G'Day! Welcome to our little honeymoon travel site.

It's our intention (seeing as we 'selfishly' decided to do this wedding thing on our own) to share our wedding and honeymoon adventures down under, online, with all our friends and family.

You can explore the map by starting at the bottom, as our travels will take us from Sydney down south, to Cairns up north. (Sydney-Brisbane by plane and Brisbane-Cairns by car.) Clicking a destination will take you to our 'daily' journals, as we update them over the course of our journey.

We'll try to update these pages daily, but please bare with us ... This is our honeymoon after all! ;-)

2/Blue Mountains

While based in Sydney, we'd like to take a daytrip to the beautiful Blue Mountains region. Hopefully the early bushfire season won't spoil the opportunity to admire the 'Three Sisters', the famous 'rocky' symbols of this National Park.

3/Brisbane

We'll be flying in from Sydney (1h35 flight) and pick up our rental car at Brisbane airport to start our roadtrip adventure in Queensland. We'll have 2 days to explore Brisbane from our base at the Ibis hotel. Highlights of the city include it's historical architecture, Chinatown, Botanic Gardens, Southbank Park... We'll also be checking out the posibilities to go whale-watching (Fingers crossed. It's now the end of the whale-whatching season in this region ... )

4/Lamington National Park

A 120 km drive down south from Brisbane brings us to Lamington NP. A vast 200 km² rainforest park, reknowned for it's famous treetop walkways (suspended ropebridges and observation decks, 30m high amidst the forest canopy) and its 160 km of walking trails crisscrossing the nature reserve.

5/Hervey Bay

We drive back up north now along the Sunshine Coast (400km) towards Hervey Bay, a quiet coastal fishing town. We'll be staying here for 2 nights. It'll be our base for a daytrip to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. Evenings we'll probably spend strolling along the beautiful tropical beaches. Hmmm ...

6/Fraser Island

This 140 km long - 25 km wide sand island suprisingly offers a varied landscape of hills and valleys with lakes of crystal clear water, and much fauna and flora to admire. We'll be exploring this wonder of nature with a 4-WD and visit the Seventy Five Mile beach and the famous Maheno shipwrek. We'll also be going to Lake Allom, home of the giant inland turtles.

7/Rockhampton

The beef capital of Australia, another 400 km drive north. So no worries about what we'll be eating this evening. They should have a decent steak, right?!
It's also situated along the border of the capricorn marker, where we'll officially be passing into the tropics. We could visit the Aboriginal Dreamtime Centre and/or limestone caves.
This is more of a stopover on our way up north.

8/Mackay

Another 350 km northward. This is a 'sweet' little coastal town, known as the region's headquarters for the vast sugar cane industry. We'll be staying at the Whitsunday Waters Resort. More beautiful beaches... Aahhh

9/Airlie Beach

On our way north to Airlie Beach (172 km) we'll pass the Eungella National Park in the rugged Clarke Ranges, where you're almost guaranteed to spot a platypus in one of the lowland swimming holes. Judging from the guidebooks, Airlie Beach itself seems uninspiring, but it'll be our base for exploring the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. The Mango House Resort where we'll be staying seems comfy enough.

10/Whitsunday Islands

Today we'll be taking a daytrip aboard the Maxi Ragamuffin racing yacht to Blue Pearl Bay (Hayman Island), a 2 hour sail from the mainland. It's the site of some of the most spectacular fringing reefs. We'll dive in for some snorkling. After a tropical buffet lunch, we'll be sailing back.

11/Townsville

A 282 km drive north to Townsville, a modern coastal town with a buzzing cultural scene and its own university. It's also known as the base for tropical and marine research, being home to the headquarters of The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. On our way we'll pass the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary to get our fare share of Australian wildlife: kangaroo's, koala's, wallabies, wombats, croc's and snakes. Perhaps we'll get the chance to follow one of the aboriginal guides around and learn how to 'prepare' our bush tucker grubs ... Yummie!

15/Cairns

Cairns is the most norhtern city of Queensland and is the finishing-point of our roadtrip. From here we'll be flying back to wintery Belgium (or will we 'miss' our plane?). We might still visit Tjapukai, the local Aboriginal Cultural Centre with it's famous theatre group.

13/Port Douglas

Back down south for 20 km, to Port Douglas, one of the oldest towns in north Queensland. Once a busy port, now known for it's marina, home to many luxurious yachts. We'll be staying here for 3 nights. The comfy resort will be our base for daytrips to the Great Barrier Reef, the Atherton Tablelands National Park and the nearby city Cairns (70 km).

12/Daintree

From Townsville we'll be driving our longest stretch, 425 km to Daintree, the most northernly stop of our trip. It takes us right into the heart of the rainforests of Daintree National Park, where we'll be staying in the luxurious 5-star resort, Silky Oaks Lodge, overlooking an idyllic rainforest lagoon. We'll have a treehouse chalet with jacuzzi, private balcony and hammock all to ourselves. In the evening we'll enjoy an exquisite 5-course dinner, and in the morning a tropical breakfast accompanied by birdsong. ;-) After that extravagance we'll be exploring the nearby Mossman Gorge National Park.

14/Great Barrier Reef

The Quicksilver Catamaran will take us to the very edge of Australia's Continental Shelf, to Agincourt Reef. A magnificent ribbon reef where we'll be able to dive in for some snorkling. If there's still some money left, we might just do that magical helicopter flight, skimming over the shallow, crystal clear waters that cover the Great Barrier Reef...