Where now?

Brisbane didn't let us down! We found, like a lot of Australia's cities, there is a wonderful lagoon you can swim in with plenty of free showers available too. We were straight there having a dip and a good wash. We've done well really, I think this is the first time whilst being in the van I've started to worry about when we'd next shower. We had very good first impressions of Brisbane, the river running through the middle and the cool South Bank area gave us good vibes. We had a chilled couple of hours sat riverside in the sun.  We had to move the van to where we could park for the night and then walked along the river, which is really nice and easy to do, to Felons Brewery which was somewhere we'd been recommended. Being Easter weekend it was super busy but we manged to get seats with a view.  As we were feeling fresh and surrounded by people enjoying a friday evening it was lovely change in pace to usual van life, so we continued to treat ourselves with pizz...

We spent a day at Agnes Water, the most northerly point up the east coast where it's possible to surf as the coastline isn't sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef. Matt was eager to get back in the sea with the surf board, whereas I was less so. We've managed to hit this very popular coastline at the same time as the Easter holidays so places are extremely busy, but we can't change our plans now as we're just heading back down to Sydney. We had a great beach day nonetheless, Matt managing to get stood up on the board plenty of times.  Next we were on to Noosa, we arrived in the afternoon with enough time for a walk around the headland and to watch many surfers with a lot of skill tackle the huge waves. When we were mid-walk however the heavens opened and for once we were not very prepared so got completely soaked through to the bone. This is not good when you're living out of a small van, the rain continued into the evening which meant it was a pretty miserable ni...

We left the Babinda Boulders free camp and had a lovely walk at Eubenangee Swamp, a wonderful wetland area. We didn't spot much but that's ok, we were about to be spoilt again at Etty Bay. On the drive in we spotted a Cassowary roadside and then another right by the beach which we watch steal someone's orange off a bench and swallow whole. They're pretty impressive birds but not to be messed with as some signs at Etty Bay warned. We had a wonderful swim in warm sea in the stinger netted area, but not for long because I still worry about jellyfish getting through. We drove on south stopping again at a free camp in a place called Toomulla. Now we're back by the coast there's plenty of opportunities of a shower by the beach or at free pools which most of the towns seem to have. We stopped briefly in Townsville but pushed on further stopping at a place called Bowen, when we stopped for lunch we spotted a Brown Tree Snake in a bin.  In Bowen we walked up to a viewpoi...

We spent another morning in Cairns visiting the Botanic Gardens and then swimming in the saltwater lagoon on the waterfront. As the sea is full of dangerous things we quite enjoy the sight of a safe area of water to swim. We then started to head north towards Daintree Rainforest. We stopped at a free camp for the night then visted Wonga beach which looked like paradise. As stinger season is in full swing we stayed clear of the water. You get very used to the warning signs in Australia, they have lots to warn you about.  You have to cross a small river on a ferry to get to Daintree, which means annoyingly they can charge quite a lot for the pleasure as they know people want to visit. Once across, we went to the Discovery Centre which has lots of info about the area and it's wildlife with walkways in the different layers of the trees. They also give lot of facts about Cassowaries as they play such an important role in spreading the seed throughout the rainforest. We have wanted to sp...