Jul 18, 2018 - Mission Beach and Cairns

It has almost been three weeks and all is going well, the only mishap so far has been a stone chip in the centre of the windscreen on the driver's side. O'Brien Glass said it was too big to repair whereas a local company did a great job and only charged $65. We are lucky to be here this time of year as it is outside of marine stinger season. Funny to think all this glorious coastline and you take your life in your hands six months of the year. The bad news is there are crocodiles all year round, however good news you don't have to worry...

Jul 15, 2018 - Great Barrier Reef

We reached Cairns (pronounced cans) where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. We had planned on staying here for three days but ended up staying six days as this place has a lot to do and the weather was superb! Plus, we both needed a city “fix” as most of our trip to this point has been in outback and rural areas with only small towns. We hiked, went bicycling, toured a super interesting botanical garden, went to a great aquarium, and best of all we snorkeled two different sites on the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is farther from...

Jul 15, 2018 - Wet tropics and surrounds

Townsville is the second largest city in Queensland with a population of 180,000 and surprisingly quite compact. We had great views of the city and surrounding area including out to Magnetic Island from the pink granite monolith that is Castle Hill. While we drove up, lots of other fit people walked, jogged and cycled up. The Ross River flows through town, isn't there a mosquito-borne virus named after it? Aerogard anyone? Driving through Ingham I was very disappointed that despite its strong Italian heritage there was not one Italian cake...

Jul 14, 2018 - Cape of York

We drove north on the Cape York Peninsula to Cooktown where the pavement ends. You can continue on 4-wheel drive roads for another 500 miles or so to the end of the Cape. Lots of people do drive to the end but only with serious 4-wheel drive vehicles carrying extra fuel, water, spare tires and a satellite phone. We talked to one couple who just completed the trip which took a month. “Never again” is what they said. So we stopped at Cooktown where back in 1770 Captain Cook beached his ship the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef. From that...

Jul 12, 2018 - The Whitsundays and a big mango

Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because this region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar. There is an extensive network of narrow gauge railways all around the area built purely for moving harvested cane. The main street of the town had some lovely Art Deco buildings. Arriving at our accommodation at Airlie Beach and looking out at the wonderful view from our balcony we can't help feeling that the Whitsunday Coast is truly paradise. Palm lined beaches and an endless horizon of turquoise water dotted with...

Jul 8, 2018 - Arrived in the Tropics

Stopped in to Agnes Water and 1770 for lunch. Lovely sleepy seaside towns. Agnes Water is the most northerly surf beach on the east coast of Australia that is open to ocean swells before the Great Barrier Reef blocks the swell from the ocean. There were loads of surfers with long boards surfing the point. Real gnarly! You can smell Rockhampton before you actually arrive, it might have something to do with all the cattle ranches that encompass this part of the world. The streets are incredibly wide and there are some lovely Queenslanders -...

Jul 6, 2018 - Bee Gees, Bundy Rum and a man named Dingo

Our first night in Queensland was in Surfers Paradise. The beaches are wide and the buildings tall with endless high rise apartments. Everyone is very friendly with lots of Darlings and Loves, from the service staff. Visited Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens on the outskirts of Brisbane to see the beautiful tropical display dome, Japanese gardens, Bonsai display and cactus gardens. It was a perfect day weather wise to walk around the gardens. There was a surprise in the cactus house, a diamond patterned snake curled up asleep and a few water...

Jul 4, 2018 - Upper North Coast

We called in to Coffs Harbour and the Big Banana on the way. They say this is the place that started the BIG craze. Its quite a complex now with laser tag, ice skating and water slides, oh and bananas of course! We spent a night in beautiful Byron Bay and thought wow if it is this crowded in winter we'd hate to see it in peak summer season. While we didn't spot anyone famous the staff everywhere are very friendly and helpful, with a nice relaxed vibe. After breakfast we visited the 1901 year old light house at Cape Byron, and every man and...

Jul 2, 2018 - Goodbye desert, hello rainforest

We left Alice springs and began a very long road trip of 1500 miles across desolate outback country to the northeast coast and the Australian rainforest. The most we could drive on any day was only 300 miles because of the challenging road conditions. Since there is only one paved road that runs north-south through the center of the country we had to backtrack our previous route for about 300 miles until we reached the only paved road that travels east-west across the country. Then it was approximately another 1200 miles until we reached...

Jun 14, 2018 - Hong Kong to Brisbane

Day 27. Hong Kong - Brisbane 14/6/18. Thursday. Wet, Stormy, then sunny!! After boarding the plane in Hong Kong, we sat, and sat, and sat. For just over 2 hours. Because of the stormy weather which delayed our landing in Hong Kong, it also delayed our take-off. We were warned that when we finally got in the air we could expect a lot of turbulence all the way to Australia. I was a little concerned, but then reminded myself that we were flying with the worlds safest airline Qantas, so that helped. The pilot announced that Sydney had been...

May 11, 2018 - Time to go

Finn and Tony did get to go fishing on Tuesday after school, even though it was a bit drizzly. Finn caught a 30cm catfish which was returned to the water. So he was very pleased with himself. We departed Lennox Head on Wednesday morning and made our way to Bribie island with a couple of stops along the way to purchase a water filter and some impellers to take back with us. Tony trimmed the bonsai to within an inch of it's life! !!! Bob is very healthy and happy and has forgotten all about me, Jane looks after him so well. We spent some...

May 8, 2018 - Cairns and Port Douglas

After 65 days and 8533 kilometres, we handed back the campervan in Cairns. We spent a week chilling out in the area, learning a lot about coconuts, coral and cane-toads! As well as relaxation, it was a time of celebration: Marianne’s nephew, Will, got engaged to Daisy and Birmingham City FC managed to avoid relegation.