Reef and Rainforest

As soon as we drove off the small cable ferry that crosses the Daintree River it was like we were in another world. The Daintree Rainforest covers a large section of the Tropical North Queensland coastline and at over 100 million years old it pretty accurately feels like being in a prehistoric jungle. The ferns and leaves are enormous, there are vines everywhere, some of them as thick as my leg and strangling the trees. 

The drive to Cape Tribulation felt like some kind of Amazon trek rather than part of a caravan tour of a commonwealth country. While I've enjoyed every part of our trip, from the big cities to the little beach towns, this was the first time it felt like an adventure. We camped right beside the beach in the thick jungle, surrounded by giant bats and brush turkeys. The palm trees and mangroves sprawl out of the rainforest and onto the beach in a perfect tropical setting. I'd really wanted to try cracking a wild coconut and there just happened to be a husking post at our site, only took two tries! Since neither of us have been to Southeast Asia this was an incredible new experience that we didn't really expect from Australia. 

I sought a lot of advice for this trip, from friends and my own online research, but nowhere explicitly said crossing the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation was a must see. There are rainforest attractions closer to Cairns, but I think we'd have really robbed ourselves if that's all we'd seen. Being in a rental campervan we are pretty limited to how deep we can explore (dirt roads are uninsured), so the best camping has alluded us. Cape Tribulation marked the end of the asphalt headed north so it just made sense to explore that far, and I'm so glad we did. 

A downside of North Queensland is that all the beautiful beaches basically become off limits past the Whitsunday Islands due to jellyfish and crocodiles. It's a big tease. There are croc signs at most beach accesses and estuarine rivers and creeks, as well as stinger signs, communal vinegar and netted swimming enclosures at most beaches. While we didn't see any on our own walks, we did take a couple cruises on different parts of the Daintree River in search of crocodiles.  Despite high water levels from the cyclone last week we were lucky enough to spot quite a few, from a massive 15 foot male to some 3 foot babies and everything in between. It's a surreal experience to get so close to them in the wild, few things in Australia feel so far from home. 

Cairns had a reputation for being a tourist trap city that parties too hard, couple that with on the spot fines of $220 for overnight camper parking and we didn't have a reason to spend much time there. We decided to stay in Port Douglas for a few days, which is a smaller town full of resorts and boat trips to the Great Barrier Reef. The guy who rented the van to us in Adelaide told us about a good seafood restaurant on the water and we had planned to treat ourselves when we got there. After the daily show of feeding 500 pound groper fish off the deck we settled in for some locally caught seafood. The barramundi was delicious, no wonder everyone is always fishing for it here. 

We happened to be in Port Douglas on Anzac Day which was interesting to see. There was a small parade and service at the war memorial followed by an all day piss up at the local bars. Hard to imagine partying hard on Remembrance Day, but I guess that's how it's done here. That's probably what the boys were fighting for in the first place. Tradition for Anzac Day is to play an old war time gambling game called Two Up, which is basically glorified heads or tails. Everybody gathered at the biggest pub in town and started throwing big dollars around and flipping coins. We left for about 5 hours and came back to the same people gambling away, drunker and rowdier. It was actually a really good time. We left up $5.

My goal for the Great Barrier Reef was to do a 3 day multi dive trip on a boat that takes you to the further and less visited areas of the reef but time and money were against us on that dream. Next time. Luckily the consolation prize turned out the be one of the best days I've ever had. We took a day trip from Port Douglas that spent about 5 hours on 3 different sites on the outer reef, each one was absolutely incredible. It's hard to describe just how amazing it was to be surrounded by so much colour, the fish and the corals. My camera has been water damaged a few times and so close to broken I almost left it at home. I'm glad I didn't because while most of the photos didn't work the ones I got of the clown fish in the anemones do a good job of summing up the experience.

Fraser Island

After Byron Bay we headed straight to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast to spend a night with a relocated Canadian friend, James, who worked with Gen at CityTV Vancouver. Surfers is a highly developed and commercialized area with huge skyscrapers and restaurants and night clubs on the beach. I'd heard the term 'Beach Vegas' and it's fitting. On the surface it looks like the opposite of Byron and I'm sure all the hippies and pseudo hippies probably sit around in drum circles talking about how horrible Surfers is but the reality is they are both selling the exact same thing. I can appreciate that Byron has a more laid back charm, but at this stage that charm is entirely manufactured and I actually appreciate that Surfers is a no bullshit vacation town on the beach with restaurants, condos and clubs. 

James has been here three years and still said he feels like he's on vacation, and I can see why. Waking up to a view overlooking that beach every day is definitely appealing.

After Surfers Paradise we headed to Brisbane to meet up with Maddie and Josh for a long anticipated trip to Fraser Island. Maddie is my friend Catherine's older sister, who I didn't really know in Qualicum but we all properly met when we went to Greece a couple summers ago. They also lived in London at the same time and we met up there as well. Their travels have led them to Brisbane now and they were keen to join us on an adventure. 

Fraser Island was one of the first trips I read about and the more I researched the more appealing it got. Essentially it is an island made entirely of sand (the world's largest) that has very little development, no main roads and is only accessible by 4x4. The entire eastern beach is an 80km highway governed by the tides. 

We rented a Land Cruiser for the trip which was of course a phenomenal vehicle for driving up and down the beach and on rough narrow roads through the middle of the island. Right from the start you drive through deep soft sand onto an unmoored barge beached on the sand and moving with the waves. Then Gen spotted a couple dolphins cruising alongside just feet from the boat. It was a fitting start. 

We spent both nights camping just off the beach along the many kilometres of open camping areas. Despite being a popular tourist destination both spots were quiet and private. The stars were incredible. 

Apart from the experience of driving and camping the island there are also a few must see attractions we checked out. The first was the crystal clear waters and white sand of Lake Mackenzie, easily the nicest beach I've ever seen on a lake. We also checked out Eli Creek, which is a perfect creek through the jungle with a soft sand bottom and clear water that you float along. It's so perfect it looks like a theme park ride. We also hiked down to the massive sand dunes of Lake Wabby, and spotted a minke whale off the lookout of Indian Head. Due to sharks and rips the only safe ocean swimming is the protected Champagne Pools, a decent but crowded little tidal area. There's also the Maheno shipwreck which was cool to see up close. 

The dingos of Fraser Island are quite famous, and the multiple warning signs and camp closures really hammer home that they are to be taken seriously. We spotted a few on the beach each day and both nights we had them patrolling our camps and checking us out. They aren't particularly scary but they have attacked children and you wouldn't want to face a pack of them. 

There is certainly a lot of places in Canada to explore with a 4x4, particularly in BC, but I don't think there is anywhere that comes close to the big boy playground of Fraser. We've been living out of a van for a while now but this was the first real camping I've done in too long and it was just amazing. I absolutely love off roading and this place was some of the most fun I've ever seen. It was really nice to have the freedom and time to see the island at our leisure because some of the tour groups looked like a pain in the ass. It was also great to have good company to share the trip with, Fraser Island was the highlight of the trip so far for me. 

In a van down by the river

We've been in the campervan for a little over 2 weeks now. We started in Adelaide and have driven along the coast up to Byron Bay. It's really been quite pleasant, the van is new, clean, comfortable and reliable. I really like having a home base on wheels, and we've enjoyed some free urban camping in a number of places. The real bonus for me has been the ipod jack, as radio stations here are pretty brutal, the DJ's all have names like Clairsy and Kymba and they sound like douches.

Adelaide was basically just a place to start the drive, nothing much on the list to do, but we did manage to see 2 friends of Genevieve's from high school who had separately ended up living there. It's funny when you reach out to people on the other side of the world that you'd likely never see living in the same town. Everyone likes a little familiarity on the other side of the world, and local insight (as well as rides from the airport and home cooked meals) are always great when travelling. It was great to meet them and hear a bit about moving down here.

From Adelaide we headed for the Great Ocean Road, which is not just a clever name. This 250km stretch of highway runs along beaches, jagged coast, sandstone cliffs and rainforest. It was built by WWI vets after the war and claims to be the world's largest memorial, which is a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless it's a stunning drive and worth the hype. The iconic views were amazing, but the highlight for me was all the wildlife. We camped under koala filled trees, saw so many kangaroos and wallabies, picnicked with emus and saw countless colorful bird species, all in the wild.

Next stop was Geelong to see another couple Aussies we met in London, Isabella and Gianni. They had recently had their first child and it was so nice to see them and their new son. Amazing how much their lives have changed since their going away party with some drunken karaoke and bowling on Euston Rd. Life moves so quickly. It was really great to see how well they're doing and have a few nights catching up, and sleeping in a bed.

Melbourne was somewhere we both would have loved to spend more time, but the nature of this trip gave us only a few days. An English girl we met in London, Katy, happens to now be living in Melbourne and offered us a sweet parking space in the city and bathroom access, a real perk. It was cool to have her show us around to some markets. We also met up with Emma, who is my good friend Cole's little sister and also happens to be living in Melbourne. I didn't know Emma that well when we were younger but I'm really glad I reached out to her because she was so nice to hang out with and really went out of her way to show us around the city. It was the very large Melbourne Comedy Fest while we were there, and she and her boyfriend joined us for a show. We were lucky not to have to arbitrarily pick from the list of hundreds as there was a comedian performing that happened to be a regular at Gen's coffee shop in London. She was quite surprised to see Gen and it was really cool to see her show, which luckily was quite funny so we didn't have to lie to her face.

I'd really wanted to catch and Aussie rules football game, and since half the AFL teams are around Melbourne we were told that was the place to do it. There was a good match at the huge cricket stadium while we were there and it was really cool to see. I can get into any sport that so many other people are that passionate about, especially when it doesn't have the nancy diving and whining of European football. I'd definitely be an AFL fan if I lived here. We met for a beer with a guy I worked with in London and he explained a bit about the sport to us, it's amazing to me a city like Melbourne can support so many teams, and there were over 60,000 at the game we went to.

We both really liked Melbourne, I could definitely spend more time there. There were so many vibrant areas and outdoor cafes and restaurants, alleys packed with people eating and drinking, huge parks and a really nice waterfront. I can see why people either like Sydney or Melbourne because they're very different cities.

We kind of rushed from Melbourne to Byron Bay in about 6 days, but we did take the scenic route and stopped at a few great places for beaches and snorkeling like Jervis Bay, Nelson Bay and Coff's Harbour. We spent a couple days in Sydney so Gen could see the city, and have dinner with a girl she worked with in London. We also did the very beautiful Coogee to Bondi walk which is 5km of paths along the beaches and cliffs of the city's coastline. I could really get used to that lifestyle, so many sandy beaches and surf spots and swimming holes.

Now we're in Byron Bay, which is an incredibly strange place. It's a very small town with a huge international reputation for being a good time. It does have some very stunning beaches and tons of great bars and restaurants so I can definitely see why it's gained so much popularity. It's a bit of a victim of its own success though since the massive crowds and traffic kinda of go against the laid back vibe. The first thing we came across was a benefit concert for the areas homeless, which is ridiculous because everybody in Byron Bay is homeless, those guys are just staying longer. Once we passed the requisite hula hoopers and bead sellers I knew I was out of place. I'd love to tell somebody I made the money to be here mining uranium to be sold to China. Namaste Byron Bay.