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We touched down into Sydney airport in the afternoon taking in views of the much photographed Sydney Opera House & Sydney Harbor Bridge before landing, the weather the perfect temperature. We headed to the Kings Cross area (the dirty/dingy but fun district of Sydney, full of bars, fast food joints, cafes, clubs and strip clubs!) to find a hostel, being St. Patrick’s day we tried to find an Irish pub for a few Guinness but the queues were ridiculous so we settled for an early night to recharge the batteries. The following day we took a walk through Hyde Park, The Botanical Gardens & around the opera house for views of the bridge. While at the Botanical gardens, we heard loads of loud screeching, we soon looked above us to see literally hundreds of fruit bats hanging upside down from the trees. From a distance they look like horrible creatures with their wings and the way they move, but if you look a little closer they are actually quit cute and look cuddly!! A bit off putting however, that they shake constantly in the trees to keep warm and often fight between themselves! Kev played poker that night, coming 4th out
of around 20 people, the cash prizes starting from 3rd place - typical! After traveling around New Zealand on a coach, we decided we were going to be more independent in Australia and do things our own way.
That day we booked our campervan to travel around oz - none other than a Spaceship! A bright orange converted Toyota van complete with fridge/freezer, gas cookers, DVD player and loads of other mod cons - this was to be our home for the next 7 weeks, unfortunately we had to wait a few days until we could pick up/begin our adventure in the Spaceship!! The same day we headed on a train to Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in Australia. Images of miles of sand, deep beaches and beautiful waves - not quite, just a small beach and not really that special at all!! We couldn’t even risk a swim in the water due to numerous recent shark attacks. A few days on, we managed to get some free tickets through our hostel for an Irish themed Ibiza, St. Patrick’s Day weekend party boat. Setting off from Darling Harbor, we cruised around in and out of the
harbors around Sydney while taking in the sunshine and views again of the Opera House & Bridge, finishing the day with a 5 dollar BBQ & beers on the hostel rooftop! Yum!
The next day, there were more free tickets up for grabs from the hostel, this time in the form of tickets to the Women’s World Cup Cricket Final between England & New Zealand, with not much else to do, we grabbed a few and headed to the North Sydney Oval. Just before we left the hostel, they gave us a handful of more spare tickets, on arrival at the Oval we tried to sell them to passers by, but people looked a little scared walking on quickly! Maybe they thought we were trying to sell drugs!! After no luck selling the tickets, Kev decided he was going to sell the tickets back to the Oval ticket office, and so he did! 60 dollars later - not a bad days work for a backpacker! We watched the cricket and baked in the hot sun for a few hours, a nice day, even nicer that it was free and we made 60 dollars!
The following day it
was Spaceship time, ours being named ‘Mr Worf’. We jumped in the bright orange camper and headed to Taronga Zoo to see the usual zoo animals along with the native kangaroos, wallabies, dingoes and koalas. Later on in the afternoon we headed to the Manly beach area. We hired the camper, without taking the insurance option, reversing into a bollard certainly didn’t make us feel any better, luckily no harm done! Unsure of where we would be pulling up and sleeping for the night, we pulled up next to a dimly lit park on a residential estate, wondering whether we were safe to sleep there, Kev and Phil (friend from NZ) cooked up a dinner of hotdogs while Holly sat nervously in the front seat, keeping an eye on the homeless guy laying nearby! After dinner we found a better lit street to park up for the night and slept our first night in Mr Worf!
A weird feeling waking up on the side of the road the next morning, with looks of disgust from the locals as we brushed our teeth roadside! We headed to Manly beach for the morning, much bigger & better beach than Bondi,
in the afternoon we set off heading to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Navigating our away around the outskirts of Sydney, the traffic was horrendous and took us several hours to reach an area close to the Mountains. We slept the night in the car park of a caravan park, with thanks to the Security man letting us stay. Woke early the next morning for fear of being caught out! Headed straight on our way to The Blue Mountains - ‘Blue’ due to the eucalyptus trees that inhabit them, and spawn off a ‘blue’ mist. Pulled up, firstly, at Wentworth Falls where we saw our first lookout into the mountains. Very dramatic, sheer drops, quite a magnificent image to take it. We then headed on a little walk to see the falls. After a short bush walk, we reached the non-impressive trickle of water! Perhaps we have been spoilt by all the waterfalls we saw in New Zealand. From there, we went on to ‘Echo Point’ where we saw the famous ‘three sisters’ (mountain). We drove onto Katoomba where we boarded the world’s steepest train, which used to be used for the transportation of miners. It practically reaches a
complete vertical angle, and we felt we could drop any second! Took a short informative bush/rainforest walk, followed by a sky cable car with views of the 3 sisters again, back up to our starting point. That night we stayed in our first campsite, which was quite a pleasant relief - to be somewhere with toilets, a kitchen and some safety!
The next day we headed back to good ‘ole Kings cross in Sydney - slept on a busy back road, watched a film and fell asleep. In the morning we arose fairly early to meet our chums from home, Pete & Rox. We had a nice stroll around Sydney, Hyde Park, Botanical Gardens and the New South Wales’ art museum. That night we went onto Darling Harbor for a delicious Italian meal, a bottle of wine, and some travel story swapping. Being in the city, it is incredibly hard to find anywhere to park a campervan for the night - with us in it! Therefore we found ourselves in Kings Cross multi-storey car park, with a fairly loud night’s sleep - cars screeching, and drunken yells in the distance! It wasn’t the best night’s sleep to say the
least.
Early start the following morning to meet Pete & Rox for V festival in Sydney. An enjoyable day in the sun, watching some bands & having a groove! Back to Kings Cross for some late night munch, and then another stay in the Multi Storey. This time, a hundred times worse! A car pulled up next to us, the boys swearing and peeing up against the wall, the girls having a loud cat fight, and swinging the doors into our van! Kev had to get out to make sure they knew we were in the van, before the door bashing got any worse and chipped all the paint off! Luckily it eventually ended at 5am with no trouble to us or the van!
Next morning we headed south towards Melbourne, stopping for the night in a beachside campsite in Wollongong - again, such a relief to be in a campsite!! Had a walk along the beach, cooked up some food, and commenced an uninterrupted night of sleep! Result!
The next morning, back on our way, a stupid woman pulled out a few meters in front of us, nearly killing herself, her child, and us! Luckily we
quickly avoided them, and both cars came to a halt. She apologized quickly before tearing off again. That night we stayed on Jervis Bay in Booderee National Park - the ranger warning us of the deadly spiders that come out at night to mate. She suggested we didn’t go walking around in our flip flops. We had a nice walk on the beach, which adorned beautiful white sand and emerald green waters, and was almost completely empty. The next day was pretty much all about the driving! Got to Melbourne in the afternoon and made our way to the suburb of Coburg to reach our campsite. We walked around the city, and a cool area of Brunswick Street with lots of quirky bars, cafes and bookshops.
The next few days we met some friends from New Zealand, and went to some markets and the Melbourne Museum. We also enjoyed some olives and a glass of wine on South bank, looking over to the city across the river. Had our first taster of ‘goon’ - a $10 for 4 litres box of wine - not the nicest, but perfect for budgeting backpackers! Went to St. Kilda - the beachside part
of Melbourne, where we had a walk around, grabbed some ice cream, a coffee, and finished up the day with a delicious vegetarian meal at ‘lentil as anything’, where you donate what you think the meal is worth, and it goes back into the community. We had an amazing curry platter, freshly cooked curries made up by the chef there and then, ridden with so much fresh veg! Yum!
The next day we headed back to Sydney via the 31 inland route, which incorporates some of the great pine drive. The 31 is known as ‘Sesame Street’ we later found out - due to the copious amounts of road kill in the form of huge kangaroos, wallabies and sadly, Koalas. Even worse, we actually witness a little koala bear crawl out into the main road, and be hit by two cars that didn’t care to swap lanes even though they had enough time. Unfortunately we had the best view of the whole thing, and it was incredibly sad, and obviously Holly’s tears, as always, were present! The next couple of days we saw Kev’s friend from back home, had a delicious Thai meal at …wait for it… Thai-Tanic! Food
was much better than the name!
We eventually put Sydney behind us and headed north, not before stopping at the Australia Walkabout centre. The centre allows you to walkabout freely with the kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. We were the only 2 people (other than 2 others we spotted later) in the whole park, and were taken on a private aboriginal walk and tour by an Aboriginal guy. We saw some original Aboriginal artwork and carvings, and it was so interesting to hear about the multiple meanings and functions of these. Later, the same guy took us on a bush tucker walk, where we both, for some unknown reason, ate a tree termite! Apparently a high source of protein! We got up close and personal with a flying grey fox (AKA fruit bat) - again saw how cute these creatures are!! Such personality, and affection, not at all the image of the blood sucking rat we all think of! The next few days, we continued North passing Newcastle (unfortunately), stopping for a short walk in Myall lakes national park, before stopping at Port Macquarie. The campsite here was beachside, and riverside, the beach having the biggest waves we’d seen so
far. We watched the sunset on the rocks that line the river mouth, which are painted and colored by people who have passed this spot over the years.
We spent the next few days in Byron Bay, a cool seaside town with a very hippy-ish feel and attitude. A blue festival was taking place, and campsites were completely rammed and charging $90 just to park our camper! Needless to say we would be roughing it for a few days, in the form of a motorway lay by which ended up being full of like minded campers! After a few days we headed north again, stopping at surfers paradise, merely to eat some cold pizza on its beach and leave! Not worth much more! That evening we attempted to reach Springbrook National Park, being in the middle of no-where, and the sun setting things got a little difficult. After a compulsory road detour, we soon found ourselves in the middle of a hilly foresty area which stretched for miles with a gradual incline. After driving for almost an hour, the road took a slight change in the form of a severe incline and sudden severe mist. The petrol warning
light came on, we couldn’t see a thing and there was a slight panic! (And obviously tears! Obviously!) We debated whether to continue and reach the national park or turn round and go back, in fear of running out of petrol. We decided to turn around as if we broke down; we were in big trouble in the middle of no-where! We initially had plenty of fuel for our journey, but the constant incline of the road used more petrol than we could have imagined! We made it back into a small town and slept in the camper roadside.
The following day we headed towards Brisbane, arrived in Brisbane, and soon departed Brisbane!! Really nothing at all to do in this city, so we continued our Journey north towards the famous Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s Australian Zoo. We arrived at a campsite in the Glass House Mountains area, which was pleasantly overlooked by ‘Tibrogargan’ mountain in the near distance. An early wake the next morning and we headed to the Zoo. We saw the crocodiles being fed at the ‘Crocoseum’ by Steve Irwin’s wife and daughter and enjoyed a fun day at the zoo, Holly being in her element
with the wildlife! The following day we stopped at ‘Noosa’ a pleasant seaside town, walking through to Noosa National Park to reach Alexandria Bay for some sunbathing & relaxing whilst seeing a ‘Goanna’ - a huge lizard taking a stroll through the bush. Alexandria Bay turned out to be an unofficial nudist beach where very old, tanned, saggy people throwing their naked selves around & frolicking in the waves!!!!!! Holly got more than she bargained for turning round to see one old naked guy, hands on hips, stood up right, gazing out to the sea, a few metres away, his todger not far away enough!!! Eeww!! After the laughs we sunbathed keeping eyes firmly shut!
A few days later we arrived at Rainbow Beach, the gateway to ‘Fraser Island’ - the largest sand island in the world. Fraser Island involves hiring a 4x4 vehicle, taking a ferry across to the island and navigating in groups of 8-11 people. The day before our trip we had to have a meeting/briefing, and it soon became clear why. The morning of our meeting, a 4x4 vehicle had overturned in the sand killing 2 people, 2 paralyzed and the rest air lifted to
hospital. Terrifying news, and gave us even more incentive to drive safely.
The next morning it was free pancakes for breakfast before hopping off into our 4x4 across to the island via ferry. Only 3 of 11 of our group could drive, and Kev drove first. Within ten minutes, our 4x4 was stuck in the sand!! Probably through driving too slow!! All the group got out to give a push, and we were shortly on our way again. From the start it was clear driving in the sand was very dangerous, and Kev was certainly not going to put Holly, himself or any of the group in danger by driving too fast. All it takes is to hit deep sand and the vehicle could roll over so easily, it became clear after the 1st hour of driving just how much concentration was needed to assess every path of sand that we were driving on. After a while, it was time to let another member of the group have a go at driving. 5 minutes later and we had jumped half a metre from a sand hill, down into a small stream flowing across the beach. A huge crack/bang sound
occurred and we thought we had broken the back wheel suspension, a quick check and everything was okay. Needless to say, it was time for a driver change! This time it was a sigh of relief as the next driver, was a girl who had driven tanks and 4x4 in the Israeli army!! That night, we played cricket & camped beachside with the other groups and all got a little too drunk on the ‘goon’.
We woke to sunrise with two dingo’s trotting through our camp, apparently very dangerous wild creatures, but harmless as long as you don’t provoke them. That day we Lake Allom to see a group of 10-15 small turtles swimming on the bankside. We visited the ‘Maheno’ shipwreck on the beach, and then headed to Lake Mackenzie, a beautiful freshwater lake with crystal waters and white sand. We started to drive towards our camp for that night but the tide was too high when we reached the beach so we had to turn back to camp in the forest.
The following morning we took a long walk inland and headed to Lake Wabby, surrounded by huge natural sand dunes and inhabited by catfish. In
the afternoon it was time to board a ferry and head back over to the mainland. Kev drove for 90% of the 3 days and really enjoyed the 4x4 driving. Driving over huge rocky areas and up steep inclines the terrain constantly changed, driving safe we wall arrived back on the mainland in one piece. That night our group all enjoyed dinner together at the hostel. The following day we continued north stopping at the town of 1770/Agynes Water. We watched the sunset on the beach and searched for somewhere to park for the night.
The next morning we had a 2-3 hour surf lesson on the beach; this was the last place on the coast that we could surf due to the start of the Great Barrier Reef. We were told our surf instructor was one of the best surfers in Australia! When we arrived to meet him, we saw a bulging fat old man shoveling food into his face - surely not one of the best surfers in Australia! On the beach during our briefing/lesson, to our absolute humour, every time he performed a surf move his balls popped through a hole in his wetsuit and dangled
down! Tears were rolling down our faces! Trying to conceal our laughter!!! Then he walked right up to some of the group, turned his back to them and bent over right in their face to show them a surf move, and his balls popped out again and dangled in the wind once more!!!!!!! It was too much!!! We didn’t need to surf!! We had more than got our moneys worth from the laughter!!!!! We both tried to surf/stand up on the boards, but it was really tough. Holly twice caught the perfect wave, and perfect speed for her to stand up on the board, with Kev yelling at her to stand up she kept laughing and couldn’t bring herself to stand on the board!!! That afternoon it was time to go join a biker gang! Well not quite, we went on a chopper tour through the streets of 1770! We all had our own bikes and there was a convoy of around 50 bikes! We drove around 60k on the 3 hour journey, stopping to see wildlife on the way and watched the sunset on the beach with wedges and a coke! However, it all could have been so different!
At the start of the tour, all bikes pulled out of the yard and onto the main road to park one by one. A few people turned round (including Kev) to laugh and see that someone had already drove themselves down a ditch next to the road…….guess who!! ….that someone being none other than our Holly! As she came round the corner and began to slow she somehow pushed the gas down as she tried to use the brake! And ended up down the verge and in the ditch! Luckily, somehow, remaining on the chopper throughout.
The next day we headed to Airlie Beach, stayed at a campsite and fed roaming turkeys Kellogg’s cornflakes! A few days later headed out on a sailing boat - ‘Habibi’ sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. This was a budget boat and the boat itself wasn’t that bad, but the crew were awful! We did some snorkeling and went to Whitehaven beach, but it was more of a relief when we arrived back to the Marina and off of the boat. After our Whitsunday trip we headed north towards Cairns. We stopped at a rest area in the town of Home Hill.
The
next morning (5:30am) we both woke suddenly with a shock! A crazed woman, obviously on drugs was screaming psychotically words that we do not wish to repeat and also threatening to drive a screwdriver into someone’s head!!! What a nice way to start the day! We then heard her say ‘I’m going to sit right here on this bench’, and that bench being right next to our camper - just our luck! She then started to scream like a psycho again and started banging on the camper behind us…..Kev jumped into the driving seat and we got the hell out of there!! Arriving in Cairns, we were both looking forward to our Scuba Diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef.
A day later and we boarded our boat, this time the boat was at the top end of the market, thankfully! And not that expensive either. We arrived to Danish pastries, coffee and fruit and a crew with lots of big smiles! The complete opposite to our dreadful Habibi experience! We soon arrived at Upolu Cay/Upolu Reef and were ready to scuba dive! Tanks on, regulator in, it was time to go down! It was just one instructor and
us two who went down together. The scuba diving was really enjoyable, the visibility wasn’t the best, but we saw some cool things, including a sting ray and enjoyed diving. Afterwards we did some snorkeling before heading back to the boat for a delicious lunch including fresh seafood. After that we headed to a small sand patch to snorkel from, which happened to be the start of the best part of the day. Within 5 minutes we came across a huge sea turtle. The 2 of us swam alone with it for around 15 minutes, swimming along under the water with it, stroking its shell, coming face to face with it, diving down with him. He was a beaut! We felt so privileged to be there with it, and he was happy enough sharing his company, and particularly liked the shell rub! An amazing experience, which Holly actually found (surprise, surprise) an emotional one! We saw some more turtles on the way back to the boat, along with sea cucumbers, blue starfish, clownfish, loads and loads of fish of all sizes and some huge batwing fish by the boat. An eventful day which wasn’t quite finished yet…!
Back on
dry land, we were driving along the esplanade, when a white ball of fluff ran out in front of us and other cars! Holly jumped out and held onto the dog so he couldn’t run out into the road again. We both stayed with the dog for a while to see if he had an owner, but he didn’t. Walked him up and down, using Kev’s backpack strap as a leash! He kept running into the bushes, and what with the Australian bush connection - alas! He was named there and then - Bush! Went to the unhelpful police, to security guards etc etc. Phoned the council, did all we could. He ended up spending the night in the campervan with us! We put him in the front but he insisted on jumping in the back with us, rolling around on his back, and cuddling up as much as he could! Bless!
The next morning, we took him to the RSPCA, and it was actually quite a sad goodbye, and he cried as we left until we drove round the corner! And guess what there were?? Oh yes - more tears!
That day it was time to empty the
spaceship and say goodbye to Mr Worf, who felt like home to us! Packed up our rucksacks once again and dropped off the spaceship early morning at 3am! Off to the airport we were, to catch our flight to Asia via Sydney!
Australia wasn’t the best country, and the Australians weren’t the greatest of people. After the beauty and non-stop activities of NZ & Fiji, we had clearly been spoilt, and Australia just didn’t compare! Despite this, we did have some fab experiences, met some cool people, and loved our camping life with Mr Worf!
And so it’s off to Asia - our first stop - Bangkok!
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Dad/Micky
non-member comment
Holz/Kev - thought I'd add a comment and congratulate you on the literary feast you have served up. Very impressive and something to look back on with pride! Look forward to the slide show on your return. Kev - love the new haircut! Stay happy and safe.