Australias East Coast
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2008
1
18
36
Trip End
Jun 15, 2009
Cairns,
Queensland,
Australia
Monday, September 15, 2008
So I suppose I should try and let you know what has been happening over the past month as Me, Caroline and our two friends from home, Ger and Paul, have traveled up the east coast of Australia. It would take me far too much time to tell you everything we did so I wont be doing that but I will give you a taste of what the east coast of Oz is like.
Our journey started in Byron Bay, a sleepy surfer town by day, a party town by night
The East coast crew - John,Paul, Caroline,Ger
. We had rented a small camper van that slept two for the duration of the trip and we also had a two man tent. We would be taking turns sleeping in each and the two lads got the short straw on the first night as they would be sleeping in the tent. After Night one the lads had learnt two valuable lessons 1. Drinks lots of Alcohol and you will wake up with what is known as a "Hangover" and 2. Sleeping in a tent is sore on your back. So off to the camp shop we went to purchase an air bed.The east coast is probably the most traveled route by back packers and tourists in Australia. Most either start in Sydney or Brisbane and head north or it is also becoming popular to Start in Cairns in the north and head south to Brisbane or Sydney. We were traveling from Byron Bay which is 200 Km south of Brisbane and heading north for 2000Km where we would be finishing in Cairns. What I have learnt from those 2000Km's is every single activity you can do along the east coast is set up in such a way that they can get the maximum amount of money off you that is possible. Back packers and tourists are exploited more than catered for. Almost every thing we booked ourselves into had "hidden charges" which were added onto the price of the activity on the day. Want to go sailing on the Whitsunday Islands, well than on top of your 150 dollars you paid for the sailing you will have charges added on the day you go sailing of 50 dollars reef tax and 15 dollars stinger suit hire as the waters are apparently full of jellyfish and it is supposedly unsafe to swim without these stinger suits
our campervan - "Bumble bee"
. Before you know it the trip of your cost has gone over 200 dollars. I may sound a little bitter and I don't want this post to have a bitter twang because the last month has been one of the most enjoyable months of my life but when I see or experience extortionate pricing I cant help but be a little angry.Take for example surfers paradise which was our next port of call after Byron bay. It is the theme park capital of Australia. There are almost eight within about 15 miles of each other. Now we all know theme parks are expensive but not alone is the entry fee expensive, the food is expensive the drinks are expensive the photos from each ride are ridiculously expensive. One photo alone costs 15 dollars. Again I don't want this to be an angry post so I will try and return to happier tales(Breathe john Breathe). Oh and just to let you know we had a ball at the theme parks, my favorite ride being the the Giant drop where you are raised over 100metres into the air and after a period of just sitting there at the top you free fall to the bottom in less than 2 seconds.
After Surfers paradise we headed to Brisbane for a couple of days. Myself and Caroline had all ready been there the week before but it was the lads first visit. Unfortunately myself and Carline were starting to notice a trend which we were not too happy with
Waking up in the "bumble bee"
. Ger and Paul's favorite places to drink were Irish pubs. Now don't get me wrong I don't dislike Irish People, Its just, well, I have been drinking with Irish people all my life and when I return to Ireland I will probably be drinking with them for the rest of my life, so why would I want to travel half way round the world to drink with Irish people in an Irish pub? "But the Irish pubs are great craic" WRONG! Irish pubs are full of drunk Irish people and God knows there is only one type of person more annoying than a drunk person - A drunk IRISH person!(This actually might be a bit harsh because the last month has introduced me to some close contenders for most annoying nation when drunk - The drunken English: Loud, Rude, Sexist, Lager louts. The Drunken Australians: Very loud, Very rude, Ignorant, Cocky )Luckily for me and all my friends I am anything but annoying when I'm drunk(yeah right)
After Brisbane we had two major stops on our agenda 1. Hervey Bay where we would be getting a ferry across to Fraser Island, the largest sand Island in the world at about 130 Km long by about 20 Km wide and 2. Airlie Beach where we would be setting sail for the Whitsunday Islands.
Hervey Bay was first and out trip across to Fraser Island turned out to be the hight light of the trip for me
Dinner time on the road
. As I have all ready explained Fraser is a sand Island so the only vehicle able to get around the Island are 4Wheel drive. All the roads are just sand tracks and driving around the Island is a lot of fun. We would be traveling around Fraser with four others(3 German fellas and an English Girl) for two days and two nights. Everyone in the group got on really well and we had an absolute blast. The seas around Fraser are infested with Sharks but luckily there are some amazing lakes dotted around the Island which we were able to swim in. Also to the north of the Island there is a very tough passage of sand that has to be driven over. Luckily we were given advice on how to get through it and it was such a laugh passing out the three jeeps stuck in the passage as we motored on through cheering and beeping. Airlie Beach is about another 600 Km North of Fraser island. It was what I was most looking forward to on this trip and although I had a good time it wasn't as good as I expected. The weather was pretty poor while we were there but can the weather make that much of a difference? Seems like it can. We spent two days and nights on board the Habibi boat sailing round the Whitsundays, home to the third most beautiful beach in the world, Whitehaven beach. The sand on this beach is almost 100% silica and is very white but again I was a little disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much, maybe it was the weather, maybe I was expecting it not to smell - who knows?
Luckily after Airlie beach we found a gem of a location called Magnetic Island
Most easterly point in oz near Byron Bay
. The Island is about 300 KM north of Airlie on the coast and turned out to be our little Oasis. It is a small Island about 20 Km by 10 but it turned out to be the perfect place to chill out. There was a koala sanctuary on the Island where we got to hold Snakes, Lizards, Crocodiles and Koalas and we enjoyed this little sanctuary much more than Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo which we had visited down the coast. Steve Irwin's zoo cost 52 dollars to get into and the Koala Sanctuary on Magnetic Island cost 19, You do the math.That was the east coast in a nut shell. We thought a month would be more than enough but you could easily spend three months traveling up the coast and not get bored. Who knows maybe we will in the future? For now its of to the Perth on the West coast to get a job and start saving.
