Raz and Chaz Road Trip

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Ryley and I just finished our road trip along to East Coast from Brisbane to Cairns, and it was the best trip ever
We went to loads of different places and learnt a lot, so I've got some tips and advice for each location that our past selves could have done with three weeks ago.


Noosa: don't get a parking ticket 🙃

Yep, we got a $266 fine for overnight parking on a residential road... learnt that lesson the hard way.


Fraser: bring warm clothes/ a sleeping bag!
 Our glamping tent was great but FREEZING at night.

Also, there's so much to see and do on Fraser, but it's definitely worth paying an extra $100 to go on the plane ride over the island!


Bundaberg: only stay if you have friends here!

Bundaberg can be a good stop over on your way through, but we only spent so long there as we were with Ryley's friends from the farm.
Also if you do go through, stop by the big bottle of rum


1770 and Agnes Water: Watch the sunset over 1770 foreshore


Rockhampton: if you are in a van, stay at Yaamba rest area
This was a great stop over, especially as we were doing a lot of long drives on this portion of our trip.


Whitsundays: travel sickness tablets!!

I was lucky enough to not get seasick the whole trip, and I took Travacalm.


Airlie beach: Nomads campsite

Again if you are in a van, stay here! This was my favourite place we stayed in Roxanne.


Bowen: good place to stop on your way through

Visit the Big Mango and the beach if you have time!



Home Hill: don't go (:

We just came here to visit our mate Lewis, sorry mate but it's a shithole



Townsville: castle hill for the sunset

I really liked Townsville and was sad that we didn't have much time here as we had to get to Cairns for our skydive. But we had enough time to go to the top of Castle Hill, or Cootheringa, for the sunset, which was absolutely stunning.


Magnetic island: hire vespas

A lot of people hire the Barbie cars around Magnetic island, which do look really fun, but we got vespas and they were soooo much fun. Zipping around the island singing Mario kart songs was the best way to spend our limited time there!


Cairns: not great for campsites, but great for cheap hostels

We were surprised at how we struggled to find a campsite or van parking in Cairns. So unfortunately our last few nights of the road trip were spent sleeping in a hostel rather than in the van. Nevertheless, the hostels in Cairns are so cheap compared to down south.



General driving tips:

- if bored or starting to get tired, play games like Who am I or Shag Marry Cruise

- sometimes the QLD roads have trivia! Very rarely, I think we found these on roads between Agnes Water and Rockhampton

- get yourself a driving snack- ours were gummy snakes!!

- get the tunes on

-rate the toilets
We rated every single toilet we went into on our road trip out of 10 which made it a bit more fun. Australia is great for public toilets but don't be surprised when you get a 1/10 compost toilet...

- when driving a high top van like ours, go dead slow, especially when turning corners and going over speed bumps, otherwise everything in the back flies everywhere!

I loved travelling with Ryley and I loved being in that van. Thanks for everything Roxanne!

Shepp x

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