After visiting 11 countries on 3 continents in the first 4
months of our trip, we were starting to feel that it was time for a change of
pace… and what better country to slow down and get comfortable in than
Australia? So we decided to shuffle up our itinerary and plan the road trip of
a lifetime: 7 weeks and over 5,000 kilometers camping down the Australian
coast, from Cape Tribulation to Barossa Valley. This was somewhat of a déjà vu
for Gen, having lived in Australia for 6 months – but she was happy to relive
the experience, and of course discover some new people and places.
We picked up our big blue Ford station wagon (aka “Big
Tony”) in Cairns, found a camping outlet clearance sale, and started off with a
trip to the Daintree rainforest and the deserted beaches of Cape Tribulation.
The rainforest is beautiful, but Ace had a little trouble with the whole
concept of not being able to swim in the ocean (if the crocs don’t get you, the
deadly jellyfish will!). Enough of that – we then went for some awesome scuba
diving on the Great Barrier Reef, where we got to pet a huge maori fish and Gen
got one of the coolest pictures yet. After diving, we moved on to Airlie Beach
for a trip out to what must be some of the most beautiful beaches and lagoons in
the world – the Whitsundays. It’s hard to imagine that so many different shades
of blue water even exist.
We were lucky enough to meet a fantastic Dutch couple just
as we arrived in Australia, who happened to have a carbon copy of our plans for
the next couple weeks… some perfect travel buddies! Joyce and Dennis were a
great addition to our road trip, joining us for our day outings, dinners and a
couple nights out on the town. Our favorite adventure together was our off-road
camping trip on Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world) where we
rented a modified Toyota Land Cruiser, did our best to stop the ladies from
panicking while we raced down the beach, tried to get stuck in the sand dunes,
and camped out beside the ocean.
Surprisingly, we managed to get the Land Cruiser back with no more than
a slightly broken suspension. The perfect boys (ok, and girls) camping trip J
The next 2 stops were to check out the Australian surf in
Byron Bay and Crescent Head – two super cool surf towns with very different
vibes. Byron Bay is hippy / surf / foodie central in Australia; quite touristy
with a very eclectic crowd and restaurants. Some locals claim it offers the
best food in Australia – which is hard to confirm but could very well be the
case. Crescent Head is more of an Australian secret untouched by tourism, a
beautiful piece of coast full of friendly locals riding one of the best long
board waves in the country (Ace caught the longest ride of his life here by far
on his first day). Then some huge surf
rolled in, Ace and his board got beaten up by the waves for a couple days, and
we decided it was time to move on south towards Sydney.
Our last stop on the way to Sydney was Orange, an up-and-coming
cool climate wine region in the mountains that was having its annual wine festival.
We went on a $20 all-you-can-drink wine tour, visited the night market, and
were reminded what it’s like to camp out in a trailer park during a frost. Enough
of that said Gen, so we went off to find some warmth in the big city…
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