Sleeping in a normal bed, no hangover and sleeping-in was an awesome start of our last day. The second day without rain in the Sunshine State and a nice 32 C. We strolled to the "beach", it's not a real beach but a swimming pool at the place where a beach should be. Cairns is on a bay but with low tide there is no sand, only a big puddle of useless mud so they made a swimming pool including life guards.
We went to the pub to watch the first half of the Australian Football Grand Final before we had to go to the airport for our 3 hour flight back to Adelaide (South Australia).
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday: Cairns
G-man went for another scuba diving trip to the Great Barrier reef and AJ took it easy. After a last drive through the hills around Cairns AJ dropped off the Wicked van, shed a tear and went to see the Cairns buskers festival (street artists).
The hostel was quite tame compared with the campsites but that was just what we needed.
The hostel was quite tame compared with the campsites but that was just what we needed.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday: We made it!
Mission Beach is only 140 km. from Cairns so we had a slow morning, went for a swim in the ocean and drove around in the area hoping to see a cassowary. There are lots of warning signs for these birds and even where they cross the street they put up a little warning sign that it's a "cassowary crossing". But, to bad, we didn't see them or hit them with the van. Because they are listed as very dangerous, we thought running over them with the Wicked van was the safest way to take a picture. Keep in mind we are IT blokes, not Steve Irwin.
OK, everyone knows the movie "The Blues Brothers". At the end where they reach the taxation office, they park the Blues Mobile and it falls apart. That was what we expected from our Wicked camper-van, NOT. After 10 days without a decent sleep, both snoring, both having a cold and both to old for back-pack stuff we are the ones that fall apart. We've checked in at a hostel in Cairns and hired a complete dorm room with 6 beds so we have 3 mattresses and 3 pillows each.
OK, everyone knows the movie "The Blues Brothers". At the end where they reach the taxation office, they park the Blues Mobile and it falls apart. That was what we expected from our Wicked camper-van, NOT. After 10 days without a decent sleep, both snoring, both having a cold and both to old for back-pack stuff we are the ones that fall apart. We've checked in at a hostel in Cairns and hired a complete dorm room with 6 beds so we have 3 mattresses and 3 pillows each.
Wednesday: Airlie Beach to Mission Beach
Wednesday it was raining again in the Sunshine state. We had the laundry outside to dry but at 6 am we had to get the laundry in. This was a perfect oppurtunity for an early start! So at 6.18 am sharp we tried to start the car but it didn't start. We tried to jump-start it but had no luck so we pushed the van to the camp-kitchen and called road assistance. The road assistance bloke suspected to much water caused the problem. To much water in the Sunshine state? No, impossible... (we didn't mention we took the camper-van through 30 cm. of water).
After a 2 hour delay and a nice breakfast in the camp-kitchen we finally started the 500 km. to Mission Beach with a stop-over for lunch in Townsville. Most of the way it was cloudy and raining. We stopped at a town to have a look at the postcards to see how it looks with a clear sky and blue ocean.
Mission Beach is a beautiful place where the the rainforest ends at a white sand beach with blue ocean but it was very quiet and lots of the local shops were closed. We bumped into a very small restaurant where the owner invited us to have our meal in between the bar and the kitchen. He made us a perfect roast with vegies, best meal we had so far in an awesome "restaurant". The "restaurant" used to be the garage, the rollerdoor was transformed into a bar and the front yard was his terrace. His philosophy is no menu (3 or 4 kinds of roast with fresh vegies every day), maximum 25 meals a day, no deep-fryer, 8 to 10 cans of beer while cooking and always close before 9 pm to go to the pub. Off course we went to his local pub with him, a beautiful place at the beach where he told us about Mission Beach and his restaurant.
After a 2 hour delay and a nice breakfast in the camp-kitchen we finally started the 500 km. to Mission Beach with a stop-over for lunch in Townsville. Most of the way it was cloudy and raining. We stopped at a town to have a look at the postcards to see how it looks with a clear sky and blue ocean.
Mission Beach is a beautiful place where the the rainforest ends at a white sand beach with blue ocean but it was very quiet and lots of the local shops were closed. We bumped into a very small restaurant where the owner invited us to have our meal in between the bar and the kitchen. He made us a perfect roast with vegies, best meal we had so far in an awesome "restaurant". The "restaurant" used to be the garage, the rollerdoor was transformed into a bar and the front yard was his terrace. His philosophy is no menu (3 or 4 kinds of roast with fresh vegies every day), maximum 25 meals a day, no deep-fryer, 8 to 10 cans of beer while cooking and always close before 9 pm to go to the pub. Off course we went to his local pub with him, a beautiful place at the beach where he told us about Mission Beach and his restaurant.
Tuesday: Airlie Beach
The forecast was rain, thunder and storm, but we know the weather forecast is always wrong so we booked a tour to the Whitsundays, 74 islands in he the Great Barrier Reef. We left in the morning, visited one of the islands, went for a scuba dive and back again. It was an awesome trip and no rain at all!
We went out in Arlie Beach that night and like real back-packers we had a few of the happy hour beer jugs (1.4 ltr. each) and the 2 for one pizza special.
Off course we had a bad night of sleep again. At the moment one of us snores big time and the other is still having a cold and all of that in a shit bed with no pillows. But, it's all part of the fun.......
We went out in Arlie Beach that night and like real back-packers we had a few of the happy hour beer jugs (1.4 ltr. each) and the 2 for one pizza special.
Off course we had a bad night of sleep again. At the moment one of us snores big time and the other is still having a cold and all of that in a shit bed with no pillows. But, it's all part of the fun.......
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sunday / Monday Hervey Bay - Airlie Beach
On Sunday after lunch we had almost 900 km to go to Airlie Beach and we had to do it over 2 days as the "highway" in Australia is only 1 lane and quite often interupted by little towns so we can only do an avergae of 70 km an hour.
Our stop over was Rockhampton and the only thing we can remember are the big main streets with motels everywhere. Because of the lights and the colors of the motels every main street looks like a street with strip clubs.
Monday morning we headed to Airlie Beach and it started to rain. At the petrol station staff informed us that the road to Airlie Beach was closed but we took the guess.... We had rain and more rain but sometimes it was possible to see a bit of the beautiful scenery and hills through the clouds and rain. The road to Airlie Beach was not closed, only flooded. We drove the Wicked through 30 cm. of water and were right on time because later that day they closed the entire highway.
Every state in Australia has a slogan on their licence plate, the slogan for Queensland is "The sunshine state" but we wanna put in a change request for "The rain state" or "The sugar cane state". For most of our journey we have seen huge cane sugar plantations and has been raining.
Our stop over was Rockhampton and the only thing we can remember are the big main streets with motels everywhere. Because of the lights and the colors of the motels every main street looks like a street with strip clubs.
Monday morning we headed to Airlie Beach and it started to rain. At the petrol station staff informed us that the road to Airlie Beach was closed but we took the guess.... We had rain and more rain but sometimes it was possible to see a bit of the beautiful scenery and hills through the clouds and rain. The road to Airlie Beach was not closed, only flooded. We drove the Wicked through 30 cm. of water and were right on time because later that day they closed the entire highway.
Every state in Australia has a slogan on their licence plate, the slogan for Queensland is "The sunshine state" but we wanna put in a change request for "The rain state" or "The sugar cane state". For most of our journey we have seen huge cane sugar plantations and has been raining.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Fifth day: Whale watching and the start of a 12 hour drive
G-Man left this morning to go on a whale watch tour. Whales as in humpback whales, not fat tourists on the beach. They migrate north along the east and west coasts of Australia to breeding areas off Queensland (where we are). As long as there are no Japanese tourists on the tour he should see a lot of whales.
G-man should be back around 1 pm and then we have to start the drive to Airlie Beach. We expect the 900 km. will take at least 12 hours so we drive until it's dark, sleep on a parking and continue first thing in the morning. We will spend 2 days at Airlie Beach to explore the Great Barrier Reef, if we go for a scuba dive we will post pictures to get some sponsor money from Michelin.
[edit]
We arrived in Rockhampton and have a few pictures of this morning's whale tour.
G-man should be back around 1 pm and then we have to start the drive to Airlie Beach. We expect the 900 km. will take at least 12 hours so we drive until it's dark, sleep on a parking and continue first thing in the morning. We will spend 2 days at Airlie Beach to explore the Great Barrier Reef, if we go for a scuba dive we will post pictures to get some sponsor money from Michelin.
[edit]
We arrived in Rockhampton and have a few pictures of this morning's whale tour.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Fourth day (Saturday): Hervey Bay
We've split up......
G-Man went on a day tour to Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km²) and AJ stayed at the campsite, beach and local pub.
Quiz: Who of us is acting like a back-packer and who as a grey nomad?
(for the records, AJ is older)
G-Man went on a day tour to Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km²) and AJ stayed at the campsite, beach and local pub.
Quiz: Who of us is acting like a back-packer and who as a grey nomad?
(for the records, AJ is older)
The campkitchen, also our office.
Third day (Friday): Byron Bay – Hervey Bay
For some reason we didn't leave early and we didn't have a fresh start... Recovering with some coffee, Red Bull and Panadol we noticed a few very pale people that we recognised from the night before but they didn't recognise us.
This was our second night in the Wicked camper-van, but the snoring was still an issue. After a few drinks we both sleep better, but we also snore more so it doesn't make a difference.
We left around 10.30 am. to start a 450 km journey to Hervey Bay and took the Tweed Valley Way, this d-tour took an extra hour but was worth it. The d-tour around Brisbane was not planned, that was caused by a combination of roadworks, slow GPS and dodgy drivers.
We had to do another (little) emergency repair, the oil light switched on but a top-up with some oil fixed that. No, we couldn't be bothered checking the oil level. Light off means fixed.
We were hoping to find a second Byron Bay, but Hervey Bay is a bit tame with families and grey nomads. After a big night and a 7 hour drive, that was cool for us.
This was our second night in the Wicked camper-van, but the snoring was still an issue. After a few drinks we both sleep better, but we also snore more so it doesn't make a difference.
We left around 10.30 am. to start a 450 km journey to Hervey Bay and took the Tweed Valley Way, this d-tour took an extra hour but was worth it. The d-tour around Brisbane was not planned, that was caused by a combination of roadworks, slow GPS and dodgy drivers.
We had to do another (little) emergency repair, the oil light switched on but a top-up with some oil fixed that. No, we couldn't be bothered checking the oil level. Light off means fixed.
We were hoping to find a second Byron Bay, but Hervey Bay is a bit tame with families and grey nomads. After a big night and a 7 hour drive, that was cool for us.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Second day: Port Macquarie - Byron Bay
The planned early start didn't work. We both couldn't sleep very well as we woke each other up with our snoring. But, we we were in time for lunch in Coffs Harbour and arrived in Byron Bay in the afternoon.
Byron Bay is loaded with back-packers and surfers between 16 and 25. We didn't fit in at all.... No 6-pack, no surfboard and too old. We were hoping the Wicked camper was able to compensate a little bit.
The night life looked a bit tame until we got informed about a party bar called Cheeky Monkeys's. There was a Wet T-shirt competition for female back-packers, of course we went there to support the Dutch chick but there was also a Swedish one and at least 10 others. We forgot who won the $300 price as we were distracted. Sorry we don't have photo pictures, only mental pictures.
Byron Bay is loaded with back-packers and surfers between 16 and 25. We didn't fit in at all.... No 6-pack, no surfboard and too old. We were hoping the Wicked camper was able to compensate a little bit.
The night life looked a bit tame until we got informed about a party bar called Cheeky Monkeys's. There was a Wet T-shirt competition for female back-packers, of course we went there to support the Dutch chick but there was also a Swedish one and at least 10 others. We forgot who won the $300 price as we were distracted. Sorry we don't have photo pictures, only mental pictures.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
First day: Sydney - Port Macquarie
We left Sydney (Ed's place) around 8.30 so we got stuck in traffic. But, it was quite cool to drive the Wicked van over the Harbour bridge.
We had a fair bit of delays because we didn't take the freeway but the small roads and tourist drives and we stopped a few times to do tourist things like Seal Rocks and the lakes.
We didn't make it to Coffs Harbour, but ended up at Port Macquarie where we had a bbq and discovered that detergent is a better chick magnet then our Wicked camper-van.
We didn't make it to Coffs Harbour, but ended up at Port Macquarie where we had a bbq and discovered that detergent is a better chick magnet then our Wicked camper-van.
Emergency repair
After 79 km. the chewing gum (lh-side bottom) that held the indicator let us down.
So, we had to make an emergency repair.....
Thanks to a local Home hardware store (we don't have a clue in which town we were) this was fixed with a $0.25 screw, a lent screwdriver and G-man his mechanical skills.
So, we had to make an emergency repair.....
Thanks to a local Home hardware store (we don't have a clue in which town we were) this was fixed with a $0.25 screw, a lent screwdriver and G-man his mechanical skills.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Picked-up the Wicked
Today we've picked-up the Wicked, our home for the next two weeks.
We were lucky, we got a free upgrade to a luxury version with airco, power steering and automatic transmission. With only 284.000 km. it should get us to Cairns.
Looking at the pictures we noticed it's a Beatles model and we both don't like the Beatles. Maybe we got this one because of our age.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Intro
G-man (aka Gerard) and AJ (aka Arjan) decided to do a tour in a Wicked campervan. If you live in Australia, you know them... Those campers with graffiti, quite often old and dodgy, almost always used by back-packers and often on the side of the road with troubles. But, they are cheap! If you've never seen them, check out the pictures.
Wicked campers are mainly used by back-packers but we thought it's the best and most adventurous way to get from Sydney to Cairns. Other camper-vans are mainly used by grey nomads and too expensive for us. Yes, we are too old for a Wicked but too young (and stingy) for a Britz or Apollo van. OK, we also think a Wicked is a better chick-magnet (until we get off).
Off course we have a very tight schedule for our trip:
Wicked campers are mainly used by back-packers but we thought it's the best and most adventurous way to get from Sydney to Cairns. Other camper-vans are mainly used by grey nomads and too expensive for us. Yes, we are too old for a Wicked but too young (and stingy) for a Britz or Apollo van. OK, we also think a Wicked is a better chick-magnet (until we get off).
Off course we have a very tight schedule for our trip:
- Pick-up the Wicked on Tuesday Sept. 14th in Sydney
- Go to the pub on Tuesday night
- Depart sometime on Wednesday in the direction of Cairns (2700 km)
- Get to Cairns before 1 pm on September 25th to drop off the Wicked and fly back to Adelaide
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