Queensland with an Apollo Campervan

Date: 9th October 2010

On the 1st October, Andy and I took the early bird flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and made our way to Apollo to pick up our Apollo campervan and get on the road. It was a last minute decision to take this break away, but with 100% support from Apollo, they provided us with a campervan for 6 days and it was decided, we were going on a holiday! We were stoked to receive a brand new Apollo Campervan 2 Euro Berth with only 20km on the odometer!

Off we set, and headed north stopping at the Gingerbread Factory in Yandina (I was lured in by the gingerbread manon the highway) and it turned out the gingerbread factory was in fact not that interesting. However, we did enjoy a Devonshire tea and a lovely homemade scone with jam and cream right next door at a little guest house. I picked up a pamphlet on Lady Musgrave Island which is the most southern part of the Great Barrier Reef which is accessed by boat off the shore of 1770. This was a new addition to our agenda in two days time!

We were back on the road and decided to head to Rainbow Beach! Unfortunately we were faced with rain, we managed to get one of the last spaces at the campervan park, plugged in, filled up with water and had a great nights sleep. In the morning we set up our table and chairs and enjoyed a big cooked breakfast, bacon, hash browns, baked beans and scrambled eggs. it was at this stage we were attacked by sand flies which I am still scratching 8 days later! Anti-itch plus has become my new best friend!

We headed down to rainbow beach and enjoyed a few hours of sun and we walked out to Carlo Sand Blow which was unbelievable! You walk through a woodland forest and pop out in the middle of this 15-hectare sand dune which faces down onto the beach below. However, in set the rain and we had a look at the weather forecast, the rain was set to stay, so we decided to head north and escape and we were off to 1770! After a long drive we arrived late and slept parked opposite where we were set to take the ferry early the next morning.

We departed 1770 at 8am on a 90 minute boat ride with 2-3 metre swells. It was a difficult boat ride, I didn’t think I got sea sick…well I do…as did most on board including the crew! But when we arrived at Lady Musgrave Island, wow, we were faced with the most amazing blue, calm, beautiful water. The Great Barrier Reef is seriously GREAT! We spent the day walking the island, held a sea cucumber, swimming with sea turtles, snorkelling, a fantastic buffet lunch and perfect weather. It was picture perfect and the crew were lovely! I particularly enjoyed the complimentary cheese and kransky on the boat ride home...which I might add was absolutely fine and really relaxing!

That night we drove to Bundaberg and slept there. We slept right on the beach front and in the morning travelled down to spend the day in Noosa. We cooked up a bbq right on the beach of Noosa Heads. We had amazing weather and lapped up the sun for the day.

We then headed south for a day at Dreamworld and White Water World on the Gold Coast. We had an enjoyable day, but unfortunately didn’t have ideal weather, faced with some rain. We cooked up our lunch in the car park and headed back into the park for the afternoon. We travelled up to have dinner in Brisbane and slept under neath the Storey Bridge, it was quite spectacular.

We decided to spend out last day in Currumbin, so we travelled down in the morning and lapped up the 30 degree weather and enjoyed the warm waves before heading back to Brisbane to drop off our Apollo camper with over 2000km added to the odometer. Thanks to Apollo for providing us with the holiday we probably would not have had without their support. I am feeling refreshed and ready for a 7 week slog coming into the ski season :)