The beginning of the GREAT TRAIN RIDE! The only rain we saw during our visit to Queensland. A bit of spitting and some wind and that was it. We were inside a train, so all was comfort. We had a rail pass which allowed us on and off privileges with transfers to the towns we were going to, all for one price. Really great!
A banana plantation along the way. The bananas are wrapped both for protection from birds and for warmth and quick growth.
The general edge of outback forest. The train line follows the coast, more or less and we did not go inland, so this is the closest I got to seeing the bush.
Dry dry river beds. Water is a real problem for them. We saw hundreds of miles of sugar cane and a lot of this dry look too.
Dawn in Airlie Beach. We stayed here for a week, to recuperate from our first whirlwind week's tour. This was a very nice resort Beach and we walked everywhere. We saw many birds I had never seen before including a bowerbird building his beautiful arch with sticks and blue and green collected stones.
There was a great market day on the beach and we wandered around getting organic food to eat in our hostel. These were camels that must have been native captures (there is a huge wild population in the Australian desert) and was amusing the visitors with rides.
This particular guy was not as happy a camper as I would have imagined.
We went on a sunset tour on the ferry one evening and it was a wonderful ride around the Whitsunday Islands. We even got an education on what animals we might see. It was the beginning of whale watching season and I was hoping! I had seen some dolphins in the bay the day we had arrived in Airlie Beach.
After we had rested enough, we took a bus ride into Proserpine. This was a small town on the train line and we enjoyed it very much. I had a sugar refinery that would run from July to November during the harvest time. The whole place smelt of burnt sugar. We also visited a pioneer museum and had a lovely lunch in a little cafe.
Another day, another long walk. This time, we walked out of town to a small shopping mall and just relaxed with coffee and a newspaper. We weren't getting much access to TV news in the hostel as the kids preferred to watch the Simpsons pretty much 24/7.
The train ride from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay was done during the night. We got a berth in a sleeper car and sat for the first two hours in the dark, just looking at the most incredible night sky. I have never seen the Milky Way to this degree before. It was amazing. We arrived in Maryborough the next morning and were tranferred by bus to Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is near the Fraser Island area. We stayed there for three days and walked the beaches for kilometers! 16 to be exact! But we also had some great food and some great tours.
We went into Maryborough one day to see the town that didn't get to be the capital of Queensland. We took a ferry tour up and down the river to see homes along the water.
We also visited an old general store that had materials in it from the 1800's.
This is a pied crow. Very bright, not shy and noisy too!
Classic Queenslander butterfly staircase. We were both charmed by the houses.
Sharks and whales are a deep fascination to everyone. I was more fascinated with giant styatues of things.
We visited a great pioneer museum in Hervey Bay that I will never forget. What a life of hardship just to survive.
Walking the beach was very beautiful and almost restful if it wasn't for the shared bike/pedestrian pthway Yoiks! a few close calls there.
Mr. Pelikan came out of the water just to pose for the camera.
Dead Jelly fish on the beach. They looked just like glass.
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