After picking the Campervan up from near Cronulla, South of Sydney, it was off North towards Fraser Island but with lots of stops along the way. This was my first time in a Camper so it was all new to me but really exciting at the same time! We stopped off and did a big food shop in Woolworths then hit the road. Australia reminds me a lot of America, very large roads, straight and easy to get around, especially with GPS too!
We did about 150km and stopped off near Nelsons Bay, parked up in a camping site, connected ‘Betty’ (as we called her) to the power supply, Googled some sites to see the next day, had some dinner before we worked out how the bed came out and went to sleep. Surprisingly comfortable actually!
We were up early the next day and started in Nelson’s Bay and Port Stephens on the Pacific coast. We started at the Gan Gan lookout which is a hill station overlooking the bay which had spectacular views from both sides. We headed over to the Nelson Bay Lighthouse but the lighthouse itself you couldn’t see as it was in another bay, it was the light station that remained. We then booked a 90 minute trip from the d’Albora Marina in Port Stephens where we got a boat out into the bay and were lucky enough to see a small pod of Bottlenosed dolphins. I love these creatures!
After a quick lunch, we headed north to Port Macquarie which was about 200km. The first stop was the Koala hospital which was recommend online. This place was a gem and so worth going to! Manned by volunteers, they nurse sick and injured Koala’s, mostly hit by cars or attacked by other predators and domestic dogs. Some have also been injured in bushfires. They try to rehabilitate most of them to release back to the wild but some will be there for the rest of their lives. We arrived just in time for feeding time and the tour by one of the volunteers. I can’t put into words how cute and lovable these animals are! It’s amazing the work they do here. The only one scary point was the big sign that said no entry, deadly spiders! Seeing as Australia has some of the worlds deadliest spiders, I was taking note of this one.
The final stop of the day was the Tacking Point Lighthouse on the peninsula of Port Macquarie and the Sea Acres National Park. This small lighthouse has Lighthouse beach on one side and a small rocky bay on the other, both with he waves crashing in to them. Again, the view was pretty spectacular! After a successful day driving and sightseeing, we rocked up at a camping site in Urunga, near Coffs Harbour, another 200km further north, ready to go out exploring as we headed the next day to the famous Byron Bay.
We woke early on day 3 to some drizzle and mist from the mountains but headed inland anyway to Dorrigo National Park, about 30km from the coast. After parking up at the main site we trekked down through the dense rainforest in search of two waterfalls, the Crystal Shower waterfall and the Tristania Falls which are about a 3.5km round trip. The first one was accessed via a suspension bridge and was pretty impressive. The second one, Tristania, was via some rocky steps and was equally impressive with the water cascading over lots of little grey rocks into a pond and then running down in to the valley below. The trees in this rainforest were also pretty cool with some having exposed trunks like they'd be cut open! After we finished we jumped back in the camper van and headed out to the small mountain town of the same name, Dorrigo, where there is the Danger Falls to the north. This is another impressive waterfall, minus the trekking. You park up and theres a lookout point where you can see the waterfall below. The view really is amazing - like a birdseye view of the whole valley and falls. We then headed back to the coast past some small towns that looked like they were out of a wild west movie, and up towards Coffs Harbour about another 30km away. We had a walk around the marina area which was nice then found a spot for crazy golf at the Big Banana fun park. It was nearly 5pm so we quickly squeezed in another Sky Pier lookout from the top of the mountain before we headed north again up to Byron Bay, which was 250km.
We arrived in Byron Bay late evening. This area is well known for its backpackers, hipster and surfer lifestyle and you can see that as you walk around the town. loads of cool, trendy places to eat and drink, the crowd being mostly in their twenties. We got some gourmet fish and chips then headed back to bed. This campsite wasn't the best and was full of the hippie and surfer types, the facilities being a little run down. We had breaky then went to the beach as the sun was now shining. We must have spent a good hour 'surf watching' as the waves were huge! I think the women were better than the guys! We did see one guy who got his board out who must have been 60+ and he was amazing!! He caught a few big waves and rode them all the way to shore. I still can't get over how many people are in the deep water when there are sharks around! We then had a quick trip to the Byron Bay lighthouse on top of the hill that overlooks the bay with some spectacular views before we again headed further north to the Gold Coast. It appears I have a fetish for Lighthouses!
We arrived at the Gold Coast with a 'Welcome to Queensland' sign and the airport on our left as we continued on the Pacific Coast highway. I still can't get my head around how you enter Queensland State from New South Wales state and there is a time difference of minus 1 hour! So bizarre. We spoke to some guys who said try living in one state and your kids in school in another! Or try living in one and working in the other which some do! We luckily found a campsite and had a quick round of cray golf again before bed. The Gold coast is a lot more built up area made up of several suburbs including Palm Beach, Miami, Mermaid beach, Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise. The further north you go the more built up it is with skyscrapers etc. It reminds me a lot of Orlando and Miami in the US.
Signing off now as we are up early to go and do some of the big theme parks here tomorrow. Bring it on!
