For my trip down Australia’s east coast (Cairns to
Melbourne) I took along Alex and we hired a campervan after deciding to make
our own route. Jucy provided us with our van and we created our route as we
went along. We spent 5 weeks travelling from place to place so heres a bit of
an epic blog broken into states.
Queensland
1. We arrived in Cairns early April to temperatures of 30
degrees! This was a welcome change from the snowy mountains of Japan. We spent
the day in cairns and bathed in the artificial beach there.
2. We camped at a little spot by a creek called Babinda and
the next morning headed to the nearby boulders where we had a short walk through
the rainforest and also a swim in the creek pool which was beautiful. We had a
few stops that day including Josephine falls, Innisfail (a small river town)
and onto the Atherton tablelands which is full of rainforest scenery. We stayed
the night amongst the trees with a small creek for swimming and washing. We
also did the 3.5km walk through the forest to the Nandroya falls which is one
of the most impressive waterfalls ive seen plunging 100m into a rainforest
clearing.
3. The following day was spent at the stunning Mission Beach
here we lead under a palm tree and enjoyed the sunshine, the beach itself
stretches for miles and the water is beautifully blue. This was mainly a
relaxing day and in the evening at our roadside stop we saw some enormous butterflies.
4. Further south we headed back inland to Pauloma where a
series of waterfalls and plunge pools provided brilliant opportunity for
jumping off rocks and lounging in the sunshine. We headed on after this to
Townsville and then Saunders beach where we had a beautiful campsite literally
on the edge of the beach and wandered along it at night looking at the stars
including the famous southern cross as well as Mars and Venus.
5. Magnetic island is a short distance by ferry from
Townsville and we had a day here beach hopping. The island offers a variety of
settings from the more commercial horseshoe bay to secluded beaches and
rainforest. We decided to head off the main tourist route and walked around the
NE corner of the island to Balding, Radical and Florence bays. These beaches we
had almost entirely to ourselves which was fantastic and they were beautiful,
the rocks around the edges almost created a wild-west sort of feel. After
sunbathing and swimming in the amazing warm waters we headed back to be picked
up by the bus and whilst walking saw both Echidna and Koala in their natural
habitat.
6. From Townsville we headed to Airlie via Bowen where we
had a swim and saw a lot of little fish.
7. Airlie is a good base to head out to The Whitsunday
Islands and I booked myself onto a day trip with Ocean Rafting. The boat is a
pretty big lifeboat style one and we sped out across the waves bouncing around
which was a lot of fun. We had a stop where we all put on stinger suits and
snorkels and swam among the coral reef and fish. It was amazing to see the
coral and the variety of colours. There were also tonnes of fish ranging from a
few cm to a couple of feet in length. The parrot fish being the most striking
of these with its variety of colours, we also saw a sea turtle whilst cruising
along in the boat. We carried on around the islands and walked up hills inlet
to the lookout there. It provides amazing views of Whitehaven beach and the
amazing blue waters contrasted with the pure white silica sand. We also saw a
golden orb spider in the forest there. We stopped on Whitehaven beach for a
buffet lunch and fed the fish bread from our hands, and saw a goanna in the
bushes! We had a pretty wet ride back bumping over the waves but it was
brilliant fun and a very memorable day.
7. The next day was mainly spent travelling although we had
a stop in Mackay and then overnight at a lovely little beach, where the trees
grow out of the sea, called Clairview.
8. We spent another day travelling through to Rockhampton
and then a little riverside stop called Calloupie where we walked along the
river.
9. We had an early start to reach 1770 where we walked along
to the headland point and sunbathed on the beach watching the crabs scuttling
around. We then headed around the corner to Workmans bay and also agnes water.
We camped just outside of Bunderberg.
10. We had a brief explore of bunderberg, walking through
town and down the river to Alexandra park where they have a lovely small but
free zoo with emu, ostrich, goats and a variety of birds. We carried on to
Hervey Bay where we parked up in a lovely campsite with a spa pool.
Unfortunately here our van broke down as the key snapped off in the ignition!
In the evening walking along the water front the noise was tremendous as all the
parrots took up roost in the trees along the beach there were literally
thousands of them which was quite impressive to see.
11. I had a day trip to Fraser Island with Unique Fraser, we
were ferried across and explored in a jeep. We drove through the rainforest to
Lake Mackenzie which is an amazingly blue, freshwater lake. Here we stopped for
a swim and then had a traditional welcome dance and song from our aboriginy
guide Travis. Along 75 mile beach (a registered highway and airstrip!) we
stopped at the Maheno shipwreck which is very impressive and boasts some
beautiful colours. We also passed the pinnacles which are cool columns of sand
with different coloured layers. Further up Indian head is the only rock on the
sand island, formed from an ancient volcanic eruption. After the walk up to the
top we had views of the beaches and also the dunes inland. Whilst having our
lunch Travis played us the didgeridoo. Our furthest northern point was the
champagne pools where the waves splash over into the rock pool creating a crazy
natural jakuzzi. Finally we finished up at Eli Creek where we firstly walked up
the river and then were able to float back down in the current which was a lot
of fun. Another incredible day topped off by seein 3 dingoes on the way back!
12. We were stranded at our campsite so sunbathing and
swimming was the plan for the day.
13. Finally fixed we headed to rainbow beach and did the
cooloolba great walk to the carlo sandblow.
It’s a huge dune like formation but like a valley and with great views
of the ocean. We camped in the national park next to the beach with views of
Fraser Island in the distance.
14. we had a morning sunbathing on rainbow beach and bobbing
the waves. We then headed to Nambour where we found the big pinapple! (one of
many oversized objects in Australia). We camped that night at a little place
called obi obi creek.
15. This day was spent at Australia Zoo!! The zoo is amazing
and home to many aussie species including crocs, alligators, wallaby and
kangaroo, the later 2 you can walk around, feed and pet. The koalas you can
also stroke and their fur is not unlike lambs wool. They also have an Asian
area with a tiger show and elephants that we all fed by hand which was surreal
but incredible. One of the highlights though is the daily show at the
crocosseum where the very well trained birds fly around and crocs jump
vertically out of the water for meat. We also saw various animals being taken
for walks by the staff including a Tasmanian devil, a wombat and a dingo.
16. A morning spent in Brisbane and a lovely walk along the
river, around the botanic gardens and markets. We then continued on to surfers
paradise which contrasts the beautiful scenery with a cityscape. We stayed just
down from here at burleigh heads and had a swim in the sea.
New South Wales
17. We finally crossed the border and headed to Nimbin a
weird druggy town that is stuck in the 70’s. It’s a very vibrant place and the
highlight of our visit was probably the candle factory which showed not only
the creative process but a wide range of designs and colours. In the evening we
arrived in Byron bay which is really cool.
18. in Byron we spent the day surfing and lying on the
beach. It was awesome and we even managed to catch a few waves in despite being
pounded by the breakers on the way out. In the evening I headed with an Irish
couple we met to the bar Cheeky Monkeys famous for its dancing on tables and
that alongside some frozen margheritas made for a brilliant night.
19. Above Byron stands the lighthouse and we headed up here
and walked along to cape Byron, Australias most eastern point. We saw the big
prawn as we passed through Ballina. After that we headed on south to Grafton a
little historic town and did a bit of a driving tour, in the cathedral there I
met a man who used to live in Gloucestershire.
20. We drove onto Coffs Harbour home to the big banana, and
walked along the historic jetty in the bay there. We also walked up Muttonbird
Island seeing many of the species on the way and also having great views at the
top of the town and both the north and south coasts.
21. Port Macquarie is home to the koala sanctuary and here
we had a tour seeing many rescued koalas with missing legs or eyes or just bad
backs. The little orphans were super cute and happily going to be released back
into the wild soon. We also did a mangrove boardwalk here where we saw hundreds
of bats (flying foxes) which were making a huge racket!
22. This was a day of driving via the foothills of the blue
mountains to reach Richmond.
23. My 23rd birthday was spent fantastically! We
left the campervan and headed into Sydney on the train. Once checked into a
hostel we embarked on a walking tour taking us to Darling Harbour, The rocks
full of little alleyways and market stalls, we had lunch at the edge of
circular quay overlooking the opera house. We also walked around to see the
harbour bridge. We spent some time at the opera house which is very impressive
and then wandered our way back through the botanic gardens and the domain. We
had a drink in our hostel bar and then headed back upto the rocks taking in the
opera house and harbour bridge by night. We had dinner at the aptly named
Jacksons restaurant and I had an amazing steak. On our way home we bought a
caramel cupcake and back at the hostel stuck a match in the top as a makeshift
candle! We had some more drinks in the bar downstairs before bed.
24. Our second day in Sydney was spent at manly we caught
the ferry over and had a nice walk around the bay watching surfers and
volleyball. We went all the way around to shelley beach and then back to the
main port. We caught the ferry all the way along the river to the Olympic park
and on the way saw some yacht racing in port Jackson. We wandered around the
Olympic park seeing archery, mtb, the main stadiums and best of all the hockey
stadium where there was actually a match that we sat and watched for a bit. We
then headed back to Richmond and the van in the evening.
25. We left Richmond and headed into the Blue Mountains, we
saw the Leura cascades, Gordon falls, and the famous Echo point that looks out
over an enormous distance and also home to the three sisters rock formation
which we walked down some very sketchy steps to the walkway of. It was a pretty
impressive day of views and then we embarked on a 5hr drive to the sleepy town
of gunning to camp.
26. From Gunning it was a short drive to Canberra I had a
tour around the Australian Institute of Sport and all their facilities which
was really cool. We spent the afternoon walking about 5km upto parliament hill
where there were some good views of the city and on the way back the sunset was
stunning. We stayed in Canberra with alex’s friends from Norway and it was
fantastic to be able to chill out on a sofa and have a proper bed!
27. We headed out of Canberra after a visit to the national
museum of Australia and the DFO outlet store where I got some new jeans and a
top. We drove into the Snowy Mountains and to Thredbo to a beautiful campsite
by the lake. On the way there we saw some huge wild grey kangaroos.
28. We had an explore around Thredbo in the morning, it was
nice to be back in the mountains and see a ski resort without the snow. The
drive out was pretty windy but the views were amazing with white gum trees and
rocky landscape turning into lush forest as we got lower. That evening we
arrived in Melbourne and stayed with our friend Hana and her family.
Victoria
29. Our first day in Melbourne was a day of sightseeing
starting at Flinders St and Federation Square we headed out to the docklands
along the river. We also ambled around Victoria markets souvenir buying. We
also went to the impressive library which had a very interesting display on the
life of Ned Kelly including his armour and gun. We went to the suburb of Prahan
to visit Alex’s cousin Emma. We had a drink with her and then at the bar she
works at (The Smith) before heading back to Hana’s.
30. Day 2 in Melbourne we had a quick visit to the coast in
Williamstown and then left Hana’s. We headed to Vermont south and Oak Pin Court
better known as Ramsey Street from Neighbours! So cool! We went then to
Caulfield North where Emma lives. We all went out to dinner at this amazing
indian restaurant. We had corn fritter, pork ribs, veggie green curry and pork
belly it was incredible! After dinner we made our way to the MCG (where the
ashes are held) and watched the aussie rules football st Kilda V Hawthorn. It was
a really good match if not a bit chaotic and was cool to see. We then went to
lounge bar till late.
31. Day 3 in Melbourne, we headed out along a small bit of
the great ocean road. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see very much. In
the evening we went out for a pub quiz which we won! We then rented some movies
on the way home at a video store that had a horror section full of blood coated
props! Back at emma’s we had cheese and biscuits whilst watching the beach.
32. My final full day in Melbourne was a bit of an admin day
with a lovely Australian pie thrown into the mix. In the evening we went to St
Kilda and I saw the little blue penguins at dusk at the end of the pier which
was really cool. The views across to the main CBD were really cool too.
The next day I left Australia and headed over to New
Zealand. Ideally I would have liked a couple more weeks to see a bit more as
didn’t get to see Uluru but it was amazing trip all the same and the freedom of
the van was fantastic.
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