Lightning Ridge

Tu, 13.12. Sunshine Coast
I met Tom and his 7 year old daughter in the early afternoon. I will be Ester's nanny for food, accommodation and transport for the next few weeks, spent Christmas and New Years Eve together with locals and travel around New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, CBT and Queensland in a more than luxurious campervan.
After a short introduction they immediately showed me their hometown Sunshine Coast: we first went to Noosa, famous for shopping, surfing, beaches and national parks - very nice but already now pretty busy and touristy.
After a short stop at Aldi and German memories especially thanks to the cheapest prices I have seen so far we went to Yandina to see a viewpoint which is only known amongst locals and saw some really big and tall kangaroos.

We, 14.12. Sunshine Coast/Noosa/Rainbow Beach: Fraser Island
On Wednesday I spoilt myself with another expensive tour but again it was really worth it :)
Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island with 180,000ha and only 200 people living there. The island can be reached by ferry via either Hervey Bay, Rainbow Beach or Noosa. Despite the sand the vegetation is unique, there are whole rainforests with a lot of different flora and fauna. The most popular animals are probably the fox similar dingos but unfortunately we could not see any. It is possible to drive with a 4WD on the whole island but you really need to consider the tides - as it didn't rain for a long time and especially with more and more people coming during the upcoming peak season and school holidays it is more likely to get stuck in the sand.
From Coolum Surf Club we roughly drove 1,5hrs through a lot of forests quite similar to Germany along some mango and aqua farms and through kangaroo area to Rainbow Beach. We released the tyres' air pressure to catch the ferry at Inskip Point which brought us, pelican spotting included, to Fraser Island.
We then roughly drove for 2hrs amongst the famous 75 Mile Beach; this is like a normal road meaning that you have to adhere to the usual traffic rules, but with a max. speed limit of 80km/h. After a delicious breakfast we drove further inland via a very bumpy road to Lake McKenzie, probably the most popular lake here. The crystal-clear blue lake is about 150ha, 7-8m deep and 100m above sea level surrounded by dunes and rainforests; it was so nice to swim again in normal, non-salty water :)
After an - especially for me as a backpacker - really luxurious lunch (grilled fish and amazing salads including eggs, potatoes, rice, feta, melon and pineapple) we continued to Central Station and Wanggoolba Creek to do a nice small hike in the rainforest. For me the huge diversity of flora and fauna is still incredible - everything just grows in pure sand :)
After that we started heading back via 75 Mile Beach which looked totally different in the afternoon. Unfortunately we also saw two huge bush fires, the season is only starting now.
After that we drove for another 45km on Rainbow Beach to Double Island Point and via a river ferry back to Noosa where we then could enjoy the moon rising (full moon night) - an absolutely amazing day :)))

Th, 15.12. Yandina
On Thursday I had the chance to better explore Tom's and Ester's home town and Yandina on the Sunshine Coast is really nice. After seeing a bit of Australia's work life and some more beautiful beaches I visited the ginger and macadamia factory, tried several different nuts and flavours before being packed up by Tom in his 54 year old shiny car.
In the evening we then packed the car and the caravan before watching some nice videos from Tom's and Ester's one year trip around Australia.

Fr, 16.12. Yandina - Toogoolawah
Wohooo, this day I finally hit the road again:
Next road trip but this time in luxury and style in a 12m long car and campervan vehicle, own house built up within 14s including gas stove, fridge, freezer, microwave, sink, proper bed, tables and windows ;)
From Yandina we drove inland to the west into mountaineous hinterland to Montville, a small town with a lot of shops and nice lookouts. This is also a good spot to view the Glasshouse Mountains, a very beautiful mountain range.
Via Woodford which is particularly known for its music festivals we then continued through mountaineous and later hilly and green grasslands that reminded me a lot of New Zealand, especially with all the sheep.

Sa, 17.12. Toowoomba - Goondiwindi - Moree
Toowoomba is located a little bit higher on a mountain and popular for the nice flowers and botanical gardens of Kings Park. The latter was already nicely decorated for Christmas. Not far from there we went to a nice lookout and the witches playground.
After Goondiwindi we then drove over a bridge to the next small town Boggabila, crossing the border from Queensland to New South Wales. NSW has daylight saving so that we lost an hour and had to change the time from 6-7pm - but as a result sunset is not before 8 :)

Su, 18.12. Moree
Veeery relaxing day: we got up early in the morning to go to the Hot Springs, two swimming pools up to 42* hot. There was also a super huge slide which we used more than often ;)
In the afternoon we drove a little bit further, with the landscape getting remarkably drier with a lot of farmland. We also saw kangaroos again :)

Mo, 19.12. Lightning Ridge
Lightning Ridge is a mining town in the Outback, particularly known for black opals. On the way we saw a lot of emus, amongst them also 9 baby ones. The town itself is very deserted with a lot of unsealed roads. However, there are some interesting museums and galleries such as:
- Underground sculptures
A man carved a lot of different sculptures in the rocks, just using a butter knife and doing so over a couple of years - very detailed and impressive.
- Art Gallery
Ester has been portrayed here 2 years ago and the picture is still being displayed.
- Walk in Mine
Visit of a mining site
- Aboriginal sandwich for lunch
The so called Abosangas are made of toast, butter, vegemite, chips/French fries.
- Amigo castle
A castle built out of stone
- Oval MuseumRead more