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Published: October 11th 2009
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Sunday 20.09.09
We left Benalla with a plan to drive a couple of hundred kilometers, before pitching the tent (sorry everything will be in kms, the car only counts in kms). We’ve got an ace book which lists free and cheap places to camp so we chose one just off the route and found it without too much trouble. It was just a recreation field in a town called Yarong and the sign at the gate said we should go to the bowls club next door for a beer and to pay for the pitch. There were no other tents and the site was enormous with lots of outbuildings between two fields. We packed up and pitched the tent as the sun set before popping over to the club. For anyone who came and camped near Battle in Sussex a few August Bank holidays ago the club was very similar. You had to sign in, everyone stared as we weren’t local but they were friendly all the same. The chap behind the bar invited us to enter the meat raffle which was about to take place though we declined not knowing what we’d do with a dozen lamb chops in the
tent. We had a nice beer and watched the start of the last one-dayer then retired to the tent.
Monday 21.09.09
We woke to a beautiful dawn across the oval, struck camp and drove onwards from New South Wales into Queensland. Along the way we had a brief diversion to visit ‘the dish’ - a big receiver dish which apparently received the first communications back from the moon landing. We had been looking forward to camping in the national park at the Warrumbungles- Auntie Janet had recommended it for scenery and wildlife. Unfortunately the weather was against us as persistent rain set in for the evening…followed by a thunderstorm the next morning. So we copped out and stayed in a cosy (and dry) motel, settling down to an evening with TV, takeaway pizza and beer!
Tuesday 22.09.09
We drove on through the rain so missed the national park completely though we saw the hills through a mist of rain. We covered 900 kms and crossed the boarder into Queensland, the rain was left behind us and the temperature soared. We planned to camp at Isla Gorge - after arriving we found a rocky camp ground and decided to
watch the sunset and eat dinner there before ploughing on to the next camp area from the book hoping it would be slightly better under foot. The Gorge itself was beautiful and we cooked pasta watching the last of the colour fade from the sky and then a million strs come out. You can really see why they’ve put so many big dishes in this part of the country to look at the stars. Then back into the car for about an hour before arriving at Theodore and setting up camp next to an entertaining chap, his girlfriend and 5 dogs. At only 17 he apparently knew all there was to know about the world and we passed a happy hour or so listening to the world according to Chris before retreating to our tent.
Wednesday 23.09.09
Another beautiful camp ground awaited us at St Helens Beach where we camped under a tree looking out on the ocean.
Thursday 24.09.09
We woke early to watch the sunrise over the beach; visibility was poor but it was still a lovely start to the day. We drove on to a rest area for breakfast passing three kangaroos hopping across the
raod before eating next to a big mango. We stopped again for lunch and were surrounded by interested roosters who seemed to be particularly partial to carrot peelings! Then the last push to Cairns here we rewarded ourselves with a night in an en-suite room in town and dinner on the sea front.
Friday 25.09.09
We checked out of the hostel and returned to the car, which it turn out we had parked under a tree where bats roost. The poo covered car really was an amazing site and so job number one changed from moving to the new hostel to finding a car wash! We entertained ourselves with the jet wash and now the car no longer stinks of bat poo (which I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to hear). We then moved to a camp site at a hostel just out of town called Tropic Days. It’s lovely. We also booked a tour for Saturday ad went to a talk about reef wildlife in own (so we’d be suitably scared about all the poisonous stuff out there to get us).
Saturday 26.09.09
We woke early and caught the bus into town to set sail on Passions
of Paradise to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. Neither of us had ever snorkeled before and the amount of fish we saw close up was amazing. The second site was in the middle of the sea with different varieties of fish. We saw a sing ray and a reef shark (don’t worry Mums - it was only about 2 foot long).
Sunday 27.09.09
Today we went to a beach north of Cairns and read on the sand as the wind blew in (a relief since I think it was 31 or 32 degrees C today). Tomorrow it's off to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree.
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