We've been here and there and everywhere

Phantom has covered some kilometres in the last few weeks. We've been seen and missed, while we've taken family on a Queensland roadtrip. We feel like we've been everywhere, but of course we haven't... But we have all enjoyed seeing some very different Australian landscapes even if we've only stayed within one state on this beautiful continent.

We've seen some absolutely amazing coast line from Brisbane and Sunshine Coast to Capricorn Coast, tropical beaches where the rainforest meets the reef, and long sandy beaches that reach for miles and miles. We've seen kangaroo and wallaby country, cattle country, cassowary and crocodile country; and been fortunate enough to see some of these animals in their own habitat. We've also seen endless stretches of sugarcane fields and banana plantations, rainforests and open grassy plains, mangroves and eucalypt forests. We've been bathing in fresh water and salty ocean waves, climbed palm trees and tasted the sweet juice of young coconuts.

We've met happy people and cranky people, experienced some great Australian hospitality from the first and new Australians, and gone through different feelings ourselves. And the roads we've driven have been different too! Some were hilly, others unsealed, some very steep and windy, others flat, straight and boring, and some busy yet well maintained. The driver was wonderful and so was the bus, handling different conditions and lots of kilometres extremely well.

Sometimes we've pulled up in a rest area for the night, other mornings we've woken up to an island view. How grateful we are for the memories we've made together in this beautiful land of Oz, and like I asked and begged and prayed before their flight touched down, our guests have enjoyed plenty of sunshine in this sunshiny state.

- M -

We've been swallowed by giant crocodiles... Daintree.

...and waited patiently for our coconut lunch. Wonga beach.

Walked the devil of a dog...

...and enjoyed some beach walks ourselves.

We've greeted some rigs climbing up big hills...

...and approached some less horsepowered traffic on wide open roads.

Some bystanders stayed still like these cows and ant mounds... Lakeland.

...sometimes we've had to slow down while waiting for a good catch. Cooktown.

Roads were red and vegetation lush... Cooktown.

...while some mountains were piles and piles of black rocks. Black mountain.

Some steep and windy roads were slowed down some more by roadworks... Kuranda.

...others were a pleasure to drive, and surrounded by cane fields. Pyramid mountain. 

Some places were simply magic to look at... Dunk Island.

...others we eventually had to plunge into. Murray falls.