MADE IT TO CAIRNS

Hello!

Finally we have made it to Cairns, concluding our East Coast adventure! Not that it's fully over yet because this city has so much to do!

Since Brisbane we have visited ... towns and seen some incredible sights and met some lovely people. My highlights include Fraser Island and The Whitsundays. I think one of the main reasons I loved these two places the most is because they were both tours, meaning we were with a group of 20+ people and both groups were awesome!

But everywhere we have visited has been nice in its own way.

Starting from Brisbane, my first stop was Mooloolaba. Home to the largest aquarium in Queensland. Which I found to be a disappointment because it was exactly the same as my nearest one in Great Yarmouth. The town itself was beautiful, and felt like a typical holiday destination.

From here I went to Noosa to meet with the person I am traveling with. Noosa is a lovely place, especially the national park, which we were lucky enough to see a koala in. Also it was a clear sunny day so the sunset was stunning over the beach.
Our next stop was Hervey Bay which we only visited due to it being our gateway to Fraser Island, and this is were we began our tour. We went with Palace Adventures which is a tag-along 4WD tour, meaning we were able to drive our own cars behind our guide. We camped for two nights on the island and saw plenty of dingos, due to then constantly coming up to the barbecue or sitting and waiting next to a car.

From here we went up to Bundaberg, which has been by far the worst hostel I have stayed in but nevertheless we had a good time on our one night there... We went to the rum distillery!

After drinking two free rums we headed to the coach to make our way to Agnes Water and Town of 1770. Aptly named after the year that Captain Cook landed in Australia. Here we stayed at a little hostel called Cool Bananas, which has so far been the best hostel I've ever stayed in! One day we hired bikes and cycled the 14km round trip to 1770.

Rockhampton was our next port of call, arriving at half past midnight and checking out by 10am. It was a full on day. First of all we visited the heritage village before ending the day chomping on steaks whilst watching the rodeo.

After a night of traveling we arrived at Airlie Beach early in the morning. The day was spent chilling at the lagoon and then getting ready to go on the Whitsundays the following day. I fell in love with Airlie and will 100% be back at some point! If you see my previous post, this talks about the tour I did here with Wings.

After this place we caught the bus to Townsville to get a boat across to Magnetic Island. This place is stunning! One day we decided to hire "Barbie" cars with a couple from our sailing boat and drove to the Koala Sanctuary and then to a walking track which took us to a couple of old WWII forts with an amazing view of the island and surroundings.

From here we went to Mission Beach, our last stop before Cairns, so that George could do his long anticipated skydive.

Now finally we are in Cairns where we will be staying just over a week. Leaving on Sunday to fly to Darwin, where we begin our last trip before seeking out work!

I will talk about my plans and about what we've done in Cairns before we leave Darwin, but until then ciao!

EDEN | PHOTO DIARY

We drove across a lovely bridge which took us over a beach in Merimbula. As we were trying to get to the Victoria border we decided not to stop here and continue to the next town along; Eden. 

It was a very hot day so we parked Julie under the shade and walked across the road to the beach in Eden. This is the last town before the border into Victoria.

The beach was very long and stretched along the bay. 

I had to take a photo of the ship called 'Norfolk', which according to the story dropped anchor in the bay on one of its journeys.

PEBBLY BEACH | PHOTO DIARY

Pebbly Beach is a little place just off the Princes Highway, between Bateman's Bay and Ulladulla. Originally we had not planned to stop here but we spotted the name on a map and decided it sounded interesting. So we drove down the dirt track for about twenty minutes until we came across it. It cost $7 to park, due to the beach being situated in a National Park. 

The first thing we noticed when we got onto the sand where the wild kangaroos!

Then we noticed the bluebottles lining the shoreline, due to almost standing on a couple! 

We took a wander across the rocks and the way the stone had been carved by the waves was spectacular. Look how neat those lines are! 

Looking out to sea from the tip of the rocks.

The tide was coming in and the waves where getting choppy so we didn't spend too long at the end of the rocks...

But there was a couple of lovely little nooks that had been created by the sea.

Once back on shore we went back to the Kangaroos. Yes, I know you shouldn't approach wild ones.

This one was very cute and soft. Please ignore how red I am, i can assure you it's just the setting on my camera! 

In the end it was a good $7 spent. 

BROKEN DOWN IN TABOOMA | PHOTO DIARY

Pretty much as soon as we crossed the border into Victoria we came across a fire, and then got stuck in traffic. We were heading to Croajingalong National Park and were meant to go to the Thurra River to see the big sand dunes but we got half way and our campervan wasn't sounding to good so we found a place called Tabooma were we broke down for the night. The only bonus was the spectacular sunset over the lake that we got to witness.

Because we were so close to the lake there were bugs everywhere! The place also had no running water and the toilet was a hole in the ground. On our way down to the lake we came across a wombat who was having a good scratch on a fallen down tree. 

 It was a very clear night and due to Tabooma having no street lights, we could see the stars very clearly. At this point i was very happy that my camera had a setting for taking photos of the stars because i managed to snap this photo, which i'm quite proud of! 

The next morning we had to jump start the campervan with the help from a couple of very kind strangers, and then drove to a town called Orbost were we took the van to a garage. Turns out the exhaust had completely come apart, which is why it sounded like we were in a jumbo jet and had to drive with ear plugs in! 

TILBA TILBA & BERMAGUI | PHOTO DIARY

We came off the Princes Highway onto a 'tourist drive', this took us through two villages of similar name, Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba. They were tiny in size but beautiful, surrounded by mountains and farmland.

On our way to Bermagui we passed a place called Wallaga Lake, and the road goes straight through the middle of the water which gives you an amazing view. Our view included pelicans sitting on a sand bank. 

We then made it to Bermagui and pulled over to take some photos and adjust the GoPro on the side of the campervan. There was a little port in the town as well. We then went to get a cold drink from a petrol station and the mad inside informed us about a natural pool which had been created through erosion. So we decided to check it out. 

We were expecting just a small little rock pool but the natural pool seemed to be a full size swimming pool situated at the bottom of the cliff surrounded by rocks. Quite spectacular and amazing how this place came to be. The sun was beaming down and i kind of wish we had enough time to stop for a swim. 

We spent a good amount of time here, mostly trying to rescue a hat that the wind had blown into the rock pool which you can see in the picture below. But finally we managed to get it without having to get wet. 

WINGS, A WHITSUNDAYS ADVENTURE

Yesterday I got back from a two night sailing adventure through the Whitsunday Islands. It included snorkeling with turtles and watching sharks from the back of the boat.

We decided to go with Wings and were on the boat Wings III and it was one of the best experiences of my life!

I had the opportunity to scuba dive but chose not to because I had to take my glasses off so didn't think I would be able to see anything so decided not to. But actually when I went snorkeling I found that I could probably see better underwater with my glasses off then out of water with my glasses off. Even so I had such a good time in the water anyway and got too see things I've only ever seen in an aquarium.

Sometimes what makes or brakes a good trip is the company you are in and we got lucky because we had an awesome group with us.

Also the crew where awesome too and very friendly. Sometimes swimming in deep water can be a scary thing but you felt safe knowing that they where never far away.

On board we had all our meals included and the chef cooked some spectacular meals. One night we had honey soy chicken with potato's, garlic bread and salad and the last night we had beef stir fry. We got fed many times a day whether it be snacks or meals.

The beds where also very spacious which I wasn't expecting. I shared a double and we had lots of room to lay. It did get a little rocky one morning when we set sail at 6am and got woken by the anchor being pulled up but apart from that I fell asleep like a baby. 

Its one of the best things I've done so far in Australia and I'm already talking about going back for my birthday in September!

LAKES ENTRANCE & METUNG | PHOTO DIARY

The day started with driving to a place called Orbost where we got our campervan fixed. Mid-afternoon we were finally back on the road and so we headed to a place called Lakes Entrance, this place marks the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. We stopped for a while, using up the free McDonalds wifi! 

From a lookout point along the Princes Highway we got a better view of all the sand banks and where the ocean joins the lakes. 

We then drove to a place called Metung, not entirely sure of the correct pronunciation but we settled with 'Me Tongue' which gave us a few laughs.  

Metung is a secluded little town, mainly full of rental accommodation and holiday apartments. Quite a few of the houses were up for sale. Metung sticks out in the middle of the lakes, with water on either side of the village and only one road in and out!