Welcome to part 1 of our journey along Australia’s East Coast:
Singapore, Singapore – Cairns, Australia via Sydney
Singapore to Sidney; Quantas, 7,5 hrs
The first flight in a new Airbus 330 was very nice. Good food, nice wine and with a very good entertainment system.
SYD – Sidney Airport
The transfer from arrival to departure via Airport Link sucked, because we had to pay 11,60 A$ for one station between the International and the Domestic Airport to get our connection flight. At Terminal 2 there was a huge queue at the Jetstar check-in. Although we had used the check-in machine and printed our baggage labels ourselves we waited approx. 45 minutes in line. We talked to an Australian couple afterwards, they told as that this was actually a “quiet” day.
Sidney to Cairns; Jetstar, 3 hrs
This was a bumpy ride, but didn’t kept us from sleeping – or at least trying to. As we arrived in Cairns Tom’s backpack wasn’t on the belt … again! 
Because of a 5 A$ online-discount we pre booked the Airport Shuttle (15 A$ for 2) – remembering we’re traveling on a budget and Australia will be expensive, so we better start keeping our money together – that transferred us to our hostel. The Airport Shuttle leaves every hour from parking lot B6.
Hostel
Tropic Days Backpackers
A very friendly, very clean, relaxed place with helpful staff, 2 kitchens, several bathrooms, outdoor seating, garden and pool. It’s a little outside. We walked 10 minutes to the next supermarket and 10 more to the city center. A free shuttle bus of the hostel drove there 6 times a day.
Cairns, Queensland
A relaxed town with a small town feel to it. Full of – oh my goodness could it have gotten worse? – immature mostly German wannabe adults. But the seaside boardwalk was great and motivated us to do sports again early in the morning. The first time in months 😉
Wow, that was a harsh reality check as we finally realized how expensive Australia really is:
210 A$ per person for a quality snorkeling tour
I mean, who wants to spend 150 A$ for such a once in a lifetime experience and than be on a boat with 60 people that stops were all the other boats stop too!?
419 A$ per person for the hop-on-hop-off bus pass to Sidney
Still, compared with car rental, this was cheap folks!
26 A$ per night per person in a 4-bed-dorm
Compared to Asia – aaaarrrrgggghh!!!
28 A$ per night per tent for a simple unpowered campground
???????
20 A$ for a 6-pack-beer
Ok, practicing a bit of abstinence in Australia after the regular beers in China wasn’t such a bad idea 😉
The Esplanade & Lagoon
We were so excited about this boardwalk area, that we started our training again. Claudia jogged along the coastline and I made a workout like the “Lederhosen Training” in Munich using my body weight.
We as well spend some time at the Lagoon – on Saturdays even with live bands playing. The free swimming pools in Australia are a wonderful idea… German cities should think about it too 
Hartley’s Croc Adventure
We figured out that for the 2 of us the cheapest way to get there was to rent a car. It costs us 63 A$ for a day + 11 A$ patrol. Entrance fee was 35 A$ – 10% reduction voucher from hostel and/or mini car rental. It would have been more expensive to take one of the shuttle buses to the croc farm. At Hartley’s the crocs worked hard for their pay – a few pieces of chicken. This was very impressive and we will obey every croc warning without hesitation after seeing this! Paul, the biggest croc in the park, was so huge we even thought he is a fake one… but then we realized his eyes were moving…..
In the park we also saw some animals that were totally new to us like the Cassowary and the Tiger Quoll. Kangaroos and Wallabies can be fed and petted as well. Cuter, even more cuter: Koalas. The feeding of the koalas was the last show of the day. Only a few people were still in the park. The highlight was a photo session with one of them and we were allowed to pet the little grey ball of fur. All in all a nice mix of edutainment with a dash of Aussie humor.
Driving back we came along Palm Cove, which was a nice long beach with BBQ places and stinger first aid. As we returned we saw literally hundreds of kangaroos along grassy stretches along the highway. Our first wild kangaroos
Cairns BMX Club
We hadn’t seen serious BMX for a long time. At racing night we went over. The track was situated next to our hostel. Drinking a beer was understandably not allowed but we as visitors very welcome. The kids gave their very best and flew over the course, some in really spectacular races. Training is every Tuesday evening and the racing on Saturday at 6 pm.
Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling – on board of the Silverswift
It rained the morning we drove to the Cairns Reef Terminal at the harbor. Yeah, very well done! The last 4 days we had sunshine and now this!? We knew how bad weather effects the visibility for snorkeling. As we reached the open sea they said that it will be a bumpy ride and gave out pills against sea sickness. Not enough medicine to safe Claudia from feeling really bad.
On our way to the outer reef the vessel stopped and we saw – first with their blew – two humpback whales in approx. 150 m distance. To say “goodbye” one of them showed his beautiful fluke. Our first whale!!!
At Flynn reef we stopped at three places: Coral Gardens, Gordon’s Mooring and Tracy’s Bommie. We were quiet lucky with the timing, because the sun came out between rain showers. So we could see – in the quiet, cool sea by the way – the beautiful marine life.
At the second spot Gordon’s Mooring – as everybody went to lunch – we headed into the water first. Excellent decision! We observed for about 15 minutes a sea turtle on our own. It even came to the surface right next to us and we looked each other into the eyes We guess this was a once-in-lifetime experience. Incredibly beautiful!
At Tracy’s Bommie, the last stop, we had a guided snorkel tour. Davo – the guide – was excellent. He spotted two sharks and a coral trout, dived down to show them to us and gave an on site explanation why this three were hunting together.
Remark
We had asked ourselves if it would be worth it to spend so much money. How could be this reef be better than the one in Malaysia a few weeks before!? Oh, how little did we know! The difference is huge!
We had a great day – who would have thought after the rainy start in the morning. #SafeTheReef
Cairns – Townsville – Magnetic Island
Greyhound night bus, 6 hrs + ferry, 20 minutes
A modern bus equipped with WiFi and USB-docks driven by an Ozzy version of Doug Heffernan in short trousers, white socks to the knees and a beer belly. The Infos given were clear and the ride smooth and brought us right to the ferry terminal. Well done, Doug!
Magnetic Island
We took our ride on the Sealink ferry as the sun went up in the morning, very nice! A return ticket cost 32A$ per person. The Sunbus took us from the terminal directly to Horseshoe Bay for another 2,80 A$. Here we checked into one of the 2 campgrounds on the island.
Campground: Bungalow Bay Koala Village
The grassy campground had seen better days and WiFi wasn’t free, but overall it was still ok. An Ozzie family gave us some tips for Australian campgrounds and were nice to us. The contrast were the young German campers with this jaw jam disability. Politeness seemed to be not their cup of tea.
The funniest noises came from the birds all day. At nightfall huge bats flew over our tent and during the night other noises filled the air. Especially one: We thought it could have been a boar or a huge wild pig, but people told us that this came from a Koala … unbelievable!
We felt good to sleep in our tent again!
Horseshoe Bay
Horseshoe Bay lies in the north of Magnetic Island. It’s beach was next to the campground. A few restaurants, a pub and a convenience store makes this beach to one of the more visited on the island. Still there was a lot of beach for everyone!
Sunbus
We wanted to explore the island and its beaches. The bus is the perfect (and cheapest) solution. A day ticket cost 7 A$ per person.
The Fortes
A nice little hike not far from Horseshoe Bay. The views and the landscape we crossed were very nice. Although they say you will definitely see a koala we didn’t see any… and the Fort itself is absolutely unspectacular. As we learned from the text boards along the way, the Fort fired only one round and that one on a befriended US ship.
Geoffrey Bay
We wanted to do the self guided snorkeling tour. You can get the explanation sheet from the convenience store nearby. Well, as we arrived it was low tight and the water line far away. So we decided to go to the neighboring beach Alma Bay.
Alma Bay
It’s a nice little beach in a secluded bay, a lot of grass and with good restrooms.
From here we had a nice short walk along the coast via the Gabul Way (boardwalk) to Nelly Bay and the local supermarket.
In the evening (7 pm) we wanted to look what’s going on in the evening on Maggie as the Island is called by its inhabitants. The answer after driving for more than one hour in the dark: nothing!
Balding Bay & Radical Bay
From Horseshoe Bay we hiked to these two beaches. The hike was short but very nice. The two beaches are wonderfully remote and we only met a few people there. If you ever visit Maggie, definitely go to these two bays!
Magnetic Island – Townsville
Ferry, 20 minutes
The bus driver in Townsville had no change and refused to take us So we had to wait an hour for the next one. Fortunately the ferry terminal had free WiFi
Campground: Rowes Bay Beachfront Holiday Park
We got a nice small green patch under a young tree. The restrooms were good and the park even had a small pool. It’s a little outside the city and there are no buses back after dark.
Townsville
We walked from the campground to the city along the coastline. Townsville has a well maintained boardwalk. Kissing Point had beautiful views of Maggie and explanations about the Australian involvement in WWII. After that we took a dip in the Rock Pool, which is a very nice outdoor lagoon with showers for free.
Flinders and Palmer Street were a little disappointing, because they are not really nice and there was not much going on. We ended up in The “Australian Hotel” Pub because on this Thursday they had scrumbed steak with chips for 7 A$ As offer of the day – and is was good and enough to get us satisfied.
We had to walk home, because the last bus went in our direction around 6 pm … small town, folks!
Townsville to Airlie Beach
Greyhound, 4 hrs
Sugar cane, sugar cane and sugar cane is what you see on this ride.
Airlie Beach
The town itself was nothing special. The center street only consists of tour agencies, pubs and fast food. The best part was the really nice, naturally designed lagoon.
Campground: Island Gateway Holiday Park
A very good maintained park, with clean showers and free WiFi. The camping kitchen had no pots and pans though. A supermarket was nearby.
As we set up our tent one of the poles broke – exactly were no repair was possible 😉 Luckily, Marc and his dog Dodge – both permanent camper – watched us and our accident and immediately offered us a drive to the next camping gear store. Unfortunately they had never seen such a set up. The same with the next store just a few hundred meters away. We decided to buy a cheap tent (80 A$) and hoped that we would find a store that could help us in Sydney or Auckland the latest.
In the morning we were offered a coffee from our other neighbors, an older couple. How sweet! We had breakfast together and learned about their way of life after retirement. They were very active – started jogging and rock climbing at the age over 60. Now they had just returned from getting to know some Aborigines communities and had established such a good contact that they offered them their professional experience in what they called “life coaching”. A sort of coaching that they previously had done with drug addicts. Very inspiring these two!
We felt so good to stay in our tent, especially after we read that Arlie Beach is the bed-bug-capital. We did not hold the sandflies into account. After the first day we were covered with bites We bought insect repellent from the local supermarket and that made the trick.
Cruising the Whitsundays
We booked – after a lot of research – a tour on the catamaran “On The Edge”. It was quiet expensive 195 A$, but it promised a hole day tour, some snorkeling, a visit to Whitehaven Beach and after all some sailing. Tom was particularly fond of the sailing.
As we arrived at 6.30 am at the ferry terminal, they said to be sorry, but “On The Edge” had gone into maintenance the other day. Boom, you can imagine our faces! After discussing our options, we decided for an alternative tour, a full day cruising Whitehaven Beach and a visit to Daydream Island. But no sailing at all
Whitehaven Beach or Squeaky Beach as we call it
We had to admit, that it was really beautiful, this long stretch of white – pure white – sand with this torquiest water. The funny part was the dry sand squeaked with every step that we took. At the time we were their only the passengers of our vessel were at the beach. We stayed around 2 hrs at the beach. The water was freezing cold 😉
On our way to Daydream Island we encountered whales in the Cook Street. A mother and her calf. At first both jumped out of the water to see what was going on, later only the calf. The vessel stopped the engines and the whales came really close. That was a really nice encounter and totally unexpected.
Daydream Island
Basically it was a resort, the whole small Island. In the tour package a lunch was included at the Mermaids restaurant. Because we were on that “budget-diet” since we started in Australia the steak at the restaurant was much appreciated We spend the rest of the day staring at Cook Street and hopping into the pool. As we later laid in a hammock, waiting for the last ferry, a bunch of kangaroos came by. What a wonderful end of the day.
The last ferry took us back to Arlie Port and we could see a spectacular sundown on deck.
Bottom line
Our day started with a big disappointment, but we made the best of it. This little cruise was nice, but – in our opinion – neither Whitehaven Beach nor Daydream Island are worth so much money!
Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay
Greyhound, overnight bus, 13 hrs
During the night the bus got very cold. Maybe because of the temperature of only +6 *C outside…
Hervey Bay
A quiet small but long town along the coastline with many seniors and retired people.
Campground: Colonial Village YHA
A small campground with camp kitchen were we could lend pot & pan. We did not intend to camp here, but were picked up by a friendly staff member. Beside the campground and some rooms the YHA consisted of a restaurant, a pool and a lot of birds, hens, chicken.
Here we learned that there are even more noisy birds in this country. Our favorite, a bird that sounded like a rusty car honk or like it screamed itself hoarse. We learned that these were peacocks. These fellows were especially active at night and we woke up several times because of them.
One night it started to rain heavily. Our new tent had to fight hard. A few drops came through. We packed for an “emergency” evac, but in the end it luckily stayed dry.
Whale Watching with Tasman Venture
There were a lot of different boats to choose from. We liked the idea of a hydrophone and a lowerable platform and paid 115 A$ each.
The vessel was really quick, but it took us still approx. 40 minutes to get to Platypus Bay along the shores of Fraser Island. It was a warm and sunny morning with quiet a few whitecaps. We had several encounters with humpback whales that morning. Some came really close to the boat, rolled to the side and eyed us very interested. To take pictures wasn’t that easy, because the boat moved a lot, especially when the captain shut down the engines. Tom had still sea legs from his youth, but Claudia really got a sick from it. From afar we saw a whale breach two times – to quick to take a picture.
#ThereIsNoScienceInKillingWhales #SafeTheWhales
Cycle with Hitchcock
We rented some bikes from our hostel and rode to Point Vernon. On the way we visited the huge and really good whale sculpture in front of the cultural center. Our host from the campground had warned us about attacks by Magpies, because now was their breeding season. We had wondered before why bicycle helmets had straps sticking out of them – that was the answer. It kept the birds away… Suddenly Claudia screamed “this bird really attacks me!?!”. Indeed it did, we could only speed up the bikes to get out of his territory. At the edge of Point Vernon we paused for a while on one of the benches directly at the shoreline. On our way back the Magpie attacked again, but this time we weren’t that surprised. As we crossed a creek we saw flying foxes sleeping in the trees to our left. Finally we made a well deserved coffee brake at Enzo’s.
Cafés with a view
Aquavue: Good coffee, smoothies and tasty muffins
Enzo’s on the beach: Very good coffee and tasty – but small – quiche
On our last evening we got news from home, that a letter arrived from our bank. Credit card details were stolen from an South American bank which ATM we had used in the beginning of this year. So they had suspended our credit cards and issued new ones. So far so good, but how should we get them in Australia?
Hervey Bay to Rainbow Beach
Greyhound, 2 hrs
This time our driver welcomed us in German, because he was originally from Hamburg. It’s a small world.
If you want to read more, here you can follow our journey from Rainbow Beach to Blue Mountains.
