Coffs Harbour to Newcastle

Having added around 250km to the odometer we arrived in Coffs Harbour and soon found ourselves face to face with a big banana. It wasn’t a real banana but in fact a massive banana statue in the entrance to one of Coffs Harbour’s main attractions actually called Big Banana. My hopes for Coffs Harbour were now pretty low given that this was one of its premier sights as the place looked like it peaked somewhere around the 1970s and hadn’t been updated since. We vaguely entertained ourselves with a walk round the sweet factory before posing with the banana centrepiece for a couple of photos. Consequently we then made a quick exit in case people actually thought this meant we had been impressed by the place. The highlight, at least for Linz, was the information rack offering a wide selection of leaflets about activities we were realistically never going to do.

No caption necessary

Having had lunch down by the sea we headed over to the Pet Porpoise Pool which would give us our first opportunity to sea dolphins as well as sea lions and other sea based animals. Unfortunately we were too late to get a good days experience there so planned to return the next day. That evening’s accommodation came courtesy of BP as we stayed round the side of their petrol station about an hour’s drive south of town. Rather than entertain ourselves by the usual methods of the laptop and my iPod, we spent a few dollars on Pictureka which is a card based picture game which supplied a surprisingly large amount of fun considering just how basic it is.

Our free nights accomodation

The next day we enjoyed another lie in as we had opted for the 1pm tour, rather than the 10am tour, at the Pet Porpoise Pool. We had heard you get the chance to play with the dolphins if you arrive early so we in fact arrived around midday and made straight for the dolphin pools. The place was strangely quiet so it took us a bit of time to work out what was going on but eventually we did and were allowed to play rugby with a couple of dolphins called Zippy and Bucky. At least we were allowed to throw a rugby ball for them to catch following the rare occasions when one of them would actually bring it back to us.

Playing with either Bucky or Zippy as we had no idea which was which

Before the dolphin show began at 1pm there was a chance for a bit more interaction with them as well as a sea lion called Ellie. To begin with everyone would line up before leaning of the edge of the dolphin pool at which point Bucky or Zippy would appear to give you a quick peck on the cheek as a photo was taken. After this we got the same treatment from Ellie the sea lion except it was more of a wet slobbery kiss anywhere on the side of the face.

Getting some dolphin loving

The show itself was pretty good as the dolphins would impress the crowds with various classic moves including waving, flipping and general splashing but they also had a small game of rugby which was rather fun to watch. I was left rather disappointed by one aspect though as they clearly only intended to tease the audience with a hoop positioned particularly high over the middle of the pool rather than actually jump through it. How hard can it be? Every so often the dolphins would have a break as various other sea lions came out to perform tricks ranging from a one handed handstand to a demonstration of how to correctly deal with litter.

Standard dolphin action

Is there a more classic sealion trick?

After the show we were allowed to feed the fish which doesn’t sound particularly interesting but we were feeding them other fish part which, other than coming across a little cannibalistic, suggested to us that they must have been pretty big fish. We had hung around the dolphin pool to get a little extra porpoise entertainment so missed all the instructions but then we spared no time picking up some fish innards with our tongs and thrust them into the water. A massive fish appeared so quickly to dispatch my offering that I recoiled bloody quickly and may have even let out a little squeal. At least this fish was a little more intimidating than the puffer fish we caught in Hervey Bay. Following the fish we quickly fed the Blue Penguins, which meant Linz had to touch a “slimy” fish which she wasn’t best pleased about, before heading back to the van. On our way out we opted to buy our dolphin and sea lion smooching photos.

Scared by another fish

Before leaving Coffs Harbour we pulled into the supermarket and picked up the necessities for dinner including some rather tasty looking options from the butchers. I went for a large chicken spring roll, as I had been missing them since leaving Asia, and Linz chose a chicken and cheese option. We annoyingly had to shell out on power than evening but even more irritatingly our butcher meals were horrific as it appeared they had hidden the most disgusting parts of a chicken under my rice paper and Linz’s breadcrumbs.

The next morning we continued south past our free night’s accommodation at the BP garage and onto Port Macquarie. There was clearly only one reason for coming here: koalas. Our first stop was at the town’s koala hospital where sick and injured koalas are brought from all over the region and healed up. The majority of injuries are caused by bush fires although many are due to cars and dogs. The koalas are all kept in fantastic pens as each one is built around natural trees allowing them to climb very high as if they were in the wild but not get too far.

A rare sighting on an awake koala

Each pen came with a story regarding the koala’s condition and history but the majority of them seemed to be in good health. Strangely an uninjured wild koala had decided to come and visit the injured ones and placed himself in a non-enclosed tree just by the pens. The staff were clearly used to this as they had a “koala in tree” sign prepared and placed against the visitor’s tree. Needless to say almost every koala we saw was asleep but the hospital was an excellent place to visit and was even free to enter.

Outside the Billabong Wildlife Park

In case we hadn’t got enough koala action we headed next to the Billabong Wildlife Park via a stop off at Kennedy Street for a quick photo-op. The park was slightly larger than the one we visited in Port Douglas as it was more of a small zoo including all the Australian classics such as kangaroos, koalas, emus, wombats and one insanely large crocodile. Although being able to pat a koala the highlight here was easily the kangaroo enclosure as we got our first sighting of a baby kangaroo. At first it just appeared to be a heavily pregnant mother but then the joey appeared by poking his head out much to the enjoyment of the few of us that were there. It was rather amusing to begin with as the joey was clearly new to the process of sticking his head out as a foot appeared first before he eventually worked it out.

Mother and joey

We hadn’t planned to stay the night in Port Macquarie so headed out of town following our animal packed morning, and for the first few miles Linz remained desperate to see a wild koala in the trees we passed. South of Port Macquarie our next stop would be the town of Newcastle which of course the Australian’s deem relevant to shorten. Having already visited “Rocky” and “Brizzy” we were now at “Newie” where it was early evening and our only plan for the evening was to see the final instalment of the Transformers trilogy. For some reason no one has let Michael Bay know that just making a sequel bigger than the film before isn’t enough to make it any better. However, I never get tired of the special effects and still enjoyed it despite having to put up with expected levels of ridiculousness associated with everything from characters to plotlines in any Transformers film.

The night’s accommodation was found in a free rest area outside town and having woken up the following morning we headed into Newcastle once again. We parked down by the sea as it was fairly central and next door to our first sight of the day: Fort Scratchley. The fort was used as a defence post for the town due to its rather impressive selection of guns overlooking the sea. In 1942 a Japanese submarine surfaced in the port and rained shells on the town but it took just four shots from Fort Scratchely to convince the sub to flee despite never actually hitting it. It appears even in Australia that Newcastle can offer a reasonable defence but fail when it comes to hitting the target.

Fort Scratchley's cannons with Newcastle in the background

Nowadays you are just able to walk round the fort for free while enjoying good views of the town in one direction and the sea in the other. On arrival we had to endure a rather awkward conversation with a member of staff dressed in old fashioned army gear who clearly hadn’t seen anyone else visit the fort that day. We turned down the offer of a tour as it would have made our free activity considerably more expensive.

Looking down from the fort over Nobby's Head

Following the fort we walked along the sea front passed some very brave surfers, given the winter temperature, and up the hill to the war memorial at the top. The memorial, which is a large white obelisk, offers more good views of the city but didn't go down well with Linz who was unpleased with the town’s necessity to put it on such a hill. We headed back into town from here stopping at a rather nice cathedral which offered us our third consecutive free attraction. The church was rather enjoyable to walk round and we were pleased to have added it to our walking tour and in fact it proved to be considerably better than our next stop. The let down was the pedestrianised area called the Hunter Street Mall which was a collection of tame shops, scrubby people and general mess so we soon passed on to the waterfront.



The memorial (above) and the church (below)



We had planned to climb the Queen’s Wharf Tower but for an unknown reason it was closed so we would miss out on the free views of the city from this vantage point. Instead we completed our loop of the town by walking along the waterfront back to the van having reasonably enjoyed Newcastle especially given the lack of money we had spent. We set off from the car park in search of our next destination: Sydney.

As would be expected Sydney was always going to be an expensive place to visit so staying somewhere relatively inexpensive was vital and in addition, following our experience in Brisbane, we decided not to take our van into the city itself so needed to be in commuting distance. Consequently we had to find a campsite in the suburbs where we could find a bus or train station nearby and we found one in an area called Dural. I have no idea how we found Dural as we had no sufficient map and a navigation policy based purely on guesswork. Whether it was the only road or due to our lack of a decent map we ended up on an incredibly steep and winding road in the van during the darkness of night. It didn't take long for a queue including half the population of Dural to form behind me, but eventually we reached the campsite. It was an extremely nervous journey and I won’t hide the fact that cooking dinner was a million miles from my plans for the evening so we headed straight back out to the McDonalds over the road.

Campervan life

Brisbane to Byron Bay

Brisbane would be our first high rise city since Singapore but more significantly the first city we would have to infiltrate in a car. We arrived in the city centre soon after 9am having found it pretty easy to navigate the ring roads and other highways around the city, but then it became considerably harder. Our plan was to find somewhere to leave the van all day while we explored the city before driving out at night as our research suggested there was lots of street parking available and many car parks. Unfortunately Brisbane doesn’t cater for the 2.7 metre car so we found ourselves getting repeatedly blocked by height restrictions and never managed to find any street parking available for longer than an hour. Eventually though we stumbled across an outdoor car park fifteen minutes walk from the centre which we could use for four hours. We accepted it seeing as we had been driving around Brisbane’s grid of one way streets for about an hour. Despite struggling so much we both stayed surprisingly upbeat which is odd as driving into foreign cities has always seemed like such a stressful experience, or at least it has been when in the backseat of the family hire car.

Our first stop was the information office to pick up more leaflets than we could carry even though we had already formulated a plan for the day and had no more time for extra sights. Brisbane is a very easy town to get around on foot as it is almost all a grid with all its central roads being named after British kings and queens with the male names in one direction and the female names cutting across them. We first found the city sightseeing bus which would take us on a loop of the town which we assumed would have a pre-recorded commentary. It turned out that the information would actually be relayed to us by the most boring and slow talking man we had come across so far. In Australia it seems that everyone is funny and is always looking to crack a joke but that was far from the case with this man. This was part of the reason we opted to get out at Mount Coot-tha as by the time we had looked around the next bus would have come along and hopefully without such a dreary conductor. Mount Coot-tha is a rather large hill surprisingly close to the city centre offering pretty good views but it will live long in my memory as we visited its cafe where I had the world’s largest lamington. These are a chocolate covered sponge with coconut sprinkles which I was particularly fond of when we lived here all those years ago.

Linz posing with Brisbane

Our plan worked as the remainder of the trip was voiced by a considerably chirpier man, called Rowan, who often threw in a joke, but frankly anyone with the slightest hint of a personality would have been an improvement. One of the most memorable points of the tour came as we passed through a suburb not far from the centre where our driver pointed out that the floods of earlier in the year rose higher than the roof of the bus we were travelling in. At another point we passed a hotel whose ground floor remained unusable due to flood damage. Other sights we passed included the Gabba, the city’s London Eye style ferris wheel and numerous particularly nice looking colonial buildings.



Brisbane centre from south of the river

 

The bus also passed quite close to our van so we got off, leaving Rowan with just himself to talk to as everyone else had already left, and walked through a rather pleasant garden back to the car park. We weren’t sure whether paying for another four hours was allowed so we drove back into the city’s streets in search of a new spot. As we walked round town we had marked a couple of possibilities on the map so headed straight for these. Once again they rejected us, however a friendly guard gave us directions to another car park which accepted our taller van so we set off hoping to put an end to our parking troubles. The directions were perfect but he failed to mention how much it would cost us. Knowing full well that they were the only car park without a height restriction in the centre of town they had jacked their prices to extortionate levels. We only needed to park for a few hours so I almost laughed in the man’s face when he asked me for $67. We ignored his smug “good luck” when we told him we’d look for somewhere else and left. Within minutes, on our return to the original car park, Linz spotted a tiny street where we managed to park for the rest of the day for around $5. I could have quite happily returned to the $67 dollar man and let him know all about it, or at least stand outside his entrance and let everyone else know. That’s it for car park related stories in this blog I promise.

We headed for King George Square which houses the Town Hall but were disappointed to find it was closed for renovations and that we wouldn’t be able to go up its observation tower. However, in the square the locals were enjoying its winter festival which completely confused us both as it was set out just like you would find in England at Christmas with various stall selling hot drinks and a temporary ice rink. All this in the middle of June! Having enjoyed a freshly cooked churro we journeyed towards the river which is a major part of Brisbane as it was the reason a settlement was first built here.

I didnt do very well for photos in Brisbane and Linz's camera was out of battery, so here is a
photo of a street. It was either this, me waiting for the bus or a photo of the bus itself.

On the other side of the river we found ourselves a science museum, but given that we must have seen the majority of the world’s science museums so far on this trip and have written about them all in various blogs, I’ll leave it at that. Following this stop we wandered along the river in the rather nice Southbank area passed the city’s lagoon and various good looking restaurants we contemplated eating in. They all seemed rather expensive so we rejected them and put off dinner for now and continued to walk through Southbank to the pedestrianised bridge, which lead back into the centre. On the way we stopped at one of a few purpose built pods sticking out the side of the bridge to allow people to look out onto the skyline where we watched the sunset.

I realise you've already seen enough photos of the skyline, but i'm getting
pretty desperate now

Back on the town side of the river we planned to finish our loop of the city by wandering through the free botanical gardens but found the university blocked our path. We weren’t overly bothered by the prospects of a botanical garden in the middle of winter so just continued on towards the casino which marked the end of our walking tour of Brisbane. Other than being asked to remove my hat, to disastrous hair based consequences, we made it in with ease but found ourselves walking back passed the bouncers within minutes as again we failed to find virtual blackjack.

Wow I took some boring photos. This was the casino with a thoroughly uninteresting
junction infront

We then found ourselves a relatively cheap dinner at the Down Under Bar and Grill. When I was younger Dad used to order things like octopus purely to entertain me and James, and I think this has had an effect on me as I found myself ordering the “Skippy Burger” for entertainment purposes. Kangaroo turns out to be a red meat which is pretty tasty although not ideal in a burger as it results in a rather soggy bun.

As so much of Brisbane is based around the river we ended the night by taking a ride on the CityCat used by commuters and tourists as a means to get around quickly. It was pretty obvious we were tourists as all the locals dived inside given the outside temperature but we opted to stay where we could see the city. It was considerably colder than we anticipated so we didn't go as far along the river as we had planned and got off in the rather expensive Riverside area.

Following this we returned to our bargain car parking space and found getting out of town was a little harder than getting in, but at least roads in Australia seem to get considerably quieter at night. We returned to our free rest area ninety kilometres north of Brisbane that evening, as there were no other free options anywhere near, and parked up in between two trees. We were unaware at this point that we were playing with death.

We woke up the next morning to find the two trees we had parked underneath were now just one tree as in the middle of the night one had fallen down, luckily away from our van. If it had fallen the other direction we could have been in serious trouble. As it turns out we were just left seriously confused as we still hadn’t really woken up when we saw it and somehow had both slept through it crashing down.

This is how close the tree came. The car on the left had parked up after it came down

One of the sights we had decided to leave until our second day in Brisbane was a tour of the Castlemaine XXXX brewery but having left our booking of it too late we found ourselves missing out on our second brewery of our travels. Consequently we decided not to venture into Brisbane again and instead could enjoy a scenic drive along the Steve Irwin Way (Highway 6) through the Glasshouse Mountains. On the way we passed the largest go-kart track in Australia and Linz let me enjoy a quick blast round the track before returning to the van to continue south beyond Brisbane.

Having been a faithful friend on our trip so far The Bruce was now a thing of the past as Highway 1 became the Pacific Highway as we crossed into our second state: New South Wales. Single lane roads cutting through scenic views and sugar cane fields were replaced by two and three lane motorways, with considerably more traffic lights, ploughing through endless suburbs and industrial estates. This was the first time I found myself not enjoying the driving as we found ourselves in numerous traffic jams without even a nice view. In order to get away from the motorway we found a Tourist Drive which would take us to our next destination in Surfer’s Paradise along the Gold Coast. The Tourist Drive turned out to be worse than the motorway as traffic lights became unbearable and I started to seriously worry that the southern, and more populated, states would just be endless suburbs.

Eventually we ended up in Surfer’s Paradise which is undeniably the worst place we had come across in Australia. From the name you could guess that it’s famous for its beach, however short sighted planning from the town means that its outdated skyscrapers now block sunlight from the beach in the afternoon. This makes it far from an ideal beach and anything but a paradise. We only chose to stop here as two free nights had left us out of power meaning cameras and the laptop were in desperate need of charging. Having rejected a couple for being too expensive we checked into Nobby’s Beach holiday park in the suburb of Miami. After a takeaway pizza dinner we each Skyped home and called it a night.

We were eager to get out of Surfer’s Paradise as soon as possible but had spotted a rather entertaining looking mini golf as a result of Linz’s assault on the campsite’s brochure rack in reception. They had three courses of 18 holes and we played two and a half of them having given up on one as we got stuck behind a children’s party. Linz would probably claim she was going to go on and win that round but overall I think I came out on top. Further redemption for being beaten at the football video game all those months ago.

A roulette wheel dictated that I played this hole with my feet. It went terribly

Shortly after leaving Surfer’s Paradise the roads went back to single lanes and we could see more than just other cars and once again I could enjoy driving. By this stage I had all but taken over the driving as Linz was never particularly happy with the big van but more importantly was much better at being our in car DJ. Our music options differ quite drastically as Linz’s iPod offers a range of recent hits combined with boy band classics where as my iPod can have anything from a song which has just been released to one which charted in the 50s. It’s not out the question to have Green Day followed up by a bit of barbershop.

In the afternoon we arrived at the much anticipated Byron Bay which had always been the place where we were going to go surfing. Neither of us can surf but we were right in the heart of surfer country here so we had decided before even leaving England that here was the place to do it. However, we had arrived too late so would have to put it off until the next day and instead enjoyed a walk around the small town before going to sit on the beach to develop a plan. Byron Bay is a lovely small town with couple of streets of wooden beamed shops leading up to the beach and plenty of eating options. After the beach we went in search of Black Dog surfing where we met George, the black dog, who we played with while we booked our lessons for the next day.

Having got 25% off our lessons due to it being winter, we wandered back to the car stopping at a couple of shops on the way to where we both bought some much needed jumpers. Seeing that it was starting to get colder during the days it’s likely most photos from now one will involve these jumpers. After this we headed up to the towns lighthouse which offered views of both the main beach as well as Tallow Beach where we could spot a few surfers braving the evening temperatures. The lighthouse was particularly nice as it had been excellently maintained and was even being used as the background to a couple’s wedding photos as we arrived. A very long way out to sea we could see a tiny dot we believed to be a whale as many sightings had already been made that day, however having paid $2 to use a telescope we could barely make anything out given the distance.

Hundreds of people a day must take this photo

We hoped to find a free rest area again to save on campsite fees but the ones mentioned in our bible of cheap and free camping areas only suggested highway lay-bys so we had to settle for another night in a paid site. At least we managed to get stand-by rates given that we arrived minutes before they closed for the evening.

Im not much of a beach person. As you can see I'm facing away from the sea because
the sun was annoying me

The next day we spent the morning on the main beach before heading back to the Black Dog for our surfing lessons. Our guide, called Dom, was a rare thing: a Swiss surfer. Not only was he a surfer from a country with no sea border which is mainly covered in snow but he used to be an investment advisor. How far can you get from an Australian surfer dude? He took us, and the other four in the group, round to Tallow Beach which was fairly unpopulated which is ideal given the likely hood of us falling over quite regularly. After a brief tutorial on land, during which he commented I was trying to leap up to quickly, I was surprised at how quickly we were in the water and attempting to stand up on our boards. We would take it in turns to lie on the board while he would push us off as a wave came up from behind us. Of course on my first attempt I tried to leap up too quickly and ended up plummeting head first off the board. However, I was quite pleased with myself as each time I tried and failed to stand up I made sure to correct each aspect that was going wrong one at a time, and was able to stand up pretty soon after my initial failure. In time I even managed to work out how to turn and was very reluctant to come back to land at the end of the lesson after we had been given some free time to try and surf away from the instructor. Linz had a slightly different experience resulting in her punching her surf board a few times. At the end of the lesson we bought a CD full of photos that had been taken of us while we were being taught, however given the lack of CD drive on our laptop we haven’t been able to have a good look through the inevitably embarrassing photos yet.

Following dinner at the delightfully named Hog’s Breath Cafe we left Bryon Bay in search of another free nights stay. The first few suggestions from the book were once again lay-bys with very little light and a bit of a creepy atmosphere so we continued on. By now we were starting to wonder whether free camping was just a Queensland thing and that we may now find it much harder, but our next stop was successful. A local museum offers the use of its car park overnight and even their toilets , and given that there were already a few other campervans parked up for the night we knew it was fine to stay there. So after a shaky start to New South Wales we had found an excellent little town in Byron Bay and had once again found a place to dodge paying anyone money to sleep, so things were looking good again.

Rockhampton to Noosa

Having left our free camp ground in St Lawrence we planned to add a fairly large batch of kilometres to the counter and get as far south as Rockhampton that day before pressing onto Hervey Bay the day after. The drive was fairly standard as we continued to pass through sugar cane fields while all the time trying to identify what had fallen over in the back after each crashing sound. Driving through rural Australia has been great as even Highway 1 (or “The Bruce”) is just a single lane populated by hardly any cars. Every so often we would pass through small villages with just a few buildings, however even these seem to be within McDonalds reach as we will often know a small town is approaching by signs advertising the available fast food chains when we’re still ten kilometres out. During this particular journey we established just how damaging our air conditioning was to our petrol usage as we started achieving an extra 100 kilometres per tank after we switched it off.

We had initially planned to stop in Rockhampton for a decent length of time but having researched a bit more couldn’t see anything they offered other than a good steak as this is what Rocky is famous for. Consequently we planned our trip so we would hit the town around dinner and treat ourselves to a good meal. Having found our steakhouse of choice we were surprisingly a little disappointed at our steaks and left town assuming that we hadn’t missed anything there as they couldn’t even do their speciality that well.

Not pleased with the steak

Shortly after leaving Rocky’s suburbia we pulled off the Bruce into another reserve which allowed campervans to stay the night for free. Having got more comfortable with the van we were now confident it, and our electronics, could last two days without power before we needed to shell out on a real campsite. You would think any spot in a field would be fine but we ended up doing a couple of laps, all the time shining our headlights into the other vans windows, before settling on a spot under a tree. The nights are incredibly cold but if you have parked in the sun the next morning the van is like a sauna.

Despite having not done very much over the last two days, we once again had a lie in and didn't move on until around midday. By the time we had arrived in Hervey Bay, late that evening, we felt we had covered a significant chunk of the east coast and were on schedule to reach Melbourne on time for our flight to New Zealand on the 13^th July.

In a similar way to Airlie Beach being the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, Hervey Bay had Fraser Island. We had arrived in town fairly late but still with enough time to check the prices at a few campsites to make sure we were getting the best rate. Our first stop, at The Palms, ended up being our last as we fell for the friendly owners promise that “You can drive all night but you won’t find anywhere cheaper”. The camp was particularly nice as their kitchen even had a rather substantial plasma TV which allowed us to watch the opening of Batman Forever, or at least whichever one has Arnold Swarchenegger embarrassing himself as some kind of evil ice cream man, while we washed up. We were enjoying life in the van but if you have the opportunity to wash up in more space, or more significantly, with hot water then we would often take it. For some reason Linz was later overcome with the urge to make Rice Crispy cakes so, following a trip to the supermarket, she did. The resulting cakes lasted a good few days.

The next day we wandered up and down the main street comparing prices for Fraser Island tours. There’s nothing on the island and only four wheel drive cars can be used so we would have no option but to join a tour. They sounded brilliant but, given that the only good way of doing the island involved a few days there, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to spend so much money on one. Instead we hired a fishing rod and went to the beach. Much cheaper.

Fishing for rocks

We found a spot on the beach based on a recommendation by the man in the tackle shop, hooked up a worm and continued to sit in our garden chairs (included with the van hire) for about two hours. During our time on the beach we got bantered by a local for not wearing appropriate fishing clothes, caught a rock and for some reason continued to fish despite the tide being so low I had to cast our line twenty metres just to get to water deeper than a few inches. Eventually we decided to move spots and headed to the towns jetty which the tackle shop owner had warned us about due to its popularity with kids. We should have thought more about his warning as kids can have a fairly short attention span and may get bored if they aren’t catching anything, so maybe they’re here so often because they actually catch things. Indeed we had successfully caught our first fish in no time. Rather than cast my worm in a traditional manner I had spotted some fish just below us that the locals seemed to be missing, so I just dropped it in an wiggled it until I got one. It wasn’t until it had dropped itself onto the jetty that I realised I didn't really know what to do with it now I had caught it, so just watched it for a while not knowing what the fish was. Eventually a local pointed out it was a Toadfish, which is highly poisonous, before explaining to us the ridiculous laws regarding it: you are not allowed to catch one, but if you do you aren’t allowed to throw it back. I was starting to realise why the kids had been ignoring these fish.

Before...

...after

We decided to best plan was to flick it into our bucket using a knife at which point we realised that what Australians call a Toadfish we call a Pufferfish. Consequently as soon as I jabbed it, it puffed up to twice its original size while making a noise I genuinely thought would precede it exploding. I have never fled from such a feeble creature in my life. We could not have looked more amateur if we tried. Eventually I managed to wrestle the beast into the bucket and stuffed the law by hulling it back into the sea where it swam off. Following this escapade we caught a non-poisonous Whiting meaning the day was not a complete failure. However, it took me ages getting it off the hook and even longer considering how long I stood holding it on the line before someone would tell me if it was also poisonous. Our whole fishing experience had been a lot of fun and, although probably not as good as a few days on Fraser Island, had made our stop in Hervey Bay well worth it and we had saved some vital money considering how expensive Australia was turning out to be.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

That evening was spent at the YHA (Youth Hostel Australia), which offered campervan sites for considerably cheaper than the Palms from the night before. So much for not finding anywhere cheaper. Having got some laundry done and opting for a Subway dinner we slept what would be our final night of freezing temperatures in the van. The next morning we headed out of Hervey Bay having first stopped at the supermarket to pick us a fake fur blanket we could use in addition to our sleeping bags at night. At around £15 this would be one of the greatest purchases of our travels.

We had left early as we planned to stop at Rainbow Beach for the day while leaving enough time to find a free campsite in the evening further south. The journey to Rainbow Beach was slightly unusual as we appeared to have left behind the long straight roads we had got used to in exchange for some twisting hill roads. I had been enjoying driving round Australia a lot by now and these roads were no exception.

We arrived in Rainbow Beach and found a car park just off the beach where we could enjoy lunch. We pulled up directly being a group of elderly people enjoying a pack lunch on a bench and, although not being this type of person, I had to really resist the urge to slam on the horn. Linz saw me eyeing up the horn and told me off before I could really contemplate it.

After a fairly typical lunch of a ham, cheese and cucumber sandwich for Linz and a peanut butter one for me, we set off to find the information centre to get some advice on how to see the famous rainbow coloured cliffs that give the town its name. However, rather than walk the rather long distance to the cliffs we opted to visit the Carlo Sandblow where the cliffs we visible from.

Looking out from the rocky edge of the sandblow

The Sandblow is a 120 metre high sand dune with a rocky cliff edge up against the sea which took us completely by surprise. We weren’t expecting much, assuming the rainbow cliffs to be the highlight, but the sand blow was amazing. At one end the soft sand leads right up to the cliff edge offering a great view of the beach while offering another staggering view of the town, neighbouring rainforest and Tin Can Bay in the distance at the other end.

The dune running towards the sea

A standard arm's length photo from the rainforest side of the sandblow with Rainbow Beach
town in the background

Having come down from the dune we called our time on Rainbow Beach and continued south towards our evening’s free site in the amusingly named town of Gympie. After an hour’s driving we arrived at Six Mile Creek rest area and pulled up alongside local team’s Aussie rules pitch just in time for a pre-arranged birthday Skype party. For Mum’s birthday we were planning to sort out a three way chat between me in Australia, James in China and Mum and Dad at home but poor signal in the rest area meant we had to lockdown everything in the van and relocate to Gympie’s McDonalds to use their free wifi. Of course this meant having to buy something but at least the Skype party went ahead.

Oh look, another cloudless day

Our next stop was in a town called Noosa which we had initially planned to do in just the one day like Rainbow Beach but further Lonely Planet reading encouraged us to give it a second day. So, following another lie in, we headed out from our rest area and soon enough reached Noosa which we both immediately fell for. A combination of expensive waterfront houses, lush greenery and almost constant bridges running between the many small islands created by the river made for a perfect little town. Add an information site with a record amount of free leaflets and you create a town that Linz never wanted to leave. I’d have gladly hung around too.

Looking down on Noosa

Our first stop in town was its viewpoint high on a hill just south of the centre where Noosa somehow seemed even more green and pleasant than it had on the roads. Having come down we ventured towards Sunshine Beach on the other side of Noosa Head to where we could watch surfers trying their luck on the larger waves this side of the cape. Amazingly we found sand here even squeakier than that of Whitehaven Beach.

Our entertainment for the afternoon

Following the beach we headed to Noosa Heads National park where we went for walk around the small cape while all the time looking up in search of wild koalas. We didn't come across any of the koalas but find an area of rock pools and a small bay to explore in the setting sun. Further round from the bay we reached Dolphin Point where we could sit and watch a brave fisherman who had scaled a rocky outcrop to increase his chances of catching anything. If I had have been any nearer I’d have passed on some of my fishing experience but he was out of earshot. His loss.

Tea Tree Bay in Noosa Heads National Park

Noosa offered good opportunities for photos looking out to sea

Having watched the waves crash into the rock for half an hour we headed back to the car having very much enjoyed our walk. We could have walked for longer but had to find a campsite before 6pm. The camp we found was adequate although, not for the first time on journey, it was one which tried to impose a ridiculously short time limit on the showers and it appeared to be half run with children. For some reason we couldn’t get signal on our mobile internet so I had to settle for the camps coin operated computer in the kitchen area. It wouldn’t except my coins so I had to repeatedly try and insert them which seemed to irritate a colony of massive ants dwelling within as they all came rushing out at me. I opted against using the machine or indeed anything from the kitchen it was setup in.

Not far out of Noosa is a town called Edmundi which offers one of Queensland’s best markets each Wednesday so we started the day early to get there around 9am. The market seems to never end as we just kept coming across other areas selling even more things be it grown or made by locals. Other than breakfast the only thing I bought was a bottle of local olive oil which, with a good crusty loaf, would give be lunches for a while and Linz got herself a ceramic gecko having enjoyed seeing them so much throughout Asia.

One of many areas filled with stalls at Edmundi markets

The remainder of the day we spent lounging on Noosa’s main beach which for Linz involves still trying to lose her strap lines and me committing to good afternoon of Football Manager. However, before leaving town we went for a quick wander round the towns shops so I could pick up a souvenir shot glass and we could take a sneaky look at house prices having given ourselves an ambitious budget.

With a heavy heart we left Noosa, easily our favourite Australian town so far, and continued south to a rest area about 90 kilometres north of Brisbane which was as close as we could get for free to Queensland’s capital city and our first high rise. The rest area we shared with a couple of other vans was a small area of grass shaded by trees with a couple of toilets made available by the council. Later in the evening desperation forced me to undertake a trip to the toilets to find a wooden hut with no lights but at least a decent looking toilet. However, having lifted the lid my torch light accidentally strayed onto the mountain that had been created following months, or even years, of previous uses visible down the hole that was directly below the toilet. Following my report Linz opted to wait until Brisbane.

Townsville to Airlie Beach

We left Mission Beach and returned to the Bruce to make the journey south to Townsville. This was the largest town we had come across so far and as we drove in we had to first pass through a rather substantial suburbia before finding ourselves in the centre. Our initial plan was to have a wander around and find the information centre to get an idea of what to do here but soon found this was harder than we had planned. It seems Townsville doesn’t do Saturdays. Every shop we found was closed and there was barely anyone on the streets but at least we could park for free. Eventually we found a tourist office that was open where Linz could indulge herself in her developing addiction to pick up every leaflet available. This made it fairly obvious that we didn't have any plans and a friendly worker soon filled us in on everything that was going on in town and we left, with a carrier bag full of brochures, maps and leaflets, with a good plan for our time here.

Looking out from Townsville beach over to Magnetic Island

Each year, on the Queen’s birthday, Australia celebrates the day Captain Cook first set foot on the country and part of the celebrations include a re-enactment of the landing using a replica of his ship called the Endeavour in the northern town of Cooktown. The ship had temporarily been docked in Townsville on its way north so we planned to have a look round before calling it a day. Unfortunately we were a bit late in the day and a two hour queue meant we’d never get anywhere near the ship in time for closing. We agreed to come back tomorrow and instead headed to Woolworths which in Australia is a supermarket but more significantly not closed down.

Our campsite for the evening was a few kilometres from the centre of town which we chose on the basis that we had a 10% discount their range of campsites up and down the country. Unfortunately 10% off an incredibly expensive place doesn’t mean much especially when you consider we didn't even want a site with electricity. There was little to differentiate this park from previous ones we had stayed in so we assumed that proximity to the centre of town was how the owners justified the $40 charge. Later on we ventured back into town to watch The Hangover 2 at the cinema. Except for a vastly inaccurate depiction of Bangkok it was just as good as the original and a great way to end the day.

The following morning we returned to the empty street from the day before as on a Sunday it becomes one of the towns more popular markets. The highlight had to be a blueberry muffin I picked up from a fake Starbucks as the market stalls themselves weren’t so great, but it was nice to see other people in town. We had got up early to visit the market as we planned  to hit the Endeavour for opening time and avoid the masses. Unfortunately we were slightly late and unbelievably the same two hour queue had managed to form. We should have camped in the queue overnight. This time we had to abandon our ship plans and instead move down the road to Reef HQ aquarium.

Finding Nemo...

Despite tours to the Great Barrier Reef being offered from every town we had stopped in so far we were biding our time waiting for the right time, and price, to go so for now had to settle for the aquarium. The exhibits were good but the highlight, and our main reason for going, was the turtle hospital they have which housed around a dozen injured and recovering turtle round the back of the main building. Ever since Cairns we have seen examples of Australia cashing in on Finding Nemo and the clown fish’s new found fame, and Reef HQ was no exception given that these orange and white fish were given their own little tank right by the kid’s area.

 

A recovering turtle and me

Next door was the Museum of Tropical Queensland which featured a few different exhibits and we chose to start with the one regarding the Pandora. This was a ship, sent by the British Empire, which crashed on the Great Barrier Reef while trying to reclaim the mutinous Bounty which had fled to Australia. It was fairly interesting although nothing too extraordinary and we moved onto the next area of the museum keen to make the most of the place. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given our tendency to veer towards science museums, we headed to Mind Zone which was more of an area to please the easily entertained by including a bed of nails and the Flatulator. Following this we had a quick walk through the area exhibiting the many different species Queensland has to offer which offered mild thrills but mainly due to Linz having to learn more about Australia’s deadly spider population.

Linz scoring big points on the Flatulator

 It was getting late in the day by now so we headed to Castle Hill which offered a great view of the town as the sun was setting. The steep and winding road up to the summit is a popular jogging track for locals as we must have passed over a hundred of them on our way. I felt like cheering some of the slower ones on but decided instead to revel in my ease of reaching the top. The views were excellent of both the town and Magnetic Island just out to sea and we were pleased to get there at the time of day that we did. At the top we also saw not only a drinking fountain for joggers but also one a few inches off the ground for the surprisingly large number of dogs who accompanied them.

Townsville from above with Magnetic Island in the background

We coasted back down the hill, successfully avoiding the panting masses, and finished the day on the Strand which runs along the seafront up to the town’s manmade lagoon. We sat to watch the sunset and were even joined by a healthy sea turtle who bobbed his head out the water, just beyond the shore, every so often.



Fishermen were getting dangerously close to where the turtle had just surfaced but I suppose
the turtle hospital was just round the corner

We were both amazed at how much we enjoyed Townsville seeing as we had barely heard anything about it as it is overshadowed by the territory’s capital of Brisbane further south. All the sights we paid to see were fine but the highlight was the town itself as the Strand was a particularly pleasant walk, Castle Hill gave us some great views and the town centre, when everything is open, is nice to aimlessly wander about.

We left Townsville in the early evening heading for a free nights stay just off the Bruce Highway to our south. While I take on the majority of the driving Linz gets to grips with her mountain of leaflets but most importantly the atlas which labels free camping sites around the country. Tonight she nailed it buy finding a petrol station which offered a grassy area for campers to spend the evening free of charge. Although not being the most scenic of spots, it meant we could be sure that we were allowed to stay there and not have to worry about the prospects of fines or just being moved on during the night. It was at this stage in Australia that it was becoming really cold at night to such an extent that our night in the roadhouse was the first of a few spent in a jumper and hat.

Out the back of the petrol station

 We set off the next morning, avoiding the temptation to join the truckers in cafe for a breakfast bacon roll, and continued our journey towards Airlie Beach. On the way we could enjoy one of the biggest benefits of the freedom of having your own car by venturing up a particularly steep hill to a view point overlooking the Bruce and surrounding bush. This was the first real test for the van as the road up was incredibly steep but it pulled through.




Up the top of the hill



 Having achieved a free night’s stay we would again need to find a campsite as staying for free within towns has proven difficult. We had actually stopped off at a police station on our way into town to ask about where we could and couldn’t stay but no one showed at the reception despite repeated use of the bell. Hopefully we never need urgent police action while in town.

We found the Seabreeze Holiday Park just three kilometres from the centre of town which offered a decent price for a powered site of around £10 each. We didn't get off to a great start as I let the dog out the office resulting in the owner swearing loudly before taking off in hot pursuit. He never returned so his wife checked us in an explained that we could use any of the empty sites she had highlighted on the map she gave us. See seemed to highlight the entire map so we found a shady space and settled in and enjoyed a Kookaburra which had nestled in a neighbouring tree.

Our neighbour

 We then drove into town as we had decided that Airlie Beach would be our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and needed to book ourselves onto a tour the following day. Airlie Beach is also the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands so our trip into town become an incredibly expensive one as we dropped £200 on the reef and about £160 on the islands. Having said this we managed to get our reef for half price which was a massive bonus.

We returned to the campsite to finish the day off but soon found ourselves being turfed out of our site as we seemed to have picked the only site on our map not highlighted by the owner. This caused quite a stir with Linz and we ended up driving around for a good while trying to find another site while making sure, on Linz’s request, to drive past the people who had moved us on while looking sad. That night was the first of three State of Origin rugby matches between Queensland and New South Wales so a few of the campervans around us had been decked out in the maroon colours of Queensland who eventually won.

We had to be in town early the next day to be picked up and taken to the port by bus for our day on the Great Barrier Reef. It started badly as our all day parking plan was in danger of failing as the meter in the car park was broken and we were concerned that if the machine later started working we would appear to have opted against buying a ticket. Consequently we went over board and not only left a note on the windscreen explaining our dilemma but also found a phone number of some lady who works at the council and left her a voice mail. I'm sure she found it rather confusing.

 Having arrived at the port we queued at the FantaSea jetty to board the rather large catamaran that would take us to the reef two hours from the mainland. Having boarded we were rather pleased to find free toast was available so completed a good few trips to the toaster seeing as making toast in the campervan was an arduous task involving the grill and a strict bread rotating policy. There was an option of paying extra money to scuba dive around the reef, rather than just snorkel, but you had to be at the briefing session, which took place on the trip to the reef, or else you couldn’t do it. They made it quite clear there was no obligation so we thought we might as well hear the briefing or else scuba diving wouldn’t be an option. However, after the presentation we decided it was too much money despite really wanting to do it so we thought that was that. In fact, the scuba team then continued to pressure us into doing it by effectively claiming that snorkelling was a waste of time, but we resisted them until we reached the reef.

The catamaran to the reef



The catamaran parked up at Reef World viewed from the top deck of
the semisubmersible



The boat was always heading towards a stationary pontoon called Reef World which lies just off the reef itself and includes changing areas, viewing platforms, a waterslide, easy access to the coral and even a semisubmersible to allow people to see the reef without entering the water. Having disembarked from the ship we were immediately drawn to a large crowd peering over the edge. Everyone was looking down at the most incredible fish I have ever seen. It was called the Queensland Groper and was almost three metres long but looked just like a standard fish. The effect of essentially scaling up a fish to this size is rather amazing and we returned to look at him a few times during the day as he’s a regular visitor.

After this we headed to the equipment area and picked up our wetsuits and snorkelling gear before heading off to get changed. I now found myself in an extremely awkward situation of having to change out of all my clothes in a tiny changing room in dangerous proximity to the only other occupant of the room: a ten year old boy. I have never been so careful while doing anything. I successfully emerged from the changing room and found Linz, at which point we realised we were the only people to have opted against wearing a stinger suit designed to prevent jellyfish stings hurting. So we decided we might as well get a couple and I found myself returning to the dangers of the changing room but pleasingly the boy had moved on. This time the embarrassment came as I exited the room as a stinger suit can only be described as a full body leotard and it appeared I had been left with a bright green one where as Linz managed to claim herself a black one.

Finally we could enter the water, which was made slightly less cold by our wetsuits, and swim towards the coral. We could see below us the few people who had opted to scuba dive but soon enough found ourselves face to face with a variety of fish as well as a number of enormous clams and sea urchins. We were followed for the majority of our time by a number of striped silver fish who seemed quite entertained by our presence but however much I tried I couldn’t get an arm’s length photo of me and one of them. We made it to the end of the allocated swimming area before decided to return to the pontoon but we were so lucky to find a green turtle swimming along near us. Amazingly he then swam almost straight at us and passed inches from my face easily making it the highlight of the entire trip.

We stayed out longer than most other people so returned to the pontoon to find most people had already enjoyed the buffet lunch but there was still easily enough steak to fill us up. There was also some salad but it was always going to struggle when fighting against a free steak buffet. We finished our time on the Reef World by taking a trip on the semisubmersible which takes you inches from the coral, visible through its glass bottom. We had already seen the coral close up, albeit in a different area of the reef, so couldn’t help but get most of our excitement from watching how close the sub came to outcropping bits of coral.

We were on the last sub ride of the day so re-boarded the boat after this to head back to the mainland, however on the way we were lucky enough to stop at a miraculous feature of the reef on the way called the Waterfalls. As the day had gone on the reef had become more exposed above water due to the outgoing tide, and as a result water was getting trapped in huge area taken up by the reef with only a couple of drainage points available. Consequently a clearly visible height difference appears in the sea, which in itself is amazing, and something similar to waterfalls are seen at the drainage points. This was great to see as it only occurs following huge tides.

 On the way to the reef we had seen a humpback whale quite a way off in the distance but we weren’t so lucky on the way back, however we did have three episodes of Mr Bean on the ships TV screens to keep us going. Also we could entertain ourselves by looking through the photos of us taken throughout the day including some from underwater which we later purchased. An unexpected highlight of the day then presented itself as the scuba instructor made his way over to us to gloat how his group had seen a turtle swim off in the distance. Having shot him down in flames regarding his relatively tame turtle sighting he then began to clutch at straws trying in vane to come up with reasons as to why scuba diving was better. Eventually he literally stormed off in a huff.

The Waterfalls. Its hard to see it in the photo but the water behind the reef is considerably higher
than the water this side



Having returned to the town centre after a highly enjoyable day on the Great Barrier Reef we were relieved to find our parking tactics had worked and we were not fined. Although the machine had clearly not been working all day and no one else had felt the need to leave an essay affixed to their windows. We now had to the trouble of trying to find a free night’s accommodation on the side of the road which proved to be quite a mission. We found many campers pulled up in a town car park but decided the $2000 fine for camping was not really worth the risk so turned it down. We also got rejected from a hotel car park and decided against parking in a residential road before coming across a rare sight: a campsite open after 6pm. In fact it was an Australia wide hostel chain called Base which happened to offer a few campervan sites so we accepted defeat and paid for another night.

The next day we were picked up by a minibus to take us to a jetty where we would start our Whitsundays tour. There were many tour options which mainly included sail boats or catamarans but we chose the option including jet boats. We were taken from the port to the Whitsunday Islands in no time by these ultra fast boats only slowed down by the driver taking the opportunity to spin the boat and few times or target a particularly big wave. Our boat, which was one of two going our way, was named Jammin’ and was crewed by two classic surfer dudes who made the entire trip even more memorable as their well worked double act kept the boat laughing for most of the day. It was clearly going to be a fun day when they shot away from the jetty choosing to blast “Y.M.C.A” out of the speakers.

Jammin' and Thriller arriving in style

Our first stop was in a bay round the back of Hook Island, one of almost one hundred in this area, for some snorkelling. The water was very clear and there was a decent number of fish but in reality it was never going to compete with the reef from the day before, but we still enjoyed it. We arrived to find no one in the secluded bay except for a young couple who had come out on their own boat and were clearly enjoying having the bay all to themselves. Their morning was ruined as we rocketed into the bay blaring Rock the Boat by The Clash at full volume.

Following this we headed round the corner to another bay which proved to be considerably more fun than the previous one. We jumped into the water to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of fish including a couple of massive Rass about half the size of each of us. Although a little intimidating, swimming so close to such massive fish was very exciting. The atmosphere in the water was made even more frantic whenever Murray, one of our guides, would hurl fish food into the water.

Our next destination was about half an hour away but it was one of the best moments of the trip as our captain spotted a yacht in the distance so gunned the engine to catch up, at which point he effortlessly bounced in its wake causing the boat to jump rather impressively. This also gave great entertainment to those on board the yacht and was generally as great thing to be a part of. Unfortunately the yacht was heading elsewhere so we parted soon after and ventured towards a lookout point on one of the islands which we reached via a short bushwalk.

Playing in the wake of someone elses yacht

The view from the top was of the stunning Whitehaven Beach which is unlike any beach I have ever seen in my life. A mix of perfectly blue water and pristine white sandbars create a staggeringly good view which just cannot be done justice with a camera.





The amazing colours of Whitehaven Beach



Riding around all day in a speed boat gets rather cold, hence the jumpers on a perfect
looking day

We had to leave eventually though but only so we could spend some time on the beach itself so it wasn’t all bad. This was our first experience of squeaky sand. The sand here is so fine that just by walking in it you create a squeaky noise generated by the sand rubbing together and it is even so fine that it can be used to clean jewellery. We had an excellent pasta lunch on the beach made even more entertaining as Linz was mugged by a group of seagulls for her scraps. One would distract her while another flew in from behind causing her to spill it everywhere. Seagulls one, Linz zero.

Linz was having wind related hair issues all day. I had to get permission to use this photo

One of the guides entertained the group by chucking chicken legs into the air in time for passing eagles to swoop in and catch them in mid air. Somehow, despite being on this miraculous beach surrounded by mind-blowing views and even some eagles, Linz and I managed to fall asleep for most of the hour we were there.

When we left the beach we headed back to the mainland while continuing to marvel at the beautiful Whitsunday Islands but seeing as everyone was getting rather exhausted by this stage the jetboat acrobatics were put on hold. At one stage we passed one of the catamaran tours and our driver, along with one the other jetboat which was with us, chose to shoot past either side of it emphasising the difference between the style of cruises available, and hopefully making the customers on the catamaran question their boat choice. As we approached the jetty “Are You Going To be My Girl?” was selected on the boats music system and the captain finished in great style by pulling out a few consecutive spins and then jumping on his own wake. Quite some finale.

The money we had spent on our two days on the sea in Airlie beach were undeniably two of the most expensive but also undeniably two of the best. I had been hesitant to spend so much on two tours but once again was so pleased I had as the jet boating round the Whitsundays had been so much more than I had expected.

That evening we returned to Seabreeze as we had already booked another night here before finding Base was in fact cheaper. Our days here had taken a lot out of us so on our final day in town we just lounged around its lagoon in the sun recuperating from our exploits so far.

Once again we hit the Bruce and continued south where finally we would be able to find a free night’s sleep. Linz had found us a recreational reserve used by the small town of St Lawrence on very rare occasions, so consequently it was made available to campers for the rest of the year. The site was down a quiet road through the bush and as we approached, as it was evening by now, we were greeted by a dozen wild kangaroos. These were the first we had seen in the wild and we stopped for as long as they hung about before moving on to the field we would sleep in.

 The next day we woke to find it was another cloudless winter day in Australia. As we had no check out time to adhere to we slept in and lounged around the van the next day until around 3pm, only achieving a short birthday video to send home to Mum. By now we had been in Australia a couple of weeks and hadn’t covered that much distance so the next couple of days will include a lot of miles as we push towards New South Wales.

Waking up to yet another perfect Australian day