Daniel's Big Australian Holiday!

Day 119 - Tuesday - 15/9/2026 Today we drove to Finch Hatton Gorge where we first walked to the Wheel Of Fire. Near the Wheel Of Fire there was a creek we had to cross but other than that the walk was pretty easy. Cascades near the crossing Once we got to the wheel of fire we jumped into the freezing water and then quickly swam over to the waterfall.  We didn’t spend long in the water because of its temperature so all we did was swim to waterfall get out and then swim back to our stuff.  Me sitting next to the Wheel of Fire Then we walked to the Araleun Cascades where Me and Dad went for another swim.  Me and Dad at the Arleun Cascades On the way back to the cars, we saw a huge skink and a few different birds that we probably wouldn’t have another chance of seeing on the trip such as the Superb Fruit Dove as it was pretty much our last rainforest on the trip. Day 120 - Wednesday - 16/9/2026 Today we left Finch Hatton and drove 400km to Emerald which is west of the Great D...

Day 117 - Sunday - 13/9/2026  Today we left Airlie Beach and drove to Finch Hatton where we played a game of cricket and walked down to the river. Day 118 - Monday - 14/9/2026 Today we drove into Eungulla National Park where we went on a few different walks. The first walk we did was the Sky window walk which was a short 300m walk we did while dad and grandpa did a car shuffle turning the next walk from a 6km walk to a 3km walk.  The lookout The second walk was through the rainforest where we saw lots of different plants and animals, including noisy pittas.  By the end Seb had saw 2 snakes and the rest of us had seen 1.  Common Tree-snake Walking through an archway formed by a strangler fig At the very end of the walk there were over a thousand very noisy bats lining the trees like Christmas ornaments. The bats After the walk we drove to the visitors centre where we had lunch and then walked to the river to look for some platypuses, we didn’t see any, but we did see ...

Day 114 - Thursday - 10/9/2026 This morning after yet another delicious breakfast we went on a short walk to the other side of the island where there was giant chess, another pool stands up paddleboards and kayaks and a tennis court. Unfortunately the wind was very strong meaning we didn't do anything on the water.   After a quick game of giant chess, we did the rainforest walk back to the main part of the island and on the way stopped at two spectaculars lookouts.  Giant Chess Us at the lookout In the afternoon we went to the Coral Restoration Talk where we were told about a cyclone that came through in 2017 and destroyed all the reef. The members of daydream island are trying to restore the reef buy collecting fragments of coral and attaching them to structures until the regrow and are ready to be released into the wild. At the talk the guy gave us some magnifying glasses to look at the regenerating coral with. Using the magnifying glass Day 115 - Friday - 11/9/2026 Tod...

Day 113 - Wednesday - 9/9/2026 Early this morning we chomped down on our delicious endless breakfast buffet in the lobby. Soon after we boarded the boat for our tour to Whitehaven Beach and snorkelling around Hook Island. I sat right on the edge of the boat where the ride got pretty bumpy as we were flying across the ocean at great speeds and sometimes it got hard to stay on, the only thing keeping me from flying of the into deep water where two straps that I had to grip tightly.  Me on the side of the boat Soon enough we had pulled up at the edge of Hill Inlet on Whitsunday Island. We hopped into the knee-deep water, walked ashore, and shortly after starting the climb to the 3 spectacular lookouts overlooking Whitehaven beach. The beach of pure white silica and crystal-clear turquoise water often known as one of the world's best beaches with 600,000 people visiting every year, being there you could clearly see why.  Us at Whitehaven Beach Continuing on the journey we walked d...

 Day 110 - Sunday - 6/9/2026 Today we left Townsville to drive to Airlie Beach, it was our first big drive in a long time as it was 300km. The caravan park at Airlie Beach was a very nice one where we instantly went for a swim and slid down the 15 slides in their giant waterslide park.  Day 111 - Monday - 7/9/2026 Today we hung around the caravan park went to the pool, played Mini Golf (which dad won) and packed our bags to go to Daydream Island. Day 112 - Tuesday - 8/9/2026 This morning we caught a ferry over to Daydream Island.  Dad and Grandpa had to take the cars and caravans to storage. After checking in to our luxurious rooms which feel huge compared to the van we headed straight out for a snorkel where we spotted an astonishing variety of fish.   Floral Maori Wrasse Bengal Sargent The coral was pretty good especially as in had been damaged in a cyclone 9 years ago and had recovered since then.  The coral Later we visited the living reefs unique Under...

Day 109 - Saturday - 5/9/2026 Today we drove to the Billabong Sanctuary where we looked at a whole bunch of animals. First, we went to the reptile show where this guy was handling a venomous Mulga Snake and we got to hold a baby saltwater croc, snake and pat a lizard.  Mulga Snake Saltwater (Estuarine) Crocodile After that we went to the meerkat presentation where we were told a bit about meerkats like how sometimes they are on guard duty looking for predators.  A Meerkat on a log After that we went to watch people feeding a HUGE 5.5 meter croc called Krakatoa who you couldn't even tell was in the water until it jumped out.  Krakatoa Catching his meal Next, we had lunch and went to watch the bird show where they showcase a Curlew, Black Kite and Tawny Frogmouth.  Tawny Frogmouth Right after the bird show we started on the lap around the place where we looked at all the animals some of which we got to feed like the Red-legged Padymelon or a Kangaroo.  Feeding an ...

Day 108 - Friday - 4/9/2026 Today we drove our car onto the boat to take us to Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island was a pretty big island with people living on it, it was also pretty dry but had lots of nice beaches and apparently a lot of Koalas but we didn't see one. At Magnetic Island we first walked to Josphine Bay where we had lunch and then went snorkelling where we saw lots of different coral and fish like groupers and wrasses.  Me and Seb at Josaphine Bay Black Sand Bass Goldstripe Butterflyfish After snorkelling we hung around playing in the sand and swimming around until we decided to go to Arthur Bay which wasn’t nearly as good to snorkel, but we did see a Green Sea-turtle which was about as big as me and had things growing on its shell. Green Sea-turtle After snorkelling we walked back to the car and then drove to Geoffrey Bay where we saw about 7 Allied Rock-wallabies.  An Allied Rock-wallaby Finally, we got back on the ferry and headed back to the mainland.