Summer in January - Australia (days 3 - 5)

DAY 3: The Whitsundays

Met my mom, who flew in from Hong Kong and landed in Sydney at 6:30am, then we took a flight to the Whitsundays region. The reason why we chose this is because it has one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia (as voted by Australians) – Whitehaven Beach.

We arrived and checked into our Airbnb rental, it was a nice place, very clean and spacious! Everyone got their own bed. We shopped for food and rested so we would be ready for the next day.

DAY 4: Cruise to Whitehaven Beach and snorkeling

We got picked up by Whitehaven Express, and we boarded the boat which was quite full, I think there were at least 30 of us in the group. The boat ride out was about an hour and a bit more, but we didn’t get sea sick, thankfully!

We got off the boat and made our way up to the lookout point – Hill Inlet Lookout, you can see the variety of blue-green shades of water and the white sand that peeks out. That day was just a little overcast with a huge grey cloud over it so it doesn’t look as amazing in these photos below.

Then we went down to Whitehaven beach where the crew set up a barbecue for us, and while we waited for the food to be cooked we wandered along the beach. The sand is super fine and white, it was so soft, and the water was very clear, none of that murky water you find at beaches – even in Australia.

 

Why's the sand so white and soft here?

The sand began life as red-hot magma deep in the earth, where slowly it cooled into hard granite, rich with silica. Through time, the rain and wind exposed the granite then eroded it, washing the grains into Mackay's Pioneer River and flushing them into the sea.

The sea's current carried the grains about 100km north, leaving them on nearby Haslewood Island, which was once a coastal headland connected both to the mainland and Whitsunday Island. Overtime the sea level fell, standing the sand inland, where wind-blown grains began to shift and form the dunes of Whitehaven Bay.

The lunch was very good – there were lots of meat, and a good variety of salad and fresh fruits. We even saw 2 huge lizards! (no photos of lunch though, was so hungry we just ate it all)

After lunch we made our way to the snorkeling spot. We rented stinger suits just in case there are jellyfish – but I wonder if these suits would really help? They seemed less thick than a wet suit, and if the jelly fish sting you do they release a liquid? If they did it would get in through the tiny holes in the suit.

Anyways, we snorkeled and there were lots of corals and fishes, but a lot of the corals were losing their colour, and the majority of them were yellow, so it’s not as spectacular as the ones you see on TV. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my waterproof pouch for my phone on the cruise, so I couldn’t take an underwater photos/videos! :(

And just a word of warning, I don’t think I mentioned it earlier, but the sun in Australia is very harsh. I tan easily in the summer, but in Australia, if you don’t wear sunscreen and you’re in the sun, you are most probably going to tan a dark brown colour or even burn. During the day while waiting for fireworks outside the Opera House in Sydney, we were under shade most of the time as we had tents up and I had my hat on whenever I was out in the sun, but I still got a weird tan right above my neckline and it’s just a strip of skin that’s like that…. Then when it was Tien’s wedding, I slathered on sunscreen before the ceremony, but I still ended up with a very dark strip of skin on my shoulder. So, after these incidents, I started applying on sunscreen all over my body, even on parts that I think will be covered by clothes, and then dressed after it’s been absorbed a bit.


DAY 5: Bredl’s Wild Farm

We woke up early as we had to drive nearly an hour south of Airlie Beach to get to Bredl’s Wild Farm.

I found this place because my cousin had requested to have a Koala cuddle, and so we made a special trip for this. You can only cuddle a koala in the state of Queensland. If we had gone to a zoo or animal sanctuary in Sydney (state of New South Wales) or Melbourne (state of Victoria), we wouldn’t be able to hold a koala. Also a lot of other places in Queensland or other states, they charge an admission fee and then a separate fee for each type of animal you want to interact with. So this place was a pretty good deal because for AUD $65 you can cuddle a koala and also hold and feed different types of animals.

Upon arriving on the farm, it seemed like we were out in the wilderness because we couldn’t see any buildings around and the road was not paved. We got to meet two cassowary who live within a fenced area (or maybe it was us who were fenced in). They know that people will visit and feed them – they eat anything that’s fed to them, even donuts.

Then we drove a bit further in and arrived at a fenced area for the Kangaroos. We walked in and were given sliced bread to feed the kangaroos. I don’t think anyone patted or touched the kangaroos. They were quite hungry and enthusiastic and would take a big bite of the sliced bread that was held out to them, if they tore off more than they could chew they used their tiny hands to hold the extra bread.

above: hehe, this little girl is the five-year old niece of the farm,

she went around telling us how to interact with the animals

We only saw one female kangaroo with a joey in her pouch, the joey looked kind of uncomfortable, like his/her legs were folded over his/her head.

After feeding the kangaroos, they split our group up into two and one group headed out to see the crocodiles, and the other group stayed behind. We ended up in the group that stayed behind and we got to hold the Koalas. There were two, one named Alison who’s more used to humans and being held, and the other is a new koala, undergoing training – I can’t remember his name.

The new koala was fed milk while he was being held so that he learns that if he lets people hold him he will be rewarded with milk.

below: a young boy holding Alison, the Koala,

such a funny photo, she looks so big when he holds her, but she looks just like a baby when adults hold her

It took a while for all of us to get a chance to hold the koalas as everyone was given a chance to hold them for quite some time – which is also nice, because in other places they might only let you hold the koala for a photo snap and that’s it, or you might only be able to place your hand on the koala while taking a photo with it in the tree.

We were even able to hold it a second time because the first time some of the photos didn’t turn out well.

above: Koala kiss? Nah!

After the Koalas, we were shown different lizards and snakes that are native to Australia – my favourite is one where its skin looks like it is a Aboriginal painting, I think it’s called a Goanna.

And this one is called a Shingleback Skink, the skin is very smooth, but the head and tail look very similar, because it wants to fool predators into thinking the tail is the head.

 below: what's in the bag!?!?!?!

 above: oh, it's a baby possum!

This farm is family owned and all family members work on the farm – the guy who welcomed us was one of the sons, his grandfather started the farm I think. His mom and brother-in-law were the ones who showed us all the reptiles, his 5-year old niece was also there and helped to show us the animals and encouraged us to pet them and pointed out the distinct details to us.

The crocodile “show” is supposed to be one of the highlights. The son showed us several crocodiles and how they are slow moving animals on land, but can be very quick in the water. They also shared with us the story about how one of his uncles, who’s quite old in age now, was still doing the show, but got bitten by one of the crocodiles last year. They warned us that although crocodiles are not as dangerous or evil as they are made out to be, you still need to be careful around them and don’t let your guard down.

below: they didn't introduce this animal to us.... I'm guessing this might be.... a wombat?

we took the photo on the left first, and then after we turned around, it had turned around in the bin while asleep!

The visit was from 10am to 2pm, this farm doesn’t have any fancy facilities, they did have one toilet and it’s quite clean. They don’t have any food stands so you have to pack your own food for lunch. They did have a truck that sold ice cold drinks and ice cream, but that’s it and that’s enough. You spend quite a bit of time with different animals and I think it was worth it!