image from The Gold Coast

The Gold Coast

November 29, 2010
Friday started early, at 5am the sun was up and so was I. Sleeping in the car was surprisingly comfortable and after breakfast we set of towards the Gold Coast. Our destination was Surfers Paradise. We didn’t intend to stay there for long, I just wanted to have a look at that place. It reminded me of certain European holiday destinations. The place wasn’t to our taste at all so we set sail inland towards the Springbrook National Park.
image from In the big City

In the big City

November 27, 2010
In the last months I’ve seen rainforest, tropical beaches, waterfalls and lived in an area of Australia that is said to be one of the most relaxed. And then I came to Brisbane. During our visit I still felt like my clock was ticking in a different rythm. Everybody was hurrying, people were wearing suits and designer stuff and parking in the CBD costs like $20 a hour. Still, I have to cut Brisbane some slack.
image from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

November 27, 2010

Thursday, November 25th. Usually I’m not a big fan of zoos but today we went to visit the Koala sanctuary nearby Brisbane. It is more than 120 years old and currently home for 130 koalas. Besides the koalas they show other animals, most of them Australian.

We started with the lorikeets. They are not held captive in the zoo but live in the trees throughout the area and twice a day it’s feeding time for them. The keepers hand out trays with food and visitors can hold them up and be eye to eye with the birds.

Even on my head they were sitting. There was about 40-50 of them and every time a kid was running towards the group they escaped at once just to return to the food a minute later.

After the lorikeet feeding we went to the kangaroo area. The area is

image from Coming to Brisbane

Coming to Brisbane

November 24, 2010
Monday Nov 22nd. Day 16 of our road trip starts with sunshine and a beautiful blue sky. From Rainbow Beach we drive half an hour up to Tin Can Bay to see and participate in the daily dolphin feeding. Our next stop was Noosa and the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast didn’t really deserve it’s name when we saw it. It was more like a “More-rain-than-during-an-average-cyclone Coast”. We kind of were used to it and decided to make our way to Brisbane that day.
image from Crocs vs Work

Crocs vs Work

November 22, 2010
Friday Nov 19th, day 13 of the road trip. Refreshed and happy after a night in a real bed with a roof over our heads we leave Emu Park. My fellow travellers are going to visit a crocodile farm on the way. I have some work to do and drop them of there. Before we left Airlie Beach I bought some mobile broadband equipment and can now use the internet at all places that have mobile reception.
image from Rum

Rum

November 22, 2010
Saturday, we are not really surprised to wake up with wet feet in our tents again. Pete and Meri spent half of the night in the car after their tent capitulated to the heavy rain. There seems to be a pattern. When we stay in the tent it rains, when we stay at a backpackers it doesn’t. After the dripping wet gear is stored in the car we head for the next bistro to get some hot coffee.
image from Caves

Caves

November 21, 2010
Nothing takes the fun out of camping more thoroughly than rain. Once again we awake to the sound of drops falling on the tent. We have some routine in taking down the tent and packing up the gear by now and before 10am we are in the car and heading down the A1 towards Rockhampton. Or Rocky as the locals call it. We make our first stop 25km before Rockhampton at a place called Capricorn Caves.
image from Off we go

Off we go

November 18, 2010
Wednesday Nov 17th, day 11 of the road trip. We manage to get all of Pete and Meri’s luggage in the car, it’s filled to the roof now. Even one of the back seats has to serve as storage at the moment. Down Bruce Highway we head for Mackay. After lunch in the botanical gardens of Mackay we scanned the Camps Australia book for a proper overnight location. Between Mackay and the next big town Rockhampton is almost nothing to do or see for 300km.
image from Inland Day Trip

Inland Day Trip

November 17, 2010
Tuesday morning we were greeted by sunshine and blue sky. After the wet season in the last couple of days we were keen on getting out of the house. Roughly 30km from Airlie Beach are the Cedar Creek Falls and we went to see them. Did I mention the heavy rainfalls during the last weeks? We now saw the consequences. The water was about 15cm deep and a crossing might have been possible.
image from Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

November 16, 2010

Friday Nov 12th, Day 5 of the road trip. We leave Townsville in heavy rain and hope to leave the bad weather behind. We are near Ayr, almost 100km south of Townsville when the rain stops for the first time. It doesn’t stay dry for long though and when we reach Airlie Beach it’s raining cats and dogs again.

Airlie Beach is the main starting point for tours to the famous Whitsunday Islands. That group of islands has beaches that are said to be among the most beautiful worldwide. I was eager to go there but the weather kind of killed the mood.

With the weather being totally unsuitable for camping we decided to check into a hostel for a couple of nights. Two guys from the share house in Cairns, Pete and Meri, work in a hostel near town and organised some beds in a dorm for us.

The weather remained unstable and we spent our time with cleaning and drying the gear or going fishing at the nearby marina.

The forecast promised better conditions for Sunday and thus we booked a Whitsunday tour for that day. While still in Germany I planned to do a sailing trip around the islands but those trips are unfortunately not compatible with my current budget.

Instead we went for an ocean rafting day trip. The company running these trips bought a couple of rescue vessels and