Phew – life is busy on the road. Started off blogging once a week, but now I think we have settled into the lifestyle that suits a never ending holiday…and believe it or not it’s busy! Coral to snorkel on, sunsets to sip cocktails under, waterfalls to clamber down…and not much time left over to blog about it!
Having spent a fair bit of time on the coast, it was time to checkout the inland. And so we bypassed the town of Mackay and found a farm stay slightly inland closer to the mountain range which runs parallel to the coast. Very simple place, but ranks as one of the best locations from the kids point of view.
Now there is a famous platypus spotting location not far from camp…but then we were delighted to discover a baby one in the pond right next to camp. Love it when mother nature deals up something that can get 5 kids (some inherited) to sit still and silent staring intently at a near-motionless billabong!
When we finally managed to tear the kids away from ‘looking after’ the farm animals (pretty sure I glimpsed one of the chickens sitting down to a Valium and a cup of tea in the rear view mirror), we set out to explore Finch Hatton Gorge. It makes a wonderful change to the sun, sand and salt of the coast to be emerged in a rich green rainforest with these flawless crystal clear rivers running though the middle.
Aerial view 
Drone selfie
We passed through Airlie Beach pretty quickly, just pulled into the Big4 and enjoyed some relaxation while the kids went water sliding. Then we went to a slightly more off the beaten track location, recommended by my parents, Cape Gloucester. Here we had the rather comical (my view) experience of trying to go snorkelling off the beach (as advised by locals)…only it was dead low tide, the result being a 100m walk across broken coral with bare feet before we even came to the reef, by which time we were all so cut and bleeding we felt it necessary to turn around and come back again.
‘Coral walking’…funny, but probs not fun! 
Daaaaaadddd…
To make up for this “daddy adventure” an emergency cocktail was in order along with a sunset dinner on the beach.
‘Sunset cocktail’ 
The making of ‘sunset cocktail’
The family suitably appeased after the ‘coral walking’ activity, daddy was granted a second chance of taking the family snorkling…and this time came up trumps.
Bowen is an unassuming little town somewhere on the Queensland coast, with two little tiny beaches – nice but not instaworthy…but stick you head below the water’s surface and you’ll find something special…
Snorkelling off the beach 
..an intricate and wonderfully colourful Coral reef meters from the sand!
Coral pics always a poor reflection of the real thing.
With just a few hours of this and my credibility as ‘Activity Planner in Chief” was repaired..and that’s pretty much how things look at the end of week 6. Definitely relaxing into the lifestyle, loving mixing up the salt and sand with the rainforests and waterfalls, my parents have joined us for a few nights and are tagging along, and so we head inland again now for a bit before rolling into Cairns next week. See you soon!
#offtheMooring
Off the Mooring 