Dream Vacation

[swimmer_spe]

Since my life goal has been to dive the GBR, I want to do it. How much? As much as my NDL will allow. Whether it be different parts or one area is irreverent.

As far as driving, 8 hours is the max per day. But, if the next best thing is a 1 or 2 hour drive, then I go there, and camp near there. Currently I am single, so the small vehicle with a bed is all I need. I would tent it, but as I understand it, you have some very dangerous animals on land and in the sea.

One thing I want to get is a picture of myself in diving gear and a swimsuit. So, avoiding the Box Jellyfish is important.

Cave diving? Hmm, get qualified for that, and then life trip 2 to the Cenotes... Hmmm.

If someone said to to you on the East Coast "Name the best dive sites, the must dive, dive sites", what would you list?

 

[Heg]

Ok , I'll repeat a lot of what has already been said and add some-

Cairns to Sydney is a bloody long drive. 2500ks A lot of it is on single lane roads and your speed may be resricted to 60kph or less in places when passing through residential areas.
Australia also has some of the most god awful drivers.....accidents are all too common. Drive safely and factor in long delays if held up by roadworks or traffic holdups...

A liveaboard from Cairns will get you out to the Coral Sea. I believe Mike Ball is one of the best. Not cheap, but stunning diving by all accounts. As has already been mentioned, the more accesible 'day trip 'parts of the GBR are not so pretty.


The 'Yongola' is proably your next stop heading south. Well known wreck dive. You can dive this from Ayr or Townsville. Ayr is the closest boat trip to the site.

The HMS Brisbane is south of here again. Dive this from Mooloolaba (sunshine Coast -about a 13 hour drive south of Ayr)

Some good diving around Brisbane out at Moreton Island and Stradbroke Island

South of here and just into NSW is Julian Rocks. Some say better than the GBR.

That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of that area. Hope it helps

 

[swimmer_spe]

Ok , I'll repeat a lot of what has already been said and add some-

Cairns to Sydney is a bloody long drive. 2500ks A lot of it is on single lane roads and your speed may be resricted to 60kph or less in places when passing through residential areas.
Australia also has some of the most god awful drivers.....accidents are all too common. Drive safely and factor in long delays if held up by roadworks or traffic holdups...

That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of that area. Hope it helps

I know the driving you mention. Much of Canada is the same. Bad drivers are everywhere. Horrible drivers are not to hard to find either. It is normal here to have to slow down to 60, or even 50 in the towns. Speed limits on 2 lanes can be as slow as 60 in some rural spots. Is there a typical road construction season? Here, we have 2 seasons: winter and road construction.

Your information on the dive sites is greatly appreciated.

 

[Tortuga68]

I want to see variety of marine life. Any really cool wrecks Any interesting geological features (narrow deep valleys, etc)

Yongala Dive » Scuba diving on the S.S. Yongala Wreck, Australia » Blog Archive » Home

Fish Rock Dive Centre ? South West Rocks, Australia

I don't understand the desire to drive 8 hours a day. If you're going to do that, even standing in the damn airport lines and flying will give you more time to DO things at destinations

...unless you want to dive, like the OP. You know, diving/flying = not good

 

[Shasta_man]

Willing to drive 8 hours a day for 5 days straight but waiting to get on the plane is too much?!

 

[swimmer_spe]

Willing to drive 8 hours a day for 5 days straight but waiting to get on the plane is too much?!

I also want to see the country, and flying does not let you see much.

Having said that, Even driving 8 hours, I could still stop and dive, or see other sites and then continue on my way.

I am simply saying, it looks like it is about a 5 day drive doing 8 hours a day

---------- Post added August 30th, 2013 at 03:53 PM ----------

...unless you want to dive, like the OP. You know, diving/flying = not good

Exactly! I do not want to have to wait 12 hours and then fly, and then dive. I will spend 1 or 2 days before I head home not diving. I would love to have almost 30 days of diving.

 

[Wobbegong wannabe]

I've driven from Brisbane to Sydney return several times, and Brisbane to Cooktown return twice. I've also driven many of the western and remote highways in Qld and NSW, but unless someone finds a cave system out there you won't find any diving on them.

Brisbane to Sydney is a relatively easy two day drive. You could stop at Fish Rock Cave and Byron Bay on the way. There are substantial roadworks around Ballina, moving north.

Brisbane to Cairns is a relatively difficult three day drive. My stops are Rockhampton (no diving) and Bowen (also no diving). You would be better off stopping in Ayr and diving the Yongala, as mentioned above. There is also dining at Airlie Beach and 1770, though I don't know what it's like or if there are daily trips; it may just be weekend stuff and you would have to check.

There are major roadworks between Childers and Mackay. The highway is reduced to one lane in parts with stop-and-go traffic control and up to 30 minute waits. Take a book and some water, and factor your speed at about 70 kmph for distance calculations for this section, not 100. In fact don't count on 100kmph as an average anywhere north of Gympie. A single bad accident can close the highway in both directions for some hours, and unfortunately this happens fairly regularly, say every month or so.

Don't drive north of Rocky in the wet season unless you have a really open ended schedule, like with a spare fortnight in it. The Bruce Highway is routinely cut by floodwaters in several places, and often there's no option but to wait it out.

...rent an RV and drive around the entire coast, diving along the way.

Is that one of those dumpy vans with a bed in the back? IMO they are a terrible vehicle for Australian highway driving. They're not powerful enough to overtake a B Double (long truck) remembering that north of Gympie there are very few overtaking lanes and you have to pass using the oncoming lane when it's free. They seem barely capable of doing 90kmph if the thousand or so I've passed are anything to go by, and they're lethal in an accident.

I think you'd be far better off in a 4WD (SUV) or medium sized 4 cylinder a la Toyota Corolla, and either pack a tent and camp, or stay in motels. You've got a reasonable budget and basic motels aren't that expensive.

Anyway, just my two cents all round. Enjoy your trip (however you do it) and take care.

 

[alcina]

Yeah, I get the no flying after diving, but there isn't diving everywhere along the drive south (I don't think) so there would be days of just car time/sightseeing that would equal or surpass no fly times. I think driving and exploring are great ideas, my concern was the whole 8 hour thing on the road -> doesn't leave much fun time when one is eight hours wheels spinning imho just like while underwater, slower is better!

Some great info in this thread for the East Coast!

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Heg probably sumarized the best sites between Brisbane to Cairns. I still think if you get some cheap domestic flights it is going to be cheaper and quicker than driving, and you get more time to do some decent live aboards or day trips. Why not fly to Cairns and drive back to Brisbane? You can drive from there in about 3 - 4 days. Do the Yongala and HMAS Brisbane on the way down. Then fly to Sydney.

Its a nice drive Cairns to Brisbane but the roads are not that great and although the speed limit is 100km/h its rare to be able to do that all the way. Lots of little towns and as mentioned above road trains and trucks that slow you down.

Research some flight costs and subscribe to the Qantas, Virgin specials e-mails. Also conatct rental places like Hertz that do the camper vans as many offer a one way return charge to get the vans back to the point of origin. You have to be lucky to get the dates you want, but many drive up one way, so they do very cheap rates for someone to drive it back in a given time. Worth a look.

 

[TinaMackenzie]

Just thought I would add to this thread. I live in North Queensland 130km north of Townsville and have just driven down to Brisbane in the last month. There is a heap of road works going on at the moment from south of Townsville through to south of Gin Gin, which has added a lot of driving hours. it could change on when you are planing on your trip.

I would also watch out from the wet season.... The government has said they are fixing it up, however the highway has heaps of spots that gets cut off in both Central and northern Queensland and can be cut off for days at a time.

I love Queensland, but my partner and I just returned from a road trip down to Tasmania and I agree with others that the roads are crap in Queensland. I would fly to Cairns and then road trip it to Ayr to dive the Yongala with Yongala Dive their have accommodation above the shop and is a lot closer than Townsville. I would then drive back up to Townsville and fly to Brisbane and do some diving around the area.

I have dived out of Port Douglas, but only on day trips. I am lucky enough to be able to dive where I live the Palm Island Group (not shore dives due to crocodiles). If you decide to drive from Cairns down to Brisbane look up Lucinda Dive. The fella that runs the dive business is a local and knows the good diving sites. Lucinda is 330km south of Cairns and is a good break from diving.

The drive to Sydney is pretty good and there is plenty of shore dives and diving stores along the way.
It depends on how long you are planing on staying in Australia.