ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

The Northern coast from Cairns down to Brisbane is fairly barren and, at over 1000 miles, would have been a daunting drive. Having seen the highlight of the North, The Great Barrier Reef, we made the decision to catch a cheap flight to Brisbane then explore the area and the rest of the way South in more detail. We found flights for about $120, which was cheaper than a bus ticket and saved us about 23 hours. Upon landing we caught an efficient public transport train into town and were deposited in the city center with no real plan. Being Australia’s third largest city, we figured we’d explore Brisbane for a night or two before heading to the Sunshine Coast for the week, however our first impression was that it was a fairly normal, forgettable place with no stand-out sights to see. Wandering around on foot, we checked some hostels and were price-shocked again by charges of $80 and up for a room. For the first time in a while, we were in a place we didn’t really like, we were being faced with outrageous prices to stay there, and we felt trapped by not having a car. As we considered what to do, a nice lady let us in on a secret: “there’s really nothing to do in Brisbane anyway.” Relieved that we had saved ourselves the trouble of discovering a boring town, we lugged our bags to the bus station to check on the next ride to Noosa. Lucky for us, a bus with a few seats left was leaving in a few hours. Unlucky, the rate was $25 each for the two-hour ride plus $15 for the surfboard! On the way, we started doing the math and discovered we’d go broke quickly riding buses everywhere and we’d be doing a lot of walking in between. We missed our old Rodeo already!

Noosa is a gem of a beach town at the Northern end of the Sunshine Coast. There’s a small enough collection of cute shops and restaurants to maintain a village feel, with the inevitable but controlled real estate boom. Turquoise-clear blue water washes up and around several rocky headlands separating picturesque bays each with its own personality of a beach and world-class surf break. The star of the town however is Noosa National Park, which occupies the best real estate and protects all the amazing forests, beaches and bays from development or exploitation with a huge buffer zone. We found a decent, though party-friendly hostel near the shops and not far from the beach/park entrance and lucked into a private room for $60 Aus. Though the waves were small, we spent three great days exploring the town, visiting the beaches and hiking the park. We met some friendly locals who were thrilled to tell us more about the area and their country and even saw some Koalas in the wild just as we walked the trail to the beach. When preparing to leave we had that feeling that we may not find anything as good as we moved South, but we had to move on to find out.

On the way back down the Sunshine Coast we took a local public bus, which saved us heaps and gave us a better snapshot of the small coastal towns as we passed through. We could have enjoyed a few days in any of them but decided to stop in Caloundra since it was the closest to the Australia Zoo. Made famous by the late Steve Irwin, the zoo is famous for its crocodile shows and collection of reptiles, marsupials and kangaroos. The budget accommodations in Caloundra were slim to none so, with the only hostel filled up, we settled on a private camper at the Hibiscus Caravan Park, $70 Aus with A/C and a bathroom just past the shuffleboard court. For some reason, that camper felt like our own little cottage from the moment we stepped inside and it turned out to be one of our favorite places we’ve stayed.

In the morning, the Australian Zoo’s tour bus picked us up at the local bus station for a complimentary ride to the zoo. The zoo was large, well organized and easily manageable – perfect for a stress free day of animal loving. We saw huge tortoises, emus, lizards and snakes of every size, alligators, camels, dingoes, wombats and the infamous crocs. Our favorites however, were the kangaroos or “roos” as the Aussies put it and the koalas. Enormous fields were dedicated to the kangaroos, which roamed freely and lazily lounged in the shade. Incredibly, anyone could enter the fields and hang with the roos for as long as they wanted. Needless to say, we were there for a long time. You could feed, pet, scratch, and lie with them. Since neither of us had ever seen one, we were in awe. Some moved around with their joeys (babies) in their pouches – with the longest feet you have ever seen limply hanging out.

After nearly kidnapping a roo and deciding against it, we headed to the koalas and were able to hold one. We quickly learned that when koalas are awake they constantly go #2, so he pooed on us the entire time! The caretaker finally pried him out of our hands so we headed on to explore the rest of the zoo, watch a croc feeding and pay homage to the late Steve Irwin – who we realized had done more than most could imagine for wildlife, preservation and Australia as a whole. It was refreshing to spend a full day roaming around a zoo where we were close to animals, if not with them and who were revered and treated like royalty. The zoo was less about making money and more about creating awareness and a wildlife/environmental consciousness for everyone who visited. Tired from the strong, Australian sun and smelling like wild animal, we boarded the bus to head back to our camper and our favorite spot for dinner – the local grocery.

The next day we were set to leave to go South but we couldn’t bear the thought of jumping on another overpriced bus just to get dropped off in another large town so we could only explore the 3 blocks closest to our hostel. We were seriously missing our drive-the-coast, explore-every-nook-and-cranny style that had gotten us through Central America. We decided we’d pick up a rental car back in Brisbane for the next 2 weeks but on a whim we walked into a Thrifty agency right in touristy Caloundra on the off chance that they would want to make us a deal. Remarkably, the manager had an extra car to send to Melbourne and was sympathetic to our budget constraints. After we had already negotiated a great price to get the car for a full two weeks, Jenny batted her eyes and used the old “can we get any kind of honeymoon discount, pleeeeassse?” It never fails. He knocked off even more and we drove off exuberant at having our own wheels again. I just had to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, shifting with the wrong hand and foot and confusing the wiper switch with the turn signal that was on the wrong side of the wheel! Off we went!

Leaving Indonesia marked quite a transition in our trip as we left the last developing country for all the modern conveniences of Australia, New Zealand and Europe. We left behind the strange customs, foods and toilets but we were also leaving the inexpensive caterings. Adapting to the high first-world prices was going to be difficult but we were definitely ready for the conveniences and predictability of first-world countries again. Not to mention, Australia has been a dream destination for both of us for years. For all the unknowns, coming here felt like turning the corner towards coming home and we couldn’t have been more excited.

With only a month for Australia we decided to concentrate on the East Coast. We would begin with Cairns in the North in order to see the Great Barrier Reef, then work our way South all the way to Melbourne. Unfortunately we arrived in Cairns with two bad feet, a serious leg burn and a case of traveler’s stomach as a parting gift from Indonesia so we were moving at half-speed. With only a few days to spare before we snorkeled the GB Reef, we wanted to revive as soon as possible. We found a nice double room in an ultra-modern hostel for $60 Aus. (about $48 US – let the sticker shock begin!) and laid low to nurse our wounds.
Our first night out for dinner we noticed two things straight away: the prices (higher than the US) and the closing times. Walking around town at 6:00pm this well-populated city looked like a ghost town. All the shops and restaurants had closed an hour earlier. Even the mall closed sharply at 5:00pm. We wondered how anyone got anything done around here. A few bars remained open which served meals for around $15-$30 and beers starting at $4.50. We worried our budget would be completely blown just to get some dinner but luckily, we found a Woolworth’s that stayed open a little later. The small grocery/department stores, now virtually extinct in the US, are everywhere in Aus. For us it was like walking into a Super Target and we were thrilled to find fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and frozen foods. Jenny found a rack with real gossip magazines! The prices were still a little high but we could eat well and stick to our budget.

We booked a decent snorkeling tour of the outer reef for $100 Aus each. Sure, the tour in Thailand only cost $18, but this one was well worth the difference. We loaded our 80ft boat at 7:30am with around 30 others and set out at 8:00 after complimentary morning tea, true Australian style. The crew introduced themselves and seemed passionate about taking us out to see their treasure. Instead of a few random teenagers driving the boat and dumping snorkelers into the water like in Thailand, we had a real Captain, first aid, a chef, underwater photographer and trained dive professionals. We were still a bit nervous about being in the water all day with our wounds so the first aid guy set us up with some good bandages and we were on our way.

The GB Reef is the largest living organism on earth – it is larger than Japan. As the water temperatures rise due to global warming, the reef will slowly die and greatly affect the marine life that relies on the reef. Seeing the reef was important to us and we soon made a pact to return one day. The boat took us to two different outer reef spots for about 4 hours of total dive time. For us it felt like 10 minutes, as we couldn’t get enough. We’d heard how amazing the reef was but we were blown away seeing it in person. The colors and variety of reef growth, corals and the size and shapes of the fish were simply breathtaking. If snorkeling Phi Phi Island was like being in an aquarium with its cute little fish this was like being a part of the ocean. The boat took us 2 hours off the coast and the water was clear and chilly. We undulated up and down with the currents and swell of the ocean and watched the fish as the currents forced them in one direction and then the other with us in tow. Fish of every color imaginable swam around like you weren’t even there. Some were the size of your hand while others were as large as a beach ball. Swimming with or against the schools of fish as they brushed against you was magical. Reaching our fingers out we could practically pet the fish as they passed by. Sea Turtles swam below and stingrays gracefully fluttered their wings and disappeared under the reef. We found fish that we particularly liked and dove down to follow them, only to discover some twice their size hiding beneath. We envied the divers since they could dive deeper and stay under longer. And the reef! The boat dropped us off just yards away from the edge, so we swam up to it with the water depth quickly rising from 50ft deep to only 10ft. You could swim down the edge of the reef as long as you could hold your breath to see the sights that waited at each deeper level or you could just swim atop and around it checking out the intricacies in the shallow areas. We saw huge boulder-shaped rocks covered with a spectrum of growth and oyster shells the size of a suitcase. It was easily one of the best natural sights we had ever witnessed. On the ride home, as people shared their experiences, the crew broke out some wine to toast the day. We were elated at our first true Australian outing and couldn’t wait to see more.