Passing through Gin Gin we soon arrive in Childers and make a stop at the backpackers memorial in the visitors centre (a fire killed a number of backpackers at the hostel) Its very moving and, having stayed in a number of hostels on our travels we can totally understand how easy a fire could take hold. Continuing on our journey we drive into Noosa and find a place that has more roundabouts than Milton Keynes! Is this for real? Apparently there are over 100 of them in this small town. Parking up we head to find out if any free camping [View Full Entry]

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The scenery as we have been driving south has blown us away. As we head out of Townsville we are flanked on either side of the road with row after row of banana trees and what looks like sugar cane fields. Every so often we happen across roadside stalls selling the freshest and juiciest fruit imaginable and it would be rude not to try some wouldn’t it? As we arrive at Airlie Beach we are both feeling a little “beached out” and don’t really feel the vibe here. Its a place very much geared to the young, and most are here [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Port Douglas behind us, we head back down the Bruce highway, bypassing Cairns again and spend the night just outside of Babinda at a lovely rest stop in a field off the main highway. There are lots of other people here so its quite a cosy atmosphere as everyone is cooking their dinner and drinking wine, chatting outside of their vans/tents. No one is in a hurry to leave the following morning and we decide to stop off at the Josephine Falls in Wooroonooran National Park on our way to break the journey. Its a good call as the morning [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Port Douglas we were pleasantly surprised as to how much of a seaside town it was.Ok it wasn't quite Clacton but definately was a man made town full of beach shops and shops for the tourists. More annoying for us was the fact that there was no free camping anywhere in or around the outskirts of Port Douglas so we had to book into a caravan park. After strolling down to the beach we had a gorgeous sunset and, as we watched a couple getting married we both started to toy with the idea ourselves (we will leave you [View Full Entry]

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After taking a detour and stopping off at the Douglas Hot Springs (John’s first driving off road experience) we eventually reach another part of the Nitmiluk National park - Edith Falls. It lies on the western boundary of the park and in theory we could have walked here from Katherine Gorge (but we didn’t!) We head up the steep hill to the Leliyn lookout before heading to the upper pool. It was a bit of a scramble over the rocks to get there but once there we are in for a surprise. First there is a stunning waterfall but also a [View Full Entry]

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After crossing the Tropic of Capricorn for the third time on our road trip we headed down to Alice Springs. On arriving into the town we were somewhat dismayed to see so many drunks on the streets and the whole town seemed to have a real air of misery around it- not helped by the fact that the weather seemed to have taken a turn for the worse and was now very cloudy and gloomy. After a quick pit stop we headed out of Alice Springs towards the homestead at Curtain Springs where we had decided to spend the night. Once [View Full Entry]

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Having returned our campervan in Alice Springs and sold all of our camping stuff (tent, sleeping bag, chairs etc) we had taken an internal flight over to Cairns. We booked into a hostel and instantly regretted it!! Not sure if we were just missing the freedom and privacy of our campervan or whether we just didn’t like being kept awake until 3am in the morning by the group of young people playing drinking games below our window. Was this what we had in store on the east coast? Ever get the feeling you’re 20 years too late for something?? As we [View Full Entry]

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The only way to access Cape Tribulation is via an old car ferry from Daintree which takes approx 10 cars at a time across the river. After crossing we drive up 30km through the midst of the rainforest, a canopy of trees across the road as we drive along the winding and sometimes scary road. We had planned to stay at Noahs campsite but we soon find out when we get there that you have to pre register by phone/internet....and there’s no phone signal. After driving another 7km to the local store we were told not to bother phoning as the [View Full Entry]

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As we leave Katherine behind us and head towards Darwin the first thing that we notice is the amount of ‘normal’ cars that are now on the road - very few 4wd’s, campervans, trucks or yutes now, just plain 4 door cars which we have not seen for absolutely ages. It seems that we are heading back into city life of sorts having left it for what seems like an age. We make good time but are still not going to make it before sundown so stop at a rest stop about 30km outside of Darwin - the Noonamah Roadhouse. One [View Full Entry]

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Katherine is another one of those towns with very strict drinking laws. Like the rest of Australia you cannot buy alcohol in the supermarkets - you have to go to a liquor store or bottle shop, they are only open between 2-6pm and you are limited to what you can buy e.g one bottle of wine per person per day!! As we approach Katherine we stop at the Hot Springs, a lovely shaded spring fed creek that has crystal clear thermal waters at constant temperature of 32º. Its a lovely way to wake up, wallowing in the waters and getting to [View Full Entry]

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