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Since our last blog we have once again done so much and seen so much. We shall start with something we forgot to mention last time.....we have a new Van. After numerous break downs and subsequent phone calls to the hire company James gave them a list of all the faults and told them we will bring the van direct to them in Cairns. Upon arrival we were soon given an upgrade. We have named the van Doris the 2nd.
Our first stop after Airlie beach was Noosa. We were unsure as to whether we should visit as we were told it was a tourist trap lined with millionaire homes. We initially went to a small fishing village called Tin Can Bay where you can feed the Dolphins between 08:00 and 10:00. We got up extra early to arrive at 09:00 only to be told that the Dolphins were fed at 08:00 that morning..........Don't like dolphins anyway. We decided as we had the rest of the day to drive to Noosa to see for ourselves.
Noosa was a very affluent area and our van didn't fit in too well with the Mercedes and Ferraris but we looked better than
the Wicked vans. The beach was beautiful and the town small but charming. The best bit was the national park with beautiful views over the ocean. The pictures will show you how amazing it was.
After noosa we headed south towards Brisbane and stayed behind a petrol station for the night. The next morning we drove to Australia Zoo (home of a legend....Steve Irwin). This was the best Zoo we had ever seen with so much interaction with the animals. Some of the keepers walked animals around the park on leads....including a Leopard. this meant we were able to get very close. We even hand fed Kangaroos and Wallabies. We watched a Crocodile show in the Crocoseum which we would recommend to anyone!
After another night behind the petrol station we headed into Brisbane where we fought the traffic and James did a tremendous job of parallel parking such a long van in such a small space only Yards away from the City centre in rush hour traffic...well Sunday morning traffic but was still very good! Brisbane was a lovely city, a very small centre but with a lovely market and river running through. It had a calm
and relaxing feel to it which we both really liked. The weather wasn't as good however at only 25 degrees! Its getting colder!
After Brisbane we decided to spend a couple of days on the beach in Surfers paradise. We arrived and within 2 hours decided to leave. It was a nice beach but surrounded by huge skyscrapers full of apartments and with people only interested in getting drunk and being yobs. Even with such a heavy Police presence we didn't feel great and headed to Byron Bay instead!
This was the best decision we had made with an immediate chilled out feel to the place we felt very relaxed. We decided that afternoon to head up to the lighthouse where we saw some incredible views and a couple of wild dolphins. The views were really dramatic and also happened to be the most Easterly point of mainland Australia.
The next day we hired a couple of bodyboards and took to the waves to try our hand at the easier version of surfing! We had such a great time, it was really fun and the waves huge. We got very good and were even trying turns. The
afternoon was spent lying on the beach soaking up the sun!
From byron Bay we traveled down south before heading inland to another rainforest. Dorrigo National park was a small area that Kayley had seen mentioned in our Lonley Planet guide. We decided to make the trip and it was well worth it. We spent a night on a farm with some incredible views over all the hills. Our only neighbours were Cows. We could here the Dangar falls at night which were only 100 metres away. The next day we went into the national park where we did a 6km walk through the rain forest visiting a couple of waterfalls.
We have since made our way to Sydney where last night we enjoyed Fish and Chips on Sydney harbour over looking the Opera house. We plan to stay here a couple of days and make it back to melbourne next week. It seems our trip is ending quite quickly, but we must remember we still have three more countries to see!
Hope everyone is well. We are having such a great time and love reading your comments. Take care.
James & kayley.
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Matt
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Aussie rules...
a crocosium ? Sounds awesome! Long live the legend. James you really are special.......really special....... x