It’s day…4 of the Whitsundays. Yesterday the tide was high enough to go on the beach of Tongue Bay and we walked up to the top of the ridge and looked down on Whitehaven beach. The problem was that when we actually got around to it, the water was so rough that Dad didn’t want to go in with the dingy.

That’s when we changed course and headed back up the coast to Nara Inlet, a protected little cove that we decided to stay the night in. There we swam off the back of the boat and took the dingy exploring and the water was nice and calm. Strangely, last night I didn’t sleep well because instead of the waves rocking me to sleep, they kept me awake and I don’t know what it was but something was squeaking. I missed my bed in the caravan a lot!

For today the plan was to go up to the north of the Whitsunday Island and anchor at Haman Island or Butterfly Bay, where there is some amazing snorkeling. Unfortunately the water was even rough went we came out of the shelter of the cove and we had to turn around and go back south to Sawmill Bay to get the main sail down.

It was a bumpy ride. No one wanted to be down in the cabin so we all sat up in the cockpit, wrapped in blankets and held on tight. Because we were moving against the current the waves made contact with a lot of force. We rolled over them one at a time and the spray sometimes came into the cockpit. At one point, Sam steered us right suddenly and the ship rolled. We were going over a wave at the time so we tipped dramatically and the crockery draw flew open, plates flying everywhere. The ocean sprayed us with salt water and then it went into the cabin! It was altogether a FREAKY experience!

We end up anchoring at Sawmill Bay and staying the night there.

So it’s day two of OPERATION WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS and we woke this morning to a beautiful sunrise. It was breakfast and then to debate over the plans for the day. Sam had hoped to get sailing straight away but mum really wanted to go for a walk on South MolLe Island so we all clambered into the dingy and motored away to the jetty. The walk was to a lookout spot on one of the hills and it took us about and hour and three quarters to walk there and back. To tell you the truth, the view at the lookout wasn’t that impressive, personally I think the views along the walk were the best.
Then we were back in the boat and finally off for Whitehaven Beach, the most popular beach of the cruise. We wandered along slowly but the wind died down and we decided to anchor in Tongue Bay for another walk. 
Into the dingy again, except this time, when we got close to shore we realized it was low tide and there was 50 meters of coral to cross. None except Bethany wanted to walk across it so we headed back to the boat AGAIN and the other kids jumped in their swimmers and had a swim of the back of the boat. I lay down for a while and actually feel asleep I think and then joined them.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon hours swimming and taking the dingy out for spins (Sam loved that) and decided to stay the night in Tongue Bay, which disappointed me cause I really wanted to get to Whitehaven and do some serious snorkeling, there’s no real accessible reefs here.
It was still an amazing and really fun day. The water out here is clear for several metres down and you leap off into the water from anywhere on the boat. We took the dingy to the beach at one point and hung around there but I am really dying for some surf here too, it’s flat as a millpond.
Mum is getting dinner now and we are all washed, dried and absolutely POOPED!! We’ll sleep well tonight!
I got my email working again so any emails are welcome, but at the moment we don’t have 3G (I will publish this when I get it back) so I won’t be able to reply till we get back in range. Bare with me! 😀

Well, here I am, cruising the Whitsundays and I haven’t blog in almost a week. We’ve had so much on!

After Longreach it was Emerald and through to Carnarvon Gorge which brought with it rainy weather and flooding creeks. We watched a guy get his car pulled out of a creek and it was ruined! Thanks to our good, old Landcruiser, we were fine!

Instead of going back to Carnarvon Gorge (it wasn’t even that good), the next day we went straight to a little caravan park at Armstrong beach, just south of Mackay. We spend the next two days there, having a breather and relaxing by the beach. The kids all built a hut out of palm fronds and sat around in the sand, attempting (emphasis on attempting) to break open coconuts. When we finally succeeded in opening one, the milk was….interesting….and definitely unusual!

Then we were off to Airlie beach where we stayed in a caravan park last night and drove the last ten minutes to Shute Harbour this morning after a visit to the local markets. As we drove toward to the harbour the excitement grew for the upcoming cruise.

And at last, here we are, anchored at a bay about an hour from Shute Harbour, called Bauer Bay. We had a long briefing after loading our stuff this afternoon which when for about two to three hours but finally we when on our way. Our boat is called Out of the Blue, which I think is cute.

Everyone has a job when you’re sailing, whether it’s hoisting the main sail or turning on the gas. We all sat out in the cockpit at the back of the boat and took turns steering. Dad’s sailing experience from his youth is coming back and he is the man to turn to when in doubt. Sam and I were getting better at it as we tacked back and forth and the girls enjoy steering or just scampering about the boat in big, puffy life vests. Mum is adjusting to the kitchen and we are all adjusting to the constant swaying of the boat, which can sometimes leave you a little unsteady on your feet.

Right now I am sitting at the table on the cabin and I can see the hatch that you climb through to go outside. There are to rooms on either side of that with double beds. The girls are in one and Sam and I are in the other. The master bedroom (if you could call it that) is behind me and the kitchen is to my right, opposite the sitting area. It is all rather cramped but we are getting use to it.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the trip over the next few days because the Whitsunday passages is supposed to have fairly good reception and internet coverage, surprisingly. But if not then expect all my blogs from the various days posted when I get back.

So, that’s day one of OPERATION WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS! Can’t wait for day two!

We left Longreach this morning after spending the last two nights there. Yesterday we went to the Qantas Museum and had a tour on the massive Boeing 747. We also went to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame, a museum about the stockmen and pioneers who settled in Australia. Mum was resting in the caravan yesterday when the rest of us visited the museum so we went back there this morning so she could have a look. After that we jumped in the car and headed for Barcaldine where Mum did some quick shopping and then off towards Emerald, in hopes of reaching it by four.

But as we are quickly learning, nothing ever goes as planned and now, at twenty to five, we are still driving towards Emerald.

We have moved further toward the coast and now the semi-arid landscape is replaced by hills and tall trees and a lot more scrub. It is raining and the internet continues to drop out unexpectedly because of the hills. The car is very quiet and there is a rather dreary atmosphere that makes me want to go to sleep but I can’t because of all the jolting. No, the road hasn’t improved much since Central Queensland.

I’m getting increasingly excited about the coming cruise and I look forward to swimming for the first time in what feels like ages!

All went as planned yesterday and we stayed at a caravan park in Charleville. Sam, Hannah, Dad and I went to an astronomy show at the Charleville Cosmo Centre. There we viewed Saturn and a star cluster called “the Jewel Box”, among several other things, through a telescope. We were also shown how to find south using the southern cross and the pointers.

This morning we got away at about 11:00. Mum had to do some shopping and while we waited for her, Dad took us down to a park where there was an explanation on the Vortex guns. These were large steel cannons that a man called Something Frugge invented. At the time there was a huge drought in Queensland and this guy thought that if he fired air into the atmosphere, they would be able to trigger rain. Of course, this didn’t work but the guns themselves were quite amazing and although most of them were turned into scrap metal, two of them survived and are on display in the park today.

We plan to stay a few nights in Longreach, our next destination, before we continue. I personally am looking forward to the break. Driving all day is both long and boring and Mum and Dad are taking advantage of all the driving to make us do a good load of school work! I would much rather be looking at the scenery, which has introduced some new, interesting “flora and fauna”.

Today already, instead of having to slow down for a kangaroo, we had an emu cross the road in front of us. We also saw a few other emus running through bush, which is currently lacking in fences. Due to this fact, we passed a few horses on the side of the road yesterday. The only real change in landscape is the addition of the cacti, some small enough to squash, some as large as trees. There are also a variety of palm trees and fat Boab trees.

It turns out that our next stop wasn’t Cunnamulla, it was Byrock. This is because as we were driving along Mitchell Highway, minding our own business, when the net that held our stuff down to the roof rack decided to die on us and we lost the guitar, (luckily it was the cheap, nylon-string one) which we never found and the little keyboard which we saw come off and managed to save. We had to turn around and drive back to Dubbo for a new net and then continue our journey, which lost us like, an hour and a half and we were already running late.

We aimed to get to Bourke, about two hours out of Cunnamulla, by the end of the day. But we decided to stay at a caravan park in the tiny town of Byrock, another hour from Bourke, instead because it was such a good price.

Byrock consists of a few houses and a pub/caravan park. That’s it. There was a black and white kelpie out the front of the pub to greet us. The pub itself was pretty cool, all traditional looking with a wooden bar and bottles of alcohol on the shelves behind it. The ground was red and the trees and bushes were scrawny. It feels like we’re really out in the outback now!

Sam and I grabbed our bikes and rode along the bush walk. We got ourselves lost and had to rely on the sound of the barking dogs to find our way back to the park. Everything looked the same!

This morning I woke up a lot warmer than yesterday, we could put the heater on last night and the caravan had thawed from cold Canberra by then. I actually got too hot during the night and had to take off my jumper!

We hit the road around 9:30 and headed straight for Bourke where we topped up on petrol and pointed our headlights northward for Cunnamulla. We plan to stay in Charleville tonight , simply passing through Cunnamulla and and having a quick peek at the “Cunnamulla Fella”, which is a statue of a man written about in a traditional, outback song which bears the same name as the statue. The song has been sung by the famous Slim Dusty and the statue was erected….

Right now we are driving along an endlessly straight road through semi-arid bushland. The closer we get to central Queensland, the redder the dirt gets and the scrawny, low bushes and scarce trees line the side of the road. It’s not the nicest day and the sky is covered in a layer of cloud, so I’m glad I’m in the warm car.

In Byrock we had one bar of 3G internet connection and out in the bush between that towns we don’t get any. Hopefully tonight I will be able to jump on Skype while we’re in Charleville but until then I am cut off from the outside world…ah well…!

I also have been unable to get into my email for some, unknown reason so bear with me if you have sent me something. I really want to know how exams are going at school and how all those who are reading this are get along. Sorry for my lack of communication!

Next post will (fingers crossed) be from Charleville and beyond. Let’s pray we don’t have any more setbacks (or lost luggage) along the way!

Finally, after much packing and stress, we left Little Burra at around 3:45 yesterday afternoon. We drove for about 4 hours to Cowra for dinner and then just under two hours to a caravan park in Molong. The temperature was -4° and our heater in the caravan doesn’t work in below 4° temperatures. We had the gas stove going to heat up the caravan and even then, the freezing cold that we woke up to this morning was not enjoyable!

After a quick breakfast this morning, we were in the car and heading out onto the Mitchell Highway which will take us all the way up to Cunnamulla, our next destination.

Cunnamulla is the southern most town in western Queensland. In 1880, an influx of farmers opened up this area to sheep farming and now millions of sheep and cattle grass the open plains. A little country town whose central industry is farming. Sounds like the place for me!

We are currently stopping at Dubbo to:

1. Buy a heater

2. Go grocery shopping

3. Have a break and have morning tea.

On the way to Dubbo we have been doing our various school work. Sam has been discovering the wonders of chemistry and I, the discoveries of Australia by British explorers. The freezing temperatures have lifted and I am now slowly stripping off all my layers and complaining about the blazing sun that is now high in the absolutely cloudless sky. Typical.

The image is of the whole family in front of the fully-packed caravan, minutes before we left. Finally on the road, we all look forward to traveling up central Queensland to the coast and warmer climates! Next stop, Cunnamulla!

Today we still hadn’t finished everything so tomorrow will be the first day! We hope to leave first thing in the morning!

We leave for our trip tomorrow and I’m itching to get going! I’ve said all my goodbyes and I have nothing but a great, big adventure ahead of me! What’s more exciting than that?

This morning at breakfast, mum gave each of the kids a folder which contained a map of Australia, demonstrating our route, and several home-made booklets, one for each state or territory, giving a detailed description of each place we will be visiting. After reading Queensland alone, I was bouncing off the walls with excitement!

We have been very busy today, trying to get everything finished. I have been doing washing all day, cleaning all the sheets, towels and the final lot of clothes. Sam is feeling a bit sick so he is lying down and we hope he will be feeling better tomorrow. It’s not enjoyable, traveling for hours in the car while sick.

I hope you guys enjoy my blog and I am glad to receive comments. If you want to email me, my email address is and I hope to hear all about what you are doing to!!

I also have Skype and my family’s account name is ozbranches.

I will post again tomorrow with a full account of the first day!!

😀

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