Wandergaels: Cairns to Sydney in 9 days by car

Our overnight flight from Perth landed in Cairns at about four in the morning, so after picking up our rented car, we filled the time before we could arrive at our accommodation at a reasonable hour by getting a couple of sausage sandwiches at the local butcher (who also doubled-up as a take-away). Then, after settling into our Airbnb house and getting a couple of hours of badly-needed shut-eye, we headed to the (supposedly) famous Rusty's food market, which was like an Australian version of the dozens of fruit and vegetable markets we had already seen in Asia, and spent the rest of the evening investigating the backpacker haven that is Cairns.

Day 1: Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

We headed down to the Marlin Jetty in Cairns for our ferry trip, which left the pier at eight o'clock for the first of two locations we were to visit on the Great Barrier Reef. After a bumpy ride (sickbags were required for a few of the more inexperienced sea-legs on board), we arrived at our first site (Hastings Reef) after around an hour and a half, and then spent around 45 minutes snorkelling around the reef, looking at the fluorescent fish and the oddly shaped and weirdly coloured flora and coral of the reef. A giant turtle that was floating around the reef also gave a few people some good photo ops (I'm fairly sure I saw someone getting a selfie with the turtle using a go-pro and a selfie stick). While snorkelling, Aisling somehow (it was the 'undercurrent') managed to get herself stuck on the coral, which somehow defended itself from her attack and left her with a lovely sting on her knee. After getting back on the boat for our BBQ lunch we headed for the second and even more impressive location, known as Breaking Patches Reef, and headed back to the pier after another hour of snorkelling all the while warming up in the afternoon sun on the upper deck of the boat.

Day 2: Cairns to Airlie Beach (0 to 620 kilometres)

We left our accommodation at the later-than-planned time of half ten for the 8-hour drive to Airlie Beach, the closest town to the tropical-beach haven of the Whitsunday Islands. The road to Airlie brought us along the coast through some large towns, but also through some smaller towns reminiscent of something found in parts of the deep-south of the US. During the first few hours of the journey, we were gifted with scenic views of the towering mountains that stretched along the roadside, which included some of the highest peaks in Queensland. Eventually, this mountainous landscape mostly gave way to the monotonous sight of large fields of sugarcane plantations, that ran almost consistently for hundreds of kilometres along our route until we reached Airlie Beach (almost all of the sugarcane produced in Australia comes from Queensland, apparently). Along with these plantations came dozens of small-but-long sugarcane trains that hauled full carriages of harvested cane from around the vast plantations to the large mills that were dotted around the region (and which could be identified by their heavy plumes of smoke). The tracks for these trains crossed the roads several times on route from Cairns to Airlie Beach. We ended up finishing the last couple of hours of our journey in the dark and, since dusk is apparently prime time for absent-minded kangaroos crossing the roads, we were fully attentive to any stray marsupials that might interrupt our journey. We weren't disappointed, because a couple hopped across the road right in front of us as we drove along. Luckily we didn't hit any, but a lot of others weren't so lucky as suggested by the dozens of kangaroo and wallaby carcasses that lined the roads. Creeks are everywhere along this route, and all of which are signposted with lots fairly unusual names (like Kangaroo, Christmas (the signs for which were covered with Christmas decorations), Banana, Cabbage, Broken-pole, and Murdering Creeks, along with loads of others that I can't remember). Anyway, we eventually arrived in Airlie Beach at half nine and, despite being relieved to finally reach our hostel, we were less than ecstatic to discover our hostel reception was closed for the day. Luckily, after a call-out from the security guard we eventually got into our room and hit the hay with dreams of white sand in our heads.

Day 3: Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands (one of them at least)

We were not very well organised before arriving in Airlie Beach (a popular backpacker town on the mainland and the main departure point to the Whitsundays), so we ended up having to book our ferry to one of the Whitsunday Islands on the morning we wanted to go. Luckily for us, there was a company that took bookings until just before the ferry departed, so we headed down to the ferry port and hopped on (tickets were $29 per person each way). We headed to the lesser known Daydream Island, a small lump of land and one of the closest of the Whitsunday Islands to Airlie Beach, and spent most of the day there swimming (well, floating), lazing and doing a bit of snorkelling. There was also a short rainforest walk on the island that connected a couple of the beaches. The beaches on the island were mainly coral rather than the almost snow-white sand usually associated with the Whitsundays, and there were wallabies hopping around freely all over the island, including in the balconies of the hotels.

Day 4: Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay (620 to 1,493 km)

Day 5: Hervey Bay (and Fraser Island), and River Heads to Noosa (1,493 to 1,689 km)

Our first full day in Hervey Bay included (yet another) boat trip, this time to the Great Sandy Straight between the bay and Fraser Island to do some whale watching. We were lucky that we were in Australia at a really busy time during the whale-watching calendar and, once we reached the prime area to see the humpbacks (after around an hour on the boat), we were spoiled with all the whales we saw. Firstly, as our captain told us over the loudspeaker on the boat, we saw a mother and her calf slapping their fins down on the surface of the water (apparently this helps to scare off predators), after which both went for a little swim during which they regularly popped their heads above the water’s surface for a little look around. After following them from the side for a while, we came across a group of six or seven whales, one of which was a female who was apparently in heat, meaning that the other male whales were having a little contest to try to catch her attention, and were swimming after her while she tried hard to evade their advances (I’m not making this up – the captain said it!). Twice the female swam under our boat in attempts to lose her rowdy pursuers, after which all the whales spectacularly breached the surface of the water on the opposite side of the boat. After a good four hours on the boat, during which time we also saw a few dolphins (which the captain told us were also a type of whale - mind blown) we headed back to the pier and dry land. That evening we downed some grub in an Irish bar (of course) with two homeless lads that were living out of a small van. The next morning we headed by ferry to Fraser Island, which we were told is the biggest sand island in the world and famous for the wild dingoes that roam the island. We parked our car up and boarded the ferry (only four-by-four vehicles are allowed on the island) and headed off from River Heads pier at nine o’clock. We only had a few hours on the island, so we went for a little walk through one of the forests there and spent the rest of the day on the beach. We headed off the island at 2 o’clock and headed south for Noosa on the Sunshine Coast.

Day 6: Noosa and Noosa to Pottsville (1,689 to 1,961 km)

We only had one full day in Noosa so we decided to do what we did in all the towns along the coast and go to the beach! This was the nicest beach we had seen in Australia so far – the sand was like flour and the seawater was as clear as rainwater. Strangely enough, there were lots of wild turkeys running around, but nobody else seemed to be surprised by this so we assumed it was a normal occurrence. After the beach, we went to Noosa National Park and walked the coastal route to a cliff area called Hell’s gate, where the sea violently crashes off a rocky cove. There are panoramic views of the Noosa Heads beaches along the walkway, and we saw some dolphins swimming along coast as we walked along. I was also about an inch away from stepping on a three-foot long lizard that was sunning itself on the footpath, so I took my eyes off the sea every now and again to check for scaled creatures on the ground as we went along the path. On our way back from Hell’s Gate, we headed off the main route and descended some steps carved out of the cliff-rock to one of the beaches for a little swim. That evening we headed to Pottsville, around two-and-a-half hours by car away from Noosa.

Day 7: Pottsville (around a 30-minute drive north of Byron bay).

We landed in Pottsville in the evening so didn’t head down to Byron Bay until the next morning. Again, we only had one full day in Byron so, again we headed for one the top-rated things to see there, namely a trip to Byron lighthouse. This walk was really similar to the walk we did in Noosa, and again included a Cliffside walk overlooking the Pacific, from where we could again see whales and dolphins doing their thing in the water and lizards soaking in the sunlight along the pathway. Also similar to Noosa, there were lots of wild turkeys running around the bush area beside the walkway. In the evening, Byron town was buzzing with people watching the AFL grand final that was on that night, and there was a group of hippy-esque lads and ladies keeping the sunset-viewers by the beach entertained with bongos and other drums (and one lad with a saxophone).

Day 8: Pottsville to Newcastle (1,961 to 2,619 km)

The landscape during this journey was noticeably different than that of our earlier journeys, in that there were less mountainous and barren-looking fields and more trees and green fields with cattle grazing.

Day 9: Newcastle to Palm Beach (2,619 to 2,787) and then on to Sydney (2,787 to 2,832 km)

After staying the night in Newcastle (with a really nice and helpful older couple from New Zealand), we got up the next moring and headed to Palm Beach, also known as Summer Bay (that’s in Home and Away for anyone who doesn’t know!). After a walk around the beach (and the surf club, Diner, pier, and bait shop, all of which were a five-minute walk from the beach), we got back in the car and headed for Sydney airport and New Zealand. Next stop: Christchurch.