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Published: November 24th 2010
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Nov. 22, 2010
On our way out of the Whitsundays we picked up a rental car, a small red Getzauto Hyundai, from Europcar. This was Sean’s first time driving on the left which he picked up fairly quickly. After about 15 minutes of repeating out loud “stay to the left, stay to the left,” he drove like he’d lived here all his life. If you’ve never driven on the left, almost everything is on the opposite side - the seats (obviously), the windshield wiper lever and turn signal, and even the buttons on the stereo. The break and gas pedals, however, are the same.
About 20 minutes out of town, as we were looking for a place to eat in Proserpine (which we are still discussing how to pronounce), we came upon some flood water, which by the way, Europcar had just said we were absolutely not supposed to do (drive through flood water). We crossed our fingers and prayed that we would not bottom out . . . we were lucky, as it was not as deep as it looked. Unfortunately, the car was already getting a beating from all of the pot holes we were driving over.
The only restaurant in Prosperine was a big Irish pub. Irish pubs are all over the place in Australia. We’re guessing this is due to the fact that England, back in the day, exiled all of their Irish criminals over here. We enjoyed some Irish soda bread, salads, and pumpkin soup (and may have even decided on a baby girl’s name), and got back on the road.
Our goal was to try and make it as close to Brisbane, 1100 KM from the Whitsundays, as possible. The drive would have been a beautiful one if it wasn’t for the rain. At points it seemed as if we driving through the Outback. We scoured for wildlife - Sean saw a few kangaroos dead along the side of the road; we spotted a field of wallabies, and there were quite a few frogs skipping across the road. There were also signs up that said Koalas were in the area; though I never spotted one, looking for one definitely helped keep me awake for a lot of the drive.
You would have thought the weather would have gotten us down but we actually laughed through most of it. At one
point the rain practically turned into a monsoon (Thank goodness Sean was driving and not me!). Between the monsoon, the pot holes, and signs announcing “Trucks carrying explosives,” we figured it couldn’t get much worse.
At around midnight Sean was ready for bed, so we stopped in Hervey Bay (about 300 KM outside Brisbane). We figured it was a good spot to stay so we could venture out to Fraser Island, which is known for it’s amazing whale watching. Almost everything was closed at this point, but we finally found a Best Western to crash at for the night. The next morning we talked to the front desk about getting out to Fraser Island. We found out that there are no roads on Fraser Island, so the only way to get around is to rent four-wheelers. Besides that, she said that whale season had ended. Boo. We decided to pass on Fraser Island this time - due to the stormy weather, me being almost six months pregnant now (four-wheelers probably not the best option), and no whales.
Instead we decided to take a walk down Hervey Beach and grab some breakfast. On our way down the gloomy beach
we came across a community of bats (Aunt Carol - you would love it!). They were sleeping in the trees - it was tremendously intriguing and disgusting all at the same time. I’ve included video here so you can here them; they were so loud. Make sure you watch both videos. Sean decided to throw a rock at them to see if they scattered. I’m sorry I didn’t get them flying - I was too busy running away.
As we drove out of the parking lot of the Best Western, I told Sean I felt like I was riding really low (on my side of the car). Sure enough - the crazy pot holes had blown out one of the tires, the rim was bent, and gas was leaking out. Thank goodness we were close to a gas station, so Sean could demonstrate his man skills and put the spare tire on.
Finally we were off to Brisbane. As we approached Brisbane, we drove by lots of store chains and commercial real estate. Some rememberable ones - Hungry Jacks is basically Burger King with a different title; the main grocery store in Australia is Woolworth's; the only other
stores I’ve been recognizing are Target, BP gas stations, Subway (lucky for Sean they are everywhere!), McDonald's (of course), KFC and Gloria Jean coffee (in America the only place I see those are in malls).
Brisbane is basically just another big city. Nice skyline, great river-walk with a lagoon (like Airlie Beach), and lots of restaurants and shopping (I bought my Australian UGGs here). We were ready for some city life so we spent two nights here. We decided to give the Sebel hotels a second chance. This one, Sebel King George Square Brisbane, proved to be a lot better than the one in Surry Hills - nice gym with a view of the city, big pool and a delicious restaurant downstairs. Even better, it’s close to everything. Interesting Brisbane fact: All the streets are named after kings and queens. The kings (William, George, Albert and Edward) run roughly north-south; the queens (Alice, Margaret, Mary, Charlotte, Queen, Ann & Adelaide) run roughly east-west.
My cousin Emily Kehoe, sister of Thomas and daughter of Jim, lives in Brisbane, so we invited her to dinner one evening. I literally could not remember when I’d seen her last. All I know
is it was before my grandmother (Emily’s great aunt) had died, so we are talking more than seventeen years ago. It was so fun to catch up with her. She is a professional jockey, so Sean and I learned lots about horse life and caught up on what she’s been doing for the past twenty years.
As we looked ahead to the last ten days of our trip, we decided we wanted to get back to Sydney by November 28th, so we’d have a couple more days there before flying home. The plan was to drive to the Gold Coast, also known as Surfers Paradise and spend a few days there. All the locals in Brisbane warned us not to go as it was “Schoolies” week, which is basically like spring break for seniors. All of the graduating Australian seniors head to the beach for a week of partying. Though we understood this could be a chaotic time to be in Surfers Paradise, Sean and I also interpreted this as a hilarious time to be there, so it was definitely on our agenda. So the plan: Surfers Paradise, followed by possible a day at Byron Bay, and then get
as far as we can to Sydney, with hopefully a stop in Newcastle. To be continued . . .
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