Exploring Australia From The Left

By Jen.

We passed the weekend in Lamington National Park, the less-crowded of the parks, then we went to Springbrook NP. We decided to stop first at the Natural Bridge. Despite the rain and the river, we didn’t find any leeches, so the walk was pleasant enough.





The bridge part.



Inside the cave and why there is a bridge instead of just a waterfall (the rock developed a way through the roof of the cave, leaving the bridge where it used to flow).





Interesting fungus.



The bridge part from above.



The new waterfall.

Next we decided to go to the Best of All Lookout. Mostly to see the Antarctic Beeches, trees that are a remnant from when Australia was part of the Godwana supercontinent with Africa and Antarctica. They prefer cooler and wetter climes and have retreated to isolated pockets of rainforests in southern Queensland and New South Wales.







It was a good thing that we hadn’t gone to the lookout to see the lookout, as it was simply all white from the clouds!

For our last day in Queensland, we decided to hit up Burleigh NP along the coast before crossing into New South Wales.






Basalt hexagonal columns.






More of the over-crowded coast.



Isn’t it a beauty?



The trees in one section all had this pinkish-purple tinge.

We still have lots of material to post. For now, a milestone. The van has been surrendered to the port. Not without trepidation, as it is now in the hands of random faceless port workers. Besides it being ridiculously hard to deliver your own vehicle, the agent was totally wrong about where and what needed to happen.

The scheduled departure is Dec 3rd. Fingers are crossed.

Midwestdrifter said:

We still have lots of material to post. For now, a milestone. The van has been surrendered to the port. Not without.trepidation, as it is now in the hands of random faceless port workers. Besides it being ridiculously hard to deliver your own vehicle, the agent was totally wrong about where and what needed to happen.

The scheduled departure is Dec 3rd. Fingers are crossed.

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Where to next?

I've really enjoyed watching your travels

Ed463 said:

Where to next?

I've really enjoyed watching your travels

Click to expand...

Same here.

Our van is headed to New Zealand. We hope to spend 6 months roaming about. Then its back to the USA.


For those intrepid travelers out there. Shipping a vehicle to the USA for travel is easier and cheaper than shipping to Aus or NZ. They don't make it easy. The USA only requires a temporary import permit and insurance. And with the USA you can drive to Mexico, Canada, Central America and Alaska and only cross a couple of borders! Plus you only need to know 2 languages! We have cheap fuel and food, and plenty of remote wilderness for those inclined.

Midwestdrifter said:

Same here.

Our van is headed to New Zealand. We hope to spend 6 months roaming about. Then its back to the USA.


For those intrepid travelers out there. Shipping a vehicle to the USA for travel is easier and cheaper than shipping to Aus or NZ. They don't make it easy. The USA only requires a temporary import permit and insurance. And with the USA you can drive to Mexico, Canada, Central America and Alaska and only cross a couple of borders! Plus you only need to know 2 languages! We have cheap fuel and food, and plenty of remote wilderness for those inclined.

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We really enjoyed New Zealand. 6 of us (We have 4 children) in a camper van

We've toyed with shipping to America but our next big trip will probably involve shipping it to Namibia
Back to the Greek mainland and Greek islands first though. Plus the less developed areas of Europe.

Queensland By the Numbers

Here are some interesting statistics from our journey in Australia’s reef-and-rainforest state.

• Time
  • Time zone:
    • UTC+9:00
    • Does NOT participates in DST.
  • Day entered: 9-Sep-2017
  • Day left: 16-Oct-2017
  • Total # of days: 37 
    • Nights slept in van: 37
    • Nights slept in tent: 0
    • Nights slept in hotel/etc.: 0
    • Nights paying for lodging: 13
• Distance
  • Driven: ~8,856 km (~5,535 miles)
  • Hiked: 67.8 km (42.4 miles)
  Table
  • Fuel fill-ups: 13
• Money
  • Total spent: $2815.65 USD ($3,609 AUD) 
    • Consists of the costs of traveling full time in Queensland, including 2 tours
    • Does not include gear or van conversion costs
  • Average cost per day: $108.29 USD ($133.67 AUD)
  • Average cost of diesel: $1.283 AUD per liter ($3.641 USD per gallon)
• National Parks visited: 25
  • Annan River
  • Babinda Boulders
  • Barron Gorge
  • Black Mountains
  • Blackdown Tablelands
  • Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill)
  • Burleigh
  • Byfield
  • Cape Hillsborough
  • Crater Lakes
  • Daintree
  • Djiru
  • Eungella
  • Girraween
  • Girringun
  • Glass House Mountains
  • Great Barrier Reef
  • Great Sandy
  • Lamington
  • Millstream Falls
  • Moresby Range
  • Paluma Range
  • Springbrook
  • Undara
  • Wooroonooran
    
    Interesting observations about Queensland:
    
• The second largest state.
• QLD doesn’t charge entrance fees for any of its 200+ national parks.
• And, its camping fees are quite reasonable (typically about $6.35 per person, which can be paid online).
• According to statistics, NT has the most accidents, but we felt like drivers in QLD were more aggressive and crazy. They also had a lot of smoking-blowing diesels.
• More than half of its population lives outside of the Brisbane metro area, which is the opposite of most states and capitals in Australia.

North East NSW

With Queensland behind us, we started our exploration of Eastern NSW. We were greeted by a giant prawn (shrimp).




























We headed inland a bit to visit some friends of Jen's family. After a pleasant visit with them, we went to take a look at Sawn Rocks. These basalt columns formed as magma intrusions underground cooled very slowly.  The result is amazingly regular 5-sided columns.



(Jen Note: It kind of makes you feel like you are walking through the ruins of an old civilization instead of a rock slide.)









To break up the drive back towards the coast, we stopped at Mount Yarrowyck Nature Reserve to stretch our legs and seem some rock art.

Dorrigo Rainforest

The next stop on the way back to the coast was Dorrigo NP.




Oh look, a snake.




The nearby and idyllic Dangar Falls with a rainbow in the spray.




A common tree in the park is the Stinging Tree.  Its leaves are covered in fine hair-like structures.  Each is a tiny needle which injects acid into whatever touches it.  Not pleasant!


The only animal that will eat its leaves is the Stinging Tree Hawk Moth caterpillar.  It only lays its eggs on this tree.  The stinging leaves give the larva protection from predators.  This is why the leaves have so many holes!



A mature strangler fig.  Its host tree is long dead and rotted away.

Sorry, possible dumb question.
Do your costs include shipping?

Ed463 said:

Sorry, possible dumb question.
Do your costs include shipping?

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The By the Numbers posts do not include the cost of shipping. They basically include what we have spent in that state/region.

We will be doing An "Australia by the Numbers" post at some point, and that will include some of the fixed costs such as Carnet and shipping.

Midwestdrifter said:

The By the Numbers posts do not include the cost of shipping. They basically include what we have spent in that state/region.

We will be doing An "Australia by the Numbers" post at some point, and that will include some of the fixed costs such as Carnet and shipping.

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I guessed so.
Makes Morocco look cheap. Around €20 / $20USD per day, less if you do your own cooking but the distances are a little less 200km in a day is a lot. 600km is too much!

Ed463 said:

I guessed so.
Makes Morocco look cheap. Around €20 / $20USD per day, less if you do your own cooking but the distances are a little less 200km in a day is a lot. 600km is too much!

Click to expand...

Yeah, Aus is not a cheap country. To be fair this was a very expensive month with several paid tours/dives and lots of kms. We averaged about 300km a day, which is a bit more than we prefer, our general rule is to keep under 3 hours of driving a day. If we had opted to stay in North America, we could have probably added a 6-12 months to our trip, but Aus was calling...

Seeing Aus by vehicle is basically the only long term way to travel for those not independently wealthy. Costs of accommodation (hotels etc) are quite high here, and it is not always available in the west.

If we drove a lot less we could cut 25% off that number. For example in central america and mexico we were spending around $2,000 USD a month with plenty of fuel and food.

If you don't keep detailed track of your fixed and variable expenditures, you may find that your 20$ a day number is a bit low.

From Dorrigo NP, we continued down the coast to Nambucca Heads.  At the breakwater here, anyone can paint or draw on the rocks.








We visited Smoky Cape and Sugarloaf Point and their light-stations.


























On our way towards Newcastle, we stopped at Cattai Wetlands to stretch our legs a bit.

In case you were wondering, it does snow in parts of Australia, although only at higher altitudes. Due to the fact that the surrounding areas are less than 300m elevation, the Queensland and Victoria highlands have Alpine zones at altitudes of only 1800m (6,000ft).

We camped at around 2,000 meters the night before we climbed up Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko at 2,228m (7,300ft). I am not sure if its the tallest (foot to summit) though.

Even in the late spring, the sudden rise in altitude from the plains below will bring snow and ice. That night it dropped below freezing at sunset, and proceeding to snow and sleet for most of the night.

IMG_20171031_072046 by J Luth, on Flickr


IMG_20171031_072113 by J Luth, on Flickr

Here is a photo from the top.

PANO_20171031_120646 by J Luth, on Flickr


Here is a photosphere as well. Please ignore my dumb thumb. The wind picked up, and it was quite cold after 15 minutes of sitting for lunch!

https://flic.kr/p/213UGxK

Not exactly serious in the mountain territory, but Aus is the flattest and lowest continent, and these hills are only a few hundred million years ahead of the Rockies in the erosion department.

Tasmania also gets snow, even at lower elevations

--dick

We even had snow when camped up at Island Bend near Mt Kosciuszko for Christmas a couple of years back. We found it quite unusual for that time of year. So, yes it does snow. We even have it here in Bungendore, just outside Canberra, from time to time.

Ian

IanSch said:

We even had snow when camped up at Island Bend near Mt Kosciuszko for Christmas a couple of years back. We found it quite unusual for that time of year. So, yes it does snow. We even have it here in Bungendore, just outside Canberra, from time to time.

Ian

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They don't call it Snowy River without reason!


But yeah, the vast majority of australia has not seen a hard freeze event in a century. It is not unusual to see many plumbing installations completely out in the open, water heaters in back yards, etc.

Of course northern australia is closer to the equator than it is to Syndey!

We have landed in NZ! After some interesting last minute check in snafus, we got through customs and biosecurity without needing to dispose of the foodstuffs we brought in.


Currently we are lounging at our AirBnB with a great view of Auckland from the North Shore. The van departed yesterday morning on TransFuture 7 bound for Auckland.


We still have about 4 weeks of travel material to write up and post, so this thread will continue for a while yet. Eventually I will transition to to a new thread. I am taking suggestions for thread name ideas. Currently It is "Exploring New Zealand From The Left".

Your van should arrive in Auckland at between 11am and 1pm on Wednesday 6 Dec.

Cheers

Ross

Oldfartt said:

Your van should arrive in Auckland at between 11am and 1pm on Wednesday 6 Dec.

Cheers

Ross

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Thanks! Where did you look that range up?