On the Coast of New South Wales
The third part of our journey on the way to Brisbane first takes us to Forest High School in French Forests, where our daughter spent half a school year in 2007. Then we leave the metropolitan area and head into Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Both the West Head Lookout with its descent to the beautiful West Head Beach and Bobbin Head are worthwhile destinations. We spend the night in Newcastle, a city that, despite its reputation as the world’s largest coal export port, has a pretty city centre and a beautiful beach.
Further north is the Tilligerry Habitat Reserve; the little trail through the reserve is beautiful. Although there are no koalas to be seen today, there are mangrove trees. We added Port Stephens to our itinerary at short notice, since there are a total of seven sculptures by “Dogman and Rabbitwoman” at Soldiers Point and at the fine Anchorage Marina. We took both of them to our hearts during this trip, and so I have dedicated a separate website to the artworks by Gillie and Marc, currently Australia’s best-known artists. There is coffee available in Bulahdelah, and our accommodation today is in the vacation resort of Forster.
Kew is home to one of Australia’s rare roadside attractions, The Big Axe, a giant axe as a reminder of the town’s logging past; then it’s on to Port Macquarie. The snow-white Tacking Point Lighthouse is an attraction in itself; the coast with its roaring waves does the rest. When a group of 30 dolphins passes by, our day is saved. A small rainforest, the Koala Hospital, where koalas that have been injured by cars are cared for, the breakwaters with the Painted Rocks and around 80 colorfully painted koalas on the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail complete the visit to this city. Today we spend the night in Nambucca Heads in a replica railroad carriage.
The next day we visit another rainforest, the Dorrigo Rainforest. “The Big Banana” is located in Coffs Harbor City, the centre of Australia’s banana industry. In Emerald Beach, at the “Look at me now Headland”, we are really surprised to see a large herd of kangaroos playing in the meadow – what an experience. So, the Sikh temple in Woolgoolga and the very functional hotel in Grafton quickly become irrelevant.
Through the Mountains to Brisbane
We could be in Brisbane easily within four hours via the famous Gold Coast, but we are a little bit frightened by the changes that this beautiful coast has undergone in the last 30 years. Next to the beaches of the city of Gold Coast, in the meantime the sixth largest city in Australia, visitors will find countless skyscrapers; the Surfers Paradise district is currently home to the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and therefore the tallest building in Australia, the Q1 Tower. Sea World, Dreamworld, Warner Bros. Movie World and other amusement parks remind us of Florida, and even today we still think: too loud, too expensive, too crowded.
Thus, we go back into the mountains again. The Gibraltar Range National Park is a real rainforest today, because it keeps raining. There are lots of palm trees in Washpool National Park, at an altitude of almost 1,000 metres; a very strange thing to us! On a meadow in Glen Innes, the “Standing Stones” rise up into the air – Stonehenge in Australia! And finally, Tenterfield, where we spend the night, likes to call itself the “Birthplace of Our Nation”.
Once again, we visit two of Australia’s numerous national parks. Boonoo Boonoo National Park turns out to be a flop because we can’t do any hikes; the gigantic rock massif in Bald Rock National Park, on the other hand, is a real attraction. We cross the green border between New South Wales and Queensland, the fifth and last state on this trip, and reach Brisbane in the afternoon, another city with far more than a million inhabitants.
We have planned a full day to visit the capital of Queensland. In preparation for the Summer Olympics, which will take place here in 2032, the city is currently proving to be a major construction site. Nevertheless, we explore the Central Business District (CBD) around the lively Queen Street and the cultural mile on the other bank of the Brisbane River. In the afternoon, we relax in the Botanic Gardens, the green lung of the CBD.
As our flight isn’t until the evening, we still take a trip to the Sunshine Coast, which starts north of Brisbane. At Redcliffe Beach, we enjoy the tranquility of the Pacific Ocean after the frantic city and visit the Bee Gees Way, a beautiful museum trail in honor of the famous brothers who grew up in this small town. 5 km further north in Scarborough is the Bee Gees’ childhood home – the very last attraction on this wonderful journey, which finally comes to an end at Brisbane Airport.
Route Description
| Tag/Day | Von/From | Nach/To | Route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Sydney | Newcastle | 240 km |
| 22 | Newcastle | Forster | 230 km |
| 23 | Forster | Nambucca Heads | 240 km |
| 24 | Nambucca Heads | Grafton | 230 km |
| 25 | Grafton | Tenterfield | 320 km |
| 26 | Tenterfield | Brisbane | 290 km |
| 27 | Brisbane | Brisbane | 000 km |
| 28 | Brisbane | Brisbane Airport (BNE) | 080 km |
| Total (Part 3) | 1.630 km | ||
| Total Tour | 5.060 km |
The Journey in Pictures
Die kleinen Cafés mit hervorragendem Kaffee haben uns auf der gesamten Reise begleitet
Eine der wenigen Roadside Attractions
Es gibt über die gesamte Stadt verteilt rund 80 dieser fantasievollen Koalas
Der grüne nachgebaute Eisenbahn-Waggon war unser Zuhause für eine Nacht
Ich glaub, ich steh im Wald
Stonehenge in Australien
Ganz schön rosa…
Der “glatzköpfige” Felsen ist unglaublich riesig
In Redcliffe entstand die erste europäische Siedlung in Queensland
Eine ganze Straße zu Ehren der in Redcliffe aufgewachsenen Brüder
Mit den Brüdern Gibb geht diese traumhafte Reise durch den Südosten von Australien zu Ende