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In Part 1 of ‘Our 5500 Mile Trip across Australia in a Camper Van’ we told of our journey from Adelaide to Melbourne in a Camper Van. In Part 2 we travelled from Melbourne to Sydney and we now continue our travels from Sydney right up to Cairns.

We left of where we said goodbye to my Mum, Dad and brother who had flown out to Sydney to see us. We got back in the van and headed north up the coast passed Newcastle to Port Macquarie. We were so keen to make up some ground as we were well behind our schedule. So keen was I in fact that I completely ignored a Police Officer in the middle of the road waving me in to do a random breathalyser test. I only realised I had done this when I saw him in my rear view mirror with his sirens on yelling furiously at me to ‘pull over!’.

So after quite a severe telling off and a $50 fine we arrived in Port Macquarie. It seemed we had under estimated just how busy everywhere was. It was, after all, the height of summer and we struggled to find anywhere with any vacancies. 

So after a quick look around we headed further up the coast and managed to find a really cheap motel in Kempsey. And when I say cheap, I mean cheap at only $21 (about £8 at the time).

After a good nights sleep we were back on the road heading for Coffs Harbour. Again, after a quick walk along the harbour we were keen to get more miles under our belt so made a target of reaching Byron Bay by sunset.

We hit Byron Bay and pitched up for the night and the next day headed straight to the beach for a swim. After a quick look around the quirky shops in the town we once again jumped back in the van in order to reach Brisbane.

We booked in to another Big 4 Park slightly north of the city which had a nice little pool and games room with internet access (which I used to pay my $50 fine!).

We spent a few days in Brisbane exploring the city and the South Bank which has an amazing series of man made lagoon which are completely free to use and swim in. All of the pools are supervised by lifeguards and there are some made made beaches for you to chill out on (something I am sure you would never see in the UK!).

During our time in Brisbane we also took a drive about an hour back down the coast to Surfers Paradise which, whilst nice to see, didn’t really feel like the Australia we had gotten to know and like. Walking along the promenade you really could have been on the Costa Del Sol or Miami. Needless to say, it wasn’t really what we had expected. 

We also ventured to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo which was fantastic. This was before he passed away. However, the day we were there was about two or three days after the incident where Steve took his baby in to the Crocodile enclosure. Strangely enough, due to a lot of paparazzi outside, he was no where to be seen.

 

 

Our next stop was Hervey Bay where we, once agin, checked in to another Big 4 park where we planned a trip across the Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and contains more sand than the Sahara Desert. We booked a one night trip to the island which included full board accommodation at Eurong Beach Resort. The day we arrived we had a walk through the rainforest, saw some dingos and then trekked over the seven waves of sand to get to Lake Wabby, a bright green lake blocked by a steep wall of sand. We stopped for a long swim in the lake where the fish nibble on your feet.

The next day we were driven a few miles up the coast in the massive 4×4 coach to see the Maheno Ship wreck and Eli Creek. Eli Creek is simply amazing. An ice cold creek surrounded by reeds. You get in at the top and float down amongst the eels (yes… eels!) to the where the creek meets the ocean. Apparently it takes many years for the water to filter through the sand to meet the creek (hence the ice cold water) which means it is probably the cleanest water we will have ever drank, let along swam in.

We were then taken to Lake Mckenzie, another fresh water lake which is bright blue in colour. A truly amazing spot which photographs do not do justice to. 

After a few hours at the lake we were back on the ferry to Hervey bay where we stayed at the Big 4 park for a night before heading off for the longest drive we did in the three months we were in Australia.

We set of at about 10am heading for Rockhampton which was roughly about 400km up the coast. We did this in good time arriving at about 3pm. But we thought this was too early to pull in so after a quick pit stop we were back on the road heading for Mackay. Our flight out of Sydney was looming so we were trying to cover a lot of ground in a short space of time. We finally arrived in Mackay at 9.30pm after having driven 800km straight!

The next day we drove about an hour up to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. A quick look in our guide revealed another Big 4 park with a great pool and possums living in the utility room!

Airlie Beach is a great little town with another amazing (and free) swimming lagoon right in the town centre. We booked a day boat trip out to the whitsunday islands which included a visit to the famous Hill Inlet lookout, a Barbeque on Whitehaven Beach and a Snorkling session on the Reef at Mantaray Bay. The Whitsunday Islands are a definite must for anyone in the area!

After a few days at Airlie Beach we were back in the van trying to make up some ground as our departure date from Australia was getting closer and closer. We drove further up the coast and stayed in a campsite on Mission Beach for the night.

The next morning we were back on the road heading for Cairns, and after two months and a total of 5500 miles we arrived at our final destination. I must admit, whilst we both felt a good sense of achievement, we also felt a little deflated and disappointed that this section of our adventure was coming to an end. It seemed so long ago that we picked up the van in Adelaide 8 weeks earlier!

So for our final few days in the Camper Van (staying at the Crystal Cascades Big 4 Park), we checked out Cairns (which again has another awesome free to use swimming lagoon in the center of town) and went out on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef which was amazing. The trip we went on had a number of things to do whilst out on the reef like snorkling, an under water viewing area and a semi submersible submarine. 

After 3 days in Cairns we finally dropped off the Camper van which had been our home for the last two months and headed for the Airport. We loved Sydney so much we decided to spend a few nights back in the Ibis Hotel on Darling Harbour before we flew out to Oahu, Hawaii.

And that is the end of the Camper Van and Australian segment of our travels. We spent the next two months visiting some more amazing places including Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Orlando. It all seems so long ago now and I can’t believe we were traveling for over 6 months! As soon as we get the chance, we are off again and would love to travel around either New Zealand or Canada, once again in a Camper Van (ideally a VW!).

Posted by Steve

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Posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Posted In Amazing VW Journeys, VW Camper Van Holidays | Tags: Amazing Trips, Australia, Camper Van Holidays, Toyota Hi Ace

3 Responses to “Our 5500 Mile Trip across Australia in a Camper Van - Part 3: Sydney to Cairns”

• Daithi O' Se on September 2nd, 2009 said:

  Hi, my partner and i are thinking of planning a trip from adelaide to cairns at end of year. on reading your blog, we were happy to read how ye enjoyed it. do you mind if i ask you how much ye spent on camper hire, petrol etc? just for a ball-park figure on expenses. i’d appreciate any other feedback you can give myself and my partner (Liz).

  Thanks again,

  Daithi

• Michael Hayes on September 14th, 2009 said:

  Hi, me and a friend are planning on doing a trip from Sydney to Cairns in a campervan aswell. How long did you give yourself to do it?

  Thanks, Mike.

• Steve on September 15th, 2009 said:

  Hi Guys and thanks for the comments.

  Daithi,

  Bearing in ind this was nearly 6 years ago, the camper hire was about £2000 for the two months it took us to complete the trip from Sydney to Cairns. Petrol wise Australia is very cheap (compared to he UK). Nevertheless, we were getting around 300 miles to a full tank of petrol and we drove a total of 5500 miles meaning we filled up about 18 times. If I remember correctly it cost us about £22 at the time to fill up the tank so I guess a ball park figure would be approx £400 on petrol.

  As far as feedback goes, I say go for it! It was one of the best things I have ever done! There is no better feeling than being free in Australia choosing what pace you watch the country go by.

  Micheal,

  The Sydney to Cairns part took us 3 weeks and 2 days. However, it would have nice to have a had a little more time but we had a flight to catch from Cairns so were forced to drive over 10 hours on one day from Hervey Bay to Mackay.

  I would say four weeks would be a good amount of time to see everything and not feel too rushed.

  Make sure you go to Fraser Island, one of the best bits of the trip for us!

  Let me know how it goes!

  Thanks

  Steve

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