3,000 kilometres in a Toyota Hiace!

G'day! So where were we now? Ah yes, cruising up the east coast towards Cairns (and in the end, a bit further, spending a few nights in Cape Tribulation, gorgeous place).


(Wine on the beach, Cape Trib)

Our trusty camper van clocked up a good 3,000 km on this road trip; here are some of the highlights.

Byron Bay offered sparkly beaches and a good mix of chilled-out as well as lively bars and cafes. In fact, this mix set the pace for many of the towns we visited up and down the coast! Next stop outside of Byron was the wee town of Nimbin, known for its relaxed attitude to the ol whacky 'baccy. Proving a tad too touristy (bus loads of dazed Aussie teens on their school hols arriving every 10 minutes...), we soon took off and continued on up the Gold Coast.

An absolute highlight of our time in Oz has to be sailing the Whitsunday Islands. Made up of over 90 islands and falling within the Great Barrier Reef area, the Whitsundays are extremely beautiful. On our high-seas adventure we spent 3 nights on the Anaconda III, a 'mega-yacht' catering for around 30 people - check out the photos of this baby!



(On board the Anaconda III)

The 3 days consisted of a bit of swimming, a bit of snorkling, a bit of sea-sickness (Susie) and in Marty's case, a bit of scuba diving in the Reef. In a word - excellent! We also met some really cool people on this trip, including Marc from Quebec and Nick from South Africa, and ended up travelling with these guys to Cairns and Cape Trib ("awesome!!"). Have a look at the snaps of Cape Tribulation, which is one of the few places in the world where tropical rainforest meets the sea.

After all the beaches and laziness of the east coast, it was soon time for something a bit different. So off we flew to Uluru, or Ayer's Rock, this most recognisible (and sadly, touristy) of Aboriginal sites. Although it was fantastic to visit this area and to learn more about its amazing cultural significance for the Anangu people, it was quite strange that in the 3 days we were there, we saw no Aborigines working in the shops, cafes or accommodation nor running the tours for the hoards of tourists there. This made the whole place seem a bit commercial and profit-driven (that said, the Anangu do receive an income from leasing the site to the Australian authorities which is fed back to their community in the Uluru region, but still...).

(Uluru, Central Australia)

After Uluru we flew back to Sydney to meet up with our friends from the Anaconda III for our last beers in Australia (well, until February anyway when we have a weekend in Melbourne!).

As you've probably been reading this news about our Aussie trip over a turkey sandwich during the first couple of days of January 2008, read on to hear how we spent Christmas and New Year in Auckland New Zealand!!! Bye for now! XX