The stunning scenery we had encountered on our journey so far disappeared and was replaced by lots of sugar cane fields and tropical jungle. We aimed for the Bruce Highway which headed towards Brisbane and veered north up the Sunshine Coast.
We had both planned to go to Fraser Island on the way past. A huge sandbar island with freshwater lakes, wild Dingos and only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicles. We stopped at a tourist information office and picked up some brochures about the island and the Whitsundays ( a series of tropical islands just off the coast). Unfortunately the cost of getting onto Fraser Island or taking a yacht around the Whitsundays was too expensive for us as we also wanted to dive on the Great Barrier Reef on this trip and we were only 3 months into a year long journey!
We headed instead for Noosa a small beachside town at the north of the Sunshine Coast. We got a super cheap apartment for a couple of days and enjoyed the town and surrounding rivers and national park. Richard Branson has a small island in Noosa, only accessible by boat with super swanky houses on the waterfront. Whilst we were there, Ellen Degeneris was staying for free!
Everyone had warned us that the climate in Queensland was hot and humid and they weren't wrong. Sleeping in the car was like sleeping in an armpit! We finally ended up buying a 12v Fan and leaving the boot open with a mozzy net draped over it (there was also an outbreak of Dengue Fever going on with only 1000 cases reported, it barely made the news!)
We continued up the Bruce and decided as the highway was inland with no views to power on the 1000 or so miles to Cairns. We saw lots of devastation from previous tropical storms and flooding, the town of Bundaberg was nearly wiped out and every 5 km there was a team of people fixing the highway. It is quite impressive how people just get on with fixing the damage there must have been several hundred people working on the roads along our route.
After around 3 days we reached Cairns, a large sprawling city that is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. It's full of backpackers and booking offices for tours and excursions. It is a friendly city, with a huge free lagoon swimming pool on the sea front and an esplanade with lots of restaurants and bars. In fact it was a bit full on so we searched the Internet for nice places to stay and headed north to Trinity Beach and got an apartment at the Blue Lagoon resort (a 4 star resort for less than the price of a shared room in a backpackers in Cairns).
We only had 2 things to do... Go diving and sell the Falcon!
We booked ourselves in a trip with a company called Reef Magic which went out to a pontoon on the outer reef. The day was great, 5 hours to snorkel and dive in water that was 29 degrees! The only downside was that we had to wear Lycra stinger suits as there were hundreds of jellies in the water. Once you had the suits on (they covered you from head to foot) you stopped worrying about them and got on with some serious fish watching. The water was crystal clear, teemed with huge fish, clams and sea cucumbers. The coral was brightly coloured with lots of diverse species. Overall it was stunning.
We also headed to Port Douglas a small town 50km north of Cairns were Captain Cook anchored to explore the Queensland coast. Port Douglas was also having salt water crocodile problems with a number being spotted in the outskirts of the town. Saltwater crocs can grow up to 7m in length and lurk in shallow water jumping out to grab their prey. There are signs at most beaches warning to stay away from the waters edge!
After around 5 days in Cairns we managed to sell the car to a couple from Belgium, we enjoyed staying at the Blue Lagoon so much that we booked some extra days there and planned our final weeks in Oz.
Next time, off to Sydney before saying goodbye to Australia!
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| Why wouldn't you go swimming? |
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| Noosa Surf Life saving club beach |
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| The harbour at 1770 (another place where that Cook chap visited on his long holiday!) |
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| For The Douglas Clan!! |
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| Moores Reef, GBR |
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| The beach down the road from our accomodation |
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| Lots of warm sea, no one swims in it though, unless protected by nets or stinger suits! |
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