Onward to Brisbane!

Got off towards Surfers Paradise, which is not that far from Byron, early and drove straight there, only stopping to take a picture of the stones that mark the NSW-QLD border.

Unfortunately, Surfers Paradise does not live up to the images you might imagine when you hear the name.... The place is full of high rise buildings, concrete, fast food and bars. The beach isn't that good either! Its a good place to go out drinking and we had a good night there, but a surfer's paradise it is not.....

The next morning we arrived in Brisbane and had a look round the city center. It was quite lively and the river that winds its way through the city center is beautiful.

Brisbane was also the place where I would be leaving the Italians. They are flying back to Italy on the 24th March so had less than a week to do the Brisbane-Cairns part of the East Coast. There are lots of day trips and activities I want to do on my way to Cairns so it would be impossible for me to keep up with them! Furthermore, Brisbane is also a good place to get a job and funds are low....very low....

After looking around they decided to make the long drive up to Noosa, so I said goodbye to three of the nicest people I've met on my travels, wished them good luck on the rest of their travels and a safe journey home. Spent the rest of the day looking around the city and came across an area called SouthBank. There are green flowery parklands, which make a nice change to the concrete jungle of the city CBD, free museums, art galleries and a library with free internet. Also, just as I was getting beach-sick (Brisbane is 30km inland) I randomly came across an artificial beach in the middle of the city! I also went to Mt. Cootha, just outside the city, which has a lookout with amazing views all the way to Moreton Bay!

I wasn't alone for long 'cos the next day two more Italian friends from Manly arrived in Brisbane. They are on a bus journey up the coast and would be in Brisbane for two days. In the evening we went to an area by the river called Kangaroo Point, in which there are lots of rocky cliffs. There is a big rock climbing community and it was a nice cool night so we thought we'd have a go!

I dunno if anyone reading this has climbed a real cliff before but its fucking hard! I've been on an artificial climbing wall before and its much easier.... We went for a drink afterwards and none of us had enough strength left in our hands to grip a beer with one hand, much to the enjoyment of the other patrons....

The next day we were walking around the city and got given a copy of a free paper. On the front there was something about St. Patrick's day, which we had all completely forgotten about, and was actually that day! Got on the drinking early (they had green beer!) and before we knew it, it was the evening. Had a great night and randomly met some people who went to Brunel (my old uni) and were also doing the coast but the opposite direction from me. The guys were supposed to arrange a hostel for the night but due to the early start to drinking we completely forgot.....this meant that we'd be three in the car, not exactly spacious!

Woke up the next day with a big fat hangover and said goodbye to the guys. That was two days ago and I've spent the time in between chilling on the fake beach, looking at the museum and art galleries and job hunting.....oh and I went to 'the Gabba', Brisbane's cricket ground.





Looking over to Surfers Paradise



These big stones mark the New South Wales-Queensland border



One last picture together :)



Saw this big lizard-type thing in the rainforrest area of SouthBank



There is a, quite random, Napalise Pagoda in the middle of the SouthBank area



The view of the whole city and surrounding suberbs from Mt. Cootha



Around Mt. Cootha there was an 'aboriginal art trail' which was a 2km walk around the forrest that took you past traditional aboriginal works of art.



Here is another piece of aboriginal art



Brisbane CBD by day



And again by night (looks much better by night huh!)



The bones of a dinosaur in the museum. This one is apparently called the 'Muttaburrasaurus'!



This strange fly-ish thing sits between Queensland museum and the performing arts centre....Oh, I almost got run over by a bus taking this photo!



A traditional aboriginal band was playing in SouthBank the day I arrived...They were damn good!



The cliff we climbed....



Professionals!



30 bits of wood hand carved into different shapes....



This room was amazing! You walk in, stand on a small platform and florescent lights light up different coloured spheres hanging all around you. The walls and celing are mirrors and the floor is covered in water. Its very dark and the door closes behind you. Basically, it feels like you are floating in space surrounded by little coloured stars because you are not aware of the platform or the mirrors. Its one of the best pieces of modern art I've ever seen!

Byron Bay

Probably the most important thing to mention in this post is that I have a new surfboard! I got it from Byron Bay which is a good place to find a cheap board 'cos it has a big surf community. It is only 6' 5" long and in great condition. It cost $420 but they gave me $220 for my old board and threw in a leg rope, fins, a fin key and some wax for free :)




My new board! It is almost new and amazing to surf...it looks pretty cool too!














We stayed in Byron for 3 days (2 nights). On the first day we arrived after lunch and went for a swim in the sea. The whole place is a popular backpackers destination and was full of colourful vans, station-wagons, hippys and young people! Unfortunately that meant that the rangers (pretend police) are really strict on camping/sleeping in vehicles. After dinner we finally managed to find a place that didn't look too obvious so I went to sleep while the others set up their tent.

The next day I woke up early but found the others already up....they had been woken up by a ranger who threatened to fine them if he saw them camping again. Anyway, we spent the day sitting on the beach, surfing and generally chilling out. That evening we were cooking up dinner on a public BBQ (there are electric BBQs EVERYWHERE in Oz), when we were joined by two homeless guys on the BBQ next to us. One was a raging hippy, complete with tie-dye shirt (I wish I got a picture), who went on about how bad the government was and everyone should have their own vegetable garden....

The other one however, was a really funny guy who had a dog that did tricks! After we ate he put on a show for us, with the dog jumping through hoops, picking up stuff with a tennis racket and giving us all a high-five!

The guys wanted to go to a different town the next day and didn't wanna camp in Byron again anyway so they headed off to find a place to sleep towards the town. I wanted to surf my new board again so stayed and went back to the same place to sleep. I got woken up at 7am to someone banging on my car....I could see it was a ranger but all my windows are covered, so, through a mixture of tiredness and laziness, I just ignored him and stayed inside. Oh, and it was raining quite hard. After another 10 mins of banging on my car shouting 'I know you're in there' I thought I better get out. By now the guy was quite wet and pissed off, which I thought was quite funny.....he deserved it for waking me up! He gave me the same 'I'll fine you $110 if I see you here again' speech he gave the others (although I think he used more swear words with me!) and told me to be gone in 1 minute. Even though I was hungover and half-asleep, I happily Obliged....

Spent most the day surfing and met up with the guys when they returned at about 4pm. We went up to the lighthouse and looked at the views all along the bay. The water was so clear we could see stingrays swimming about just off the rocks. In the evening we drove out of Byron to a rest area on the way to Surfers Paradise to spend the night without being hassled by rangers.....




Byron Bay lighthouse. Apparently this is the most powerful lighthouse in the southern hemisphere.



Looking out from the lighthouse at Byron Bay



More views from the lighthouse



The most Easterly point of Oz is at Byron Bay. I have now been to the most Ssouthern (Wilsons Promontory) and Eastern points of Oz (doubt I'll get to the Northern and Western points!)

Manly to Byron Bay

Headed off a bit later than expected....due to the fact that I managed to lock my keys in the car...doh! It took about an hour and several assorted bits of wire to get in but we got on our way in the end.

Drove up through North Sydney, which took ages, then finally onto the coastal road towards Gosford (which wasn't much to look at, but has the same name as the place where I went to sixth form!). The first stop was a place called Budgewoi, a small town with a lake on one side and the sea on the other. Grabbed some lunch and had a surf at one of the beaches then we were on our way again.

Next we drove through a place called Swansea, which is just near the entrance to Lake McQuarie, the biggest salt water lake in the whole of Oz. After that the road took us through Newcastle (yes, another town/city that shares its name with a place in the UK) which is the second largest city in New South Wales. Its a big industrial port and there were lots of huge ships pulling into the dock and big cranes to remove the cargo. Other than that it wasn't particularly interesting and definitely not the most beautiful of places....so we headed on.

Ended the day in a place called Nelson Bay, a fishing town in the port Stephens area. You could see all around the inlet and we watched the sun go down while eating dinner by the beach, beautiful!

The next day we drove to Seal Rocks, a small village on the sea, surrounded by lush green mountains. The place was beautiful and also had some good surf so I got in the water. Once I got in I realised that the waves were so consistent because they were breaking off a reef....there is nothing more scary/exciting that knowing you could get smashed along the rocks if you fall off a wave but it was too good to resist!

The next stretch of road took us in between Wallis Lake and the sea and at some points the land was so slim that it was like being on a bridge all the way along! Had a quick stop at North Haven to grab some lunch and carried on to Port Macquarie.

The sun was going down by the time we got there so we found a place to stay and cooked up some burgers! The next morning we went to the 'Koala Hospital' to look at the koalas! You could get really close to them and they were much less docile than the ones I saw on Raymond Island, probably because we got there just after feeding time! Just before leaving we went to the breakwater (a load of rocks they chuck into the sea to stop the land from being washed away by the waves). All the rocks in this particular breakwater have traditionally been painted/drawn on by travellers passing through. All the different coloured rocks along the ocean look really cool and we found one to write on ourselves (we only had a black pen unfortunately so its not very imaginative).

Next stop was a Crescent Head, a place which is supposed to have some of the best waves on the east coast. Again it was on a reef so very consistent but the waves were also the longest curling waves I've ever seen! Each time you caught the wave you just cruised along for about a minute before it died out. The water was so clear you could see the fish swimming along by the board as you went, amazing!

After so much surfing we were a bit behind schedule (we were supposed to be meting someone in Byron) so we drove about 120km straight to Coffs Harbor. Got there pretty late and somehow ended up in the most ghetto area of Oz I've ben to so far....quickly ate dinner with one eye on the car, only stopping to decline the numerous offers of drugs....needless to say, we found a different area to sleep in!

In the morning we went to Muttonbird Island, which is actually now joined to the mainland by breakwater rocks and is home to 1200 muttonbirds, although I only saw three.... Next we walked around the towns botanic gardens which was divided up into sections, each with plants/trees from different countries.

The afternoon was another long drive all the way to Byron Bay. The long drives aren't too bad though as I'm with Edoardo whos decided to teach me Italian, its coming on quite well! Got to Byron early afternoon, met up with some friends from Manly and spent the afternoon at the beach!

Pictures soon.....




Before I left I went to North Head, in Sydney Harbour Nartional Park. The views across to Sydney are amazing....



Pellicans at Budgewoi



Seal Rocks



Looking out over the river in North Haven



Just about to head off to Port Macquarie



Looking out over Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie



A Koala from the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie!


To get down to the breakwater we could walk 1km along the path or slide/fall down the steepest hill you've ever seen.....we took the hill way....this is Gas just before he tripped and rolled to the bottom!



Some of the stones, the colours were amazing!



The coloured stones stretch for miles, its hard to find a free one!



Our stone is near these ones....



Edo writing on our breakwater stone



Me doing the same......



Our breakwater stone! If you ever happen to go to that area look out for it!



Blue waters at Crescent Head :)



Breakwater at Coffs Harbour



The view back to Coffs Harbour from Muttonbird Island



Some big flowers in the botanic gardens

Just a quick note to say.....

I left Manly 5 days ago and have been scooting up the coast in the company of my 3 Italian friends....

I'm now in Byron Bay which is beautiful, but has the most expensive internet I've ever seen....so I'll write all about the trip so far at a later date.

The north coast of NSW is beautiful and has the best surf I've ever seen! So I'm having a great time and am still alive :) Will write more soon....

Cheeky B*@#ards!

In the last post I mentioned that I was parked next to a campervan with other travellers, which was all good. Well this morning the police swung by and announced that 'this is not a camping spot' and my car and the campervan needed to be moved.... Apparently some loser had complained after they saw someone (me) sitting by the road in a chair reading a book and eating breakfast....their life must be so action-packed if they peer out their window all day and report people to the police!

Anyway, I'm leaving in a couple of days so I just moved it round the corner and it should be all good. In another random event, I was walking down the street this morning when a woman called me out of the first floor window of a flat. She'd locked herself out of the flat and wanted me to climb up the wall into her bedroom window and let her in! Had nothing better to do so I obliged and she rewarded me with a cup of tea and 20 bucks, easiest money I've ever made!

I just spent a While adding pictures to the posts as far back as the 'San Remo to Shallow Inlet' post, so check them all out! I've also made a map showing my trip so far with a bit of illustration....enjoy!



I reckon I drove about 3000kms since I left Sydney!

Ulladulla to Manly!

The next stop was Jervis bay. I can't really think of anything interesting to say about it other than its a really big bay, much of which the navy owns...which meant that I couldn't see much of it. The bay was nice and there were lots of big warships etc. anchored up there.

I then went to Huskisson, which is still in the bay and found a really good deal on a quality snorkel set & fins, which were almost half the price of the same ones I almost bought in Manly. The guy told me there was good snorkelling in Callala Bay so I headed round there and jumped in! It is amazing to see the wildlife in the sea, even close in, that you are oblivious to when swimming or surfing. I saw lots of weird and wonderful coloured fish, some stingrays, squid and even a couple of sharks (not the kind that would eat you, ones like this http://www.elasmodiver.com/images/White-spotted-bamboo-shark-.jpg).

After that I went to Nowra but there was little to do there so I continued to Kiama. It was a beautiful seaside town but I was over seaside towns by now and there were no good surf beaches there so it was off to Wollongong. I spent a bit at the north surf beach but it was a really nice day and therefore very crowded so I didn’t stay long....

After Wollongong it was just suburbs and industrial areas all the way to Sydney....I stopped off at Cronulla to see the beaches there and they were pretty nice but very crowded so I just cruised back to Manly!

So, that was just over a week ago. Since my return I stayed at the flat of my Italian friends (who I might have mentioned before, I worked with one of them at the air conditioning company) and it was good to have hot showers again! I have spent most of my time catching up with friends from work, still at my old hostel and other random people. The Italians found a car and left for Melbourne a couple of days ago. They will return in a few days and I will join them travelling up the coast, can’t wait!

In the meantime I found a place to park the car near the beach, my old hostel and the shops. I also parked next to a campervan. This van had just been bought by a group of travellers who met while they were living in the same block of flats. They just bought the van and are doing it up to leave in a week’s time. As luck would have it, they still have their rooms in the flats, which I am parked just outside, and invited me to shower, take water, charge my fone and use the kitchen whenever I like!!

Other than that I have just been surfing, skating (one of the Italians gave me his skateboard as he went a different way on the bus and couldn't carry it) and snorkelling....just the life!



Stopped off at a place called Granite Falls, this bridged bounced up and down as I walked on it....it was only a 60 meter drop onto solid granite underneath....



The falls



Jervis Bay, there were a few navy ships there too



Kiama Beach



The whole of Kiama



This bridge stuck right out over the sea, was amazing to drive over!

Lakes Entrance to Narooma

The next morning I burned it over to a place caller Lakes Entrance, which (if you haven't already guessed) is where Lake Victoria meets the sea. There was a bridge over to another bit of 90 mile beach and a 2km walk to the "entrance". I say "entrance" because it is actually a man-made entrance and would be washed away by the sea in a few weeks if they didn't keep building it up! In fact, when I got there, there was a boat scooping up sand and spraying it over to build up the sand bank.....

After that I drove inland a bit to a place called Buchan. There is a network of caves there, two of which are open to the public. The cave I went in was called Royal Cave. The cave was amazing, lots of stalagmites and stalactites and the usual cave-ish things, but what was equally entertaining is the way the cave was opened up for the public. The caves were opened in the 1930's (I think!) and they basically just cut and exploded their way through the cave to make it big enough for people to walk through. So you have 6 meter tall stalagmites with holes sawed into them for you to walk through! There was also a set of stairs cut into the rock, which looked more than dodgy, with steel pins drilled into them to keep them secure....As we were standing under this 10 tonne piece the guide told us that a few years ago a structural engineer had come to check the caves and said that the drilling of these pins had actually weakened the rock! We all hurried up the stairs after hearing that piece of information!

After that I drove over 100km in the direction of a place called Genoa. After the Ocean Road escapade of almost running out of petrol I had been very careful to ensure that I made it to all the places the map said had petrol and Genoa was my next petrol stop. As I came into the 'town' I was surprised at how small the place was....there were no shops and only a handful of houses. I found the 'petrol station' which was one small pump outside somebody’s house! I knocked on the door and a cowboy-ish guy answered, telling me that he hadn't sold petrol for a few months. It was 7pm, I wouldn't reach the next town and I didn't fancy going back to the last one. The guy told me that there was a petrol station 20km down some road that wasn't even on my map....I decided to trust him and headed off that way.

I got to a town even smaller than the one I'd just left but surprisingly there were shops and a petrol station. Everything was closed by now so I had to wait til the next day. I got up bright and early and filled the car up. I went in to pay and realised that I didn't have any cash so got my card out. The woman looked at me like I was crazy and said they didn't take cards...
'Where is the ATM?' I said.
There isn't one...
Is there anywhere I can get money with my card?
Nope.
Fuck....

So I explained that I didn't have any cash and was there anyway I could get some...'come with me' the woman said, closing the shop in the middle of the morning. So I went to her house which was around the corner and spent the next two hours cutting her lawn, or field I should say.....but anyway I still felt lucky!

After that she gave me the petrol for free and I was on my way across the Victorian border back into New South Wales to the town of Eden. In Eden there was a whale museum with the full skeleton of a killer whale called 'Old Tom'. Legend has it that Old Tom was the leader of a pack of killer whales that would go out to sea, round up a baleen whale and chase it into the bay where the whalers would kill it, leaving the body for the killer whales, which ate the tongue and lips and left the rest for the whalers. There were also the jaw bones of a blue whale (the biggest animal on earth) which were about 3 meters long each!

The next stop was the town of Bega, which is where one of the largest Australian cheese makers is based. Now, if you know me well you'll know that I LOVE cheese! I got to walk round the factory and did some cheese tasting, all for free!

I ended the day in Narooma and did a bit of fishing. There were big stingrays and manta rays cruising around and I was praying I wouldn't catch one....caught some mackerel but they were too small to eat. I am yet to catch something and eat it damnit but soon!

Got some amazing pics for the last three posts but I'll add them later so keep your eyes peeled!



A black swan, I didn't even know these existed!



Pelicans!



The boat moving sand



A kangaroo chilling outside the cave, you could walk right up to them and they didn't even blink!



A chamber inside the cave in Buchan



Stalagmites and stalactites!



More stalagmites and stalactites....



Scary walking under these, they didn't seem that sturdy....



Looking out over the countryside near Narooma



Pelicans on a lampost in Narooma

Wilsons Promontory to Bairnsdale

At the end of the day I drove about 200km to Sale, the next big city after Melbourne. By the time I got there it was too late to do anything so I found a place to sleep and cooked some dinner.

The next day happened to be the one day of the month that there was a big market on. It was all a bit cowboy-ish...there were old boys singing country songs, lots of hat and belt stores and even one selling farm animals!

After that I drove to a part of 90 Mile Beach called Golden Beach. 90 Mile Beach is amazing...it just seems to go on forever whichever way you look....

Next I drove to Bairnsdale and then a small fishing village called Paynesville. For once I had actually read my guidebook and it said that there was a small island right next to Paynesville called Raymond Island. It was supposed to have a healthy Koala population and a free ferry so I thought I'd check it out. I found the ferry point and could see the ferry on the other side of what I thought was a small river. After waiting about 15 mins, the ferry came over to my side of the river and I got on. The ferry then proceeded to go to the other side of the 'river' and the captain said 'enjoy your trip to Raymond Island'! The other side of the 'river' was actually the island and it was so close I could (and would) have swam it in under 5 minutes!

Anyway, the wildlife in this place was amazing, as I got off the ferry all I could hear was the screeching of hundreds of parrots, bright green, blue and red ones in all the trees, waiting for people to drop them some food! I walked through the holiday homes to the rainforest-ish area of the island. Saw loads of weird looking birds and a really small snake but I was really looking for some eucalyptus trees for the Koalas. Once I found them there were koalas EVERYWHERE! The first two I saw were a mother and baby clinging onto a branch and then every other tree had some lazing around in the branches. They didn't mind people walking around at all, they just lied in the trees watching the world go by and if you were lucky they'd turn their head as you walked past! At one point there was a rustling in a bush I walked past...after seeing the small snake I thought I'd leg it just to be safe. As I looked back a big Koala emerged from the bush, jumped onto the tree, found the first branch and just laid there!


After that It was back to Bairnsdale to see a church with hand-painted ceilings and I also came across the house of a woman who made amazing sculptures just out of different kinds of eggs.....strange but very cool!



Sunset near Wilsons Promontory



War memorial just outside Bairnsdale city centre



There was a big praying mantis on the memorial!



The church with the hand painted celings



A dragon made completely out of eggs, everything down to the scales is from some sort of egg!!