After the sunset walk along the coast in Noosa National park we continued to Mudjimba, where we spent the night in a little motel near the highway. The next day we enjoyed sunbathing and swimming at the wonderful beach with plenty of space (as only very few folks were there).
In the sea with your ears under water you could really hear some distant whales making noises.
In the afternoon we continued our travels to Brisbane.
In Tin Can Bay we had a really nice hotel room in some kind of cabin. The man at the reception was very talkative and gave us plenty of information, especially that there was a hot dinner deal tonight in the hotel next door. Two dishes for the price of one. Of course we could not miss out on that one. Actually the food was really good. We shared a bottle of white wine and left the restaurant filled up and satisfied.
The next morning we had to get up early as there was dolphin feeding at a cafe in the harbour which was supposed to start areound 7:30 am and people recommended to queue up early.
For 5 dollars you were allowed to stand in the water close to the two dolphins for some minutes while the staff gave some background information. For another 5 dollars you could buy one little fish to feed the dolphins. We took the complete package and enjoyed the time with the cute animals. A coffee in the cafe helped to bridge the waiting time.
Some birds tried to catch the fish intended for the dolphins by quickly flying into the scene when the person was holding the fish in his or her hands. And actually a few times the birds managed to succeed. Even though the personnel had some long sticks to scare the birds away.
One pelican was also hanging around all the time hoping to get a piece of fish for him. He was quite relaxed and did not attack anybody while feeding a fish to the dolphins. Unfortunately he had to go away empty-handed (anyhow by law it is forbidden to feed those birds). Pelicans are really very impressive birds. They are very big and they have a big beak. You should not get too close at their eye level, their beak could well hurt you.
In the afternoon of the third day on Fraser Island we took back the Ferry to Rainbow Beach. We had to fill up the two fuel tanks of our 4WD car (the main one was empty, in the smaller one was about 1/4 left) before returning the car. Well, that was probably the biggest fill-up at a gas station I ever had – 110 liters unleaded fuel for more than 150 Australian Dollars.
We returned the car, the short inspection for damages and any salt water in the engine compartment revealed nothing. So, all good.
Back in our little rental car we went to the beach for a short walk and afterwards we headed up to Carlo Sandblow, a nice big sand dune where you can walk up to and we enjoyed a beautiful and picturesque sunset over the dune and surrounding forest.
The night we spent in Tin Can Bay which is only about half an hour’s drive away.
We had rented a 4WD jeep to do a self-drive tour for three days on Fraser Island. This was pretty amazing. The island is a bit like paradise. (If it wasn’t for all the tourists that do the more easy to reach hot spots on the island; but you have some calm, remote spots there, too. And if you get to the hot spots early, then it is normally relatively quiet. So getting up early was on the daily agenda.)
The driving on the sand and trough creeks ond the beach full of fresh water was really fun. We went swimming in some crystal clear, turquoise blue lakes (and also a green one). We walked stunning sand dunes, we saw whales swimming and jumping (you could see them just from the beach, they were only a bit out in the ocean) and from Indian Head viewpoint we watched manta rays, little sharks and turtles in the sea. 🙂
tbd
Unfortunately the last day of our WA and NT trip has come. We spent the last night in Darwin. We were lucky that a festival was going on downtown with plenty of food stands and some live music and dancing. The area was beautifully decorated and illuminated.
The night on the campsite was not so good with regards insects, some kind of sand flies or other little bastards (probably not moscitos) must have like our blood. The next day we had plenty of bites all over our body. Mainly our legs and feets. They were really itchy, even after days, and they became really big and red.
We brought back the campervan to Britz the next day, all was good. So we took the cab to the airport and flew to Brisbane, where we spent one night before going further up the coast with a rental car.
At the caravan park in Batchelor we got um quite early to watch the bird feeding at 7:30 am. We saw plenty of cockatoos, parrots and other birds. They were already waiting in the surrounding trees and when the seeds and liquid was put into the feeding bowls all the birds rushed to them. Quite a spectacle.
After breakfast we hit the road in the direction to Darwin but with a short detour to the Adelaide River where we wanted to join a Jumping Crocodile Tour. We were lucky that the 1 pm tour was not fully booked and that they even took the smaller and faster boat due to the small number of passengers.
The one hour tour was really great, we saw about five jumping crocodiles, some other ones just swimming in the water and also a very big one lying on the sandbank in the grass. It was about fifty years old and really huge. The tour guide held a rod with a piece of meat over the water and then a nearby crocodile approached to catch the meat. The tour guide quickly moved the rod with the meat as soon as the crocodile tried to catch it and always moved the rod a bit higher in order to make the crocodile jump. They are lazy guys and so they try to get the meat with least effort. Finally they jumped out of the water nearly two meters. Pretty crazy.
The guide also had some food for the birds which flew onto his hand (protected by a glove) to grab it. When tbe rest was dumped into the water the birds all rushed there to grab it.
In Litchfield National Park we stayed two days. Quite some tourists and folks from Darwin come here to go for a swim as there are plenty of pools and waterfalls which are crocodile free and safe for swimming. So we did some nice bush walks and we went swimming in many different pools where waterfalls often rush into. The water was really great and very refreshing, especially after a walk (it was so hot that you were quickly sweating all over) and we had a lot of fun splashing in the plunge pools.
Internet / WiFi reception was hardly to find around here and if you found some it was so bad that it was useless. That’s why it took a while to update my blog again.
In Katherine we went to the third hot spring (some other German travellers had recommended this one to us). Also quite nice, but we would still vote Bitter Springs #1. After some time of floundering about in the water some french guy was shouting that a snake had been seen up the spring and that we perhaps might want to leave the water. Within seconds everybody rushed out of the water. We walked up the spring and some folks were pointing at a snake in the coppice next to the water. The Australians were pretty sure it was a brown snake – you shouldn’t mess up with this one. After a while it even went into the water – pretty fast that damn thing.
Nevertheless some other people went back into the water. We went back to our car to head on to Litchfield National Park. Some older Australian couple in the car park asked for the way to the hot springs. We told them and also that there was a brown snake around shortly. Their comment: no worries, it won’t harm you.
From Katherine we made a detour of about 100 km to Mataranka where they have some nice hot springs (they are fairly warm) where you can swim in. Our campsite was at the entrance of the national park and the hot spring was within 5 minutes walking distance. We took a swim in the afternoon and another one the next morning before breakfast. As it is still a bit cold in the morning the warm water was really pleasant.
In the late afternoon we went for a short bushwalk and we saw some wild pigs.
At night there was even some entertainment at the campsite’s bar area. At first a band was playing and later on they had some guy doing some tricks with his whips like imitating helicopter noise or whipping with the beat of an AC/DC song, was really cool.
