Australia Road Trip - Part 1

Australia was the most 'unplanned' bit of the trip, which was a little nerve wracking. I had flights into and out of Sydney firmly booked, but that was all. The vague idea was to drive from Sydney up to Brisbane (to visit Baz and family), and carry on up to do the Barrier Reef.

Don't show this to the llama I kissed - she'll get jealous.

While in the NZ travel agent booking Fiji, I asked them for ideas for Australia as well, and one of the ladies there suggested Lady Elliot Island. It sounded great, and absolutely ideal for the 'Barrier Reef' part of the trip, so I booked that. That then left me in Brisbane, so I just reversed my planned route and drove from there down to Sydney after doing the Reef - a much better plan in hindsight as the Reef was more important to me than the drive, and this way I already had that under my belt when I was just wandering aimlessly.

My first stop after the Reef was now going to be Brisbane and visiting Baz, a dear old friend from university that I've not seen for around 20 years. Baz, or "the Pad" (he's Irish), was in GUGS (Glasgow University Gaming Society) and I was lucky enough to get to do a lot of role-playing with him and many other fantastic people from GUGS, particularly on the regular extra-curricular Sunday nights at "The Independant Realm of 1 up, 31 Thornwood Road". Simon had been in Baz's group at GUGS and had hugely enjoyed Baz's GM'ing. It became a goal of mine to somehow wangle an invite along to the Sunday night game, which I did eventually get, much to my delight, and I can't tell you how much fun we had there.  They are some of my fondest memories of  my time at University.

Baz is now married to the very lovely Mandy (she's so right for him!), and dad to Gulliver, the cutest little bundle of Aussie trouble there is. I spent some lovely quality time with the McCallisters, and Baz even took me to a cinema premier! (he writes for the entertainment section of a newspaper). A lovely relaxing few days before I picked up my camper and headed off.

On my various trips to NZ, I've seen Jucy camper vans all over the place, and without anything else base my choice on, I went with them. This little beast served me very well being both transport and accommodation for 2 weeks. Camping overnight with the van was about $30 per night, where a hotel would have been well over $100, and I didn't need to book in advance either, which made things very flexible.

The van wasn't luxurious, but it did the job. Easy enough to drive and park and the back seat folded down to a bed. It was a bit hot on occasion at night, even with the windows and doors open, but it had a small fridge and gas stove, so I was fairly self sufficient. By the end of the trip the rev counter wasn't working any more and there was something wrong with the clutch, but I got there!

With suggestions from various people I met, browsing on TripAdvisor, and random whim, here's the route I ended up taking.



While the Gold Coast is a big tourist destination on Australia's east coast, I had been told that the Aussies themselves go to the Sunshine coast instead, so my first stop was Mooloolaba.

I thought that New Zealand had some weird place names, but they have nothing on Australia. They also have some a fair amount of, to me, unusual wildlife!

Preprandial drinks my first evening in the van

White Ibis wandering about the place

Little Corella?

Fruit bats!

Mooloolaba is a nice little touristy seaside town, pleasant enough to wander around. That's about it really.

I did some TripAdvisor searching that night and next day headed off to Kondallia National Park to see a waterfall and swimming hole. A short walk through the woods brought me to a lovely pool so I dutifully had a dip!

And on the way back, a snake!

On the walk I was aware of the incredible waves of sound made by the cicadas. It would swell and quiet periodically and I've no idea why! Listen to the video above for an example.

Next was on to Maleny Gardens and Bird World, where they take in unwanted parrots. You get to go into the bird enclosures and the friendlier of the occupants come and say hello. Repeatedly and loudly sometimes!

Meet Yoghurt, who would not stop screaming in my ear.