Lose Weight and Gain Health

After yesterday’s dreadful behaviour, I thought I had to do better today, so I did 🙂

I am considering a juice fast and decided to have a trial run.  No tea or coffee today and the first think I had was a mug of hot water with half a lemon squeezed in to it.

That was followed by a juice made with celery, cucumber, red pepper, watercress and a small apple.   This was not massively pleasant, mainly because of the watercress but I consumed it anyway, admittedly with very little pleasure. Having spent the morning in Tunbridge Wells with Harvey, buying school shoes and some new clothes, I returned home to make juice number 2, which features a carrot, spinach, cabbage, an orange and some ginger. It was OK.  I really liked the ginger in it but there was not enough volume so I was soon hungry again. My afternoon delight was a trip to Bluewater to buy Lara a suit for work next week.  I made far more juice this time with cabbage, spinach, cucumber, celery, lemon and 2 small apples. I bought this excellent juice container in Australia which is designed for smoothies or shakes and it works well.  It also fits perfectly in to a pocket in my handbag. I made about a litre of juice.  I drank 400ml at home and poured the rest in to the Shaker over ice which I then sipped as we shopped. When we wanted a sit down and I would usually have had a coffee, we went to Crussh instead and I ordered a Green Goddess. The consistency was lovely but it was far too sweet with over half the ingredients being fruit. I was exhausted when I got home.  I think an all day shopping trip is not a good idea when juice fasting!

I abandoned the juice fast and ate some almonds while I decided what to eat for supper.  I opted for a stir fry.

I chopped up all these vegetables, marinated 2 chicken breasts in some soy sauce and sweet chili sauce and made some brown Basmati rice. I had a very modest portion which was delicious.  The main ingredient in my bowl was vegetables 🙂

I am going to try a juice fast next week but I will be very careful to have a high proportion of veggie juices.  Too much fruit makes them too sweet and I then start craving naughty things.

What a bleurgh day today was and how badly I ate !  I went to the funeral of a friend and neighbour yesterday.  It was beautifully done but profoundly sad and I couldn’t stop thinking about her or her beloved boys, who are now growing up, just 3 houses away without their Mummy.

I am still struggling with jet lag too.  I feel exhausted in the evening but can not stay asleep long enough once I go to bed.  I was awake just after 3am this morning and could not get back to sleep so I got up and caught the 5:30 am train to London.

While I was away we moved offices.  Our new office was described as “looking like a prison”.  I see what they mean! Luckily we do have windows on our floor.  We look out over Blackfriar’s Bridge.  The windows are much smaller than our previous office and we have less space but the inside of the building is actually better than the other one.  It is also further from Borough Market and Monmouth coffee so that may save me. I ate some unhealthy rubbish for breakfast and mid morning felt tired again so I set out to find something healthier.  There is a Crussh nearby so I went inside to choose something. I selected a Super Smoothie which had some super nutrients to help elevate your mood, allegedly.  It didn’t work but it tasted good.  I also had a Bounce ball for protein.  They taste delicious but have a high sugar content. At lunch time I decided to walk to Borough Market. I know I just said previously I am further away so I won’t go so often but I didn’t mean I won’t ever go!

My route took me through this housing estate.  Behind one of these houses is the most surprising garden. It is not very large but it is completely full of vegetables.  Just look at those gourds hanging from the wire netting that covers the garden.  Every inch of space has something growing in it. There were at least 3 types of gourd hanging from the “roof”.  Quite incredible. Borough Market did not please me today like it usually does.  It was hot, very humid and completely packed with people.  I felt very claustrophobic and uncharacteristically irritable in there today.  I rarely work in London on a Friday, I usually work from home.  I had heard Friday’s were busy in the market but it was quite ridiculous and not very enjoyable.

I did go to Monmouth where I decided to stop and have a coffee and a brownie inside.   The coffee and brownie were lovely but naughty.  As were the other things I chose for lunch! This was Waterloo East station at 6:30am this morning. I preferred the view at 4:30pm when I was on my way home 🙂 Having had one of my worst eating days for a very long time, I decided a super healthy supper was the way to go.  Harvey and I shared 3 huge Swiss Chard leaves, including stalks.Courgettes from the garden and onions.
Plus some brown Basmati rice and cherry tomatoes.  I needed something very nutritious and light for supper as I am going to juice fast tomorrow and I want to set myself up for a good nights sleep.  

I also needed to compensate for a very bad day of eating.

I have been feeling miserable since I got back.  The combination of jet lag, being back to reality and a funeral have not made me happy.  So I over ate yesterday and then felt worse.

So today I decided to work from home and seek inspiration from my recent trip.  I think I mentioned previously that Keven and Debbie were very inspiring because they eat healthily and exercise every day.  So I decided to follow their shining example.

I was awake early anyway and took the dogs for a walk with Lara.

We walked in the woods over the road.  The geenery is the opposite to the Australian rainforests we have enjoyed recently.  In a rainforest, there is very little growing on the ground and the trees grow tall to fight through the canopy for sunlight.  The canopy almost completely blocks sunlight so the rainforests are quite dark.  Here the vegetation on the trees is sparse, providing sufficient sunlight for the ferns to thrive.

On the menu on the KD Diet for breakfast was stir fried vegetables with a small portion of brown Basmati rice and 2 eggs.

I picked these lovely Swiss Chard leaves from the garden. I chopped up the Swiss Chard stalks separately and stir fried them first with cabbage, red onion and red pepper. I then added tomato and mushrooms and finally the shredded Swiss Chard leaves. I stir fried with coconut oil which provides a pleasant coconut flavour. When all the vegetables were cooked I added the rice and then served it in a large bowl.  I cooked the egg last and stirred it in to the vegetables and rice. This was a huge bowl of food but nothing to feel guilty about because it was mainly vegetables.  I seasoned it with some Himalaya salt and then some soy sauce.  It was delicious.

I had no blood sugar rises and felt full all morning and in to the afternoon.  I didn’t have anything else to eat until 4pm. I drank a black coffee and green tea instead of my usual latte and black tea with milk.  I was really surprised how sated I felt because I am usually hungry by Midday. I was going to skip lunch and wait until supper but then decided to have a simple snack style lunch.  I used some of the Dukkah I bought in the market on Saturday morning. I ate it with celery, cherry tomatoes, black olives and some humous. I originally intended to have a large salad with salmon for lunch, which is what Keven and Debbie would have served but I didn’t fancy it and decided to have that for supper instead. I had a sore throat and felt very weary in the afternoon so I made a cup of Lemon Myrtle tea with a spoonful of active Manuka honey.  I should not have had anything sweet but honey is really good for a sore throat.  I definitely felt perkier afterwards and I love the intense lemon/lime scent of the Lemon Myrtle.

For supper I had the salad and salmon I meant to have at lunch time with a jacket potato.

To make a KD salad you grate beetroot and carrot in to a large bowl.  You can add radish too but I didn’t fancy it today.  I used raw beetroot.  I thought I would explain that as I took this salad to work yesterday and one of my colleagues was surprised I would eat raw beetroot.  I am surprised anyone would want to cook it! Add lots of green leaves ( I used a mixture of lettuces, pea shoots and watercress) and any other veggies you fancy (cucumber and sugar snap peas).  I tried to use vegetables I had not eaten at breakfast to increase the variety. Make a salad dressing.  I made one from Hugh F-W’s ‘Veg! Everyday’ which is as follows:
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
salt and pepper
1 tbsp cider vinegar
5 tbsp oil ( I used 3 olive, 1 avocado and 1 flax)
Put all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake until well mixed.

Pour over salad and combine well.  I used approximately half the quantity of dressing I had made up which was shared between myself and Harvey.  My salad was about 3 times larger then his and so is the amount of dressing I had. Serve with a jacket potato and salmon.  I did add butter to my potato.

So having followed the KD Diet I feel good. I have eaten a huge amount of vegetables, no fruit and apart from 1 tsp Manuka Honey, no added sugar.  Until I added some butter I had not eaten any dairy either which is my other weakness, alongside sugar.  I have not felt hungry either so I am going to do this again.  Thank you Keven and Debbie for the inspiration.

We are home!  We arrived home early evening yesterday.  I left with great reluctance, as I always do.  I absolutely love Australia and New Zealand and could easily live there if it were not for all my friends and family on this side of the world.  I have had the pleasure of visiting many countries around the globe but none have ever tempted me with wanting to stay there, as Australia and New Zealand always do.

Our flight was an evening flight so we had all day to enjoy and make the most of.  We spent the early morning in the market (see previous post).  At lunch time Sarah popped in with her 2 little girls. One of the ideas I am taking from Keven and Debbie’s kitchen is this simple salad.  Every day Keven makes a large salad for them both.  Debbie takes hers to work and I can do the same.

The base is always the same;  a large bowlful of grated beetroot, carrot and radish.  To this is added a variety of green leaves and other vegetables.  Keven mixes in salmon and rice.  On the side we had cheese and smoked olives (completely delicious). With the exception of the olives which I have never had smoked before, none of the ingredients in this salad are ones I would not normally eat.  I particularly like the grated component which makes the salad seem juicy so you need less dressing and I am so impressed with Debbie’s discipline of taking in her food every day.  I will endeavour to do the same. We chatted and chilled and did laundry and packed. Late afternoon we headed off for a walk along Dicky Beach. I wanted my last Aussie beach fix. Harvey and Charlie ran around and played as they have been doing together since we arrived on Wednesday. The wreck was completely visible which apparently is unusual.  I assume it is due to the full moon which has created higher and lower than average tides. I wonder how long it will be before I walk along my next Australian beach. How long before the little fella has another swim here? Hopefully not too long.  Saying good-bye was hard for me. Deja Vue! We stopped over at Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia.  If any of you are travelling between the UK and Australia or New Zealand, I recommend KL as a good stop over airport.  There is a lounge to watch films in with comfy chairs to sit or lie on. Free WiFi and laptops provided. Architecturally the building is stunning. There is even a rainforest provided. I couldn’t see a way in but it was pleasant scenery never the less. So, horrified by the spare tyre I seem to have accumulated while I was away (which I blame on beer, cakes and ice-cream) and inspired by Keven and Debbie’s eating habits, I resolved to be good from the minute I woke up.

I did miss my blender while I was away so for breakfast I made a smoothie with a banana, some blackcurrants, oats, almonds and soya milk.  I also took some supplements to have a mega dose of vitamins and minerals to help get over the travelling. Harvey requested roast chicken.  I made a paste with some fresh tarragon, 3 garlic cloves, salt and a little olive oil.  I spread this under the skin of the chicken breast and popped it in the oven to roast. While it was roasting I unpacked and was pleased to find these coffee beans, which I had forgotten about. I don’t have a fancy coffee machine to make a latte so I used the cafetiere and it was a decent cup of coffee.  I particularly enjoyed reliving the memories of the fun tour we had of the Jacques coffee plantation. We had a late lunch of roast chicken, roast potatoes, broccoli, green beans and butternut squash.  This was followed by a fruit salad made with strawberries, raspberries and grapes and I did have a tiny bit of ice-cream.  We didn’t eat until 4pm so that will last until tomorrow. I did pop out to the veggie garden before even going inside last night.  I have been unlucky with the rabbits who have now eaten 100 % of my onions and garlic which is very frustrating as I had planted so much.  Caterpillars have decimated my beans, kale and red cabbage.  James and Harvey picked off all the ones they could find and there is a chance the red cabbage will continue to grow.  The courgettes turned in to marrows so I may not get any more of those and all the lettuces have bolted.  The good news is that the Swiss chard has thrived, the sunflowers were successfully propped up (they had completely fallen over), the sweetcorn is looking very promising as are the leeks.

It was good to be back in my kitchen and sleeping in my own bed.  I have been morose today though as I do not know how long it will be before I can go back to see those lovely people and some of the beautiful places in Australia and New Zealand.  Forget the pension, I am saving for my next trip Down Under.

Our lovely hosts,  Debbie and Keven, are very inspirational.  They eat so healthily and I have some good ideas to take away with me.

This is a typical breakfast which is super healthy and tastes fantastic.  Stir fried vegetables with grilled fish.  This fish is ‘Sweet Lips’ which is a Reef fish.  It was very firm and had a delicious flavour.  We ate outside in the sunshine.  What a wonderful start to the day.Harvey enjoyed playing Keven’s Kaleidoscope Challenge puzzle game.We all enjoyed a day with Keven today.  Unfortunately Debbie had to work.  We headed off to Noosa which is a well known and rather up market beach resort.  We began at the National Park so we could do a bush walk.  There was a bush fire at Noosa North Shore. It looked rather alarming but it was all gone by the time we returned 4 hours later. This is a Strangler Fig.  A seed os dropped high up in a tree by a bird. The seed germinates and sends roots down to the ground and eventually grows completely over the host tree which dies. Many of the trees are incredibly tall so they can poke out above the canopy. It was a very pleasant 1.4 km walk from the National Park to Noosa town. Yet another stunning Australian beach. We had a good lunch in a restaurant overlooking the beach but none of us can remember what it was called!  I can remember what we ate though – a Wagyu burger with chips. We had a good potter in town.  There were many smart shops to go and look around but none of us bought anything.  It was enjoyable just strolling around. On Saturday we were up and out before 7am to get to the Kawana Market.  This is a weekly market held in the grounds of a school.  Debbie goes each week and we enjoyed going with her this morning.
I have market envy.  There were so many local producers, many of whom were organic.  I would love to have access to a market like this each week. The basket on the left contain something called ‘Elk’ which I have never heard of. I had a coffee and Harvey found a dairy free chocolate fudge cake which he enjoyed every morsel of.I then succumbed to a slice of carrot cake which was excellent.
We bought a soy candle which has less toxins than standard candles.There was a huge juicing and smoothie stand.  I was asking about their juicers as I want to buy one but I don’t think I will be going for the one that cost AUD 4,000.
I would like to try these.

Back at Debbie’s she chopped up all these vegetables which is a typical breakfast.  We had some roast beef left over from supper so that went in too.Debbie cooks everything on the BBQ on the verandah.

Then we all enjoyed breakfast of stir fried veggies with beef and egg in the sunshine. We have all enjoyed being with Keven and Debbie and I will be very sad to say good-bye.

Thank you both for a truly wonderful holiday.

Sunny by name and sunny by nature.  Greetings from the Sunshine Coast 🙂

We are staying with Keven and Debbie which has been and continues to be wonderful.  The way they eat has been truly inspirational and I will take away some really good ideas to put in to practice.

This board of delicious veggies is one of 2 boards that were stir fried to make breakfast.  They are very disciplined and have virtually no sugar, not even fruits.  So even breakfast is mainly made with vegetables.  We had mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, red pepper, kale, totsoi, bak choi, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and broccoli.  There may have been more too.  The little red pot is tomato paste and Debbie stirs a tsp in to the veggies when they are cooking which provides a delicate richness. We had breakfast on the sunny verandah; a pile of delicious veggies with an egg.  Green tea on the side. We walked from their house to the nearest beach – Dicky Beach. There was a lifeguard on duty. This lifeguard had some different equipment to others we have seen, presumably on account of the strong current you can have. There was only 1 person swimming in the sea – no prizes for guessing who that is. There is a small parade of shops at Dicky Beach and we went in to the cafe for lunch.  They serve a lot of fish and you can choose to have it breaded, battered or grilled.  I had a grilled fish burger which was really good. Followed by a coffee and half a lemon slice which was delicious.  I shared it with Harvey in return for half a chocolate fudge brownie. In the afternoon we went to Mooloolaba with Keven, which was about half an hour North up the coast.  The water is very calm at the moment which was disappointing because we wanted to watch some surfing.   Mooloolaba was fun though.  It is well developed with a good range of shops and lots of bars, restaurants and cafes.  We strolled along the beach front.  Once again, we were impressed with the range of facilities.  This is a free BBQ and picnic area. Even showers are provided! We sat outside Lot 104 and enjoyed a coffee in the sunshine. On the way home we stopped at Currimundi Beach. We timed our visit for sunset. The sunsets here are not as stunning as those on the West coast. But they are still pretty good 🙂 This is Currimundi Lake which is obviously tidal.

Debbie and Keven prepared us a wonderful meal of stir fried vegetables, baked potatoes and BBQd salmon.  Yummy.  We are all loving it here and may decide to stay 🙂

Today was very special for 2 reasons.  We had a close encounter with some of the planets largest inhabitants and ended the day with someone who is special to my family.

We woke up in Hervey Bay and all was calm. 2 Pelicans gracefully glided about on the calm sea. We were at the marina by 7:30am. Ready and excited for our whale watching trip. Hervey Bay has a huge and very busy marina. We headed out on Whalesong which was excellent. Once the boat got going we were served a delicious breakfast with teas and coffees.  The square thing on my plate was a vegetable frittata.  They seem popular over here and are an excellent way to combine vegetables with protein. Our boat had viewing decks all the way round. So having eaten, all we had to do was wait.  It is full moon so the tides were particularly high.  The whales had moved far out in to the bay so we had to sail much further than usual. Hervey Bay is next to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world.  They were burning the bush on parts of the island which is done regularly. Finally we saw some whales.  I missed that shot! We saw 2 groups of whales.  A Mother and her calf and then 3 male whales.  The female and her calf did not come close enough for me to take photos worth sharing but the 3 males were very inquisitive and came right up to our boat. These are Humpback Whales. The 5th largest whales in the world. They waved their flippers, turned around in the water and basically put on a really good show for us all. It is impossible for my pictures to show you how large they are but as an indication the calf would weigh approximately 4 – 5 tonnes which is similar to an elephant.  The adults weigh 10 times that much and are longer than the boat we were on. I am really pleased with this photo as I think you can see the whales’ eye on the right hand side of the picture. This was taken looking straight down as they dived under the boat. Our boat had a microphone which they put in the water so we could hear the whale song. It was absolutely magical. Bye bye beautiful whales.  Thank you for allowing us to watch you play and for coming so close to us. We sailed back next to Fraser Island.  Unfortunately we don’t have time to visit it this trip but I hear it is beautiful. Farewell Hervey Bay, that was a short but sweet visit. On the road we stopped at Maryborough for lunch of fish and chips.  It looked greasy and revolting but actually the batter was like tempura and very crispy so it was really good. After about 3 hours we came to our next destination.  Dicky Beach, Caloundra which is just North of Brisbane. We are staying with someone very special to our family 🙂

We were up bright and early this morning to reluctantly say farewell to Airlie Beach.  We could easily have stayed here longer.  I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the staff at the lovely Motel we stayed in – Colonial Palms Motor Inn.  This was very reasonably priced, well situated, clean, included a fantastic breakfast and had the benefit of a pretty swimming pool.  We had a 1 bedroom apartment which had plenty of space for us all.

The staff were fantastic and always helpful and friendly.  I wish everywhere we stayed was that pleasant.

Today we drove approximately 800 KM to Hervey Bay where we have booked a whale watching trip for tomorrow morning – very exciting.

The first part of today’s journey was through sugar cane fields.  Here is another sugar cane train, loaded up with canes.
Off to the mill with them.

First stop was Koumala for petrol.  Check out this tiny petrol station.  It just has 1 pump which is on the edge of the pavement of the main highway! Inside the store was like something from the 1950’s – very charming. We enjoy spotting “Aussie signs” i.e. signs we see here but do not get at home. We definitely do not get this sign at home 🙂 .  Disappointingly we have not seen any wild koalas. This would have been a fun game if we knew any of the answers. Or indeed if we had seen more than one question. We have seen this sign all the way down the coast and indicators go up to between 1 and 2 metres.  This place must be something to behold in the wet season. Australian trucks are more like the huge trucks you see in the USA than the trucks we have at home.  We saw lots today carrying ‘Over Size’ loads.  We saw 2 houses being transported (yes, we truly did), lots of industrial parts, a huge scoop for a massive digger and least 4 trucks transporting huge tyres.  We guess these are headed for one of the mines.   Not at all sure what this is! These houses are quite typical of the houses we saw along the side of the highway when we went through towns.  We are driving down the ‘Bruce Highway’ which is Highway number 1.  It is mainly single lane and not very busy so much easier than driving in the UK and so far more pleasant. This is cattle country and for hundreds of miles we passed huge flat plains where cattle grazed. Brahmans were not unusual. Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia and there are models and statues of cows all over town.  According to my Lonely Planet guide book, there are 2.5 million cattle within a 250km radius of Rockhampton. Between the towns, dwellings are sparse and many have huge water tanks. Time for lunch.  G’day to you all too.

Inside this cafe was spacious and airy.  We decided it would be difficult to be a vegetarian in this part of Australia and almost impossible to be a vegan.  It was actually a challenge to find something that did NOT have beef in it. I had an iced coffee with a ham and cheese toasted sandwich. Then we were back on the road. The next petrol stop was at The Big Crab – which did actually have a big red crab on the roof! We had wanted to get to Hervey Bay before dark but the sun set in the rolling hills near Childers so we drove the last part of the journey in the dark.Thanks James for driving all day.  Apart from the flights home, we have now completed our longest journey.

I have been to some beautiful beaches in my time but today’s must be the most beautiful. Whitsunday Beach is rated as Australia’s best beach and Australia has some of the best beaches in the world so I knew it would be good but it was even better than I expected.

We are staying in Airlie Beach.  We arrived on Saturday evening after a long drive from Port Douglas.  We spent Sunday recuperating from the travel by relaxing at Airlie Beach’s Lagoon which comprises 4 different pools of varying sizes and depths.  This is the biggest one.

This lovely lagoon is next to the harbour so it is all very scenic.  The lagoon has 2 life guards.  Astonishingly this lagoon is completely free! I like Airlie Beach.  It is more laid back and easy going then Port Douglas which is quite a smart resort.  Airlie is much larger and younger as it caters to a large backpacking crowd.  I prefer Port Douglas but have really enjoyed Airlie.  It was particularly lively as unknown to us when we arrived, the Reef Festival was on.

This incredible tree is one of 2 next to the lagoon – can you see 2 little girls playing in it?
Today we went to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Wow, wow, wow is all I can say.

We were collected from our hotel and taken to the marina where we boarded a 15m fibre glass mono hull (for those of you who know anything about boats – I don’t, I just copied it from the website) called the Whitehaven Xpress .  Off we went.We all enjoyed today very much.  The Whitehaven Xpress is a bit of a bloke’s boat and not as luxurious as the cruises we did from Port Douglas.  The boat is old and a bit tatty, it could have been cleaner, the carpet could be newer etc.  However, the crew could not have been friendlier or more helpful and they provided a superb commentary on the Whitsundays as we cruised around.

For example, these pine trees are some of the very oldest plants on the planet. The Whitsundays were named by Captain Cook who thought he was travelling through the islands on Whitsun but he actually got the dates wrong but the name stuck anyway.
Our first stop was Tongue Bay where we hiked up 650m to the Hill Inlet lookout point. Some more well presented information. it is indeed a beautiful place. Just look at the amazing colours of that sea! The sand on Whitsunday Island is made up of 98% pure white silica sand.  The water is mainly shallow but where it is deeper, the hue of the water changes. The water is so clear you can see the bottom which is just sand; no corals, pebbles, shells or other such marine objects which makes it a complete pleasure to walk about in. I have not Photo Shopped any of these, I promise.  There is no need to as this is the exact colour of the water. Could the sea look any more incredible than this? After our bush walk to the lookout and back to the beach, we boarded our boat again and drove round Whitsunday Island to Whitehaven Beach.  We were ferried across in a small dinghy which sat 12 – 15 of us at a time.Whitehaven Xpress had about 50 of us on board which is capacity.  It was rather lovely, after the much larger Quicksilver cruises to be with a smaller group.  There were lots of Aussies, a few Brits/POMs, some Europeans and Chinese sailing today so a multi-cultural boat which added to the day’s interest.  It was friendly and sociable.
This is the best sand I have ever sunk my little tootsies in to.  The best, the best, the very very best.7 km of soft silica sand.  There is a powdery part at the top of the beach which is like walking in talcum powder.  Incredibly sensuous.  Most of the sand has been packed firm and is damp so sticks together thanks to the tidal activity of the sea.  This makes it perfect for walking along as you sink in to it but only very slightly.  There is nothing hard or sharp to step in.

If I could still do cartwheels I would probably have cartwheeled along here for joy.  My children can be relieved I lost that ability many years ago.
I did however have to walk around a lot to make footprints in the pristine sand as it was too perfect and too pleasurable not to 🙂 We swam too.  The water is definitely colder here than further North but still delightful.The water was so clear!  The grains of sand are so very fine, that when you grab a handful and put it in the water, it just looks cloudy.  The individual grains of sand are so small you can’t detect them.  It creates an almost spongy surface to walk on. I LOVE LOVE LOVED it.
Harvey and I walked to the end of the beach.  There is vegetation and rocks down to the sand.  No buildings at all and you are not allowed to stay here so it remains pristine. I wish I was back there right now.

Lunch was a BBQ of course.  Our boat crew carried this BBQ from the boat to the beach via the dinghy.

In the BBQ area are several ‘Goannas’ which are Monitor Lizards.

They are very large but completely harmless so we enjoyed watching them.
There is one, under the BBQ so you can see how big they are – they get much bigger then that too 🙂

John worked as a chef for 13 years so unsurprisingly he cooked up a good lunch of steak, chilli burgers and sausages. Well, so my family told me.  My steak and burger were snatched from my plate by seagulls as I walked to the seating area !!!!  My family did donate some of their food which we had with salad, rice and then tropical fresh fruits. Plus a couple of very chilled beers.  Cheers. One of our neighbours for the day, a wealthy businessman from Melbourne using his Gin Palace which he keeps up here as it is so gorgeous. We had about 2 and a half hours on the beach before it was time to head back to the boat. Captain Dan and John winching up the dinghy. The day was not yet over as we sailed in to Mantaray Bay for some snorkelling.  We had been told the Outer Reef was best for snorkelling as it is more alive so more colourful.  So I had no expectations for today and didn’t bother to take my little camera which fits in to the underwater case.  What a mistake that was!  The coral here was stunning; bright blues, pinks, purples and yellows and in an incredible variety of shapes and sizes.  The fish were good plus we swam with 3 different turtles.  As if that was not enough, when we boarded the boat, there were 2 Maori Wasse swimming beside it.  They are enourmous and very ugly but quite a sight to behold.We also saw, in the Whitsunday passage, 2 Humpback whales.  Another fact from the day; Humpback Whales migrate to these waters from Antarctica to give birth.  The Mother stays with the calf in these warmer waters for many weeks while it consumes an incredible 500 litres of milk a day.  Despite all that milk production, the Mother does not eat anything until returning to the Antarctic.

Thank you Dan, John and Matty for an incredible day out on the Whitehaven Xpress.

We spent most of today in the car.  Which sounds grim but for the most part, the scenery was interesting so time passed faster than a similar distance in England would have.

We bade farewell to our lovely friends early this morning and set off.  We  mainly drove along the ‘Bruce Highway’ which is aka Highway 1.  It is however nothing like a trip along the M1, as you can see.

Port Douglas to Cairns

This has to be one of my favourite drives I have done.  It takes about an hour and is beautiful.  A lot of the time you are next to the beach.  This is a single lane highway which was originally cut at the end of the Nineteenth Century by very manual labour.  The rainforest covered rock ran in to the sea so this was not a simple task. This was taken from a lookout point so I was out of the car but most of the shots that follow are taken from a moving car so excuse the wobblyness of them.

The road from Port Douglas to Cairns is called the Captain Cook Highway and it then becomes the Bruce Highway. We had such interesting and happy times in the Atherton Tablelands. I would love to come back one day.The huge Captain Cook statue at a shopping area in Cairns.  Many places are named after Captain Cook as he first landed in Australia in North Queensland at a place now called ‘Cooktown’ 🙂

Cairns to Innisfail

Heading South of Cairns we are happy to see the sign declaring all roads are open.  I would expect them to be at this time of year but during the wet season they may be closed.

Rainforest meets sugar cane fields. During most of our journey today, the little train track used by the sugar cane trains ran beside the highway and sometimes across it. The sign that is hard to read says ‘Harvey Creek’. When the sugar cane is cut, the fields are ploughed and replanted.  I love the dark red colour of the soil in Australia – due to the high iron content.

The sugar cane train tracks have their own bridge here. The bananas all seem to have bags round the growing bananas.  Considering how enormous these plantations are, that can not have been a quick task!

Innisfail to Mission Beach

Sugar cane growing on both sides of the road. We mainly listened to “Triple J” on the radio. One of many creeks we crossed. A truck full of just harvested sugar cane.Those of you with a good knowledge of the road from Cairns to Townsville may wonder why we went via Mission Beach which is a detour that added about 40km to our journey.  Well, we nearly stayed at Mission Beach instead of Port Douglas so we wanted to look at it to confirm we had made the correct decision.

This is Cassowary country. Mission Beach is absolutely beautiful. (More) miles of soft sand and in the distance some islands, one of which is Dunk Island.  It was lovely and we would have enjoyed it here but not as much as Port Douglas as it is too small and quiet and not near enough lots of varied types of activities.

We had a short walk along the beach to stretch our legs and then hopped back in the car as we still have a very long way to go.

Mission Beach to Townsville

The next town was Tully. The vegetation is very green around here.You regularly see these markers along the highway.  They are used in the wet season so you can see how high the flood waters are !
What may look like banners across the road in the next picture are actually walkways across the highway for all the arboreal animals who live in the forests here such as Tree Kangaroos and Koalas.  So many were being killed, these arial walkways have been created to help them over the road.  I hope it works. More sugar cane.  Hundreds of miles of it. If you look carefully on the right hand side of this photo, just below the sky line, you can see one of the sugar cane trains – they are incredibly long.  The cane is transported by train to the mills.   Another bridge for the cane train. Townsville – phew!  We have driven a long way and still have 300 km to go.

Townsville to Airlie Beach

I had read that Townsville marks the change from Wet Tropics to Dry Tropics.  The landscape certainly changed, almost immediately.  It was amazing.  The lush green of the rainforest clad hills have been replaced by patchy barren looking scrub. We are heading South of Bowen. As well as agriculture (mainly sugar cane, bananas, mangoes and cattle) there is quite a lot of Primary industry in this part of Queensland.  Shortly before this there was a Copper Refinery. Another sugar cane train. The bush here is predominantly Eucalyptus with very little ground cover.  It seems so barren here compared to FNQ. The journey we estimated taking 9 hours took closer to 11 due to endless road works where the single lane highway has one side closed for highway repair.  It was very frustrating. We made it to Ayr.  Getting closer. This bridge was fun. This was some of the view from it. A sugar mill!  The air was filled with the scent of molasses.  You see signs asking you to be careful as “sugar cane hauling” is in progress.  We have seen the sugar cane growing in the fields, seen it being cut and shipped in trucks and trains and now we have passed one of the mills. We had to wait for this train pulling 24 wagons to pass.  We think that was molasses as similar looking wagons actually said ‘molasses’ on them.  That is an incredible weight to pull along.

The rest of the trip was mainly completed in darkness.  We have now arrived in Airlie Beach and are looking forward to tomorrow, which will not involve much time in the car.