The final part of the QLD Road Trip that grouped into Beaches, Lookouts, Tours, Walks & Waterfalls, focuses on my stops for Tours.
Organised tours are not my go-to during travel, but some can provide experiences impossible to experience solo.
So my wrap-up of this 5 part blog about my July Covid Queensland Road Trip covers the balance of this covid-19 cabin escape.
Heart Reef in the Whitsunday Islands
The iconic Heart Reef on Queenslands Great Barrier Reef, is best viewed from plane or helicopter, so I joined a packaged sea & air day with GSL Marine & Aviation to see the 17m long (tiny) Heart Reef, then a cruise out to Whitsunday Island to snorkle and get my bare feet onto the stunningly beautiful Whitehaven Beach.
The other tours involved a Sunset cruise on the Daintree River with Solar Whisper, Whale Watching in Hervey Bay with Pacific Whale Foundation, a Sunset Segway Dinner Tour along boardwalks of Airlie Beach, and the surprise of attending a unique Festival at Airlie, given Covid restrictions in place.
So lets start with the Daintree. There are a few operators offering short cruises on the Daintree River, but I chose the 2hr Dusk Tour with Solar Whisper, and David & his furry bosun were perfect guides. As an adventure in the wild, there are no guarantees to see crocodiles or particular birds etc, but we had fortunate encounters with some beauties. The highlight was the cruise back to base with the late afternoon light drenching the shores, just stunning.
Then Hervey Bay Whale Watching provides an opportunity to see Humpbacks in their playground. Again, as an experience in the wild, weather and whales are never a guarantee, so you make the most of opportunity. For me, a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) small tour was more appealing than the larger tall deck Cats, so Pacific Whale Foundation my chosen experience.
The Whitsundays offers many ways to get on, over and under the water, but having Segway’d off-road at a Canadian ski mountain and around the streets of Rome, this Sunset Segway Dinner Tour around the waterfront of Airlie Beach appealed, and was a sensational well paced experience, with an excellent dinner at the Sorrento Restaurant included. Hats off to the operators 🙂 I will have to return to do one of their other adventures.
I am a huge fan of music, artists & concerts, and have sadly missed these events as a consequence of Covid-19, so when I got a call from a friend saying she was playing at an impromptu Airlie Festival, I just had to change my plans to stay to enjoy a rare Concert.
The promoter cleverly arranged the artists to sing off the back of a large boat in the Port of Airlie marina, to an audience platformed on the cresent shaped Mantra Boathouse Apartments balconies and a few extras along the dock. A very sensible way to physically distance. It sold out very quickly as you can imagine, and could be a great solution at other locations for a while.
So to wrap-up this blog series, I had some memorable stays along the way, Comfortable special BNB’s at Daintree Village Hideaway, Licuala Lodge at Mission Beach & The Summitt at Atherton, fabulous AirBNB hosts at Herberton & Hervey Bay, quicky hotels like the Deninson Boutique at Rockhampton, and the below excellent Airlie Guest House.
I hope you have enjoyed this short series insight into The Sunshine State of Australia (QLD). With significant time on my hands, I have numerous travel plans semi-researched, awaiting whatever becomes our new normal to embark on. So the List continues 🙂 Safe travels !
WILT – What I am listening to ?
Don’t try to read too much into these WILT’s, it’s often just that earworm from my music library