Plunge Pool Day, Kakadu and Litchfield NP October 23, 2008 We drove through the southern part of Kakadu National Park very early this morning taking time to go 74 kilometers (roundtrip) on a 4WD road to a waterfall and plunge pool called Gunlom where Joe swam. The signs said to look out for freshwater crocodiles, and I figured that was my job since nobody else there was doing that. Soon it was “Goodbye Kakadu” and we were on the road heading back north toward Darwin. For a while we drove along the train tracks for the “Ghan” train that we will [View Full Entry]

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October 19, 2008 Headed into town (Kuranda) for morning coffee and found ourselves next to the table that the local men sit at for their daily coffee and chat. Joe, once again, found himself in a serious discussion of the world economy. No escaping that topic, that’s for sure. Then as we were walking down the street we ran into Fiona and Stuart and sat with them while they ate breakfast. From Kuranda, it was a 30 minute drive to Cairns, which is the main tourist city for the Great Barrier Reef. We purposely made Port Douglas our headquarters instead of [View Full Entry]

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October 18, 2008 We needed to “regroup” this morning. So we grabbed the laptop and bit the bullet and paid $5 an hour at the “Rehab” Internet cafe in downtown Port Douglas and forced ourselves to make some real plans. A cup of coffee for Joe and a mocha for me helped ease the chore of calling and connecting with hotels and airline companies. We were able to book a hotel in Darwin (we fly there on Oct. 20) and a flight from Melbourne to Christchurch, NZ on November 13. Got a good rate on the flight and the Australian dollar’s [View Full Entry]

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October 16, 2008 Today we went to Jurassic Park minus the dinosaurs, or at least it seemed that way. Driving north from Port Douglas we put the Jucy Van (and us) on a cable ferry to cross the Daintree River. We then drove as far as the sealed road could take us to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the sea. Captain James Cook’s boat, The Endeavor, ran aground there on a reef, hence the name Cape Tribulation. This area is called “The Daintree” and is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the oldest rainforest in the world, whatever that [View Full Entry]

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October 13, 2008 Monday in Australia Today was the best day yet, and that’s saying a lot. We boarded the Mantaray, a small tour boat at Shute Harbour near Airlie Cove. While waiting for fellow passengers to arrive we were treated to coffee, tea and cookies and spent a pleasant 45 minutes sitting in the harbour meeting people and looking at all the boats. We visited with a young couple from France and the wife, Huda, became our snorkeling buddy since her husband was scuba diving. She had grown up in Morocco and was doing nutrition research at a college in [View Full Entry]

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October 14, Tuesday On our way to Port Douglas we passed by so many places with tantalizing names: Dingo Beach, Hideaway Bay, Pink Lily Lagoon, Flying Fish Point, Cape Sandwich etc. We should have allowed a month for the drive up the East Coast. We feel we are missing a lot. We got off the Pacific Coast Highway and traveled inland for the afternoon going through what is called the Atherton Tablelands. This area contains fertile farmlands, mountains, small proud towns with meticulous landscaping, and lots of waterfalls. We stopped at a couple. For most of the afternoon we drove throug [View Full Entry]

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October 12, 2008 We were out of the caravan park by 6:30 AM and we even cooked breakfast and had showers. I’m writing this as we drive along, back on the Pacific Coast Highway. We’ve messed around too much and need to get a full days drive in today to get some miles behind us. The drive is an event in itself, though. We’ve seen mango orchards, dozens of little ponds with lotus blooms, small mountains, beautiful rivers, more banana plantations, charming towns with many Queenslanders (style of architecture, that I’m falling in love with) homes, miles of sugar c [View Full Entry]

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October 11, 2008 This will be short, we’re exhausted. We took a ferry to Fraser Island today, then a 4-wheel drive bus type vehicle toured us around the island. This place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the largest sand island in the world and contains 5 different eco-systems. We were fascinated with the place. At the moment about a 100 fruit bats are flying around our heads, a strange feeling. Tomorrow will be a long driving day, so we’ll be up early. [View Full Entry]

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October 9, 2008 Thursday (in Australia) We got up early to enjoy the morning in Byron Bay. We drove straight to Brisbane with only one stop at Surfers Paradise on the famous Gold Coast. That area reminded us a lot of Miami…big hotels along the beach. There is also every kind of amusement park, animal park, water park, etc. It’s kid heaven. Nothing there seemed to interest us too much. We got lost in Brisbane for about a half hour, oh we really miss our Garmin! We tried to get an Australian card for it before we left, but had no [View Full Entry]

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October 8, 2008 We are having a tough time planning our routes. It’s not trying to figure out where to go, it’s trying to decide where NOT to go. There’s just not enough time to do all we would like. Today our choices included beautiful beaches, fun little beach towns, lush rolling farmland with avocado, macadamia nut, and banana plantations and sugar cane fields, rainforest preserves and national parks that promise good birding and scenery, glitzy beach resorts, and great seafood restaurants. So where was our first stop? Target. We needed shampoo, a few snacks, and [View Full Entry]

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