Category: Queensland

After consulting with various friends about where to go next over the weekend, I set off around mid-day armed with my remaining highly recommended itinerary. First stop was a national park on the southern border of Queensland up in the mountains name Lamington National Park.

I managed to end up with a nice little spot for my tent even though it was meant for campervans. Up in the mountains it was actually pretty cold overnight, but I had plenty of warm clothes to rug up in. There were quite a few hiking trails along rainforest ridges and down into valleys past beautiful waterfalls. I only had time to do an elevated tree-top walk the day I arrived, and a 12km forest/waterfall loop the morning before I left. A very nice hike that descended into a river valley and crisscrossed past various waterfalls.

Saw quite a bit of interesting wildlife, but I did ‘t care much for the perpetual onset of leeches at the riverbanks. They look like little black inchworms and they move very quickly up your legs looking for a spot to dig into. Fortunately, the hair on my legs would tickle when the attempted to climb me, so I was able to quickly find each one and flick it off before it bit me.

Had a great time catching up with friends in Brisbane. Some I knew were there and others I didn’t. I also enjoyed a bit of hiking in a local national park, exploring bits of the town, visiting museums, and snooping around various trendy neighborhoods. We did most of our transportation in and around town via speedy river ferries, which was pretty cool The thing to do in Queensland cities, it seems, is to open a public free pool in the busiest tourist part of town. Arlie Beach, Cairns, and Brisbane all had them.

Decided to scrub down my car after 10,000 kilometers of caked-on dirt. It wasn’t easy finding a place where you could do it yourself, but I finally found one. Once I got there I naturally needed a bit of time to get all the mud off. By the time I was finished, a long line of people waiting in line behind me were beginning to give me disgruntled looks.

One my 1 month anniversary of beginning my road trip from Adelaide, I was scheduled to drop in on some expat Perth friends who have moved to Brisbane in the past few years and spend the weekend catching up with them and seeing the city for the first time.

One the way down I dropped by a few beach spots including Bridie Island, where I had my first nice swim in real surf without any crocs or jellyfish to worry about.

The drive into Brisbane was quite amazing due to the labyrinth of roads and multitude of endless roller-coaster hills. There is no way I would have been able to figure out my way around if it wasn’t for my GPS! Brisbane roads seemed to be a combination of San Francisco and Boston rolled into one. Even my friends there seemed to get a bit confused from time to time when trying to find their way around.

Had one last night to camp before arriving in Brisbane to visit some friends and see the city. The area I camped in was quite beautiful, but the campground was another state forest full of bogans. After pitching my tent in what appeared to be a deserted campground, I ventured off to explore some of the sites in the area including The Glasshouse Mountains and The Australia Zoo.

The Glasshouse Mountains were really quite interesting since they was actually volcano plugs that were once below the surface of the earth but not sticking up as mountains due to the erosion of everything around them. There were a series of them in a line that James Cook spotted and named as he explored the area.

The Australian Zoo was the base for Steve “Crikey” Irwin before he died and is still run by his surviving family. Not being a huge fan, I was a bit put off at what appeared to be too much emphasis on the family members as celebrities and not enough on wildlife. I was especially put off by the $60 price tag (!) to visit the place for the day. I spoke with several friends since I decided to skip it and they all said it was quite good. For $60 I would have felt obligated to spend an entire day there – and that would have made it difficult to get into Brisbane during peak rush hour at the end of the day.

While I was out, the campsite quickly filled up with loud boisterous bogans smoking dope and drinking too much beer in the evening. Some of them were actually making an attempt to be quiet and friendly (perhaps to head off any complaints), but the combination of very hot weather, very high humidity, and very stagnant air made it very difficult to sleep that night. Campfires made it especially bad because every time there was a slight breeze it ended up blowing smoke in my tent and choking me out.

At last, a national park with actual mountain bike trails! They’re shared with horse trails and maintenance 4wd tracks, but at least they have SOMETHING here! So yes, I took my Cannondale mountain bike out for a spin in Conondale National Park this morning while it was still a bit cool. Only problem was that there were only two flavors of trails: straight up (Nanga Challenge style) or back and forth meandering through river beds – which seemed to get progressively deeper. I did a bit of both but didn’t last too long in the heatwave. At least I found a nice spot for a swim along the way.

Conondale National Park Mountain Biking

Had my first cold night since I started this trip! Found myself completely zipped up in my sleeping bag and still a bit chilly in the wee early hours of the morning. Checked my thermometer and found it was 14C (upper 50’s F) which really isn’t THAT cold, but it sure was nice for a change. A heavy fog rolled into our mountain-top campsite by morning and my tent was soaking (again), so I left it there and went for a wonderful scenic 5km hike down the road past waterfalls, giant Bunya Pines, and other dense rainforest stuff. Many of the Bunya Pines were chopped down in the 1800’s for their cedar, but there were still quite a few of them. Absolutely huge trees with soccer ball sized pinecones (nothing that you’d want to drop on your head, mind you) that were believed to be alive in the age of the dinosaurs.

After spending several hours hiking and photographing the area, I returned to my campsite to pack up my tent and head back down the mountain towards my next campsite. Someone tipped me off that a nasty heatwave was moving into the area, and sure enough, I found the temperatures back up over the 100F mark while I was driving my car. I was pleased to find myself being directed back up another mountain range and the temperature dropping fast as I climbed, but only continued on to drop off the other side and into a hot stuffy creek valley where the campsites were located. At least there were some nice places to swim nearby.

Saw yet another bush turkey, but also a huge monitor lizard move though my campsite a few times. The campsite was a reserved one that actually turned out to be nice, shady, relatively private, but just a bit too hot this time.

Felt a bit sad to be leaving Hervey Bay and Fraser Island after just one night. It was another wet dreary morning, but that didn’t stop all the cyclists there doing their morning ritual Esplanade Drive circuit. I headed out to a recommended cafe for breakfast and had a Canadian Breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, Australian bacon, and pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream. Not sure if the Canadians have sanctioned this, but it when down well with a cup of coffee.

After breakfast I walked across the road and took one last look at the beach while I continued to dodge the occasional showers. I had another 4 hours of driving to do before reaching my prearranged stay at Bunya National Park. The terrain is now noticeably browner that it was throughout the tropics – which isn’t quite as attractive, but far more comfortable. As I drove I noticed a mountain range looming in the distance which is always good news at this time of year for cooler temperatures.

Bunya Mountains National Park has turned out to be really beautiful with excellent hiking tracks through extensive rain forests with great views, and very nice campsites.

Our campsite has a Donkey Boiler shower that involves lighting a fire under a steel boiler to heat water. The water automatically spits out of the boiler into a bucket which you mix with cooler water and dump into a shower bag in a shower room that is suspended from the ceiling by a pulley system. You hoist the shower back up and grab your hot shower before the shower bag empties through a shower head on its underside. All rather complicated, really, but it sure looks pretty cool!

I only had time to do one short hike this afternoon, but hopefully I will have time to do one of the longer ones tomorrow morning

There are so many mangoes growing up this way that it is not uncommon to find yourself driving over a pile of squished ones that have dropped from a wild tree. Roadside stands will refuse to sell you individual mangoes – you must purchase a bucket or box full for $10 if you want any at all. Supermarkets still sell them individually, but for a higher price.

I did manage to buy a few pineapples from a roadside stand which were really sweet and flavorful. Probably the nicest ones i’ve ever eaten.

After another long day of driving, I finally managed to punch through – out of the Tropic of Capricorn to nice dry Mediterranean style weather. What a relief it is to be able to take a bike ride without sweating profusely at the slightest effort. I’ve arrived in a nice little launch pad for Fraser Island that is VERY bike friendly, has endless beaches, a good ~20km bike path the entire way, a bike friendly 1km long pier/jetty, nice stinger-free and croc-free swimming, and not too much commercialism or elite resorts clogging the place up. My kind of place, Hervey Bay. It seemed very community oriented. I’m checked into a YHA here and was a bit taken back to find a lack of air conditioning – but I don’t think I’m going to need it because it is cooling off nicely. Must be in the middle of pineapple land because I’ve seen quite a few roadside stands selling nothing but since I got here.

Hervey Bay Coastal Ride & Swim

Harvey Bay also looks like it would be a nice cruisey place for sea kayaking due to having no swell, nice clear waters, and a fantastic place to explore just across the bay (Fraser Island). Just as long as the wind doesn’t kick up as it always seems to do in the afternoon