We Made It!

Yep, the trip is officially over (boo hoo) and Jefro, the kombi has done us extremely proud by not only being one of the coolest modes of transport on the remote, outback roads of Oz, but also because even though he had his moments (Tennant Creek...Cough, cough), we were able to drive a complete 360 degree loop of our country without worrying about our set of wheels too much.



Our trip, the basics:

- 29,600km driven

- 242 days away

- Six states and one territory crossed

-Breakdowns: One major (Tennant Creek), three minor (Queenstown, TAS, Yorke Penninsula, SA and Mount Isa, QLD).

-Most expensive petrol : $2.05 at Uluru

-Cheapest petrol: $1.34 in Sydney, the day we left!

-Favourite places (so hard!): Broome, Esperance, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Cradle Mountain, Coles Bay, the Grampians, Flinders Ranges, Port Douglas, South West Rocks and the list goes on!

-Days without internet access: One (Tarraleah, TAS) That's not bad, Next G.

-Longest time Luke went without a shave: Four months, hence the impressive bush rangers beard

-Trip must-do: Swim with the whale sharks!

-Furthest distance travelled in one day: 1540km across the Nullarbor

-Best caravan park stayed at: Cable Beach Caravan Park, Broome

-Most expensive caravan park: Karratha at $45 a night, followed closely by Byron Bay at $43

-Car accidents/ prangs: Zero! Good on ya, Jefro!

Luke and I have had the time of our lives on this trip and are so grateful that we've been lucky enough to be able to take the time to explore Australia in this way. You guys should try it! The amazing people that we've met, the impressive sights that we've seen, the unforgettable experiences that we've had, have made for one exciting year. And for anyone thinking about doing a similar trip and waying up whether it will be worth the organising or the money or the time away from the 'real world', our advice? Jump in the car and hit the road!

But for now, Luke and I have been busy cleaning out our kombi, printing photos and adjusting to showering in a proper bathroom. Bliss! Back in Freshwater, Sydney, Luke's online business (which funded our trip!) is going great guns - check it out at http://www.allthingsstainless.com.au/ and I'm back at Pacific Magazines, this time as Deputy Editor of Girlfriend magazine (http://www.girlfriend.com.au/).


Thanks so much to everyone who left comments on our blog and kept up with our travels! We hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip and that we may have inspired some people to buy a VW and take off on their own road trip! As for Jefro, he's finding it a bit more difficult to adjust to the city life (traffc lights, fuel costs...) and actually having his own garage to hang out in. We're hanging on to him for now and can't wait to hit the road for long weekends away as soon as we can!

Yours back in the real world,
Odette and Luke

The Long Drive Home

After visiting Byron Bay, it was time for Luke and I to high-tail it down the coast to one of our all time favourite camping haunts, South West Rocks. Even after (almost!) completing an entire lap around this beautiful country of ours, the seaside town of South West Rocks is still a favourite when it comes to stunning Aussie getaway spots.

The beautiful river that runs into the ocean, the protected aqua waters of Horseshoe Bay, the amazing caravan park at Trial Bay, where you can camp super close to the beach and just under the hill, which is home to the ruins of the old Trial Bay gaol, as well as the friendly locals, make South West Rocks our perfect kombi stop over. Oh and did I mention the amazing views from the lighthouse, where on most days you can spot a whale or two!

The trip is sadly coming to an end but we're so lucky to have places like South West Rocks, Port Macquarie, Hallidays Point and Forster at our doorstep for future mini-breaks. After heading back to work after cruisin' for so long, I'm sure we're going to need them!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Kombi Capital

Most people who have been to Byron Bay will know that the town is filled with two things - more Sydney ex-pats then ol' London town and a whole heap of kombi vans. It seems like a bit of a cliche that there would be a ton of kombis cruising the streets of this popular surfing haven, with it's preference for all things alternate and organic and it's beautiful beaches and laid back vibe. But whether it's the local surfers with their boards in the back, hippy families from the hills or city kids in search of a simpler existence, VW vans are in demand on this stretch of the NSW coast.

So it's always nice driving into town in our own van. We've been to Byron a ton of times before in three different kombis and we always get the same welcoming comments from locals and tourists alike (although this time we splurged and booked one of the super expensive powered sites at the caravan park by the beach ($42 a night!!) instead of parking the kombi near some bushes at a park like we did a couple of years back, uni student style).

And there's no shortage of kombi souvenirs to buy either, to remind you of your stay in Byron Bay. Most shops sell kombi something-or-rathers and this shop below in the main street sold kombi everythings!


But the real reason why we like heading to Byron Bay is not to play spotto with all the vans driving around town. It's to grab a cold beer and enjoy the view from The Great Northern pub at the end of the main street in town.

And to sample some of the local produce and coffee beans in any one of the now hundreds of organic cafes that line the streets.

Visitors to the area should take the 10minute drive into the hinterland to discover the charm of the neighbouring town of Bangalow. There are shops as trendy as those found on Little Collins street in Melbourne and great food too but without the hoards of people that pile into it's coastal cousin. Oh and Aussie singer Pete Murray is just one of the celebrities that lives around these parts as well and guess what? He drives a kombi too.

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

And Then The Rain Came...

Travelling in a kombi can be squishy at the best of times but when things get a little wet and wild outside, suddenly instead of Luke and I feeling as snug as two bugs in a rug in our van, when the rain set in as we made our way into Brisbane, we began to feel more like a couple of elephants trying to move around in Barbie's toy convertible.

We've been so super lucky this whole trip in terms of weather - and that's just as well because as anyone who has survived camping in the rain will know -wet clothes, wet camping chairs and tables, wet bath towels, wet umbrellas, wet everything, all stuffed into a car with a couple of less than happy travellers is a sure-fire recipe for a one-way ticket home.

We flew through Brisbane at lightning speeds (okay, kombi speeds, which is around 100km an hour max) and didn't get a good chance to explore this riverside city because the heavens had conveniently opened up right on top of us. We did experience the seedy Saturday morning crowd at the Brunswick street markets in Fortitude Valley though - we saw a bunch of people who looked like they needed more than a morning coffee pick-me-up (maybe a quick stint in rehab would have been a better remedy) and a bloke who was obviously experiencing the after-effects of a night on the drugs, being man-handled into the back of a paddy wagon by about eight policemen. All this at 9am in the morning, in what we had been told was the 'trendy' part of Brissy. Hmmm.

Back on the highway, and the view of Surfers Paradise was just as ominous. Where had this rain come from? Doesn't the sky know that we only have days left of our kombi adventure and a little sunshine to help us deal with the fact that we will soon be leaving our lazy tourist days behind us would be greatly appreciated? Hello? Anyone?

So with the foul weather playing havoc with our holiday plans, there was little else for Luke and I to do than join the rest of the Queenslanders, in a kind of farewell to the state, for dinner at the ultra classy all-you-can-eat foodie joint, yes, you know what I'm talking about - Sizzler. Although somehow, eating cheese bread at this Queensland institution and hitting the salad and desert bar wasn't nearly as good as I remember as an eight-year-old.

Yours wet but very, very full,

Odette

When In Rome...

We've hit the sunshine coast of Queensland and have made an amazing, yet unexpected discovery. This stretch of sand and high rise apartments is actually where all the body beautiful 20-somethings that onced paraded in designer outfits and sunbaked for hours on Bondi Beach, retire to. I know! I always thought they ended up in Gosford, too! But the kilometres of cycle and walking paths along the beaches from Noosa to Maroochydore make for the perfect playground for any outdoor loving, tan sporting, velour tracksuit wearing so and so and that's why Luke and I had to try our best to fit into this sunny paradise.


I grabbed my joggers and bike helmet and tried to look the part riding along the foreshore, then stopped with the 'in' crowd to sip a latte (a soy decafe to be precise) at a stylish cafe overlooking the beach at Mooloolaba - there was even a bowl of water at each table in case I had decided to bring my sequin coat wearing poodle along for the outing.



Luke on the other hand, spent days at the caravan park gym (these may or may not actually exist) working out and toning his pecks to perfection so he would go undetected on Noosa beach in his new sparkly speedo. It works well with the now well established beard, don't you think?



Yours enjoying the good life,
Odette

Coastal Sailing

With our return to the real world looming and now a date in which we have to be back in the big smoke of Sydney, Luke and I have had to pick up the pace and stop dawdling in tourist info centres and coffee shops and hightail it down the Queensland coast a little faster that what we may have liked (and at a pace that we just aren't used to!).

Nevertheless, even if you have just a few days in your travel itinerary, you can still see some pretty great places without having to resort to Northern Territory-style driving tactics (i.e. 500km a day).

Here's what we saw:

Tully: A little town built in the side of a rainforest covered mountain with a big gold gumboot welcoming visitors to Australia's 'wettest' town. With a sickly sweet smell bellowing out of the nearby sugar cane mill, this little town was a tad sentimental for me. Why? Because it was named after my little brother! Well, not really, but my bro does share his name with this Queensland community and Luke and I wasted quite a bit of time laughing and taking funny photos of all the places with his name 'Tully' on them.

Bowen: A town often left off many traveller's touring schedules, with most skimming through in search of the famous juicy mango, then scooting back to the Bruce Highway as fast as you can say, "Pass the napkins." But hold up and stay a while, because the beautiful Horseshoe Bay is a pretty slice of paradise that's no where near as exploited and packed as our next stop...

Airlie Beach: Perfect one day, destroyed the next (or so the hugh billboards protesting a new marina canal development warned us on the way into town). And yes, the man-made beach overlooking the Whitsunday Islands is what postcards are made of, but unfortunately for us, the rest of the place was as overused as a public toilet on New Year's Eve. Highrises, construction and buses and buses of backpackers make this place a good spot to drive into, then leave behind as you sail away on your own personal yacht to Hayman or Lindaman Island to visit your old mate Richard Branson, who has the cocktails waiting. Or...


...you could stay at the Wanderers Beach Resort in Airlie Beach instead, like we did, and experience what was hands down the most filthy, revolting and unmaintained caravan park / hotel that we have stayed at during our entire Aussie Adventure to date. Big call? Maybe, but we weren't the only ones feeling like we needed a shower after checking out of this place after just one night. This is what Luke found written on the back of one of the toilets in the guy's block.

Sarina: Just out of Mackay, we stopped at the Sugar Shed - a cool looking corrugated tin building on the edge of town near the sugar cane mill. You can take sugar mill tours here or just grab a coffee - which looked amazingly impressive and was gigantic (but tasted like a cup of skim longlife milk that had been boiled until breaking point). I had to do a swifty and pour half my bubbling brew into a nearby pot plant while the waitress lady, who confessed to being a novice when it came to using the coffee machine, wasn't looking.

Rockhampton: The beef capital of Australia, while you're in Rocky, you really should play this super fun game called "Spot the plastic cow." It's really very surprising how long the game can last, with life sized replicas of the prized Brahman, Santa Gertrudis, Braford and Droughtmaster bulls all over town.

Gladstone: Industrial but not to the point that the houses are stained red with iron ore like in Karratha, Gladstone's best kept secret is Tannum Sands. About 14km out of town, the sea side village is sweet, with bike tracks and apparently crocodiles (that we didn't know lived down this far of the coast until after we finished our 1 hour walk around the mangroves...gulp). Thanks for the well place signage, council Gladstone.

The Town of 1770: Strange name, cool place. Except that we arrived on the same day that the entire population of school children on holidays from Queensland also decided to check in. The caravan park was chaos and we witnessed two car prangs in about 20 minutes as 4WD's battled to park their huge rigs in spaces as small as President Bush's brain. Seriously, I felt for these guys!

Bargara: Another little gem, on the outskirts of Bundaberg, where instead of getting blotto on the town's famous drop - Bundaberg Rum, Luke and I hit the kilometres of bike trails on the Bargara foreshore and checked out the great ocean views. How very sensible!

Where to next? Only time will tell!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

The Mission Is Clear

There are so many beautiful places to visit in far north Queensland, but it's not so easy to find a holiday spot that hasn't been completely overused and developed to the point that it looses all of it's original charm and appeal. But we've had a few weeks to travel slowly down the coast, and we managed to find a place that is yet to be overshadowed by rows and rows of high rise apartments and where you can can get a decent cup of coffee or a fresh coconut off the beach, without too much searching. Heaven! Where is this little slice of paradise? Wouldn't you like to know! Ah, kidding. It's a town called Mission Beach.


Now Mission Beach is pretty much smack, bang in the middle of Townsville and Cairns so I doubt it will remain peaceful and relatively construction-zone free for long (Wait up - it may be already too late as we did spy a new Woolworths complex in the process of completion...). But it is worth putting aside a night or two to soak up the beautiful and relaxing vibe of this seaside town - actually Mission Beach is really four separate little towns connected by 14kilometres of sandy, coconut tree lined beach.


There's a bunch of lovely eateries, a few art galleries and even a tropical fruit winery in the tiny main street, and if you stay at the Dunk Island View Van Park (like us!), your $25 will buy you a 50metre stroll to the beach that has a view of... arh, you guys are just too clever! You're right! Dunk Island! You can push your relaxating break to the next level by staying over at Dunk Island too or take a day trip and snorkel and swim and parade around in a bikini pretending that you're on the set of Blue Lagoon.



So channel your inner Brooke Shields immediately and get your butt to Mission Beach pronto (before the rest of the Cairns/ Port Douglas crowd get sick of camping on top of each other and sunbaking on grass and high tail it to Mission too!).

Yours in the great outdoors,
Odette