Australia – Queensland Part 2 (Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Islands National Park, Bowen, Daintree Rainforest, Great Barrier Reef & Cairns)

BeckyOceania

After leaving Eungella National Park, we made our way north towards Bloomsbury to link up with our travel buddies Lucky and Naomi and meet their boys Cooper and Alfie during a morning session at Bredl’s Wild Farm. Thankfully, we made our booking well in advance because the animal encounter experience at Bredl’s Wild Fam is extremely popular and always gets booked out. The Bredl Family opened up their property in the Mackay countryside to visitors eager for a unique, Australian, hands-on experience and our visit exceeded our expectations as Bredl’s Farm lived up to its considerable hype. We got to meet Australia’s most dangerous bird (cassowary), handle snakes, lizards, cockatoos and crocodiles, pet a wombat, cuddle a koala and learn all about the formidable salt water crocodile. From Bredl’s Farm, we made our way to Airlie Beach where we stayed a few nights at Lucky and Naomi’s house. Airlie Beach is the gateway to the gorgeous Whitsunday Islands so we signed up for a full day tour with Ocean Rafting. This was a fun way to experience the best of the Whitsunday Islands as we were stunned by the beautiful turquoise waters and sparkling white silica sand. Our last day in Airlie Beach was spent in the water – we went swimming in the waterhole at the base of Cedar Creek Falls and spent a couple of hours soaking in the pool at Airlie Beach Lagoon before a late afternoon BBQ. It was wonderful spending so much time with our friends and we appreciated their hospitality in showing us the best that north Queensland has to offer! From Airlie Beach, we stopped in Bowen to visit The Big Mango, check out the town’s painted water tanks, admire the view from Flagstaff Hill and enjoy some time at Horseshoe Bay Beach. From here, we visited a couple more oversized roadside attractions (The Golden Gumboot in Tully, The Big Mud Crab in Cardwell, and The Big Cassowary in Mission Beach) before making our way further north to enjoy some of Queensland’s best waterfalls (Josephine Falls, Tchupala Falls, Ellinjaa Falls, Zillie Falls, and Millaa Millaa Falls). We squeezed in a visit to Curtain Fig Tree, Lake Eacham, and Cathedral Fig Tree before arriving to Cairns in time to set up at our campsite and ring in the New Year. From Cairns, we quickly pushed further north with a visit to Palm Cove and a ferry ride over to the Daintree Rainforest. The heat and humidity were evident in far north Queensland which made sightseeing almost unbearable, even in early January! Nevertheless, we still managed to admire the view from Mount Alexandra Lookout (a vista of both the Daintree Rainforest’s coastal lowlands and the Great Barrier Reef), hop on the famous Cow Bay Beach swing, visit Cape Tribulation, and walk through the Daintree Rainforest on the Dubuji and Madja boardwalks. After leaving the Daintree Rainforest’s wet tropics, we made our way to a swimming hole at Mossman Gorge before checking out the spectacled flying foxes of Port Douglas. Back in Cairns, we enjoyed happy hour at Flamingos Tiki Bar, checked out the beautiful Clamshell Falls and Crystal Cascades, and had a nice afternoon soak at the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon. We also squeezed in a full day at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures with a quick stop at the Cairns Botanic Gardens before hopping on a 3 day/2 night liveaboard to the Great Barrier Reef. Whew! What a busy couple of days to finish up our epic Australia road trip. All we had left to do was return our campervan and enjoy one last night in Cairns before our 68 day Australia adventure came to an end. What an amazing country Australia has been and we can’t wait until our next trip to this fascinating destination!

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