After Darwin we flew to Cairns to begin our trip down the east coast of Australia down to Sydney! Here is the places we visited and what we got up to on the way!
Cairns
Arriving in Cairns was lovely the days we spent here had really good weather it was so hot! Cairns was one of our favorite places because it was really chilled out and had a good nightlife! During the day we spent most of our time by the lagoon having a swim and bbqs! Or exploring the area walking along near the harbour and esplanade. During the night we usually chilled out in the bars. We did one day trip here to the great barrier reef was awesome, it was a little sailing boat with free food and some wine and wasnt overcrowded so was a great day. We did some snorkelling over the reef which was fun the water was so shallow in some parts ! We got to see alot of different sea creatures to when we were diving in Thailand! The fish were huge! and we were also in the water with some small reef sharks which was cool! After a few days here we took our first overnight bus to...
Airlie Beach
Our main reason for stopping in Airlie beach was to explore the Whitsundays, a group of islands spread accross the east coast. The town itself was pretty small, the main area for tourist just being on one street it was still pretty nice here and again we spent our days chilling by the lagoon ! On our day trip to the Whitsundays we went out on a powered raft boat which definitly got us to the places alot quicker than the sailing boats!! We did some snorkelling here too off some of the islands all geared up in our head to toe wetsuits (luckily their were no stingers anyway)! After we headed to whitehaven beach, probably the most popular place in the whitsundays, which was stuning, the beach was pure white and went on forever! You could see stingrays and small sharks in the shallow waters too.
Rainbow Beach
Our next stop was at rainbow beach, we travelled here to begin our Fraser Island trip! On our first day we explored the beach which was really pretty. Rainbow beach was even smaller than airlie with just petrol station, shop, fish and chip shop and a few hostels, so our night out was to the hostel next door! Also that day we had our briefing for our Fraser Island tour and met the group we would be staying with for the next few nights. In the morning we had a lovely pancake breakfast and then started loading up the 4WDs and then set off to the boat to take us over to Fraser Island
Fraser Island
Fraser Island is the worlds biggest sand island, we stayed here for 3 days and two nights on our camping trip in a group of about 30 and four 4WD's! This was probably our favourite part of the east coast! Camping was a lot of fun, we got to explore a lot of the islands and then get the best bits of camping all making our meals and drinking and eating together! We used the same plates etc the whole time and used the sea and sand as our washing up place which wasnt so great as most of our meals tasted of salt and sand ! ha On day one we arrived early in the morning set up our tents, had some luch and then headed out to our destination for the day 'lake wabby'. This was an awesome place we walked forabout an hour through forest before reaching a massive sand dune, which after a steep hill of sand led to a beautiful lake you could swim in! After chilling here we headed back for a night of cooking in the dark and drinking goon (this is very cheap boxed wine, but noone calls it that and the main drink for backpackers). We also had our first encounter with the infamous dingo, where they surrounded us and stole our bin bags, our tour leader Pete ended up chasing them away and throwing coconuts at them which was pretty funny, we werent bothered by them the next night!
In the morning we were woken up at 7am to begin our next tour around the Island. After breakfast we set out in the cars driving a long the beach to our first stop 'Eli Creek'. This was a freshwater creek it was really cool you had to walk along a boardwalk for about ten minuetes and then get in the water and you could just float all the way to where it ended on the beach! After that we visted a Shipwreck on the Island! Then we headed to the Champagne pools which was awesome it was below a cliff and you could relax in pools created by the rocks, where the sea came in! Our final spot of the day was Indian heads a coastal headland and the most easterly point of the Island. We took a climb up the top of here and the views were fantastic, seeing the sand dunes, forest areas, beach and sea all in one. After our day out we headed back to camp again for dinner and more goon!
On our final day after another early wakeup call we got up and put away our tents getting ready to leave the Island! Firstly though we stopped at our last destination Lake Mckenzie, which was beautiful! The lake was bright blue and completely clear set on white sand! We spent most of the morning here swimming and playing beach volleyball! After this it was time to head back to Rainbow Beach where we spent one night before heading to our next destination !
Noosa
We spent two nights in Noosa, which was a nice place nice beach and quite a posh area near the beach! We were here over easter so the place was very busy. Our time here was spent pretty much just walking around the beach and around the lakes! On one day we walked through the national park, which is right along the coastline and saw our first Koala ! After noosa it seemed it was time to leave the sunshine for a bit when we headed to Brisbane!
Brisbane
We spent two nights in Brisbane! Most the time it rained or was pretty cold so we didnt do too much here, it also seemed alot of its riversde attractions were still under construction after the damage from the floods! One day we had a museum day though which was actually fun ! visiting the contemproary rt museum where we could go down slides and play in a room full of balloons ha !
Byron Bay
Byron Bay was our last stop on the east coast before making it down to sydney. Byron Bay is a pretty chilled out area with lots of surfers and a bit of a 'hippie vibe'. Our days here were spent walking around the area we took a long walk to all the different points along the coastline, going to the most easterly point of Australia and seeing the lighthouse. We also chilld out at the beach during the day and in the bars at night time! Byron was also the spot where we saw the royal wedding ! Spending about 6 hours watching it in our hostel tv room, it was packed, but a lot of fun and a lot of singing the national anthem !
Sydney
We arrived in Sydney in the morning after a long overnight bus from Byron Bay! When we arrived we took a long walk in search for our hostel where we would be staying for the next 5 nights! We ended up staying in the Kings Cross area the apparently 'red light district' of Sydney, we did realise this after a few days seeing the same group of men in drag hanging around which was hilarious! We did ALOT of walking in Sydney seeing all the sights such as the harbour bridge and the opera house which was pretty fantastic to see! We also explored the area of 'the rocks' which was apparently the first area where white settlers came and visited the history museum there! On one day we visitied the famous Bondi Beach, which was a bit of a let down after watching Bondi rescue, instead of lifeguards we got to watch a lot of old men in speedos running up and down the beach! We also chilled out in the botanic gardens visiting the viewpoint to see both the bridge and opera house. Our day trip out of Sydney was to the Blue mountins which was an awesome day, we explored an old aborignal site and then saw the famous rock formation "three sisters" at a few different view points before heading off for a long walk called the national pass where you walk through a gauge seeing lots of waterfalls. The day was finished off with a beer on top of a place called 'flat rock' literally a rock with no railings you could literally dangle yourself over the edge very high off the ground over the blue mountains, the view was amazing and probably on of the best places we visited! It was completely chilled out and there was noone else there apart from the small group we were on the trip with! We enjoyed sydney although it was pretty cold compared to the top of the east coast we were lucky to get some sun though but were looking forward to our flight out to Nez Zelaand for an action packed couple of weeks!!!!
