Reallly feel like in into Oz now, as i have been having the best few weeks possible, in my humble opinion. After we tore ourselves away from Byron Bay ( it was difficult, but we took a deep breath and quietly drove away)we headed up the east coast into the 'Gold Coast'. Here, the camper van was both a pleasure and a nuisance. First, the positive; the plan had been to drive up to Surfers Paradise. We had heard good things. But as we got nearer, an the sky scrapers got bigger, and the smell of american eateries went from pungent to overbearing, we decided to simply drive on, So on we did, bizarrely driving through both Southport, and Birkdale, until we decided to stop in a place called Cleveland, It actually worked out pretty well- we found a quiet campsite, where we had the pool to ourselves, so we spent some time there just relaxing.
As the clouds drew in though the next day, we decided to head on, and see if we would drive away from them. No such luck; serves me right for trying to make everyone jealous with my tales of sunshine, as the rain followed us for the next 6 days. Damn it! Though cant complain, as Queensland is in the midst of a really bad drought, with lots of farmers struggling due to failed crops, so i guess if the aussies are happy, we should be too. So the negative about the 'Campers'; we had hoped to stop in Brisbane, but after two hours of driving around and around and in and out of the city trapped in the infuriating one way system, we gave up ( i was driving, and had reached boiling point!) and headed out again to the less built up places of Moochydore and Noosaville. I say that its a negative of the Campers not being able to drive around cities very easily, but the places we actually went were so pretty, and we otherwise wouldnt have seen them so its not all bad.
After this little detour from the plan, we got to Hervey bay. From there we joined a large organised tour group, 'Koalas', and headed across on the ferry to the huge sand island of Fraser to a self drive 4x4 safari, with 6 other people. Our group was great, but the company we went with were shoddy to say the least- our truck was a sad rust bucket, with holes in the floor, breaking seats, and a dogey clutch. And the driving itself was so hard core im surprised the van lasted as long as it did; during the second afternoon one of our back wheels started to make a strange clunking noise.....one of the lads tuned out to have been a mechanic for a couple of years, so he went to check it out. His verdict- 4 out of 5 of the wheel nuts had just snapped off through mechanical negligence. If the last one had gone ( not to be too dramatic!!) the truck could have toppled over one of teh cliffs we were driving by.
As there is no signal on the island, an elaborate rescue organisation had to be done as we were in the depths of the bush. I had to call the international satilite, to get put through to Brisbane police, and a lovely lady there got in touch with Koalas for us. AS we had camping stuff, they were like, ' see you some time in the morning'. And so, we were on our own in the outback.....actually we saw nothing dangerous, and we all had a great time with our boxed wine, until we were resued at 10am the next day. Fraser was great!!
Next stop, two days of driving later, was the Whitsunday islands. We got a boat trip around the islands for two days and two nights, staying at a resort on the island at night. The Whitsundays were amazing, they are so beautiful i couldnt believe it. We went to New Haven beach, one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and went snorkling along the coral twice. Needless to say, i was a very happy girl sitting on that huge yaght!!
Still not done with oz yet though. Next stop Townsville. Check out the oz pics!!
