April 10-19, 2007

Tom, my roommate from NZ, and I decided to drive to North Queensland to experience more of the great big country! This fitted in with me resigning from my old job and Tom having 2 weeks off before travelling back to NZ and then on to London. Kym, a 23 year old kiwi guy (from NZ), has now taken over Tom's room.

Quick links to photos: Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

First Part: Brisbane to Hervey Bay
Drive directly from Brissy to Hervey Bay in the afternoon [275 km]. We went for a good meal and a few beers on the western saloon Blazing Saddles!

Day 1: Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach
Early rise and drive from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach [828 km]. We didn't stop much on the way since it took us 11 hours to drive on the Bruce Highway! We came through a lot of bush land in the countryside and the distances between places grew in magnitude.
Click here for the photos from day 1

Day 2: The Whitsundays
A great day sailing The Whitsundays! We went to Hook Island, Whitsunday Island and Daydream Island and saw many of the 74 other islands from the boat! We went snorkelling on Hook Island and they fed the fish right where we were swimming! We made a long stop at the gorgeous Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Finally, we got a chance to explore Dydream Island and found time to enjoy a drink and a beer under the palm trees!
Click here for the photos from day 2

Day 3: Airlie Beach to Cairns
Early rise and drive from Airlie Beach to Cairns [623 km]. We went through Bowen, Townsville and made a sidetrack to Mission Beach before arriving in Cairns. We had lunch at a nice beach area with a lagoon north of Townsville - enjoying the views of Magnetic Island. The weather at Mission Beach was not really for swimming, unfortunately.
Click here for the photos from day 3

Day 4: Cairns to Kuranda to Port Douglas
We went around Cairns for a bit, then to Kuranda in the mountains and then on to Port Douglas to the north [108 km]. Tom was stoked about skating at the cool skate park in Cairns! In Kuranda we went on the Scenic Railway to the Barron waterfalls, which was amazing! The drive up to Port Douglas was very scenic along the coast. In Port Douglas we drove past one 5 star resort after the other! It is a tourist capitol! But very nice small town by the sea.
Click here for the photos from day 4

Day 5: The Great Barrier Reef
One of the highlights of our trip was today! Diving on the Great Barrier Reef! How often do you get to do that?! It was a great experience seing all those different coloured, shaped and sized fish! We had an underwater camera and took some great photos! We went to 3 reefs north of Port Douglas. Tom saw a shark! After the reef trip we drove north through the rainforest and slept in a campground just south of Cape Tribulation. We cooked our dinner on the fire that night!
Click here for the photos from day 5

Day 6: Cape Tribulation to Cooktown to Mareeba
We got up extremely early to avoid being fined for camping illegally! We drove the last bit to reach Cape Tribulation and experienced it in the twilight. Then we drove on the Bloomfield Track, which is a 4WD track only, since you have to drive through rivers along the way and climb steep hills. So lucky for us we had a Hilux! It was mostly through rainforest and an exciting drive! After crossing the Bloomfield River, which was a huge river and had a tidal current at the time, we came through the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal.
We arrived in the remote Cooktown around lunchtown. Cooktown is not very big and the pace is nice and slow. We went to a lookout where the whole area was visible from. Incredible!
We ran into a Dansih lady in the supermarket - she had lived here for 18 years!
Driving south from Cooktown on the Inland route we saw several kangaroos, dingoes, parrots, hit a kookaburra and travelled through breathtaking landscape! We arrived in Mareeba after dark [350 km].
Click here for the photos from day 6

Day 7: Mareeba to Charters Towers
A beautiful morning with breakfast overlooking a river. We drove inland from Mareeba to Charters Towers [531 km]. We saw amazing waterfalls at Ravenshoe and entered road train territory! The longest ones had 4 dogs (trailers) and were over 50 m long. The majority of the road we drove on only had bitumen in the middle for one vehicle. I learned from experience that when meeting a road train it was best just to pull over and let them have all the bitumen. It eliminates they trailers start swinging and stones flying everywhere - but before I learned this I already had two crack in the front windscreen! On the way we really crossed some deserted areas and also saw emus. Charters Towers was a very positive surprise with impressive old buildings in the town centre. This was from the gold mining days.
Click here for the photos from day 7

Day 8: Charters Towers to Roma to Miles
We left Charters early and made the longest drive on our trip to Miles via Roma [957 km]. We crossed more derserted areas, but some with amazing landscape, mountains, prairie, bush and outback! We saw emus again and didn't make long stops on the way. We saw some of the real country towns and also truckie towns. Miles was not an impressive - at least what we saw on the main stretch.
Click here for the photos from day 8

Last Part : Miles to Brisbane
The drive from Miles to Brisbane [317 km] was not that interesting. It is mostly bush and farmland on this stretch. We were a bit tired after that much driving and didn't stop much on the way back home.

All in all a great trip where we saw as much of QLD as possible within the time we had available!