24/05/2005The trip has started, or maybe not. We are leaving Erica’s place in Kensington and heading off to Helena’s former host family for what probably will be some work on and repacking of the car.
25/05/2005
Repacking the car two times to get rid of some weight and stuff that we probably won’t need (clothes, shoes, cutlery, books….) on the trip.
Attaching the tarp under the roof rack, man that is a big tarp, think we have to cut it off. It took some time to put it there.
26/05/2005We are still enjoying the companionship of the Foot family. A few bottles of wine were consumed during dinner last night but we are not feeling too bad. The tarp has to be cut off; it is too hard to role it up against the roof rack. Oops, just remembered that the spare tyre under the car is flat…putting a tube in.
27/05/2005
Ok, didn’t expect to stay this long, but it’s hard to part from comfort…..
But now we are finally on the way. We are all in good spirit - Helena, Daniel and Brutus (the car).
Bellingen is our first camping stop on this trip. Sleeping in the car outside a YHA backpacker place. It’s good because we can use their facilities for a nominal fee.
28/05/2005Duuuuuuuude, what a bed! Slept like a god. It is a bit hard to get in and out of the bed but I’m sure we’ll get a hang of it soon.
Checking out the scenery and a waterfall at Dorrigo and going on some really winding and steep roads through
rainforests and up and down green rolling hills.We cruise into Yamba and set camp at a caravan park by the river. The sunset is beautiful but the irritation is growing as we are about to put up the tarp for the first time…and Helena drops one of the plastic boxes that we store stuff in and it breaks…aaahhhrrgghhhh… why are we doing this???
29/05/2005We go for a short stroll along the cliffs at Yamba. The coastline is beautiful but the sea is quite rough so you can't get to close. We get some good photos of the waves though.
Next pit stop is Nimbin. Grass, grass, grass and more grass. A very relaxed
little hippie town. It feels like you are walking into a 1970s movie. We have a coffee and enjoy the atmosphere and try to resist all the grass that we are offered from old ladies as well as young punks. Surfers Paradise next. And the horrors of finding a motel room. And this time it really is a horror. We navigate the streets of Surfers for a few hours and duck into several motels…and end up at a crappy motel with a "fancy" name. For the kind of money we want to spend (about $65) you only get crap rooms.
To compensate the dodgy motel we go out and have a nice piece of steak and beer and walk the colourful and tacky streets of Surfers.
30/05/2005We're heading for Brisbane. Checking in to a caravan park just outside of town and take public transport to the city centre. We haven’t really heard that much about Brisbane so we don't know what to expect. The city is quite a surprise, it's a Monday night and it is buzzing, lots of people in the streets and you almost get into a party mode. The river, the parks and the architecture is also pretty impressive. We take a liking to the music that is played in the streets and at petrol stations. Even though the music
isn’t always that good – it’s a nice feeling to hear music when you step out of the car. It seems that the atmosphere is a little bit more relaxed as soon as you cross the border into Quensland. 
31/05/2005Glass House Mountains and Australia Zoo next. The mountains look pretty cool but nothing too special. Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo is bloody expensive to enter (about $34) but considering the size of the zoo and the impressive and good-looking animals, that seem to be living a rather nice life, it’s almost worth
it. Unfortunately we don’t get to see Steve feed the animals but some amateurs. You can buy all sort of touristy things of the Irwin family – Bindy has got her own brand of clothes and there are games, dolls, key rings, cups…you name it of the Irwins. You could easily spend a fortune here if you wanted to…But we’ve got better things to do…off to Gympie – where we spend the night at a rest area by the highway. 
01/06/2005
Iiihhhaaaa. 4WD on Rainbow Beach. We are getting excited – especially Daniel. We are just hitting the sand as the tide is on its way in and it’s not the time when you want to get stuck…and it almost happens in the deep sand as the water is getting closer and closer…Helena slightly panics but Daniel manages to get us out of trouble. Puh…We camp in the bush away from the windy beach and we are on our own…it’s a bit scary as it gets darker to be on your own in unfamiliar territory and every little sound makes you jump. Helena has nightmares of scary people trying to get into the car and attack us.
02/06/2005
We wake up and are still alive and breathing. Time to check out Coloured Sands. An impressive, red (because of lots of iron in the soil) collection of huge sand mountains.
The town of 1770 next. We get a camping spot right by the sea. Beautiful. We decide to stay for three days so we can unwind for a bit. Still getting used to life on the road. Just to let you know – 1770 is not really a town, just some houses and a couple of caravan parks (one which is closing soon due to development). Nearby Agnes Waters has a few shops and plenty of resorts are being built here. It’s still a quiet place but it seems to be the next property hot spot.03/06/2005
Relaxing. A beautiful sunset.
04/06/2005
Relaxing a little bit more.
05/06/2005
If the weather had been a little bit nicer this morning we would have gone on a cruise to Lady Musgrave Island but the weather is not so good so we decide to hit the road instead. A long day of driving before we hit the steep climb up to foggy Eungulla National Park. The rain pours down but we are lucky to get a glimpse of two platypus before going to bed (bush camp in the national park).
06/06/2005
Another stroll around the national park and a glimpse of some platypus. As we go down the hill towards Finch Hatton Gorge – which is supposed to be superb – our car is starting to sound a bit funny. Something is loose. Is it something on the roof rack? Is it something inside the car? Is it something under the car? Pretty hard to hear where the problem is as the roads are a bit corrugated. As we are only a few kilometers from the gorge we find that the stabiliser bar in the back axle is broken and has lost a part. We miss the gorge and have to turn around to try and find some spare parts. We talk to a mechanic in the town of Finch Hatton – he hasn’t got any spare parts. We can still drive the car, it’s just a bit noisy and not so stable. Toyota in Mackay is our next stop. They haven’t got any spare parts but promise to get some for us tomorrow. We stay at another dodgy, smoky stinking motel. Again we compensate the dodgy motel with food. Fish and chips at a good place by the port makes us feel better.
07/06/2005Didn’t expect the parts to arrive straight away, did we?!? No, no such luck, we have to wait another day. We skip another smoky motel room in town and go to a nice BIG4 caravan park by the sea. We remembered Mackay as pretty nice when we where here a few years ago but this time around it seems a bit run-down and there doesn’t seem to be a lot to do here. Quite a boring place to sum it up.
08/06/2005Yippie. The parts arrives. Handyman Daniel doesn’t trust anyone else but himself to fix the problem so when we stop at a Shell station he pulls off his shirt, rolls underneath the car and puts in the new parts. Beautiful! Let’s get out of Mackay.
Townsville next. The Lonely Planet guide from 2000 that we have says that Townsville is nothing special so we are surprised as we enter the city. It’s quite modern looking with plenty of restaurants and bars and the Strand is all done up and has a lovely pool and nice promenade. The town is especially buzzing as half of the US seems to be in town. The US naval vessel the Boxer has just reached the shore, for some exercises together with the Australians, and young-looking Americans take over the streets.
We park in a residential street and sleep for free and hope that no-one will discover us cheap tourists.
09/06/2005
Ferry to Magnetic Island. Some nice beaches. Some tough 4WD-ing. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful sunset at Horseshoe Bay. Great steak at the Gecko Bar. We park next to the beach and sleep there.
10/06/2005We wake up to a nice rainbow and a few drops of rain. Ferry back to the mainland and then off again. Our plan is to stay at Mission Beach but when we get there the weather is so shitty so we move on. We stop at Paronella Park – a beautiful tropical garden with ruins of a Spanish castle. The place has a magic and
wonderful feel and is definitely worth seeing although we were a bit shocked to see that the price had gone up so much (our Lonely Planet book from 2000 said the entry fee was $10 – today it is $24).We decide to soldier on all the way to Cairns and spend a few days there before we head up the Cape.
11/06/2005
Checking out Cairns again. We were just here in March so the city hasn’t changed much although the weather is a lot better and cyclone Ingrid is nowhere to be seen. The Saturday markets are on and plenty of people relax by the handmade lagoon. You can’t swim in the sea because of the swamps and crocs.
