Australia part I, East Coast ( map | part II | part III | JJJ Radio )
This is a diary-as-we travel!!
The pics can also be viewed from the Photos section.
All mentioned times are local time. Please note that all photos are
copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any way without prior permission.
© 2001 danny@ricin.com
Ready to go
Arrived in Sydney
Some sightseeing in Sydney
More Sydney
Brisbane
Australia Zoo and Noosa
Rockhampton
Bowen, Whitsunday Coast
Tropical Townsville
Magnetic Island
En route to Cairns
Pt Douglas and Mossman Gorge
Last day in Cairns
Phew, I packed in only two hours. Tomorrow morning we need to shop for a few minor things (the flight is at 7 pm). I've made two booklets containing maps, simple city plans (thank you, Lonely Planet :-), copies of relevant documents and tickets, a site-to-site distance table that I've made for our traveling plan, and the like. We even added some pages from the Spartacus gay guide, a must-have when gay and looking for bars etc.
The idea is as follows: We'll fly to Sydney and from there, two days later, to Brisbane. There we've arranged for a rental car and we're going to drive up north along the coast to Cairns. From there we'll travel in a small 4WD camper to the Gulf Savannah and then towards central Australia. Then its up north, the final destination being Darwin from where we'll fly back to Sydney and back home. Guess what, I've never been on a plane before, I'm sure it will be an experience to remember -- if only for being unable to smoke for over 25 hours :-( I have a reasonable idea about where to be on which day, but we'll see how much of it will be realised. Of course at this point, after having done a lot of work on the website and racing against the clock to get enough mp3s on my laptop's hard disk, all I want now is to GO!!!
July 09 2001: A cold morning in Sydney
Yep, the eagle has landed. The flight was long and as expected not particularly comfortable. Altogether it was about 22 hours of flying, not including waiting. Not bad for my first time on an aeroplane. The food might have been worse I guess ;-) We first changed planes in London, coming from Amsterdam. Then to Sydney with Qantas, with a short stop in Bangkok. Well, at least we got to smoke a cigarette there...
About an hour after leaving the airport, now 8 am, we're at our hotel getting rid of a small jetlag. It isn't that bad really. It is pretty cold here though, it was only 7 degrees Celcius which I think is normal since it's winter. Day maxima will be 15-18 degrees. We'll probably do some sightseeing today although a few hours of sleep might not be a bad idea right now.
July 10 2001: After some hours of sleep...
yesterday morning, we walked from our Hotel in Kings Cross through the Botanic Gardens. Although we didn't have much sunshine they were very pretty. We also saw the famous Sydney Opera House which is located next to the gardens. After two well deserved beers at Circular Quay (where the ferries are, next to the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge) we walked through the city centre a bit and then back into Kings Cross where we ate (and drank some more). It was already dark then, in fact around 6 pm it was already getting dark.
Between the nudie bars in Kings Cross there's also a sports cafe showing everything about sports that's on TV at the moment on various monitors and a large screen. We saw part of the Wimbledon finals there and watched the rest at our hotel room. Oh well, Rafter lost in the fifth set...
Pictures taken:
Now it's almost 9 am, and we're ready for our second day here. A warm bath can do wonders and now there's the urge for coffee!!
Well the weather went up and down today. When going back to our hotel late afternoon we got soaking wet but most of the day has been quite good with some sun. The sun really burns here in Australia, I could feel it on my neck and cheeks even after only an hour or so.
First we walked through Hyde Park, a rather small but pretty city park, and then went up Amp Tower to the observation deck at about 300m height. From there we got a great view of Sydney and its surroundings. As the photos show, it's really a very large city (4 million people). Included was the so-called Skytour which was an audiovisual show to get to know a little more about Australia's highlights, such as the Barrier Reef, the Outback, the tropical rainforest in the north, and of course Sydney. Nothing new really, and it started off kinda boring but the end was quite spectacular with an IMax-like experience (moving seats and all). Since we didn't want to spend the rest of our day queing up for a ferry and then hurrying to get back in time, we decided to walk around some more and have a look at the Rocks ("old town") around the Harbour Bridge.
After a couple of beers in the sunshine, we went back to our hotel in the north of Kings Cross. On our way back - we took sort of a shortcut through the Botanic Gardens - we got soaked by a shower. Oh well, shit happens, right? We had some trouble with the lock on our hotel room's door all of a sudden, but they swiftly sent someone up who apparently put some oil in it and that helped.
In the evening we went to Oxford St, around which the gay area is situated. We ate some nice pizza and then strolled around a bit. There obviously were gays alright, mainly on the streets and mostly couples, but most of the bars were almost empty. I think that's because it was just a Tuesday and the weather wasn't too good (for Sydney that is). A little disappointing still.
Back at the hotel we looked at our plans for tomorrow - the flight to Brisbane - and then I went about updating this stuff. Nothing more to say for now, just past midnight and rather sleepy, but we do have some more pics for you:
Yesterday, we flew from Sydney to Brisbane where we arrived at about 2 pm. Our flight had some delay because of heavy fog around Melbourne airport. Of course all domestic flights to and from Sydney are interdependent so we had to wait a while too. It wasn't too bad, I had bought myself a book to keep me busy. The flight wasn't very exciting and it was pretty clouded so we didn't get to see very much.
After arriving in Brisbane we had a little trouble finding an accomodation, but once again the Lonely Planet came to the rescue (and our cellphone ;-) Around 4 pm we had checked in and had some coffee. We found a place next to Brisbane's small Chinatown. Brisbane is quite a vibrant city with a population of about 1.6 million. The palm trees combined with some Victorian style architecture hidden between business buildings and skyscrapers give the city a pleasant Mediteranean feel while there is also that British-like rush during the day. We felt very tired and didn't do much the rest of the day. We ate chinese (of course) and went to bed early.
Today we were already up around 6 am which gave us the opportunity to get to see some more of Brisbane before we went to pick up our rental car. We roughly followed the city walk suggested by Lonely Planet but in reverse. The sun was already shining and it didn't take very long for the temperature to follow suit. The hightlight must have been the small but gorgeous Botanic Garden (see pics below). Brisbane is situated some 25 km from the coast and is more of a "river" city than it is a coastal city, with a couple of large motorway bridges.
July 12 2001: Australia Zoo and Noosa
At about 10 am we were ready and we got our car (a white Nissan). We fetched our luggage from our hotel and drove up North along Bruce Highway. The end destination was to be Noosa, which is about 150 km North from Brisbane. We decided to take the Glass House Mountains Tourist Route because we were ahead of scedule anyway and because it took us along the beautiful strangely shaped Glass House Mountains and to Beerwah where the Australian Zoo is located. The whole route was very scenic and it felt good being free to decide where to go and what to do now we had our own means of transport.
The Australian Zoo is the home of the famous crocodile hunters Steve and Terri Irwin (if you ever watch Discovery Channel you'll know them). Well, we didn't get to see Steve or Terri themselves but the Zoo was quite interesting and a pleasant stop for about 2 and a half hours. I got to pet a kangaroo (as did the other children ;-) and there's proof on photo below. And of course they had several crocodiles and other animals.
Finally, along the Sunshine Motorway we reached Noosa and took a short break along the Noosa River. The sun was shining happily and I threw some more sunmilk on my skin (especially on my tattoo!). It was probably some 22 degrees, really warm in the sun and quite cool in the shadow. We drove along until we reached Noosa Heads where we found an accommodation next to Noosa Woods, walking distance from the beaches and Noosa National Park. It is situatued on the outer North of the Sunshine Coast and apparantly it's a good place for surfing when there's no shark alert. It was very pretty and not too crowded. Just before sunset (5.30 pm, remember it's winter here, it also gets colder pretty fast after sunset) we walked into the National park and saw the sun go down at the sea side. Then we hurried back to town before it was all dark, and had some drinks and ate pasta. Now it's midnight and after uploading our pics, we'll go to bed. It has been a well spent day!
July 14 2001: Following Bruce Hwy to Rockhampton (yesterday)
Yesterday the real journey started. We had a long drive ahead covering over 500 km to Rockhampton. We left Noosa at about 8.15 am. Of course at first we took a wrong turn but after some 20 minutes we were on Bruce Highway heading North. We had breakfast along the highway near Cooroy and bought a large bottle of water (you need those!). The sun was already burning quite intensely even through our car window. We saw lots of hills and mountains and the vegetation slowly changed from forests to a more prairy-like scenery, quite dry but still green grassland with still lots of trees. As we approached "beef" town Rockhampton of course we saw a lot of lifestock on our way.
What you'll also see along the highway are numerous dead kangaroos and smaller marsupials. A kangaroo can be heavy, so if there's a warning about crossing kangaroos you better take it seriously (although we didn't see any, it usually happens at night), I'm sure crashing into one can wreck your car. There was also a lot of roadwork being done. Although the speed limit in non built-up areas is 100 or 110 kmph, don't expect to be able to drive 100 straight because of this. I suppose road maintenance is primarily done in the winter but then again in the summer some parts of the highway might be flooded and that can also make your trip take a while longer (they even have water height indicators in place on such parts so you can make an educated guess if you can make it or not, quite a service isn't it? ;-) And you should take some time to rest. There are a lot of roadhouses, restaurants and picknick spots along the road; you should use them. We quickly realised that we should make traveling fun and not a contest. Also, beware of the police, especially in the more Southern parts. Don't drive too fast or do it smart otherwise you'll pay!
Anyway, on route, just South of Gladstone we took a wrong turn and ended up the Awoonga Resort and took a picture of the beautiful lake. How can you take a wrong turn when on a highway you ask? Easily really, at several points the highway just merges into and out of towns, very much unlike what we're used to in Holland. Same in Rockhampton, where the highway is an integral part of the city.
Rockhampton, just South of the Capicorn (where the tropics start), is the city of beef. Can't miss it. When you enter the town the first thing you see is a huge cow. The lanes are all really really broad and the houses as far as we've seen are already these typical large often wooden "Outback" style mansions. Indeed, the Outback already starts East of the highway. Many shops and restaurants are drive-through take-aways. We also noted that there was quite a lot of property for sale, perhaps the younger people tend to move away to the larger cities in the South. Of course we had beef for dinner, an enormous steak. We went to bed quite early, being tired, and also because there isn't that much to do in a city like Rockhampton (no offense intended). Well, what do you expect, it's winter and it's dark at 6 pm.
The next morning we first drove to the riverside and took a few photos. Before we left town we took a walk through the Kershaw Gardens, showing lots of native Australian plants, even a tad of "rainforest". Unfortunately the waterfall had run dry... oh well, it's the dry season after all.
July 14 2001: Along the Whitsunday Coast to Bowen
Initially we headed for MacKay. On our way we saw miles and miles of sugar kane which at this time is being harvested. The landscape changed not only by the cane fields but also because everything looked quite dry. But the hills and mountains were still full of trees. We also got to see the sea a few times. The first picture shows a sugar kane field in the midst of harvesting. They even burn down the remains, at some places these were quite large fires.
Meanwhile it was getting warmer and at the few occasions where we left our car and spent some time in the sun I could almost feel it burning into my skin. Early afternoon I saw a temperature indicator alongside the road and it showed 24 degrees and that's winter over here! I'm starting to get a nice tan already but I have to be careful because I get sunburnt very easily. Lots of factor 20 helps though. Anyway, it was a pleasant drive and we decided not to do a trip to one of the Whitsunday Islands tomorrow (expecting it to be rather crowded on a Sunday) but to head on along the coast to Bowen. This would give us more time later on to have some daytrips in the region around Cairns which we expect to be most beautiful.
Bowen is the upper North tip of the Whitsunday Coast. It has serveral bays and beaches and we ended up at Queens Bay. It's quite a commercially developed resort-type area, but because it's not the holiday season for Australians it didn't look really full. We got the last unit of a motel just 100m off the beach. Well, there isn't that much "beach" as you can see in the pics but we don't care about lying on a beach for hours and hours anyway. I noticed sandflies (actually they're flees not flies, yuck) but I suppose unless maybe when lying in/on the sand for a longer time they're harmless. This is also an area where in the summer the dreaded and potentially lethal box jellyfish can be found (welcome to the tropics ;-)
Well, just before sunset we took a few pics on the beach which was nearly deserted by then. Many thanks to the kind lady who offered to make a photo of both Jan and me! Then we drove into the village and got some beer and pizzas and I had time to update the website again. Tomorrow we're going to Townsville which from Bowen is only about 200 km. We've had a good day and after uploading this stuff (whatever you do, DON'T use Compuserve, it's slower than a moon cycle :-) I'm going to bed.
July 15 2001: Tropical Townsville
We left Bowen at about 8.30 am. We only had to cover some 200 km to Townsville, further up North, today. It wasn't very busy on the highway so it wouldn't take us very long. We took our time to have breakfast along the road and to have a break later in the Burdekin region. The little shop at the resting/picknick site was closed but there was a remarkable memorial tree and a stone that read that at this very place back in 1876 the first shop ever in this region had been opened. These are the kind of things you don't get to see if you just fly from place to place. Seriously, the only way to really see and feel this enormous country is to drive through it and get out of that car once in a while.
Around 11.30 am we were already in Townsville. It's quite a big town with about 100,000 people and it's the point of access to Magnetic Island amongst others. Many palm trees and a lovely beach (along the Strand, where we got into a hotel). After freshing up a bit we headed for the beach, in other words, we crossed the street! It was quite warm, I think some 25 degrees or so, and the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. I got the chance to sunbathe a little and get my feet wet. Guess what, I didn't sunburn (factor 20 again :-)!
In the afternoon, we spent about an hour in the Reef HQ where they have built a mini coral reef, exactly mimicing the conditions at the actual Great Barrier Reef. It was quite interesting and there was a lot of information about the very complex and fragile ecosystem that makes up the reef and its inhabitants, from plankton to bigger sharks and rays and everything in between. They also do scientific research and try to educate people.
After that we had a couple of XXXXes wallowing in the sun while looking at the waves rolling in. Townsville and its beach is really a lovely place. I think I could learn to live here ;-) After taking a bath we had dinner outside. It was dark by then but not cold. I had a very special dish, salmon baked into some sort of bread (forgot the name). I've seldomly had such a great meal! Now it's around a quarter to midnight and we're just relaxing and updating this page. Yesterday the connection (through cellphone) was so unreliable that I gave up on uploading. Now we can use a regular phoneline to plug into our modem and we expect things to work more smoothly this time (though Compuserve still sucks). Anyway, we've had a great day!
Today we took a day trip to Magnetic Island which lies approx. 8 km from the coast and is accessible by ferry from Townsville. The passenger ferry takes you to Picnic bay in the South of the island. From there there are buses that drive until Horseshoe Bay in the NE of the island. That's what we did. There are several beaches and walking tracks (take water with you!). This is actually a (inner) reef island and it's very scenic.
We took the bus to Horseshoe Bay and lied on the beach for an hour. My body got full of sand because I had put a lot of sunmilk on so I took a dive to wash it off. The water was nice but when going deeper it got a bit cold. We walked the track to Balding Bay through the bush (a quite hard steep rock path). Balding Bay (pics 4, 5 and 8) was even more beautiful than Horseshoe Bay. From there back to the main walking track and to an outlook (pics 10 and 11), eventually leading to Radical Bay. Then we took an unsealed road back to a bus stop which we just made in time to get back to our ferry at half past 4. All in all we've walked only about 6 km but it was enough to get us tired. The terrain wasn't that easy to cover. I got a bit sunburnt but we did get to see many birds, skinks (little lizards), and a kangaroo from 2 or 3 metres!
Magnetic Island has shops, resorts, and backpackers hostels and if you have the time I think you could easily spend a week there without getting bored. We however are moving on to Cairns tomorrow and after having kangaroo for dinner (well, me that is, Jan would not touch anything like that :-) we got back to our hotel. Now it's almost 11 pm and I'm going to bed soon. Oh yeah, the last pic shows the man-made waterfall at the Strand in Townsville and the one before shows Townsville as seen from the island.
July 17 2001: En route to Cairns; Cardwell and Josephine Falls
Apart from some daytrips the next two days, this is the end of part I of our Australia adventure. We drove up all the way from Brisbane to Cairns along the East coast of wonderful Australia. Queensland is so beautiful and most people we met were really very friendly. We're in Cairns now, a lovely place to be in the tropical north.
Of course we took our time to see a little bit of the region while on our way. We stopped somewhere north from Ingham at a scenic outlook and took a photo. It was a bit clouded over the (rain)forest which is really what one would expect. Then we drove further and in Cardwell, along the Cardwell Range we got some breakfast/lunch and we also had a look at the beach (pics 2 thru 5). This is actually the only town on the north coast that is situated directly at the coast and it was one of the first settlements here. There was a warning sign at the beach telling us that this was a salty (crocodile) habitat and that we ought to be careful. We didn't see any unfortunately, if photogenic enough we would have had them up here otherwise :-)
The landscape changed again. We saw rainforest upon the hills/mountains and the local farmers seem to do more than just sugar cane... bananas, citrus, pumpkin, tomatoes, and so on. Along the highway there are huge forests some of which are National Parks. Very scenic. It was more clouded and more moist, really tropical. Temperatures were about 27 or so. In between the forested hills and mountains there were plains of sugar cane and wild sections with (eucalyptus?) trees and lots of termite "towers" and of course cultivated land for fruits and stuff.
Later on, just before Mirriwinni, we drove off the highway to have a look at Josephine Falls. Oh man, that was pretty... lush rainforest and a beautiful waterfall all easily accessible through an easy track. We took a few pictures there before our camera's battery went empty. I could try and describe but the pics speak for themselves I think. Then, around 4 we reached Cairns, the "capital of North Queensland". Lovely place. We'll have until Friday to explore the surroundings, then we'll get our rental motorhome and head for the outback.
Ok, last but not least, some hotel bashing. We got a very nice hotel/motel along Sheridan St. in Cairns but first we tried the Four Seasins Hotel (they have two locations in Cairns). It looked quite posh and when we asked the little insect-with-wrong-tie at the reception told us they were fully booked while just ending a phone call with someone making reservations. Jan thought it must have been my eyebrow piercing or our casual clothing or something and he's probably been right, because the place where we're staying now is opposite to their Sunshine Tower Hotel, their second spot in Cairns, and it sure doesn't look like everything is occupied! What a bunch of a**holes, apparently they think that just because we look like regular people who do have a life and an identity we have nothing to spend or something.
So there goes... friends, steer away from the Four Seasons Hotel group, let me say that again **FOUR SEASONS HOTEL**, on the Ricin.Com blacklist!! What a bunch of wankers. Aaahhh, good to have that off my chest. Oh well, I wouldnt want to stay with such narrow minded self important pieces of crap anyway let alone pay for it!! Don't go to these bozos, there's plenty other choices and a hell of a lot cheaper too.
So now I'm sat on our balcony barefoot and in my boxers (no one can see I think/hope ;-) at 0.30 am with a nice cold beer. Yeah life is good at times like these! Well, I'm going to upload the new stuff and then go to sleep... best regards, wherever you are and however you look!
July 18 2001: Pt Douglas and Mossman Gorge
Today we took a trip along Cairns' beaches which are to the North along Cpt Cook Hwy. Some people say that these are amongst the most beautiful beaches in the world, and I think they might be right. We headed for Pt Douglas, one of the earliest coastal settlements in Northern Queensland. On our way we took a break at the Rex Outlook (pics 1 and 2, very very scenic) just past Hartleys Creek, near Oak Beach. There were some people getting ready to skydive and we saw the first heading off and landing perfectly on the beach below.
Pt Douglas is a relaxed tourism driven town with many resorts as deep as your wallet goes. We had coffee and walked around a bit. Next to the beach there's a track that leads up providing the most beautiful outlooks you could ask for (pics 3 thru 8 show Pt Douglas in all its glory). Nice atmosphere, though packed with tourists. The beach surprisingly was rather empty. By the way, you should realise that all of these beaches might be dangerous as this is the domain of the "salties" (saltwater crocodiles). I didn't see any though.
Initially we wanted to drive all the way up to Cape Tribulation but we didn't realise that you must take the car ferry to get there. We didn't feel like waiting and headed back to Mossman between Pt Douglas and the Cape. This is also the place where you can get Aborigonal guided tours into the Daintree rainforests. We didn't have that much time as we wanted to be back in Cairns before dark (the highway goes through a mountainous region with sharp turns and all - by the way some people, typically tourists, drive in a very irresponsible fashion there as there are no speed cameras). We decided to have a look at Mossman Gorge, which proved to be a great pick.
The gorge itself is really beautiful and its water is suitable for swimming though it's really cold. I didn't have any swimming trunks with me but I did take the oppurtunity to give my feet a (wet) rest. Beyond the walking track leading to the gorge you can cross the bridge and have an easy walk through the rainforest which we did. Very beautiful, the only backdraw was perhaps that there were too many people doing the same thing (although on the water side it was more crowded). Some of the large figs we saw were really amazing. And of course we took some photos of us pretending to be real macho bushwalkers as well ;-) Pics 9 and 10 were taken along the highway and the rest shows the gorge and the rainforest track.
After that we hurried back to Cairns. There was a big fire on one of the forrested hills just north of Cairns, what a shame. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and we had an ultra-large T-bone steak at the Rattle & Hum in Cairns, which was gone in only minutes. Again, a very well spent day!
July 19 2001: Last day in Cairns
Today we took it easy. We decided to skip Kuranda, too many tourists anyway and besides we've had our share of rainforest and we'll see some more in the NT top end (Kakadu). I bought myself a nice pair of shorts and two shirts and a few CDs to play while on the road with our camper van which we'll get tomorrow. I got Radiohead's Amnesiac - I already had it off the Internet but didn't buy it yet - and I got the latest Muse album and the one before. Yeah I know, should have gotten those much earlier. Good music for the outback!
Time for a little resume. What a beautiful state Queensland is. Great looking, deeply tanned people (some of the guys I've seen are really yummie ;-) and they're all so friendly once you can look through their sometimes tough appearance. Many tattoos as well, though often heavily faded by the sun. Not many piercings, but well I've always liked to draw attention... Although Cairns is very much a tourist place it still has its laid back atmosphere, typical for the tropics. I said it before, I could learn to live here really! Oh yeah, last but not least I'm getting more tanned and less of that itchy burnt feeling while factor 20 is still applied several times a day. It's important to protect your skin, Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer because of the strong sun.
Here are a few pics we took today in Cairns:
Tomorrow we'll get our camper and head for the outback: Gulf Savannah and then to central Australia via Mt Isa. This will be described in part II of our Australia adventure, which will be on a new page because this one is already getting way too long. Please beware that it might not be as easy to get online there. It already takes a lot of time now to upload the photos, long live Compuserve and their slow connections ;-) In the outback we'll usually be dependening on mobile phone and we may not even have a network to dial into when in the middle of nowhere, so things might take a bit longer before they appear online. We'll see.
(c) 2001-2005, Danny Pansters <danny@ricin.com>. All rights reserved.