East Coast 'Summer' Holiday

The east coast, it almost feels like home. The familiarity of the densely vegetated coastline with the constant backdrop of the great dividing range is like a breath of fresh air. It might sound odd, but on the most densely populated stretch of Australia's coastline, there are actually more trees, scrub and lush vegetation than on the vast unpopulated tracts of the west, north and southern coastlines put together (with some exceptions of course). And it is nice to be back amongst such a lovely setting.

The east coast really is the home stretch for us. We are getting weary of the constant travelling, running low on money and looking forward to seeing friends and family. So we decided to come down the coast fairly quickly. We have travelled this part of the country many times and so we just decided to make it a bit of an East Coast Summer Holiday. We stopped in at several Summery coastal towns, soaked up the sunshine and turquoise blue waters and enjoyed some yummy food and superb coffees.

We started our August Summer Holiday in Cairns. It was a brief stop but we had time to stock up on amazing fresh produce at Rusty's Market and have dinner at Yorky's Knob Boat Club with some old friends of Rob's.

As we left Cairns it was a gorgeous sunny day but as we neared our next destination, Bowen, the clouds started to roll in. We then experienced our first rainfall in four months. It wasn't torrential but it was enough to remind us we were leaving the dry season of the top end, which also meant saying good bye to crocodiles, barramundi, tropical temperatures and the land of termite mounds. We've really got quite attached to the red, brown, white and yellow towers being a constant part of the scenery.

Despite the rain, we were still able to get out and about and appreciate the quaint seaside town of Bowen. Bowen is exactly what an old-school seaside town should be, it has big wide streets, a good bakery, an imposing heritage style corner pub (used in the movie 'Australia'), gorgeous beaches, a lovely saturday market and friendly locals. We only stayed in Bowen for a couple of nights, but it was a lovely stay.

We aren't particularly fond of the stretch of coast between Bowen and Noosa, which is over 1,000 km's so we decided to just get to Noosa as quickly as possible. With a brief overnight stop in Rockhampton we arrived in Noosa after two long days of driving. Surprisingly though, despite Noosa being one of Australia's favourite holiday destinations, it really didn't do that much for us. The glamour of Hasting's street was a bit too pretentious, the cafes lacked the flare that we expected, the suburban sprawl in the surrounding areas is far from glamorous and don't get us started on the parking. Having said that, there are some beautiful beaches, you can't really beat a beer at the Noosa Surf Club, the rolling green hills and lush rainforest of the hinterland is spectacular and the Eumundie markets were an absolute treat. So although we won't be rushing back to Noosa in the near future there was plenty to keep us occupied and to top it all off, we bumped into Rob's cousin Pete and his family. So all in all our visit to Noosa was a great success.

From Noosa it is an easy drive to the infamous Byron Bay. We used to frequent this gorgeous part of the east coast regularly in our teen years, but hadn't been back in about 10 years. We had prepared ourselves for a complete shattering of the Byron Bay we had once known. And we found that it is true, Byron has changed but hey, so have we. But like Byron, the changes were mostly on the surface, we may not being driving around in a clapped out combi but Big Red makes enough noise to draw attention and has certainly seen better days and we may not be fire dancing on the beach with the locals but Jarvis sure has a good hip wiggle going on when the band is playing at the pub. So we looked past the expansion of the town, the uprising of several chain stores and the crowds that persisted even in winter, and got down to the business of enjoying what Byron has to offer. We lazed away the days at the beach, ate breakie at several amazing cafes and drank beers at sunset at the Beach Hotel while whales swam past.

It was the perfect way to finish our east coast travels. Tomorrow we will head up the great dividing range, back into the bush and into far cooler temperatures. We are planning to spend a few weeks on Em's family's bush block near Armidale. It is 600 acres of bush with no power, rain water only and makes for the perfect place to hang out and ready ourselves for returning to Sydney and the real world.

Cape York and the Daintree Rainforest

Not ones to do things the normal way, attacking Cape York was no different. Sitting in Karumba musing over the map, we identified a very vague, dotted, light brown road which basically cut a straight line from where we were sitting to the Musgrave Roadhouse about a third of the way up the peninsula. The backroad route would save us the trip across to Cooktown and hundreds of kilometres, whether it would actually save us time would depend on the condition of the road.

The first hundred or so kilometres was a breeze, the road seemed to be part of some sort of back road tourist trail. But as the decent road veered off to the east, we were staring down a goat track with a gate across it, which appeared to be no more than a property access road. However, there were no "Keep Out" or "Private Road" signs hanging form the gate, nor was it locked, so through we went. We passed through several other gates before crossing a huge river, the crossing was easy but at the other side (going in the other direction) there was a sign saying "do not attempt to cross the Mitchell River"…. oops. But this was only the beginning, a little further on a "road closed" sign hung from a road barrier. We had heard that this road was impassable for some time after rain, however, it had not rained in over four months so the road was unlikely to be boggy or the river crossing flooded. However, it was possible that one of the river crossings was so badly washed out that we would not be able to get across. It was decision time, we had just enough petrol to get to the major river crossing, turn back if we had to and make it out to the main road, at which point we would need to hitch a ride to the next servo to get petrol. Not a great back up plan, but it seemed good enough for us if the road really was impassable, so on we went (round the 'road closed' sign). The road was slow going, but the boggy sections and river crossing were dry and although the washouts were steep, Big Red made it through. It took us almost 10 hours to travel about 400km but it was exciting, the landscapes were amazing and we didn't see another car all day.

Musgrave Roadhouse is the only remaining overland telegraph station on the cape. It is now a petrol station, bar and campground. After our long day, we welcomed the grassy campsite and cold beers. Unfortunately, as we were setting up camp, Rob noticed that there was something wrong with the breaks on the camper. He started to pull them apart and within 10 minutes had attracted a small crown of neighbouring campers. They were actually all extremely helpful and one of them was even a mechanic. With their help, Rob had the breaks sorted out in no time and had even greased the bearings.

The rest of the journey up the cape was fairly uneventful, we did a small section of the Old Telegraph Track (OTT) and camped beside Canal Creek. Jarvis joined some other kids for a swim in the crystal clear water and we watched other cars and motorbikes attempt the river crossing. We also did the crossing the following morning and another section of the OTT. This was not an easy task with a heavy camper trailer, laden with a boat. We then took the car ferry across the Jardine River before finally arriving at Loyalty Beach campground just north of Seisa. It was more beautiful than we could have imagined. It was like arriving at an island paradise. After our exhausting drive from Darwin, across the Gulf and up the cape, we instantly relaxed into Cape York time. For several days we wandered along the beach at sunset, fished off the rocks and ate some of the best fish and chips ever at the makeshift bar on the beach.

We did some exploring too. We walked to the most northern point of Australia, had lunch at Punsand Bay, had treats at the Bamaga Bakery, stopped in at the croc tent and even popped into the Seisa Fishing Club on market day.

When we felt fully rested, we decided to finally turn our rig around and head south. Jarvis was delighted and kept saying "is this the way to Sydney", as he has asked many time on this trip, this time we could finally say, yes. We had planned to camp a few nights at Chillli Beach which is supposed to be beautiful, but dodgy road conditions and a lack of stamina on our behalf, meant we ended up heading straight to Lakefield National Park (via an overnight stop at Coen). The National Park was lovely, but in fact it was as we left the National Park and approached Cooktown that we were blown away by the view. The rolling green mountains, babbling brooks and the starting blue of the ocean in the background were simply amazing. We only stopped in at Cooktown overnight, but were also very impressed by this cute little town set on an amazing river mouth surrounded by rainforest and lush farms.

From Cooktown we took the Bloomfield Track through Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. To say it was magnificent is an understatement, it is possibly the most amazing drive we have done on this entire trip. The track winds under the rainforest canopy up over steep mountain ranges and down through gorgeous rivers. Sometime we felt like we were above the clouds and other times we would look out our window to see the beach right beside us. At the southern end of the track, we camped at Noah's Beach right in the heart of the Daintree National Park. The campsites are limited so it is nice and quiet and we could wander from our campsite under a rainforest canopy right onto the beach. It was magical, there was even a rope swing under the coconut trees and coconuts for dessert.

After Noah's Beach, the drive was still beautiful but easier going (sealed road) and after crossing over the Daintree River, the thick rainforest slowly gave way to cane fields and small towns, then bigger towns and finally the ritz and glamour of Port Douglass. We only stopped in briefly before heading to Cairns but it felt a world away from the isolated tropical paradise of Cape York and the Daintree. We also looked completely out of place in our clothes, car and trailer all covered in red dirt. It looks like we might need a bit of a clean up before we tackle the civilisations on the east coast.

Leaving the Northern Territory via the Gulf

On our last night in Darwin we did our favourite Darwin thing, we went to Mindle Market (yep that makes 7 times). It was our last night with Tash and Adam and we met up with a couple of other friends Kurt and Tom. As luck would have it we also ran into some travelling buddies, James and Sophie. So it was a real party.

After enjoying our last spicy laksa  on a balmy night on MIndle Beach we set off for Queensland. Our destination was Cape York which is about 2,000 km's away so we did the trip over several days mostly via dirt roads, often very rough and with numerous river crossings. Our first stop was Mataranka which is a tiny settlement south of Katherine. It is most well known for its warm thermal springs set in lush pockets of palms and tropical vegetation. We met up with the Wright family and we enjoyed a couple of nights with them soaking up the springs, lunching at the Mataranka Homestead and lounging around the campfire. We also bumped into some friends of ours from Margaret River, Betty and David who also joined us for a swim and lunch.

We set off from Mataranka for a long day of driving. We hit the Carpentaria Highway and just kept driving until dusk. Just as the Kangaroos started to appear we pulled off the road about 50km east of Borroloola. We set up camp beside a lovely river and enjoyed the solitude after the hustle and bustle of Darwin.

We got off to a super early start and for several hours drove through gorgeous landscapes, which compared to the Gibb River Road scenery (but without the other cars). After crossing the QLD border and then Hells Gate the landscape became less spectacular but beautiful in its own way. We passed through Burketown and Normanton before finally arriving in Karumba just on dark. Karumba is the furthest eastern town on the Gulf of Carpentaria. After travelling 2000km's in 4 days, we welcomed a cold beer at the Sunset Tavern as we watched.. yep you guessed it, the sunset.

It was a mad dash from Northern Territory to Queensland. And although the days on the road were long and tiring the drive was pretty special, both due to the scenery and the solitude. We are now very excited to head north up to Cape York, our last exploration of Australia's Top End before beginning our journey back down the east coast, home.

Kakadu, Arnhem Land and Nitmuluk

It only seemed fitting that we should end our amazing month in the Northern Territory with the jewel of the Territory; Kakadu. Although we had passed through Kakadu on our way to and from Cobourg, we had saved exploring this part of NT until Tash and Adam arrived. So as we left Darwin heavily laden with our additional travellers, their gear and all the usual Big Red paraphernalia, we were very excited about the week ahead of us.

To get our visiting Sydney-sider out of the southern winter and into the mood for some outback adventure, they decided to head off up Katherine gorge in a canoe overnight. We decided they would either come back totally psyched for the rest of their trip or…. they might not come back at all. We had decided not to join them, partly because it would simply be too difficult with Jarvis and also because we don't have a tent with us. We happily pottered around the campground, went for a swim and walked to the lookout over Katherine Gorge whist we awaited their return.

As it turned out, our visitors did return, weary and tired but with very big smiles. So after a much needed night of recovery, we set off for Arnhem Land. We had managed to get tickets to a performance put on by the Beswick Aboriginal Community. It was a corroboree of sorts set down on a river bed with a rock wall surrounding us and a waterfall flowing into a plunge pool nearby. The whole community attended and most of them took part in the dancing, singing and story telling. The performance was fantastic. It was disorganised and generally chaotic but it felt like it was a night of culture for the community and we were simply lucky enough to be permitted to join in. Just to make the night even more special all the visitors were welcomed to camp in the surrounding bush, normally visitors would only be allowed into the art centre in the town and only for a day visit, so we felt very privileged. 

The next day we were finally off to Kakadu. Tash and Adam had completely relaxed into life on the road and we were all ready to see what Kakadu had to offer. Our first stop didn't fail to impress. We set up camp at Gunlom Waterhole. This is supposed to be one of the most popular swimming spots in the park, but we were lucky enough to have the falls to ourselves for an afternoon swim amongst the palm fronds. In the morning we climbed to the top of the falls to watch the sunrise over the rocky hillsides and grassy plains of southern Kakadu. We again had the place to ourselves and watched the land reflect the sky's changing colours as the sun rose and lit up the world below.

We'd had a taste of Kakdu's waterfalls and wanted more, so we made our way through the rough 4WD track to Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls. The last part of the trip into Twin Falls was via a small boat up the river, run by the local Aboriginal Community and then a walk / climb past waterholes and through steep rocky gorges. Again, as providence would have it, we had the place to ourselves. 

After soaking in the serenity at Twin Falls we made our way to Jim Jim for a swim (no swimming at Twin Falls due to crocs). To get to Jim Jim we wandered under the canopy of remnant rainforest and then clambered over huge rocks. Just when we thought we could clamber no more, we came upon dark green pools surrounded by huge rock walls over which poured a thin stream of water. The pools were inviting enough for us to ignore the biting cold of the water and we washed away the day's grime and floated in the cool water.

No visit to Kakadu is complete without a visit to Yellow Waters. Most people have to pay lots of money to pile on a boat with dozens of other people just to get out on this beautiful billabong. But who needs a paid cruise when you've got a 3.7m tinny. It was a stretch, but we all piled in to our little boat at the crack of dawn for a breakfast cruise (banana and peanut butter sandwiches) amongst the lily pads, flocks of birds and some of the biggest crocs we've seen. Just as we were thinking about heading home, Rob decided to flick a couple of lures around and five minutes later he hooked a Barramundi. He couldn't have staged it better for our visiting friends (yep, it's always that easy). It was a keeper too (60cm) and we had a delicious Barramundi barbecue with camp oven veges for dinner that night.

Being able to have fires and cook in the camp oven was a fantastic part of Kakadu camping, we made basically every meal in the camp oven. But the fires were't the only good point, the campsites in general in Kakadu were fabulous. None of them were too busy and each site was pretty private and large enough to fit a few people. It was some of the nicest camping we've come across on the trip.

The north of Kakadu is renowned for its rock art. So we finished our tour of the park visiting two of amazing sites (Nouralgie and Ubir). Some of the rock art is thousands of years old and relics found in a rock shelter have been dated to 20,000 years. It's fairly amazing to walk the same paths and into the same rock shelters as Aboriginal people have been doing (and continue to do) since before any of the cities on earth were built. At Nouralgie, we made our way up to a lookout which had story boards which put some of the paintings we'd seen into perspective of the landscape and surroundings.

We had started our Kakadu experience with the sunrise over southern Kakadu so it only seemed fitting to spend our last night in the park watching the sun set over the northern floodplains of this remarkable place. We walked to the top of Ubir with several other people and were mesmerised by the setting sun in the west and the rising full moon in the east. A simply perfect moment none of us will forget any time soon.

Kakadu exceeded all of our expectations and the experience was made even better by being able to share it. It was so special cooking dinner with friends by the fire under a blanket of stars, laughing for hours instead of watching the km's tick over on the long drives and sharing our wonder at this amazing place.

A big thank you to Adam for providing us with many of the photos on this post.