Coff’s Harbour, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Noosa Heads, Hervey Bay, Agnes Waters, Airlie Beach….
We left Port Macquarie and headed north towards the town of Coff’s Harbour, another small town similar to Port Macquarie. We decided to stop here to break-up the journey to Byron Bay and we found a nice, free camp-site overlooking the harbour.
As the sun was setting we walked up the headland with the bay on one side and the harbour on the other.
In our last blog we mentioned about the camper van we had hired. At the time we didn’t have great pictures but below are some images of the inside cooking, eating and sleeping area.
Our next coastal destination was the “hippy town” of Byron Bay. The town is a mecca for backpackers and has long served as a stop-over and lounging location on the east coast route. We wanted to stop here for a few days due to the abundance of café’s and free wifi which would allow us to catch-up on some planning.
We expected much more of a party atmosphere here but it seems with the strength of the Australian Dollar that numbers travelling has dropped and those still travelling are choosing to drink at their camp-sites / the beach to save on costs. Speaking to a few local people here it is apparent the change of numbers in the last year and many businesses are closing as a result.
We checked into a camp-site and spent the next two days catching up with some forward planning and booking for Australia & New Zealand. We did visit the Sunday markets which was the largest collection of Hippies we had ever seen – Vegan & Vegetarian food stalls replaced the normal burger stand and stalls held all sorts of bizarre goods, all organically produced, locally, by a dread-locked seller wearing home-made, non-sweatshop produced clothing. To top off the offering psychics, mediums, tarot card readers and alternative medicines filled the gaps.
On the morning of our second-day in Byron Bay we headed off on a coastal walk, ending at the largest lighthouse on the east coast of Australia. It was a lovely morning with clear, blue skies and the walk took us along the coast and beaches where we spotted whales and dolphins. One section was covered by walking along the beach and dolphins were skimming through the surf only 10-15 metres from the beach.
The view from the top and the lighthouse itself were spectacular and we stopped for a while for a drink at the “lighthouse café” to admire the views.
A couple of days in Byron Bay was plenty and we were soon driving again, now headed for Brisbane and another confusing section of toll roads and bridges!
On the recommendation of our friends Alan & Nicky we skirted Brisbane and headed straight for the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the oldest and largest in the world. Since the posting of Alan’s “koala cuddle” on Facebook Emma had been determined to hold a Koala before leaving Australia.
We managed to avoid the worst of the toll roads and crossed only one small toll bridge and within no-time were hand feeding Kangaroos at the sanctuary.
We got to see lots of Koalas up-close and Emma got her Koala cuddle. The Koala has now entered Emma’s “future zoo list” list of “must-have cute animals” alongside the common Wombat.
As we have seen many cities on our travels, and all share many of the same features we decided to save on time and skip Brisbane unless we have time on the return journey. We headed straight for Noosa Heads, a wealthy Australian “playground” a few hours north of Brisbane.
Arriving late in Noosa we did the normal drive around to assess the parking and possible fines situation before deciding that the town was actually quite lapsed with their parking/overnight camping regulations and settled down in a car-park for the night. Handily a 24hr McDonald’s was next door to provide us with coffee and toilets!
Alan had warned us that this was an extremely wealthy area and it was apparent immediately. The area was lovely and the houses/boats/cars incredible. The town had a really nice feel and we spent the morning walking on the beach and cruising the river on the ferry.
The picture below is a typical house/boat combination, backing onto the Noosa River.
The beach was lovely but still very busy due to the school holidays in the New South Wales region.
In the afternoon we started the drive north towards Hervey Bay where we would be parking up at Timmy’s parents house. In anticipation of parking outside their house and making the place look messy we stopped off at a jet-wash to give the camper a once-over. The jet wash ran on a 2.5 minute cycle, costing two dollars a time. We managed to give the whole outside of the camper a good wash in 7.5 minutes, impressive for a vehicle this size!
Soon after leaving Noosa and before joining the main highway Matt spotted one of the small brown signs representing a “lookout/viewing pint”. The track leading to it soon turned dusty and we cursed having just washed the camper. Experience has told us that these viewing points are usually worth the detour so we pushed on, winding uphill for a good few kms before reaching the summit. The view was the best we have seen in Australia and as you can see for the pictures below certainly worth the short detour.
We arrived in Hervey Bay early evening and were quickly made to feel at-home by Timmy’s mum Deb, who promptly made up a cup of tea, apologising for the fact that it was Australian tea and not English. Sarah has informed them that PG Tips is the best available and far superior to Australian teas, although we didn’t notice a difference.
Within a couple of hours we met the rest of the family: Steve (Timmy’s dad), Erin & Amy (the sisters). It was great to be made so welcome at their house and they cooked us a lovely dinner before we settled back into the camper for the night which we parked on the grass at the front of the house.
Hervey Bay is the gateway to Fraser Island and we decided to travel North first and return to visit Fraser before dropping the camper in Brisbane. We took to the road again in the morning for a fair drive to the small towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters. The town of 1770 was named after the year which Captain Cook first landed on mainland Australia.
We had again followed a recommendation from Alan & Nicky to stop here, having seen their pictures from the hugely popular “Scooteroo”. Scooteroo has put these quiet little towns “on the map” as far as backpackers are concerned and has become the third most reviewed and recommended attraction on the east coast.
Scooteroo is a motorcycle tour company using Harley Davidson-styled motorcycles with large chopper style handlebars. Although the bikes are actually lightweight replicas with small engines, at a quick glance they still look the part. In addition to this they dress you with a flamed leather jacket and transfer tattoos turning the group into a miniature hell’s angels for three hour tour.
We booked the tour for the afternoon and spent the morning exploring and getting Matt’s hair cut.
The tour began at 3pm and we were soon covered with tattoos and leather.
Our group was twenty strong which was a good size group as some groups can be 50+, stretching 2km along the road – Not surprising that the local police have been paying them close attention!
No license or experience is necessary to ride in the tour so a pre ride practice is necessary to ensure everyone’s capability to twist a throttle and operate the one brake. Incredibly one girl managed to fall of within the first two metres and one girl was so bad that they wouldn’t allow her to ride as she couldn’t balance the bike for more than a few metres!
We were both fine and soon we were all out on the open road, on a glorious evening, spotting kangaroos along the deserted roads.
The bikes had 80km top speeds on the clock – plenty fast enough for a small bike which has very well-worn brakes! The guides were safe but fairly lenient and much of time we road them at full throttle, off the speedometer. Certain sections allowed overtaking and no sooner had we entered the first one, Emma gunned it and overtook all the guys, ending up next to Matt at the front.
Worryingly Emma loved the ride and certainly had no confidence issues, she even suited the “bad biker” image!
Along the roadside a professional photographer was waiting to snap shots of us riding along.
We stopped off near the end of the ride to eat wedges at a café overlooking the harbour. This is one of the two places in Australia where the sun can be seen setting over the water until it disappears. We sat and watched the sunset before riding back to base.
Agnes Waters has a bush-camp for campers and motor-homes which offers cost-effective (and legal) overnight parking for only 5 dollar per person. We parked here for the night and awoke early the next day as we had been told it was possible to avoid paying if you left before the ranger arrived! Just as we had packed up and started the engine – in drove the ranger.
Today we had a long 800km drive to Airlie Beach the gateway to the Whitsunday islands. We soon drained fuel and the situation was getting increasingly worrying as fuel stations here a sparse. It was difficult to judge whether to turn back or continue in the hope of finding fuel. Matt took a wrong turn which cost us fuel and before long we were parked in a very small village asking around for the nearest fuel station. A little old lady who seemed to have never left the village sent us to the nearest station, estimating it was 25-30km away. We really thought we were going to run-out of fuel before reaching the station but amazingly we made it just as the vehicle was loosing power.
Filled up and cruising north we decided for the first time that the heat was too much for the windows alone so we put the A/C on. In a few minutes a puddle formed in the passenger foot-well signalling a problem!
We ran the rest of the journey without A/C, reaching Airlie Beach early evening, tired and having filled-up the fuel tank three times.
We parked at the convenient x-base backpackers where we could also park the van cheaply for the next three days as we would be sailing and booked an A/C repair for our return.
The Whitsunday’s is a group of 100 islands forming part of the inner great barrier reef and a top destination in Australia due to its pure silica beaches, snorkelling/diving reefs and light-blue waters.
We have booked onto a boat for two days and three nights called “Powerplay”, described as “the most powerful cruising catamaran sailing the Whitsundays”. It would be more impressive if it wasn’t also one of the only power catamarans in the area – the others are all sailing catamarans! The boat looks lovely and we are looking forward to a few care-free days of cruising, eating and swimming with no driving.
Love Emma & Matt
xxx
Cooke & Craddock 