Hello Geocachers from Down Under,

my girlfriend and me will visit Australia for 5 1/2 weeks and so we hope we can find some caches, too.
I've read the information about deadly creatures - a lot of thanks for that!

Basically we've got two more questions:

1) Can you give us any recommendations what are really cool caches?

There we are:

From Cairns to Brisbane (by car)
Sydney (no car)
From Melbourne to Adelaide (by car)
Perth (by car)

We're no T5 freaks, so I assume terrain 4 is the highest we have the heart to do
What we like is to see amazing and interesting places or to have a city tour.
It's OK to go on longer hikes up to 20 km a day.

2) We have no idea how to manage internet access because we don't want to go to hostels all the time. I think we sleep mostly at caravan parks or in our car.
So, is there anything like a prepaid card with a USB stick with a flatrate for a month? How's about free WLAN? Is UMTS also available in towns?


I'm sorry if there are some mistakes in my post - it's hard for me as a non native speaker...
So, thanks for your help anyway!

Greetings from Munich - I could talk to many Aussis during Octoberfest this year, already
Otto

Hi Otto
Macdonalds have free wi-fi and also some of the coffee shops if you buy a coffee. The distances you are driving are huge you may both want to have a international licence to share the driving. and be well prepared for the drive across the plains to Perth.

Many of the National Parks do not allow camping overnight, there is a book you can buy , the name eludes me at the moment I will try and find it for you. It includes free camping places in Australia. Try and grab that one.
Wells Inc

1)
- Blue Mountains: Wolgan Views http://coord.info/GCWXKG - definitiv ein Top5 Cache
- Melbourne: Millionaires Walk http://coord.info/GCKH94 und die Dosen drumherum
- es gibt auch ein paar Nigthcaches in Australien: http://maps.nightcaching.org
... ansonsten einfach mal anrufen: +49 6198 348325 (zu Australischen Tageszeiten!!) ich wohn hier ja

2) UMTS gibt es hier flächendeckend über Telstra das ist aber teuer. Einen Vodafone 3G Stick gibt's für kleines Geld und das funktioniert auch in den meisten Gebieten - wir haben das letztes Jahr benutzt und das war 1A: http://traces-in-the-sand.blogspot.com/

cheers aus Sunshine VIC

Guten tag Otto und willkommen.
So many caches to choose from! Here's a couple of areas that I'd recommend to visit a cache if you get time, in southeast Queensland.

=Brisbane Forest Park, about 10km roughly west of Brisbane City, is usually good 'value' for a bushwalk in lake-side, eucalypt forest, and/or the higher rainforest areas. (Trails are often signposted at the start only, or unposted.)
=Mt. Coot-tha. 6km west of Brisbane City. Marked shorter trails, or drive up the auto, for fantastic views over Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Islands.
=Point Danger (Lookout). About 100km south of Brisbane. on Queensland/New South Wales border at Cooloongatta/Tweed coast. Great views of the coast and hinterland etc.

(Then there's the Glasshouse Mountains, Mt. Mee, Samford Valley, Springbrook and Lamington Plateau. The list goes on ...) Cheers.

There are plenty of challenging hikes in the Namadgi National Park in the South of Canberra, with some great views and and they range from T3-T4.5 , plus you get to see areas tourist don't normally see..

Certainly Cairns to Brisbane has many caches along that route. Remember, thats about 1800km. Plenty in the towns and cities along the way. You can do a postcode search for anywhere in Australia. http://auspost.com.au/apps/postcode.html is the page you want. Get the name and state of the place you are looking at, that site will give you the postcode, then GC.com does give results for Australian postcodes. All postcodes are 4 digit here. Cairns to Brisbane will commence with a 4, Sydney 2, Melbourne and Victoria 3, Adelaide and South Australia 5, and Perth 6.
If you are doing Melbourne to Adelaide by car, the you must drive the Great Ocean Rd, there are some excellent caches along that road, as well as fantastic scenery.
Some in Queensland. Any that are at any waterfalls between Cairns and Ingham. On top of Castle Hill in Townsville, one called The Leap- just north of Mackay, nice views along the Capricorn Coast- east of Rockhampton, a quick but tough drive by of mine just south of Benaraby near Gladstone- Heeeeeyyyyyyyyy- its right on the highway, heaps in Bundaberg, then onto the Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane.

G'day Otto

The book WellsInc may have been referring is perhaps Camps5 Australia Wide. The spiral bound one presently costs $55. I recovered the cost in about 2 days.

It lists 3500 rest areas, free camps, camps in National parks & state forests, low-cost caravan parks & has a Hema road atlas.

It gives the GPS co-ordinates of each site plus the nearest town & directions. It can be purchased from newsagents & major book sellers such as Dymocks.

Enjoy your visit.

Yes, I did forget to mention that. Just look for all the caravans parked beside the road somewhere, and chances are, its the grey nomads at a free camping site. Places I can think of, off the top of my head are at Clairview- between Mackay and Rocky, Calliope River- west of Gladstone, Granite Creek- south of Gladstone, Gin Gin, rest area just north of Gympie. The book mentioned, Camps xxx Australai Wide, is a great book. We have the third version.

There is a great beach to see turtles laying eggs and turtle hatchlings at Mon Repos near Bundaberg, and some great caches nearby too!

Turtle viewing is from October to March each year. October to January is mainly turtles laying eggs. At the end of the turtle season (February to end of March) it's mainly seeing turtle hatchlings make their way to the sea. The turtle interpretation centre is open year round.

Many thanks for your replies!!