|From paradise to paradise|

A road trip from Brisbane to Cairns (Queensland)

To go on a road trip along the East Coast of Australia is kind of a dream – driving from one paradise directly to another. This way is full of amazing spots to visit and ‘a-must-see’ in Australia – like amazing postcard landscapes, beautiful islands, endless beaches with finest and whitest sand I’ve ever seen, great National Parks with rainforest, waterfalls and typical Australian wildlife everywhere – like koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, dingo’s, snakes and spiders – as well as many tourists and backpackers from all over the world. But before showing the beauty of the Eastern part of Australia – I’ll start from the beginning.

This part of my journey lasted about one month and started in Brisbane going up to Cairns. The idea to leave Brisbane felt a bit weird after staying there for 6 weeks at the same hostel – the Summerhouse Backpackers. It almost felt like home and some people stayed with me together the whole time. So on one hand it was kinda sad to leave but on the other hand it was so exciting to go on with my journey. However, the excitement won – of course 😀

Bribie Island & Glasshouse Mountains

While I tried to find the right car for my road trip, Christian – a German backpacker – contacted me on Facebook and gave helpful advices due to some cars because he had loads of experiences and so we kept in touch. Right after I’ve bought my car he invited me for a weekend trip on an island, which was close to Brisbane. So this was the first adventure on my one months road trip – a 4WD session on Bribie Island where we’ve met a bunch of people and of course – most of them were German 😀 During the trip my car had to experience a lot – We drove two off-road tracks as well as along the beach in wet and really powdery sand as well. Actually it was good to have like a test ride to get to know the car and learn what I can do with it – testing the limits 😉 and it was awesome and so much fun!

On the trip to Bribie Island, we’ve met some others who had the same travel plan like us – going up the East Coast to Cairns. So we finally decided to travel up to Cairns together with four cars. So, what do you think where they were from? Of course – Germany! I guess Germans are the majority of backpackers in Australia – following by English and French people. So unfortunately it wasn’t possible at this time to find travel mates who aren’t German 😀 We started with four cars including two amazing German brothers Unkas (21) and Lomaoh (18), lively Franzi (19), funny Max (22), chaotic Steffen (31), calm Jason (18), my baby Mike (18), as well as the quite unorganized and inexperienced Fabienne and Lea (both 18) and me (26). So finally we were a good mixed bunch of people to start the road trip together

Noosa

The next stop was Noosa where we’ve had a great time together. We hiked in the Noosa National Park along the coast while jumping and climbing over stones. We didn’t used the normal way so it took us about 5 hours instead of 2 for the coast walk but it was totally worth it – we had so much fun! On the way back I’ve seen my first Koala sleeping up in a tree – so cute

Great Sandy National Park

Before we went on to the Great Sandy National Park, unfortunately we had to say goodbye to the brothers Unkas and Lomaoh because they had to go up to Cairns straight away to meet some friends. So finally we went on with three cars and 8 people. In the National Park we were driving along the endless beach until we ended up at a nice lighthouse where we hiked up and had an amazing view over the scenery.

Fraser Island

The next stop was one of my favorite places along the East Coast – Fraser Island – where we’ve spend 5 days in total and you could even stay longer to explore the whole island. It’s the biggest sand island in the world with 1840 square kilometer and is about 120 km long. The beach on the East Coast is used like a normal street during low tide where cars are allowed to drive up to 80 km/h and it’s used for air traffic for small planes as well. You can only reach the island by ferry or plane and you need a 4WD to drive around on the sandy ways. Before you go on the ferry its necessary to deflate your tyres at least to 20 psi to don’t dig your car directly into the sand and be stalled. On this island we’ve been to some lakes, for instance Lake Birrabeen and Lake McKenzie, where the water was so clear and the sand so white and fine, which I haven’t experienced like that before – it was just amazing! When you drive along the East Coast there are many little creeks you have to pass and the biggest one is the Eli Creek. It’s also possible to have a walk through the creek by feet or bring some air tyres or mattresses to float with the water – it’s pretty nice! After the Eli Creek you pass by a shipwreck of the former luxury liner Maheno, which was aground due to a cyclone in 1935. The efforts to tow the wreck to Japan failed so it’s still there and only the upper deck is still visible and is one of the tourist attractions of the island. My favorite spot were the Champagne Pools in the North of the island. During high tide it’s quite impressive how the waves are breaking on the shore and water is splashing high several meters while you can swim and relax in the natural pools. In summary Fraser Island is a varied paradise on earth with lakes, endless beaches, fun 4WD tracks through the rain forest, amazing cliffs and wild life.

Whitsunday Islands

The next unforgettable part of the journey was a three-days sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands with about 20 people from various nations (French, Italians, Canadians, Americans, Asians, English, Austrian and Germans). The crew consisted of the New Zealand captain and an English backpacker, which made the trip to a fun adventure. On our way to the islands we spotted two whales being really active while jumping and splashing water with their fins. The skipper turned the boat in direction to the whales and came a bit closer but not too close to disturb them. The little whale was jumping a lot while the big one was mostly splashing with their fins but luckily I could capture a great jump and it was amazing to see this huge creatures jumping out of the water – it made me flesh crawl! Due to the great encounter with the whales we ran a bit late so our first snorkeling trip was quite short but still amazing to be under water and see the reef and some fishes. It was the first time in my life but due to the sunset it was already quite dark under water.

The next day we hiked through a rainforest for about an hour and were surprised by a short and intense shower of rain. But when we arrived at the Whitehaven Beach the sun came out again and it was beautiful! The skipper collected all of us again with a little rubber raft and brought us back to the sailing boat to go to the famous Whitehaven Beach spot, which is known from postcards and truly – it was just beautiful! The sand was so white and the water clear as glass – I’ve never seen a gorgeous place like that before. The sand feels so fine when you walk on it and makes squeaky sounds and if you let it run through your hands it feels so soft – just amazing! The water was so clear that you could easily spot some stingrays and little fishes swimming close around. After spending two hours in this paradise we went on to two various snorkeling spots, which were amazing and more colorful than the day before, we also spotted a turtle hiding under the reef. I was really impressed when I put my head under water and listened to the whales’ noises – it’s an amazing feeling. Even this trip is very touristy as well, I can definitely recommend it to everyone – an unforgettable experience!

Magnetic Island

The next island we’ve been to was Magnetic Island, where you can go by ferry with or without car. This time I decided to go without car to enjoy the beautiful nature by hiking and not concentrating on driving around. While driving with the ferry we could already see the hostel, which was directly at the beach. It was a really nice area to chill out and meet people, with pool and several little huts with an amazing view on the sea. We went on a short hike up to a hill to enjoy the sunset over the beautiful scenery. The next day we went for a longer hike for about 25 km in total and went to the remains of some fortifications of the Second World War. On the way we’ve spotted several Koalas sleeping up in the trees and they are sooo cute! One of them was walking on the way and went up a tree, so we could see him pretty close for a while. I’m always so amazed of seeing the wild life of Australia so close and it was a dream to see Koalas

After this hike we went to a spot were it’s possible to see wallabies. When we arrived I saw a man sitting in an electric wheelchair who was feeding them. We actually just wanted to take some pictures and watching them but then the guy, called Warren, started talking to us and gave us some food to feet the wallabies. He was about 60 years old and came almost every evening to this spot to feed them with sweet potatoes and some grains. He knows the whole population and can distinguish them from each other – he also named the most of them. He tries to take care of them and admonishes people who don’t have any respect – like when they go to close, try to touch them or even try to catch them. Warren was a sport teacher couple of years ago. Due to cancer he lost a part of his left leg and had already several melanoma, which were cut out. He told us that almost every Queenslander has at least one melanoma in their lives due to the aggressive sun, which is quite interesting! Warren was also familiar with Germany due to his family and went there a couple of times as well as to Poland and England – he liked to travel. Unfortunately I couldn’t spent more time with him because he was such a nice person with such an amazing and fun character and he had very interesting stories to tell but unfortunately we had to leave the island and move on to Cairns.

Final destination Cairns

After four weeks of traveling we finally arrived in Cairns and our last adventure together was a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The tour was going on the whole day from 7 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon and included two snorkeling spots. It was pretty busy on the boat and in the water, so we decided to snorkel a bit further away from the others, which was really good because we could swim with a green turtle for a while I just swam and took a look around me and there she was – she was actually following me and she came so close – it was amazing! On the next snorkeling spot I’ve seen Nemo 😀 so little and so cute and of course some other beautiful colorful fishes. It was a great day!

So now my first part of the road trip was over and I enjoyed it a lot! I’ve met many awesome people, visited beautiful spots, explored various places, went on new adventures, experienced new things, learned a lot and found friends for life! Of course it’s always sad to say goodbye but it’s more a ‘see you soon!’

Next step: Planning the trip to Darwin and find new travel mates! Maike, who started with me in Brisbane, will continue joining my trip