Simon & Caroline's World Tour 07/08

The first fireworks were set off at 9pm, whilst we were worryingly moored under the Harbour Bridge (fortunately no fireworks on the bridge!), then our boat along with the others in the exclusion zone lit up and cruised up and down in the Harbour of Light parade. That gave us the chance to make the most of the band and DJ, who even took the request for 500 miles by the Proclaimers, a song that Caroline danced her heart out alone to, as I was keeping a spot at the front of the boat in preparation for midnight (sorry Caroline - I didn't know!). Midnight came with the illuminated countdown on the Harbour Bridge, then all manner of fireworks set off from the bridge, with us parked a nice distance away this time!

Here's wishing everyone the best for 2008!

P.S. Sorry it's taken us 2 days to get around to writing this, January 1st has always been, and always will be a day to lie low, eat unhealthy things, and vow never to touch alcohol again! ;-)

After an afternoon of hectic packing and despairing over how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 4 months (yes those 3 pairs of shoes did seem absolutely necessary at the time!) we headed into town to say our farewells to the city. First up was Circular Quay and the Botanic gardens, fitting in the obligatory flag photo along the way (it's only taken us 4 months to get around to it!). Then to the Andrew 'boy' Charlton pool so Si could swim a few laps next to the harbour with fantastic views of Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo. Finger Wharf is where Russell Crowe is supposed to live so instead of swimming I spent the time trying to guess which apartment was his and which boat was his, all the while keeping a keen eye out for any signs of the star himself (alas to no avail!). After his swim Si treated himself to a pie & peas at Harry's Cafe de Wheels (something he has been looking forward to for about 4 months!). He was a good boy and didn't have the 'tiger' as we are now heading off for our last supper and if we can make it to Leichhardt (a.k.a Little Italy) we plan to treat ourselves to a nutella pizza Mmmm...

The van is pretty sweet, there's a pop-top so you can actually stand up inside (when you remember!), lots of little storage cubby holes, a microwave and even a DVD player! Only time will tell if we are still keen after 3 months in it! After crossing back over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the swathes of traffic carried us to the coast north of Sydney. Expecting there to be loads of campsites with ample room, it was a bit disconcerting to find them all full. In the end we found a nice little place next to a showground - all we really need are showers and a electric socket and we're set for the night! Night fell with the laughing of the Kookaburras all around, and even a little possum walked past, completely unperturbed by us. I hope all our campsites are this good!

There's also a new page on our website that lets you see day-by-day(ish) where we have been. There's also a lot of places we might go to which are all on a map, and the itinerary page has a rough plan of how we plan to squeeze it all in! See what happens when you leave a geek with a computer and a couple of weeks!

With slightly groggy heads after the first night in the van, a BBQ in the Ku-ring-gai National park, followed by a walk on the Birrawanna track seemed an ideal way to perk up. With rain threatening followed by bursts of sunshine we headed up the hill, with the deafening cacophony of the beetles around (cicadas?). On the way back down, an echidna rustled past, as oblivious to us as the possum from the night before.

With late afternoon approaching, it was time to find a beach (it's been 2 days!!), although many of the east coast beaches were shut due to large waves, so no swimming or bodyboarding. First beach was Bilgola, reputed to have red sands, and to be fair they did have an orange hue, but no more than Palm beach, film set for the venerable Aussie soap Home and Away. Avoiding the waves crashing high up the beach, we found the Alf Stewart's diner and other scenes familiar to Caroline (I obviously had no idea what Home and Away was ;-) )

Finally we took the easy option and stayed in the same camp site s before, well with no one turning up to collect fees, it's a bargain!

The camp site hunt was on once again with the aim of getting us fed before the mozzies, this time taking us quite a way up the coast to Toulakey, a quaint little place next to the calmest water I've seen for a while, alas by the time we'd bought beer for the barbie it was getting dark and the mozzies won - next time...

This also marks a special day as we're leaving the Sydney section of the guidebook that has been keeping us busy for the past 4 months, and moving on to the crisp clean pages of the New South Wales section (thanks to Fee and K - the guidebook has been serving us well!)

Campsite for the night is Stockton, across the river (Hunter, not Tyne) from Newcastle, and right next to the beach. It's not really a beach for boarding on (although I did try!), but the breakwater nearby has a nice wreck attached, and pelicans sitting on lampposts waiting for the fishermen below to just turn their backs for a few minutes. As we've been in the van every night so far, we treated ourselves to the night life of Newcastle, New South Wales' second city - hardly bustling but then it is only Tuesday!

Hot tourist fact for the day: Newcastle NSW, like the original is a prolific coal mining area, helping it shifting the most tonnage of any port in Australia. At any given time there's a multitude of ships just off the coast waiting to be filled. (We thought it was a mass exodus from Sydney, but there you go)

So beach number 1; Stockton. Nah sorry, the guidebook was wrong - it wasn't all that! The washed up lumps of coal and dead stingrays did not make for a very appetising pre-breakfast stroll. We ditched that idea and went for a swim in the pool instead. Quite frankly we are used to a much better standard of beach. And beach number 2 was bang on the mark. Birubi beach had the beautiful golden sand, the inviting turquoise waters and sand dunes to rival Westport- bonus! We passed on the 4WD and camel tours, opting instead to hike up the dunes and then run at breakneck speed back down. What fun.

Next up was Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest with the promise of urban Koalas and dolphins. No sign of either so we had to make do with beach number 3 and a bit of a surf before heading further up the coast and towards our camping destination for tonight. And so we drove into the Myall Lake National Park where Si, who was feeling a little crowded by the bustle of the caravan holiday parks that have been home for the previous few nights, was hoping for a more rural camping adventure. Not far into the park we stopped to climb a few more sand dunes (it looked like something out of star wars - pretty cool!) at the top we were rewarded with stunning view of gorgeous deserted beaches, which of course we had to explore.

Finally we arrived at our designated camp site, where the only things to identify it as thus were a few other campers and an eco toilet! No office and shop? No amenities block? We're really going to rough it to the max. Well, after our sparkling red wine and dinner of Chinese beef stir fry that is. Tonight's wildlife: dingoes!

The second detour of the day was to Cape Hawke, named by Captain Cook himself (they've got a plaque to prove it). The walk to the summit was rewarded with a viewing platform taking you above the trees for views for miles in all directions.

The campsite tonight is positive luxury: showers, laundry, swimming pool and power for the microwave so we can have popcorn whilst watching the DVD - heaven!

The next stop was much more like it, easily moored up, pelicans nearby and a rope swing over the water, my faith in boating was semi-restored.

Finally, and I don't mean to go on about the mozzies, but they seem to be attracted to repellent and are literally biting through clothes to get to the skin, I mean what are we meant to do?

To get a better look at said beaches, the lighthouse at Cape Smoky (named by Captain Cook as he passed in 1770, because the forest was on fire - there's no magic to this naming malarkey!) provided excellent views, along with our first sighting of a wild kangaroo!

So tonight we're at a slightly different campsite than normal, a field at the top of the hill in the rain, which was not expected this morning as we woke to blistering sunshine, but it's good to have a change, and we'll appreciate that beach more when our route takes us back. We've also learnt that pop-top canvas isn't waterproof, and neither is the seal when it's shut. The bolts have been tightened, so hopefully that trickling water I can hear as I type is on the outside...

Ok, so walking barefoot around the wet campsite probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, especially considering the fact we were only about 5km from those leech warning signs from yesterday. However, there's nothing quite like a leech attached to your ankle to wake you up, really give you the willies, make you scream like a little girl then never be able to look at wet grass the same again. Before you wonder, no I didn't cut it off my leg (the knife wasn't handy at the time), several determined flicks finally detached it from it's dinner, and a photo of it on my leg would've been good, but even I sometimes have other things on my mind.

With that excitement over, the route continued north and back to the beaches, taking us through miles of forest and grazing land, and even though we've only scratched inland a little, it starts to make you realise how big a country Australia is. En route was the little village of Maclean, an oasis of Scotland next to the huge Clarence River. Each lamppost had a tartan painted on it and the butchers sold square sausage, now that's something Caroline just can't pass by!

Anyway our short stroll turned into a long hike (it included a 4km detour along the beach to avoid a return trip into the mossie forest) and by the end of it we were hot and bothered and itchy! So where better for our next stop than Lennox Head which promised a teatree lake with medicinal healing properties.

It may well be medicinal but it is very disconcerting to find yourself swimming in what effectively looks like brown tea. Having been spoilt by swimming in crystal clear waters I really did not like being unable to see what I was swimming in (to give you some idea today's photo is of Si's foot!) Who knew what might be swimming below me or what I might be about to stand on (Si assured me there were no crocs but can he really be sure?) And I especially did not like the brown tea like dirt left on me when I emerged from the water. AND I was still itchy afterwards! Nope I'm sorry but the 'medicinal' teatree lake is not for me! I think I'll stick to beaches - at least you can see the sharks coming! :)

Looking at our rough schedule we had pencilled in about 3 days for Byron bay but after 3 hours we'd had enough. I'm sure once upon a time it was a chilled out, alternative haven but today it was just a hot, sweaty bustle of people and noise and traffic. Most of which, I have to say was fellow campervanners! The only thing to hint at it's aspiring alternativeness these days is the aroma of incense everywhere you go. Like I say we headed off pretty quickly and have settled for the night in a very quiet, chilled out town called Brunswick Heads - maybe we're getting old!

P.S. No that is not some trendy belt Si is sporting in the pic, it is in fact a bum bag!! Hee hee, Si's got a bum bag.... (I did promise I wouldn't tease too much when he threatened not to carry anything for me- but I couldn't resist! Sorry Si :)

It's the little rest stops that make the journey, and with signs proclaiming "udderly fantastic coffee" at the Moo Moo Cafe, there just isn't a reason to not stop. So we emptied our bladders (udders?), had a coffee and sat next to cows wandering through banana plantations, which I think is actually an experiment to make banana milkshake.

Moobar is in the Tweed Valley, and whilst there are some similarities to the original - green hills, trees, river - that's as far as it goes, as I don't remember seeing banana trees near Peebles! The centre point of the valley is Mount Warning, named along with Point Danger by Captain Cook when he ran aground, I think I would have named them Point Stupidrocks and Mount Dammit.

Mount Warning is a huge volcanic plug, and can be climbed by walking 9km through rainforest (yes, with leeches, I'm a sucker for punishment), with a scramble to the top. Unfortunately/fortunately we arrived a little too late to do it today, but there's always tomorrow!

Finally, the tropical Sesame Street that is our trip was brought to you today by the bite of a huge ant to Simon, and the sighting of a tiny (think 5p coin) green frog.

Well, it turned out to be a little wet for us to climb Mount Warning (i.e. we're scared of a bit of mud), so instead we ended up in Tropical Fruit World. As we were repeatedly told, they grow over 500 varieties of tropical fruit (I didn't know there were that many types of any fruit), and after a quick tour via tractor, boat and minature steam train, we were treated to a fruit tasting show by the fastest talking human alive. Suffice it to say, most of the valuable information has now been forgotten, but Papaya (also incorrectly known as Paw Paw) is very good for you in so many ways, grapefruit interferes with many medicines, white sapota is a good relaxant, and black sapota tastes a bit like chocolate.There's also Jakfruit, the largest tree born fruit with an unusual taste of bananas, chewing gum and cream. Overall the message was eat more fruit, and with a conveniently positioned fruit store just outside, we stocked up.

The Captain Cook memorial at Point Danger marks the boundary between New South Wales and Queensland, and at the moment a different timezone However, it's not that easy to work it out, with just a line in the ground with QLD and NSW on each side, and people frantically adjusting clocks as they walk over it.

Point Danger is also an excellent viewpoint to see the tourist mecca that is the Gold Coast, a sprawl of high rises and theme parks with a touch of Vegas style that Tweed Heads marks the start of. We're already looking forward to booking a few nights in a hotel to soak it all up, not that we're tired of camping!

No I'm not talking about some dangerous new sport you've never heard of, I'm talking about chilling out and relaxing - it's bad for you! We spent today chillaxing by the pool at our campsite. It all started off well, we had the pool to ourselves and so Si thought we should try out the pool slide, after all there was nothing to say it was just for kids! The first few slides were fine, perhaps even fun but then just as I was about to sit down for another go, I slipped and foolishly put my hand out to save myself. The result? One very sore, very bruised, very swollen thumb! :-(

Despite the fact that I had just demonstrated the perils of the slide, Si carried on enjoying it for the rest of the day, running up the hill like an excited kid with a big grin on his face to go down the slide over and over again. (Si - I had my share of scraped elbows and banged knees due to tight corners and a shallow pool, me thinks the slide was built for smaller kids than I, but there was too much fun to be had!)

I'm sure something is trying to tell us not to go inland, the last two attempts have ended up with heavy rain, and us scurrying back to the coast. So, with a spring in our step after our relaxing day yesterday (Caroline wasn't happy until she went to the doctor who said her thumb was fine), we made for the hills to Springbook National Park, site of many waterfalls and rainforest.

The Purlingbrook Falls were all you could ask of falling water, including a walkway going behind the falls (look for the blue dot on the picture), which were so tall that the fall was spray by the time it reached the bottom. A short walk further on promised water pools, and just as we reached about as far as you could get from the car park, the heavens opened, rainforest style. Within 30 seconds we were soaked through, but the fun kind of soaked where the rain is warm. After the 5km squelch back, we were changed into nice dry clothes, but noticed there weren't any campsites nearby, not that the thought of camping in such rain again was that appealing, so a with Caroline haggling the price down, we retreated to a mountain chalet complete with spa pool. Bliss doesn't begin to describe the comfort in comparison to the van, although I'm sure just the sofa would have sufficed...

There's few things better than camping next to an open fire. Beyond proving my manly instincts to create a fire, and the smoke keeping insects at bay, nothing beats having your legs slowly toasted as the embers burn.

Simply put, it's not so bad to be returning to camping after our wee escape yesterday. We've edged slightly north in the Queensland hinterland to Mount Tamberine, and have been surprised at just how cool it is, given that we're closer to the tropics than before. The rainforests are still there, as are the numerous waterfalls, with one even hinting that the elusive platypus were to be found nearby, although we settled for spotting a koala dozing up a tree.

Anyway, the embers are smouldering now, and the moon is poking out between the clouds, time to get to bed!

Mount Tamberine is home to a species of glow worm, which we did think about trying to find in the wild last night, but the lure of the camp fire was just too great. It's a good job that we didn't, as people fumbling around in the dark and shining torches trying to see them have caused numbers to decrease. So, taking the easy, and environmentally sound option we visited the glow worm caves of a local winery. Inside there were about 15000 glowing bottoms of a fly larvae, each trying to catch a fly or two. After up to 12 months feeding as a larvae, the fly has about a week to mate and lay eggs - that's some preparation.

From a tourist perspective, the pitch black cave was peppered with tiny green dots, and as eyes adjusted it was like the night sky, which is a good thing as that's what attracts the flies!

Photos weren't allowed, so the true to life representation from the leaflet is attached, and I'll leave you with the glow worm ditty:

I wish I was a glow-worm
a glow-worm's never glum
'cos how can you be grumpy
when the sun shines out your bum!

The best way to start off the day in a new city is to have coffee with a local and Jon the Pom (Si's Mum's self-named friend) was full of useful facts and tips to send us on our way. It feels very strange to be in a city again but luckily Brisbane seems quite laid back and not at all as hectic as Sydney. Our day was spent with a brief forray into the museum followed by a long walk along the river.

Si 'the thrill seeker' Gormley is as we speak climbing the Story bridge (I'll let him tell you the story!). I left him to it, not because I'm a big chicken but because I wasn't wearing the right shoes - what a shame! For my slightly more tame adventure I hopped on the river cat for a sunset cruise. I must have timed it just right as the many bends in the river made it feel as though there were at least two sunsets, one on each side of the river, and for once, even I, was snap happy.

Bridge climb update - as Caroline "wrong shoes" McFadyen has said, I've just done the Story Bridge twilight climb, in lieu of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which was just too hard to book! The bridge is actually more Australian than the Sydney bridge, built by the same man, but of Australian materials, so I reckon it's more of an Aussie adventure (it's named after a civil servant called Story, not exciting but I thought I'd put your mind at rest...). After being decked out in jumpsuit and harnessed into what was essentially a belt with no hope of holding me up if I did fall, we began the climb. The first section underneath the road showed how much the bridge could rattle and shake, not exactly inspiring confidence, but as soon as we were above the road it was all fine. Views from the top stretched as far as New South Wales and the Great Dividing Range - either it was an exceptionally good view, or Brisbane isn't far north. The sun set behind the Brisbane skyscrapers, turning the sky orange then crimson before dusk, when the night became the realm of the flying foxes which gave the cityscape an almost prehistoric touch. With that, it was time to climb down, just as it was getting too dark. I've now climbed 33% of the climbable bridges in the world...

Our whistlestop tour of Brisbane was completed with a trip to Mount Coot-tha, offering views over the city and beyond, and more importantly a road all the way to the top. Next stop was the Glasshouse Mountains, a set of 9 or so steep peaks sticking up from the otherwise flat plain. Most of the peaks require mountain climbing experiene to attempt, which left us with Mount Ngungun, described as "easy" by the guide. Well, if that's easy I'm glad we didn't attempt the others as we still ended up on all fours during our ascent, but the views more than made up for it!

The first animals we see are huge tortoises, they used to have one originally caught by Charles Darwin, that lived to 175 years old! Around the corner were three elephants waiting to be fed by the crowd, including us. With my piece of carrot swapped for elephant snot, we moved on to the Crocoseum, a huge arena with snake, bird and crocodile shows, all done by those enthusiastic keepers!

To round off Australia day, we ended up having a barbie with some Aussies in our campsite next to the beach whilst watching fireworks off in the distance, now I don't think it gets more Australian than that!

After a quick bodyboard to wake us up, we booked a trip to Fraser Island, and drove what must be our longest drive so far - 200kms non-stop. The only thing that did warrant a detour was the Big Pineapple, just as we left Mooloolaba. It has that 70's kitsch about it, essentially a 3 storey plastic pineapple you can walk up the inside of, for great views over a couple of pineapple patches, and what has to be the most optimistically sized car park for said attraction.

Anyway, we've made it to Hervey Bay and are now raring to go on our little 2 day adventure to Fraser Island!

Well there certainly was a lot of it, but less to see than you would imagine. The place is covered in thick forest (some of it rainforest), along with fifty odd lakes, an abundance of fresh water creeks and a couple of rocks thrown in for good measure too. There is enough sand to cover the Sahara, given that Fraser Island is over 600 metres deep in sand, and the sahara only 20 metres.

Our leisurely tour took us to the Maheno shipwreck, a lump of rust that was a ocean liner in the 20's, until some Japanese sailors tried to tow it. The Champagne pools were about as close to a natural jacuzzi as you could get, huge waves crash over into rock pools, leaving a white fizzing foam behind for you to wallow in, although the best bit was getting caught unexpectedly by a huge white wave!

Camp for the night was pure luxury compared to our campervan, with a proper bed and wooden floors in the tent, the only thing tent-like was the canvas. We didn't even need to make our own food, now that's what I call camping!

The next day brought us lounging around in the warm fresh water of Lake Wabby, with little fish sucking dead skin off my legs, Catfish swimming past, and the occasional turtle sticking it's head up in the distance. Final stop for the day was Lake Allom, with it's little turtles swimming next to the shore, hanging around with their little ET like heads sticking up, until we got in for a swim that is!

With all the wildlife and lakes it's easy to see why the aborignals call it the paradise island! It certainly feels like we've been in paradise for the last few days. Sure beats work anyway ;-)

The only place you can get up close and personal to all three is Bundaberg. First stop was the Bundaberg rum distillery. The Bundy rum and the company's advertising genius Bundy the polar bear are a bit of an Aussie legend that hasn't really made it across the water because everytime the company expands to export, the Aussies just drink more! The most memorable aspect of the distillery tour was the overwhelming odour of molasses that is piped in from the sugar mill next door. That and the alcohol fumes are almost enough to make you feel tipsy before you even get to your free tasters, one of which was a very tasty rum liqueur with chocolate, coffee and caramel in it (when mixed with cream it is just as tasty as Baileys). With our insides suitably warmed from the rum we headed off for the barrel, where they make the Bundaberg ginger beer. We didn't even bother with the tour this time - just raided the shop for gingerbeer and hit the road.

When dusk fell it was time for the highlight of the day. Walking from our campsite we arrived at the Mon Repos turtle rookery where, because it is exactly the right time of year, we were hoping to be lucky enough to see either a female turtle nesting or some hatchlings emerge from their eggs. Reading up on these magnificent animals at the information centre we learned about their threatened status (mainly from humans sadly - their lights, fishing, pollution etc). We also learned that we might be in for about a 4 hour wait for a turtle event. Lady luck must have been shining on us however because after just an hour we were ushered down to the beach where we walked along in pitch black to see a beautiful loggerhead female (K67838 or K for short) digging her nest. We then watched in awe as she began to lay her 4th clutch of eggs this season. After the first 20 or so eggs she didn't even care that we were there and so we could take photos of this miracle of nature before us. By the time we had watched 133 eggs emerge we were beginning to feel how tired she must have been. While we were watching her set to the task of covering up her nest we were treated to another special sight - a tiny little hatchling appeared, as if my magic, from underneath a little boy. Oh my, were we also about to witness 100s of little hatchlings emerge? You could almost feel the excitement build in our little group. After careful checking of the perimeter the ranger concluded that this little fella was probably an escaped hatchling from the group next to us. She explained that he had probably been confused by our lights and gotten lost on his way to the sea. Bonus for us though- we got to feel this little beauty tickle our palms, which he fit into beautifully with room to spare!

Back to our heroic K who was still packing the sand tightly around her precious offspring, during this time and on her long walk / shuffle back to the sea she had to stop several times to rest (not surprising when you think this is the 4th time she has done this recently and she will not have been taking the time to feed properly). Finally we said farewell to K and waved her off into the sea but our adventure wasn't over, we were about to play an important part in the conservation of this beautiful species. Ranger Jae dug up her nest and we helped to relocate the eggs to a safer nest further up the dunes. Si and I each carried 4 little turtle to bes up to their new nest. Unfortunately the odds are against these little guys as only 1 in 1000 make it to breeding age :( However we hope that we have given our little 8 champs a fighting start. What a night.

Well, it's been an adventure packed few days and it's going to be hard to top it, so we thought "why bother?" and turned our wee van around and headed south.

Well, that's not strictly true, we've had a lot of fun going north, but we've saved a few rippers for the journey south so that it's not all driving down highways to Sydney and the undiscovered territory beyond.

Before we left Mon Repos, we took a walk down the beach, and found this little nipper lying on his back in the sand. On our way to the ranger, she sprang back to life, so she's in the sea somewhere, at least with a better chance of survival than back on the beach. Fair well wee girl, hopefully you'll be back on those shores in thirty years time!