Whitsundays, we've arrived!

Those that know me, know my life long dream has been to jetski around the Whitsundays.

I'm a simple man, just wanting a jetski and the aqua water of the Whitsundays.....Oh, and a wife and little girl to join me.. in an F-250....with a luxury camper on the back.... after staying at all the good places on the way up... and then continuing around Australia... but I'm just a simple man not asking for much.

I'M HERE!!!

Time for a holiday, no rush, just ease into it all and soak up the sundays of whit.

I wake up on Friday morning full of excitement. We all get ourselves organised for a good day out. While the girls were showering I thought I better check those keys I got cut at Yeppoon.

Me being me, go straight to the important key, and lock the door of the camper with it. Cool it works, one down, 16 keys to go. No, hang on, what the, the damn key, arrrrgh, it's friggen stuck in the lock. I wiggle it, I twist it, I pull it, I shake it, but the damn thing is stuck in the lock and the camper is now locked.... Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!.

The wife strolls back from the relaxing showers of the caravan park with a satisfied and pleasant look on her face. Me frantically wiggling around looking like a primary school boy busting to go to the toilet.

"What's wrong?" she asks. 

Well, how do I explain this; "Um, something weird happened, I come back from the showers and I 'found' this key in the camper lock, I think someone tried to get in while we were away". Like a religious confessional of the highest level, with the Pope, otherwise known as my wife, she immediately knew I was lying and simply looked down and shook her head at me in total disgust.

But it's not my fault.....

So day 1 of my dream was spent organising a locksmith to come and fix my bad juju. Unfortunately he did arrive later that day, while not ridding me of said juju he did fix the camper.

While Day 1 was thinking about Day 2, it was decided we'd go on a tour boat called the Big Fury. This 900hp 80kph+ monster speedboat was exactly what "we" wanted. I mean who wants to slowly sail around the Whitsundays taking in all the sights when we can speed around to just the best ones right?. I've got 10 days to soak up the whit'ness, so why not go full speed on day 1.

The Big Fury on Whitehaven Beach

"cruising" past some of the islands and landmarks around the Whitsundays was living a dream. I couldn't think of anything else I could be doing... 

Then we passed some rock formations that our little excited tour guide friend aptly named Adam and Eve..... I don't get it???

 Adam and Eve

We then went snorkeling in a secret cove; that oddly didn't have one fish or piece of alive coral... yep, no wonder no one was there! 

It was at this point my bad juju had returned. 

First, my fantastic Drift camera had died. Yep, wouldn't turn on. I'm glad there was nothing to see. Then, while snorkeling, my little 4 year old girl tapped me on the shoulder and said she had dropped her snorkel back "there". Where?? Not in that deep hole? Yep, of course it was. It could have been on the shallower stuff, but nooooo.

Well, after a giant "Ian Thorpe" breath in, down I went. Approximately 10 minutes later I resurfaced with a snorkel trophy in my hand that even Laurie Lawrence would have been proud of. Now who's the man!

Next stop, we were dropped off for some lunch at Whithaven Beach

 Whitehaven Beach with Big Fury

After lazing around for an hour I thought I'd walk up to the Whitehaven lookout... by myself.... as everyone else was too laaaaaazy!

Along a spooky path, with giant Lace Monitors ready to eat me at every turn, I wandered up ALONE. Like from a movie, when the chased character keeps jumping and looking around frantically with every rustle, that was me and my award winning "terrified" performance.

The spooky path

I survived, barely, and we headed home. This is really when I thought the boat driver would open up all four of his 225hp engines and speed on home. Nope. A maximum speed of 43kph. Whaaaat. And this is the Big Fury... more like the Big Fairy. Luckily we did make it back before sunset.

The next day was Jetskiing Day. Yeehar!!

The water was magic, so smooth that I was "cruising" around at 80kph. In your face Big Fairy that's how you cruise the Whitsundays.

 Daydream Island - Mermaids

Next stop Long Island. This is by far my favorite island. It's welcoming with a better beach. unlike Day Dream that was a broken coral beach.

 Long Island

Next on the jetski trip was Hamilton Island. It wasn't a long stay, as soon as the anchor hit the water I was told you can't stop. What! Seriously, this is what it's like. With the exception of Long Island, it's all about money. With the rates varying from $20 to $120 just to get access to them. That's before you decide to buy a crappy pie for $5. So wow, you could find yourself essentially paying $125 for a pie!

 Hamilton Island

Next, South Molle Island. It was deserted. Weird? I idled along the resort front, but no one there. Then in the distance I noticed a guy sitting, working on a laptop, at the end of the jetty.

"Hey mate, you've got the island to yourself hey" I yell out.

In a European accent (Swedish I think) he said "No, they are all out the back". huh? Later he tells me everyone arrives on Monday??? Um, yeah ok, something is a little fishy here. When I get home I read some reviews that say the resort was damaged in a cyclone and is a really bad place to stay. I guess that it's not a secret to visitors. It's a shame as it looked like a great place from the water.

 South Molle Island

Finally on my way back to the harbor I come across someone with way worse juju than mine. Called the Whitsunday Magic, I'm not sure the spell he cast to park his ship was right. Either that or his sandalwood and dragon blood mix was contaminated. Just west of the harbor and Airlie Beach, I think he'll be stranded here for a very long time to come.

We're still here for a few more days, then we're off to Townsville and Magnetic Island. The jaunt continues.

Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island

Decisions.. decisions...  bypass Bundaberg on the way to Yeppoon or stop in and "have a look"

Um not a difficult decision really....Bundaberg here we come!!

Bundy Guided Tour - Check
Drip molasses on the missus by accident - Check
Lick it off while female Swedish tourists are watching - Um, no, give me a tissue, I don't want the tourists getting too excited by my antics
Taste Test - Check
$200 on some Bundy as we leave - Check

Next stop Yeppoon.

First thing first, get new locks and keys cut due to my previous mishap. Done!

Now, check out the tides here. Massive. The picture doesn't do it justice. What looks like a boat in the below picture is an island! The beach went from maybe 100m to maybe 600m+. I better remember that for later.

Next stop Great Keppel Island

After a some energizing heart starting bacon and eggs, it was off to the marina for a 300x Keppel Launch Party! And it rocked!

A quick lap of the island was first on the agenda, then time to stop for a closer look.

I anchored up on the beach and headed off to find a coffee shop.

As I walked up the beach I was greeted with this.

I hope this isn't sign of things to come (sorry about the quality, I forgot to wipe the wet camera lens first).

Now, priorities; COFFEEEEEE!!!!

After a short walk, I noticed a resort through the trees in the distance. Sweet, I might grab something to eat too.

Thinking the path into this resort was a little under maintained, I never expected to find what I ended up finding.

To my horror, the resort was closed, and I mean very closed. It was in desperate need of a little whipper snipping....well ok, maybe a lot of whipper snipping. It was something out of a Stephen King novel. I just hope I don't get a crazed mass murderer jump out of the bushes... actually even bumping into another tourist walking along the path will probably make me crap my pants.

Damn, now what.

Thankfully there was a run down souvenir shop with a cheap Aldi style pod coffee machine. Oh well, that will have to do.

Apparently no it won't, my bad juju had followed me to the island, and as the nice lady was trying to make it, the coffee machine coped a dose of my juju and died. Damn, instant it is. It still was a Great Keppel Island coffee non-the-less.

After sipping my four dollar instant coffee and soaking in the view, for an hour or so, it was time to go. Remember those tides.......

GOD DAMN TIDE...ARRRRRRRRGGH

It was time for a swim anyway, time to burn that instant coffee off. Do you know how cold the water is when your sunning yourself like a big lizard on an almost deserted island. COLD!

But..... Great Keppel Island - CHECK!

Next stop Whitsundays.... with a new set of keys.. don't forget about my newly cut keys, it's time to test them.

Fraser Island, Hervey Bay and Australia Zoo

The trailer is fixed, my phone is fixed and I haven't dropped my toiletries bag into anymore dumpsters...but I did lose ALL OF MY KEYS. Yes, every single key to every lock I have.

Luckily I was "smart" enough to give a copy of most of the keys to the missus, oh and thankfully everything was unlocked when it happened.

So, note to self, after going jetskiing, don't leave your keys in the tray of the ute and ask the missus to go get dinner. Oh, and am I wrong in blaming her for some small part, I mean surely she needs to take some responsibility and check the tray for my stuff before she drives off???

But enough of my mishaps, this is the 2manyjaunts blog not the 2manystuffups blog... well for now anyway.

So what am I going to do for four days without a jetski, while the trailer is repaired. I know, be a good husband and dad and take the girls to Australia Zoo. Surely nothing can go wrong while spending a day around some Crocodiles.... can it?

Nope, I didn't get eaten, or embarrass myself. However, that couldn't be said for my missus. There was a woman that was wearing the exact same clothes as my missus. I thought it was funny to follow her around and sit near her. Apparently that wasn't funny!?!? It seems funny when you do that with your mates at the cricket though. Must be a guy thing.

Talking about guys things, the next guy isn't really a dude. He is the guy that get's his missus to kill spiders and cockroaches at home. He almost jumped half way across the enclosure when a baby croc made its way out of the water. Just wrong. dude, please, grow a pair.

But enough of the family stuff, I've got my trailer back and we're heading to Hervey Bay!

First stop, catching the barge to Fraser Island

Let me just say, the F250 does go a lot better when you remember to put it into 4WD mode though!

We finally made it to our first stop; The Maheno Shipwreck. Built in 1905, the SS Maheno had a regular route between Sydney and Auckland until she was commissioned as a hospital ship in Europe during World War 1. She also served in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In 1935, she was sold to Japan for scrap. They were being towed to Japan when a cyclonic storm snapped the tow chain and the Maheno drifted helplessly onto Fraser Island's ocean beach. They obviously said screw the ship, let's catch us some whales in Hervey Bay!

We wandered around and in the ship for probably 20 minutes until we come to a sign at the stern end saying "Warning, ship is unstable, stay at least 1.5 metres from the ship at all times". Whoops, with my luck I have no idea how it didn't collapse right on top of me.

Next stop Eli Creek. This is an amazing fresh water crystal clear creek that runs out to sea. It's a must stop place if you're going to Fraser Island. You can walk up this amazing creek while ducking under and climbing over low hanging trees. The following pic simply doesn't do it justice. Think of the water flowing from some imaginary fountain of youth and that's Eli Creek. You've got to see it and walk up it.

With the tide rising fast it was a race to Eurong. We just made it past the rocks on the eastern side as the water was lapping the edge of our tyres. Finally civilization. Coffee! Hot Chips! Wow!

Now heading to Lake Mckenzie, our final stop before we had to get the barge back to the mainland. Time for a swim and relax a bit. Much smaller than the pictures make out, Lake Mckenzie is a small white sand beach on a fresh water lake. Although stained with Tea Trees, looking more like Myall Lake, it was still a refreshing change from "monstering" around the island Griswold style.

Back on the mainland, I had that burning desire to get the jetski out on the bay. It was rough and windy, but hell, I'm on a Kawasaki Ultra 300x!

After a run to Moon Point, we come across a boat a little too far up the sand. I motored over thinking I can hook it up to the back of the 300x and drag him out. But the owner was no where to be found... maybe taken by a Dingo? In any case, I might have needed a couple more 300x's to get this out.

Back "home" and start packing up to head to our next destination tomorrow morning... Yeppoon... Not to be confused with Yep Poo'in, because I normally head there each morning too, along with my other camper friends, but let's not go there.

Queensland here we come..

It's been a week since we left, and oh my god!

I've jetski'ed in the Gold Coast and Moreton Island. The waterways are beautiful up here, almost magic even.

Moreton Island Ship Wreck

Now, I wish I could capture some of that magic and use it to fix all the stuff that has already gone wrong.

I'd use some of it to fix my broken trailer, then a little bit more to fix my broken phone, and finally a splash of magic to fix my broken brain so I don't chuck my toiletry bag into a big dumpster by mistake again! Oh, and how do I magically make a parking officer disappear at Mooloolaba, the one that gave me a parking fine for not parking within the lines. Was he blind, couldn't he see the size of my rig. How was it ever going to fit in.

So we've had a few dramas trying to find our camping feet. We realised our bush oven is never going to get used, so we decided to get a Grill/Steam/Oven/Microwave. Heaps better and testing it with BBQ Ribs last night. Yum! Who said you can't camp in style.

We've now at Noosa and about the check out the area. Fingers crossed we don't break anything else or the missus will magically send us back home.