The East Coast - Part 2 (Cairns to Coffs Harbour)

Ok so we haven't written for a while, mainly because we have been so busy, therefore this blog is going to be long. If you want to just skip the blog and see the pictures just scroll to the bottom as that is where all the links are, if not keep reading!!

Tuesday 18.03.08 - Wednesday 19.03.08
So to get down the coast from Cairns to Sydney we decided to travel by bus (Premier Motor Service). Our first bus journey was from Cairns to Mission Beach, it only took 2 hours. Mission Beach is tiny just a few hostels, a supermarket, petrol station and a bottle shop. There is nothing to do there. The main reason people go to Mission Beach is either to go sky diving (which we were not brave enough to do) or to go white water rafting (which we did do). We went white water rafting on the Tully River which was brilliant. I had so much fun. They were grade 4 rapids for anyone who wants to know (grade 6 rapids being the worst).

Thursday 20.03.08
We then made our way further down the east coast and stopped at Townsville for a night. Like with Mission Beach there is not a lot to do in Townsville. The main reason everyone goes there is to get to Magnetic Island.

Friday 21.03.08 - Monday 24.03.08
We spent 3 days on Magnetic Island, which is an island on the Great Barrier Reef and only a 20 minute ferry ride from Townsville. Magnetic Island is called Magnetic Island as the island interfered with Captain Cook's compass when he sailed past. We didn't do a lot on Magnetic Island. We spent the majority of our time on the beaches. One day we did do a walk called the Fort's Walk which was really good. When we got to the top we had amazing views over Magnetic Island. On the walk back down we saw Koala's and a Death Adder (which is a poisonous snake (look carefully in the pictures).

Tuesday 25.03.08
Today we made our way down to Airlie Beach where we met up with Gemma who was on easter hol's from uni and in Airlie for a night! It was really good to see someone from home!! Also everyone who we had met further up the east coast happened to be in Airlie at the same time so it was like a reunion!

Wednesday 26.03.08 - Friday 28.03.08
We had 3 days in Airlie Beach before our cruise around the Whitsunday's. We spent the majority of our time topping up our tans by the lagoon. One day we did hire a car with 3 other people we had met travelling and went to visit Ceder Falls which is near Airlie Beach and also another beach called Dingo Beach.

Saturday 29.03.08 - Monday 31.03.08
We spent 2 days 2 nights sailing around the Whitsunday's, which were gorgeous. We stopped off at a few snorkeling spots and saw loads of fish (loads more than we did in Cairns). We even saw a turtle whilst snorkeling, which was huge (see the pictures). We also stopped off at Whitehaven Beach which is a white sand beach with clear blue sea, where we saw stingrays and a reef shark. On our last day on our way back to Airlie Beach we also saw a dolphin swimming in front of the boat.

Tuesday 01.04.08
Today we arrived at Rainbow Beach at 7.40am after taking our first overnight bus. It wasn't too bad and we did manage to sleep. The buses have a lot of leg and are more spacious than a plane! The reason for going to Rainbow Beach was to get to Fraser Island which is only a 10 minute ferry ride from Rainbow Beach.

Wednesday 02.04.08 - Friday 04.04.08
We spent 3 days and 2 nights on Fraser Island which is the world's largest sand island. We opted to do a self-drive tour which meant we were in a 4WD with 9 other people and we made our own way around Fraser Island and could see what we liked and each night we camped on the beach. There are no roads on Fraser Island which meant we were driving on sand all the time. I had a go at driving, it was quite difficult! We had 5 drivers in the car including me but out of all of us Scott did the majority of the drving as he was quite good at it!

Whilst on Fraser Island we visited Indian Head, which is a look out point at the top of Fraser Island. From here you can see sharks, dolphins and turtles. We didn't see any dolphins or turtles but we did see a shark. We also visited Eli Creek which was a tiny tiny creek the water didn't even come up to my knees and the water was freezing cold! Our next stop after Eli Creek was Lake McKenzie which was lovely. It had a white sand beach and clear blue water. We saw a lot of Dingo's whilst on Fraser Island and whilst at Lake Mckenzie a Dingo tried to make off with one of our groups bags (twice). If the people on the beach had not of scared the dingo off it would have made off with the bag! The last place we visited on Fraser Island was Lake Wabby which was a lot different to Lake Mckenzie. Lake Wabby was a greenish colour and surrounded by very impressive sand dunes (which were a struggle to walk up)!

On our last day on Fraser Island, whilst making our way back to the ferry to get to the mainland we got stopped by the police. Patrik (who was driving at the time) was not wearing his seatbelt and got fined $225 (about 110 GBP)! So if your coming to Oz where your seatbelt or expect a hefty fine if you get caught!

After we got back from Fraser Island our group went to watch the sunset over the Carlos Sand Blows, which are some sand dunes in Rainbow Beach.

Saturday 05.04.08 - Wednesday 09.04.08
Our next bus journey which was 5 hours took us from Rainbow Beach to Brisbane where Gemma was waiting for us!!! Even though we saw Gemma a week before hand in Airlie (like mentioned above) it was good to see her again, not only because she had been living in Brisbane since February and therefore could show us the sights but it also meant we didn't have to stay in a hostel for 3 nights! It also meant we had an oven (which you do not have in hostels) and therefore we were able to have a roast dinner! Thanks again Gemma for putting up with us!

On our first day in Brisbane it pissed it down with rain. I was prepared with my umbrella but Scott and Gemma asked a rubbish man for some bin bags! (See the pictures). Despite the rain Gemma showed us around Brisbane.

Whilst in Brisbane we went to Wet N Wild Water Park on the Gold Coast which is about 1 & 1/2 south of Brisbane by train. We managed to get in half price as residents of Queensland can get in half price and the lady at the desk said if Gemma paid we would all get in half price, so we just gave our money to Gemma! The water park was brilliant, there are some crazy rides there and on one of them I was so sure we were gonna fall out! We also spent a lot of time on the lazy river floating around on the tubes!

We also visited Australia Zoo (aka Steve Irwin's Zoo) whilst in Brisbane. Australia Zoo is about 2 hours North West of Brisbane by train. It is not near anything else. We went to see the crocodile show which was a tad cheesy, more aimed towards kids I think but still good anyway. We saw loads of animals including the cassowary (which is endangered or nearly extinct - not quite sure, there are only 1400 left), kangaroos (which we got to feed), Koalas (which we got to stroke), crocodiles, aligators and snakes (including the Death Adder which is poisonus and which we saw in the wild on Magnetic Island).

Whilst in Brisbane we also caught up with everyone who was in our group on Fraser Island as everyone was in Brisbane and the same time.

Wednesday 09.04.08 - Thursday 10.04.08
We left Brisbane on the Wednesday and headed further south to Surfers Paradise which is 2 hours from Brisbane. We decided to only stay in Surfers for one night as we had heard it was like the Costa Del Sol in Spain. Were so glad we did only stay one night because the hostel was the worst we had come across on our trip and Surfers wasn't that great in our opinion!

Thursday 10.04.08 - Sunday 13.04.08
After Surfers we headed to Byron Bay which took 2 hours on the bus. Everyone we had met who had travelled up the coast said Byron Bay was lovely so that was one of the reasons we stopped there. One other reason we stopped at Byron Bay was to go surfing. In the end we did not go surfing as a few days before we got to Byron Bay a 16 year old surfing was attacked by a shark and died in Ballina which isn't too far from Byron Bay. The shark has not yet ben caught (normally they manage to catch the shark). It put us right off learning to surf in Byron, so we have decided we may give it a go in California.

Whilst in Byron Bay we spent the majority of our time at the beach sunbathing and watching the surfers (some of which were pretty good). We also took a walk to Byron Bay lighthouse and Australia's most easterly point (which is near the lighthouse). On the way up to the lighthouse we saw quite a few dolphins swimming together near the surfers. The views from the lighthouse and Australia's most easterly point were amazing - you could see for miles!

Sunday 13.04.08 - Monday 14.04.08
We took the bus from Byron Bay on the sunday and stopped off at Coffs Harbour for one night just to break up the journey to Sydney. The bus from Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour took 5 hours. We didn't do much whilst in Coffs Harbour for the day. We went to a lookout point which had good views over the harbour and surrounding area. We then caught the overnight bus at 9.30pm from Coffs Harbour to Sydney.

Tuesday 15.04.08
We are now in Sydney, but we will tell you all about that in another blog as this one is already long enough!!

Hope all is well at home.

Vikki & Scott

Link's to the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101947&l=b0676&id=759940429 (Mission Beach).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101948&l=e785c&id=759940429 (White water rafting).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101949&l=2ecf8&id=759940429 (Magnetic Island).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105495&l=d1515&id=759940429 (Airlie Beach).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105545&l=bee86&id=759940429 (Whitsunday's 1).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106653&l=80001&id=759940429 (Whitsunday's 2).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106657&l=77aa7&id=759940429 (Whitsunday's 3).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106659&l=970f9&id=759940429 (Fraser Island 1).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106661&l=5acdc&id=759940429 (Fraser Island 2).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106662&l=beccf&id=759940429 (Rainbow Beach).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106663&l=5689d&id=759940429 (Brisbane).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107663&l=ed0b1&id=759940429 (water park).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107668&l=3ecd0&id=759940429 (Australia Zoo).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107671&l=e43aa&id=759940429 (Surfers Paradise).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109246&l=0b6c0&id=759940429 (Byron Bay).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109249&l=20c2b&id=759940429 (Coffs Harbour).

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