RV Life - July 2010

Australia by Motorhome Australia by Motorhome

Gary Blake

(Gary Blake and Wendy Johnson, marine photographers who live in England, spent two weeks touring Queensland, Australia, in a motorhome.)

By Gary Blake

After two months of planning and Googling, we set off in our ented motorhome on a 1,250-mile “trip of a lifetime” along one of the world’s great coastal roads, from Brisbane northward to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

We made the trip in a KEA four-berth motorhome that was well equipped for the Queensland climate, which averages 77 degrees and 95 percent humidity in November. Our motorhome had air conditioning, fly screens, a flat screen TV, a cassette toilet, hot water, shower, a stove, microwave, refrigerator, an under-vehicle locker for tables and chairs, storage for fishing rods, and, thankfully, a wind-down sun awning.

Australia is about the size of the 48 contiguous United States,

but with a population of only 27 million, all living on the edges of this continent. Nowhere in Europe could this sense of space and adventure be found.

With the air conditioning on and Top Gear’s “Seriously Cool Driving Music” blasting on the DVD, we squinted through dark sunglasses and tinted windows as we drove down the Bruce Highway. Comfortable in our captain’s seats, we set our satellite navigation system for the Australia Zoo.

The roads had good asphalt and signage, but were not designed for speed. These main highways were not freeways, but just extra-wide, two-lane roads, and hence we could not easily and quickly cover the huge distances you need to travel in a big country .

All went well at first, but about 18 miles out of Brisbane, I was asleep at the wheel! After our 22-hour flight, jet lag had kicked in at 3 in the afternoon.

A driver change and we were soon at Australia Zoo one day late for the 10th anniversary of its opening by its founders, the late Steve “Crickey” Erwin and his American wife, both passionate conservationists. But we were still in time for the daily crocodile feeding at the 5,000-seat Crocoseum— a spectacle not to be missed. This is the real McCoy to see these indigenous and dangerous species and also have a chance to cuddle a koala, or feed the wallabies on their grounds.

Then it was on to Noosa Heads near nightfall for an early bed to be ready for the 4x4 Discovery Tour of Fraser Island, which at At Fraser Island, we could drive on beaches for miles or swim in one of 200 fresh water lakes bordered by the snowiest of white, soft sand. At nearby Rainbow Beach, we could ride for miles on the tide line below colored sand cliffs and the towering Carlo Sand Blow.