Yesterday was a reset day – I took time to restock the camper with food and bevies, relax, organize a bit and kick around the many places and sites I’d like to see while meandering from Cairns to Perth. My camper has been great. Very roomy and comfortable, with a full kitchen, bunks up and down (for some reason, I sleep better than anywhere else in camper vans on road trips), space to walk around in and a surprisingly good stereo when connected to my iPod and iPhone. So good to have my music on the road. Here she is:

I did a bit of caving in the afternoon directly on the Tropic of Capricorn at, oddly enough, Capricorn Caves. Neat place with a fascinating native Australian history. Like many awesome natural sites around the  world, it was held by the ancients to be deeply spiritual and directly connected to the maker. Nowadays, many folks get married deep below the surface in its cathedral (go figure). Just before heading down:

Some of the spaces were extremely tight – I had to crouch down and shuffle sideways to get through one particularly narrow and winding passage. All in all, quite interesting.

After leaving the caves, I happened on this bus, which really grabbed me. Reminded me in a sense of Chris McCandles’ bus in Healy, Alaska, which I shot while on my trip there. It seemed to call out to me, letting me know that it was happy to be aging gracefully through the years and more than content in its current state. A lesson on life, I suspect… I hung out for  a while before moving on, admiring its beauty and classic patina.

After a while, I felt as though it was speaking to me. What a communicative face.

Later in the afternoon I rolled into  Yeppoon, a charming small town on the way to Agnes Water, Seventeen Seventy / 1770 (yes, that’s the place’s name) and Brisbane, where I’ll meet Matt this week.

This morning I arrived in  Agnes Water, way off the beaten path, and its neighbor 1770. Agnes Water is a tiny and remote outpost encircled by national parkland and the Pacifc Ocean, pretty much off the grid. It’s super chilled and cool – a perfect place to spend time and unwind. Another 7 kilometer beach made for a great hike at low tide this morning. I walked to land’s end in this photo. There’s something about the beaches here – in addition to being stunningly beautiful and plentiful, they’re just enormous in terms of how big and long they are. Australia is the land of sand and sea.

The view from a great little restaurant at a campground I visited in 1770, with really nice cabins on the beach (yes, I was tempted…):

1770 is said to make Agnes Water feel like a metropolis. That’s pretty funny.

Spending the afternoon in The Town of 1770 (its official name, bestowed by Captain Cook once again) was so relaxing that the next step would be a coma. The landscape here is vast, making you feel very small and insignificant. Really powerful.

Checked my pulse after a bit and it was 12. Even with school holidays this week, everyone here is so relaxed that it’s uncanny. Those Aussies… gotta love ’em.

Side note – I’m experiencing a couple of technical glitches with the site at the moment – comments aren’t posting, although I’m receiving them (thanks, everyone) and photos aren’t enlarging when clicked on. Research hasn’t helped, but I’ll figure these gremlins out.

Wow. The Whitsunday Islands are beyond amazing. Located off the coast of Airlie Beach, a sleepy coastal town that’s growing up pretty quickly, the islands are comprised of 74 protected small to quite large outcroppings, all of which were connected to the mainland during the last ice age. Captain James Cook named them when, in June of 1770, he first spied them on Whit Sunday, a religious holiday in the UK following Easter. Captain Cook went everywhere, literally, in the world. A brave man and crew, no doubt incentivized by the riches and surprises awaiting them in places near and far. Our departure point for the Whitsundays at Airlie Beach’s port:

Whitsunday Island, the archipelago’s namesake, was my destination yesterday. The entire island is a national park, forever wild and protected. Whitehaven Beach, seven incredible kilometers in length along on its east coast, is reported to have the purest white sand in the world, rumored at 99.8% silica. Its texture is so powdery fine that it remains completely cool underfoot, even on blazingly hot days, because its stark white color reflects so much light and heat and because there are virtually no spaces between its fine grains to trap hot air and burn your feet. Net result – a delight to walk on all day.

We snorkeled all morning along a completely deserted beach among the Great Barrier Reef’s coral and fish. Fortunately, the Reef is doing well here compared to some other areas affected by warming sea temperatures. The colors were startling. Swimming among the teeming marine life and vivid colors made for a great experience.

A surprise – me in front of the lens, at my sister Lisa’s urging. Total chill zone, with our boat anchored just off the beach before a great hike and lunch. The boats we rode in for 60 nautical miles during the day’s excursion ripped along at 50 mph, accelerating super fast and maneuvering crazy well. They’re 38′ rigid pontoons with twin 250 outboards at $500K a copy. Whoa – nice toys.

Life is often incredibly serendipitous. The photo I chose as the banner image on my blog’s home page, having no idea exactly where it was in Australia, was where we ended up yesterday – Hill Inlet on Whitsunday Island. Here’s one of my images of it, with a 35′ or so sailboat riding the tide in for scale. Amazing coincidence, considering that I wasn’t even looking for it. Our guides said that it’s the third most photographed site in Australia. Time to find the other two now…

One of our guides insisted on taking my photograph overlooking Hill Inlet. Being there and on Whitsunday Island was truly sublime. I really didn’t want to leave late in the day, but duty (cold beers and live music overlooking the port in Aerlie Beach) called.

Back in port after a rollicking return voyage around and through the Whitsundays. The kids running the tour and our three boats – and they were in their early 20’s – were really adept at going super fast, pulling wicked turns very close to each other at warp speed and in general having a complete blast. A perfect ending to a great day.

A couple of early and very preliminary observations on Australia so far – this place is frickin’ big. Really big. I’ve traveled 800 km during the past four days, through impossibly green mountains, blue seas and white beaches, and barely scratched its surface. Spectacular landscapes just keep coming right at you, in rapid succession, with a wonderful tendency to overwhelm your senses. Fine with me – bring it all on. Also, the people here are just fantastic. Everyone I’ve met, and I’ve met loads of folks, couldn’t be friendlier or more accommodating. People really enjoy every minute of each day here. Overall, a great start to the trip. Off for some great hiking and beaches near Mackay, today’s destination.

Landed in Sydney on Wednesday and decided, because of a  long layover to Cairns, to explore the city and bay a bit. What a fantastic place – incredibly clean, beautiful and cosmopolitan. The architecture is a very interesting blend of classical mixed with bold and new.

The weather could’t have been better – 50 degrees F at 7:30 am, warming up to 65F by noon. Aussies are astonishingly attractive and friendly. You feel as though you’ve known everyone you speak with for years. Great folks. A bit puzzled by this store’s name:

After wandering a bit through the financial district and grabbing breakfast, I headed over to the ferry terminal to see the inner harbor by boat. Everyone said it’s a must to get the lay of the land. This classic I spied en route was towing a mint Airstream – funny to see them juxtaposed downtown in a major urban area. I immediately thought of Ward.

Here’s the Sydney Opera House as we slid by, shimmering in early morning light:

I then rode the ferry to Manley, a bedroom community and tourist haven (great combo) 25 minutes by boat from the inner harbor, due east of downtown. Manley is unique because it fronts Sydney Harbor on its west side and the Pacific Ocean on its east. Both are separated by only a quarter mile stretch of land with charming restaurants, shops and taverns scattered about. I met the most delightful couple in their eighties while sitting on a bench at the beach in Manley – both are German, having come to Australia by themselves fifty some-odd years ago, after which they made their separate ways then met and fell in love decades ago. How delightful they were to talk to and meet. I’m always so heartened to see enduring and true love.

After flying from Sydney to Cairns, I picked up my camper van and made my way to Palm Cove and Trinity Beach yesterday. Both are 20 – 30 miles north of Cairns and are well-known as escapes / havens for Cairns residents. They are each incredibly beautiful, small towns with no buildings higher than the tallest palm trees. What a great idea.

The views looking out on the ocean from Palm Cove and Trinity Beach are sublime. Both towns reminded me of Kauai in terms of their ocean views and majestic, verdant mountains spilling down to the sea when you turn around. Just a great day and time.

I’m off to Whitsunday, its islands and the Great Barrier Reef today. Really looking forward to it. I’ll post again after my visit there.

Australia has always loomed exceptionally large in my consciousness, calling to me again and again over the years. The only island continent – the land down under – The Great Barrier Reef,  Ayers Rock, stunning landscapes, kangaroos, Tasmania, wild and exotic creatures everywhere, cosmopolitan cities, fantastic food and wine, amazingly friendly Aussies, sunshine pretty much all the time, great surf…. and on and on.

After thinking about visiting for so long, the time has come to see and experience Australia up close. My journey will be five weeks and 5,000 miles, starting in Cairns, in the northeast Barrier Reef area, and finishing in Perth, on the southwest coast.

I’ll be traveling by camper van, my preferred method for extended road tripping. The camper I’ll be driving looks pretty swank, with bunks up and down and all the comforts. Like with Burning Girl on my Alaskan and Pacific NW sojourn, having my house on my back, so to speak, will be a very cool way to get around. No need to worry about hotels, reservations, check-in and out times and other such hassles or even whether there’ll be somewhere to stay at the end of a day’s exploring. Just befriend the locals and ask for a great spot to camp wherever I am, and find spectacular places down the road or around the bend.

The ocean coast will be my general path, although I’ll head inland whenever the feeling moves me. There’s so much to see and do on the coast that taking this route, through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide (although my focus will be more on the wilds and small towns than the cities), should provide plenty of adventure and scenery.

My son Matt, who just finished grad school, will be joining me for eight days between Brisbane and Melbourne. When I told him of my plans, he was so excited that I had to invite him to come along. Julie is off to other adventures this summer, Mark has visited Australia while studying in New Zealand and Scott is busy with school and work this summer, so only one of my brood will be tagging along.

Here are a couple of images in advance of touching down and starting the trip (not my photos, of course). They provide a small taste of what’s to come, and the adventures that await.

My sights and experiences between Cairns and Perth will be the subject of my rambling as things unfold. Enjoy the ride – I hope to convey a true sense of what I see and learn on my journey through my photos and narrative.

If you’d like to stay abreast of the trip, just click the “Follow” icon in the bottom right corner.  Also, starting with my next post, all photos will expand when clicked on.

Part of the joy of this kind of trip is not knowing exactly what lies ahead. Spontaneity rocks, and the unexpected usually provides the greatest surprises and most fun, as with life in general. My next post will be from down under…

Rich