With Sheila, our 1999 Holden Commodore (the most Aussie car possible), packed full of camping gear, cookery, a small bbq, beach/snorkel gear, computers, cameras and even a skateboard we headed North from Newcastle mid-day on Friday October 11th. For the first week we didn’t really have any set plans so we opened our Camps 7 book (a book listing all the low cost campsites under $21 per night or free camping spots around Australia) and decided we’d drive 3-4 hours and find a place to stay. Our first night we camped in a tiny town called Bellingen in their showgrounds. We arrived in the dark and had to call the showground groundskeeper who took our money and gave us a few options of where to camp. That night we cooked up a big bbq and enjoyed the stars. The next day we continued North towards Lamington National Park, first stopping in Nimbin, a small hippy town popular with tourists as they are very “free” spirited when it comes to smoking. Lamington NP is in the mountain range inland from the Gold Coast. During the drive up through the mountains we got great views of the Gold Coast, which is Australia’s version of Disney Land, Canada’s Wonderland, Sea World, and Miami mixed into one crazy area. The beach is just covered with massive high rises where lots of Aussie’s go to party and enjoy the constant sunshine. We spent two nights near Lamington NP and enjoyed a nice day hiking in the park. On the holiday Monday we packed up and begun driving North. We wanted to see what the Gold Coast looked like up close so we headed towards the beach. While driving there our engine started to beep at us that it was overheating. Unlucky for us it was a holiday and everything was closed. After frigging with the radiator and calling Andrew’s dad we got in touch with a backpackers up the road who said we should bring the car to them if we could drive it and she’d call her mechanic friend. We eventually got the car to them and the mechanic Wally showed up and fixed the problem. There was a small air bubble in the radiator and amazingly within a few hours we were back on the road. Our next stop was to a beautiful lake area 3 hours north of Brisbane called Elanda Point. The campground was set next to the lake that is part fresh and part salt water depending on rain and tides. The next morning we hiked into the forest to a ranger’s cottage set on the opening of an estuary. We got chatting with the ranger and learned all about snake safety and what to do in an emergency. Hiking safety is very different in Australia than at home, snakes don’t really like to be sprayed in the face with bear spray…who knew? Our next stop was to a town raved about by old Aussie surfers and is the most northern surfing town in Queensland called 1770, near Agnes Water. We spent two nights there enjoying the amazing tranquility of the town and the campground, which was next to a beautiful beach with a really relaxed atmosphere. We both agreed we could have easily lived in that town and hope to one day go back for longer. After two nights relaxing we left in the early morning and had a big day of driving (5-6 hrs) through Rockhampton, a town known for it’s massive amounts of beef exports. The road was pretty straight and not too exciting for the next 4 hours until we reached an area West of Mackay to a place near Eungella National Park. The rest of the area was pretty dry and flat but once we started to get near Eungella everything changed from flat dry farmlands to lush green rainforest. Tucked away in the rainforest is the coolest campground called Platypus Bushcamp run by the wackiest old man. The camp had a few different tree huts, then two natural pools, one for spotting the very rare platypus and the other for swimming, which is a treat as this far north you’re in croc country and it's stinger season so swimming in the ocean can be limited. There we enjoyed the evening and next morning trying to spot the platypus with no luck, but had an amazing time swimming in the natural pool. From there we headed to Airlie Beach, the town used as the jump off point to the infamous Whitsunday Islands where we will be spending 7 days kayaking around and camping on the islands!
5 Comments
Arvindkumar Subramanian
10/26/2013 01:18:10 am
Hi Andrew & courtney,
Reply
Carly
10/26/2013 03:04:21 am
Love it. Looks amazing. Be safe and have fun!
Reply
Mom
10/26/2013 06:05:39 am
I want to return with you too! What beautiful country and so diverse.
Reply
Anne
10/31/2013 04:33:35 am
I love that you named your car! Looks like the adventures are going well so far.
Reply
Cheryl
11/1/2013 02:42:22 pm
Awesome guys!!!!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Get updates by email!
Archives
January 2014
Categories
All
|