Roadtrip - Cairns to Brisbane in a Week
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2007
1
89
106
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia
Thursday, July 31, 2008
kms total kms
Cairns -> Townsville 369 369
Townsville -> Airlie Beach 273 642
Airlie Beach -> Mackay 151 793
Mackay* -> Rockhampton 346 1,139
Rockhampton** -> Maryborough 443 1.582
Maryborough*** -> Brisbane 287 1.869
* Includes 16kms to and from Mackay Base Hospital
** Includes 9kms trying and failing to find a hospital in Rockhampton in the middle of the night
*** Includes detour to visit Australia Zoo in Beerwah
Total Distance Travelled: 1,869
Total Times Lost: 06
Total Live Kangaroos Seen: 0
Total Dead Kangaroos Seen: several thousand
Total Dives: 07
so those are the facts and it truely was so much fun, despite the ruptured ear drum and all the pain that brought with it
Chinese Foot Massage
. i know i already did a blog from cairns and one from airlie beach after the whales so ill try and keep this short and only tell you things you havent already heard.cairns
well i did the liveaboard as you know and that was awesome. when i got back to cairns i collected my stuff from noisy caravella and also let the lady in charge know about my bites which she promised to look into. had great trouble trying to find somewhere else to stay and ended up forking out $110 for a room in a hotel cos everything else was full. not that i minded too much - a big comfy bed in a room thats my own with my own bathroom - i retired to bed at 6pm and pretty much stayed there til next morning.
struggled with all my bags down to avis in the morning and picked up edward my silver toyota corolla hatchback - and also my first automatic car. god i never want to drive a manual again, once you get into it its SOOOO nice to just not have to worry about anything except stop and go! stopped off at mission beach on my way down cos the name sounded familiar - wow it was so beautiful, like the beach out of lost and with barely a soul to be seen. fantastic.
Great Barrier Reef
townsville
the hostel i stayed in here wasnt a YHA one, which ive slowly learned is the only place you should really stay in australia. all the YHAs have been so nice and all the independent ones have not and have been noisy. anyway in townsville they actually warned me it was going to be loud cos it was friday night but luckily i had a room away from party central and with the help of earplugs i got a good nights sleep. i did notice the next morning that my right ear was a bit bit sore but not to worry...
airlie beach
i did a blog from here aswell i know - this was where i dived the whitsundays and saw the whales. that night, my second night my ear really started to hurt so i tried reliable old solpadene in the vain hope that i could nip it in the bud. next morning i woke to more pain (and also a duded sleeping in the top bunk opposite me with the girl who was staying there - given it was an all-female dorm that was a surprise to wake up to!!) but then the cleaning lady came in and went spare and told him to get out. lol.
mackay
i stayed in larrikin lodge in mackay and that was awesome. i had booked my own room there but it was actually a room that you got to by going through another dorm room. also the separator wall didnt come all the way up to the ceiling so essentially it was really a parititioned off room. i didnt mind though they were so nice there. went up and did some shopping (never thought id get so excited about new tracksuit bottoms!!). also sourced a chemist to get some panadeine to try and numb the ever-increasing pain in my ear
Reef Encounter Liveaboard
. that night we all sat round watching pirates of the caribbean and everyone drifted off to bed around 10. i woke at about 2am with my ear feeling like someone sticking knives in it and debated for an hour trying to find the hospital. but luckily i still had some ibrufen left from thailand so i took some of that and slept til about 6 when the pain woke me again. it was all too much so i headed off in the wee hours to mackay base hospital and sought emergency treatment for PAIN. thankfully ireland have some reciprocal agreement with oz that out-patient treatment is free for us (and for aussies in ireland) otherwise it wouldve set me back $!78.50. i was told my ear was so swollen she couldnt see the drum but heres some antibiotics and drops and this will make it better. oh and heres an injection for pain relief. bliss.rockhampton
the hostel in rockhampton was ace but the internet was way too slow so i gave up. unfortunately the painkillers gave up too and i was awake again at 2am in agony. i actually got up and drove around rockhampton in the vain hope i might stumble upon a hospital but the place was like a ghosttown so i resigned myself to another night of pain and went back to bed.
maryborough
in maryborough i had treated myself to the comfort in and what luxury my room was
Leaving the Reef
. i even had a sittingroom and 2 tellys. but alas the pain wasnt getting better which concerned me after 2 days on antibiotics. and the pain was now stretching from my upper head to my neck so it was time for action. so off i went to the local hospital again. the doctor was very nice but very practical and informed me that to see my ear properly shed HAVE to stick that ear looker-inner thing right into my ear. and i mean RIGHT in - brushing off all the sorest bits i was nearly having a fit of pain. but she was able to say the eardrum was perforated/ruptured (but not burst thank god cos that would mean no more diving ever). i got some more drugs and then the lovely mum-nurse got me a blanket shed put in the oven and a hot face pack for my face - ah it was just like being at home. then other nice-nurse robbed me a hot/cold re-useable pack to bring with me and got me biscuits and some TLC so it was all good. had a lazy night and got dominoes pizza and watched crap on telly. and felt alot better for it.brisbane
so then yesterday i made the decision to carry on driving (was told i cant drive on the super-strong pain killers so didnt take any in the morning). lisa my ITB also very kindly organised me a direct flight from brisbane to NZ and is letting me stay here with her for 3 nights which means i dont have to fly back to sydney
Reef Experience Skipper
. (which is just as well cos my right is still all swollen so i cant equalise and wouldntve been able to fly anyway).set off on the last leg and went via the australia zoo in beerwah where i spent 2 very enjoyable hours playing around with my new super zoom lens for my new camera - i love it! ill put up some pics next so you can have a look - for anyone on facebook theyre just the same pics as are up there....
and thats about it. i brought the car back to brisbane airport (getting lost along the way cos it was dark and i was alone and clueless!!!) and said goodbye to edward before getting a taxi out here to lisa's. but i am so hooked on the roadtrips i cant wait to get back driving again in NZ. woohooooooo!!
xx
