Well, 2 weeks ago on Friday the 25th April my dad and I, along with some boat-owning friends of ours, went out to Humpy Island for a weekend trip. I apologise for taking 2 weeks to write about, but I have been busy and I did have to go through 300 or so photos of the trip, which meant that I kept putting it off.

Humpy Island is a National Park about 65 hectares in area, located just south of Great Keppel Island. More info is available from this link.

I’ve decided to call this a photo essay because of the large amount of photos that I’ve decided to include. Also, just note that I’m not documenting everything we did on Humpy Island, like snorkelling out on the reefs, with and without a boat. The reason being that I didn’t take many photos of that (for fear of damaging or wetting the camera). I did see a turtle underwater while I was snorkelling out in the boat, however. I tried to chase it as well, but they can move surprisingly fast.

Friday : Arrival Day

On to the story. We got up at about 5:00AM on Friday morning, leaving home an hour or so later. The meeting place was at Rosslyn Bay Harbour, which is the main boat harbour for the Capricorn Coast, so we drove there and started loading up the boat we were going out on.

Once that was all done, we left for Humpy Island at about 6:30AM! There were 2 large tinnies and 1 boat going (which had already left Thursday night). We went in one of the tinnies and the other tinny followed behind us.

A view back looking at the Rosslyn Bay Hill. The tinny in the picture was following us. I love the morning light, it makes everything look really pretty.

Appearances are deceptive on the ocean, and the distance to Humpy Island was no exception. I would have though that it was only 7 or 8 kilometres, but I bought my GPS along and the real distance was over 19km! It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Humpy Island, we got a bit wet but it was a perfect day so that didn’t matter too much.

On arrival we unpacked everything from the boats and chose a camping spot. A funny thing that happened was that everyone was down at the beach but someone had left biscuits on the table, and the crows were tearing into them.

The beach, soon after arrival. The boat we came over on is the closest in the water.

The people who had come to Humpy on Thursday night won’t around when we arrived, so we just set up camp in the main camping area just near the path to the beach.

Looking in the other direction from above. The camping area starts just where the trees are. We originally had our camping spot just a little way in.

Looking straight up to the main campground.

After we had set up our tents and stuff I decided to walk up the hill and take some photos.

Looking down onto the trees and camping area. We were camping in the far left of the main clump of trees, later on we moved a bit out of sight to the left.

A wildflower growing on top of the hill. It looks a bit like a dandelion in my opinion.

A type of long seedpod attached to a swirling base of long, thin, and serated pieces of grass or leaves. I think they are nicknamed black-boys (now politically incorrect) because they actually thrive on fire and can be seen all covered in blackness.

I think these are the same type of plant shown in the above photo, just with a full crop of matured flowers.

After a few hours or so the people who had come the previous night arrived back. Two of my friends and I decided to go on the whole island walk, which basically winds its way around the island “hill range.” I’ve just included just a few photos below because I’m going to put in more photos from when everyone did the walk.

This is looking from the far side of Humpy Island towards the camping area on the island, and Emu Park in the distance. The little hills you see on the left is where the above photos were taken.

The main cairn on Humpy Island. Cairns are basically just piles of rocks that are added to by people who have made it to the highest point on the mountain, or island.

After we had arrived back from the Humpy Island walk, the Thursday night people then went for a walk around the camping area. When they came back they said they’d found a much better camping spot (about 50m away) from which the boats could be easily seen. We walked over and had a look, and decided that it was better than our current spot. Moving was comparatively easy; All we had to for some tents was pick them up, carry them, then plonk them down again.

The new campsite that we moved too. It was much more open and there were no other people camping in that area. It was about 50m from the tap.

Well once everything had settled down we basically stayed settled down until the beautiful sunset.

The beautiful sunset. This would be looking towards the Capricorn Coast / Yeppoon area, but I can’t identify the coastline accurately enough to be sure of the exact locations.

After the sunset had finished, my friends and I decided to sneak around the camping area and flash lights at people once we got up close. That’s probably about all I should tell you .

Saturday : Full Activity Day

Relatively early on Saturday morning just about everyone in our group decided to do the island walk, which we (meaning from now on two friends and I) had done the day before.

These pretty wildflowers were located about halfway. The ant inside was a stroke of luck.

Some more wildflowers. I reckon this one looks a bit like a dandelion.

Another blackboy plant, this time all nice and green and without a stalk in the middle. This meant I could get a nice symmetrical overhead shot.

Once we all arrived back we mainly stayed around camp (with the exception of snorkelling out with the boat, see the top of this post) until late afternoon, when we walked up the hill closest to us to get some photos with the afternoon light.

Looking towards our camp (just underneath the first clump of trees along the shore).

A zoomed in view of the main sandbank where we fished and snorkelled from.

My two friends. I’m on the left. This is looking east from Humpy Island out into the great Pacific Ocean.

Sunday : Day of Leaving

Sunday morning was fairly lazy, we just had breakfast, went for another snorkel, and then started packing up. Packup up took about half an hour, once that was done we just threw everything in the boats and said goodbye to Humpy Island.

My last few photos of Humpy Island were taken from the back of the tinny as we motored away.

I took a few photos at Rosslyn Bay Harbour. This is the biggest hill at the harbour, there is another one just on the other side that has a walking track on it.

This is a bit of a funny photo, I think it was on top of a Fisheries building and it was a pole with 4 security cameras pointing in all different directions.

That just about wraps up my trip to Humpy Island. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

On Wednesday the 23rd this month we drove to Blackdown Tableland National Park, which you can find out more about on the EPA website. The day before I’d booked for two nights on the web, because self registration at the campsite is no longer allowed. After stopping at the Horseshoe lookout on the edge of the tablelands (photo to the left) and finding a geocache, we arrived at the South Mimosa Creek campground at about 1PM.

We had a limited choice of campgrounds, because about 20 of them were closed for maintenance and redevelopment and only 9 were available for camping. After a while we chose a campsite and I was able to explore the surrounds. A small creek (about the size of Kemp Beach creek) flowed near us and we had a composting toilet block just opposite our tent. Unfortunately, possibly because of a lazy ranger, there was no water in the taps and we had to use the creek for washing hands and utensils.

The first place we went to after arrival: the potholes. Some, like the one shown above, has water cascading into it while others, such as the ones below, are covered by water. These particular potholes can be found at the beginning of the Mook Mook (or Officer’s Pocket) walk, just down from the campground.

Taken at the same locations as the potholes above, this photos shows the ones covered by water. I had fun jumping off the ledge to the left, which is about twice my height. There are also very short tunnels connecting some of the potholes.

This waterfall is located about 50 metres down from the potholes, and although quite small, it is still very beautiful. The sides are approximately 7 metres high.

The view from the top of the above waterfall. I like the dynamic aspect to this pic. All the water has just been frozen in place. And don’t panic, although it looks as if I am hovering above I was really lying down and holding the camera out.

The most used item that I brought along was my mountain bike, which I rode practically everywhere. You name it, up stairs, down stairs, across creeks and over rock outcrops with plenty of challenging spots. I feel like I can tackle anything with it now . The photo was taken on the Mook Mook walk.

The beautiful view from the lookout at the end of the Mook Mook trail. Unlike the picture at the top of the post, which was taken at the Horseshoe lookout on the rainy day that we arrived, this view was clear and unimpeded by rain.

Another view from the lookout with the fence in the foreground. In the background you can see a minor landslide, caused by a slab of rock peeling of from the cliff.

Rainbow Falls would have to be among the biggest (if not the biggest) falls in a 100km radius around Blackdown Tableland. I estimate the height of the falls to be around 25 metres, which is really big if you get a tape measure and measure it out. I climbed up a bit on the right side and put my hand under the water falling on the rock you can see. It felt like someone was slingshotting you (not withstandable for more than about 5 seconds). Swimming under the falls is bearable though, because the water isn’t falling from as great a height.

They can be accessed by driving 8 kilometres from the campground and then following the walking trail for about 2km downhill. To get to the very bottom of the gorge you then have to go down 240 stairs

This photo can also be found on Contrasting Sharply.

In total there are 3 defined tracks in the vicinity of the campground (not counting the walk at Horseshoe Lookout) and the last that we walked was the Cultural Circuit. The wooden, burnt out fence above was part of a settler’s stockyard. The posts have been there so long that the tree has grown around it.

The Cultural Circuit also boasts some Aboriginal handprints (OK artwork if you must…), which are created by placing your hand on a rock and blowing paint over it.

Back at the campsite I experiment with waving a lighted stick in front of the camera, creating a fiery hammock for daring (and foolish) people

On the way back from Blackdown we drove over the Dawson River again (we’d gone over it on the way to Blackdown, but it wasn’t as high as this), which was now fully in flood. Almost all the trees were partly submerged.

A tire tube caught in some flotsam and jetsam on the Dawson River. I bet it would have a story to tell.

And with that photo, my retelling of our trip to Blackdown Tableland National Park ends. Hope you enjoyed it.

[tags]national park, blackdown tablelands, holiday, travel, water, waterfalls[/tags]

You can get a good idea of what Corio Bay looks like by going to Google Maps.

I must warn you however, if you do attempt to go up there be prepared for a fairly bumpy drive as the road isn’t very well maintained.

A view looking across the channel to a headland. I would love to live up there and own a boat so I could explore everywhere, however I don’t think I could get an internet connection very easily

One of the many 4wd’s that enjoy using the beach to drive on.

These signs contain information on the does and don’t at Corio Bay.

The main track used to get on the sand.

This row of posts partly protects the area to the right from being driven on by naughty 4wd’ers.

[tags]travel, waterpark, creek, corio, bay, rydges, sand, beach[/tags]

We left our place at approximately 4:00 AM on Christmas morning, and we arrived at the Gold Coast around 6:00 PM. After arriving at our grandmother’s place we changed clothes and headed off to my cousins place, about 25 minutes away. Can you guess why? Christmas dinner of course!

I received (and bought) some useful computer accessories, namely a USB hub, a USB flash drive and a new 2 button Logitech mouse (previously I was using the old 1 button Apple mouse). I also got some clothes and new shoes.

Below are 6 photos of the trip highlights, with commentary. Enjoy them.

The sun rising just out of Rockhampton at about 5 in the morning. I picked this shot with the blurred trees because it gives the photo a nice sense of movement.

We had to take our kitten, Sachi, with us because the last time we went on holidays without her she was fretting for us. This photo was taken at the Gin Gin caravan park.

At the Gold Coast we always go for a walk. The boardwalk that can be seen above is located around the Currumbin area.

This little game of magnetic checkers was a really good way to pass the time driving back home.

On the day before our departure (Saturday), we drove down to Tweed Heads. Because of the low that is currently off Fraser Island, all the waves at Tweed Heads were really big and the wind was almost galeforce.

Another picture of the waves at Tweed Heads.

There are also some photos of the trip on my photoblog, Contrasting Sharply.

[tags]gold coast, christmas, holiday, travel[/tags]

This is the auditorium. To get an idea of the size, look just below the left columns and you can see a person.

An amazingly bright plant with pink in the middle. No modifications either.

These heart-shaped sprinklers were used extensively throughout the gardens.

Another strange flowering plant.

Anyway, we walked around for a couple of hours and then we had lunch. While we were eating some fairly tame ducks and geese came up to see if we would give them something to eat.

While walking along my mum saw this crow throwing rubbish out of the bin in search of food.

These two geese were the least afraid of us. The food they’re eating was left there by someone who had eaten before us (I think).

In this post I have put captions underneath each photo, so let me know if you like it like that.

[tags]noosa, cooroy, botanical gardens, holiday, travel[/tags]