Thursday 14th September 2023
After an early morning start from our little campsite, we arrived home at Davistown about 2.30pm. We have had a great 9 week adventure and look forward to seeing all our family and friends. Till next time.

Wednesday 13th September 2023
Today we have left Rosslyn Bay and have had a very big driving day, leaving at 7ish. We drove solidly all day with only the stops for breakfast and lunch. We had intended stopping at Goondiwindi but it was only early so we continued to Gurley in NSW. We went inland and the road was very quiet until 4pm when the trucks seemed to come out of the woodwork. WE are always travelling the roads less travelled. We passed many farms of cotton, wheat, maize and sorghum, as well as cattle farms. Another big drive day is scheduled for tomorrow.

Tuesday 12th September 2023
We have had a lovely time on Great Keppel Island. Today the wind is very strong and we are not sure how long we have on the island. If they cancel our 4pm ferry we will have to go on the Freedom Fast Cat at 2.30pm. So we were up and on our walk at 8am. Today we are heading to Mt Wyndham lookout a 178m elevation over a couple of km, so a big hill climb. The views along the way were beautiful of the coastline and the beautiful clear water. It is very windy so there are whitecaps out to sea. We then headed down to Clam Bay which had a very strong onshore wind and a decent swell coming in to the beach. The trail down to Clam Bay was very overgrown with many fallen trees making it a little difficult to find our way. There were many goats along the way.

After a short break at Clam Bay we decided to do a loop back to the Holiday Village rather than follow one of the trails we had already travelled. We walked along Leeke’s Beach which was a beautiful white sandy beach on the western side of the island, so a lot calmer than anywhere else. We then walked around the headland of variegated coloured rocks to Putney Beach. This beach was also a white sandy beach which ended at the Hideaway Resort. The headland that the resort is on has the most enormous sand bags which must have been placed to avoid the resort falling in to the ocean. We have walked 14.36km over 3hrs 50mins this morning.

We then enjoyed lunch at the Holiday Village and then walked along Fisherman’s Beach, around the headland to Shelving Beach. This was one of the sheltered snorkelling spots for today. We had a great 30min snorkel where we sae many beautiful fish, some large parrotfish, some Stripey Snapper, Lemon Damsels, Blackeye Thicklip, Scribbled Angelfish and some of the usual ones we have seen each time. We also spent about 10 mins swimming with a Green Sea Turtle.

We then headed back to the resort and collected our gear for the 4pm ferry. We made the most of our last day on the island. We have really enjoyed the snorkelling and hiking over the last four days. We had a pretty good trip back to the mainland, albeit very lumpy and biog swell. Apparently the trip from the mainland to the island was a lot worse this morning with about 8ft swells. We are staying at Rosslyn Bay again tonight and will be on our way for the long journey home, starting in the morning. Thanks for sharing our travels and we look forward to chatting about it more when we get home. Big hugs to you all.

Monday 11th September 2023
Today we have had a very slow day after our big hiking day yesterday. We had a late breakfast, enjoyed a morning of reading, chatting and just relaxing. Believe it or not, a very strange phenomenon for us. Hopefully one we can practise a little more as we continue our travels. After lunch we went for another walk to Monkey Beach for a snorkel but the wind was too strong on the beach, so we just relaxed a little until the sand blowing over us became too annoying. We then rock-hopped around the headland to Shelving Beach which was a little more protected. We may snorkel here tomorrow if we have time. We then rock-hopped around the headland to Fisherman’s Beach where I had a swim in the protected corner and then we headed back for a further rest. We had a lovely dinner out tonight at the Bistro in the accommodation next door.

Sunday 10th September 2023
Today we have decided on a big 20+ km hike around Great Keppel Island with a snorkel at Butterfish Bay. We left the Holiday Village at about 8.30am with the first stop being The Lighthouse which was about 8km away. It was a lovely day with a strong breeze. The trail started out very easy along a dirt road, then up to the 1st Lookout passed Leekes Beach. We then continued along the trail which became rocky, winding through dry forest, over creeks where we saw many birds, through farmland with some goats. We stopped at some beautiful lookouts overlooking, Svendsens Beach, Red Beach, Clam Bay and then finally looking towards the Lighthouse.  The terrain was ever-changing and looking out to the lighthouse it was quite barren. We arrived at the Lighthouse after about 3 hours and 9km. It was a small unmanned structure which had been there since 1975. We the headed back up from the lighthouse, had a short stop for lunch and then headed over the spur to Wreck Beach. This was a long stretch of beach with some interesting crabs that scurried away as we continued walking towards them. We then walked over the sandy inland to Butterfish Bay where we enjoyed a short snorkel, only about 30mins today., We saw a variety of small fish, a zillion black sea cucumbers and some beautiful colourful coral. We then had a rest on the beach to enable our gear to dry and then were on our way again at about 3pm. We headed up the cliff and then down to Svendsen’s Beach and then followed an unmarked trail under advice from the owner of  a resort at Svendsen’s. This cut off one f the hill climbs. We continued on for another couple of hours, arriving back at the Vilage at 5.30pm. It had been a very long walk – 21.5km. The scenery along the trail was amazing, the blue beaches, red rocky cliffs, the lighthouse and the beautiful coral reefs.

Without even stopping for a break, I headed straight down to watch the spectacular sunset on Fisherman’s Beach. It was amazing. We had a fantastic day and have covered a lot of the island, enjoying many of the views the island has to offer. We are pleasantly exhausted and looking forward to a restful night.

Saturday 9th September 2023
Today we are heading to Great Keppel Island for a few days rest. It was an early start as we were leaving by boat from Keppel Bay Marina at 7.30am. We went by boat with Keppel Connections and it took just 30 mins to get to Great Keppel Island. We arrived at the same time as the larger boat – Freedom Fast Cats. The water was again the most spectacular blue and very clear. We were met at the beach by Annette from Great Keppel Island Holiday Village where we have a double room with shared bathroom for the next three nights. A little luxury before we head home.

We walked through the bush to Long Beach which was as its name indicates, a long beach. The water was a beautiful aquamarine colour and quite smooth. We enjoyed the walk along the beach and then headed up through some bushland again to reach Monkey Beach. This had a coral reef not too far out and we went for a snorkel. David only lasted about 20mins but I managed just over an hour. The difference being I have my wetsuit here and wore it as well as a stinger suit. David is just too skinny and needs more clothes. We saw so many fish today including Angelfish, Butterfly fish, Parrotfish, the shy Longfin Rockcod, Chinese Demoiselle, Moon Wrasse, Blackeye Thicklip and some beautiful giant fluted clams in a variety of colours. Just as I was about to return to the beach I saw and Green Sea Turtle and swam with it for about 20 mins. I was so lucky, it was amazing. I love the experience of sharing their environment with them. We then enjoyed some rest time on Monkey Beach, it was so peaceful with very few visitors venturing this far., Most of the other snorkellers have left.

We then walked up to the lookout and then back to the Village. We have had a lovely day.

Friday 8th September 2023
Well, believe it or not. Our car did not move today. We had a restful day at the caravan park, just reading, editing and naming photos, doing Rubik’s cube training and resting. We almost made it all day resting until 3pm when we went for a 5.5km around the Bluff Point walking track. It wound through  dry rainforest, open grassland and eucalypt forest. The view was out to Rosslyn Bay, Great Keppel Island and towards Yeppoon.

Then we packed our gear for our next little adventure starting tomorrow. Four days on Great Keppel Island.

Thursday 7th September 2023
Today we went for a drive via Yeppoon to Mt Archer National Park on our way east to Rockhampton. It had a view of the farmland, the Fitzroy River and Rockhampton town. We enjoyed a walk at the top, albeit a little one, which we were both grateful for as we are still a little tired. We then headed to Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Zoo. We had a walk around the zoo and then David had a walk around the Gardens whilst I had a snooze in the car.

Tonight I did a little food preparation for our trip to Great Keppel Island on Saturday, as the weather in forecast for rain tomorrow. i thought if I had most of it done, it wouldn’t matter if it rains.

Tuesday 5th September 2023
Today we spent doing a bit of housekeeping in our cabin at Airlie Beach. Car insurance, bills, shopping, washing and a very big rest. The weather has been lovely, a maximum of between 25 and 30° every day. This afternoon we realised the registration for the Prado was due on Thursday, so after ringing around I finally found someone who can do an interstate safety inspection for us tomorrow morning. This could be problematic if they need anything fixed bvut fingers crossed it all goes well.

Wednesday 6th September 2023
After a little bit of stress getting the car registered, we were on our way again by about 10.30am. We have a big day driving to Rosslyn Bay near Yeppoon. About 500km. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is on David’s favourite Bruce Hwy which we have been on a few too many times in. the last week. I drove a little after lunch in David’s rest time, he always has a bit of a struggle after lunch. I remembered I had left my jacket at Sarina about 20mins after we had passed there. Oh well!~ Back we go, adding about an hour to our trip. We finally arrive at Rosslyn Bay at about 5.55pm, just before the caravan park office closes.

We met some like minded hikers from Tasmania in the camp kitchen tonight and enjoyed a lovely chat with them about hiking options in Tassie.

Monday 4th September 2023
Today is our last day in the Whitsunday Islands. We enjoy a lovely morning at Maureen Cove, at the north of Hook Island. Maureen’s Cove is a renowned snorkelling site with easy access from the coral beach. It boasts an array of underwater valleys and caves, and abundant marine life including giant Maori Wrasse and Manta Rays, which unfortunately we didn’t see any of them.

After breakfast we head for a walk up the creek through a butterfly haven to a cave. This was walking through the dry creek bed over small rocks. As we continue it becomes bigger rocks and then boulder hopping and clambering. It was a fun and challenging walk. Along the way we saw a flutter of butterflies. As we disturbed them they all took off together and fluttered further up the dry creek bed. As always they were very difficult to capture. At the end of the creek we came to a small cave with many, many wasp nests inside. We then walked back again to the beach, as we were trying to squeeze as much in our day as possible. We packed up all our belongings and packed the kayak except for our snorkel gear. We then had a short snorkel out with a boat tour. They were a snorkelling a little bit further away in the deeper coral and having their support dinghy gave me a little more confidence to head over further from the beach. We saw some beautiful fish including some colourful parrotfish, a trumpet fish, many angel fish and a variety of other fish. We then headed back to shore to put the final touches on our packing and we were ready by 11.20am in time for a 11.30am-1.30pm pick-up.

We waited until about 1.15pm under the trees for the boat to arrive and then enjoyed a boat ride to Steen’s Beach, Crayfish Beach, then headed around the west side of the islands to South Molle and then back to Shute Harbour. We have had a fantastic adventure over the last five days, we have seen some amazing green sea turtles, an abundant variety of fish, coral and clams, met some lovely people, paddled through some amazing bays with incredible cliff-faces, rocky boulders and vegetation, plus the most fantastic crystal clear blue waters. What an amazing time we have had.

We have checked in to a cabin at the Tasman Tourist Park for 2 nights to recover, plan and reset ourselves for the next stage of our trip.

4L water today