I survived

The morning

The friendly guest at 1:30AM ended up not being the only one... Around 3AM, I wake up again, this time it has a mate around my legs. I can hear some flapping, so I'm now pretty sure it's just a bird.

I wake up before the sunrise, and I'm alone. I open the tent, but sadly it is very cloudy, so I won't get to enjoy the sunrise... Oh well, I have some sleep to catch up on.

After waking up again around 7AM, I see some sunrays peeking through the clouds. Looks like it won't rain, at least.

I have a look at the aftermath of my night: 2 of the 4 pegs are taken out, and my tent collapsed in the middle. It has rained during the night, so my legs were under a puddle of water. Maybe there was no second friend after all, and the flapping was just the wind on the loose tent?

Since the weather seems to be clearing out, I have a brief look at the options to go to Whitsunday Islands from Airlie Beach. Looks like they all leave early, and I've missed them already. That means I can take my time, and go up Mount Rooper, on the way back to the car park.

It is a nice morning walk, allowing me to take a picture of those toads that were jumping around me yesterday. The view from the top is good (I can see the Whitsunday Islands), but I can clearly see signs of forest fire, and this time there is no mistaking it.

Just before arriving at the car park, I guy asks me if there is any ponds or anything similar over there. There is a small lake next to the parking lot, and a small river on the other side, but that's about it. He's a fisherman, and starts chatting me up and inviting me to have a look at the river on the other side of the road.

Him and his mate start fishing there, and he invites me to have a try. My first throw is horrible, and the line shoots up, dropping a meter away from me. My second throw is pretty long, but not very well aimed: the line ends up in the trees... oops. I give him back the fishing rod, and when he pulls the line snap, losing his shiny bait. Apparently that's fairly common, but I feel a bit bad losing him a $30 bait. Thankfully, he takes it pretty well, but he's trying to get me hooked (heh) on fishing, and wants to sell me his rod for $200. I have no idea if that's a fair price or if he's trying to scam me, but he keeps giving me advices on what the best gear brand is and all that stuff. I'm not super interested, so I'm not very responsive. When he asks me if I'm feeling good, I tell him that I am thirsty and my bottle of water is empty (which is true, I finished it yesterday and the morning walk has made me sweat a bit), and before leaving they offer me a cold beer for hydration. Not sure that's the best choice, both for hydration and because I'm about to drive, but thanks mate, I'll put it in the fridge and enjoy it this evening.

Cathu State Forest

My next stop is the Cathu State Forest. The lookout there is a bit far, and I'm hoping to have a bit of a hike to get there.

Quickly after exiting the highway, the road turns into a gravel road, which is fairly standard. It's pretty long and mostly flat, passing by a campsite and a farm (I make sure to slow down then to avoid forming a big cloud of dirt that the wind will spread to them). I see a couple of beautiful black cows, as well as a big lizard (probably around 30cm). It isn't scared of me, I have to approach it very close before it decides to run away. It is running on its back legs only, which makes it very cartoony, it's hilarious.

After a while, the road changes to a dirt road, and it gets steeper, going up in a forest. This is kinda fun, unlike the sketchy night drive I did a couple of days ago I can fully enjoy it this time.

The road ends very close to the lookout: it is a nice little path, and I'm excited to go on it, but I arrive at the lookout after just a few minutes. The view is nice though, and since it was a fun drive, I'll forgive it.

Shoal Point

I was considering stopping in Mackay, but given how underwhelming the cities have been so far, I decided to look up a lookout close to it, and headed to Shoal Point.

That lookout isn't very well defined: it's just a bench next to a residential area, without any parking spots... I park on the grass, I don't see anybody around and I'm only here temporarily so that should be fine, right?

The view itself is pretty nice, looking at the Green Reef and the Green Island. The reef isn't very visible in the picture, but with my polarized sunglasses, I could clearly see it.

Cape Palmerston National Park... or not

I then see signs for Cape Palmerston National Park on the road. That looks interesting, and fits my schedule of stopping around once per hour, so I go that way. However, I think that I missed a turn: I end up in a small residential area, with no sign of the national park. Oh well, let's follow the Seaview Drive, at least it should guide me to some view.

And it does: right after leaving the residential area, it turns into a dirt road (classic), and there is a group of kangaroos on the side that jumps away as I approach, no time to take pictures... And this time I'm pretty sure they were kangaroos, they were big and grey.

At the end of the dirt road is a small beach, with a single tree in the middle. There is nobody there and the beach isn't very appealing otherwise, the sand is very fine which makes it too dense to be pleasant. Well, I saw kangaroos so I'm happy, time to hit the road.

The evening

If we forget the fun forest road in the Cathu State Forest, that was probably the most boring driving day so far: this part of the country really doesn't have much to offer, and I was trying to cover as much distance as possible.

I end up pushing all the way to Marlborough, covering around 400km of highway (not counting my side stops). I plant the tent at a caravan park, and for the first time since I arrived, it is a clear night. There is little to no light pollution, so I get to enjoy a full starry sky, taking a few astro photos (I'm glad I brought a small tripod). Can you recognize any constellation? At least the Milky Way was very visible.

Remember the beer the fishermen offerend me this morning? That felt like a good time to enjoy it, while I wait for my phone to take the pictures. Well, it wasn't very good.