#14: Vanlife roadtrip Sydney - Brisbane

We rented a campervan for 16 days to travel from Sydney to Brisbane. A trip we had planned to make in 2020 and it is a dream coming true to finally start this journey. We have never traveled in a campervan before and are excited to explore the Australian east coast while spending the nights in nature.

Start of van life in Australia

Wednesday, 20 April

Today we are going to pick up our campervan! We still had a voucher from our cancelled campervan rental booking in 2020. Now, two years later, we can finally make the road trip along the east coast that we had planned!

We have rented a campervan with a small kitchen and high ceiling from Travellers Autobarn. We could pick up the van around noon, and after we had installed our luggage and downloaded the app to pay for toll roads, we were ready to leave! Kai drives the van on the left side of the road as if he had never done something else. What a pro!

Our first stop: grocery shopping at Aldi. We bought pasta, muesli, fruits, salads, snacks and other easy camping food. It took us about an hour to get out of Sydney and another hour to arrive at our campground. Around 5:00 PM we installed ourselves at a powered site on a holiday park just south of Newcastle. We have our first van dinner under the sunset. Not bad! We are so excited how this adventure is going to be!

Camping life has started

Thursday, 21 April

Our first night in the van was slightly cold (13 degrees) but we slept quite well. Our camping spot is close to the ocean and we spend most of the day enjoying the sunny weather on the beach. The town of Blacksmiths is very small but has a nice cafe and bakery to get some latte and Australian pies (savoury pies filled with veggies or meat). It has charm! We wanted to get familiar with van life so we decided to book two nights at this campground and take it slow.

Visiting a koala sanctuary in Port Stephens

Friday, 22 April

The weather predictions didn’t look good and unfortunately the forecast proofed to be right: we woke up with rain. We started our morning routine of making oatmeal for breakfast anyway and headed towards our next stop right after. The area is known for it’s wine and we visit a vineyard on the way to our next stop, to get ourselves our first Australian wine!

From Blacksmiths it was a short drive to Anna Bay, where we found another beautiful holiday park close to the beach. It is a 20 minute walk to the beach and the landscape is filled with beautiful rocks and dunes. For the first time, we have the feeling to have a whole beach almost completely for ourselves. What a feeling! In the afternoon we visit the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary, which is conveniently located next to our camp ground. Many koalas in the area get injured because of traffic accidents, decreasing living space or climate change. In this hospital they are being taken care of and prepared for a living back in the wild. It is amazing to see how well they take care of these animals and we could watch some of them very closely. Loved it!

Exploring the bays of Port Stephens

Saturday, 23 April

Port Stephens seems to be a very popular holiday destination among Australians. And I can see why, because the area is very versatile. It has amazing beaches, hikes, towns, campgrounds and other things to do. Unfortunately, it is raining again. After a few hours of waiting until the rain stopped, we decided to go out anyway. Rain jackets on and off to the beach walk! According to the fisherman we met on the beach, it was great weather to go out fishing. We decided to climb the Tomaree Mountain and lucky us: it stopped raining and we found some beautiful views when we reached the summit.

Our first unpowered campground

Sunday, 24 April

The holiday parks we stayed at until now were quite pricey (around 50-60 AUS$ a night). However, we did really like the convenience of having power, running water, a warm shower, wifi and a kitchen area, we decided it was time for the next level of camping (and to save some money). We booked a campground in a national park for only 25 AUS$ a night. Most of the Australian national parks have campgrounds and they are much cheaper than holiday parks. They also have less facilities, this campground only has toilets and one cold shower. We really like to be closer to nature, have less people around and live with the rhythm of the sun. We wake up when the sun rises (6:30 AM) and have dinner and go to sleep early, since it already gets dark around 5:30 PM. It was a clear evening and we enjoyed an amazing view of a starry sky and could even see the Milky Way.

Off grid van life & beach walks

Monday, 25 April

There is a rainbow outside! Kai opened up the back window of the van and I watched the rainbow right from my sleeping bag. This is how I imagined van life would be! There are no towns around this national park so we enjoy a day of relaxing, beach walks and watching surfers. Our camping neighbors bring us a fire pit and some wood to make a campfire (thank you, Steve!). This is camping life at its best! Unfortunately it started raining again in the evening so we made it cozy in the van. There is no cellular connection in this park so we spent the evening listening to podcasts (‘Weird Crimes’ is our favorite at the moment).

Drive to Urunga and visit to Bellingen

Tuesday, 26 April

We have a longer drive ahead of us today and because it is still raining, we leave the campsite early. It takes us about 3 hours to get from Delicate Campground to Urunga. We can’t wait to stay at a holiday park again. We have some washing to do and after two days without showering, we are excited for a warm shower again! We take it slow in the afternoon with a visit to the neighboring town of Bellingen. The small town has some beautifully restored shop fronts, stylish cafes and hippy vibes. We end the day with a stroll over the Urunga boardwalk. We do not often leave without cameras but this time we did and guess what? We saw our first living kangaroos on this walk! Until now we had only saw them on traffic signs or - sadly - dead next to the road.

The Waterfall Way - rainforest and waterfalls

Wednesday, 27 April

Urunga is located close to the Waterfall Way. This highway connects Coffs Harbour and Armidale and passes by many national parks and hence the name, waterfalls. We decided to visit Dorrigo National Park and hike to the Crystal Shower falls. It was a beautiful walk through the rainforest, we saw so many beautiful tropical plants! We got so hungry from our walk that we decided to head back to Bellingen for lunch at Hyde Cafe. We got one of the best smoked salmon sandwiches we ever had! Back in Urunga we give the boardwalk another try to hopefully spot kangaroos again. We didn’t only spot three kangaroos, we also saw a lizard and a stingray.

Camping between the kangaroos

Thursday, 28 April

It is a two hour drive from Urunga to Lake Arragan. We get a flat white at Liberty Providores cafe before we leave. This is one of the many coffee shops in the area that is located in a former gas station. We really like the vibe (hippie meets hipster) here! We had a chat with another guest, who recommended we stop by at Maclean on the way, a small former fisher village. We get one of the best shakshuka of our lives at On The Bite cafe in Maclean. We try to keep our spendings low by cooking a lot but every now and then, we have to treat ourselves to breakfast or brunch. Australians make such amazing breakfast!

From Maclean it is a 30 minute drive to Lake Arragan, the last 10 minutes over an unpaved road. We have already seen many roads with huge holes in Australia (mostly caused by the many floods in the past few months), but this road is really the worst of them all. But it was all worth it. We are welcomed by so many kangaroos! I read in the camping reviews that there are “many friendly kangaroos” around in this park but I did not expect to see so many of them. We see them eating grass, jumping around and even feeding their babies. Staying at this campsite is an experience of a lifetime! It made us so happy to be in the middle of nature, with just a few other campers around and dozens of kangaroos around our van. Oh, and we can even see the beach from our campsite! And all of that for just 25 AUS$ (17€) a night. There are no showers but hey, you can’t have it all!

Yamba - ‘the new Byron Bay’?

Friday, 29 April

Yamba isn’t too far away from Lake Arragan but there is no direct road along the coast so we have to head back to Maclean and drive over the Pacific Highway to get there. Some say that Yamba is on its way to become the next Byron Bay, a popular destination for surfers. We can tell that there is a nice atmosphere in the small town and quite a few nice cafes around (Summi’s was our favourite). After it stopped raining we even got to see clear blue skies. We liked walking around here and our camp ground under the pine trees with views over the lake.

Hello party town Byron Bay

Saturday, 30 April

After some coffee, açai bowls and a walk around town, it is time to leave lovely Yamba and head to the real Byron Bay. The drive takes approximately two hours. We arrive on a Saturday, which again, proofed to be far from ideal. We landed in the middle of parties, loud cheap bars and drunk tourists. The same mistake we made in Sydney and it doesn’t give us a very good first impression of Byron Bay. At least we get to see a beautiful sunset from our campground.

Rainy shopping day

Sunday, 1 May

Today is a special day, since we are celebrating our 10th anniversary! I can’t believe we have been together for 10 years now! It feels like yesterday since we met but at the same time it feels like we have been together forever. The best gift is going on this travel adventure together! The worst gift is an extremely rainy day, so we start the day with some breakfast at a lovely cafe. There isn’t much to do in Byron Bay on a rainy day so we head out of town for some shopping and are just grateful for the time we have together.

Byron Bay lighthouse and street music

Monday, 2 May

The sun is shining! Byron Bay looks much better under a clear blue sky and most of the weekend party tourism disappeared. We spent time on the beach, swimming, watching the waves and surfers. In the afternoon we walk up the hill, passing by amazing views over the ocean, the most eastern part of mainland Australia and the Byron Bay lighthouse. It is a lovely walk and our favourite thing to do in Byron. Arriving back in town, a street artist (@WalkingFrancis) way playing live music with the ocean as a backdrop. The atmosphere was lovely and we could finally see what so many people love so much about Byron.

Arrival in Burleigh Heights

Tuesday, 3 May

Wow, the views on the skyline of the Gold Cost really impresses us! It is crazy to see skyscrapers on the horizon, right behind some of the most beautiful beaches and highest waves we have seen in Australia so far. Burleigh Heights is also home to some stylish cafes and we picked Commune cafe to have lunch today. We spent the rest of the day with beach walks.

Sunrise and bike ride on the Gold Coast

Wednesday, 4 May

You may think you are an early bird, waking up around 6:00 AM but that isn’t the case in Australia. Since we travel with the van, we always get up when the sun rises and usually there is already a lot going on. People are jogging, hanging out and getting their cafes even before sunrise. We are out to take photos of the sunrise and even though it is quite cloudy, we really enjoy the atmosphere! Nook Espresso is a great spot to get a morning coffee with views over the Gold Coast. We go for a bike ride today and drive along the coastal bike line up to the neighbourhoods of Miami and Noddy Beach. The weather turns out to be relatively warm today so we finally spent some time swimming in the ocean.

Visiting Surfers Paradise

Thursday, 5 May

When most people think about the Gold Coast, they think about entertainment. Attraction parks, bars, casino’s, shows, waterparks, the list goes on. Most of these attractions, as well as most of the skyscrapers, can be found in and around the ‘Surfers Paradise’ neighbourhood. We enjoy walking around here, since the skyscrapers on the beach make a really nice photo object. Gold Coast really became popular as a holiday destination in the 60’s, meaning that most of the architecture is quite modern. We like it! After we took some photos we headed back to Burleigh Heights because even though we liked taking photos here, we are very glad not to stay in this area. Too much party tourism. And then it is already time for our last night in the van today, these 16 days of camping went by so fast! The van brought us to places we couldn’t have visited without camping and we really enjoyed feeling so much more connected to nature by being outside all the the time. On the other hand, we also look forward to having slightly more space.

Goodbye van, hello Brisbane!

Friday, 6 May

Early departure today, since we can save 70 AUS$ if we bring back the campervan before 9:00 AM. A client had an accident and our rental company didn’t have enough vans anymore. Since there was a lot of rain forecasted anyway, it was time to say goodbye to ‘Goldie’ right after we had our sunrise coffee at Nook Espresso. For the first time in Australia, we encountered traffic jams. Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city and you can tell by the numbers of lanes leading into the city and the increased road traffic. But we made it in time and it leaves us with some time to explore Brisbane. We walk around the Central Business District, visit the Town Hall and the Botanical Gardens (they are free and amazing!). Brisbane reminds us slightly of Singapore, there are lots of skyscrapers and there is lots of greenery.

On a Travel Mission - Couple Travel Blog