The road from Brisbane to Cairns was around seventeen thousand kilometers, if we were to drive it all in one go, it probably would have taken close to twenty-four hours, but what’s the fun in that.
North from Brisbane we travelled through the Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Airline Beach, Hamilton Island, Townsville, Mission Beach and up towards Cairns. This was over the course of a month, so we didn’t have to rush at all. We started off by driving up to Noosa Heads, taking in the beautiful scenery on the way. As you get further North, in the Summer months of Australia, it is actually the wettest time to visiting North Queensland and Cairns area. This is why we started at the bottom of the country, so hopefully by the time we got to March in Cairns, it’s not so bad, and it wasn’t, we were lucky.
The drives North of Brisbane consisted of boat trips, sandy beaches, and any activities we could find. After Noosa we headed to Bundaberg where we visited the rum distillery and a turtle hatching sanctuary. We didn’t drive anywhere after the distillery, in case you were wondering, we waited until the next afternoon before continuing to Agnes Water. This was an odd, quiet, little town but was still able to offer a surfing lesson in the morning and a very informative travel centre; who gave us all the information of things to do in New Zealand. It was going to be jam-packed for sure. We liked it here. It was the first place we were going to have some girly time to ourselves without the couple in the same campsite. So, goon was required. The next day we woke up and took on a viewpoint walk to seventeen/seventy. We thought after a sweaty walk we would probably be ok to drive. We left it as late as possible and with both of us feeling one hundred percent we still didn’t want to risk it.
The reason we didn’t want to risk it was because we had been pulled over randomly before. Have you ever driven in Australia? They are very strict on drink driving, and so they should be, I cannot stand anyone who does it, nor did we want to get shipped back to England or put in an Aussie jail cell. Luckily in this little town there was a small police station. We went in and actually asked for a breathalyzer test. They looked at us a bit puzzled, I’m not sure whether they thought we were mad or just really sensible. They probably hadn’t seen this sort of behaviour before from travellers. We just thought it was the best thing to do and it was, we had nothing to worry about, we were fine.
So onwards, upwards and North-wards. We continued to Rockhampton which apparently has the best steak in Australia, you know we love a book food recommendation, and so we obliged. We continued the next day once rested and stopped of at Mackay and Hillsborough NP to head down to the famous Kangaroo Beach. You can guess our lucky can’t you; no roos. We were disappointed but not disheartened. It was a funny time of year and most of these last places didn’t seem to have many people. I think most travellers head to the North of Queensland in their ‘Winter’ which is basically still twenty-five degrees but just no rain. Can the UK not have weather like this?
We hit a backpacker paradise when we reached Airlie Beach, it was full of travellers, bars and day trips taking you over to Hamilton island. We scheduled a trip which would take us to up to the Hill Inlet look out and Whitehaven beach. A must see in Queensland, or just Australia in general. You can either stay in Airline Beach or on Hamilton Island. A few people we started chatting to worked on the tours out at the lower part of the Barrier Reef, if you headed out far enough from the Whitsundays you can access the Reef. It’s not what it once was, just a disclaimer. Humans ruin planet earth unfortunately and so does global warming. We still had a relaxing few days here, we were able to go to a backpacker bar and enjoy company of other travellers. We ended up spending three nights here, it just felt pretty normal and we didn’t feel like we were smelly old campers for a short while. There was also so much to see in the area. After being well rested we went to a turtle hospital in an Aquarium close by, yet another random find by Nia. She just knows where to find these things, random and always brilliant.
As we continued further North from Brisbane to Cairns, we started getting into the Rainforest and into the monsoon weather. It was starting to rain a few days again. It was manageable though; we were then forced to spend a few days in cafes, planning the next part of our journey. Deciding what to do and see in New Zealand and how we wanted to see it. It also encouraged me to book a Skydive at Mission Beach and we found this quirky little café called Bingil Bay. They did the best smoothies for me, and coffee for Nia, so we were happy. It gave us a bit of down time to collect our thoughts and decide on how we should tackle the next part of our trip.
After Mission Beach we knew there would be a drive to Cairns, we have to find accommodation, gather any extras we needed for New Zealand and book our activities. We also had to sell Bruce, our beloved car. It was sad to say good-bye but these rainy days helped us to take some photos of the car and get a head start before we even arrived in Cairns. Have you ever heard of two travellers being so organised? I don’t think so.
LEAH HANCOX 