Rainbow Beach (Tourist drives N° 43 - 42 - 22 - 23 - 24)

9/10/2011: For my birthday we decided to drive 3h North to the beautiful Rainbow Beach.

It is the beach on the continent close to the South of Fraser Island (3. on the picture).

Pour mon anniversaire, nous avons décidé de rouler 3h vers le Nord vers Rainbow Beach. C'est proche de Fraser Island (N°3 sur l'image).

Islands/ Les îles:

1. Moreton Island

2. Bribie Island

3. Fraser Island

4. North Stradbroke Island

The myth:

The name, Rainbow Beach, comes from the colour of the sand dune along the beach. The aboriginal legend tells that a spirit plunged the cliff after a battle with an evil tribesman.

Le nom, plage arc-en-ciel, vient de la couleur des dunes de sables. La légende aboriginale raconte qu'un esprit a plongé de la falaise après un combat avec un vilain.

Transparent warm water. What a pleasure! Eau chaude et transparente... hmmm

Tin Can Bay: Calm and beautiful.

We loved driving in the area. I was hoping to see wild horses, Brambies, in the Great Sandy National Park. Queensland is sooo green! If it was a little cooler we could think we were in Bavaria, Germany.

On aime conduire dans la région. On espérait voir des chevaux sauvages, Brambies, dans le parc national. Le Queensland est tellement vert! S'il faisait un peu moins chaud, on se croirait en Bavière.

It's funny, we never drove 6h in a day in our home country... How often did we go to Köln in Germany or Metz in France or Amsterdam in The Netherlands? How far do you go in a weekend?

C'est amusant, nous ne roulions jamais 6h en une journée dans notre plat pays... Combien de fois sommes-nous allé à Cologne (Allemagne), à Metz (France) ou à Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)? Jusqu'où allez-vous dans votre week-end?



Special drive-through

En Belgique, nous avons les drive-through lors ce qu'on veut un burger accompagné d'une frite mais en Australie on peut aussi acheter son alcool sans devoir sortir de sa voiture.

In Belgium we can order a burger with some fries (or chips as they say here) from a drive-through but in Australia we can buy alcohol while staying in our car.

Boire ou conduire?

We have our new car!!!

[Post précédent: A la recherche d'une voiture-FR] or [Previous post: Finding a car -ENG] or [Previous: where to live part 2 ]

Everything is working smoothly for us here "down under" because we already have our new car! Yeah!!!

Australians are soooo nice! You have to dare asking for a favour because they will work around the rules for you. In our case:

- We asked the bank for a loan before Stijn's first day of work. They should have refused it but "No worries"!

- We sealed the deal and ordered the car without any paper signed or any money deposit... We just sent a SMS... Nice!!! They admitted that it was an exception as we knew the big boss. :-)

I guess that we are lucky.

Here is our beauty !

We have chosen the Hyundai IX35 Highlander with a few options for you, future visitors, such as front and back panoramic view roofs, cup holders, comfy seats... Let's hit the road! :-)

Look at his smile!!!

Driving on the left hand side

We feel quite comfortable now after driving for 3 weeks on the left hand side. We were very focused the first week and we did a few minor mistakes such as using our left hand to activate the light indicators and activated the wipes instead. We went on the right side of the street (...on a small residential street... ouf...)

Automatic cars are easy to drive, it almost takes the fun away from "driving" but it is pretty cool when you are adapting to a new country and that everything is new.

A few tips:
1) Forget that you have a left side body... let it sleep! So don't use your left foot to change gear and don't use your left hand when you want to turn.

2) Go to the other side to step into your car... I went several times on the other seat... Without steering wheel... When I was alone!

3) Don't try to catch flies whilst trying to reach your belt to buckel up... It's on the other side as well...

4) Force yourself to look at the central mirror. It is on the other side what is quite disturbing.

5) Follow the lines on the road... It will tell you where to turn. They are very explicit. Roundabouts are very clear. I have to say that it is better marked than in Belgium.

Now you can drive!!! So come on and try it by yourself!

[Next: Australia Part1 ]