When we were planning our road trip up the northeast coast of Queensland, so many people tried to discourage us from driving.
“Don’t do it, mate,” they warned.
They thought we were crazy, vowing we would spend all of our time on the road, leaving us little time to relax.
But we would not be swayed.
First of all, we had too much stuff to lug onto a plane.
With our camping gear and diving equipment in tow, flying was not an option.
Plus, we really wanted to
see Australia. Flying may be fast, but it kills any true sense of adventure. Besides, after consulting our map and Google directions, we determined we would only be covering approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles), all of which were on the main motorway. How bad could it be? We’ve tackled much greater distances back home. What were all of these Aussies squawking about?
Well, let me be the first to clue you into the fact that 1,000 Aussie miles are nothing like 1,000 American miles.
A distance that should take 12 hours to drive is more likely to take 24 hours.
And, just because a road is labeled as a major highway on the map, does not mean that it is any more than a two-lane, country road.
Really, the Bruce Highway could have been any road in the Midwest, winding us through countless small towns, effectively decimating any hopes we had for keeping a swift pace.
Apparently, the only Aussie qualification for coining a road a “highway” is that it’s paved.
It didn’t take long for us to realize this was going to be a very long haul.
Even though the drive was painfully slow at times, we had a blast.
Yes, the miles wore on us and we eventually became pretty road-weary, but the experience was worth it.
The further north we drove, the further the towns began to spread out.
With each passing mile, the landscape transformed before our eyes, going from city to bush land to sugar cane fields as far as the eye could see.
I don’t know how many thousands of acres of sugar cane we drove past, but the vastness of it was astounding.
Sometimes, we saw nothing but sugar cane fields for hours at a time.
(Come to find out, eastern Australia is one of the largest producers of sugar can in the world, second only to Brazil, churning out 4.5-5 million tons of processed sugar per year.
Wow!)
We saw cane trains, a giant mango, kangaroos, dingoes, and even a massive croc sunning himself on the banks of the river.
We stopped at lonely fruit stands and bought local produce. And then, just when we thought we couldn’t stand another moment of driving, we reached Cairns.
I can’t say I have any desire to repeat this epic drive anytime soon, but I will say that driving the distance from Brisbane to Cairns is an adventure all in itself and is definitely worth the time and trouble.
When we were planning our road trip up the northeast coast of Queensland, so many people tried to discourage us from driving. “Don’t do it, mate,” they warned. They thought we were crazy, vowing we would spend all of our time on the road, leaving us little time to relax. But we would not be swayed. First of all, we had too much stuff to lug onto a plane. With our camping gear and diving equipment in tow, flying was not an option. Plus, we really wanted to see Australia. Flying may be fast, but it kills any true sense of adventure. Besides, after consulting our map and Google directions, we determined we would only be covering approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles), all of which were on the main motorway. How bad could it be? We’ve tackled much greater distances back home. What were all of these Aussies squawking about?
Well, let me be the first to clue you into the fact that 1,000 Aussie miles are nothing like 1,000 American miles. A distance that should take 12 hours to drive is more likely to take 24 hours. And, just because a road is labeled as a major highway on the map, does not mean that it is any more than a two-lane, country road. Really, the Bruce Highway could have been any road in the Midwest, winding us through countless small towns, effectively decimating any hopes we had for keeping a swift pace. Apparently, the only Aussie qualification for coining a road a “highway” is that it’s paved. It didn’t take long for us to realize this was going to be a very long haul.
Even though the drive was painfully slow at times, we had a blast. Yes, the miles wore on us and we eventually became pretty road-weary, but the experience was worth it. The further north we drove, the further the towns began to spread out. With each passing mile, the landscape transformed before our eyes, going from city to bush land to sugar cane fields as far as the eye could see. I don’t know how many thousands of acres of sugar cane we drove past, but the vastness of it was astounding. Sometimes, we saw nothing but sugar cane fields for hours at a time. (Come to find out, eastern Australia is one of the largest producers of sugar can in the world, second only to Brazil, churning out 4.5-5 million tons of processed sugar per year. Wow!) We saw cane trains, a giant mango, kangaroos, dingoes, and even a massive croc sunning himself on the banks of the river. We stopped at lonely fruit stands and bought local produce. And then, just when we thought we couldn’t stand another moment of driving, we reached Cairns. I can’t say I have any desire to repeat this epic drive anytime soon, but I will say that driving the distance from Brisbane to Cairns is an adventure all in itself and is definitely worth the time and trouble.
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