Day 10

Eungella National Park to Cape Hillsborough – 102km

St Helen’s Gardens Tourist Park – $28 powered

We woke up this morning to the most grey day. So grey, that I could have easily assumed that I had woken up back in England.

We got up and attempted one of the walks, as you can see – Matt was super pleased to see drizzle again.

The name of one of the look outs was the ‘sky window’ – how amazing does that sound? I googled it, when the sun is shining it is amazing but we could barely see a metre in front of us.

After 10 minutes of trudging through the boggy rainforest we decided to admit defeat, head back to the car and drive back down the mountain.

Whilst sitting in the passengers seat, the last thing I expected to see was a leech wiggling out of my trouser leg, but there it was. Thank the lord I wasnt driving because I screamed, yanked it off and promptly threw it out of the window then proceeded to swipe at every part of my body for the following hour. Never again.

We decided to head to Cape Hillsborough National Park which was originally on the agenda for tomorrow.

The change in temperature was pretty astounding. It was an hour and a half later and we had gone from England to Bermuda. It really was like walking into a travel magazine.

We set off a long the beach, heading for Wedge Island which during low tide, becomes accessible by foot. It was all going perfectly, the sun was beaming and the waves were crashing. Of course it was time for everything to go wrong again.

Suddenly, Matt started sinking into the sand and he made a run for it to some near by rocks. Thinking I had missed it, I burst out laughing then stupidly took one step forward. You can guess what happened next. GREAT.

Undeterred, we headed back to the car with our matching muddy shoes and n the way we went for a paddle to wash off the thick of it. We swapped shoes and headed out again to walk ‘Andrew’s Trail’.

Time was getting on a bit, so we decided it was best just to climb to the first look out, then turn back. The view speaks for itself. It was perfect and made all of the leeches and muddy shoes worth while.

Day 11

Cape Hillsborough to Airlie Beach – 124km

Seabreeze Tourist Park – $29 unpowered

For the first time all trip we woke up today with no plan for the day. Due to the Eungella mishap, we were a day ahead with our itinerary.

So I guess today was a bit of a nothing day! We drove out to Airlie Beach and checked in at the sailing office for our Whitsundays trip this weekend.

Afterwards, we spent the day wandering around Airlie, taking in the sights and sheltering from the rain! We are hoping and praying the weather clears up for tomorrow.

Airlie reminds me a little of a seaside town in Spain. Lots of souvenir and swimwear shops, little cafes and bars by the marina etc. Despite the fact that we are on one big holiday, it kind of really did feel like a holiday today. No where specific to be, nothing specific to do, just enjoying the scenery and seeing new places.