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Sydney to Cairns
It was a short stop in Sydney but enough to see whats required. Now it was time to hit the open road and see the real care-free Australia away from the shirts and tie's of Sydney. We had 22days and 3000 odd Km to cover in order to reach the finishing line at Cairns, for this challenge I had chosen the cheapest campervan after much searching. As with New Zealand our renting luck was with us and as we turned up at the rental depot(All Seasons) imagining how we would survive the next 22days we were given a free upgrade. Its still undecided whether it was my nice emails to the booking lady or the fact they needed a van taking up to Cairns but we ended up with a brand new campervan with microwave, kitchen and fridge freezer for those all important beers! First challenge was navigating central Sydney where we made a quick stop at Bondi beach and then decided to get the hell out of this city.
Two things we hadnt planned on... or researched and that was 1) the monsoon weather that would follow us up the coast and 2) It was Schoolies week, which basically means all the 17year old kids hit the east coast celebrating the end of school. The weather was s***e for the first 6days which didnt make for a happy camp, also the roads werent as scenic as their counterparts in NZ, it was basically like taking a campervan holiday driving around the M25. We stayed at Coffs Harbour famous for its Bananas especially one giant one, finally reached Byron Bay famous for its hippies and surfing. The caravan site we staying in at Bryon was pretty cool and we met some schoolies and spent the evening playing card games and I drank as much of their beer as possible (as an 'adult' I wanted to reduce their supplies so they did not harm themselves!). On the trip we either plugged into a caravan park or found somewhere free to park by the beach, it was pot luck which one you would find. The weather still non stop rain, we decided to try and out run it up north until we found some sun to protect us from the rain. Surfers Paradise on the way was a pretty cool city which is what I would imagine Miami to be like, and it lived upto its reputation and delivered us about 2hours of sun!! Oh poor Brisbane, on the drive up we heard about how parts of the city had been devistated by a 'once in a life-time storm' and the army had been called in to help. When we arrived in our big white box of a campervan (driving it was like trying to carry a massive billboard in 90mph winds!) Caravan sites were flooded and roads closed, however the next day produced sun and we took the bus into Brisbane (which has a tourist attraction that looks strangely like the London Eye.. Hmmmm).
Now the sun was on our side and smiles were back in fashion we invested in a bodyboard for $15... which turned out to be a kids one... but it matched our bodyboarding ability fine so who cares!! Angres Waters and the Town of 1770 allowed us to chill and enjoy Australia. Fact, Petrol is cheap.... beer is not, and bread is priced as if it were slices of gold. The campsites around here allowed us to meet some really cool Aussie's in their caravans, they would tell us over a beer of free campsites to stay in and how they love Top Gear. Unsuprisingly nearly all the towns are called something beach; Mission Beach, Rainbow Beach and that brings us to Airlie Beach/ Whitsundays the entry for most to the Great Barrier Reef (from now on its known as G-B-R!!!). We spent 5days there in total and loved it, we waited for the calmest sea and clearest sky, at 7am monday morning we awoke to find this and 1hour later we were on a boat to Whithaven beach and to snorkel the GBR in search of Nemo. Whithaven beach is picture postcard perfect with sand so fine you can clean your silver with it... and if you dont have silver some backpackers resorted to cleaning their teeth with it!! The snorkelling was amazing but still no sign of Nemo or a turtle much to both our disappointment. Mission Beach was another place we loved, tropical beaches and a sea that was 26 degrees! A couple of dodgy nights were spent in the free camping zones where locals would fire their guns next to our big white box bringing flashbacks of Wolf Creek if anyone has seen that film they will understand! Its safe to say we were becoming very attached to our big white box on wheels, there is nothing better than rocking up somewhere by the beach cracking open a cold beer and watching the sun setting. We had exactly enough time left to drive past Cairns and to Port Douglas, a very upmarket and pretty town which many enter and never leave... and you can see why, it was like San Tropez. Oh and the roads there were stunning... windy costal roads, palm trees and a new beach around each corner.
So much to write and to behonest not enough time to write it all! So here are a few highlights; we visited a Koala Hospital to see the 'constantly stoned' creatures, Kangaroo's... whats OZ without them... well nearly minus the one that ran out into the road infront of us! We did see more dead than alive Kangaroo's but 5 alive ones were spotted bouncing around by the side of the road!! The locals were such nice people, they love drinking and 'get' the english sense of humour! Waking up literally on the beach is priceless! OH and CAIRNS.... now thats a whole different story one similar to 'from rags to riches' involving a Porsche and Nemo!
Potapeni se na nejvetsich koralovych utesech ve svete, 3000 km podel vychodniho pobrezi, 22 dni pronajem karavanu, svetelna tropicka boure, neskutecna vedra....a jak to vse zacalo?? Nas prvni den v novem obydli, a my vyrazime nadseni a netrpelivy ze vseho co nas ceka! Nase prvni kempovani primo na plazi a my si planujeme kolik usetrime za Kempy..samozrejme se tomu tak nestane, jak moc se vzdalujeme od Sydney tak se nam vice ukazuji znacky zakazu kempovani, a ceny v kempech se tez postupne zvedaji. Smirujeme se s cenou ziti, jidlo optimalizujeme na minimum, jedine co nas tesi je cena ropy, a tak si alespon nekdy usetrime na pivo.. Navstevujeme "Koali Nemocnici", neuveritelny zazitek, nemuzeme se vynadivat. Kazda koala ma svuj zivotni pribeh, jak se do teto rezervace dostali, a mnoho z nich ji diky svym nemocim uz nidky neopusti, nekolik z nich trpi obrovskymi popaleninami (diky rozsahlym pozarum ktere se v Australii casto vyskytuji-verte mi nekolik jsme jich videli na vlastni oci, a predstava utrpeni zvirat zijici ve volne prirode nahani husi kuzi..) Tito maly medvidci nam nas natolik okouzlili, ze jsme neodolali prispet do sbirky na jejich podporu.! Po odjezdu nas opustilo nase stesti, a jak nam bylo receno ze na vychodnim pobrezi vlaste ani neprsi, tak nas zasahli tropicke deste ktere nas provazeli po dobu 6 dni! Takze jsme si moc neuzili, objeli jsme vsechny turisticka lakadla jako Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay (kdo zna, tak vi :-) ), a pote zamirili do Brisbane (porad provazeni nepretrzitym destem). Moc se nam nechtelo, jelikoz vsechny tamni zpravy informovali o obrovskych zaplavach, ale nemeli jsme na vyber-cas se kratil. Dorazili jsme do kempu ktery byl predeslou noc zaplaven, probehla veskera evakuace a my jsme zastilhi vsechny zamestnance snazici se zachranit vse co se dalo. S obavamy jsme zustali a vyrazili na pruzkum jednoho z nejvetsich mest v Australii! To ze nas slunicko peklo zaziva a 30 st nam prispelo k brzskemu navratu a relaxu v nasem boxu na 4 kolech (tezko se to rika, ale tolik jsme si tenhle zbusob zivota zalibili a karavan si zamilovali, ze jsme sli spat treba i v 6, jen aby jsme mohli byt uvnitr)..Samozrejme prisla dalsi boure, takze jsme si uzivali naseho vecerniho ritualu...!posezeni u piva a vecere..! to co nas cekalo za par minut je nepopsatelne..Netrpelivy jsme cekali az se dest uklidni, a uzivali si nasi 'po veceri' cigaretu, kdyz zrovna zacinala "svetelna podivana" ve stylu odeznivajici tropicke boure, ktera trvala vice nez 20 minut (video pridame)! Dalsi obrazek vryty v nasich vzpominkach! (to ze tyto zaplavy a tropicke boure se objevuji jednou za lidsky zivot je uz z jineho soudku).. Da se rict ze se nachazime v polovine cesty, a my vyrazime na nase dalsi dobrodruzstvi! Uz bez deste, a cim vice na sever tim vetsi vedra, nedychatelno..Zastavujeme na Rainbow Beach, misto kde kupujeme nas "detsky serf", a uzivame si nepopsatelneho pocitu kdyz vas obrovska vlna za vami vyzvedne a unasi ke brehu! Dalsi zastavka Airlie Beach, a raj vsech cestovatelu! Cekame na bezvetri a vydavame se na vylet na jednu z nejkrasnejsich plazi na svete Whitsundays (radi se mezi 10 top plazi ve svete). Kristalove more a bila nekonecna plaz, co vis si prat nez nas tropicky obed primo zde! Vydavame se o kus dal a uzivame si snorchlovani na koralovych utesech, cely nadseni, ze uvidime Nema a nejakou tu morskou zelvu, ale samozrejme se tomu tak nestalo (a jak se tomu tak stalo se doctete v sekci Cairns), nevadi, zazitku mame super, a citime se stastni ze se nam vubec takova prilezitost naskytla! Odjizdime, zastavujeme na Mission Beach, Port Douglas, a pote se vracime do Cairns kde nas vylet konci! Vracime Karavan a zaciname nase cestovani po nohach a s batohy na zadech (zda se ze nejak ztezkly..)
Shrnuti: jeden z nejlepsich zazitku pro me-kdyz se u silnice objevilo postupne 5 klokanu (pro ty kteri si mysli ze tam stoji bezne,tak ne,od tamejsich nam bylo receno ze jsme meli obrovske stesti je vubec videt,natoz zastavit a vyfotit!!), dale nadherne plaze, modre more, nespocitatelne mnozstvi ptacich druhu, a samozrejme svetozname koralove utesy! Oh a samozrejme neskutecne trpeliveho partnera po mem boku...!!
A to jak jsme se promenili z chudych cestovatelu v prince a princeznu na 3 dny se doctete priste...!!
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