Road Trip, Part 1

12th - 27th September 2012

The best road trip in the world! Well that's my opinion and the journey between Lancaster and Leeds isn't much to compare it to. I had already planned where I wanted to go on the East Coast before I even got to Australia so we decided to use my plan as a rough guide.

DAY 1:
Me and Dennis met the others at Travellers Autobarn to pick up our vans. It took longer than we anticipated getting the paperwork sorted. We didn't realise we would have to either pay insurance or put down a large deposit. None of us really wanted to pay insurance but not everyone had enough money in their accounts to put down a deposit as the bank was still faffing around setting them up. Eventually we got sorted and we went to check out our vans.

They were pretty cool. A double bed at the bottom that could be packed away to form a seating area and a fold out single bed at the top. I say fold out single bed but it was more like 3 planks of wood resting on the sides of the van and they didn't look like they would hold much weight. It had a fridge, a stove, a microwave, camping chairs, sheets, towels and all pots, pans and plates. We were all very excited!

Mark, Shelly and Beckie planning the route

Adam, Frankie and Brandon looking very pleased with the situation

Me and Dennis ready to roll

We set off about midday. I was driving our van which was terrifying. I hadn't driven in 5 years, only had 6 months driving experience and I've never driven in a big city before but I felt more comfortable having my life in my hands rather than in someone elses. How we managed to get out of Sydney without crashing is nothing short of a miracle and there were plenty of close calls. But we did manage to lose each other several times on the way to Aldi where we stocked up on food.

It may as well say don't let a monkey drive

It was quite late in the afternoon when we hit the Pacific Highway so by the time we got to Port Stephens it was already dark. We stayed at the same place that we did the week before with Ultimate Oz. Some people were there when we where there so we decided that this week it would be us that could be the annoying people from the week before as there was a new group there. Little Dan had arranged for us to have some pizza with the rest of the group but we got some evil stares as if we had stolen it!

The new group of Ultimate Ozzers seemed a lot quieter than we were. Only a couple of people were up for a party. Most of them just sat around the campfire chatting. I had already forgotten how it was to be new and on your best behaviour so that you could make friends! But this was boring so we cranked up the music and danced around the goon box for a couple of hours before spending out first night in the van.

The new Ultimate Oz group severely lacking in enthusiasm

Cumpulsary 'feet in' photo

There was only 8 of us on the trip so I've no idea who the 9th person is in that photo!

DAY 2:
The first night in the van was ok. Turns out the planks of wood can hold my weight but its hard work getting up there! You have to climb on to the sideboard and army crawl your way in. We stole some of the breaky and then set off again on quite a long drive to Dorrigo which was recommended by the owner of the backpackers.

We had a bit more fun with the vans. We kept fighting for the lead and 'Dennis the Menace' is a suitable name for the crazy German as he was driving and wanted to go faster than everyone else!

Convoy!

ROLLING ROLLING

Crazy German not watching where he's going!

Speaking of the crazy German. We stopped half way up the mountain to Dorrigo to take a couple of pictures and when we set off again Dennis decided he was back at home and started driving on the right. This would be fine if there wasn't a big bloody lorry coming down towards us. Its just a good job that the lorry has good brakes as Dennis wasn't to be moving over even with me shouting "go left go left!". We survived though...just!

The place where my Aussie Adventure could have come to an early conclusion

At the top of the mountain would couldn't find the campsite we had been told about so a few U-turns were needed. Here's Mark showing everyone how not to do it!

FAIL!

We eventually managed to find somewhere where we could stay but again it was already night so we didn't get to see too much. The guys in the other two vans decided to get up at 4am and set off and get to Byron Bay at a resonable hour so they could actually see stuff. I wasn't keen on the idea of driving so tired and it seemed a shame not to go and see some stuff while we were here. So we decided that me and Dennis would meet them in Byron Bay later in the day and we went to bed.

It was so cold that night! Having been in Sydney we knew that the days were warm and the nights can be cool but this was bloody freezing. It got down to 7C and when you effectively sleeping outside in nothing but a sleeping bag it was cold. I went to the toilet in the middle of the night and came back numb! I tried to put the heater on in the car but it was just blowing cold air. Mark put the stove on in his camper to warm up which would have been a better idea.

DAY 3:
We finally got to do some touristy stuff. The others having already set off to Byron Bay, Dennis and I went to Dorrigo National Park which had some spectacular views and scenery.

The view from the top of Dorrigo National Park

There was a couple of walks we could do so we chose the one that would take us roughly an hour and goes around some waterfalls. The first part was a skywalk which goes through the canopies of the trees which is supposedly good for bird watching but I didnt see many.

The Skywalk

The forest is millions of years old. It dates back to dinosaur times and it definitely felt like Jussica Park! There was some huge trees around and it felt like a proper rainforest. Some of the trees were covered in vines like out of George of the Jungle. There was one hanging down between two trees and you can properly hang off it and it won't budge.

Big Tree or small person?

er caption...er... tree fall down. Yep that will do

Just call me George

There were lots of animals around aswel. Some eagle type birds, some wallaby type things and some birds that looked like Turkeys. (I am the new David Attenborough). We eventually got down to the first waterfall which was more impressive than I was expecting so I climbed over some rocks and I got a picture with it.

Me, waterfall, click

So basically these vines cover a tree slowly by feeding off it and then it dies and eventually it goes rotten and it all comes crashing down. Or so I'm told.

A viny tree

We could walk behind the second waterfall without even getting wet. Not like at Ingleton falls

The other waterfall

We walked along the rest of the track which was mainly just a steep climb back up which certainly woke us up as it was still only 9 o'clock. We got in the van and set off to meet the others in Byron Bay. We met them on the beach after we had checked in to the Arts Factory. A big backpackers near the coast with a big bar and a big pole and a very hippy type vibe going on.

Byron Bay, you can see the lighthouse on the hill

We saw Little Dan on the beach and he told us our discount packages where at the reception at the Arts Factory. We had booked the Fraser Island tour through Nomads and he had managed to get us a discount card as part of a deal. He also had bands so we could get into a club later on but most of us were nakered and couldnt really be bothered. I was quite ill. I hadnt been feeling too great since we set off and without getting any proper sleep I was not getting any better and today I felt really shit. I couldnt even finish my tea which is very unlike me. I went to bed at 9.30 while the others had a party in the guys van. I felt so much better the next day though.

DAY 4:

Someone having a morning swim

Most people had a dose of internet in the morning to catch up on facebook and then we set off for Nimbin. It was an hours journey inland from Byron Bay along some windy roads.

 

We were told it was a hippy town with a lot of drugs but that was an understatement! You looked out of place if you were sober! They must have seen us coming. We weren't out of the campers more than 2 minutes before we were offered weed, mushrooms and acid. These were just people coming up to us on the main street in Nimbin. We didn't even need to look down and back alleys. It was all very obvious as well but they had a clever system if any police came along. If you saw a police car you would shout 'TAXI'. I'm told it works but there are no taxis in Nimbin!

The main road in Nimbin

Awesome sign!

We ate some lunch and bought some souvenirs and went to visit a waterfall nearby that we were told was well worth a visit. We had to drive down a dirt road which we didn't expect but we arrived safely near a lookout point at the top of the waterfall

Having a look at the the lookout. Look!

Told you there was a waterfall

Breaking the rules shocker!

We thought the guy on the right next to Mark was gonna jump

My favourite photo of my trip so far. Very arty

We left the waterfall and journeyed back down the dirt path trying not to drive into a tree while driving over a branch in the middle of the road. We crossed the border into Queensland and arrived on the Gold coast that evening where the traffic was bad. We had gotten so used to small towns that we forgot what city life was like.

Gold Coast through a bug filled windscreen

In the traffic we would here something dragging along the underneath the camper so we pulled over to have a look and we had managed to pull a pipe off by driving over that branch in the forest. By strange coincidence we had pulled over right outside a mechanics so I popped in and asked if they could have a quick look. The guy I found was just heading home as it was past 5 o'clock. He had a look and said it was nothing important and seemily fixed it in a matter of seconds. Or so we thought. When we got to our campsite for the night I had another look and he had just tucked it under a different pipe so that it wouldn't scrape on the ground anymore. Turns out if was for our water pump so we didn't have any water in our camper. Not the end of the world I suppose.

There was some debate about the campsite. Dennis was unhappy about paying every night to stop somewhere when have almost everything we need in the van. It was a fair point so we agreed that when we left the city we would try and stop at free spots more often. After tea we admired our souvenirs from Nimbin and went for a very very long walk. The gold coast is one long beach and it felt like we walked the length of it. We just kept walking and walking although Mark wasn't entirely happy with the speed we were walking! We later found out we had walked a 6km round trip!

Mark, Bex, Shel and Dennis on our walk

Oooo shiny

Famous sign at surfers and the guys underneath it

 DAY 5:

The next day we went to the beach and chilled for a while. I wanted to go in but when I saw a huge jellyfish on the beach I thought better of it. Had a quick walk down the beach and there were more of these blue jellyfish. Surfers paradise? I think not.

Breath in! Dennis, Adam, Me, Shel, Bex and Brandon

Big jellyfish

We decided we would have a BBQ on one of the stations along the beach. There are loads of these things along the beach, along most beaches in fact. Free gas BBQ areas. Genius idea!

Disaster stuck the guys van when Adam closed the door. He didn't slam it or anything but the glass in it just smashed. We had just parked up and went to meet them and there was glass all over the floor.

Dennis, Frank, Me, Shelly and Mark

This photo is us all looking over to see a pair of legs dangling from the broken window. At the same time as braking the window, Adam had managed to lock the keys inside so they had to cut through the fly screen and climb through to get the keys. I just carried on munching my burger!

Watching the show

That night we went for a night out. It was a Sunday but it being a touristy place we thought it would still be busy. We got a taxi down to Broadbeach where we were told its the best place to go if you don't want to be surrounded by kids. There was nobody here! So we had a drink and got a taxi back up to Surfers.

No kids....or adults...or kangaroos

I don't really know how to describe the next bar we went to. It was playing 80s music, there were some blatant Thai ladyboys on the dancefloor and Mark chatted up a burly looking but extremely camp guy at the bar. It was all quite odd. Just like to point out that this was not my idea to go in here.

Peace? Really Adam?

Chatting up the gay man

We tried to get into a club but they wouldn't accept Brandon's driving license as ID which was extremely annoying. We were going to go in another club but it was $20 to get in so we just ended up going back to campsite.

DAY 6:

We had a really long journey to make today from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane, 1 hour. Me and Dennis went to get the pipe for the water tank fixed at the Brisbane branch of Travellers Autobarn. It took forever but once it was done we went and met the others who were at South Bank. They had been for a walk around Brisbane. I'll have to go see the rest of next time because we were only here for 24 hours so I didn't get time. South Bank was cool though. It had a man made beach separate to the river.

Brisbane

The beach at South Bank

Whilst we were on our roadtrip Charlie had got a job in Longreach so he was on his way there through Brisbane so he came to meet us and hang out with us for the night. We had a few really expensive drinks at South Bank and then went to a campsite just outside of the city. Charlie joined us and we shared some souvenirs and laughed a lot about something that I can't remember now but it was extremely funny at the time.

Look who we found! Charlie!

Brisy at night

Having fun in the van

DAY 7:

The next morning we parked our vans at South Bank again and went and had breakfast across the river. We only paid for an hour on the meter so when the heavens opened we had to say goodbye to Charlie and run through the rain back to the van. Frankie had gone to pick up our new American friends who would be joining us.

Big lizard

We left Brisbane and headed for Noosa where we would join our Fraser Island tour before continuing up to Cairns. To be continued....