We landed to Gold Coast airport in Coolangatta early morning. AirAsia is cheap, and it works out, but there are few things to keep in mind when taking it: remember water, own entertainment and extra clothes with you (the climate can be similar to fridge, and it costs to get a blanket).

Our hostel (Coolangatta YHA) is just around the corner from the airport and we liked it there, the service was excellent and it had everything you need. We walked to the beach right away. It was something we have never experienced before! Sand like powder as far as you can see! The sand is similar to potato powder and it makes funny noise when walking on it.

Gold Coast

It’s easy to investigate the whole Gold Coast by public transportation. The buses run often and the tram is really simple to use, all the information is clear. The hottest spot in Gold Coast is supposedly Surfer’s Paradise. Our impression of the Gold Coast was something we could compare to the big ski centers in Europe. There are expensive hotels, pubs, clubs, and skiing (surfing in this case).  All in all, we got really good impression of Australia when starting our trip from there. Everything was so clean and tidy, and extremely beautiful. It’s quite expensive, but hanging on the beaches is anyway free! What we also noticed, that there were no people on the beach trying to sell you something all the time like back in Europe.

We had a stop also in Burleigh head, there is a really wonderful little national park on a peninsula. The town has a lovely beach with pine trees. And yes, here we got our skins burned for the first time.

 

THE car!

Our trip really started when we took our rental car from Jucy agency. Their service was top class (https://www.jucy.com.au/). This car is the best! The old (driven 430k km) Toyota (yey!), with the back you can sleep in. There is a little kitchen (cooker and water) in behind also. This is something we don’t have at home! It was a bit challenging to organize the things in the car first, but having enough of plastic bags and you can divide clothes etc. so that the “5S” is working out.

 

Tip! Remember to check your credit card limits before the car rental office. We couldn’t pay the bond and ended up buying the highest insurance.

The traffic on the left is challenging, but we survived, just pay attention all the time! Especially take care when you start to feel smooth and nice with it! The traffic signs are mainly written (i.e. instead of an arrow there is a sign “stay left”). So, here we are, having a wannabe caravan, and being among those we have always cursed back at home…

Tip! To find accommodation when camping, upload “Australia WikiCamp” (thanks for the tip Anna / https://muuttolintu.com/)

By far we have only one overnight on a street, the rest nights we stayed in camping areas. The price for camping is 30-40 AUD per night, and with that you basically get the toilets, showers and cooking facilities to use. Staying on the street is not permitted, so it’s a little tricky to find a nice spot and take care the ranger won’t fine you.

Some general notes over camping and stuff:

• Take a flashlight with you (head lamp would be the handy)
• Darkness comes after 6 pm, and it will surprise, the day is over latest at 9 pm.
• Yes, you wake up around 6 am as the sun heats up the van
• Take the folding table and chairs if they offer these in the agency
• Not a bad idea to have a “space blanket” (the one from the first aid kit) with you to put on the dash board as it gets HOT

Sunshine coast

We drove to Mooloolaba, one of the villages along Sunshine coast. It was such a beautiful village with perfect beach (seems to be the rule). We really recommend Mooloolaba to visit! It was just simply amazing! Sunshine coast is a little bit “not so touristic” as the Gold Coast, and we would evaluate that the price level might be a tiny bit cheaper.

Training camp?

We started our mornings with running at least some. It’s really hard in the heat and anyway this travelling is causing some general laziness. In every village on the Gold and Sunshine coasts there are really good paths alongside the beach. Besides the paths there are “adult playground”; some systems to do outdoor gym. We ran about 3 km (oh yeah) and then did some training and walked on top of that about 4 km. It took about 1,5 hours and was very good start for the day. After done that and taking the shower, it was always 10 am, and time to leave the camping behind.

Running on the beach is such euphoria! Dropping to the ocean is perfect, tho it’s not swimming, it’s hanging on the waves.

Tip! Buy one of those toy surf boards, it’s so much fun in the water (if you don’t surf in real)

Noosa

Noosa is the northernmost village of Sunshine Coast. There are villas and restaurants, and (again) very beautiful beach. We shortly visited Noosa Heads national park, it was pretty, but we didn’t see koalas nor other animals (it might be also that we are blind). We were really thinking how they even can do orienteering in this country, as it looks so scary to leave the signed path. Aren’t there spiders and snakes and other friends? Hopefully Jarrah, our friend in Tasmania, will advise us on this… From Noosa it’s nice to visit the Frasier Island, and this is what we did! To be continued…