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Published: December 7th 2014
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Having flown from Christchuch to Brisbane I was greeted by my old friend Kirsty at the Airport. The intention was to drive the length of the east coast from Brisbane to Cairns in a campervan. As the drive was well over 1500km it seemed appropriate that both of us should be able to drive or take over if the other-one felt a little tired. As I arrived late there was no possible way I could legally drive her ( the name of the campervan was a Juliette Hightop so naturally we referred to it as ‘ her’) so we resorted to sleeping on the road outside the campervan place which was on the middle of an industrial estate so I could sign the paperwork.
We made the most of it though, we had a few drinks and a pot noodle before bed.
At early light the Campervan rental opened and I immediately signed the agreement and we headed up to our first point of call- Noosa. Unknown to us the G20 summit was being held in Brisbane, meaning the police were on high alert as the world politicians gathered to discuss climate change. This meant that the population of
Brisbane had fled to avoid the commotion to neighbouring holiday resorts and it appeared that Noosa, only being an hour and a half away was fully booked up for all campsites and accommodation. We spent the majority of the afternoon driving Juliette attempting to find somewhere with an electric hook-up and and a shower so we spent our second night in the carpark to a forest near the beach on Noosa island. Trying to make light of the situation we resorted to having a dip in the sea in the dark and drinking tea and eating tim-tams. Being in the middle of no-where the light pollution was low and the stars lit up the sky.
After a flight and two days of ditching Juliette in strange places and no place to wash, we finally got to a campsite in a Bundaberg. After a much needed shower and mid-day snooze we went to the beach around dusk and accompanied a park ranger track and identify a loggerhead turtle coming on the shore to lay its eggs. I persuaded Kirsty that the walk was not too far to the Turtle Centre and that we would be ok walking it. The walk took about 20 mins and was ok going there, but it was pitch black coming back and neither of us had a torch. Luckily there was someone from our campsite who was travelling back by car who would give us a lift. Apparently the snakes were a bit bitey after dark.
The next day we drove for what seemed an eternity to Airlie Beach on the whitsundays. As we had constantly been on the road and not stopping in one place for more than 1 night we treated ourselves to three nights at the one campsite. The campsite- sea breeze view was very comfortable. On the first day we were there we had a walk into town for breakfast and to explore airlie beach and then we came back to chill out by the pool. We had booked a trip around the Whitsunday islands in sailboat called the Darwin Hunter for the day aftewartds. Glorious sunshine and an abundance of sea-life make the trip and snorkelling amazing- Check out the video:
. It is strange seeing Christmas decorations up when the weather so warm at the minuite. My mum told me she had to scrape frost of the car yesterday morning whilst the evenings are 21 degrees as I write this in cairns.
Thursday we drove from airlie beach to cairns via Townsville, stopping off to have a coffee and a sandwich in a café overlooking magnetic island.
On the way to cairns I stopped off in Tully as I was considering staying in a hostel for being banana pickers for work that would extend my working holiday visa. I was told one of their chalets was available and I asked to take a look to ascertain what the conditions were like being that I would spent 88 days there. The room I saw was made from corrugated steel with no windows, housed 4 people with no cupboard space. The two bunk beds were pushed together as the room was occupied by two couple. There was no Wi-fi and no communal area in which to chill out. I promtley left cursing under my breath. The heat is also a major issue, its just too darn hot in cairns and being fair skinned I thought north Australia is not a safe option.
We spent the night in a campsite about 10k outside of cairns before going our separate ways ( Myself,Kirsty and Julliete that is) A great week all in all, I was astonished that kirsty didn’t kill me for managimng to pull out the slats of the spare bed rendering it useless or during the LOOONNGG drives for that matter.
Apologies for the lack of photo’s this week and my charger gave up the ghost. Official photographer Kirsty had her laptop stolen in London.
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