We can´t belive it by ourself - but we finally made it out of Bundaberg after nearly 2 months working and living there!!!!The BIG ADVENTURE can begin :). The plan is that the two of us hitchhike and couchsurf all the way up the eastcoast till Cairns, 1.300 km. And for that we have exactly 10 days time - then my flight goes back to New Zealand!

First we start slowly, just 130km till Agnes Waters. It´s for both of us the first time hitchhiking in Australia, so we don´t know how "easy" it´ll be. But its amazing, after 20min we have our first ride staight to Agnes Waters - even with a tour through town of 1770.

Both town belong to each other (maybe 8km between them). Our ride shows us around and drives us to the end of 1770. There´s a beautiful viewpoint all over the islands around and a little walk to it. Feels like paradise :)

Agnes Waters then we stay in a small hostel, beautiful decorated with big garden. Town itself is really small, but has a beautiful big sandbeach. Would be a lovely place to chill out a while, but we sadly don´t have the time, so just one night here...

This time its not that easy to get a ride. Agnes is very small, lowseason now, and its out of the highway where the street ends. Takes us about an hour to the first ride, lovely people again. Two rides and we get to Rockhampton in the afternoon. Here we get picked up by our first couchsurf host who lives a bit outside of town. Welcoming people, nice evening. And the next morning we wanted to see something of the city itself, bad that it was 8km and saturday, not really a public bus transport. Takes us very long to get into town and then we have just one hour to get the last bus back. But what we see seems to be nice. City devided trough a big river with walkway. And the towncenter has lots of old buildings which look quiete nice. It´s famous for Rodeos (called the beefcapital of Australia). But we stay just one night and don´t make it there...

The longest distance on the eastcoast with NOTHING between it. And its true, except a town with couple houndred people near Mackay there is nothing except beautiful wild landscape :)

We make it easy to get here, just along the highway. Get a ride with really cool people after minutes! But its a while driving, and we started late. So we get to Mackay when it´s already dark. Drop off directly infront of our next couchsurf house, couldnt be better! And again some really cool people, this time with 3 other couchsurfers there. Nice evening with couple of beers and funny talks :)

Next morning then sunday, our host has a day of and goes with us to the HARBOURSIDE BEACH. Beautiful day again, sunny and very warm. Nice beach and good feed at the promenade next to the lighthouse - Fish&Chips!

Lucky again with hitchhiken, we make it easy in one go till AIRLIE BEACH, even with a small detour to the highest street with an awsome view over whole town ;). And because everything worked out so well and fast till now we decided to stay couple of days here - the number one tourist spot in this part of Australia.
First day we´re just walking around on the waterfront, in town, relaxing in the sun at the park & lagune, having a look at the awsome craftmarket, some sandart on the waterfront, postcardtime and beer :)
 
And then there is the big day - the great SAILINGTOUR through the Whitesundays on an old dutch boat. Awsome crewmembers and nice guest to chat with. First we "just" sail along a bit, enjoy sun, view, get to know some storys about boat and area,coffe, yum lunch, and then we get the first dolphins and a group of whales to see not to far away from the boat (this time of the year usualy 3 including a baby). All day long we´ll see several times whales, just awsome ;). And then we have our 2 big snorkling tours. On the wetsuit, gear in the hands, and off we are in small boats to the beach of a small island. From here we´ve got an hour time to swim, sunbath and SNORKEL in the GREAT BARRIER REEF. There is so unbelievable much we can see! The reef in all coulours, fish everywhere from small to big fishschools, and then we´re lucky to see those big tourtles 3 times (lying, swimming just in front of us, and putting the head out of the water). Never thought it will be such an awsome day, worse every cent I paid for it!!!!!!!!
The eveing then gets even better with beautiful sunset and lifemusic in town - Shaun Kirk :) Love that place, even with all those annoying tourist everywhere!

The difficult part again, getting a ride out of the dead end road off the highway. We finally manage it, getting couple of rides and end up at dawn in Ayr, thinking we don´t get a ride further. But we do, in an banana truck :). Awsome times!
Getting into townsville at nighttime, not much to see anymore except the irish pub with fun karaoke night.
Townsville itself is the biggest city in the area, and supposed to be an Armee and Aboriginal City. But not much to see of that. It has a beautiful waterfront, some old renovated townhouses, and the castle hill with an amazing view from the top. Nice place for sure, expeditionen out to magnetic island as well. But we have to continue...

As soon as we´re a bit out of town it just tooo easy again, 5 min and we get a van with some cool french guys going our direction. Couldn´d be better! They don´t wanna go all the way straight to Cairns, planing on having a relaxed drive and one night on MISSION Beach - we still have a bit time, so why not???
Mission Beach is a tiny town with couple of coffeshops and then the big sandbeach. We´re getting there late afternoon, searching for a good spot to park the van and then go. BONFIRE, sandwichs, beer and good people - all we need for a night at the beach, waking up with the sunrise right next to us :)

It is just UNBELIEVABLE, we can´t reallise that we ARE in CAIRNS!!! Everything just worked out perfect, better than we ever thought. Hitchhiking was easy and we made the best out of the (way to less) time we had. Met so many awsome people, lots of fun, and got all kind of rights from backpacker van to family...

From Cairns is my flight to Sydney early monday morning. The flight further to Christchurch is late afternoon - perfect for me to have a walk around Sydney again ;). Plan is first to get a proper winterjacket for the cold New Zealand. Couldnt get one anywhere in Cairs (haha with 30°C there!), but finally I find one here. A bit time left, so time to see the OPERA House again and have a bit of a walk around the city center. And then back to the airport...

Looking forward to going back home to New Zealand after beeing away for 10 months!!!