New South Wales. Horses, Sydney and New Years Eve......

I arrive at Sydney around 7 am after 10 hours of bus. Coffee and train to Winsord where I have to meet Veronica (Wwoofer, Australia) because she’s picking me up.

Winsord is a small village, well is one of the oldest village in the modern Australia.

Veronica takes me to the Cattle where she lives and where Statford Performance Horses is, in the very tiny Wilberforce area. There I meet her daughter Olivia and Cristopher (another Wwoofer, France).
The job here is to feed some of the 32 horses she have, clean the paddock and do some extra duties in the Cattle.
The place is beautiful!

A part of the job, we go sometimes with Veronica to some of the near villages to do some shopping, staff, etc. Good to go out a little of the
cattle.

Victoria. Great Ocean Road and Melbourne..

Getting in at Victoria State through the Great Ocean Road is a good entry...
I do it with the van, looking at the local scenery which can seem unreal, leading to the sea and mountains.
After visiting the Twelve Apostles, we go to Johanna Beach where there is a campground of the national park.

Central Australia

I arrive at Alice Springs from the sky, after almost three hours of dry and lonely landscape.

When I got out from the plane I have a temperature chock 37 degrees with heavy sun.

Alice Spring is the most important city in the center of Australia... 4 streets, supermarkets, banks and bars.
I walk around and I see the sunset from Anzac Hill.

4:40AM my alarm ring. They pick me up to go to the 6 days “road-safari” to Adelaide.
Long long roads... not real.

The first thing we do is a walk thought the Kings Canyon and see how amazing is the panoramic views.

And we arrive at the camping site just to see the sunset with Uluru next to us. Dinner, fireworks at the ground and sleep!!!

As the day before at 3:50AM my alarm rings! There is no mistake... 3:50AM!!!! If you want to see the sunset at Uluru, you have to wake up very early! What I can tell you... it worth.

Then we walk around Urulu.

All central Australia is the first time in 30 years that all the landscape is green! The rains along the lasts months has the explanation of that.

Cairns

Young Backpackers city with a lot of night live. This is what I found when I got here...

I came to Cairns to dive, snorkel and find the way to go to Alice Springs.
The day after I arrive, I’m going with a boat and 80 more people to see two spots at the Great Barrier Reef. People that we came to dive, we’re 6.

The two dives I do are so different... The first one till 14m and great scenario and no so many fish. The second one is much more attractive to me with a lot more live and some caves... so exciting!

At the afternoon is time for another location, and this time snorkeling! Less than 2 meters from the reef is spectacular, the colors, the shapes and the fish. One of my best snorkels!

Next day I do Sunday day because is Sunday! I walk along the coast, I watch two films and I eat an Ice-cream.
There is full Moon.

Since I arrive at Cairns, I have been looking around the backpackers and internet people that want to go to Alice Springs to share the ride... The people I found are going in the other direction.

I look for other options... and I take the most attractive, fly. The bus is 38 hours with 4 changes of bus and almost the same price of the flight. Expensive like everything in Australia.

North Coast

The bus arrives at Townsville at 2:00 AM. I do night at the ferry terminal to Magnetic Island with a girl that has the same situation, no accommodation at 2 AM.

I don’t know why, but I wanted to visit Townsville, so I do another night, that time sleeping in a backpacker. The city is small, with few old buildings with more than 100 years (here is hard to see that!), a very long beach and the Castle Hill, with no Castle on it...

At Airlie Beach I signup at Wwoof Australia. Now I have a book with a lot of contacts of people who needs people doing VOLUNTARY work in exchange for learning something about Organic Growing and about the country you are visiting with accommodation and food.

My first experience of Wwoofing will be at Magnetic Island, at Libby’s place.

Whitsunday Coast

Beach again!

This time at Airlie Beach, the point where all the sailing boats go to Whitsunday Islands and some national parks.

I have couple of days before going with the Habibi (the sailing boat that I booked in Noosa), so I swim in the swimming pools with sea water next to the beach (Jelly fish in the beach) and I do some walks through the nationals parks ( like this one at Conway National Park )

Map Conway National and Conservation Park

Capricorn Coast

From Rainbow Beach to Agnes Water in some hours... I stay in a very charming Backpacker’s ... bungalows, swimming pool, dvd room, equipped kitchen, etc... Movie and bed.

In the morning I do another surfing course, the waves are good to practice how to go up to the surface.

At the afternoon I take one of the free bicycles from the Backpacker’s and I go to Seventeen seventy, place where Capitan Hook did his second stop over Australia in 1770... Reading and music next to the beach and dinner before I take the bus to Rockhampton.

I arrive there at 12 midnight and Scott (Australia, Couchsurfing) pick me up.

Fraser Coast

Rainbow beach is a small village very quite at the south of Fraser Island with few backpacker’s ready to be your home before and after the trip to the island.

To be able to do the trip on 4x4 and camp at the island, I have to be in a kind of meeting where they make groups of 8 people (for every car) and they explain the rules of the national park.

My group (A-Team!) we are 4 Scottish, 3 English and me. They are my collages that I’ll expend the next 3 days in Fraser Island.

Sunshine Coast

I arrive at Noosa after few hours by bus. Here didn’t work the Couchsurfing request, so I chose one of the three or four were waiting at the bus station... Nossa Backpackers Resort (bed in a dorm of 6 people for 25AU$ with breakfast... around 19€).

I relax for a while, but here in Noosa I do a bit of everithing: I walk all the National Park of Noosa, I went for a run by the river and I visit the menglars by cayak.

At the supermarket I bought food to cook, a big sunblock and a gingerbeer!.

At the Backpacker I buy a open bus ticket to Cairns and I booked a package for 3 days at Fraser Island by 4x4 and camping and a 2 day/2night trip by boat around Whitsundays.

Gold Coast

I am in Australia!!!

I arrive early morning... Coffee and looking for a local bus to Burleigh Heads where I have to meet with Hinu (New Zealand) from Couchsurfing. I arrive when her kids are going to the school that they have just 500m away from home. Hinu offers to show me the National Park Burleigh Heads after my shower. She offers me to stay in her daughter’s room, she is in a camps for few days, single room!

Coffee “take away” at the beach of Burleigh with views of Surfers Paradise... a touristic zone with high buildings, shops, restaurants, night clubs and surfers.
The National Park is spectacular if we have a look all the buildings are close to (But they always try to preserve the dunes and characteristics places). I had a meat pie for lunch... nice!

At the afternoon I rest at Hinu’s place, and at night we went to have a look at the surfers Paradise, where we have dinner.