The East Coast of Australia (Port Douglas - Nimbin)

When planning our campervan trip down Australia's east coast, plenty of people made no hesitations in telling us where to go, where to avoid, what to see and what to miss. My advice to any traveller would be to remember that it's your trip and places that may be worthwhile to some, may not be of interest to you. And vice-versa.

Our tour operator gave us many 'wise' tips and 'points of interest' with the result that we were often disappointed. On some occasions, we ignored his advice and had a great time. For example, we were told that the Full Moon Party on Magnetic Island wasn't worth going to. It turned out to be our best night out in Australia so far.

In hindsight, booking our east coast trip through a travel agent was a mistake. We should have cut out the middle man (and his extortionate commission) and bought our Whitsundays and Fraser Island activities as we went along. However, we all learn from our mistakes and we still had the trip of a lifetime.

Like a child counting down to the school holidays, I had been crossing off the days in my diary until our trip began. Finally July 1st arrived and Sophie, Laura (our housemate in Cairns) and I picked up our bright orange campervan from the Spaceships office in Cairns. Each Spaceship is individually named, and we were given the choice of either 'Vanguard' or 'Biff'. Because it sounded like a Dutch DJ, we opted for 'Vanguard'.

For the first couple of days we decided to visit the places around Cairns that we hadn't had the chance to see while we were living there. So once we'd faffed around buying food form Coles and having goodbye coffee with the friends we were leaving behind, we drove up to Port Douglas, stopping to see waterfalls and lakes at Crystal Cascades, Lake Placid, Stoney Creek and Barron Falls on the way. Unable to find a campsite in Port Douglas that night, we decided to follow the suit of other travellers and parked on the sea front, awaking the next morning to see the waves crashing onto 4-Mile Beach. Sophie - who was sleeping on the other side of the van - was not so fortunate in her first sight of the day, and pulled back the curtain of her window to meet the eyes of an old man in a nearby coffee shop staring at her.

After a walk around the pretty holiday town of Port Douglas, we drove back down to Millaa Millaa Falls (where Peter Andre's 'Mysterious Girl' video and the Herbal Essences advert were filmed) and - after lots of driving around the Tablelands area - spent the night at a quaint free campsite in Babinda.

The next day, we headed straight down the Bruce Highway to Townsville for the Full Moon Party on Magnetic Island. Deciding to save money by not booking a bed at the Base hostel, where the party was being held, we managed to stay awake by drinking vodka and Red Bull all night and caught the first ferry back to Townsville in the morning.

Once we had recuperated with a few hours sleep in our campervan in the car park, we drove back up the coast to see the paces we had missed on our way to the party and spent a lazy afternoon on Mission Beach. That evening, as we searched for a campsite, we spotted a cassowary with its baby (an emu-like creature which is only native to certain parts of Australia). Having no luck with finding somewhere to stay for the night, we eventually settled for a rest area off the highway. As we pulled into the lay-by, we noticed two 18-year-old guys eating their dinner and had a chat with them. They'd come from Sydney and travelled up the coast without finding any free campsites (let alone free campsites with showers and drinking water), and as they refused to believe us when we said we'd stayed at some, they were content to endure a night's sleep in the rest stop. From the creepy man staring at us from his car, to the stick insect slowly crawling up the picnic bench and the occasional toad hopping by, we decided that we weren't comfortable sleeping there for the night and so we drove to a nearby spot called Ella Bay.

This was possibly the best decision we ever made. Although we'd parked illegally on the seafront, it was worth the risk of a possible parking ticket for the best start to the day I've ever had in my life. With a breakfast of coconuts - which we had picked from a nearby tree - we watched wild dolphins playing in the sea and as we left we had our first sighting of a kangaroo in the wild.

We stopped at Murray Falls and 5-Mile Swimming Hole on our way to the beautiful, secluded beaches of Thuringowa and were particularly taken by Balgal and Saunders beaches, with their vast, peaceful expanses. That night we stayed at Saunders beach because the free campsite was full of friendly people. The great thing about campsites is that they're rather like villages. Strangers say 'hi' to each other as they cross paths on the way to the water tap, shower or toilet and one man at this particular campsite even gave us a lift to the shop when we asked him for directions.

The next day we visited Townsville again to get supplies and go for a few drinks with some guys we met at the Full Moon party, and I won't say that Townsville is exactly rocking on a Wednesday night. Unless you like karaoke, that is.

On our way to Airlie Beach the following afternoon, we drove through Bowen (where parts of the film 'Australia' were shot), paying particular attention to the place, as Graham the travel agent had told us that with its historical buildings and pubs, it was worth stopping at for a look. But it wasn't.

Four hours after we had left Townsville, we arrived in Airlie Beach; the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. But despite what the guidebooks might say, Lions Lookout does not present a 'panoramic view of the Whitsundays Islands' so it isn't really worth the drive out of town (and it definitely wouldn't be worth the walk).

We had already booked ourselves onto the Avatar sailing trip, as it boasted being one of the fastest vessels and we were willing to pay a bit more money for a catamaran. We were a little worried that by opting out of a cheaper 'party' boat, we would be spending three days and two nights with couples and families, but luckily everyone on our boat was the same age as us. During our trip we saw whales, dolphins and turtles, polished our silver with the white sand on the world-famous Whitehaven Beach and swam in crystal clear water that was so deep it came over our heads, but we could still see our feet. Although the new skipper ran aground on coral at Chalkie's Beach, the crew were really good, especially the deck hand, who could whip up a gourmet meal with the simplest of ingredients in the tiniest kitchen. Although the Avatar was a fast boat, we only had time to visit a few areas (Hayman Island, Luncheon Bay, Tongue Bay and Whitsunday Island), so on reflection it was a great choice of boat, because sailing on anything slower would've meant seeing even less.

Once we were back on dry land, we treated ourselves and parked up in a paying campsite in Airlie Beach, so that we could freshen up with a much needed hot shower, before heading into town for drinks to meet the people we'd met on our sailing trip and the guys we met in Townsville. It was a great night until Sophie fell into a pot-hole and sprained her ankle whilst getting out of the taxi later that night. Why does everyone always assume she was drunk when she tells this story?

Because of this, we stayed in Airlie Beach longer than we originally intended to, and on our way to Rockhampton two days later, we took a slight detour to a place called Eungella, where we saw a duckbill platypus in the wild.

Although it was well worth it, this delayed us in getting to Rockhampton, and as we drove down the seemingly endless Bruce Highway, the night started drawing in and we noticed we were getting low on petrol. There were no service stations for miles and our stress levels weren't eased by the strange light that appeared behind us just before we reached Marlborough. As I was driving, I noticed in the rear-view mirror that what I originally thought was a motorcycle light had disappeared. Worried that the rider had come off their bike I voiced my concerns to Sophie. Then all of a sudden the light appeared right behind us, coming out of nowhere, only to shrink and disappear again a few minutes later. This happened a few times and we kept trying to reassure ourselves and each other that it was the headlights of a distant lorry or car and that the hills and bends in the road were making the light appear strange. But when Sophie used the headlights of an oncoming car to try to source the light, it appeared to be coming from nowhere. We were really starting to freak out (Sophie and I that is, Laura was blissfully asleep in the back) when we saw a sign for a service station. You can imagine our relief. When I told the cashier that we had nearly run out of petrol, he laughed unsympathetically and began telling me stories of how people are always running out of petrol on that stretch or road. I decided it wouldn't be worth my mentioning the weird light to him.

We reached Rockhampton without seeing the light again, but after driving around the town for what seemed like hours, we were unable to find a campsite, so we drove to a small town called Yeppoon. Suddenly the light came back. We didn't understand it. It was on a completely different road this time! Trying to keep calm, Laura took a video for evidence (see Facebook). By the time we'd parked up on the seafront, it had gone again, but looking out to sea, we noticed that some islands in the distance appeared to be floating above the horizon. Maybe all this freaky stuff has something to do with Rockhampton being on the Tropic of Capricorn. We have since done some research and all evidence points to something called the 'Min Min light'. Scientists have used diffraction of light and mirages caused by heat to explain the Min Min light, but it's hard to be rational when you're driving down a dark road in a foreign country while your petrol levels are getting dangerously low.

With all this in mind, it may come as no shock to hear that we weren't exactly taken with Rockhampton. Because the town prides itself on being the 'beef capital of Australia', we did enjoy a nice stoneground steak lunch at the Ascot Hotel (despite the interior looking like a flashback to a 1980s wedding reception), however we were disappointed to find that even the Tropic of Capricorn doesn't make it a place worth stopping at.

Continuing on our journey down the east coast, we stopped at the town of Agnes Water (next to 1770), and nothing could have prepared us for how small this place is. But despite its size, there are plenty of things to do, including kayaking, helicopter rides and scooteroo - which involves riding around the town on motorbikes with about 20 other people. Not the coolest activity in the world, and we decided we wouldn't be caught dead doing it. We did, however, participate in surf lessons, which even though the waves were small, was really fun and Laura and I both managed to stand up on the board and ride a wave. Unfortunately Sophie couldn't join us due to her sprained ankle, but there would be plenty of other opportunities for her to surf further down the coast.

The worst thing about Agnes Water was the campsite. The amenities were very basic (long drop toilets and no showers) and you have to pay for the privilege of staying there. Or, like us, you could be so outraged at having to pay for a campsite that's worse than some of the free ones you've stayed in, that you wake up at the crack of dawn and drive off before the guy comes around to charge you. All for the sake of $5.

Our next stop was Bundaberg which is worth a visit for its infamous rum factory, but as we were unwilling to pay the extortionate entry fee into the factory, we settled for a self-guided tour of the gift shop (which had an actual bar in it!) and took photographs of the huge rum bottle statue outside. That evening we consulted our campsite guide and drove to Lenthall Dam, where we could choose between two free campsites with showers. After driving for ages through a forest that looked like it should be in Stephen King's 'The Shining', to our frustration, we discovered that both campsites had been closed down. As it was getting dark we drove to Maryborough and grudgingly paid to stay in a campsite there. It turned out to be well worth the money, though, as it was a five-star campsite with hot showers and electricity.

We headed to Hervey Bay the following morning for our trip to Fraser Island (the world's largest sand island) and stayed at Next Backpackers as it was included in the price of our Fraser Island tour. This was by far the best hostel we have stayed in. Clean and modern, the hostel boasts fast Internet access, a licensed bar, a cinema and hot showers. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful during our stay and were especially accommodating to Sophie, who was still on crutches after her accident.

Unfortunately for Sophie, her injury meant that she was unable to join us on the trip to Fraser Island, but she was lucky in the fact that she didn't have to endure spending three days and two nights with the boring group of people we were put with. Incidentally we were grouped with some Welsh guys who we met on Magnetic Island. They were nice enough, but not the most exciting of people, and they definitely didn't share our sense of humour. We continued to bump into them on our way down the coast; in Airlie Beach, in 1770 and now, low and behold, in Hervey Bay. And yet we never managed to bump into the guy Laura fell madly in lust with in Cairns...

You'd think that out of the other seven people in the group there would be someone we'd get on with. But every backpacker's fear of being in a Fraser Island group you don't like had been realised by us. Having said that, nothing can take away from the beauty of the island (or the fun of driving along the beach!) With its crystal clear water and fine white sand banks, Lake McKenzie is absolutely beautiful, reminiscent of Whitsunday Island's Whitehaven Beach. The Maheno shipwreck is well worth a look, as are the Pinnacles, however the long walk to the Champagne Pools doesn't really seem worth it. The slippery rocks mean that it's dangerous to attempt a swim, and besides the water is far too cold to swim in anyway. Indian Head is a definite highlight, to spot whales if nothing else. Lake Wabby was also stunning, and we all agreed that we would have liked more time to relax there, however by the time we'd walked over Hammerstone Sandblow (the nearest I've ever come to being in the desert) to get there, we had to return to the car, not wanting to risk missing the ferry back to Hervey Bay like one group did.

We'd chosen the 'Unique Fraser' trip, as Graham had said that it might rain and it was the only tour that had undercover camping. But, of course it didn't rain and the 'Unique' part of our trip never materialised. We stayed at the K'Gari Aboriginal Campground on the first night, where we were told we'd enjoy aboriginal customs with didgeridoos and dancing, but apparently the guy in charge of the campsite "doesn't always feel like doing it" so we were left disappointed. They really shouldn't be allowed to put pictures of the show on their leaflets. And the second campground (Dundubara) had a 9pm no noise curfew. With every day that went by on this east coast trip, I was wishing more and more that we hadn't listened to our travel agent.

Once we were back in Hervey Bay, we hastily got away from our group and drove straight to Rainbow Beach, with the intention of catching the rainbow colours on the cliffs as the sun set. Unfortunately we were too late, and as there was no free camping at Rainbow Beach, we continued down towards Noosa and spent the night in a rest area.

Quaint, relaxing Noosa would be the perfect place to retire. You can't help but walk slowly along the tree-paved streets and its national parks are a great place for spotting wild koalas. After a while spent craning our necks, looking aimlessly up into the trees (what does eucalyptus look like anyway?) we hit the jackpot. Luck was on our side when we asked a random man where wild koalas could be seen, because he immediately turned into our very own personal tour guide, and after taking us for a short walk around the area, we managed to find an actual koala in a nearby tree.

Leaving Noosa that evening, we camped just outside the Glasshouse Mountains, intending to spend the next day marvelling at the spectacular views. This was another one of Graham's fantastic ideas. And yet again we were somewhat disappointed. Although, perhaps this was due to the cloudy, grey weather, as our friend later told us that she was very impressed by the place. We, however, took to playing a card game that we had become rather addicted to. It's similar to 'Rummy', but we'd call out 'Vanguard' instead. It's funny how the simple things in life become so much more entertaining when you're camping. It was as though we had turned back into children. We'd go to bed early (when the sun goes down, there's nothing to do but eat dinner and maybe watch a film - we were lucky to have a DVD player in our campervan), wake up early, and invent games to entertain ourselves while we were on the road. These included trying to find the strangest name for a Creek (some of the best ones were 'Possum Creek', 'Coles Creek', 'Ramsay Creek', 'Lagoon Creek' and 'Little Pig Creek'), shouting 'stay' or 'go' at people leaving Byron Bay after the 'Splendour in the Grass' festival, depending on whether they were hot guys or not, and we'd get unnecessarily huge kicks out of waving and beeping at passing campervans.

Once we'd had enough of cards for one day, we left the Glasshouse Mountains in search of a shower (the campsites definitely get worse the further south you are) and came across Burpengary service station. Located in the men's toilets, we were sceptical, but hot and powerful, it turned out to be the best shower we'd had so far. And while we were taking it in turns, we found great entertainment in watching a bogun (the Australian word for chav) family from the safety of our vehicle.

Our next stop was Surfer's Paradise and on the way, we discovered a trukkies lounge with free wireless Internet, televisions, sofas and showers. We wished we'd discovered these places sooner, as they boast the greatest attraction to any camper: plug sockets. From this trip, I now have a trained eye for spotting plug sockets in public places. It's not until you don't have electricity on demand that you realise how much you depend on it, and we were constantly thinking about saving the batteries on our mobile phones, cameras and iPods. My chargers became essential items in my handbag, so that I could re-charge on the sly - whether in a restaurant, in a public toilet or at somebody's house.

And so we arrived in Surfers fully re-charged and ready for a long overdue night on the town. After spending the majority of the past month swimming in lakes, driving up mountains and generally hanging out in the countryside, we immediately fell in love as we drove into the glitzy, tacky, twinkling lights of the city. It was as though we'd never seen a city before. We had officially turned into country bumpkins and were blinded by the lights, for when morning came, and we were used to being in civilisation, we realised that the place was not as magical as we had first believed it to be. But that didn't mean we didn't enjoy the following night out, which, for $10 each involved food, alcohol, club entry and a limosine ride with champagne, when it should have cost us $120 each. Apparently the promoter we ran into on the street was desperate, as he hadn't sold enough tickets and needed to bump up the numbers. Which was fine by us!

After our weekend out, we left Queensland for Byron Bay in New South Wales. Our favourite place on Australia's east coast, Byron Bay is hippyish, laid-back and very much like Brighton. The local radio station plays chilled-out reggae music, and with its craft stalls and art shops, the town is like a permanent village fete, the fun atmosphere accentuated by the 'Splendour in the Grass' festival stragglers who were still in party mode and drinking in the always-packed-out Beach Hotel seafront pub. It's no wonder that people have been known to come to Byron Bay for a visit and never leave. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I spotted a woman handing out free samples of falafel in the street. And she didn't mind it when I came back a second time for more. Or the third time for that matter.

It came as quite a shock, therefore when we were woken at 5:30 the next morning by an irate security guard knocking on our campervan window and yelling at us that we weren't allowed to sleep in the street. We suspected we'd get caught doing this at some time or another, but we hadn't expected it to be in a place that was overrun by VW campervans and hippies promoting peace and free love.

If Byron is a permanent festival then Nimbin is permanently Glastonbury. Debating whether to sacrifice one of our days in Byron Bay, but too intrigued by what we'd heard Nimbin to miss out, we eventually decided to pay a visit, and we were certainly glad we did. A walk around the town shouldn't take more than ten minutes (for it is really very small, consisting of just one street) but in reality it takes far longer than that. Everything you come across is unbelievable, from the cafes playing out banging trance in the middle of the day (see Facebook), to the museum of cannabis, to the locals approaching you with outstretched arms saying "welcome to Nimbin". There are signs for creative writing classes and yoga everywhere and when I turned down a stranger's offer of cannabis, I received a hug instead. The shops are crammed full of colourful merchandise and smoking equipment, have an overpowering smell of incense and the shopkeepers are usually in the corner quietly stitching embroidery or making jewellery.

The town's history dates from 1973 when the Australian Union of Students staged an experimental 'Aquarius Festival'. The attendees felt so at home, they never left the place and Nimbin became their permanent haven. Recreational drugs are obviously an integral part of the town, but the people are incredibly friendly and seem harmless enough. When we first arrived, I strained the juice from my tin of tuna down the drain as we were unable to find a bin. As I was doing so, a man approached me. When I asked him whether he was going to tell me off, his reply was: "No one ever gets told off in Nimbin".

As welcoming as the place was, we had to leave after a couple of hours as, sitting in the local pub, we were overcome by the suspicious smells in the air and were starting to feel quite lethargic.

We took a slightly different route back up the coast to Brisbane (as we had by-passed the city on the way down) and it was worth doing for the stretch of road from Nimbin to Murwillumbah. The ever-changing scenery of creeks, rivers, lakes, mountains, fields, trees and cattle is absolutely stunning, especially at Tumbulgum (on the way to Tweed Heads) where there is a pub and some expensive-looking houses set against the backdrop of a beautiful river.

We made it to Brisbane with Vanguard in one piece. Although, sadly not in perfect condition, thanks to some hippy who blatantly drove into us on the first day and, (after much laughing about the fact that we'd had an accident on the first day) protested that it wasn't him. Frustrated as we were with him, we were very glad that we'd made the decision to pay for fully comprehensive insurance. After we'd dropped our beloved van off at the depot, we were free to explore Queensland's capital city at leisure.

With random sculptures on every street, Brisbane is a city that appreciates art. South Brisbane is especially cultured with its art galleries and museums. The modern art gallery being our favourite, we were awed by one artist's take on China for 'The China Project' exhibition. It was a gigantic wall with hundreds of hand-painted red adverts all over it, conveying the westernisation of China and our overwhelming advertising culture. We were also really impressed by an exhibition called 'Peopled: Contemporary Art From the Collection', which included a huge sculpture of a woman in bed by Ron Mueck and Beat Streuli's video of New Yorkers walking through their crowded city.

The same day, we enjoyed a visit to the Queensland Museum and were able to relate to the places, creatures and various things referred to in the exhibitions, having seen much of Queensland already. The stuffed animal display is all the more interesting because of Australia's weird and wonderful creatures and the section on turtle harvesting is extremely moving, whilst being educational. There's an impressive reconstruction of the Great Barrier Reef and we also learnt a great deal about Aboriginal history and culture.

To experience a real feel for the city, we took a walk from South Brisbane to South Bank that evening. Set on the river, Brisbane is dubbed the 'River City', and as the lights started to come on, casting colourful reflections on the water, we began to understand the enthusiasm for jogging or cycling along the bank after work. When they're not jogging, the crowds of people casually wander the streets, rather than power-walking with purpose like they do in cities such as London. And they actually wait at traffic lights. The only jaywalkers here appear to be out of towners.

On describing Sydney, Bill Bryson mentions the Harbour Bridge, saying that no matter where you are in the city, it somehow manages to creep into view. I found the same thing with the Brisbane skyline. You can be on a train for 20 minutes out of the city and, in some obscure suburb, all of a sudden you catch a glimpse of the iconic skyscrapers.

Not only is Brisbane a lovely city in itself, it is also situated in a great location, offering quick and easy access to other places of interest. The Gold Coast is on the doorstep and Australia Zoo is a short drive down the motorway.

More of a safari park than a zoo, Australia Zoo is owned by Steve Irwin's family. With this in mind, we were expecting a death-defying crocodile show on our visit, but as the trainers were new, it wasn't as ambitious as we'd hoped. However, the tiger show made up for it, despite being criticised for including animals that aren't native to Australia. The trainers used toys to play with the tigers, encouraging them to behave like frolicking kittens, jumping in and out of the water. The zoo's overriding message is that the world's animals need protecting, and education is used to get this point across to the public.

Having relatives that live in a foreign country is always a bonus for seeing things that you normally wouldn't. As well as treating us to a trip to the zoo, my aunt and uncle, who live in Brisbane, took us up to Mount Coot-tha for a coffee and a view of the whole of the city and to Tamborine Mountain, which is kind of like Nimbin but without the drugs.

All in all, we'd seen so much in just one month, and with the most expensive part of our Australia trip over, it was now time to go and earn some much needed cash in an outback Queensland pub...