Hanna and Richard join us for a holiday

Hanna and Richard arrived in Sydney on Sunday morning, 23rd of August. William and I had flown to Sydney from Mackay on Saturday and hired a car. We picked them up from the airport and went to explore Sydney, parking the car at the opera house. We then took a ferry from Circular Quay across the harbour to the zoo. The zoo was great fun, with magnificent views of the harbour from the cable car. We saw all the main Australian animals, kangaroos, koalas, wombats etc. We hope to see a few more later, in the wild.

Next day we set off for the Blue Mountains. We saw a fantastic rainbow spanning the valley at Wentworth Falls. After this we went on to Katoomba, where we visited scenic world and descended into the valley on the world's steepest railway, with a maximum incline of 52 degrees. There was an interesting walk way through the woods and around the old coalmines. We ascended back to the visitor's center via a cable car. We spent the night at Jenolan caves house, which was very nice and next morning went down the Orient cave. It is one of the world's most beautiful caves, being very highly decorated with all types of cave formations, which are beautifully illuminated. Our guide was also very good, being both knowledgeable and entertaining.

We met up with Nancy and Jim at a motel in Port Macquerie. They were traveling down the coast road to Sydney, from where they would be flying home. We were making our way north to Mackay and the boat. Port Macquerie is a nice little town with a pleasant waterfront. From here we headed into Queensland and The Gold Coast, stopping at Surfers Paradise. It is a very lively place with lots of big hotels and bars, very commercialised, rather like Miami Florida. We continued north up the Pacific coast (Bruce) highway, visiting the famous Australia zoo, which is just north of Brisbane. This was the home of Steve Irwin , the crocodile hunter and is now run by his wife. It is very different from Sydney zoo, being much more hands on. You can cuddle a koala and stroke a kangaroo and of coarse there are the famous crocodile shows.

Following on from Surfers Paradise, we went to Geologists paradise, Rubyvale, the main center for the gem fields. It is a small ramshackle place, near the town of Emerald. We visited Miner's Heritage and went down Australia's largest walk in underground sapphire mine. Hanna and Richard tried their luck at fossicking. You buy a bucket full of dirt taken from a sapphire mine, dry sieve it to get rid of the sand and discard any big chunks of rock. Then you wash it in the sieve, a bit like panning for gold, tip it out onto a table and inspect it carefully for any sapphires, zircons or other precious stones. It was great fun and they found a lot of small sapphires but sadly nothing big enough to make a gem out of.

We arrived in Mackay on Friday evening and after provisioning the boat, set off for the Whitsunday Islands. We had a good sail to Brampton Island where we anchored for the night. We then went to the famous Hamilton Island, Australia's equivalent to Cowes. There were lots birds in and around the marina, including sulphur crested cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets, which had become very cheeky, having become used to visitors who they associated with food. We went for an evening walk over the hill from the marina to the holiday resort. There were lots of possums in the woods which Hanna and Richard managed to get some good night shots of. Next day we sailed to Whitsunday Island, anchoring off Whitehaven beach. It is a huge beautiful beach 7 km long. The sand is almost like talcum powder, being so fine and white. There were lots of green turtles swimming round the boat. On Wednesday we sailed to Hook Island and anchored in the fiord like Nara inlet, a very calm, popular anchorage. We went ashore and walked up the hillside to a cave in which there are ancient Aboriginal paintings, done by the Ngaro tribe who has inhabited the island for thousands of years.

We sailed from Hook island to Bowen, mooring between piles. Just outside of Bowen we saw a humpback whale which breached in front of the boat, then swam along the port side about 20 metres away. Bowen is a small unremarkable town. it does however have interesting murals painted on the sides of buildings, depicting scenes from the history of the region. From here we did an overnight trip in the moonlight to magnetic island, famous for its 2500 wild koala bears and a koala sanctuary. Hanna and Richard photographed large butterflies, wallabies, kookaburras, and a snake, which fell out of a tree they were standing next to. It was a bit of a surprise, especially for the snake, which quickly climbed back up the tree. We sailed on to nearby Townsville and the luxury of a marina for two nights. Townsville is a quite large pleasant place. There was a Sunday market with craft stalls and a good selection of shops selling souvenirs. Hanna and Richard went to the reef aquarium which was excellent, with a vast living coral reef, providing home to hundreds of fish, sharks, rays and turtles. Along the sea front are numerous barbecues and tables, provided for public use, free of charge. Australians seem to love barbecues, so we followed suit and had one on Sunday evening. Next day we sailed to the Palm Islands, anchoring at Orpheus island, the only unfriendly place so far. The path inland, which is nature reserve was overgrown and inhabited by large very fierce green ants. The small resort on the beach was inhabited by a fierce lady caretaker who made it clear that we were not welcome. The bay is famous for giant clams, so we snorkeled. The clams were colourful but not giant and the water clarity was not very good. Yet more nasties, Hanna got stung by a jellyfish, thankfully not the box variety. From here we sailed overnight to Dunk island. By contrast, this is a lovely island with lots of well marked and maintained walking trails. The resort is not guarded by a dragon and there is a nice cafe/bar on the beach.

The final part of the trip was from Dunk to Cairns and the luxury of Marlin Marina. On route we caught a 5 foot barracuda weighing about 40 pounds. It's not wise to eat large barracudas as they contain parasites, so we put it back. Cairns is a nice town. It has an esplanade along the sea front, with lots of free barbecues, which we took advantage of. The beach is mostly mud flats inhabited by numerous species of sea birds and the occasional salt water crocodile. Hence no one was on it. We took a trip with Reef Magic, on a fast cat to the outer Great Barrier Reef . Yes we could have taken our boat but we didn't have time before Hanna and Richard had to fly home, it's a day sail each way. Snorkeling on the outer reef was amazing. Many types of beautiful coloured coral, loads of fish swimming in clear water. Hanna and Richard got some wonderful photos and video with the underwater camera.