Movin' On Up

Our journey up the east coast has been busy busy busy! There are so many charming little beach towns, and it would be impossible to stop at them all, so we have been picking and choosing where to spend time.  Keeping in mind that it is winter here, the beach towns are in their low season.  When we left Sydney, it was not quite beach weather, so we were ready to move north in search of warmth!  So far we made stops in Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, Nimbin, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Noosa Heads, Hervey Bay, and we just returned from Fraser Island....and we still have three weeks to go until we plan to be in Cairns!  Here are a few highlights: In Newcastle, Kent and I won a trivia contest.  In Port Maquarie, we sampled the local shrimp.  In Byron Bay the beach and light house were beautiful, but the highlight was our trip to Nimbin, a tiny hippie town stuck in the 70's. Surfer's Paradise found us in a one-bedroom apartment for the same price as staying in a hostel.  Brisbane is a great city with a man-made beach right along the Brisbane River and some great parks and gardens.  Noosa Heads is a relaxing beach town with a great coastal walk and from where we made a trip to the Australia Zoo ("The Steve Irwin Zoo").  We got to pet koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, and wombats!  Hervey Bay was highlighted by our 2-day tour to Fraser Island, which was incredible.  We visited a shipwreck from 1935 (SS Maheno), crystal clear lakes and creeks, huge sand dunes, and rainforests. The weather was slightly warmer than in Sydney, but we still needed to grab our sweatshirts in the cool evenings.  The hostel has a great woodburning stove in the middle of the bar/restaurant which was really toasty and reminiscent of home.  From Hervey Bay we took an overnight bus to Airlie Beach to continue our journey north!