Great Keppel Island (long post!)

Our Easter break was supposed to be spent in the Whitsunday Islands at the Great Barrier Reef; however, cyclone Debbie visited the area 2 weeks before us and the islands were still not ready (no power and services) when we were scheduled to leave. We tried to reschedule but the available dates were not working well with our calendar. The Whitsundays are a popular destination with many resorts and amenities. We did some research and decided to visit Great Keppel Island in the Keppel Islands National Park on the very south end of the Great Barrier Reef instead. Like Whitsundays, the Keppel Islands had protected coves where we could wade out to coral reef. Being on the south end of the Great Barrier Reef the ocean would be a little cooler but this meant no stingers (jelly-fish) or crocodiles! Unlike the Whitsundays, the Keppel Islands do not have much development. Great Keppel Island is the only island in the National Park to have accommodations other than camping. There are no real roads (and the only vehicles are 4x4 sand buggies and utes). The island also only has two restaurants (one pizza place open for dinners on weekends or when the owner feels like opening) and NO grocery or convenience stores. This meant we had to pack in most of our food. We spent eight days in the Keppels and ate out 3 dinners. We packed in 70 lbs of boxed & tinned (canned) food in our luggage including 7 litres of boxed milk, about 20 lbs of cold food in an esky (cooler) carry-on (meat, cheese, and produce), and bags of apples and carrots in our backpacks.

Pantry in a suitcase:

I was most worried about having enough bread and milk but everything worked out fine.

Being less developed meant the island was also more difficult to get to. We had a 12-hour travel day to get there: drive to Melbourne (3 hours), fly to Brisbane (2.5 hrs), fly to Rockhampton (1 hr), taxi to coast (45 min), ferry ride (45 min) to Great Keppel. But when we stepped off the ferry we knew it was all worth it.

We stayed in a beach house on Fisherman beach. This is the main “developed” beach on the island where most of the accommodations are located. Even then, we often had the beach to ourselves. 

Our beach house “The Keppel House:”

View of the “road” from our house to the beach just beyond the trees (and a boy washing sand off his bum):

Walking Fisherman beach. Our house is located in the trees to the far right of the picture:

The location made for really impressive sunsets. We would oo and ah while eating dinner and jump up to take a picture before the moment ended:

We probably could have been content just playing at Fisherman all week. The house was stocked with beach toys and a stand-up paddle board that provided hours of entertainment. We usually would see a sea turtle while we were paddling around the cove and Eric believes he and Cady saw a dugong (look it up!).

Cady could control the paddle board fairly well on her own (can you see her?):

Asher and Maren enjoyed riding while an adult paddled:

We collected amazing shells, built countless sand castles, dug heaps of holes and created a few sand creatures:

We also caught and watched hermit crabs and other shell life as they burrowed into the sand:

Great Keppel boasts 17 impressive white sand beaches with clear blue waters and so we tried out a few others. The other 16 were all a bit of a hike to get to. Long beach was less protected with bigger waves (and we heard stories of sharks just off the beach). But it had an aboriginal midden dating back 500+ years.

Luckily the only big shark we saw was this one:

Putney beach had really fine sand and long stretches of shallow water. Putney beach fun:

Shelving beach and Monkey beach were where the snorkeling action was. Both had coral reef just off of the beach but both required hiking over a small mountain to get to. Our first effort to reach Monkey beach included a missed turn that resulted in our bushwalk turning to a bushwack as we made our way down a drainage gully to find the beach and added 1 hour onto a 40 minute hike.

Making our way down the steep drainage:

We would often hear or see wild goats when we hiked the interior of the island. The first Europeans to the island kept goats here and they have done quite well on their own.

Billy goat gruff:

The older kids were really nervous with the first few attempts at snorkeling – Asher wouldn’t even put his head in the water. So we decided to take a ride on a glass-bottom boat over the coral to show the kids a little of what they could see and get them more interested. We saw a turtle, sting ray, beautiful fish and colorful coral. When we got back to the house that evening Asher started drawing all of the sea animals he saw and both he and Cady talked about the reef non-stop. It worked – they were excited to see more. (I’ll write a separate post about the reef – so much to say!)

Watching the coral beneath the glass-bottomed boat:

The boat also docked at the edge of the reef and provided buckets of small (dead) fish that we could hand-feed to the large reef fish. This attracted a lot of batfish and large blue “Dory” fish as well as a wrasse and coral trout. One of the batfish mistook Cady’s finger for food and left her bleeding L but she took it like a champ.

Fish ready for food (or fingers!):

On our final day we took a water taxi to a small, uninhabited island: Middle Island. We had the entire place to ourselves. At the end of the day when we were leaving – we commented on how many footprints were all over the beach and that every single one of them was from us! It was a happy realization of how much we had done and enjoyed. The surf at Middle Island was much bigger and more aggressive than we had experienced anywhere on Great Keppel and the kids had a blast getting knocked over by waves. Even Maren would go running head first into oncoming waves. The reef was accessible a little ways off the beach but as the water was quite choppy, just the adults took turns snorkeling.

Dropped off (stranded like Gilligan!) on Middle Island:

The beach was ours:

Happy family on Middle Island:

On the boat ride back the driver spotted a dolphin mum and calf and followed them. The dolphins were soon playing at the bow of the boat. The kids thought they could reach out and pet them! It was a great send-off – a tender mercy as this was the only animal remaining on Asher’s (our sea life enthusiast) list of creatures he wanted to see.

Looking for the dolphins at the bow of the boat:

We chartered a small plane to leave the island and take us to the closest mainland airport. It was only a 20-minute flight but everyone thought it was a highlight of the holiday.

Watching our plane land on the island’s tiny airstrip:

Eric relived his glory days as co-pilot (something he did often as a kid with his dad as pilot):

Goodbye Great Keppel Island! I hope we will see you again one day!

As a post-note: I have to add that Great Keppel Island will always have a piece of the Toman family. Cady lost a tooth and then dropped it down the bathroom drain as she was trying to rinse it off. J 

Island Creatures

We are wrapping up a week at the Great Barrier Reef - I'll post pictures soon when I have been able to go through them. But I wanted to update our wildlife list with the many creatures we have seen here.

Land:

Possum (overly abundant sandwich snatchers)

Echidna 

Wild goat

Gecko

Skink

Air:

Curlew (stealthy)

White-bellied sea eagle

Korky our resident kookaburra who shows up whenever we have a meal outside

Rainbow lorikeet

Alvin the semi-friendly cockatoo

Osprey

Magpielark

Friarbird

Seagull

Pied oystercatcher

Masked lapwing

Sacred kingfisher

Sea:

Dolphin

Hawksbill turtle

Green turtle

Sting ray

Spotted eagle ray

Wobbegong shark
Dugong

Crab

Sea cucumber

Giant clam

Stag horn coral

Brain coral

Mushroom coral

Plate coral

Soft coral

Cuttlefish

Squid

Boxfish

Potato cod

Coral trout

Batfish (the ones that like to eat Cady’s fingers)

Parrotfish

Angelfish

Surgeonfish (including blue tangs “Dory!”)

Butterfly fish

Damselfish

Stripeys

Big purple fish – (need to look up)

For the Beauty

I’ve been trying to take pictures of all the beauty that surrounds us. I don’t want to forget any of it. I feel like we should be outdoors enjoying it whenever we can. Today on a run I was higher up in state forest looking down into the valley only about 2k from our house and I had to pause and take in the view. I wish I had my camera!

The recent rains have greened up the grasses and farmlands and even though we are heading into winter, there are a number of bushes and shrubs that have flowered. We have some rhododendron type bushes flowering in our garden and our roses have new buds. That with the autumn colors (mostly in the non-native, ornamental trees), the town is really a vision right now!

Fall flowers at Maren's school:

Roses on our church grounds:

Apples, plums and butternut squash are big at the farmers markets right now. It is strange to have these in May but I’ll take it! We have a lemon tree in the backyard with branches drooping from the weight of nearly ripe fruit. I am going to need some lemony recipes soon.

The forest land next to us brings in heaps of wildlife. We regularly have a mob of kangaroo in the evenings and many types of large birds including galahs, cockatoos (white and black varieties and the gang-gang), king parrot, alpine rosellas, kookaburra, and magpies (with the most beautiful call). The sulfur-crested cockatoo are really loud and like to be social. I don’t know much about their grouping habits but recently we have noticed the flocks getting larger. There were around 140 (!) in the field one evening – it was difficult to talk over the racket. I’ve heard them referred to as a “cacophony of cockatoos” when they are plural and this seems an apt description.

The buildings in town are also beautiful – I would describe the appearance of the homes and gardens as tidy and proper. Many homes are single-story Victorian style (even new-build) with a large veranda, metal or tile roof, ornate wood or metal decorative trimming and a well-manicured flower garden – often with roses.

Even the school grounds are impressive. The big kids’ school sits on around 16 acres with mature trees, river, and natural play area (large rocks, paths through trees, hollowed stumps to climb). Maren’s daycare has more outdoor play space than indoor and they take full advantage of it – they have constructed a dry creekbed, tunnels through grass hills, and cubby houses tucked in every corner. As long as it is not too wet the kids will be outside.  

Asher wants to stay and play at Maren's school:

We keep getting warned that it gets really cold here but town does not get snow so I’m not going to worry yet! I’ll let you know how I feel about that in another month or so.

More Festivals

It seems like there is a festival of some sort in one of the small communities every weekend. Last Saturday we had the hard choice between “Drive Back in Time” old car fest in Beechworth or the Autumn Festival in Bright – we opted for Bright as did it seems most of the Alpine Shire (our local government unit like a county) and a good portion of Melbourne. This was the most people we have seen at one place in ages!

There was a bush market (hand-made & local goods), food stalls, buskers on every corner, and bagpipe and marching bands performing up and down streets. A park had been converted into a kid’s zone complete with (free!) bounce houses and a balloon-blowing clown. And to top it off there was a parade.

Bagpipe band from a secondary school (high school) in Albury:

We enjoyed pies (savory pot pies) and local plums (Maren ate 3 before we even found a place to sit). And ice cream of course. We ran into a few friends, which made us feel like true locals (as compared to Melbourne weekenders or those blokes with funny accents J).

Pies and plums at the Autumn Festival:

Ice Cream dripping down our arms in true Australian fashion:

In the late afternoon we made our way up Mount Buffalo and took the road to the very end (Maren needed a nap) where there was an outlook hut. 

Hut at the horn on Mount Buffalo (temperatures about 15 degree C lower than in Bright with a wicked wind):

It was cold and windy so we chose to go a little ways back down the mountain to the “Galleries” walk – a short hike to an area of large boulders that created caves and crevices to climb around in. It was sheltered from the wind and a really beautiful hike. In some places I felt like we were in a slot canyon of southern Utah except the walls were granite.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place:

Sunday evening we visited friends to have dinner and return their canaries that we had been watching while they were out of town. 

Kids were sad to see the birds go:

Eric had let the friends know it was the day before my birthday and so “surprise!” they had flowers, decorations, and cake. My birthday was great – other friends brought chocolate cake and brownies to church for me and Eric and I went out to lunch on Monday. It was so great that I don’t think I need to celebrate another. I’ll just stay this age (39) for the rest of my life.

Chocolate, my love language: