You are now entering Tropical Queensland

Our car hire from Wicked Camper

Sydney to Brisbane, the San Diego of Australia if I had to give a local comparison. My friends and I had a sailboat to catch up north. It waited for us in Airlie Beach. It would take us a day to arrive so we headed north on the National Highway 1.

Emundi

Naturally, our first-stop is the Farmer's Market in Eumundi to load up on fresh snacks. The small town with horses tied up in front of designer boutiques.  The atmosphere is quaint, as many people look to settle away from the hustle of Brisbane. 

Overview of our stops
D= Airlie Beach 

Thai food is amazing

Following suggestions from our buds back in Wollongong, we head twenty minutes to the coast to  Noosa Heads.  Stormy skies over the surfer paradise does not keep Aussies inside. They fill the beach and sidewalk cafes. The glass framed storefronts boost a Miami feel.

Noosa Heads Beach

At a later visit I get the chance to visit the Noosa National Park, which has a Laguna lookout displaying back bays and inlets from the Pacific Ocean. This provides plenty of waterfront property for homes adding to the Florida landscape comparison.  

A little further south, I stumble upon Sunshine Beach. Now this is California style, surfers, boogey boarders, and paddle boarders all take to the waves.

Approaching sunset, we landed at the iconic Rainbow Beach. It is the coastal jump off point for Frasier Island, which is the largest sand island in the world.  The southbound clouds delivered a filter for an amazing sunset as it kicked in the rough waves ashore. 

We decided to retreat back into town where we stumbled upon a skate park. Equipped with a board and courage from the goon bag we exercised our tired muscles from traveling.  The wipeouts jump our adrenaline. 

Pulling off the side of the road in the darkness to rest our heads. We wake up in Hervey Bay. A shallow bay leaves much of the shoreline exposed. 

Hervey Bay 

Back on the road we stumble upon a rodeo in the backwoods of Miriam Vale.

 

Australia is a little country too!

On the outskirts of Rockhampton, we decided to check out the Capricorn Caves. The above-ground caves in a limestone ridge were discovered in 1882 by a Norwegian explorer.  We ducked and wiggled through dark corridors until we reached the center where a cathedral cave awaits. 

Entrance to the Capricorn Caves

Cathedral cave

In the middle of imagining what a wedding would be like the guide turns off all the lights. Instantly, my friend tightens here grip on my arm. "Let's get out of here," she says.

Five hours we pull into the Airlie Beach. Night time we decided to camp at the campgrounds. $12 USD for the night we had showers and cooking facilities available for use. 

In the morning I met a young woman who told me about her travels that her and her husband had embarked on. From Australia, they gave themselves two years to fully explore their country together. Nice idea but I thought you do the road trip to find out if you could see yourself marrying that person. Great honeymoon idea though. 

Airlie Beach, Queensland

We pulled into Tongarra Sailing headquarters. For nearly 400 USD we had a 2 day and 2 night trip all inclusive ready for us to explore the Whitsunday Islands. Before departure, I found a quiet place near the beach to journal, here are some thoughts I had that day:

            "Sunny and beachy is the only way to start a journal off proper. Two sheets into the goon, I feel like a real pirate

             Feet in the sand, merchants in the grass, Led Zepp on my chest

            The treasure in the sea one of the best you could see...The Great Barrier Reef.

            A bungalow on the peninsula, catamarans in the bay, tropical species singing away

            White clouds drift away bringing drops of rain to water the shade.

            Green, brown, red, torquoise, blue, this is what I've been waiting for, gets better a quarter after two.

            White, blue, white, blue- sky is stuck on Airlie above the rock."