A day and a half in Brisbane
After a very short night in Bundaberg because of the turtle nesting, we gett waken up by the heat in the van. It is only 7 am, but the sun is out and it is already 86 degrees out.
We have breakfast with Clotilde and Jason, before heading to Brisbane, 220 miles South of where we are.
We initially planned on stopping in Noosa, a little coast town full of charm, and wanted to stay the night around there. But that was before we realized we hadn’t made any reservations for a campsite for Christmas. And a lot of campsites are either already fully booked or have a minimum stay. We were lucky to be able to book in Byron Bay, but we had to book for three nights. Which meant we would need to go to Byron Bay one day earlier, so we needed to be in Brisbane one day earlier as well, which means we had to squeeze Noosa out of our plans. Too bad but at least now we know we will spend Christmas in Byron Bay, known for being Australia’s coolest town, and a surfing paradise. Matt will try to perfect his newly acquired surfing skills !
The drive between Bundaberg and Brisbane was longer than expected. There was a lot of construction on the way, and also we hadn’t realized we were travelling on the Friday before the Christmas weekend, so we arrive 2 hours later than scheduled.
The outside temperature is 105 degrees when we arrive, and unfortunately our camping doesn’t have a swimming pool. So we drop off the van and quickly make our way to the city center where there is a free artificial lagoon where we can go for a swim.
But before that, let’s talk a little bit about Brisbane. Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland, and the third biggest city in Australia after Sydney and Melbourne. Known for being a little less cosmopolitan and busy than the other two, we still very much enjoyed the city.
Our camping was just a few miles away from the CBD, so we took a public bus to South Bank Parklands.
A huge playground for young and old right in the middle of the CBD. South Bank Parklands is a pretty incredible space.
Popular among tourists and locals alike, this space is home to an artificial lagoon right across from huge skyscrapers, lush gardens, a Ferris wheel, a Tibetan temple, a tropical forest, plenty of barbecues and of course bars and restaurants. We could easily spend the full day here.
It is already late when we arrive at South Bank, so after a quick walk along the river, admiring the view on the skyline, we make our way to the lagoon to cool down.
And apparently we aren’t alone to think that was a good idea! The lagoon is full of people. The entire country is now officially on summer break for the next month or two, so the space if packed with families. We manage to find a spot to cool down in the water before the thunderstorm hits.
As we get to the campsite, a big storm breaks and rain falls super hard. We will spend the evening inside the van as it will rain all night. But before that, just when we arrive in front of our van, we see that Santa came by and dropped us a small gift. A nice bottle of white wine, and rest assured, we didn’t wait for Christmas to open it 😉 .
When we wake up we are surprised to see that the sky turned blue even after the strong rain we had all night. We hop on the bus and go to visit the CBD before getting hit by the high temperatures forecasted during the afternoon.
It’s the weekend, and moreover the weekend before Christmas, so the streets of the CBD are very calm. We start with the King George Square and it’s big Christmas tree. We still don’t realize that we are about to spend Christmas in Australia. After that we go inside the City Hall, and it is absolutely empty.
We continue along the main shopping area, Queen Street Mall, a pedestrian street home to many shops, arcades (they definitely love their arcades in Australia) and restaurants.
A few old buildings are mixed with newer ones. We go inside a few shops to take advantage of the AC and watch people buying their last-minute Christmas presents.
We also step inside the St Stephen cathedral before heading to the botanical garden located along the river.
Late morning we cross the river on the Goodwill bridge, from where we have nice views of the city.
And arrive in South Bank. We walk through a rain forest, where we can hear and see plenty of birds. Hard to imagine we are in the middle of a big city.
The artificial lagoon is a lot less crowded than yesterday, certainly because it is still early.
We grab lunch in a small restaurant before spending the afternoon at the lagoon. It is so hot and humid that we don’t feel like doing much. We don’t have the strength to continue visiting the city.
And because the afternoon in the heat made us thirsty, we go for an ice-cold beer in a bar nearby. We know that there are plenty of other things to do in Brisbane. But honestly when it’s 105 degrees out, we opted for pool+beer instead of visiting, and it felt great !
Christmas in Byron Bay
The next morning we head to Byron Bay.
So as we mentioned a little earlier, Byron By is THE place to be in Australia. This little piece of paradise (especially for surfers), is just 2 hours away from Brisbane and 10 hours from Sydney, and is known for being a hippie town, where time seems to go slower than in other parts of the country. The town is pretty small and you can mainly find little coffee shops (selling smoothies or acai because here people are healthy), shops with beautiful and over priced clothes and of course plenty of surf shops. It is true that there is a pretty chill and relaxed vibe in town, and a lot of people walk bear foot everywhere. We also stopped counting the number of vans we saw with their surf board on the roof and a bed in place of the back seat.
Our campsite is only a 10 minute walk away from the city center and the beach. After a late lunch (we only drove two hours, but we forgot that yet again we were changing times, for the 5th time since arriving in Australia), we go wander around the downtown area and along the main beach, known for being one of Australia’s most beautiful beach. This little tour is pretty quick, indeed the town is small, but there are a lot of people in the streets. Apparently all the camping sites, hotels and other beach houses are fully booked for Christmas (we are so happy we booked our stay in advance, even if it was just 3 days ago…). We take advantage of the time in the city to go do our last grocery shopping for Christmas and avoid the last-minute rush of December 24th, and inquire about renting a surf board for Matt for the next couple of days.
The next day we wake up early to walk to the famous lighthouse of Byron Bay, that is located on the most easterly point of Australia’s mainland. It is weird for us to have to put on closed shoes for this 5 mile walk since it has been almost a month since we wear nothing but flip-flops. But even weirder is the number of people outside and doing stuff at 7 am! We thought we would go walk early to avoid the crowds, but we were dead wrong. People are already out surfing, coming back from their morning walk or even cooking breakfast on the public barbecues.
The walk is very nice. We first go past Main Beach.
Before getting to The Pass, and it’s lookout that offers a nice view on Main Beach.
Before continuing to the lighthouse.
From there we have stunning views on the ocean and the surrounding beaches.
We overlook some wild landscapes South of the lighthouse, like the beautiful Tallow Beach.
Before heading back down through the tropical forest.
The walk was beautiful and very nice despite the crowds. On the way back we stop by to pick up Matt’s surf board and will go spend the rest of the day on Belongil Beach.
We had no idea the water would be so clear and transparent. The water temperature is a little cooler than up in Agnes Water, but at least it is very refreshing.
Matt manages to ride a few waves, which makes him very happy (the waves look small, but that’s because of the picture, they were actually HUGE).
We get back to our van late afternoon to enjoy a nice Christmas Eve diner. On the menu we have smoked salmon with cream cheese, olives, real cheese and plenty of other dips and other things to complete the meal. Of course we opened a couple of bottles of wine, a red and a white wine that we had bought in one of the wineries we visited before Adelaide, earlier in the trip. We spent a great evening, and also took the opportunity to catch up and Skype with our families back in France.
On Christmas Day, we spend the morning and early afternoon at the beach.
We enjoy our time on the beach and take some Christmas pictures. It is the first time we spend Christmas on the beach and in a swimming suit ! So we want to capture the moment.
We spend the most of our time inside the water. We found a spot with almost nobody around, the dream !
And Matt continues to try to surf.
We go back to the camping in the middle of the afternoon for a late Christmas lunch, and because of where we are we had to have a barbecue for Christmas !
We had a great time in Byron Bay, and it is hard to have to go back on the road, we could have easily stayed a few more days (or weeks). It might be obvious by now, but we really enjoy Australia, and each time we stop somewhere we wish we had more time to stay longer because there is so much to see and do !
Encounter with the koalas in Port Macquarie
The next day we drive South to Port Macquarie, 250 miles away.
In Port Macquarie, we stop at the Koala Hospital for a guided tour at 3 pm. As the name suggests, this is a hospital for koalas. Here they treat injured or sick koalas before returning them to their natural habitat.
The guide explains that the koalas are threatened by bush fires and urbanization. Indeed more urban areas means less trees, it also means more roads and higher risk of getting hit by a car. So the hospital, on top of treating these koalas tries to educate on how we can help preserve them.
There is a tiny but very interesting museum where we learn a lot about the life of these furry animals. Like for example that they do not like humans at all, or that they sleep between 18 and 20 hours per day !
The tour is also pretty interesting. Our guide tells us the story behind every koala that they have on site at the moment, and the reason they were brought to the center.
She explains that as most of the koalas treated here are then re-introduced to their natural habitat, some aren’t so lucky. And their physical condition doesn’t permit them from surviving in the wild, so they become permanent residents of the hospital.
We also saw the feeding of a koala. Overall we spent almost two hours in this uncommon hospital, learning a lot about the lives of these animals.
We go back on the road for another 75 miles to get to a free campsite on the parking lot of a golf club. When we wake up we get to see a few wallabies on the golf course. Between the koalas and kangaroos, Maider is starting to want to open her own zoo !
White sand beaches and turquoise blue waters in Port Stephens
We hit the road again and drive to the Port Stephens peninsula, a little paradise, just two hours away from Sydney, known for it’s amazing white sand beaches and turquoise blue water.
We start with a short walk that brings us up to Tomaree Head.
The view on the surrounding beaches is stunning.
We confirm, the sand is as white as can be, and the ocean is a beautiful turquoise blue. And we are lucky to have an incredible weather to admire the landscape.
At the top we have a 360 view, where we can see islands and pretty beaches.
After having admired it from atop, we decide to go to Zenith Beach.
We will spend a great part of the afternoon in the water here. There are plenty of big waves and we have a lot of fun.
Stopover in the Stockton Bigh sand dunes
We get back in the van an drive to the sand dunes of the Worimi park (an aboriginal territory) in the afternoon.
A lot of 4WD or camel tours are organised here on these huge dunes, but we simply go for a walk.
We only see a tiny area of the 20 mile long dunes. These have actually also been used as setting during the Mad Max movie.
It is getting late and we hop back in the van. Tonight we will continue moving South to the final leg of our trip before Sydney : the Blue Mountains.