edge of the reef.  We went to a beautiful site called the Heron Bommie, with tons of fish and turtles.  This big loggerhead came up just as we were all getting back on the boat. 

Saw a 7 or 8 foot nurse shark, asleep on the bottom, but by then Bill's camera had fogged up so he couldn't get a picture.  These are some of the fish and coral around the bommie. 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The resort was wonderful, very casual and laid back, and the weather was incredibly humid but temps were only about 75 degrees.  As soon as we arrived Bill went in to snorkel, and our room was just a few feet from the beach.  We walked down a little ways to an area called Shark Bay, which turned out to be aptly named.  Standing on the beach, I was amazed to see dozens of sharks and stingrays swimming around, and I questioned whether or not I really wanted to get in the water.  While I was standing there, a huge eagle ray jumped out of the water right in front of where Bill was snorkeling, but he didn't even see it.  When he came out I mentioned the huge number of sharks, and he said he hadn't seen ANY.   So I made him go back out, down the beach a little further where I'd seen so many, cause I needed some pictures for my blog.  And then he did see a bunch, and got some decent pics.  They're mostly 3-4 foot long reef sharks, and they acutally pay no attention to snorklers and divers.

Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef

Friday, September 3, 2010

We drove on the rest of the way to Gladstone, where we parked the car at the marina, then took a taxi to the small airport.  Then a fabulous helicopter ride out to Heron Island, located 72 kilometers from the mainland and right on the Great Barrier Reef.    This is a picture of the reef, and the water was clear enough to spot stingrays, turtles and whales.  

Below is the island from the heli, only 42 acres and a major nesting site for several species of birds as well as green sea turtles and loggerheads.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Below:  Australian Brush Turkey

The second day of Bill's conference, and I drove to Burrim Forest Park to hike.  Some beautiful waterfalls and colorful goannas and birds.  Seems strange to see koala crossing signs on all the roads, instead of kangaroo signs. 

After the conference ended we drove north as far as Gin Gin, a small town on the main road.

Noosa N.P., Queensland, AU

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The start of a business trip/vacation in Queensland.  We flew to Brisbane (Brissy) rented a car and drove north about an hour and a half to Coolum Beach.  Stayed at the Hyatt Regency resort which was very nice, and while Bill attended his meetings, I drove to Noosa National Park, only 20 minutes away.  Almost immediately I spotted this little koala in a tree, and although he was initially asleep, when I returned from my walk he was awake and I could have reached out and touched him, he was so low in the tree.   Since they sleep about 22 hours a day, it's unusual to find them awake.

In the rainforest, lots of the trees are wrapped up in vines, and look like a tree inside of a tree, like this one.

Saw this big goanna climbing a tree.  Some are dark gray like this one but others are covered with yellow polka-dots, that start out small on the head and then get larger towards the rear, ending up in stripes on the tail.  This is a pic of the coastline in Noosa N.P.