Finally we made the move and headed south from Cairns. We took the turnoff to Josephine Falls as per the suggestion of some fellow backpackers. As we hiked to the base of the falls, the sun trickling through the trees, large boulders stretched in front of us. We jumped from one boulder to the other until we got to the edge of a deep pool of water, and took the plunge straight into a frigid fresh water pool! We quickly swam towards the smooth, sloping rocks on the other side of the pool which had quite a current running through it. The falls were in tiers above us and we were in the final pool from which the pool above emptied via a stream. We climbed the rocks, which was no easy task, for the smooth rocks were slippery with algae and at first we just slid right back down to the pool. The fantastic thing about these rocks was that the water had worn the rocks smooth and as you climbed to the top, it flattened out slightly so that you could walk warily along the top, into the fast moving stream, fighting the current until you got midway across the large boulder and then you sat down and it was like a natural waterslide! It was so much fun, we went up and down a couple times, each time reaching the end and sliding into the swirling water below. We fought the current to balance at the bottom of the rock before being sucked back in. We luckily had gotten there before the crowds arrived and started the next leg of our road trip refreshed and full of energy.
Each day we would head down the coast, stopping in little towns along the way, swimming in the lagoons or in the ocean, wandering around the little shops and picnicking in the parks. It would have been so easy to spend days in each spot but we had to remember to keep moving on. We stopped overnight in Townsville so we could watch the hockey game early the next morning. To our dismay we spent about an hour running from restaurant to pub to coffee shop looking for a TV with the Olympics airing, only to find that no one opened until 10am which would have been just in time to see the final few minutes. So giving up on the Olympics we headed to a bait shop and to our surprise the owner had the hockey game on and invited us to stay and watch. The timing for the game was to the same as the tv guide and luckily the game had just begun and we watched it until 10am and then headed to a pub to cheer on Canada! That afternoon we headed back down the coast to explore new towns and beaches and caught a small glimpse of the havoc that the summer storms and flooding had done. The beach was full of debris and the waters had a film on top, so swimming was out of the question until the winds and currents changed directions.
Each time we moved in and out from the coast we were greeted by different landscapes. We had the endless fields of banana’s and sugar cane, the rolling green hills, the coastal rocky landscape and the gorgeous drive out to Airlie Beach which combined all of the above. We spent a couple of days trapped in this magical town with glistening sunshine and gorgeous turqouise waters. The hours melted away as we swam in the lagoon, fished along the shores, Greg made final table in poker again and we headed out on our sailing adventure. This is the jumping off point for the WhitSunday Islands and each time we drove over the hill from one end of town to the other we were confronted with the breathtaking view of the ocean and islands stretching before us.
Our first morning in Agnes Water we awoke in the countryside to find two Kangaroos 20 feet away, grazing in the field. One was a large male and the other a female with a youngin in tow. The sun was shining, glistening off the raindrops from the night before. We eagerly headed for the beach to cool off. As we parked and approached the boardwalk to the beach we saw a sign that said no swimming - the beach was closed. Upon closer inspection we read that there was a Tsunami Warning. Seeing as we have had no experience with Tsunami’s we were a little distressed and started gathering information from the very nonchalant passer bys. No one seemed overly concerned of the impending wave, just annoyed that the beach was closed or stoked to head into the ocean for a good swell! We quickly discovered that an earthquake had rocked Chile the night before and that the looming wave was to hit at 930, although whether it was 930 New South Wales time or Queensland time was not clear. So we quickly packed up and looked for the highest hill and headed for it. We parked on the top of the hill with a view of the ocean and waited for the huge wave to come. Thankfully nothing materialized and after a couple hours we headed back down. People were already in the ocean and the lifeguards were standing guard and shaking their heads at the foolish swimmers, ready to bolt should the waterline start to recede. We decided that since we weren’t going to venture forth into the water at all that day, we might as well head out of town.
Now in all of our planning for this trip, we never once considered Oz other than what we wanted to do when we arrived and so when we landed on the East Coast we quickly discovered that we were smack dab in the wet season. Summer yes, but oh so wet too. The news was peppered with reports of flooding areas all along Queensland and into New South Wales. As we drove from Agnes Water south along the highway we saw the path that the flood waters had carved across the countryside. Fields that were clearly not meant to be lakes now looked like lakes with shrubs and trees peaking above the water line. Roads were washed away and parks and playgrounds now looked like swimming pools with play structures half submerged. One park had basketball nets rising out of the waters by only by 3 feet. As we drove into one campsite, nestled beside the river, a fantastic setting for a campsite, we saw the waters had risen up the boat launch and the picnic tables and benches were now mostly submerged. We headed for the higher ground only to find that rains had left the grass swampy and Hank fought to find grip as I pushed him up the hill. Needless to say, we decided to move on as rain peppered our windshield. Another rest stop was hidden away in a little town and as we exited the main road and approached the town, the road had been washed away. A fast moving stream ran across the road and dropped off in a raging torrent of water below. We debated gunning it across but Greg got out and threw a large rock into the stream and it disappeared into deep waters and we realized it was far deeper than we had hoped and we ran the risk of being washed over the edge. The other concern was that with the rising waters and expanded waterways, this also gave lots of opportunities for crocodiles to move about and Greg had been standing around outside for too long and the thought of having to pee in the night and running into a croc had us moving on in a hurry.
We arrived in Bundaberg to sunshine and a quiet town. We headed out of the city to the coastal towns and made our way to the beach. We watched as the day unfolded not a glimpse of the Tsunami insight except for the closed beaches. People were still fishing and surfing. We sat back and enjoyed the view and listened to the waves lapping against the beach. By late afternoon the beaches had reopened and we body surfed in the waves. We found a fantastic spot to spend the night right on the beach with the waves lapping against the shore. At 1am we awoke to some local kids pulling into the parking lot and having a little party outside. We heard them discussing Hank as they came alongside, they were saying "Hey look they Can - nay - dias, I've never met anyone from Can-eh-dia before." Then they poked at the window, realizing it was just a screen, so we finally poked our heads out. They offered us a beer and to come party with them cause they had never met "Can- nay dias" before. It was pretty hillarious, they were so genuine and sincere and would have loved to have hung out. The next morning was blustery and overcast and we awoke to a bunch of 70+ year old ladies going for their morning swim in front of the van. The waves had picked up and were barrelling them over, but they were chatting and laughing like schoolgirls.
We headed to the Turtle Sanctuary and as we drove along the gravel road, lined with sugar cane, we happened upon a kangaroo at the side of the road. She just looked at us only 20 ft away as a joey poked its head out of her pouch. We wandered through the incredible displays of the rare and endangered turtles who nest in the area. Sadly no sightings, but the boardwalk and walk along the beach was beautiful.
The next morning we woke up at 5am to head into Bundaberg to watch the Gold medal game. We had looked everywhere for somewhere that was open first thing in the morning, where we could watch the game, however, nothing was open, so we resorted to the only other place we knew - MacDonalds - with the big screen tv airing the Olympics everyday and open 24 hours it was our last hope. Every day that the Olympics had been on the tv station had been airing the games from 6am to 6pm and we were stoked to see Canada vs US, but for some reason this last day of the Olympics, they decided to start airing the Olympics at 8am. So we waited patiently and tuned in just in time for the middle of the 3rd period and the awesome OT. We then watched the first and second period as they aired them after the game finished. We were cheering in MacDonalds and stirred up the interest of the locals in the hockey game. After such a fantastic start of the day we decided to move on to our next place down the coast and made our way in and out of little towns such as Marysborough the birthplace of the writer of Mary Poppins. This quaint little town was full of Mary Poppins memorabillia and even a life size statue.
Noosa
Well once again we have escaped another of natures curve balls. So far our tally goes something like this missed the Typhoon in Vietnam by a week, then woke up to a Tsunami alert in Agnes Water and headed for higher ground but thankfully no big wave arrived, saw some little twisters dancing in the banana fields, heard about the huge earthquake that rocked Chile one month before we headed there and the latest, we experienced the rainy aftermath of the cyclone that hit Fiji and then moved on to crash into Queensland just north of where we were and where we had been weeks before.
The Sunshine Coast has been a fantastic experience, although the name is just a ruse to get you there we think. We have spent weeks with rain and just a few glimpse of sunshine. We arrived in Noosa, the land of many roundabouts at the beginning of March. It is a fantastic little group of towns along the ocean that beckoned us and invited us to stay for days. We of course headed straight for the huge waves and spent days getting rocked by dumping waves that bent me in two and threw me to the ocean floor, but then there were the waves that were just right that held us up and surfed us into shore. Greg has eagerly been trying to catch us some dinner, he even stood in the rain for hours drenching himself to the core to bring home dinner! All the while, his finger ballooning up into a sausage size, as he had nicked himself with a hook hours earlier and infection quickly ravaged his finger. So we got to experience the excellent Queensland health care system first hand, a little antibiotics and he was right as rain.
So life on the coast was tough, I mean we woke up every morning, had breakfast in the park while we decided if we should swim first or jog first or have a coffee and jump online for a little bit. We found out that there was a surf competition coming up and decided to volunteer for a couple of days. Since the surf competition wasn’t for a week, we decided to head down the coast and then head back up. Greg found a poker game to sit in on before we left Noosa and made final table winning himself seat in a money match the last day of the surf competition,. So we decided we would volunteer for the 8 days of “pure stoke” and finish it off with a poker tourny.
Off down the coast we headed for a week to Caloundra. The coastline was beaches for miles and miles, steep cliffs overhanging the beaches and white sand and turqouise waters The beaches were scattered with blue bottle jellyfish, so our days of jogging and swimming involved hopping amongst the blue boplattles and playing carefully in the huge waves. We spent days enjoying the tranquillity of the town and finally on our final day the sun made an appearance and once again the weather hit mid thirties.
Now back to the surf festival. Our first day of volunteering was the setup of the festival and the long hard downpour during the night before had taken its toll on the festival grounds. However, with a soggy grass and mud field we ventured out to be met with what would become the norm for the week, smiling, friendly faces from Caitlin and Shari the volunteer (volly) coordinators, the hardworking and MacGyver ways of the site manager Scotty and a great group of vendors and vollys alike. Our first task was to roll the big crater tracks out of the mud with a roller. We quickly abandoned our sandals and a s we rolled away, volly’s were stomping down mud along each of the tracks. It was quite the project and hilarious to watch. The first truck that entered quickly made the decision that cars were not allowed on the grass which meant that every vendors product had to be carried in to the stalls. We definitely got a good workout. The stalls were great, with a Collection of surfboards from all different collectors, surf board companies, and everything that is related to surfing. One stall was inflatable C4 stand up paddle boards (known as SUP’ing) We got to give it a go in the river and of course Greg was a natural. At the beach every day there was this one SUP’r that would paddle into the waves with his little puppy standing on the front of his board. It was incredible to watch as he battled into the waves, the dog would balance on the front and only once did we see him fall off, but he quickly scrambled back on. Then once out far enough, the two of them would catch a wave and the guy would stand on the board and paddle the wave to do all that a normal surfer does.
The surf competition attracted competitors from all around the world (Hawaii, Malibu, Japan, and more) and there were some incredible displays of talent as people rode the wave, hanging ten, nose riding or racing through the barrel of a wave. The rain came and went and so did the waves as the festival went on. We saw two boards snap in two in one heat and just as quickly as the board had snapped, someone from the crowd was racing to the ocean to lend a board so the competitor could finish their heat. Such generosity and companionship was heart warming to see.. The evenings were events to be remembered. We went to a concert by Richard Tonganetti, a violinist who moved the crowd with his incredible music that played alongside surfing videos. The music and surf were magical as they intertwined. One clip was of a pod of beached whales and the sadness and loneliness was epitomized by the violins song. The music and film that followed was also outstanding and drew crowds. On Saturday night a line up of 8 bands kicked off at 3pm and 1500 people partied to the music we only a few small downpours of rain. The days leading up to Saturday were relatively rain free and the strong hard downpours at night subsided to normal rain showers. As the festival wrapped up we look back at the week and had such a fantastic time. The friendlessness s of the people of Noosa by far made the event for us.
With our volunteering behind us we headed to the beach and with new surfboard in hand we hit the waves - literally. Greg stood up a ½ dozen times on the break at first point where the competition was held. Passing surfers offered some tips to help him catch the waves. Kindness of strangers once again!
We left the sunshine coast behind us and headed past Brisbane to the gold coast. As the locals say “There is no sun on the sunshine coast, but that’s ok cause there is no gold on the gold coast either. So neither sun nor gold were found on either of the coasts. We drove into the controversial town of Surfer’s Paradise, set on the gold coast with white sand beaches that go on for miles, turquoise waters with rolling waves and shockingly skyscrapers towering above us. The flashy lights and huge buildings had us moving along the ocean to the quieter beaches of the south. We once again got trapped as each morning we woke up to huge empty beaches stretching for kilometers and stunning views of the ocean that caused our jaws to drop at the sheer beauty that met us. It felt surreal to be in such a paradise. Of course we had to be near a computer for the baseball draft for the fantasy baseball pool, so this is where we settled for days. Playing in the waves, watching the incredible talent surfing the waves and exploring the town. We were on the border to the next state New South Wales and if you went around a round about you would have crossed the border and entered the next state.
It took everything in us to move us on as the hold of the sea was strong. We headed up to the lookout point with loads of surfers catching the early morning break, the sun was shining and we had breakfast with a view for miles down the beach. We were hoping to see dolphins and just when we thought we had comeup empty handed once again we were rewarded with views of a pod just beyond the surferes. We headed inland into the rolling hills and volcanic formed valleys of Springbrook National Park. The curving roads led to the "Best of All Lookout" , which really did have incredible views of the surrounding area. Huge trees lined the roads and the valleys blurred with the forests. The area has ancient beachwood trees that are more than 1000 years old and a truly amazing site to behold.
On the road again we headed to Byron Bay, a funky town that radiates "chill out". We arrived to see the crescent shaped beach, nestled below the headland and an ancient lighthouse. As dusk began to fall the sky came alive with parakeets. Their cries drowned out conversations and their multicoloured bodies lit up the sky as huge flocks flew overhead from tree to tree. We stayed at a rest area just outside of town, high in the hills, with stunning views on the drive back to town from coast to mountains. Beach after surf beach speckle the coast line surrounding Byron and we made our way amongst them. We awoke early one morning and made our way to the lighthouse to watch the sun wake up along the horizon and watched as the first rays of light painted the sky.
After our stunning wake up sunrise, we headed to the beach to have breakfast and as we sat cooking eggs, we watched at a couple got married on the beach. If that wasn't enough we headed over to the bay for Greg to do some surfing and as I climbed up onto the viewpoimt to watch Greg and the surrounding coastline, I spotted a pod of dolphins playing in the waves. What an incredible sight, the sheer majestic nature of these spectacular creatures is incredible. The sun twinkled off the waves like diamonds and the day was shaping up to be spectacular. Finally we had to drag ourselves away from Byron Bay and keep heading down the coast.
bats in the treesAs we drove through the towns we saw bats in the trees, kangaroos in the yards of little towns, sitting in yards, grazing on peoples yards or 100's of roo's grazing in the golf courses at dusk.
We next came upon Crescent Head, a tiny town far off the main road, sprawled along the ocean. This picturescque little town was incredible, with huge waves, jagged cliffs lining the shores on one side and a crescent beach on the other. The weather was overcast but it didn't stop Greg from hitting the waves. As he sat on his surfboard waiting for the perfect wave, a dolphin swam alongside him only 20 meters away. Then there was an incredible golf course set up the hill behind town. We walked the course that only cost 12 dollars for unlimited golf for the day and spectacular views!
Finally the time came to head back to Sydney to sell Hank. We headed to Sydney, spending a morning at a truck stop cleaning Hank out from top to bottom. We arrived in Sydney on Easter weekend with the intention of putting up fliers, checking out the scene, going to the car market on Saturday and heading into the hills for a couple of days. However, when we arrived we realized the hopping car market was no more, we searched for a place that people went to sell their vehicles and realized there were loads for sale! We were directed to Victoria street in Kings Cross - a very "colourful" neiighbourhoud. When we pulled up we found a dozen vans for sale, with more arriving daily. The neighbourhood was not at all pleased that we were using that street to sell our vans and had started a petition to get us removed. We had old ladies giving us the evil eye, a man told me to go park in the woods somewhere and we had ladies complaining to the bylaw rangers that roamed the streets twice a day. We quickly made friends with a fantastic German couple and helped pass the days, chatting and drinking coffee and swapping stories. We even were interviewed by a German newspaper regarding the situation on the street with the city vs backpackers! Our new friends sold their van and we celebrated that night,but the next day they returned to help us pass the hours of waiting as one or two perspective buyers would arrive daily along with 1/2 a dozen new vehicles. Luckily 5.5 days later we sold Hank to a great German couple. It worked out perfectly as they needed a couple days to get the money together and we got to keep Hank for a few more days.
Bondi BeachWe spent the next couple days exploring Sydney. We went to the fish market and saw the largest lobsters ever. We explored central city, taking in Hyde Park, St James Cathedral, the sky tower, the opera house and more. We spent our nights on Coogee Beach, and Greg tackled the waves of Bondi Beach. The scenery breathtaking yet again and the weather though cooler now - high teens - was sunny. Finally we met our new buyers at Manley Beach after one last surfing morning and took the ferry back to town to head to the Blue Mountains.
Manley Beach
Our days in the mountains were spectacular. We met up with an old friend from highschool and their hospitality was incredible. Just what we needed to refuel, a comfy bed, homecooked meals and a hot shower. We went for one night and ended up staying 3. Each day we explored the Blue Mountains, trekking through the lush forests, along the cliff walk walk with views of mountains and forests for miles and miles. The lush green vegetation was incredible with birds and other creatures popping out as we hiked along.
Finally it was time to head back to Sydney, a quick layover in NZ and off to South America. We absolutely loved our time in Australia, the friendly people, the breathtaking scenrey and the roadtrip with Hank. These are just a few of our stories and pics that fill our memories. Finally we wanted to show some of the local wildlife below.
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