Ahhh Australia Part 2: The East Coast

We covered a lot of ground in the 6 weeks we spent on the East Coast of Australia.

We said good-bye to Jeremy after celebrating New Year’s Eve in Brisbane. Keeha was able to stay longer and headed north with us to Heron Island to dive on the Great Barrier Reef, a bucket list item for sure. Living on Heron Island, you really feel like you are one with the environment. It was breeding season for Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Black Noddies. We learned to embrace the unique aroma of the island and the cacophony of bird sounds.

Black Noddies were nesting everywhere. It was a good idea to wear your “poop” hat at all times.

We spent a lot of time just walking the perimeter of the island and there was always something exciting to see.

It was also turtle nesting season. One night, we were able to watch a Green Sea Turtle dig a nest and lay her eggs. In the morning, it was obvious where other turtles had come on shore.

The weather was a bit iffy and the wind was definitely blowing for most of the trip. This made the surface water quite rough so we didn’t snorkel a lot. We were able to go on some dives though. All the dives were drift dives (where the boat drops you off one place and picks you up later down current). I was happy to hold on to Don so I didn’t get pulled away by the current.

The coral cover was beautiful and seemed to go on forever.

After Heron Island, Keeha took off on her own to explore more of Australia and to spend time in New Zealand. Don and I took a train north to Townsville to visit our Seacamp friend, Joanne and her husband, Robert.

While there, we took a ferry to Magnetic Island, just off the coast, in search of Koalas in the wild. And we found some!!

We also spotted this Wedge-tailed Eagle hunting.

After that, Joanne advised us to rent a car, get out of Townsville, and head north. So we did. It was the perfect spontaneous trip.

We spent a couple of nights in Cairns. It had a fun esplanade along the waterfront with lots of shorebirds, including white pelicans.

Walking down the street, we heard loud raucous cries coming from the trees. When we looked more closely, we realized the trees were filled with hundreds of flying foxes, aka large fruit bats.

We spent a couple of nights in Cairns and snuck in three more dives on the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. This portion did not look as healthy as the southern portion but we did get to see Cuttlefish, a goal of Don’s.

We also visited Tjapukai, a type of theme park for tourists to learn about Aboriginal culture. We were concerned it might be exploitative or tacky, but it turned out to be a great learning experience. I won’t share the videos of Don and me trying to throw a boomerang or hunting spear. Don could be a hunter. I would definitely need to be a gatherer!

We then meandered back south in search of unique Australian wildlife and scenery. We stayed in some tiny towns which proved to be a surprise highlight of the trip.

Yungaburra:

There was a moving Memorial Park for soldiers lost in the Afghanistan war, including a tribute to the dogs lost.

Etty Bay: Found several Cassowaries in the wild!!!

Papa thought we should back off. Glad we were in a car!

The Tablelands:

The timing of our trip was fortunate for us. Townsville suffered devastating rains and floods just after we left. There were even reports of crocodiles swimming in the streets.

The holiday travelling was over and it was time for Don to go back to work. We flew to Melbourne first where he spent time at Monash University. It was extremely hot (113F) that week. I entertained myself with a trip to Brighton Beach, famous for the colorful beach houses.

Melbourne is known for its alleys filled with street art and also for its commissioned public art. Just the buildings themselves are works of art.

We met up with Pablo, a former PhD student of Don’s and he took us to dinner and a rooftop bar you need a local to find for you.

The Great Ocean Road is a famous coastal highway started as a project to provide work for WWI veterans. It runs south of Melbourne next to the Southern Ocean and has incredibly spectacular scenery. We could only squeeze in a day tour but it deserved more time.

The tour included a walk in the rain forest.

There were sulpher-crested cockatoos everywhere.

I was psyched that we saw more Koalas.

And we had the remarkable luck to see Orcas, a first for our well-seasoned guide.

Our next stop was Sydney where Don spent time at the University of Sydney exploring the reproductive ecology of a cute tiny seastar.

We did visit some very busy beaches like Bondi and fit in some body surfing and boogie boarding despite the hoards of other tourists.

We saw several of these guys sunning on the rocks by the beaches.

Inserted some culture by attending the opera, La Boheme, at (where else?) the Sydney Opera House.

Took a fun hike in the Blue Mountains.

Our Australian visit finished where we started, in Brisbane.

We were more social in Brisbane than on the entire rest of the trip! We stayed with and were entertained by Thomas, a post-doc and friend of Abagail, another former FSU PhD student now doing a post-doc in Brisbane.

We had drinks one night with Frannie , the daughter of friends from Canada (we knew her before she was born!), and her boyfriend, Gabe.

Don’s host at the University of Queensland, Cynthia, had us to dinner, took us on a rainforest hike and arranged a visit to her husband’s brewery along with her lab.

We truly truly enjoyed all of our adventures in Australia. I’m glad we allotted so much time there.