Lap of Australia  – Week 24

We had both the car and camper fixed this week and we were ready to get back on the road! This is now the furthest North we have been in Queensland and we are super pumped to be back on the road again.

Day one

We woke up early this morning as we wanted to get a walk in before taking the trailer up to Slacks Creek. The Burleigh Heads National Park was just down the road from where we were staying so we decided to do the Rainforest circuit as the Oceanview walk was closed at the time. This was a nice short walk with a bit of a steep climb to Tumgun lookout, and was a nice mix of rainforest and ocean views. We finished the walk and headed back to the caravan park, then got ready to take the caravan up to Lifestyle Campers to get some issues sorted. This was a bit of a process as we needed to get all the food, clothes, bedding, toiletries and any other items that we needed for the next three days, but we only managed to forget one thing. Just before lunch, we hooked up the trailer and took it to Lifestyle Campers. We managed to get it there and into their driveway without the car breaking down and arranged to pick it back up Thursday when we were driving back through. Lifestyle Campers also gave us a gazebo that we could put our swag and other items under and it was very useful. After dropping the camper off, we headed back to the Gold Coast and went to BCF, stopped in at the Burleigh Heads Rock Pools for a look, then went for a walk alongside the beach and stopped in at Doughnut Time for another vegan doughnut. We walked back along the beach and then headed back to the caravan park, where we had a cold night outside! 

Day two

Sam got up early this morning and dropped the car off to be fixed at the mechanic. We picked Gold Coast Patrols & Mechanical to replace the clutch as they had the heavy duty clutch we wanted, their focus is Patrols and they were able to fit us in a reasonable timeframe. The mechanic was around 5km from the caravan park, so Sam walked back then we spent the morning relaxing by the swag. We had some lunch, then decided to go and hang out on Tallebudgera Beach for the afternoon as the weather was amazing. As we didn’t have anywhere to lock up our stuff, we also had to lug backpacks with laptops in them. We probably looked a bit funny walking on the beach with all our stuff, but we managed to get there all ok and find a spot to put down our beach mat to relax. We sat there and did some reading, watched the surfers and the planes fly overhead and we also got to see a lot of cute dogs. We headed back to the caravan park after a few hours, then Sam got a call to say that the car was all fixed and ready to be picked up. It took him over an hour by the time he walked over there, but we were glad the car took only a day and all the issues were sorted. After Sam got back we enjoyed the sunset, had some dinner and hung out in the swag for the evening.

Day three

Now that we had a fully functioning car, we were keen to get away from the beaches and do some exploring. Rather than leaving the Gold Coast today, we booked an extra night at the caravan park just in case the car took more than one day. It worked in our favour though anyway, and we decided to go and give the clutch a good test and head to Tamborine Mountain. There was a nice mixture of bushwalks, cool things to see and plenty of food and beverage options so we were excited to get up there and explore. After hunting down some “cheap” diesel, we made our way up the hills with our first stop being Curtis Falls. There were people everywhere and it was a bit of a battle doing the walk, but we were able to get a good look at the falls and also the lookout along the way. We decided to finish up the walk after seeing the falls and walked back to the car. We then drove a few minutes down the road to Cedar Creek Falls where we had it all to ourselves. We went for a walk down to the rock pools for a look, and they would be nice to cool off in on a hot day. Both walks were nice and short with some hills and stairs, but nothing too strenuous. After our second short walk, we decided to head to Fortitude Brewing Co. to try some beers. They did a paddle with five different beers and they were all very tasty. We decided to head down the road after that to have a look at the main drag and we noticed that there were a number of different places making homemade fudge. We found some that were allergy friendly and bought ourselves a slab each and it was very sugary but very nice. We went for a walk down the town centre, then walked up to the Tamborine Mountain Distillery. For $8 you were able to try four different liqueurs or spirits and there were so many to choose from. The four we chose were all very nice and the service was very friendly too. While we were there, a tour bus turned up and the bus driver was a very talented pianist. After visiting the distillery, it was starting to get late and a bit cold, so we decided to call it there and head back to the caravan park. We got stuck in a bit of traffic so it took longer than expected, but we got back to the caravan park all ok and the car was now running perfectly. It was another night in the swag, but our last one for a few weeks!

Day four

This morning we woke up and we started our morning off with a run around the creek and on a path near the beach. We then had to get ready to leave, pack everything up and try and fit it all in the car. When we dropped the caravan off we had left a few things behind and we weren’t really sure if it would all fit in the car. After a couple of reshuffles and stacking both the car and the roof, everything fitted and we were ready to get back on the road. Our first stop was Lifestyle Campers where we got the good news that they fixed all the issues we had on the camper and did it all under warranty! It was definitely a more positive outcome than our last experience with them and they even cleaned the camper for us. We had a chat with them about a few things, then hitched up and headed on our way. Our next stop was Snowys as we were looking to buy a decent floor mat that helped to stop standing getting in the camper when we were beach camping. Before we left on the trip we purchased a cheap mat, and it just hasn’t done the job. Hopefully the CGear one is a lot better (we have heard good things). We then swapped some things out from the car into the camper, and had some lunch before we continued driving. We drove around half an hour up the road to a service station that had a water tap as we had emptied the water from the trailer to make it easier on the clutch. After that we decided to stop in at Buderim Ginger for some of their naked ginger, then we kept driving until we reached a free roadside stop North of Gympie. We had stayed at this roadside stop last time when we were heading down from Bundaberg and it was a lot less busy than it was the last time we were here. We got everything else out of the car and packed everything away as it was before we dropped the trailer off, then settled in for the night as it was freezing. 

Day five

We woke up this morning and it was very cold and foggy. We weren’t sure if it was because we were on a hill or not, but it was chilly, and thank goodness for the diesel heater in the van. We had some breakfast and packed everything up, then started our drive. We were heading to Bundaberg today for a couple of nights as it was a very quick visit last time. We had also found a scout camp just outside Bundaberg to stay in and at $10 a night with toilets and showers, we were happy to finally be out of a caravan park and in some lower cost accommodation! The drive to Bundaberg took around two hours and we arrived just before lunch time at the scout camp. We set up the trailer, had some lunch, then headed into Bundaberg as we had booked a tasting and self-guided gallery tour at The Bundaberg Barrel. This tour was $15 each and you got to try all 14 different flavours of soft drink that they had on offer. You also learnt a bit about each drink and how they decided on flavours, and before your tour you can do a self-guided tour of the gallery that has more information on the history, how it is made and how the drinks are packed. At the end, you were able to take home six drinks each. It was great value for the price and now we have a variety of different soft drinks to enjoy. There was also a gift shop where you could buy bulk packs of the drinks, as well as chocolate, socks and other merchandise. We had a bit of a walk outside after the tour for a look, then headed to the Alexandra Park Zoo for a look. The zoo was free entry and had a variety of animals including a dingo, emus, wallabies, a quoll, snakes, frogs and different birds. It was not bad for a free zoo and there was a park nearby with a jetty. We went for a quick walk to check out the jetty and the park after visiting the zoo, then got back into the car and drove to the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens. These were probably the best botanic gardens we have been to on the trip so far. It was huge and there were heaps of different areas to have a look at. We went for a walk along the walking track and we could see heaps of turtles in the lake as well as some eels. This was also free to visit and we enjoyed our walk through the gardens. We headed back to the camping ground after this and settled in for the night.

Day six

Today was an early start for us as we decided to go and do Parkrun in Bundaberg. Everyone was very friendly and it was a nice, mostly flat course. After our run, we headed back to the camping ground to have some pancakes, then headed out for a day of exploring. We were heading out to the coast today, with our first stop being Coral Reef Park. Sam had checked this out on Google and it was full of water, but when we turned up it was low tide so it was mostly beach. It was still nice to go and look at, and we went along the walking track then walked along the beach. We then decided to walk to Hoffman’s Rocks where we had a look at some rock pools. We walked back to the car, then headed to Archies Beach Lookout for a quick look before heading to the Bargara Esplanade where we had some food from one of the fish and chip shops for lunch. They had plenty of seating on the Esplanade so we were able to enjoy our lunch with some ocean views. After lunch we had a bit of a walk along the Esplanade, before heading out to Mon Repos for a look. It was the wrong time of year for us to see any turtles, but the beach was still nice and there was a nice walking track as well. We spent the afternoon doing some life admin and managed to get some bargain deals on some alcohol, before heading back to the camping ground for the afternoon. The camping ground has a river nearby and tonight was a great sunset, so we walked to a good spot and watched the sunset.

Day seven 

We had to be out of the scout camp by 10am this morning, so we got up early this morning to have some breakfast and to pack up. It was a short drive to our destination today so we decided to split up the drive a bit along the way. Our first stop off the highway was Faulkner Park where we had a quick walk around the area, then we kept heading up the road to Rosedale. There wasn’t really too much to look at in Rosedale so we had a quick stretch and walk, then kept driving to Agnes Water. We found some caravan parking near the information centre and saw that the Discovery Trail Lookout started right near the car park and was a short walk. We went for a walk in the bush and came out near a lookout that overlooked the beach. There was also a track down to some rocks that provided an even better view of the ocean. We walked back to the car and then decided to head to our next camping spot. We had chosen to camp in Deepwater National Park as it was close enough to come back and further explore Agnes Water and 1770, but we would be in a nice, secluded area that didn’t cost too much money. There were two campsites to choose from, and we chose the less busy one as we can be self-sufficient and there was the bonus of less crowds. The track into the campsite was very sandy and quite tight in a few places, but we managed to get in with our car and camper and when we arrived, no one was there yet so we had our choice of the campsites. We chose a nice, big one that had access to some solar. For the rest of the day, we went for a walk to the beach nearby and checked out some rock pools, then relaxed at camp.

Weekly stats

• Number of KMs – 1,046
• Number of states – 1
• Number of campsites – 4
• Number of items lost – 0
• Number of items broken – 1