Chapter 3: EAST COAST AUSTRALIA
May 22, 2012. When we picked up our campervan, I couldn't believe my eyes. Our van
looked like it just came off an episode of Pimp My Ride. It came complete with 2 double beds, 2 TVs with DVD players, a GPS system, a kitchen in the trunk with stoves, running water, and a fridge! This was our home for the next 6 weeks and I was SO excited to finally fulfill my backpacker dreams!
In our first day of driving, we got into 2 minor accidents! Not only were we driving on the opposite side of the road, but we were driving a massive van! The Canadian drove a little too close to the left once and knicked the bumper on a highway rail. On our first night, I was attempting to drive the van into an underground supermarket garage totally forgetting to check the clearance; I ended up scrapping the whole top of the van on a metal bar. Thank God for insurance!
Our first night was in Port Macquaire, a small beach town 3 hours outside of Sydney. We parked in a Coles Supermarket parking lot and set up shop! (Parking in Coles and McDonalds parking lots became a staple on this trip). For our first meal we ate rather heartily....a rotisserie chicken and white rice cooked on our stove. At night the three of us cuddled together on the bottom bed to watch a movie when suddenly the Canadian bursted out laughing and declared "WE'RE IN A VAN!" It finally hit us. We were curled in bed...in a van...in a supermarket parking lot. This was actually the state of our lives right now.
Our first major stop on the roadtrip was in Byron Bay, easily the most hyped-about place
along the East Coast. I had heard stories of people going to Byron Bay and never leaving, so to say I was excited was an understatement. Too bad our week in Bryon Bay was completely marred by shitty, cold and rainy weather. On the ONE DAY with good weather, we went to the beach and the sun unexpectedly started to shine. Not one of us had on our swimsuits and we couldn't stand to miss the one day of good weather. So what did we do? Stripped down to our skivvies on a public beach filled with children and surfers and jumped in the water!
Despite the sucky weather, we parked at an amazing hostel called The Arts Factory--it was basically a hippie commune stuck in 1970s and filled with all sorts of characters. I'd never met more white people with dreads wearing colorful harem pants in my entire
life. I remember there was this one guy I constantly admired from afar...he was dark and mysterious and lived in the van parked next to us all by himself. Inside the hostel, he'd always sit at one of the booths along the windowsill drawing. One day, I saw he put up a sign saying "Will Draw for Food, Alcohol, Money, Whatever." So I sat at his table with him and started looking through his portfolio. His name was Sam (pronounced "Some") from Holland. He had run out of money and couldn't find a job in Byron. Drawing is the only thing he knew how to do so he decided to try to make money off of it. He said he drew a portrait for a girl once and she gave him a bag of cookies. He also said the hostel was thinking of hiring him to do some artwork on their walls. I wonder where Sam is now...
In Byron, we also made friends with a young British couple who had come to travel the East Coast by van for the summer (well Aussie winter). They became amazing friends of ours and we traveled much of the east coast together, filling each other in on good places to park, doing activities, going out at night together, etc.
Our next major stop was in Surfers Paradise/Gold Coast. A cousin of mine had just recently moved to Gold Coast to get his masters at Bond University so I looked forward to a familiar face. The entire week there, we somehow got away with parking our obnoxious purple and green van on his campus. Parking at my cousin's dorm also meant a break from sleeping in the van (I crashed in the public common room the entire week), free wifi, free laundry, and warmth! On the downside, Surfers was the location of the first of many expected arguments over the course of six weeks. Long story short: before parking at my cousin's dorm we parked one night illegally (in front of a big sign that actually said "No overnight parking") and patrol came knocking on our window as we slept to ask us to move. It was raining, we were all stressed, words were exchanged, and the next morning problem was (seemingly) solved. But the reality of driving 6 weeks with 2 (basically) strangers began to sink in.
Our next major stop was a 3 day/2 night camping trip on Fraser Island..the world's biggest
sand island with the largest population of wild dingoes. We were BEYOND excited for our camping trip because we were finally going on a tour that gave us the opportunity to meet loads of other people (mainly boys, let's be honest). Plain and simple, Fraser Island became the clear highlight of our trip. Not only was the 
island beautiful...one morning a group of us woke up to wild dingos casually walking around our campsite-- a truly special sight to be seen...and we lucked out with beautiful weather, but the group of people on our tour was amazing. Everyone was young, fun, and ready for a good time! Our days on the island were spent divided into groups and driving around to different spots in our 4WDs. Our nights were spent camped out beside the beach getting drunk and being young and dumb.
From Fraser Island there was LOTS more driving and then our next big stop was in Airlie
Beach--the gateway to the Whitsundays Islands where we went on a 3 day/2 night sailing trip. Our Whitsundays tour group couldn't at all compare with our Fraser Island family, but we met some cool people nonetheless. Also a downer during our trip was the horrible weather. Sailing was an interesting and really fun experience, but after 2 days of sailing in the rain and living on a cramped boat, I was over it. We did, however, touchdown at Whitehaven Beach, voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which was quite breathtaking.
After the Whitsundays, there was whitewater rafting down the Tully River in Mission Beach (one of my most fun days) and then we finally reached our final destination: Cairns--a
small city completely infested with young, hot backpackers. Our week in Cairns was completely dominated by partying it up at Gilligans-- Cairns' biggest party hostel that was more like a beach resort for the young and horny. You don't come to Gilligans is you want to sleep. Our 10-bed dorm room had 
a predrinks party virtually every night and at the wee hours of the morning when it WAS time for some shut eye, the music booming from the nightclub downstairs vibrated our beds. While in Cairns, we also reunited with some friends from Fraser Island, making for a pretty epic week. From Cairns we went on several small day trips, including a trip up to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation to go hiking and horseback riding. Unarguably one of our most fun day trips was Uncle Brian's Atherton Tablelands and Waterfalls tour where our tour guide took us to all these famous natural waterfalls to swim and frolick, including Millaa Millaa Falls-- home of a famous Herbal Essence commercial.
This road trip was probably one of the best and most challenging trips of my life. Lemme tell you, there were some lowwwww days when it came to living in a van…us arguing over foolishness, the weather being cold and/or rainy and having to be trapped in the van, paying for expensive gas, the smell of damp towels scattered through the van, wanting
desperately to just lay in a proper bed, fearing our van getting moved by police, my travel mates talking constantly about their boyfriends/ex-boyfriends. But there were some HIGH moments too…cooking dinner out the back of our van while parked in a supermarket parking lot, brushing out teeth and doing our hair in several McDonalds bathrooms, cuddled together watching movies.
While the drive from Sydney to Cairns was a LONG one and driving a massive van with terrible rear view vision AND on the opposite side of the road was definitely a challenge, two VERY minor accidents and one speeding ticket later, we somehow survived.
May 22, 2012. When we picked up our campervan, I couldn't believe my eyes. Our van
looked like it just came off an episode of Pimp My Ride. It came complete with 2 double beds, 2 TVs with DVD players, a GPS system, a kitchen in the trunk with stoves, running water, and a fridge! This was our home for the next 6 weeks and I was SO excited to finally fulfill my backpacker dreams!In our first day of driving, we got into 2 minor accidents! Not only were we driving on the opposite side of the road, but we were driving a massive van! The Canadian drove a little too close to the left once and knicked the bumper on a highway rail. On our first night, I was attempting to drive the van into an underground supermarket garage totally forgetting to check the clearance; I ended up scrapping the whole top of the van on a metal bar. Thank God for insurance!
Our first night was in Port Macquaire, a small beach town 3 hours outside of Sydney. We parked in a Coles Supermarket parking lot and set up shop! (Parking in Coles and McDonalds parking lots became a staple on this trip). For our first meal we ate rather heartily....a rotisserie chicken and white rice cooked on our stove. At night the three of us cuddled together on the bottom bed to watch a movie when suddenly the Canadian bursted out laughing and declared "WE'RE IN A VAN!" It finally hit us. We were curled in bed...in a van...in a supermarket parking lot. This was actually the state of our lives right now.Our first major stop on the roadtrip was in Byron Bay, easily the most hyped-about place
 | |
| Right before jumping in! |
Despite the sucky weather, we parked at an amazing hostel called The Arts Factory--it was basically a hippie commune stuck in 1970s and filled with all sorts of characters. I'd never met more white people with dreads wearing colorful harem pants in my entire
 |
| Arts Factory parking lot! |
In Byron, we also made friends with a young British couple who had come to travel the East Coast by van for the summer (well Aussie winter). They became amazing friends of ours and we traveled much of the east coast together, filling each other in on good places to park, doing activities, going out at night together, etc.
Our next major stop was in Surfers Paradise/Gold Coast. A cousin of mine had just recently moved to Gold Coast to get his masters at Bond University so I looked forward to a familiar face. The entire week there, we somehow got away with parking our obnoxious purple and green van on his campus. Parking at my cousin's dorm also meant a break from sleeping in the van (I crashed in the public common room the entire week), free wifi, free laundry, and warmth! On the downside, Surfers was the location of the first of many expected arguments over the course of six weeks. Long story short: before parking at my cousin's dorm we parked one night illegally (in front of a big sign that actually said "No overnight parking") and patrol came knocking on our window as we slept to ask us to move. It was raining, we were all stressed, words were exchanged, and the next morning problem was (seemingly) solved. But the reality of driving 6 weeks with 2 (basically) strangers began to sink in.Our next major stop was a 3 day/2 night camping trip on Fraser Island..the world's biggest
sand island with the largest population of wild dingoes. We were BEYOND excited for our camping trip because we were finally going on a tour that gave us the opportunity to meet loads of other people (mainly boys, let's be honest). Plain and simple, Fraser Island became the clear highlight of our trip. Not only was the 
island beautiful...one morning a group of us woke up to wild dingos casually walking around our campsite-- a truly special sight to be seen...and we lucked out with beautiful weather, but the group of people on our tour was amazing. Everyone was young, fun, and ready for a good time! Our days on the island were spent divided into groups and driving around to different spots in our 4WDs. Our nights were spent camped out beside the beach getting drunk and being young and dumb.From Fraser Island there was LOTS more driving and then our next big stop was in Airlie
Beach--the gateway to the Whitsundays Islands where we went on a 3 day/2 night sailing trip. Our Whitsundays tour group couldn't at all compare with our Fraser Island family, but we met some cool people nonetheless. Also a downer during our trip was the horrible weather. Sailing was an interesting and really fun experience, but after 2 days of sailing in the rain and living on a cramped boat, I was over it. We did, however, touchdown at Whitehaven Beach, voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which was quite breathtaking.After the Whitsundays, there was whitewater rafting down the Tully River in Mission Beach (one of my most fun days) and then we finally reached our final destination: Cairns--a
small city completely infested with young, hot backpackers. Our week in Cairns was completely dominated by partying it up at Gilligans-- Cairns' biggest party hostel that was more like a beach resort for the young and horny. You don't come to Gilligans is you want to sleep. Our 10-bed dorm room had 
a predrinks party virtually every night and at the wee hours of the morning when it WAS time for some shut eye, the music booming from the nightclub downstairs vibrated our beds. While in Cairns, we also reunited with some friends from Fraser Island, making for a pretty epic week. From Cairns we went on several small day trips, including a trip up to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation to go hiking and horseback riding. Unarguably one of our most fun day trips was Uncle Brian's Atherton Tablelands and Waterfalls tour where our tour guide took us to all these famous natural waterfalls to swim and frolick, including Millaa Millaa Falls-- home of a famous Herbal Essence commercial.This road trip was probably one of the best and most challenging trips of my life. Lemme tell you, there were some lowwwww days when it came to living in a van…us arguing over foolishness, the weather being cold and/or rainy and having to be trapped in the van, paying for expensive gas, the smell of damp towels scattered through the van, wanting
desperately to just lay in a proper bed, fearing our van getting moved by police, my travel mates talking constantly about their boyfriends/ex-boyfriends. But there were some HIGH moments too…cooking dinner out the back of our van while parked in a supermarket parking lot, brushing out teeth and doing our hair in several McDonalds bathrooms, cuddled together watching movies. While the drive from Sydney to Cairns was a LONG one and driving a massive van with terrible rear view vision AND on the opposite side of the road was definitely a challenge, two VERY minor accidents and one speeding ticket later, we somehow survived.
Two accidents on one day? That sounds scary! But I’m glad to know that you made it to your destination safe and sound. I guess the fun of travelling outweighs the fears. As expert travellers say, it is part of the journey. Hope you share some more of your travelling adventures soon!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Katelyn