Roadtrip!

Our roadtrip adventure began with our getting lost on the way to pick up the campervan.  Not the most promising start!  The campervan, as we discovered after a few wrong turns and harsh words, was basically an ancient heap of junk disguised as something more appealing with a “Yosemite Sam” mural graffitied across the side of it.  The first drive, though just from the rental shop back to Mandy and Chris’s, was a truly terrifying experience (though more so for me, the passenger, than for driver Phil, who after many months without practice was a little heavy footed on the accelerator).

After a few more wrong turns and some panicked screeching, we eventually emerged from Brisbane, and as we rumbled down the sunny highway with the wind in our hair and the radio blaring, it began to feel far more like the roadtrip experience we had been envisioning.  We headed north to our first destination, Noosa, and spent our first night in a rest stop provided by the Queensland government.  Essentially a free campsite, rest stops are perfect for travellers on a budget and come equipped with all the amenities that one might need – apart from a shower.  Those who know me well, my mother in particular, will know how I feel about washing my hair.  It must be done daily, or else the day is doomed to failure, for the simple reason that my hair will look terrible, so I will feel terrible and this will be reflected in a grouchy disposition.  So, on day one of our adventure, after a surprisingly good sleep in the van, I was up at 5am washing my hair with a saucepan full of cold water.  (Surprisingly, this prospect appeals to me more than that of not washing it!)  The reason it was 5am was that we were heading off, at 6.30am, on a tour of Fraser Island, a beautiful island on the Sunshine Coast comprised entirely of sand.  Though usually tightening the purse strings, we decided to treat ourselves with this trip; a little reminder to ourselves that we are, after all, on our honeymoon (extended though it may be). 

The journey to Fraser Island was exceptionally bumpy as the roads are, in fact, the beaches, and as we were being tossed around like a salad in the back of the monstrous 4WD bus-jeep that was our transport for the day, I had time to contemplate how astonishing the island is.  Though it can be explained with science, it strikes me as one of creations marvels; a little experiment by a creative God, who saw that it was good but, for His own reasons, chose to do it only once.  The island is uniquely absent of earth; it has been formed, over time, purely from sand and broken down plant matter, yet on it lives an astonishing abundance of plant life in the form of rainforests, dense and towering, broken up only by crystal clear freshwater lakes.  We visited the most famous of these, Lake McKenzie, and enjoyed an hour swimming in its sparkling water and sunbathing on the white sands that surround it.

Our next day was spent in and around Noosa’s stunning coastal national park, reading on its golden beaches and finishing off with a delicious gelato – all in all a good day!

I could write you a day to day description of our time spent driving down the Brisbane to Sydney coast, but I would doubt you’d have the time to read it and quite honestly I don’t think I could do it the justice it is worthy of.  The freedom that the campervan gave us was truly exhilarating, and the experience has placed Australia as a serious contender for our favourite place on our travels so far.  Following Noosa (to summarise) we visited the Eumundi markets, luscious green Maleny, Brunswick Heads and the infamous Bryon Bay (which, on arriving, was experiencing a bout of torrential rain and we couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about.  Fortunately the sun soon came out and suddenly we understood...swam with sea turtles...fell in love a little bit.)  We spent Easter in the delightful hippy town of Bellingen, basking in its delightful atmosphere and in the sun on the banks of arguably the most beautiful river I have ever seen.  Finally we headed to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley to spend time with friends and discover a new appreciation and understanding of wine.

The time flew by so quickly and suddenly we were back in Sydney.  Our time in Oz ended with the Royal wedding, and on our final evening we got dressed up as best as one can when travelling (me more so than Phil thanks to Donna's wardrobe) for The Last Night of the Proms at The Sydney Opera House.  I don’t think I can quite describe how incredible an experience that was (I’m sure some of you can imagine), and, as it was a night to celebrate the wedding, we ended the trip in the great Australian icon feeling pretty patriotic and jolly proud to be British!