Roadtrip along the east coast of Australia

Monday 30^th June

Todays highlight is to surprise Ib & Charlotte and their two daughters, Signe & Sarah, in the airport. 

As the proud Vikings we are, we bring our semi-big Danish flag along, and show the whole arrival hall where we're all from. It’s so great to finally again get a visit from home. Honestly at this time we really needed some well-known company, and after looking forward to this visit for several months, we are quite happy to see some familiar faces. They’re all pretty knackered after travelling for 32 hours. 

We take a cab with them into their hotel near central station. The gals are starving and Ib is thirsty, we try in vain to find a place that suites everybody, but unfortunately it’s impossible at this time a monday night. They end up ordering pizza from a "hole in the wall", and even though we already ate, we share a nasty big kebab.. Which we regret seconds after swallowing the last bite... Typical us! 

We sit down at a pub afterwards and start catching up, plus we try to figure out our priorities to explore in Sydney. We’re on a tight schedule, but we'll try to get the best out of every moment. 

We only have 16 days to reach Cairns. Well, actually these next 3 weeks is all up to Ib & his gals, since it’s their holiday and they decided to travel this far “just” to visit us. We arrange to meet up the next morning, and I must admit that we kept our fingers crossed, that the jetlag wouldn't hit them to hard!

Welcome to Sydney

Tuesday 1st July

We take the train from Ashfield to Cenral station and meet up with the Augustini's (Ib, Charlotte, Sarah & Signe) We decide to take the hop-on-hop-off bus around the city. It’s a long time since we felt so much as tourist's. It’s so obvious that we are “them” - the round-eyed “Japanese” who takes pictures of everything!! We explore all the must-see tourist attractions, such as the Harbour bridge, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, the Opera house and the Botanical garden. Sydney is a beautiful city, surrounded by water and countless harbours and beaches. 

We walk through the botanical garden to Kings Cross, it seems to be close on the map, but again distances here is always longer than you think. We introduce the Augustini's to thai-food. They aren’t as excited as us about it, but at least they tried something new. 

After another long walk to the hop-on-hop-off busstop, we catch a bus to Bondi beach. We get there just before sunset, but unfortunately we don’t have time to hop-off the bus. It’s too cold for a swim anyway, so no one seems to bother. We are all getting cold on the way back to the city. ere we find a restaurant in The Rocks. A hot chocolate for some and beers for others help us getting warm again. After a long sightseeing day in Sydney we’re all knackered as soon as we finish our dinner. So we split up and call it a day.

The Opera House

Harbour brigde

Inis bird

Wednesday 2^nd July

It’s the first day of our roadtrip with the Augustini's. They rented a motorhome, already before they came. Which by the way is huge, and not really made for city driving. Ib seems annoyed by the big monster already before we leave Sydney, apparently all plates, cups, cutlery, pots and pans, shakes and rattles loundly when they drive. 

It's driving them crazy. Well, of we go.. 

Our first stop is a little drive inland to Katoomba, to see the Three Sisters - a rock formation in the Blue Mountains. We’re enjoying the stunning view and taking loads of pictures and then continuing our journey. We’re not getting as far as planned that day, at dusk we stop at Richmond to stay for the night. 

Here we discovered that our car isn’t allowed on the rest area, it’s only made for big campers and motorhomes. The Augustini's get a powered site, and we plan to sleep at the parking lot outside the hotel (which is attached to the rest area). The manager tells us, he can get a fine if the police catch us sleeping in the car, and we can risk that we have to get up in the middle of the night to move the car. That left us with two options, either doing it anyway or sleep in the big motorhome with the others. 

The last one was probably the best, so after dinner and some red wine, we sleep four adults in the kingsize bed. It was actually not as bad as it sounds, but I think I speak for all of us when I say, we have had better sleeps.

The blue mountains

The tree sisters

Thursday 3^rd July

We wake up to a clear blue sky and enjoy our breakfast on the provided benches outside. 

We’re driving most of this day. We have a stop-over in Singleton for grocery shopping and some lunch, before we continue our journey up to a campsite in Wingham. We get there around dinner time, but as everyday, it’s dark around 7pm. The caretaker at the campsite welcomes us and is obvious happy to have someone staying at his campsite. At this time we are the only once there, the summer hasn’t really started yet, he said. It gets cold at night, as soon as the sun sets, so we have to put on jumpers or jackets. Due to the low season period, we only pay him 30 dollars (149kr) for a night, including power, toilets and hot showers. 

Friday 4^th July

It was our first night sleeping in the car, and we had a surprisingly good sleep. The mattress passed the test, we had enough space and pillows are great. The only issue is our quilt, we bought it in the same size as the cover, but for some reason they don’t fit together. 

Anyway, this morning we deviate from our route and drive to Harrington to see pelicans, we've read that there should be plenty of them there. The fishermen go out in the morning, and before they go home with their catches, they clean and fillet the fish, and the leftovers goes to the pelicans. They just sit around the cutting boards and wait for the fishermen to throw fish skeleton at them. The fishermen seems to enjoy having an audience on, and we’re very entertained by the action.

After breakfast we head further north. Our travels seems to be going very slow. The highways often runs through a town or city, and there’s lots of constructions on the roads, so we get delayed all the time. 

When we get to Broadwater we phone a campground, book it and stay there for the night. 

Breakfast time

Rainbow lorikeet

Saturday 5^th July

Surfers Paradise is only a short drive from Broadwater, but it takes us ages to find a parking spot for the big motorhome. It’s shocking that none of the car parks in the city is made for motorhomes. We drive back and forth on the Esplanade and eventually find a free spot. 

The city name speaks for itself, and does attract a lot of surfers from all over the world. For me it felt unreal to be there, I have seen so many pictures of this place – and it’s as awesome as the pictures shows – with a long and wide beach stretch, big skyscrapers in the background, a unique esplanade and a lively city. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of surfers to watch, water is still cold, so there’s only a few real enthusiasts who dare to surf the cold waves this day. 

We get a good and cheap 10 dollar lunch in the city centre. It’s a few days since we have had access to a wifi connection, and we need to book flight tickets to Byron Bay, plus we need to find a campground with availability for us for the next two nights. We place ourselves in a Starbucks café (they always have wifi), and sit there most of the day, researching. Meanwhile the Augustini's are shopping. 

Erik phones a campsite near Palm beach, where we can stay. Out there we try to arrange next day’s activities – the Augustini's definitely want to visit Sea World, we are more into the whale watching tours. We discover that there’s a combo ticket between the two, and arrange to do them both in one day. The only problem is to book it, cause the whale watching offices voice mail says that they are fully booked for the weekend, which means we have to wait till next day, before we can arrange anything. It’s still too cold to sit outside at night, but we all fit around the table in the motorhome, it’s actually quite cosy.

At the campground

Sunday 6^th July

Erik phones the whale watching company early in the morning, this time they answer the phone, and luckily it turns out that their voicemail isn’t updated, so they still have space for us. We leave the campsite and point our direction towards Sea World & the whale watching (located at the same place) area. 

Unfortunately this day there’s a marathon in the city, and we haven’t expected the traffic to be that chaotic. We sit in a big traffic jam for more than an hour, when we arrive at our location, we are short on time to see both Sea World, and still catch the boat at 1.30pm to see whales. 

The Augustini's decide to do Sea World, they don’t wanna rush through it. We decide to rush through the animals in cages, and go experience the real nature instead. We only pay 15 dollars (75kr) extra for the S.W. entrance. The whale tour comes to 90 dollars (448kr), combo ticket is 105 dollars (523kr) per person. Even though we didn’t expect anything Sea World disappoints us. 

The whale tour is anything but disappointing. It’s fantastic to watch those big creatures playing in their natural environment. We’re pretty lucky to see so many humpback whales at the same time, one of them is really comfortable with our appearance and keeps swimming around the boat for more than an hour – just playing and enjoying itself. 

The winter in Antarktis is too cold for them, so at this time of year the humpback whales are on their way up to warmer waters, in northeastern Australia. I can’t describe how amazing it was to watch. We visit the skypoint and get a fantastic view over the city at sunset.

When we get back to the campground we find it hard not to be too excited about the whale tour – we don’t wanna show off, but on the other hand we want to show all the amazing pictures and videos we took!!  Wow that’s gonna be one of my favorite experiences ever.

Surfers Paradise

Fantastic view from the skypoint

Whale watching

Monday 7^th July

We get up early and drive to Australia Zoo, near Beerwah. We have a great and fun day. We are impressed by a bird show. It’s crazy what they can train them to do. I’m almost crying the first time I see a koala bear, they’re the most adorable animals in the whole world, especially when they’re asleep. We all make some new friends in the kangaroo enclosure, and after a long day in the zoo we drive up to Hervey Bay and check in at a powered campground. 

We are all tired, so pizza for dinner seems to be the perfect decision. A few glasses of red wine makes us more tired and we’re off to bed. 

Sarah

Signe

Koala and Kangaroo Video

Tuesday 8^th July

We have to arrange our 2 days trip to Fraser Island, the world’s biggest sand island. Only 4X4 cars is allowed out there, so the Augustini's are renting one with camp gear and everything they will need for the camping. We will bring our own car, and hopefully it will pass the test. After getting that sorted out we spend some time on the beach. 

Later we get our permission to the island at the car workshop where they rent their car. We are doing groceries for our adventure the following day. Red wine is now being drinked on a daily basis. It makes us sleep like babies. 

Hervey Bay beach

Wednesday 9^th July

We get up together with the sun, as most days. We still haven’t got curtains in the car, so even when we drink a certain amount of wine each night, we’re still not able to sleep in. It’s too bright and hot! 

We take the ferry to Fraser Island in the morning. It’s the largest sand island in the world with rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, swamps and sand dunes. 

On the island we realize the nature is wilder than first assumed. Our 4 wheel drive is switched on and some air is taking out of the wheels, to make a better grip. 

The inland “roads” are bumpy, steep and at times with very loose sand. Soon we agree that it’s more exciting than fun. The car is doing okay, but it’ makes a lot of loud noises from time to time. We get a bit concerned, and decide to take it easy on the harsh “roads”. 

We swim at Lake Mckenzie – the water is cold, but the appearance of the stunning lake makes it too tempting not to take a quick dip. 

We then continue our journey towards the wide beach, luckily it’s easier to drive there and isn’t as hard for the car. Considering that we can only drive maximum 80 km per hour on the beach, and 20-30 km per hour inland, the island is huge, approximately 120 km long and 24 km wide. Due to the high tide we’re not allowed to drive on the beach after 2pm, the beach gets narrow and wetter after that time. 

We drive to the nearest campsite and get our lunch there. We discover there’s humpback whales swimming and playing around out in the horizon.  It’s easy to spot them as soon as they exhale. Some are jumping as well and often we “just” see them splash into the water again. It’s very exciting and entertaining to watch. 

We venture inland in the afternoon to see turtles in a lake. Our spare tire on the back of the car is starting to get serious loose after all the big bumps, we’re thinking we shouldn’t have driven this far “just” to see some turtles. 

We head back to the campsite where Sarah & Signe cook us an excellent chili con carne can dinner, meanwhile we’re sipping red wine, watching more whales and enjoying us selves. 

Erik is the last one in bed that night and has to scare a few dingoes away from the area, before he gets in the car. Dingoes are wild dogs and are attracted by food. Due to their role in the top of the food chain on the island, they’re protected by law, and helps keeping a healthy balance in the natural environment. They can be dangerous to humans and attack, but mostly because people feed them, or they get use to humans and don’t see us as a threat. As long as you take your precautions, you will be fine. Erik yelled at them and that was enough to scare them away, luckily!!!

Sandy road

Lake McKenzie

How to escape snakes...!!

Dingoes might seem harmless, but they're dangerous wild animals

Whale watching

Wine drinking

Thursday 10^th July

We wake up to a beautiful sunrise, we take a stroll along the beach and watch the waves wash over parts of an old shipwreck that has been on the beach since 1936. 

We drive to Indian Head, a look-out point, where we spend some time looking out on the massive ocean - we spot both humpback whales, turtles, rays and dolphins out there. It’s an incredible day for seeing these animals. We’re enjoying lunch on the beach and then working our way slowly through the deep and loose sand towards the ferry on the other side of the island. 
Back on the mainland we’re having troubles finding a campsite with both availability and power. We decide to drive out of Hervey Bay and follow the route we’re gonna take the next day anyway. 60 km out of town we find a campground, free – but without power and showers. We all desperately need a shower at this point, but we will have to wait. 

Dingoes has been wandering around during the night

Ship wreck

The ship wreck

View from Indians head

Humpback whale

Lunch break

Fraser Island Video

Friday 11^th July

We’re driving to Airlie Beach, it takes most of the day. So when we arrive we’re running into the same troubles as the night before. Campsites are closing down, or are fully booked. 

We’re starting to get nervous, none of us is keen for another day without a shower or power (to the motorhome), our last shower was wednesday – things are starting to smell pretty bad. 

In the last minute we find a campsite (Airlie Cove) and we all get our deserved shower. After a whole day of driving we definitely deserved some red wine as well.

Saturday 12^th July

Finally we have a day without anything on the program. We hang around in the town and arrange our trip to the Whitsunday islands for the next day. We’re dining out for lunch and are making homemade burgers at night.

Airlie Beach town

Sunday 13^th July

We get picked up from Airlie Cove at 7am and get transferred to the harbour where the boat is waiting for us. We’re going on a daytrip to the Whitsunday islands, a collection of different islands and a place of stunning natural beauty and breathtaking views. 

Erik & I are booked in for diving as well, and Signe & Sarah decides to try scuba diving for their first time. First stop is at Whitehaven beach - here we have some time to enjoy the views and the beach. 

The sand is as white as snow, it’s unbelievable.

After a great lunch served on the boat, we have our next stop, where some are going snorkeling and the four of us are going diving. We’re diving with the girls, to make them more comfortable and perhaps help them if they don’t understand the instructor. 

They’re both doing great in the beginning, but unfortunately Signe isn’t comfortable with the equipment, she decides to quit in the middle of the dive. It happens a lot with beginners. Sarah is luckily enjoying it, so she continues the dive. 

Erik & I have paid for two dives, but we’re so cold when we get back on the boat, that we decide not to do the second dive. We get our money refunded. It’s getting chilly on the boat, and we’re all knackered after a long day on the water. We’re all cold when we finally get to the harbour again. 

Signe has been begging for sushi ever since they got here, so at night we split up – the four of us are eating sushi, while Ib & Sarah is hunting douwn a good pizza. 

Erik and I are hopefully going diving the next day, we haven’t been able to get in contact with the dive company, since we haven’t had a phone signal the whole day. We don’t know if they have space for us yet, but we will drive up there and ask them in the morning. We realize that it’s a long drive, but apparently the SS Yongala dive is one of the best in the world, so it’s worth trying. We pull in at a rest area close to Ayr late at night and sleeps there.

Whitsundays

Whitehaven beach

Sarah and Signe discover scuba diving

 Sarah looking cool (actually the most important thing about diving - always look cool!!

Sarah & Signe's first dive

Monday 14^th July

Luckily it’s only half an hour drive to the SS Yongala dive company on the beach in Ayr. And yes they have space for us. We pay 259 dollars (1290kr) for 2 dive each. 

We’re 7 divers that day, the boat is a large size denghy, the water is really choppy, and it’s a wild and crazy boat trip out to the wreck. Out there the waves are big and the boat is rocking from side to side all the time. We both have a weird feeling in our stomachs, don’t know if it’s seasickness or not. It gets better when we get in the water. We have never experienced such big waves on a dive before. 

I’m a bit nervous about how it’s gonna be underwater, my breathing is heavy, which means the divemaster have to put more weight on me, so I can do my descend. We descend by the bouy line, we can feel how powerful the water is, we’re holding on tight to the line until we get down to 10 meters or so, then it’s getting more calm, we can still feel the current, but it’s nothing compared to the current close to the surface. 

It’s blue everywhere around us, when we get closer to the wreck we realize how big it is and how amazing it looks in the water. It’s an incredible and mysterious feeling to experience this black shadow in the clear blue water. 

There’s loads of marinelife, fish are massive, and some really curious. We both get attracted by the shark look-a-like fish resting on the bottom – but only till the time where we discover it isn’t sharks. We see olive sea snakes and a giant Queensland grouper over 250kg. It’s a deep dive, which also means it’s a short dive, to avoid decompression sickness. 

The water temperature is only 21 degrees, so we’re all shaking when we get back on the boat. It’s so cold, and the boat is still rocking like crazy, so we’re starting to feel a little sick. The surface interval seems long in the little boat. I’m almost quitting my second dive, because I’m so cold. The helpful guys cover me up in their jackets, and pour hot water down my wetsuit. I’m ready to go again. 

Meanwhile the others are listening to the history about SS Yongala. The ship sank in 1911 during a cyclone, all 122 passenger onboard died. In 1958 the wreck was found and is now a tourist attraction and a world-known  divesite. It’s a burial site, and some of the bodies are still inside the wreck, so we’re not allowed to penetrate it. Wouldn’t want to anyway! Second dive is just as awesome as the first. 

The way back to the beach is just as crazy as the way out there. Apparently I’m exhausted after the dives so I fall asleep, and with nothing to put my head on, I have been looking like I did some serious head banging on the way back. A great entertainment for the other divers! We get lunch before we head 400 km north and meet up with the Augustini's on a campground in Innisfail.

SS Yongala

Tuesday 15^th July

The Augustini's want to see some waterfalls and a famous tree, called the curtain fig tree. We drive inland to Millaa Millaa and Josephine falls. We watch all the backpackers swimming in the water, and ask us selves why they’re doing that – it’s really cold and slightly raining. 

We get the worst service ever at a local restaurant near the falls. We wait for our premade microwave heated pies for a little more than an hour. We’re all on our way to leave, when the food finally gets served. After complaining to the staff we end up paying only 35 dollars (182kr) for 6 pies and 4 soft drinks. A pretty cheap lunch for 6 people( it would have been 76 dollars), but we also wasted an hour of driving while we waited for our food. 

We drive to see the tree, which is big, but nothing really special. We feel short on time to reach Cairns before the campgrounds close around 6-7pm, so we’re in a rush, again, to find an available spot with power. 

We end up driving back to the first one, just in time before the office closes down. This is one of the first nights where we sit outside without freezing, or at least one of the first for me.  

The Augustinis!!

Curtain Fig Tree

Ourdoor kitchen at the campground

Wednesday 16^th July

We drive out to a luxury campground, Coconut Holiday Resort, we decide to spend the last two days out there. We have free access to a swimming pool, gym, tennis court, volleyball, outdoor chess and an outdoor kitchen. We take a stroll on the esplanade in Cairns and eat our lunch in a cheap food court before we split up. Erik & I are going back to the campground to relax and enjoy the sun (now that the temperature finally is above 25 degrees again), while the others are shopping. 

We are shocked to find out that the autogas up here is so expensive. 1 liter = 1,05 dollars (5,45kr). In Sydney we paid 0,73 dollars (3,79kr) per liter. The car is only going 6,5km per liter. Petrol is even more expensive average is 1,59 (8,25kr) dollars per liter. This country is ruin us, and we're still in the cheap fuel area, as soon as we go into the outback, the prices gets much higher! The car drives on both. We all go out for dinner at night and take another stroll around the city, we stumble over a place with cheap massage, and we’re all in for a treat.

Cairns Esplanade

Thursday 17^th July

We’re all relaxing around the swimming pool most of the day – just a day of total relaxation, and the Augustini's are collection energy to go back to work on monday. We order pizza at night and sip the last glasses of red wine together.

Cool dude...!!

Friday 18^th July

Time to say goodbye to our friends. It haas been some amazing weeks, and we have enjoyed the company a lot. They leave in the morning to bring back the car and start their long travel home. Our plan is to stay in Cairns with my friend Dean, who I used to hang out with in Canada. He lives up here with his girlfriend and their child.