well - the great australian roadtrip has begun. after a final day at the arts factory backpackers lodge attempting to maintain a sheltered position from the pouring rain, i hopped on a early morning bus to brisbane. once there i checked into the hostel and waited for ariana. with big plans to do laundry, update online pictures, write in my journal, finish doing my postcards and eat - i figured i would have my afternoon all booked up. i got as far as unpacking and then promptly fell asleep. eventually ariana showed up and we headed out to get some indian food for dinner. the rest - as they say - will now go down in history.
DAY 1 (march 3) . we set off really early on our first day. or at least i did. i forgot to change the clock on my ipod an hour back as the state of queensland does not have daylight savings so there is currently and hour difference between it and new south wales. as such, i groggily rolled out of bed and not-so-gracefully climbed down from the top bunk in order to go for my run. ariana asked me what the hell was doing and so i climbed all the way back into bed to wake up at the "real" time of 6 am. i didn't. so much for the run.
as it were, we did end up getting up, packed and ready to go - all the way to the train station to catch it to where we go to pick up our campervan. with a few misguided attempts at gaining correct directions to the place we made it - all dripping wet from the rain. by noon we were off and rolling - in our spiffy hippie camper. we drove our way into the parking lot for the grocery store and stocked up on supplies. THEN we were off - but not before we completely got lost and ended up at the brisbane airport turnoff. eventually we made it onto the main highway - M1 - and started to count down the kilometres to our final destination... cairns.
later in the afternoon we pulled off the highway and made our way to noosa - a small city on the coastline of queensland. crammed full of palm trees, sandy beaches, rockstar resorts and quaint shops - ariana and i fell in love. we took our flip flops off and explored the beaches. we walked through the national park filled with lush tropical plantlife. we strolled the main streets and made wishlists of all the things we would buy if we had enough moolah. we found a sweet parking space next to the roaring waves on the beach and set up for the night. only when we tried to make some dinner with our stove, it wouldn't light. when we tried the hot water heater - it didn't work. either did the toaster. we gave up and thought to try making our bed. that was a lost cause as well as we couldn't find one of the board panels to lay down under the mattress. the result was a hidden hole in the middle of our bed of which would cause us to fall through should either one of us move over from our designated sleeping positions.
as the sun set over the horizon ariana and i figured we would play cards. after some difficulty trying to find them as we had moved everything around in our attempt to create the perfect sleeping situation, i managed to spot them squeezed behind a cushion lining the side of the van. as i went down to grab them they slipped from my grasp and fell below. it was then i discovered that this was the hiding place of our missing wooden panel for our bed and managed to grab that along with the disappearing cards. we were finally set for the night.
DAY 2 (march 4) . after a night sleeping with our back hatch open and listening to the pooring rain we awoke to a calm morning. i set out for a beach run and a swim - ariana slept in. after breakfast and cleaning up we set off - me in the driver's seat. it was a good thing there's a sticker posted in the front window reminding drivers to stick to the left side of the road. i needed it to start with. actually - it wasn't that bad to start driving. especially considering i've never driven on the left side of the road before. especially considering i haven't driven ANY vehicle for the past 8 months. not to mention ariana and i are travelling in a beast of a van and it's a manual. let's just say i give myself an A+ for not running anyone over.
as it were - the rain soon started up again and we made our way to noosa's national park where we did a walk through the rain forest and then along the coast, attempting to stay dry with raincoats and an umbrella. it didn't work so well and we ended up back at the van soaking wet. we continued on our journey up the coast untill we made it to hervey bay. at this point we had to find a caravan park to plug in our campervan - we had figured out the night before that the toaster and such were not working because our van needed juice. after a few miss-attempts (including a stop to a caravan park of which the receptionists greated us less than warmly) we managed to find a sweet spot that only charged us $15 for the night and included a swimming pool. in heaven we were. we set up for the night, plugged in our van and set about making dinner. everything in working order we filled our stomachs to the brim and then went for a swim in the pool. we couldn't have asked for anything better other than maybe a little less rain. we still hadn't even seen the sun for the duration of our journey to date.
DAY 3 (march 5) . ariana and i woke up early this morning to find that the sun was shining brightly through our vinyl curtains and we spotted the blue sky out our windows. i immediately jumped out of the van as gracefully as i could given i had to climb over ariana and fumble with the door handle - it was 6:30 in the morning and i wanted to swim in the sunshine. i grabbed my swimmers and was off down the road with a smile beaming over my face. today was to be a great day.
i got to the shoreline of hervey bay and found that there were barely even any waves at all. it was almost as though i had reached the shores of a lake. i was estatic as this was perfect for swimming conditions. i immediately ran in and swam to my hearts desire. fairly soon ariana joined me and we had a blast simply hanging out in the cool waters.
eventually we emerged and walked back to the caravan park where we got ready for the day. by 10am we drove out of there and made our way back to the highway. we then busted our butts over to the town of 1770, journeying our way through flooded roads, over potholes, through rainstorms and around ridiculously slowly moving vehicles. all the while every other campervan we passed we'd wave, give the peace sign or flash our lights as this is only customary among our vehicles.
making it to 1770 - we stopped to watch the end of a longboard surfing competition and then drove to a local lookout, coming across 2 wild kangaroos along the way. many pictures were had.
and now here we are - having made it to our 3 night in our campervan adventure and i can't wait to see what happens next. especially since we have not nearly made it to our half-way mark yet. as it is - check out all the new photos and be patient for the next update as i haven't a clue when it will be... enjoy!!
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