Early start to the morning as we have an excursion booked which will involve a little drive.

Holy Moly, even the cattle are out to attack you around here.

So we are here and feeling totally energised after a few days in solid beds and air conditioning. We will need it, booked in and raring to go.

After a safety briefing that didn’t mention the bull sharks shown on the information boards, it was off to have some fun in the sun.

All aboard as we take a trip to Australia’s only everglade eco system, and one of only two in the whole wide world. We are informed at the briefing that there are no alligators at this one and the salt water crocs don’t come this far south (probably because of the bull sharks)

Paul was our skipper and Sonny was the expedition leader. We had help from two others, who pushed the boat out and pulled it back in. We made our way across the bay and into the salt water rivers of the everglades.

We took the ride through Tea Tree Bay to Fig Tree Point for the next part of it adventure. We chose our canoe and headed out last but one.  The youngsters set off at a fast pace but we could see they were lacking in the skills and technique that we’d learnt through the canoe club.  We just took a nice steady pace and one by one we overtook them, spending plenty of time to take lots of photos on way.

As we gently paddled up the North Noosa River there were so many reflections in the water.  We had our nose in front and the distance was getting further so we eased up on the pace and made the most of the peace and tranquility. The boat passed us and went up stream to our next rendezvous point.

Half the expedition were paddling canoes up to Harry’s Hut and the other half would paddle back.  The latter group had done a small trek and then went swimming afterwards in the river

They used the boat’s platform to jump/dive in, or climbed down the ladder off the jetty.

We had time for a quick chill in the boat before docking. When we landed we were greeted with a juice, fruit and a muffin before we swapped activities with the other half of the group. Strangely some people didn’t want to canoe at all for the day. 

We had a swim in the red rusty water. This is caused by the natural tea tree oil from the surrounding forestry. We were also swimming with a lot of catfish but luckily no sharks.

After our swim in the strange coloured everglades the two of us went off on our own twenty minute adventure to find Harry’s Hut. This was an old logging cabin where the European settlers helped butcher the landscape in days gone by.  Today everything is owned by the national parks and they have slowly brought vast amounts of tourists to the area.  Like many places we have visited, this had also been devastated by floods and fires,  with the whole area being under 20ft of water last year.  The forest bounces back more diverse each time and the eco system lives on for now.  We saw a koala climbing in the trees and plenty of other wildlife. 

As we headed back to Fig Tree Point in the boat, Paul gave us a running commentary about the area.  We spotted a lot of wildlife including a lace lizard (goanna) with its sharp claws and teeth, a king parrot and many other creatures. We soon caught up with, and overtook, the other canoeists. We arrived at our destination and had a little stroll on the jetty and walkway.

With everyone back onboard we set off back down the river and towards the information centre. Sonny showed us how to search for koalas. We soon hit the open waters of the bay. The shallow areas are known for stingray but with the choppy conditions we didn’t see any.  Smoke in the distance,  hopefully a BBQ rather than a forest fire.  The lads pulled us back towards shore and we exited via the gangway.

Once back on land we had our picnic then went to see the Eastern Grey Kangeroos. These are a lot bigger than our wallaby friends so caution is required. Some are standing around casually chewing on grass, while one was trying to get his wicked way. One little joey kept popping its head out and having a snack oblivious to the humans around.

We left before the storm hit and found somewhere to play as kids.

We headed home and had a swim in the pool before nesting in for the night with the usual glass of vino and a few hands of cards.  Music played the night away.