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Published: July 14th 2006
Despite our plan to hire a car on arrival in Oz we learn that the only way for any self-respecting traveller to get around is via campervan - so not to feel left out we hired our campervan and the morning after the night before we head off to pick it up. Now you may have visions of a nice high top campervan equipped with all modern amenities - erase this image from your mind our campervan was of the ‘Wicked’ family (www.wickedcampers.com.au), was called ‘U Beaut’ (in honour of Steve - crocodile hunter - Irwin) and had a paint job Dad F would be proud of. I think the pictures tell you all you need to know!!!
Having collected our van we hit the Bruce Highway (honest that’s what it’s called) via a big Woolworths (a supermarket here) to stock up and then head to Port Douglas. I don’t know if it’s the van or what but Simon develops and uncontrollable urge to call me Sheila and use G’day at every opportunity - Fair Dinkum ye flamin gallah! Port Douglas is a very plush resort town full of lovely cafes, restaurants and a beautiful beach so we stuck out
like a sore thumb in our converted transit. However, unperturbed, we enjoyed a nice coffee before retiring to our campsite and hitting the highway again the next day. We continue north to Cape Tribulation via a short stop at Daintree village - not much happening here, it’s all about the Daintree river and the crocs that inhabit it, but we did see a large stuffed croc called George in one of the village shops!
After Daintree village we continue on our journey into the rainforest and we travelled on what felt like a never-ending road through dense rainforest either side (and above in parts) and across the Daintree river on the shortest ferry journey ever. Having made it to Cape Tribulation without meeting any Cassowary’s en route (thankfully - they sound really scary) we book into our campsite - PK’s Jungle Village - and, as the name suggests, finally somewhere our van fits in perfectly (we were virtually camouflaged). We take the 2 minute walk from our van through the jungle to the beach and it is beautiful - dense rainforest meets miles of golden sand with the Great Barrier reef sitting just offshore - paradise! Shame Captain Cook
was having a bad day when he named the place - Cape Tribulation with Mount Sorrow in the background!
The following day, after a quiet evening desperately trying to keep any bugs out of our van - especially after spotting a huge, gnarly spider guarding its web nearby(!!!!) - we head off on a self guided walk to Cape Tribulation beach and lookout. This takes us through the jungle, along the beach, across a creek, through some more jungle and back out onto Cape Trib. beach. Fine going, but on the way back we see a big monitor lizard ambling out of the jungle and, even worse, relaxing on the banks of the creek we need to cross a big salt water croc - Yikes! Needless to say we head way down the creek (virtually into the ocean) to cross over and head back to the safety of our van - or so we thought. Whilst sitting at the back of our van musing over the sightings of earlier we are joined by a snake which appears out of the jungle - talk about close to nature!
As if that wasn’t enough for one day at 1.30pm we
are picked up for our jungle surfing adventure (www.junglesurfingcanopytours.com). This involved us - now known as Goose and Penelope Pitstop - being harnessed up and swung over the jungle canopy from tree to tree (tarzan stylie) with some of the platforms being as much as 20m up with a fabulous view of the jungle and ocean beyond - a great way to spend the afternoon. As if we hadn’t had enough of nature for one day, after stopping for a quick bite we are collected again at 7.30pm for our guided night walk through the jungle advised that night was when all the ‘critters’ come out. So torches in hand we set off into the jungle and see cool frogs, a lizard hanging out on a vine, sleeping birds, big spiders, poisonous toads, a bandicoot and best of all the most amazing night sky we will probably ever see, looking up through spaces in the jungle canopy at millions of dazzling stars.
Having had our fill of being sooo close to nature we head off inland the following day towards the Atherton tablelands. We arrive in Atherton, visit one of the many drive through beer shops to get a
box of wine, and retire to campsite for a BBQ. The next day we awake to light drizzle!!!!!!! So we head into town to visit the main attraction - the crystal caves. 25 bucks later, a miners hat complete with light and some fake caves made of polystyrene we hit the road again to take in some natural sights. We take a very scenic drive to Lake Tinaroo, it’s Dam and the various waterfalls en route. The landscape is beautiful, very green with rolling hills, it reminds us a lot of home (especially with the drizzle!).
During this part of our journey and further south to Innisfail there is evidence everywhere of the destruction caused by the recent Cyclone to hit this area. Banana plantations have been wiped out and the price per kilo has gone from $4 to almost $15 since - no bananas for us. We continue down the coast and stop at Mission beach for the night - a hippy town with a few pubs and shops and not much else. We continue south the next day, through sugar cane country and stop for lunch and a much needed stretch of the legs at Townsville where
we head to the top of castle hill (which sits right in the centre of the City) for good 360° views. Following this it’s onward to Airlie beach - gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Arrived late so go for tea and decide to have an early night to stay up late the following night to catch the Socceroos vs Italy match. Unfortunately we’re a couple of tatties and get confused with the time difference so end up missing the game by 24hours - mental note stop and think! (and stop drinking wine by the box…hic!)
Having got over the disappointment of missing the game we book ourselves in for a spot of parasailing and enjoy cool views of Airlie, the beach and ocean with the wind whistling in our ears. The town has a lovely man made lagoon with swimming pool, and picnic and BBQ areas so we decide to take advantage of these facilities and head down with our marinated skewers for BBQing and accompanying salad. After cremating the outside we settle down to eat only to discover that the skewers are not 100% cooked through!!! Another disappointment so we return to sanctuary of our van with a
box of wine (sorry but it’s really cheap and tasty) and some crisps and vow not to BBQ skewers again!
The following day we cruise the Whitsunday’s and start off with a beach landing and trek to a lookout high above Whitehaven beach. This was a stunning view which is different everyday depending on the tides etc. Then we head round the island for a swim at Whitehaven beach but it was too cold and we opted to stay on the boat for a spot of sunbathing. After a lunch on the move to our next stop we braved the freezing water (no honest it was v cold - it is winter after all) and went snorkelling off the back of the boat and enjoyed some of the most spectacular coral we have seen - every type, shape and colour stretching for miles. After a fun day out (despite Ivan the terrible - don’t ask!) we head back to Airlie and to subway for tea - I think we’ll be on a subway advert soon!
Head off on the Bruce Highway again the following day and the landscape changes from sugar cane to cowboy country - very flat
with lots of ranches and cattle everywhere. Not surprising our next stop, Rockhampton, is famed for it’s great steaks so we set up camp (i.e reverse our van onto a bit of grass) and head into town for our red meat fix - and we were not disappointed. Apart from that, not much else happening here so we hit the road again the next day heading for Hervey Bay. We detour past Agnes Water for lunch then continue on our way - unfortunately the radio packs up so we were reduced to singing to each other!! This would be okay but the only song I know all the words to is American Pie (gets a bit wearing I can tell you!!!).(I’ll second that!!)
So having made it to Hervey Bay on the Fraser Coast, the Fraser’s book into Fraser Lodge Caravan Park on Fraser St - we felt right at home! This is the access to Fraser Island (shock horror) and the whale watching tours but we’re a bit early for this (about a month) so decide to take advantage of the brilliant weather (the best we’ve had so far) and spend a couple of days lazing by one
of our 2 pools - 5star caravan park by the way! We decide to head back this way later in the year for a trip to Fraser Island and whale watching. After a few nice relaxing days it’s back into the van (which by now is squeaking and rattling really badly - bit of a bone shaker) and onward to Brisbane. Thankfully U Beaut gets us to Brissy and we spend a couple of days driving around to orientate ourselves while looking for somewhere to stay.
Our plan is to stay in Brisbane for a few months and pick up some work to top up the coffers so start looking for a short-term lease or house- share - unfortunately this proves easier said than done as short term leases are almost non-existent and most house-shares are looking for singletons - we briefly consider divorce or blowing our budget with 2 weeks in the Sofitel. Thankfully these extremes are avoided as we are very kindly taken in by Myra & Peter (and Angus the dog) who offer us a room until we get ourselves sorted out - for this we are extremely grateful and it has been great being able
to get in touch with friendly faces and having this help (not to mention local guidance) on arrival. Since then we have been job seeking in earnest and have contacted several agencies, who have been positive about our prospects, and applied for a number of jobs so we are watching this space with fingers crossed - we’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime Myra & Peter have been showing us some of the sights - we headed up to the top of Mt Cootha for great views of the city at night and have been for a drive to Mt Glorious (sounds better than Mt Sorrow) and went for a walk in the surrounding rain forest! Once we get the job hunting out of the way we’ll explore the area a bit more - first impressions really good though and looking forward to unpacking and settling down for a while.
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jemma
non-member comment
nice van!
Not sure what to say about the camper van really - I can imagine you might as well go the whole hog and wear a hat and badge saying "tourists, please take advantage"l!! *giggle* Please tell me you are not driving it around Brisbane!? Loving all the photos as always! Sounds lilke the road trip was fun although i note you never commented on whether you actually LIKED the camping experience or not..................? :) Hope you find work soon and stock up on the pennies so you can head off for more fun. Do you know your hosts or are they just leasing you a room? You seem very family like? Miss you guys, love to you both, Jemma xxx