Over 85% of Australia’s population lives within 50KM of the coast. The area beyond is called hinterland. In the three months since landing in Queensland, Australia, we’ve driven into the hinterlands and explored a few times. These are our highlights of the hinterlands.
Driving to the Hinterlands
Getting to the hinterlands has been easy, as they aren’t far from the big cities and the coast, and on well traveled roads. By now, we’re used to driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. Australia has plenty of highways leading between cities and into the hinterlands. The main concern is driving at night because kangaroos come out of nowhere.
After a week enjoying the fun activities in Gold Coast, we started sailing north. We’re trying to get to the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef where it’s warm even in the winter. The East Coast of Australia is ideal cruising grounds. We only need to sail a couple hours between stops because there are so many nice anchorages. Cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane is about choosing which beautiful anchorage to stop in and for how long. Here’s where we went.
Leaving Gold Coast
The first leg of the trip, leaving Gold Coast, was the trickiest part. Depths are shallow in the inlet, and you’ve got to take care with shifting sands and tides. A superyacht which was also docked at Southport Yacht Club when we were there went aground in the area just north of the marina.
Sunday afternoon is a busy time to be in the Gold Coast Broadwater, and that’s exactly when we left the marina. The bay was full of pleasure boats, other yachts, jet skis, tour boats, and fishing craft. We were behind the wheel the entire time navigating all the obstacles.
Sand bar in the Gold Coast Broadwater
Once we got several miles outside of Gold Coast, the traffic eased significantly. Later that first day, we had to navigate underneath electric wires crossing the bay between the mainland and Stradbroke Island, which was a little nervewracking. We don’t often have to navigate under wires, but we did it!
New Zealand is an amazing place for hiking, and Kiwis are hard core trampers. We spent six months between the North and South Islands and did a lot of hiking, along beaches, up volcanoes, and to wineries and glaciers. Here are some of our favorite New Zealand hikes.
Hiking Volcanoes in New Zealand
Since New Zealand is known for its volcanoes, we had to walk some of them! It means a lot of vertical walking, but there’s usually a payoff of a good view. The North Island has nine active volcanoes, and much of the land features like in Rotorua, are results of volcanic activity.
Here are some of the volcanoes we hiked in New Zealand’s North Island:
Maungawhau/mount eden, auckland
Mount Eden is a great hike to do when you spend a couple of days in Auckland. It’s conveniently located to downtown, and an easy walk to do without any hiking gear. As a result, it’s popular and can be mobbed with tourists on a nice day. Still, it offers nice views and there’s good restaurants and bars to reward yourself after the volcano hike!
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