East Coast Road Trip Part II

Surfer’s Paradise - the Lonely Planet warns that it is like Paris Hilton, “flashy, trashy, always up for a party and big on style and self-promotion.”  After Byron Bay, I was not sure I would be able to appreciate a place like that.  It was definitely the people that made Surfer’s Paradise a great next stop on my tour up the East Coast.

Felix and I checked into our hostel in Surfer’s Paradise and were given a room that no one else had checked into yet.  When our new roommates arrived, (Amy, Lee, Mark, and Vic) we had instant new friends.  They also brought with them some friends that they had met just the day before in Byron Bay (Hokai, Karina, and Melena), so Felix and I went from just the two of us to a large group.

We had heard that Surfer’s Paradise is known for their nightlife, and our hostel was organizing a night out (even though it was Monday night).  The night out got us free entry into a club called Sin City (which would usually be $15), one free drink, and discounted drinks for the rest of the night.  We ended up staying and dancing until late in the night and we had a great time.

The next morning, we rented a few surfboards and bodyboards and took to the waves - why else do they call it Surfer’s Paradise?  The day really was paradise; no one else had ever been surfing before, so I took my new knowledge and gave my new friends lessons.  I was such a proud teacher by the end of the day, because everyone managed to stand up and ride in a few waves.  Maybe I have found my new calling...

Amy, Vic, Lee, and Mark were only planning to stay in Surfer’s Paradise for one night, but we convinced them to stay with us for another.  The next night was much more relaxing and even though our hostel was doing another night out, we decided to stay in and just hang out.  We had to wake up early the next day - Felix and I were going to Noosa Heads as our next stop.

As soon as I got to Noosa, I already loved it.  It was the complete opposite of Surfer’s Paradise but also very different from Byron Bay as well.  Much more relaxed and relatively free from tourism, Noosa Heads has beautiful beaches and a famous national park.  I even considered taking a job at the hostel that we were staying at for 3 - 4 weeks working at the travel desk just so I could spend some more time there.  It would have been a great time; they only needed someone to work 2 hours a day in exchange for free room, board, food, and internet.  My thoughts were that I could definitely improve my surfing skills and save some money at the same time.

We decided to walk through the Noosa National Park just before sunset, and there were incredible views (and dolphins, of course!) and strangely, wild turkeys along the walk.  We walked as far as a place called Hell’s Gates that was incredibly windy and led you to an enormous drop-off over a cliff before heading back to avoid being out after the sun went down.  We also took a quick detour to see Alexandria Bay which is supposedly an informal nude beach (although there was no one on it) and then headed back to our hostel.

The next morning, I borrowed a surfboard from our hostel and rode a few waves at Noosa Spit.  The funny thing about Noosa is that the waves are really small (or even nonexistent on some beaches), so it is a great place for beginners like me.  I had my best ride ever and was not ready to leave!  Another highlight of the day is Felix wearing my wetsuit (that I bought for a huge discount from my surf instructor!), because he is at least 6’4”!  It was hilarious watching him struggle to fit.

The only reason I was convinced to leave Noosa Heads is that we had made plans with Amy, Lee, Vic, and Mark to meet up in Hervey Bay and do the self-drive tour to Fraser Island together.  For those of you that do not know, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.  From Hervey Bay, the tour operators put you into groups of 8, rent you a 4-wheel-drive and some camping gear, and you have the next 3 days and 2 nights in paradise.  Unfortunately, in recent times, many backpackers have been reckless and a few have actually died.  Because of this, starting in July, they are going to require each group to be accompanied by a guide and driving instructor.  When we heard this, we were so glad that we were able to do the trip before this change took place.

When we arrived in Hervey Bay, we were just in time for our 1 1/2 hour briefing on all of the safety procedures for our trip to Fraser Island.  Our group of 8 consisted of Felix, Amy, Lee, Vic, Mark, me, and 2 girls from England named Emily and Claire.  The briefing was very long and repetitive, and by the time it was finished, we had heard how many dangers - including dingoes, snakes and spiders! - were on the island and we were more terrified than excited.

We stayed the night in Hervey Bay and left bright and early the next morning in our hot pink 4WD named “Stinky.”  We are yet to know why ours was named Stinky...  The night before, we had planned out our food for the trip, and we made a stop at the grocery store and butcher to buy everything we would need for the next few days.  From the grocery store, we drove to the barge and boarded a ferry that would take us across to Fraser Island.

Side note: One thing that we noticed is that the people in Hervey Bay were awfully grumpy.  We had a few run-ins with unpleasant people including the woman who worked at reception at our hostel, a random woman in the grocery store, and the man who parked the cars on the barge (and incidentally also worked the snack bar on the boat).  We later determined that it must have been because of the weather since it was a little cloudy that day, because they all appeared to be in better moods over the next couple of days.

Fraser Island is really paradise on earth.  With the exception of all of the dangers - dingoes, spiders, snakes, tiger sharks, and steep cliff edges - it was definitely near the top of my list of favorite destinations I have been.  For example, on the first day, we drove our car right on the beach and went to a place called Lake Wabby that is a tiny lake (it actually will not even be there anymore in approximately 5 years) surrounded by amazing sand dunes.  There were hundreds of catfish swimming in the lake that were not bashful and came right up to us.  While at Lake Wabby, we decided to climb the tallest of the sand dunes for an aerial view of Fraser Island.  We also saw our first dingo and were actually able to get quite close without fear of it attacking.

After Lake Wabby, we found our campsite for the two nights that we would be staying on Fraser Island.  We had lost the other 2 pink 4WD’s that were part of our group, but instead found new friends.  On the campsite next to ours, there were 9 American girls and 7 guys who were from America and all over Europe.  They quickly became our friends, and we hung out at their campsite until bedtime.

Our schedule on Fraser Island was determined entirely by the tides since we were driving on the beach.  This meant that we were supposed to get up early and be off our campsite by 6:30AM.  Of course, none of us even woke up until nearly 7, so we were already behind schedule by the time the second day started.

On this day, we drove down the beach to see Maheno Wreck, a large shipwreck that has washed up on the beach and the Pinnacles.  The highlight of the day though was hiking to the top of Indian Head (the most northern part of the island we were allowed to see) and the Champagne Pools.  From the top of Indian Head, we could see tiger sharks and stingrays swimming in the clear blue water below over an enormous cliff edge.

We walked down the beach a little further to the Champagne Pools which are my favorite part of Fraser Island by far.  Natural rock formations are found here, and when the waves wash over, tidal pools have been created.  The most ironic thing about Fraser Island is that the water is the clearest I have ever seen, however swimming is not recommended because it is a breeding place for tiger sharks.  The Champagne Pools are one of the only places that are safe enough to swim in saltwater.  I wish I could have my own Champagne Pools - I did not want to leave.  We were surrounded by fish, and when the waves crashed over the rocks, we were sprayed like champagne from a bottle.  It was really one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

The drive back from Champagne Pools was a race against high tide, and I was a little nervous at times.  There are many washouts (areas where freshwater streams have run-off into the ocean) and we had been warned that we would lose our entire $1,000 bond if we got any saltwater on our 4WD.  Lee was our fearless driver, and he did a great job getting us safely back to camp.  We only slid in the deep sand a little and hit our heads on the ceiling of the 4WD a few times haha...

On the second night, we found the other two pink 4WD (they had been camping just down the beach from us) and invited them over to meet our new neighbors.  We had such a great time getting to know everyone and I knew I would be sad to be leaving the next day.

We got a slightly late start on our third and final day, but we were not too worried.  Normally, we would be going to a place called Lake MacKensie which is famous for its crystal blue water.  However, they are doing some construction in that area, so we went to Lake Birnabeen instead (which is the sister lake of Lake MacKensie).  It was still beautiful and the water there was as crystal blue as the pictures I had seen of Lake MacKensie.  We stayed at the lake for a few hours, went for a swim, got a little sunburnt, and then drove back to the barge to head back to Hervey Bay.

At some point on the Fraser Island trip, Amy, Lee, Vic, and Mark convinced me to come with them to New Zealand.  When we got back to our hostel at Hervey Bay, I booked a one-way flight from Brisbane to Christchurch for the next morning at 9:40AM.  Even though I was planning to go all the way to Cairns on this East Coast road trip and had a few more stops to make along the way, I decided it would be spontaneous and fun to go to New Zealand with my new friends.

That night, we crammed all of our bags into their rental car and drove the 4 1/2 hours back down to Brisbane.  Instead of booking a hostel for the night, we decided to just sleep in the car/airport since our flight was so early.

I am a little nervous about how cold New Zealand will be since I had packed my East Coast road trip bag for tropical beach weather.  But this may be the only time in my life I can just book a flight to New Zealand the night before, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity...

East Coast Road Trip Part I

Before leaving Sydney, I made one more stop on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  When Humme and I had done the Bridgeclimb, we got free tickets to a thing called the Pylon Lookout.  I decided to use one of the free tickets (and gave the other one to a Dutch couple) to see the bridge (and the opera house!) from a different perspective.  Interesting fact - the pylons (or concrete structures standing next to the bridge) were built to make the bridge look safer, but the arch could actually stand by itself without them.  From the Pylon Lookout, a Bridgeclimb group was on the descent, and it reminded me of the experience from a few weeks before.

One more thing I forgot to mention is that my hair straightener officially exploded in Canberra.  Honestly, I was almost electrocuted!  I was able to borrow Liora’s while I was in Sydney (obsessed with ghd!) but it looks like it may be curly hair from here on out.  Or at least until I find a job and can afford a new one...

From Sydney, the first stop was in a small town called Port Macquarie which is almost 6 hours away.  I left Sydney at 6PM, so it was just before midnight when I arrived, and I was tired.  I had to find my hostel in the dark and ended up sleeping in my clothes so I would not wake up the other people in the room.

The next morning, I decided to walk around Port Macquarie before leaving for Coff’s Harbour in the afternoon.  One of the things I had heard about and definitely wanted to see was the koala hospital.  The hospital is really an amazing thing and it was hard not to get emotional while seeing all of the koalas that are being rehabilitated there.  Many of them have been burnt by bushfires, hit by cars, or abused and all are in different states of recovery.  Each of the koalas is given their own yard at the hospital with a eucalyptus tree in it.  They are hand-fed until they are well enough and then they can climb and eat directly from their own tree.  The hospital also encourages people to adopt wild koalas - if you are interested, it costs $50 per year.

One of my favorite koalas at the hospital was named Settlement Point Bea, and she had fallen from a tree when she was just a baby.  She never fully developed mentally and they never found her mom, so she is a permanent resident at the hospital.  She was actually quite active while I was there watching (koalas are typically very lazy during the day because the eucalyptus makes them drowsy).  There was also another koala that had a hunchback, but he was also active and I even caught him peeing on video haha.

Since I was close to Flynn’s Beach from the koala hospital, I decided to walk along the coast back to Town Beach.  While I was walking, I spotted wild dolphins in the water and watched them swim past!  From Town Beach, I wanted to see the Breakwater of Port Macquarie.  People have been painting the rocks here for 10 years or so, and the paintings range from love letters to poems to random drawings and quotes.  One of my favorites was about a couple (one from USA and one from Australia) who had met online a few years ago and then met in person at Port Macquarie.  I thought it was romantic in a weird way...

Afterward, it was time for me to move on to Coff’s Harbour, a 3-hour drive from Port Macquarie.  I met a German guy named Felix at my hostel in Port Macquarie who was also on the way to Coff’s Harbour.  Even though we were staying at different hostels, we decided to walk to them together.  The walk was much further than we anticipated, and I was exhausted by the time I got to mine (which was much further than his!)  I was lucky and was given a room to myself, so at least I was able to get a good night’s sleep.

One of the things that Coff’s Harbour is known for (sadly) is the Big Banana.  It is basically one of the first “big things” in Australia and was started in the 1960’s (by an American I believe).  The Big Banana was first built to advertise the banana industry in Coff’s Harbour, and it sits on the side of the freeway.  Since the Big Banana, there have been many other big things built all around Australia (I have not seen any of them yet!).  I had to see the Big Banana for myself, and then I decided to do yet another coastal walk from Diggers Beach to Macauley Headlands to Park Beach.

The view was beautiful and there were lots of surfers to watch along the way.  The beach from Macauley Headlands to Park Beach seemed never-ending.  I even ran into a lizard of some kind on the path during my walk, but hurried by since I did not know if it was poisonous.  There are so many poisonous things in Australia that I always just assume they are and try to avoid being bitten or stung.

After spending some time relaxing on the beach, I continued walking around Coff’s Creek.  There is a mangrove boardwalk built next to the creek, and I spent some time watching a pelican swim by looking for fish.

I was leaving that night for Byron Bay (my friend Felix was also heading that way!) for the next four nights.  I was going to take surf lessons in Byron Bay for three days - the surf there is supposedly safe and easy for beginners.  I had heard so many great things about Byron Bay, so I was excited to see it for myself and spend some time there.

One of the first things that I noticed upon arriving in Byron Bay is that it is definitely a hippie town.  Walking down the “main street” in town for the first time, I saw a few people with dreadlocks and even some that were barefoot.  My hostel (called Aquarius) is actually very nice with a bar, pool, cafe, and huge 2-story dorm rooms.  I had heard that Aquarius was a good hostel to stay at from some other travellers, but they also recommended a place called Arts Factory Lodge.  From the reviews I saw online, Arts Factory Lodge is the place to go to embrace your inner hippie - it is free-spirited and dirty and they even offer yoga classes!

The next day was my first surfing lesson in Byron Bay, and I was excited and a little nervous.  For three hours, we learned the proper way to paddle, catch waves, and finally to stand up on our boards.  That’s right - I finally know how to stand up and ride a wave to shore!  There were 3 Irish guys from Brisbane in my surf group, and they later asked me if I had paid double.  Apparently, since I was the only girl in the group, the instructor was paying special attention to me and they were jealous.

The place where we were learning to surf has an interesting story behind it.  There was a shipwreck in the 1920’s near the beach in Byron Bay (which you can actually see while standing on the beach).  Because of the placement of the ship underwater, it creates a sand bank which in turn makes waves that are better for surfing.  The only downside is that when you fall off your board near the sand bank, you are landing in only inches of water.  I definitely have bruises to prove it!

That night, I met the guys from my surf group at Arts Factory Lodge (the other hostel I mentioned earlier) because they actually also have an in-house brewery, where the beer Byron is brewed.  They were in town for a friend’s bachelor party, and our surf instructor had told us about a happy hour they have there from 5-7PM.  Afterward, I headed back to my own hostel and wanted to see for myself the nightlife that Byron Bay is famous for.

In some ways, the nightlife of Byron Bay reminded me of a smaller version of Cancun, Mexico.  I went to Cancun for Spring Break my freshman year in college, and I was strangely reminded of that trip the night I went out in Byron Bay.  By day, Byron Bay is a hippie beach town, but by night, the crazy teenagers come out and there is club music, partying all night, and dancing on the tables.  I felt strangely old...

On Saturday, I did not have a surfing lesson, so Felix and I decided to rent a car and drive to Nimbin.  In terms of hippie towns, Byron Bay is nothing compared to Nimbin.  Some students staged an Aquarius Festival in the Nimbin Valley in the 1970’s, and ever since then, Nimbin has become famous for its alternative ways.  Every year during the first week of May (we had just missed it!), they hold Mardi Gras in Nimbin where people from all over Australia and the world come to parade.  Apparently, they will continue to hold Mardi Gras until marijuana becomes legalized.

Nimbin was an interesting and unique place to see - even though I had been to Amsterdam when I was studying abroad in Europe - with its many hippie shops, museum, and even hemp embassy.  I was fascinated by the shop names and even saw a little kid with dreadlocks riding down the street on a scooter!  It was hard to spend more than a couple of hours in the small town of Nimbin (really just one main street), so we drove back to Byron Bay.

The next day, I had my second surfing lesson with my eccentric teacher, Marco.  Not only did I have to wake up Marco at 10AM for the lesson - he was out partying too hard the night before - but I also had to go with him to get coffee, Gatorade, and water before he was ready for the lesson.  I could not really complain though; no one else had signed up for surfing, so I was getting a private lesson.

It is amazing how much more you can learn in a private lesson, and I was confidently riding the waves into shore in no time.  I also started to learn how to ride into the waves, but I quickly grew tired and developed an awesome rash (and wetsuit tan line!).

We went to the same beach as last time near the shipwreck, and I actually was able to stand on it with my surfboard.  From the top, I could see many fish below, and we wished we had brought snorkels with us.  We would have to remember them for tomorrow (my last lesson!)...

From the lesson, I went to meet Felix as we had planned to walk to Cape Byron and the lighthouse.  Cape Byron is the most easterly point of mainland Australia and boasts beautiful views of the beach and great surf (and some really nice houses).  Not surprising to me by now, we saw tons of dolphins swimming alongside us on our walk.  It is really easy to just stand for hours and watch them - it is becoming a daily thing for me.  Apparently, it is also the beginning of whale watching season here.  From late May, whales migrate from Antarctica up the coast of Australia to have babies in the warmer water, and then they swim back (with babies in tow) in September and October.  I have yet to see any, but I am sure I will soon.  We stayed out at Cape Byron until sunset, and it was hard to finally make our way back to Byron Bay.

For my last day in Byron Bay (I was moving on to Surfer’s Paradise later in the afternoon), I would be having my last surf lesson with Marco in the morning.  Unfortunately, it was not a private lesson and there were 2 others joining us.  We went to a different part of the beach called “Signals” where the locals come to surf because of the bigger waves.  It was a little intimidating to be one of the only girls out there (and a beginner!), but I was able to catch a couple of waves.

While we were surfing, the clouds rolled in and we even saw a little bit of lightning in the distance.  This was the first day so far on the East Coast where the weather has not been perfect, but it was fine for surfing.  I was sad to be leaving Byron Bay behind - it is a great, relaxed little town - but excited to see Surfer’s Paradise which is apparently the Miami of Australia.  Locals complain that it is too commercialized and touristy and many recommend against stopping there, but I really wanted to see it for myself.