Monday July 21st We went downtown today to try and lodge our tax returns first off. This was unsuccessful because it was just over our heads and we didn’t want to mess something out and lose out on money. Mike went for a haircut so Katja and I walked around the town. Once Mike was done we met up we went to the local Travellers Auto Barn to top up on power steering fluid, talk about an oil change and towing fee. Next was Charles Darwin University for photos. Anything I could find that had Charles Darwin’s name in it I [View Full Entry]

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Saturday July 19th We began the day by getting on the Kakadu Highway just outside of the park. Our first stop was at Gunlom, a small waterfall and plunge pool. To get there we had to drive along a thirty something kilometre unsealed (dirt) road. The road was in decent condition however we were not supposed to be on unsealed roads and it was going to take at least an hour each way to get there. We made it about 700 metres before calling it quits and turning back. The next place we stopped was called yellow waters. It was similar [View Full Entry]

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After packing up we headed east of town about 30 kilometres to Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park. We asked a ranger at the visitor centre what path she would suggest if you could only take one. She suggested Butterfly gorge. We made lunch and prepared for a full day of walking. The path was very rugged and hilly; however it was well worth it. The walls were at least 30 metres tall and straight up. The water was very deep and comfortable to swim in. We hopped into the water and swam to the other side exploring little shelves on the [View Full Entry]

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We got up early, about 6:15 wanting to travel as far as we could today. We stopped at Barkly Homestead for a washroom break, to clean the dishes and to fill up on gas. We were low on gas and had no other choice but to fill up. Unfortunately this was the highest gas price we would encounter all trip and the low gas light was on. It was 2.20 per litre! Just after Barkly Homestead we completed the Barkly Highway and started north along the Stuart Highway. In Elliott Mike got out and I drove the rest of the day. [View Full Entry]

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Sunday July 6th I got up at 7:00 to the Mikes cooking steak and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we picked up Mark from across the street and headed to our car. With light the guys tried again to get the belt on, but to no avail. The idle tensioner pulley had a ruined bearing which could not handle the tension of the belt. Anytime the motor turned on, the pulleys rotated and the belt would come off. We all hopped back into the ute and went back to Mikes place. I used Mike’s landline to call the tow truck. It [View Full Entry]

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We left the caravan park just after 9 O’clock heading south from Atherton through Malanda to Milla Milla. From Milla Milla we went east to the “waterfalls circuit.” The circuit is a 15 kilometre circular loop which is extremely tight and very twisty. It winds through the heart of Queensland’s dairy land with three waterfalls being the attractions. The first two waterfalls were quite good but the third waterfall is the main tourist attraction of the area. Here at the Milla Milla Falls we got lots of warm dry clothes together and braved the EXTREMELY cold water, all for a [View Full Entry]

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Thursday July 3rd I woke up at 7:00 after a 10 hour sleep. I was the only person left in the tent. I got out of the tent to find Mike and Katja in the car. Mike was asleep behind the driver seat using the driver’s headrest as a pillow. Katja was awake reading a magazine in the passenger seat. We had breakfast and got out of the caravan park just after 9 O’clock. We continued north along the coast crossing the Daintree River by cable ferry. Once across we were officially in Tribulation. We continued north stopping at boardwalks along [View Full Entry]

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We showed up right at opening after dealing with the security deposits late last night. We got the campervan without a hitch this time. We took it first down the road to the city mall to pick up a FM transmitter for our iPods. I was the most confident manual driver it seemed so I drove first. We went into the underground parking hitting the height warning. It didn’t bring up any alarms within us. We got into the actual structure fine. I turned into one of the lanes and all of a sudden there was a loud noise. The plastic [View Full Entry]

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I woke up and checked out of the hostel. I continued downtown after breakfast checking mail, Facebook and updating my travel blog. After that I went to the bank to check my balance and onto the local travel info place to pick up information on Cape Tribulation, the next place we were planning on going. I text Mike regarding meeting up with me so that we could pick up the car. No reply! I searched the town for him as we had to pick up the car by three O’clock. I had completed everything I wanted to do in town so [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday June 25th: We had to get up bright and early again. Today was the start of our five day learn to scuba course. The shuttle picked us up and took us to their retail shop in downtown Cairns. There we squared up all the remaining money, met our instructor Nick and the other six people that would be in our class. From tehre we were shuttled to a small private pool. There we spent the rest of the day. There were two days to be spent here. The people on day two of the course were already in the pool [View Full Entry]

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