Australia

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1st Septembet - 1st October

The first leg: Sydney to Airlie Beach

Australia, the expansive country that surpassed all expectations with its diversity and natural beauty, enthralled us. The adventure started in Sydney on a double decker train which took us from the airport to our delightful hostel-come-student accommodation in a pleasant leafy suburb. We spent three days sightseeing Sydney on travel cards that enabled us to travel by double decker train, bus and ferry. As well as the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach (in the rain) we also took in some of the Sydney nightlife in a local pub with some friends of Miles’ (James’ brother) and discussed the delights of Asia from where they had recently come and which we are soon to uncover.

The following day we had a rude awakening when we picked up our rather shabby looking van with an even shabbier seeming engine. We drove up to Myall Lakes national park and stopped there for the night camping free of charge which was a nice surprise. It was very cold and thus we didn’t sleep particularly well as we ambitiously opted out of borrowing extra blankets from Wicked Campers. The next morning, however, we were greeted with a deliciously warm sunshine and took a short hike through the skirting trees of our national park, up a small sand dune and were bowled over by a vast view over rolling sand dunes out to a turquoise sea. We were welcomed by a school of dolphins when we finally arrived at the shore. Our drive that day took us through Taree where we stopped for internet and supplies and then on to Port Macquerie where we parked up on a splendid cliff overlooking two more stunning beaches and watched the enormous orange sphere of the moon rising up from the watery horizon before throwing out its silvery light over the rough sea.

Next morning we rose early and had our coffee and porridge on the cliff joined by a friendly Australian family who gave us lots of advice about our journey ahead. We then drove to Byron Bay stopping for lunch at Sandy Bay and later for a photo opportunity at Evans Head. We spent the night at a rest stop off the motorway accompanied by many other campers including ‘Hilton on Ute’. Apparently it is perfectly accepted and normal to camp at rest stops in Australia. Great news.

The skies over Byron Bay, the other surfing mecca were much like those at Bondi, instantly greying and drizzling on our arrival. My foot was still too bad to surf but James hoped to give it a go but as with the weather, the waves had it in for us as well and there was no surf. We did have another task in Bondi besides the surfing, and that was fixing the van. Thus we took it to a Wicked affiliated mechanic and left it there for the best part of the day to ascertain that there was a problem with the engine, as we were already keenly aware, and that we needed to take it to the depot in Brisbane. Great. We drove on towards Brisbane and stopped in a carpark when it started to get dark. There we experienced a rather magical evening as we watched the most terrific lightning show either of us had ever seen. At first there was absolutely no rain and I stood outside the van watching great flashes of lightning lighting up what appeared to be, from our carpark, one of the four corners of the sky. These flashes occurred at least once every three seconds alighting alternating corners for a long time. After about twenty minutes the skies opened, I jumped back into the van, and consequently the van began to leak, a lot. Saucepans, plates, cups, tuperwares and all other containers we could easily access were all pulled out and placed strategically across our already soaked bed and they filled up fast. Luckily we had a sink. And the storm continued. When it eventually died down we were delivered new entertainment... Barry boys, practicing their ‘drifting’ inches from our van.

At the end of that long night we awoke to a van covered in flies, so much so that we could not wash up breakfast or even open up the back of the van to put the dirty dishes in the ‘kitchen’. We took the van up to Brisbane where we got the engine seen to, our leaking bits sealed and even managed to get a new speaker put in. Then on to Noosa Heads to enjoy surf, sun, sand and a disturbance free night.

We treated ourselves to breakfast in a cafe the next morning as our gas stove had run out. After gorging ourselves silly we walked through the national park to the surfing beach and saw our first (and only) koala on the way. It turned right around to face us. It was magical. James took out his board and got very frustrated with himself while I sunned myself on the beach resigned not to surf until my foot was better. I was later convinced to have a go at ‘body boarding’ with the surfboard but ended up getting smacked around the face when I lost the board on my way out and a wave brought it crashing around towards me. Over a month on and I still have a slightly deformed face reminiscent of the Joker. That afternoon we drove on to Rainbow beach and went to look at the incredible sandblows which are like sand dunes to look at but are advancing while sand dunes apparently are declining.

We took an early stroll down the beach the next morning to see the different shades of sand on the cliffs which did not have quite the dramatic rainbow effect we were expecting but were beautiful all the same. We then headed on towards Hervey Bay where we bought prawns and scallops and utilised our first free gas barbeque of many. They are all over Australia and are free for anybody to use. They are cleaned daily and are simply fantastic. Our barbeque was washed down with a couple of stubbies in true Aussie style. Back on the road we drove to Agnes Water, a quiet non-touristy place with a fantastic beach. We met a nice guy from Melbourne at the free barbeque there and chatted with him while we cooked and ate sharing travellers’ stories and parking tips.

A brief swim and shower and shampoo were had the next morning before we hit the road and made our way inland to Blackdown Tablelands national park. We stopped for lunch at a dusty rest stop and ate our sarnies under an extraordinarily hot sun. Under the table at which we were going to eat and had prepared the food, James discovered a deadly red back spider and proceeded to take many a close up photo, much to my horror. At the national park we registered and paid our first camping fees in since we had been in Australia (10 Australian dollars which is about £5). The campsite, Munall (the local aboriginal name for the goanna or monitor lizard) was about 7km down a steep and dusty track. Each camping spot had its own BBQ spot for all those sensible enough to bring fire wood to use. It was really rather special, especially after all the rest stops at which we had parked. We took an hour or so’s walk to admire some fantastic panoramic views of the tablelands, forest and vast slabs of sandstone rising from the ground, up past the considerable mountain we were standing on, and towering above us. We then drove across the park to behold another remarkable view complemented by an Australian sunset.

The next morning, after a surprisingly cold night, we took the cultural trail of about 3km and took in some extremely well preserved inverted aboriginal rock hand stencils. After breakfast we hit the road and got to the town of Sapphire where we filled a bucket each of ‘wash,’ aka dirt and rubble, and sieved through it, washed the stones, shook them in a particular way in the vain attempt to shift any sapphires to the middle, poured the stones out onto the table and then picked through them with tweezers in search of the tiny blue gems. It was surprisingly addictive. Despite my abysmal shaking technique I managed to find three ‘cuttable’ sapphires and about ten which were too small, James got a few too small ones and a lot of pretty rocks. We left later than we had hoped and drove on to Claremont for dinner. On route we saw four kangaroos and what we thought was an emu. After dinner we ended up driving for a further four hours in the dark anxiously looking out for potential road kill. Thankfully we didn’t meet any. We arrived in Eungella national park late and tired and thankfully pulled into a quiet lay by to collapse for the night.

Very early the next morning (around 5.30) we arose and went to stand by the river to spot platypus. We saw three and a number of turtles. The platypuses were surprisingly small, no more than a foot in length and incredibly swift swimmers. It was a delightful sight. After breakfast we drove on to Airlie beach, another four hours or so, and excitedly booked a trip to the Whitsundays courtesy of James’ family... a big thank you has to go to them. It was amazing!

The Whitsundays

Our luxury tall ship sailed eighteen of us comfortably across the astoundingly azure waters skirting the majestic islands of the Whitsundays for three days and two nights. On our first day we were taken snorkelling in some spectacular spots and then moored up near Whitehaven beach were we were ferried across to Whitsunday Island. We embarked on a fascinating guided tour through the forest in which we were all required to lick the bottoms of tree ants which have a surprisingly tasty citrus kick. The beach was so beautiful we returned the following morning. The sand is made of silica (ground quartz) which accounts for its incredibly fine pure white floury paradise-like quality. Back on deck we cracked open the booze and sat together talking and eating crudités awaiting our spectacular meal under the stars.

As I mentioned, we returned to Whitehaven beach the next morning for a short nap in paradise as none of us slept well unaccustomed to the rolling sea and the high temperatures in the hull where we slept. The four sails were then hoisted and we sailed among the islands sunning ourselves on deck. Lunch was followed by a few snorkelling stops in which we met Wally and Princess, two huge humpheaded maori wrasse. Another sail followed this before another fantastic dinner under the stars.

On our last morning we went out for an early snorkel and James and I made the happy mistake of swimming ‘too close’ to the shore where the coral is out of the water at low tide and thus in bad condition. We were lucky enough to come across a large loggerhead turtle however which more than made up for the lack of beautiful coral. We then sailed back to the port and bid farewell to our new friends. It was strange to be back on dry land but we soon got back into the routine refreshed from our little holiday from our holiday and continued our journey north.

Back on the road: Airlie Beach to Port Douglas

At Bowen we were stopped by our first Aussie traffic jam. Surprised, we took this as a sign that we should stop for dinner. We found a seemingly unused golf course and cooked there watching smoke rising from the road we were taking and a chopper carrying buckets of water from the sea to the forests bordering the road, therein lied the reason for the traffic jam. After watching this chilling sight and finishing our dinner we warily traversed the smouldering trees and reached Home Hill at around 8pm where we found, thanks to some Whitsunday palls, an amazing rest stop with free camping for two days, a big kitchen and hot showers. We were thrilled.

We woke the next morning to the sound of rainbow parakeets bickering excitedly in the tree overhanging our van. After watching these beautiful birds for a while we cooked ourselves breakfast in the huge, functional and sparkling kitchen, enjoyed the luxurious powerful hot showers and then hit the road. We drove as far as Townsville where we booked the passenger ferry across to Magnetic Island. There is nothing magnetic as such on this island; rather it is named due to Captain Cook mistrust of his compass upon arriving at this unsuspected island on one of his voyages. On arrival we took a bus to some crossroads near Arthur Bay enjoying the novelty of being on a bus once more, and then scrambled down some rocks to arrive at the beach. My foot was still sore and I did it no favours but the beach was nice enough. The island had a tropical feel and we could have happily spent several days there. However, as ever, we had to push on and thus a couple of hours later we were back on the ferry, and not long after, back on the road. We drove up to Mission Beach where we treated ourselves to fish and chips in an open air restaurant washed down with a nice bottle of 1828 Semillion Sauvignon Blanc. We parked on the side of the main road for lack of other options.
We arose early, paranoid of being moved on or crashed into, and had a breakfast of fried egg sarnies before going in search of cassowaries in the rain. Cassowaries are huge, colourful ostrich like birds which are apparently have the potential to be very vicious if frightened and are incredibly rare. We were almost certain of spotting one however given that everyone we had met thus far who had been to Mission Beach had seen them. After two cassowary walks in the pouring rain, however, we admitted defeat and made do with taking photos of the various cassowary statues and ‘Cassowary crossing’ signs in the surrounding area. Our spirits were raised by gorgeous wallaby crossing the road in front of us on our way out.

We then drove to Cairns where we showered at the free lagoon. This was another very impressive feature of Australia; in addition to the free gas barbeques and almost every town, in the north where it is hot and considered unsafe to swim in the sea between October and May ever year (due to box jellyfish or ‘stingers’ and crocs), beautiful man made, free saltwater lagoons pop up in every city. From Cairns we took the beautiful coastal road to Port Douglas. There, we booked a tour to the outer Great Barrier Reef in which I booked myself on to do an introductory dive.

The trip to the reef beat all expectations, I am now a scuba diving addict! There were three spots in which our disturbingly huge catamaran stopped. At the first James and I snorkelled and saw another mauri wrasse and some fantastically beautiful coral. At the next James and I dived together and it was incredible. Instantly I was hooked and begged the guide to take me down again. Happily there was space and Jim and I did another dive in which we saw an octopus. Then and there I promised myself I would do my open water course in Indonesia.

The Outback.

From Port Douglas we took the road into the heart of Australia. The heat away from the coast is thick and almost unbearable but it cools remarkably quickly once the sun goes down. Unfortunately our van didn’t. On our first day in the outback we stopped at Mount Suprise for lunch and did a spot of topaz fossicking. It was much easier than fossicking for sapphires but perhaps less rewarding and we each found a good sized cuttable topaz. Pushing on we stopped in Georgetown for a stubby in a typical outback style pub and then drove on to an incredibly dusty rest stop where we spent the night with the wallabies.

The next day we spent a long day driving as far as Cloncurry. Points of interest included some interesting looking large birds which I nearly ran over and a small croc wallowing in a river under a bridge we drove over. The following day we did a similar amount of driving and made it into the Northern Territory. We stopped in Mount Isa for a much needed shower and some internet access before crossing the border and stopping for lunch where we discovered that our margarine had become liquid and our cheese wasn’t far off. We thus ate dry sandwiches and were plagued by flies which were to become an unpleasantly constant feature of our outback experience. The landscape in the Northern Territory was dramatically different to that in Queensland. It became incredibly flat so that we could clearly make out the curvature of the earth and straw coloured grass reached out to the horizon in every direction. Driving on an earthy red took over as the dominating hue and then almost lush greens. We stopped just past ‘Three Ways’ where we turned right (north) after driving for two full days in one continuous westerly direction.

Having run out of oats and given the surprisingly strong gales the next morning we took a marvellous breakfast at a roadhouse. We then drove on in the direction of Pine Creek. In Katherine we stopped to do some shopping and use the internet and were startled to find we had been charged $1000 AUS dollars for speeding (£500). Since, we have discovered that this is the absolute maximum charge and it should be lower and are awaiting a ticket... We spent a very sweaty and uncomfortable night at a free campsite by a dam near Pine Creek.

We had hoped to go gold panning in Pine Creek as our Lonely Planet had suggested was possible but on enquiring we were laughed out of the tourist office and informed by a rather bitter jobs worth that the Lonely Planet hadn’t been to Pine Creek in over ten years. Thus, we headed to Kakadu National Park; a UNESCO world heritage site both for its cultural and natural attributes. It had to be good, and was, bar the flies and their incessant high pitched circling and dives for eyes, mouth and other intrusive areas.

Our first stop, after the essential shower at the entrance, shamefully, was the apparently free swimming pool. It was incredibly hot and we were desperate for a refuge from the flies. It was hard to draw ourselves away from the holiday-like luxury of it all. However, James managed to drag me away and we drove to Uburr where we cooked up a curry and took it up to the look out on a mammoth rock overlooking the stone country in one direction and the great flood plains in the other. It was, quite simply, the most spectacular view I have ever seen, complimented deliciously by the firey orange horizon, the crimson blushing clouds and the opposing light, yet deep blue of the sky above it.

Back in the stickily hot reality of the van we busied ourselves gaffa taping the mosquito net up to the door of the van in order to keep the door open and the bugs out. We lay there blessing the coolness of the breeze and fearing that which lurked outside, listening to the bouncing sound of what we presumed to be kangaroos and the stealthy tread of what? Possibly a croc.

We awoke the next morning alarmed by the relatively late hour for van life (8am). We showered, breakfasted and then headed back to Uburr to listen to some free talks given by the rangers on the extraordinarily well preserved rock art situated in the park. The ranger was a remarkably enthusiastic, informed and intricate in her explanations of the kinship systems of the Kakadu residing aborigines. We were so enthralled that we followed her to her next talk on children’s stories which depict the ‘laws’ aborigines live by. We learnt about a girl who ate a ‘barra’ at the wrong time in her life which resulted in her being beaten by men of a different tribe and the eventual death of these men, teaching that the laws should be obeyed by all, barra should be eaten at the right time, only the elders of a specific tribe have the right to punish the members of the tribe and that the punishment should be fitting to the crime committed. We also heard the story of two evil sisters who turned themselves into crocs and now reside in the skies, and some believe, in all crocs as well. It was all very enlightening and I would recommend these talks to anyone lucky enough to visit Kakadu. Following that we took a walk through jungle along a river in the hope of spotting a croc and instead came across thousands of flying foxes which we initially took for large bats.

The delightfully named town of, ‘Humpty Doo’ was our next port of call. There we treated ourselves to dinner and beer in a pub as it was too hot to cook. We parked nearby and the following morning took a ‘jumping croc’ cruise. The tour, although gimmicky, was surprisingly good. The skipper gave us a running commentary and told us some basic information about crocodiles while a woman held out huge chunks of meat on sticks which the crocodiles in the river jump for. It was amazing to see how high the crocs can jump using just the sheer strength of their tales against the water. We then drove on to Darwin where we spent the next four days chilling out.

Around Darwin

Darwin was surprisingly nice with some fantastic facilities such as a free swimming pool with amazing water slides which Jim and I spent hours of fun in. They also have amazing water playgrounds which I would have killed for as a kid. All this is of course surrounded by a large green park full of free barbeques. Several other free lagoons can be found around the city, all with free showers of course. There is also an outdoor cinema in which you sit in deckchairs to watch films with a bar and cafe and free mosquito repellent. What more could you desire on a hot Darwin evening? We also enjoyed some fantastic markets, one of which was a night market and had great food and music.

We took one last trip in the van before giving it back. This was to Lichfield National Park where we spent the night and half a day. Lichfield has some beautiful waterfalls under which you can swim and we spent the day waterfall hoping and generally avoiding the flies.

Back in Darwin we went to an interesting talk given by two Argentinians who we had met at one of the markets who drove all the way from Argentina to Alaska in an antique car with wooden wheels and had four children along the way. We also visited a museum which I didn’t like as it was full of stuffed animals and went for a posh, farewell to Australia, dinner. The following day we got hot and bothered packing our too many belongings into our stupidly shaped backpacks, washing the car and were rewarded by a nice dip in the pool and a final play on the water slides before our final free barbeque. We then returned our van to Wicked and took a cab to the airport.

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Photos

Close up koala
So cute I had to

A big rock on top of a little rock on a mountain.....
can someone explain the science to me?