A short trip inland from Surfers Paradise is the National Park area of Springbrook and we had decided to take a trip there on our way to Byron Bay. A 6km walk in the midday heat to see a waterfall (Purlingbrook Falls) wasn't the ideal way to cure the hangovers we aquired with Matt and Dawn on our last night in Surfers though it did help (or maybe it was just the paracetamol). The waterfall and scenery were fairly impressive but would have been better if the south of the country had had the recent rainfall we experienced in the north. [View Full Entry]

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Maybe it's because we haven't seen a 'city' since we arrived in Australia and Perth over 6 weeks ago (and when I say 'city' I mean in the European sense ie - buildings over 3 stories high and a mix of influences - not the 'small town America' feel that Cairns and other so-called cities in Northern Queensland have). But arriving in Brisbane was a well needed shock to the system. Arrival at the closest campsite to the city (4km) was as typical as ever, especially when I booked us in and the headmistress of a campsite manager told me off [View Full Entry]

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We are about at the sixth month point of our trip, in that time we have seen a lifetime of beaches and it now takes a pretty special one to make us gasp. When we arrived at Rainbow Beach, fresh from dolphin feeding, we had few expectations of the place. The site we stopped at gave us our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean but it wasn't until we stepped onto it that we realised how beautiful it was. With a brilliant blue sea crashing in waves against a seemingly endless sandy beach we wasted no time in grabbing our towels [View Full Entry]

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Another day, another campsite, another town, another blog. This time: Hervey Bay Another gateway destination, this time to Fraser Island - the World's biggest sandbank. First impressions are pretty good, a little more English riviera than American backwater - so much so that we end up staying at Torquay Beach Caravan Park. The town and campsite have a much younger clientel than some recent stops, which is almost a shame as I had got quite used to chatting to couples named Alisa and Bob about gas cylinders, water tanks and retirement plans. We are really into the groove of [View Full Entry]

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Mackay Another day, another town, with only 5 weeks to travel from Cairns to Sydney in Martha (our campervan) our East Coast tour is somewhat whistle stop. One main road connects the two cities and with most towns and cities worth seeing just off this road, it makes map reading a doddle even for someone with my horrendous sense of direction. On day 10 we reached Mackay and after a few false starts found a decent van site. We began the roadtrip with romantic delusions of pulling up to deserted roadsides with private beaches and spending the night alone, the reality [View Full Entry]

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Gordonvale...Babinda...Innisfail...Tully...Ingham. The small towns we drove through on our escape from Cairns along the Bruce Highway all seemed to display similar traits, ie unattractive residents, most still displaying their Christmas decorations (10th of Feb!!!) and all having a big corner pub with attached 'drive thru' bottle shop named 'The Victoria'. If you are a resident of one of these towns I apologise (although I doubt you can read) as I am sure they are all great places to live, but alas we passed them by. Fading light forced a stop over 250km south of Cairns on a ca [View Full Entry]

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After a short flight from Alice Springs we arrived to what felt like 90% humidity in Cairns. We were staying at Cairns Central YHA and were pleased to see it was the most 'resort' like hostel so far, a pool, spa, huge restaurant-like kitchen and even a hairdryer in the ladies made it all worth the extra few dollars compared to our previous nights stay. Cairns sits in Northern Queensland and its currently the wet season up here, meaning the plant life is luscious and green much like you would expect from any tropical holiday destination, a stark contrast to the [View Full Entry]

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A Brief History of the Rock About 20,000 years ago, an Aboriginal tribe of people named the Anangu stumbled upon a huge 30 million year old fossilised mountain in the middle of nowhere. They named this 'puli' (literally meaning 'the rock') and set about living off the land around Puli and practising their customs and simple ways of life. About 19,850 years later a strange pale creature turned up on the back of a camel and the Anangus named him and all his friends 'the white fellas'. The white fella decided to name the huge rock he found after the white [View Full Entry]

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Our Asian adventure nearly over, we spent 2 nights in a very busy Bangkok before heading to the new and slightly clinical Bangkok airport where we had a flight to Singapore and a connection to Perth. After some 18 hours we finally arrived at the YHA in Fremantle. Our first stop in Perth (Fremantle or Freo to the locals who shorten everything and/or stick an o on the end) is about 30 minutes on the train from Perth city, it's a really quaint town with trendy bars, restaurants (surprisingly a huge amount here are BYO so no alcohol costs), shops and [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Koh Samui left me with only relief and none of the slight sadness that almost every other of our previous 26 destinations has left me with. Of course Jungle Club will be a standout of our whole trip, but the island itself is best left for those who think Thailand is all about beer, beaches, bartering and boys (who want to be girls) - and having spent nearly 3 months in this crazy country, I can assure you it has a lot more to offer than that. We are nearing the end of the Asian leg of the trip now [View Full Entry]

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