My Journey Round The World

Here we are! Tomorrow I’m leaving for 3 days boat trip on the Great Barrier Reef… Diving, snorkeling, walking on the Whitsunday Islands… Can’t wait to see that!!! Hope my camera will survive the trip…

NZ… Lot of people say it’s an amazing country… With Ariane, it took us some times to believe it but after spending a bit more than a month there, I agree

Kiwis – as they like to be called - are really really friendly – not the same as warm Argentinean & Chilean – but still much better than Europe! Here I especialy have in mind Dave and his family who hosted us in Wellington and the couchsurfers I staid with: the Dumble family, Sinco – who is Dutch leaving in NZ for ages now! - and Anna.

Landscapes are breathtaking! Changing all the time… So, as for the weather: “if you don’t like it wait a minute” - as Sinco told me – I’ll say: If you don’t like the landscape, move forward! Incredible to have so much diversity in such a little space… I guess that is why NZ is so amazing! However, it still a tiny little country in the middle of the ocean! Tiny little country with tiny little cities and what I found so unbelievable are the public toilets! – No joke! - Everywhere you go they are clean, with toilet paper & soap, really evrywhere. This is really something that amaze me! Pity we don’t have the same in Europe! Only bad thing was internet connexion… So difficult to find and really expensive!

Anyway, I’ll definitely recommand a visit there for anyone who love nature & adventure Travelling with a van was really conveniente, easy and fun – especialy with the one we had

Brampton Island Resort… Cyclone Ului was here too! The jetty is completly upside down so we arrived by boat from Mackay and finished walking at low tide to the island.

A real bed – ok still shared – with fresh bedsheets, and a private bathroom are highly appreciated after more than 10 days in the jeep  Good diner at the restaurant – a bit expensive though – and amazing breakfast included. I feel like at the Club Med  Pity I missed the sailing activitie and I was the only one for the yoga class. However, I could enjoy the salt water pool, laying on the beach for a while, the Brampton Peak walk as well as the 8,4 km loop Island Circuit. It was amasing to walk with million of blue tiger butterflies flying all around, sometimes scary when hearing moving all around and seeing lezards and spiders above my head, but funny to come across a kangoroo in a middle of his diner Nice to have the feeling to be alone on earth… As there was hardly anyone on the loop. I was even scared when I’ve seen a guy arriving jogging!

However, when I’ll be rich, this isn’t a heavenly island I’ll buy but a cosy house with a fireplace perched on a mountain in the middle of the forest with a great view on a lake

Now back to the continant and to the jeep direction Airlie Beach and Cairns for some snorkeling and diving! But before that last night at Cape Hillsborough, it’s on the way

Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort a quiet beachfront holiday… where the wildlife provide the entertainment! Indeed!!!

The perfect place to have a rest Great camping place in front of the beach where you hear the waves when falling asleep or waking up depending of the tide. Great for sunset and even better for sunrise with the kangaroos on the beach, swimmingpool where you can really swimm, little shop with everything you need, internet access, and all others normal facilities for a camping such as: kitchen, laundry, bbq, TV & games room… Close to walks tracks.

While Gerhard was taking car of his car, I’ve spend a wonderfull day, waking up with the sun and the kangaroos, walking along the beach, having a good swimm while waiting for the laundry, going for a walk with nice lookout on the coast, going back for a swimm with goggles found at the shop, before diner and internet evening. We liked it so much that we stayed one more night! This is also where we met a friendly Australian couple who told us about a special offer running until end of April at Mackay Tourist Office, to go for a trip on the Brampton Island… 

After the adventurous Fraser Island, we stopped in my first National Park: Eungella, close to Broken River, located in the subtropical rainforest. - And it’s where my camera stopped working… I guess the last 7 months intensive use and humidity didn’t help! - This part of Australia is recognised as the world’s most reliable place location for observing platypuses in the wild. Unfortunately it wasn’t the right timing and we didn’t see any… However we’ve seen plenty of turtles and a water snake!

Again information is very well spread with good leaflets: great! walk mackay highlands, giving you advices about the different day or night walks as well as safety advices! No wonder why Australians always seems to be so relax, taking life easy & a bit crazy. Everywhere you go you have information about how dangerous things are… I don’t remember to have seen so much warning in Europe… Bad luck, after the cyclone Ului (http://www.news.com.au/national/cyclone-ului-re-intensifies-to-category-3-crosses-coast-at-130am-sunday/story-e6frfkvr-1225843308177) last month most of the tracks were closed. As usual there was a café with snacks and good cakes where we found the address for our next camping site.

So here we are, boarding the ferry direction Fraser Island… So many warning that you sometimes wonder what you’re doing here! On the ferry, there is a cat, good sign would say Ariane Leaving River Heads and arriving at Wanggoolba Creek: first challenge, driving inland in the middle of the rainforest to cross the island in order to reach the other side and beeing able to drive on the Seventy Five Mile Beach… On the way we don’t miss the amazing Lake Birrabeen and even more spectacular Lake McKenzie! We also have a quick stop at the Lake Wabby lookout before eventually reaching the beach and the first camping zone we found – Cornwells camping zone- just before the sunset. What a great place to see the stars – but still not as good as the Lake Tekapo in NZ! - and we saw one of the best shooting stars ever, lasting so long… It was amazing!

Next morning, I woke up to see the sunrise… I had the beach all to myself for a long while and a great sunrise behind the cloud, also seeing dingo’s tracks – probably from the one we’ve seen in the dark the previous evening… Breakfast in front of the beach with a beautiful rainbow after a short shower before heading to Eli Creek – one of my favorite place on the island – a little freshwater river leading to the ocean. Driving on the beach we came accross trucks, fisherman, dingos – interested by fish - and even plane! At high tide, it wasn’t really safe to drive so we stop at the deserted Dundubara campground for lunch and where we’ve found other little animals… Tide going done again we drove up to Indian Head, the best vantage point on the island to see sharks, manta rays, dolphins and whales during the migration season… However, ocean was really rough – as the road! – and we didn’t see any of them but the view was still stunning. As the sun was going done we decided not to go to the famous Champagne Pool – only safe spot for safe saltwater swimming – and went back to find a place for the night at Guruman camping zone just before beautiful sunset. This is where the fear of dingo got me… Standing up in half-light a bit far away from the jeep I first saw one on one side and the other one on the other side… A bit difficult to keep eyes contact – as recommended – this way!

Next day, while driving back to the ferry at Kingfisher Bay, we stopped what we missed on our way up: The Red Canyon, The Pinnacles, Maheno Wreck and the amazing Lake Wabby with all his sand… Just before taking the ferry back I could see a turtle and some rays at Kingfisher Bay and we had a wonderfull sunset on our way back to River Head! What a stunning trip!!!

Fraser Island was World Heritage listed by UNESCO in 1992 in recognition of its natural values. No wonder why… This is now on my top-ten list of the best I’ve seen with Uyuni Salar in Bolivia! Maybe as it’s also a 4WD trip?! To give you an idea, it is the largest sand island in the world:

• more than 120km in length and 22 km at its widest point
• rainforests, dunes, mangrove and some 40 freshwater lakes
• wide range of animals: from lizards to dingos - Catherine/Baptiste you would love that! – via whales – ok that we didn’t see, not the right season – birds, tortles, rays…

The island is named by the local Aboriginal people ‘K’Gari’, which is kind of fitting pretty well as it roughly translates into paradise…
Coming here is a real adventure! 4WDs are mandatory as all roads are sand tracks. You need to cross over to the island via a ferry. Driving there can be hair-raising - as would say Lonely Planet: one minute you’ll be cruising along when suddenly the earth turns to water and you start to spin out. However, I really enjoyed the self-drive safari and was glad not to drive! , not to be in a organised trip - these put groups together into one vehicle and you better seriously consider your 4WD skills or those in your proposed group! Gerhard managed that very well! – and that he had a car running on gaz – which is supposed to be better for the environment! - even if we had some troubles and get stuck in a middle of a track due to humidity… Not sure its because of gaz though!

Information are well spread betweenn safety guide leaflets such as: Survive your drive on Fraser Island (!) / Some dingoes are dangerous… to the Tide Times or the Visitor guide leaflet with walks available. Notice boards at most of the lookout, on the first morning we even had the visit of guards asking us if we have seen any dingoes – yes – and if we had any trouble with them – no, ouf!

If you want to learn more about the Island visit the website: http://www.fraserisland.net/index.html

On the way to Fraser Island, we stopped at Maryborough, the birth town of Mary Poppins writer! We were lucky to arrive just in time for a free guided tour of the city. A bit long but pretty interesting to learn that Maryborough is one of the first town were migrant arrived. We also visited one of the oldest shop – which is now a museum ; Mum you would love it! - and learn how everything was working at the time.

New country,new people, same way of travelling

After my relaxing days in Brisbane in my little paradise, I found an austrian travel partner via internet & the Gumtree website http://brisbane.gumtree.com.au/ – given by an Irish guy in Auckland.

I first met Gerhard in Brisbane to see if we could get on well before we start the trip heading to the Great Barrier Reef on April 17 – just a year since my Working Holiday Visa for Australia was granted, that I might finally not use yet!

First stop for breakfast lost in the countryside where I could see my first wild kangaroos  On our way we came accross the Australia Zoo – www.australiazoo.com.au - supposed to be impossible to miss… Well… This was a really expensive visit (57$ which is more than 30€ per person) for nothing more than… a zoo… Ok, the giant turtle was amazing to see, it was also easier to see koalas and cuddle kangaroos – which I enjoyed, yes – than in the wild, however elephant feeding & animals show are not really my cup of tea..

After The Van, the Jeep! As conveniente as the first one even if there is no “kitchen” or table included… We of course had to organise ourself a little bit… So after a good breakfast and a short walk, Gerhard sort out everything.

A good thing is that his jeep is also running on gaz which I find really good on an environmental point of view, not to say that it’s also cheaper!