I’ve always wanted to road trip up the coast so when my hostelmates told me they rented a car I asked if I could tag along. We started in Brisbane making our way up to Airlie Beach and then back down as I had to be in Rainbow Beach on Friday to make my Fraser trip. It was about 17 hours one way if I remember correctly. The scenery is amazing, nothing but green all around you. You’re driving on the A1 or Bruce Highway for a majority of the drive. It’s so long that they have funny signs to keep you awake. Not so funny as I think a lot of people die on this drive. There was even a totaled car on display with warning signs not to fall asleep.

^^ There’s even trivia!!!

Once in Airlie Beach we stayed at by far the best hostel ever called Magnum’s. The room had ac, a fridge, water kettle, and tons of outlets! Woolworths was just 2 minutes walking distance too.

^^ We went to Dingo Beach and saw a couple of dugongs popping their little heads out. They’re herbivores, but I still didn’t dare swim up to them haha.

We stayed at rest stops over night and the best part was seeing all the stars light up the sky. No light pollution so they were the brightest stars I’ve ever seen.

^^ Clearly I’m obsessed with trees. On our way to Rainbow Beach we stopped at Kershaw Gardens and felt like true kids at heart running around in the grass.

On our last night we got the serious creeps as we were driving on this gravel road late at night with nothing but dense forest all around. We ran over maybe 4 cane roads and nearly hit 2 kangaroos! They hopped out of nowhere!!! Not to mention the desolate small towns we drove through with NO ONE around. When we finally found a rest stop we drove into this spiderweb that was as wide as the car… Yeah, didn’t want to meet the spider that spun that web. I don’t think I slept much that night although I did have a nightmare that giant wolves that looked like the creatures from Where the Wild Things Are were scavenging around us.

^^ One the third day we made it to Rainbow Beach. Such a beautiful beach, but there are jelly fish everywhere! You have to be careful and watch where you walk. It’s stinger season right now so you can’t even get in the water.  Next stop, Fraser Island!