Cairns

Along the Sunshine Coast

After Cairns we travelled down the east coast, meeting the wildlife and encountering some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth

A Golden Orb spider.
This one is just a baby, apparently.

At the Billabong sanctuary - please don't try this at home...

Demonstrating the sheer viciousness of the Saltwater Croc.
Sort of...

There's a croc in here somewhere...

... see?

Croc on a stick!

"Sampling cattle station life" on a ranch about 100km inland from Rockhampton.

The dining room was specially decorated for us...

... and the after dinner light show was just...

...spectacular

The dawn chorus was started by one of the peacocks which kicked off the kookaburras and then all hell broke loose with cockatiels and magpies etc etc.

The early morning wake-up service left a bit to be desired though.

A walk in the bush.

Intrepid explorer!

Frazer Island

Dingoes still run wild on the island but they're a lot less of a problem than in recent years following a program of re-education of both dingoes and tourists, and the removal of all open rubbish tips.

Eli Creek. Fed by a freshwater aquifer that runs under the sea from the mainland.

This place is just paradise, you've got to see it to believe just how beautiful and unspoilt it is.

Ghost crab on the beach. The tyre tracks are there because the east coast beach is actually an adopted highway. It's also an airstrip. which makes for some complicated traffic management. No wonder Ghostie looks worried...

More of those stagshorn ferns, this time in the wild.

It's a long story but basically this used to be a luxury liner...Look up the story of the Maheno if you want to know how it got there.

They do have a high opinion of their beer :-)

The Glasshouse Mountains, named by Captain Cook, are the remains of a volcanic range formed about 60 million years ago. The "mountains" are actually the plugs of the volcanoes after all the rest has weathered away.

Coolangatta

The best way to see Surfer's Paradise.

I could go on and on about the incredible geology of this place, the startling flora etc etc...

...but I think I'll just leave you to admire the view.

There were even wild turkeys in the woods here, apparently unaware that it was only 3 days till Xmas.

and on we went to the Blue Mountains.