Lennox Head

Leaving Noosa for our 4 hour trip today, we joined the Bruce Highway for the last time. This road has been our travelling companion for the 9 days as we have driven south from Cairns, down the coast. We’ve now done just over 2500 kilometres in the camper although it doesn’t seem like it. As we approached Brisbane the highway became the Steve Irwin Way, and then we were in Brisbane.

Brisbane

Our route took us right through the middle of the city. We were seduced by the exotic sounding ‘Main Beach’ and ‘Surfers Paradise’ so we took the coast road. What a mistake, high rise hell, Benidorm on the Gold Coast.

Surfers Paradise..............!

Amazing for us, we then drove through a time zone as we left Queensland and entered New South Wales, gaining an hour, just like that! We’ve also swapped the Sunshine Coast for the Gold Coast and the Coral Sea for the Tasman Sea.

We passed through lovely Byron Bay, which was full of schoolies, as we’d been warned, great place but for another time perhaps. Lennox Head is Byron Bays little brother and it is just as nice but on a smaller scale. Our campsite is right next to Lake Ainsworth, freshwater stained brown from the tannin in the surrounding tea trees and lovely and warm. We’re also only about 400 meters from 7 mile beach.

As we’re two nights here we dedicated the next day to the beach. I hired a bodyboard and had fun in the waves. And Deb relaxed. We were both a bit frazzled by the time it came to throw the prawns on the barbie.

Lovely place this that we could stay a week.

For interest – we passed the Versace Hotel in Main Beach where I’m a Celebrity is currently being filmed. Didn’t spot Ant of Dec though. Phew! No bush tucker trial for us tonight.

Noosa Northshore

We would have liked to stay a while longer in Tin Can Bay, but perhaps there’ll be another time! 

On the way to Noosa we stopped off in Gympie for some supplies, a supermarket and a liquor store. No booze in the supermarkets here. Perhaps if we hadn’t allowed it we’d still have 1000’s of local off licences around our country too!

Access to Noosa Northshore is via a ferry again and the campsite is right on the beach. No drinking water but loos and showers. 

The site is full of Ozzie families having fun in the sun and a few kangeroos too. Although the water is lovely and warm a prevailing north wind had blown ‘bluebottle’ stinging jelly fish to the area, so together with no lifeguards, and the prospects of an odd shark or two put us off having a swim. Another lovely spot that needed more than one night.

You can buy a permit to drive your 4x4 on the beach and many do. 

Our last day in Queensland before we head south again to New South Wales and a new time zone.

Eungella to Tin Can Bay

This is about a 12 hour drive so we stopped off about half way in Yepoon. Nice little place and the Coral Inn, owned by a German family ran a nice beach themed B and B.

Tin Can Bay and Rainbow beach are two places we’d like to come back to. Our trip over to Fraser Island (a sand bar 75 miles x 15) was fab and although we didn’t see a dingo, we did fly in a little Cessna plane, swim in lake Mackenzie and bounce around in the 4x4 bus as we drove along the beach.

Tin Can Bay is famous for the esturine humped back dolphins that arrive every morning for a feed. There are 9 dolphins in the pod and the alpha male only ever lets the same 3 come in with him and have a free breakfast. He chases off any of the other 5 that try and come in. The volunteers only ever feed them an 8^th of their daily intake so as to not make them reliant on the process. These are the third generation of dolphins to do this. The first dolphin beached by mistake in the mid 1950’s and since then every day, rain or shine, between 7.00am and 9.30am, tide dependent they stop by.

Next up we’re off for some away from it all camping by the sea at Noosa Northshore.

Eungella (pronounced ‘young-gla’) National Park

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Driving off the Bruce Highway for the first time in a few days we headed up and west. On the way we stopped off at the Pinnacle Family Hotel for a lovely coffee and got persuaded to have a world famous pie. It was so nice.

Then further west up higher and higher until we arrived at our basic campground, no water and long drop loos and several degrees cooler. Camping right by the river to see the duck billed platypus in the wild.

After seeing a snake or two and several saw shelled turtles………. Yeh! We saw one, we hadn’t realised how small that are. About the size of a mole with a big bill and a tail. Then we saw loads more. Deb was in heaven.

Later we saw a snake (don’t know what sort) hunt, chase, capture and eat a frog, that was exciting too.

Here’s Debs picture of a queenslander house, typical of the area. Built on stilts to let the air flow round and also to protect from flooding.

Off to Yepoon next, Rocky by the see for those you in the know!

Cairns to Airlie Beach

Picked up the VW panel van and headed straight down to Mission Bay, the Beachcomer Coconut Village is a cracking campsite with great facilities. This is camping for softies. So far all the campsites have been great.

Then onto Townsville, which is a city! Well it made me chuckle. Got a feel of the American west about it, not a brilliant place but the trip to Magnetic Island was why we came. Caught the ferry  early and had a lovely day, too windy though for our trip to the outer reef to snorkel. Great walking and a swim in the sea, saw a couple of wild koalas. Sea temperature 28 degrees! This possum came to visit our site on the first night.

Arrived in Airlie Beach, our next stop, in time for a walk into the lovely small town and then a swim in the outdoor pool, before dinner at the Banjo Tavern, full of locals and great fun. Came across loads of ‘schoolies’ in Airlie Beach for the first time, celebrating graduation in the sun. Made us feel a bit old. Well we are a lot old compared to them!

The trip out sailing to the Whitsunday Islands on the S.V. Domino was exciting. I got to helm a bit on the way out, the snorkelling was great and the lunch V good too. Saw turtles but couldn’t get a good photo. These full face Decathlon snorkel masks are brilliant, easy breathing and diving.

On the way back, first it started to rain, then blow up, and then it got a bit hairy for a bit. Deb was sitting on the side at the back and got completely dunked and soaked but hung on. The dingy flipped, and generally a lot of fun was had!

Tomorrow we’re off to find a platypus………