Sunrise with the Kangaroos

Day 21 - Cape Hillsborough - 10.09.2018

Hello my dear ones,

I'm checking in again. Yesterday was a very relaxed day for us. After having our morning meal of fried eggs with ham, cheese, bread, and black tea/coffee, we continued our journey south on Highway A1 towards Cape Hillsborough.

The drive took about 2 hours with a quick stop at the supermarket. We chose this special destination for our next stop, but more on that later...

By noon, we arrived in Cape Hillsborough via partially bumpy roads where we couldn't go faster than 20 km/h. Cape Hillsborough is a small spot north of Mackay with an adjacent national park. We drove a few kilometers on the roads, maintaining a speed of 20-30 km/h to avoid hitting any wild wallabies (kangaroos).

The camping ground was beautifully located on a stunning white sandy beach. The water was clear and turquoise blue. Unfortunately, signs warned us, as usual, about poisonous jellyfish, so we couldn't go swimming at this beach either. When we arrived at our camping spot number '78', we were greeted by a wallaby lying on the pathway. The wallaby remained undisturbed by our loud engine and slamming doors. It calmly looked around and enjoyed the shade. Janina and I were thrilled to see this animal as we had only seen kangaroos dead on or next to the highway so far. Unfortunately, this happens too often. We took out our cameras and took some pictures of the Australian marsupial. That was the main reason why we wanted to come to this special place. Here, we could witness wild kangaroos up close, hopping around the camping ground. We had already booked a tour for the next day called 'Sunrise with the Wallabies', and we were looking forward to it.

In Cape Hillsborough, besides the adjacent national park, there were some walking tracks and recreational activities such as billiards, table tennis, and mini golf (called 'Mini Put Put' here, by the way :D). There wasn't much else to do. That's why we decided to go to the beach, just 15 meters away, to play and take out our blankets. We spent some time in the shade, enjoying the tranquility. We rarely saw other campers on the beach. So we were more or less alone on this vast white sandy beach. After I (as usual ;) ) defeated Janina in a game of Yahtzee, we went closer to the water and encountered hundreds of hermit crabs. They all had differently shaped and colored shells. It was fun to watch them walk or burrow. We even spotted several starfish on the beach. To our surprise, these beautiful creatures can also walk or crawl and disappear after a few steps in the sand.

So far, we are most fascinated by the wildlife in Australia! Unlike in Germany, we frequently see many different animal species in all colors and sizes. Most of them still have a vast habitat and are hardly restricted by humans. Australia is about 22 times the size of Germany but has only 'about' 25 million inhabitants. This provides much more natural habitat for various animal and plant species, and it is very noticeable.

In the evening, we prepared our purchased cod fillets with potatoes, a garlic-lemon-chives sauce, and a fresh salad together in the camp kitchen. The fish tasted great, and we went to bed feeling satisfied. Because the next day would start at 5 am...

Day 22 - Cape Hillsborough - 11.09.2018

It's 5 am, and the biggest enemy of my restful sleep starts ringing: Janina's phone!

But we know that it will be worth getting up so early today. Our 'Sunrise with the Wallabies' tour starts in half an hour, and we don't want to miss it. It's still dark as Janina and I, still slightly tired, go to brush our teeth. At 5:30 am, several other campers equipped with cameras were already on the beach, and the first wallabies didn't take long to show up. They know that they will be served a small breakfast every morning at sunrise. Provided by Ranger Sam. She walks along the beach in muddy-green clothes, carrying a feeding bucket in her hand. It was filled with food specially made for kangaroos. Ranger Sam greeted people and laid out some rubber mats for the wallabies, placing the food on them. We had booked a 'tour' with her for a total of $44, which was supposed to bring us closer to the animals. Additionally, there would be exciting information about the wallabies and their life in the park. Unfortunately, it turned out to be not particularly worthwhile. Although we were allowed to get closer to the marsupials compared to other tourists, and Ranger Sam also told us some interesting things about them, many of the kangaroos hopped back into the bushes and disappeared after eating. Everyone got beautiful and exclusive pictures of the animals, so we were rather disappointed and somewhat annoyed about the paid tour. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to see the chest-high wallabies live and up close!

After breakfast, we only drove a short distance of 54 km to Mackay to a very nice camping ground. Janina called our camper rental company because we have problems with our refrigerator. The built-in battery is supposed to last for two full days without power, but it doesn't. After a longer conversation with poor phone reception, we will probably have to wait until we can go to Camperman in Brisbane, about 950 kilometers away. They will take care of the problem there.

At noon, we headed to Mackay's city center, hoping for beautiful streets, nice shopping areas, and cute cafes. Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed here. This city had... that certain something... nothing! We walked through many streets passing rather insignificant shops and places. Eventually, we stumbled upon a chic little cafe called 'Coco Cubano'. It was decorated in an old style and equipped with colorful cozy chairs. We had a cappuccino/latte macchiato there and ordered something to eat. Breakfast was long overdue! We sat there for what felt like an eternity and slowly left after our meal. We wanted to go to the harbor and have a look at the promenade as well as the yachts. The weather was sunny again, after being cloudy and rainy for the first time on our vacation in the afternoon. The harbor was quite nice, even though it was quite deserted. A young woman had wandered onto the beach, and we hardly saw any other pedestrians.

We walked back to the car, refueled on the way to the camping ground (like every two days), and collapsed a bit in our van.

Now we have just written the blog, and Janina is preparing a small dinner. Tonight, we'll have salad with feta cheese, carrots, onions, etc.

We wish you all a great week, and see you soon! The pictures from the last few days will follow immediately.

Kisses ♡ J&J