Flashpacking Australia – January 2004

Up before the traffic wardens came knocking, over the bridge and a fond farewell to Sydney. Up the coast for a nights stop in Manning Point. A tiny town with (oh what a surprise) more pristine beaches and Pelicans. Didn’t even take a picture here as its just same old lovely stuff we see every day….

Just a couple of hours up the Pacific Highway we arrived at Port Macquarie, a really pretty little resort town with about 8 pristine beaches (of course!). The site was on a beach and 5 mins walk from the town, so we thought a couple of nights would be nice here. Yet again, it seems so relaxed and friendly. Not a cloud in sight (getting hotter now we are coming into the tropical areas) and everyone is either brown or burnt! (Andy is the former and I am neither!)

Easy day of mooching about, had Fajitas for dinner !! YUMMY!

A visit inland to the Dorringo National Park. A fab sky walkway took us over the tops of the 30 metre high canopy for a view over New England (eh? isn’t that in the states?). Spent the afternoon rainforest walking. It was lovely strolling through the ancient trees, ferns and tarzan like vines. Heard loads of weird birds and saw sunbasking skinks and loads of bush turkeys scrabbling about in the leaf litter. The rainforest was on a mountain side and the plateau of the mountain looked just like English countryside (except the trees were Eucalyptus rather than Oak etc) Reminded us both of summer at home.. aaaahhhhhh nice…….

Leaving the area we couldn’t resist a picture of the sewage works…(not your obvious choice of photo) It has a fab sculpture at its entrance. How very Auzzie !!!

Wiggly worm road down the mountainside to Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour…Well… this is supposed to be lovely… we couldn’t find that bit. It was crowded, over-commercialised and tacky… it even has a stupidly big banana which everyone loves for some bizarre reason!…. sorry Coffs! Yet again it does, though, have a beautiful beach.

Sat in the sun all morning drinking tea…. that was until Andy found a turd in the shower! (didn’t take a picture of that!) so off we went…. More trees…. more fields…. someone wake me!… on second thoughts… don’t bother.

Passed loads of banana plantations and sugar cane fields and even wild avocado trees. This is telling us that we are heading into the tropics.

Passed uneventfully through Woolgoolga and stopped for a beer in the riverside (Clarence River) town of Grafton. It was our first steamingly hot day. 37 degrees and very sticky and humid. Loads of people were swimming in the river which was nice… wouldn’t get that at home!

Passed also uneventfully through Ballina… oh except it had a big prawn! why? no idea, but Auzzies seem to love their big things… at least we took a picture of this one! Daft hey?

Stopped off at Lennox head – in the top 10 of the worlds best surfing beaches. Yet again, stunning. Not inspired to stay we headed to trendy, hippy, surferville Byron Bay.

This we liked. (well I did ) Small streets with loads of fab shops and cafe’s. Another gorgeous beach. It was ,however, very busy with backpackers and tourists.. so only one night here

Weirdly we were up early so headed into town for a wander and brekky. The hippies were out in force just hanging about of whizzing around on skateboards.

Next stop Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, twin towns on the NSW – Queensland border, and the start of the Gold Coast. There is an hours time difference in Queensland, so obviously New years Eve must be fun here. ANOTHER lovely white sandy beach, but we were not impressed. It was like Ibiza on speed. Start of the high rise mega holiday destination. Yuk. Moved up the coast with haste taking in the sites of this metropolis. Surfers Paradise is the centre of it all. Its crammed with theme parks, clubs, bars, surfers shops….. you name it, its got it. Great for hen/stag doo’s but we didn’t stay long.

The north of the Gold Coast is filled with winding waterways where the wealthy live and keep their yacht at the bottom of the garden.

Enough of the hoards of bronzed holiday makers we once again headed inland and spent the day in Lamington National Park. A lovely drive through Canougra wine valley led us up to the only clearing in the forest – O’Reilleys. This the base for Rainforest trecking. It was very peaceful and beautiful. Another suspended walkway took us up into the canopy and we strolled about taking in the sights and the smells of an ancient rainforest. Here also we spent ages feeding the wild King Parrots and Rosellas that flew onto our hands. Ahh nice. On our way down the mountain we caught our first site of a live Kangaroo!!! Wahoo!!!

Hot and humid. Couldn’t be bothered to move all day

Brisbane… oh sorry… ‘Brissy’ I mean. Had our usual nightmare trying to park in a big city but managed it and wandered about. Pleasant, laid back, city with a nice South Bank to the river with swimming pools, beaches, markets, bars and restaurants.

Not a whole lot to see so headed out again pretty quickly. The power steering decided to break so Andy had a laugh trying to turn the van. Headed North to Caloundra, the start of the Sunshine Coast. Now this is nice. Only a few high rise buildings, it has more of a village feel to it.

A fab day spent at Australia Zoo – Home of Steve Irwin the nutter Crocodile bloke.. “Crikey look at that… WOW” Everything was incredibly well looked after and it was a delight to see. The Croc feeding show was great, we patted Kangaroos and we met Harriet the 174 year old Galapagos Tortoise caught by Charles Darwin in 1835!! She is the oldest documented living animal… may not sound much to you, but it made my day!. Andy liked these cuddly little tikes

Looked around Caloundra and liked it even more. Popped in at this pub!! then headed up the Sunshine Coast to Mooloobra. Had a quick dip, but got out after we took this picture!

Another lovely town with a nice water front, beach and town centre. Up the coast more, and through a dull Alexandra Headland. A nip inland to see the lovely Glass House Mountains (don’t look anything like Glass Houses though) and through amazingly lush fields. Its the fields and the importance of the agriculture around here that has stopped the Sunshine Coast turing into another Gold Coast – THANK GOD!!! Finally stopped in Caloom – the centre of the Coastland. Nice.

Inland again (Called the Hinterland but not sure why) we stopped off at the fantastic little town of Eumundi as it has a famous market. Had a great time mooching around the stalls and ducking under the canopies during the huge torrents of tropical rain that periodically crashed down.

Then to the North end of the Sunshine Coast – Noosa. This is where the more wealthy Auzzie lives. Its lovely. We had a fantastic lunch of Moreton Bay Bugs (Lobster like things) on the Noosa River in a restaurant with a boat in it.

Another wet day… It really is the rainy season (great planning!!) After a morning of Noosa exploring (totally gorgeous place) we got totally fed up with being rained on. We headed back to the van and sulked. Out came the booze, scrabble and Telly…. Andy got so bored that he decided to spill a boiling hot dish of pasta on to his knee. Needless to say when he brushed off the pasta he brushed the skin off his knee too! While I tried to scrape off tomato sauce and pasta from every inch of the van, Andy had his leg under a pouring tap (in the rain) trying to cool off the pain. Boredom was somehow a thing of the past! After a scrabble about I found a burn pad from the first aid box of a nearby restaurant. Amazingly he managed to sleep.

A red, angry and sore looking knee greated us the next morning, but still able to drive we headed North up the Bruce highway. (Wonder where the Sheila highway is??) Through Gympie (nothing to report there except it had a big pineapple!!!) we decided to give Fraser island a miss due to the disgusting weather. Carrying on North passed towns called Aldershot, Buxton and Goodwood, and into Bundaberg. Quite pretty, traditional buildings line the wide streets here. On to Burgera right next too the biggest protected turtle nesting beach in the South pacific!!! Hurrah!

A vile day. Windy, rainy and stormy. read all day. At 8 we went to the turtle place (as they only come up on the beach at night). Luckily it was a beautiful night, windless and warm. You are in groups and get called out depending on how many turtles there are… one group to a turtle. By 9.15 our luck was in, a Loggerhead turtle was coming up on the beach to lay her eggs! We all creep down in total darkness and wait until we are allowed to approach her. She was HUGE!!! and out plopped over 100 eggs. After she has laid a few we were allowed to go to her head (as she won’t be disturbed) and we watched as they took all their measurements. After she filled over her eggs she returned to the sea. An amazing experience. Another one of my life “to do’s” ticked off!

On the move again, and a lovely day – Hurrah! Lots of nothing here… just trees and farmland…. quite dull. It really is amazing how there is just hours of nothing in between each town. Pulled off at Rockhampton – the line of the tropic of Capricorn, and headed to the coast at Emu Park. The coast is so different here as the Barrier Reef 50 km away breaks the surf so the water that reaches mainland is calm, lapping up against small beaches and rocky outcrops. The sea is an incredible blue… shame it is full of life threatening stingers!

We stopped for the night just up the coast in a park with loads of laughing Koookaburras, Mozzy’s and Brits everywhere. Chatted to our English neighbours and went hunting with a torch for wildlife. Found a very tame possum, 3 green tree frogs and a Preying Mantis that landed on my face!

Woke to a very blustery day – Bum. On the Bruce Highway again through a notoriously boring stretch of road. Travelled all day seeing just the odd remote house, a few cars and loads of hot cattle hiding in the shade. We were so bored we resorted to counting the splatted bugs on the windscreen! Reached the town of Mackay, a totally pants town with a dry river.

Andy was up at 6 mainly due to his bladder and so by 10am we were in the mountains and Eurella National Park. Stopped at Finch Hatton Gorge and walked through real wet steamy rainforest to reach the waterfall. There were little lizards everywhere and hundreds of Black Cockatoos screaching overhead. The gorge was stunning and with noone else there it was particularly lovely. We shared the whole place with a big river turtle and pratted about taking photos. Here is me on a rock, and here is Andy.

Carried on up the mountain to Broken River – a tiny mountain top settlement where we saw wild Duckbilled Platypusses (or is that platypi??) playing in the river.

Back down the mountain and through several tiny little towns to the highway. Drove until we reached Airlie beach – the mainland near the Whitsundays. Our mates from a few nights a go were there so we sat and chatted with wine in the drizzle.

Raining again, and oh my god is it hot!!! We thought there was no point booking a Whitsunday sailing trip in this weather so we explored Airlie beach all day in the rain. Its very geered up to the backpacker…. all bars and surf shops.

Had another lazy day today as we are in such a lovely campsite and have our mates to hang round with… and its sunny again Hurrah!

Um…. another lazy day… we like it here…

Boarded a lovely catamaran out to the Whitsunday islands. We both remarked that they looked just like the Thai islands! The water is an incredible blue and the protected islands are just covered with trees. Out of 74 islands in the group only 9 have buildings on them… not bad hey? Unfortunately we shared the boat with a group of very rude, naked Czechs (!) so we pretty much kept ourselves to ourselves.

We arrived at Hatton Island and Blue Pearl Bay. The beach was made of old coral and as we sat in the bath water warm shallows, fish came up and swam around us. I had my Scuba diving lesson and headed off into the coral reef feeling the delight of being able to stay underwater and get so close to the bottom dwelling creatures. We saw a huge turtle drifting by, patted a giant clam and fed the thousands of multi coloured fish that were constantly swimming around us and amongst the coral. A fantastic experience.

I surfaced to find Andy all done up in stinger suit, snorkel and floats… he was in the water!!! crikey!!! (Andy can’t swim to all those who don’t know) We spent the next hour or so snorkelling which was an amazing feat for a non-swimmer… fantastic! On our return the crew were so impressed with Andy they gave him a certificate! aahhh nice…

As the boat moved along we all had a go at boom netting where you hang onto a net while the boat moves through the water… Wasn’t the fun it could have been mainly due to our friends the Czechs…. gggrrrr Sails up we drifted home on the evening breeze…. lovely…

Had our usual morning of sipping tea in the sunshine listening to the birds in the trees…. what a horrible time we are having!

Off North again. Through Bowen with its big mango (this is getting silly) then there was nothing to see except Sugar Cane, Mango trees, fields of cattle and Gum trees. YAWN!! Through Ayr – undescribably dull with this hideous bridge then on to Townsville and the true tropics. Pleasant, sleepy town with a nice beach (had stinger nets) and a hill in the middle that gives lovely panoramic views. Nothing to keep us here so we headed north and stayed the night at a beachside park in Rollingstone. SOMEONE forgot to shut the window at night and so we had a very hot, windless, stifling bug ridden night….

Woke with a headache and a million bites…. groovy. Andy, who almost never gets bitten, was also covered in nasty red bites making his leg with healing wound particularly attractive…

North to the Italian town of Ingham… um not much to say there, then headed inland to Lumholz National Park and the Wallaman Falls (longest falls in Oz) The drive up to the falls was on unsealed slippery dirt tracks. It was a beautiful road though with lush cane as far as the eye could see and spray painted mountains in the distance. As we climbed the mountain the surrounds turned to wet tropical rainforest. The sounds and smells were incredible. We reached the top and the falls… lovely. Started on a walk through the area but I got bitten by HUGE nasty rasping flies…. so we left… I tell you what… the flipping bugs and the deadly goodness knows what all around you here are a real bloody pain in the bum.

Back down the mountain we skidded nicely on the track passing cattle and admiring the green everywhere. The clouds decided to look particularly lovely so a picture was taken. They stayed with us until we reached Tully. Turning to the coast once more we reached Mission beach. This is a nuts place. Its a tiny wee settlement carved into thick rainforest. Our caravan spot was simply cleared forest. Needless to stay we were top to toe in Bug repellent, but the sites and sounds and smells were just lovely.

Hot, sticky, sweaty and totally miffed off with an airless night in a tiny campervan… YUK!!! This tropic stuff is nice as long as you have AIR CON!!! Showered, but 5 minutes later we were as grim as we were before. I know we shouldn’t winge as its still lovely, but gawd, the wet heat sure gets waring.

Had a mooch around the …. hamlet. This is the beach to the left, and here it is to the right… as you can see its a hive of activity! We drove to the forest which apparently is stuffed full of rare Cassowaries. Yet again, its beautiful thick, lush jungle. We parked and left the van. Instantly we were covered (and i don’t joke here)with about a zillion mozzies. BUGGER… (actually I think something worse was said) Smothered with Deet we headed off into the forest. After about a minute we were simply overcome by the sodding things. they were in our hair, on our clothes… eeeauuugh… Sod this we said, and ran back to the van… who cares about Cassowaries anyway! We spent a good 10 minutes killing all the mozzies that followed us! So… back on the highway again….

The scenery now is breathtaking. Its so green and lush (think i might have said that before…) with Cane, Banana Plantations, Mangos and Jungle. At Silkwood, a widdly one horse town we headed in to Mena Creek and Paronella Park. Built in the 30’s it was a pleasure ground set in thick jungle. Now, ravaged by flood and fire the ruins are covered with moss and jungle ferns making it look like something from a fairytale. It was beautiful. There was a castle, entertainment rooms with fountains, a river which reminded us of Vietnam full of huge Perch and river turtles, a bamboo forest, tunnels full of tiny bats, waterfalls, crikey just about everything people would have loved to walk around in its hay day in the 30’s.

Leaving to head North again, we decided to reach Cairns and a fantastic 5 star resort, where weirdly we bumped into our mates again (Steve and Laura from Enfield)….out came the booze…

Exploring Cairns today. Its tiny, no more than a town really. No high rise buildings and the town centre is just a few blocks big. It has a lovely laid back feel, we like it. Obviously its main focus is the marina where all the boats leave for reef tours.

There was a power cut in the night, so with no fan keeping us just off boiling point, and not even the slightest gust of wind we all woke with just the tiniest amount of sleep. We therefore sat drinking tea sweating…. nice. Andy fed his friends as he does every morning

Hung around at the mall, played golf, and basically mooched about today relaxing… nice

Up at 6.30 to a lovely cool morning ..picked up Steve and Laura and headed to the marina to catch a boat for our day on the reef. It took about 2 hours to reach it, and when we arrived it was all below the water making the sea have all sorts of weird blue patches as the reefs created cliffs and caves below.

Straight in for a snorkel we were amazed by the water clarity, the colours of the coral and the hundreds of different types of fish down there, it was gorgeous. We were even graced by the presence of the famous huge male Rass called Wally. He loves divers and comes up for a cuddle and pat and to play in the bubbles. He must have been at least 6ft!!!!

Snorkelling just wasn’t enough, so in we went for a scuba dive. (Andy sunbathed and got first dibs at the lunch) This was so much better then my last dive… there was loads more to see and the reef was so much more alive than the Whitsundays. We fed a turtle, patted Giant Clams, held sea cucumbers, saw a Shark and various Nemo’s swimming in their stinging coral… and tonnes of other stuff…. it was magic!! The three of us came up grinning madly.

Moving onto another reef and more snorkelling, we saw this strange creature….. !!! tee hee.

Back to base and knackered. One last piccy on the underwater camera (great invention) then out came a farewell box of wine as Steve and Laura venture off to Alice Springs tomorrow.. 🙁