Driving up the coast in a campervan worked out well enough but it soon became obvious that it would have been cheaper (and more social) to drive up in a car and stay at hostels. We stopped at Hawks Nest, Nambucca Heads, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Noosa, Hervey Bay, Airlie Beach, Townsville and Cairns.
On the way to Coffs Harbour we stopped at Dorrigo National park and did a 6.4km walk through the rain forest. The forest was amazing but we did not see many animals.
We spent 4 nights in Byron Bay which is quite lively in the evening. There are quite a few street performers on the street in the evening and this makes for a good atmosphere. Also there are several good pubs with live music. While in Byron we took advantage of the fact that we were by the sea.
One morning we went sea kayaking, which was great fun and good exercise. First we paddled out to some big waves and rode a few. At one point Ian and I thought we could ride over a 10 foot wave without being tipped over and loosing my sunglasses. We were wrong!. We then paddled to another beach and had a snack and looked out for dolphins (there are several pods in Byron bay) but had no luck. Finally we stopped for some snorkelling (just before going in Ian fed the fish) and I saw turtles and stingrays.
The next day we headed of early for a surfing lesson with Hos-Style. Hos-Style is run but Terry and he is a real character. After getting wet suits at his house we headed of to the beach for 30mins of instruction. Then it was into the sea. It was a great spot to learn as you could stand in the water and the waves were not too big. I alternated between paddling myself onto a wave or being pushed onto one by one of the instructors. Amazingly I stood up most times and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
We passed through Surfers Paradise on the way to Brisbane and it looked horribly commercial. The highlight of Brisbane was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on the way out of town. I got to see many native creatures and petted Kangaroo's and Koala's.
Most people stop at Hervey Bay so that they can go on a trip to Fraser Island, the biggest sand island. Not wanting to do the usual 3 day, 2 night thing with a bunch of 18 year olds from a hostel we opted to do a fly-drive-fly day on the island. We left early in the morning and were flown in a small plane at low altitude over the island and landed on the beach. We picked up a Toyota Landcruiser and drove around some of the island. On the east side of the island the beach is the road. After driving up and down the beach we drove into the rain forest to Lake McKenzie and had a swim and then walked through some of the rain forest. While on the island we saw some Dingoes which were obviously used to seeing humans.
We arrived in Airlie beach after our only long drive of the trip (860km's!). Ian had wanted to to a dive trip in the Whitsunday area and after looking around we settled on a 3 day 3 night trip with Kelly dive. The boat was very comfortable, the food was good and the sea calm. We dove Knuckle reef, The Walking Stick and Bait reef. One day we had a pod of 10-15 dolphins riding the wake at the front of the boat. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. The diving was not as spectacular as I had hoped but the trip was a lot of fun and I earned my advanced certification.
Neill, a well travelled 18 year old from England, came up to Cairns with us. Once there I decided that I would do another dive trip as I would regret it if I did not. So Neill and I signed up for another 3 day 3 night trip with Rum Runner. We had a few days to wait and spent a few days in a house in the Atherton Tablelands near Lake Escher. When we got back to town Ian left to go back south and Neill and I left for the dive trip.
The first night of the dive trip we were faced with a 15 hour, 240km trip out to the Bougainville reef in the coral sea. Unfortunately there were 10-15 knot winds and 1-1.5 metre swells. Needless to say some of us (including me) ended up feeding the fish that night. We dove the Bougainville reed, Pixie Pinnacle, Andy's Postcard, and Broken patches. We also watched giant cod being fed at the Cod Hole. The visibility was amazing in the coral sea (50m?) as was the fish and coral life at pixie's pinnacle.
Back in Cairns I went to Reef Teach for a 2 hour lecture on the reef. I can highly recommend this lecture given by a very enthusiastic Irishman named Paddy. It was here that I realized how little I knew about the reef (I would have gotten much more out of the dives if I had done this first). Everyone from the dive trip met up in a pub for a get together. I could only stay for half an hour as I had a plane to catch.
I was sad to be leaving Australia. It is a big place and I have only scratched the surface.
Rupert
San Francisco