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Romana and I decided we would take a road trip along part of the east coast of Australia. This would be a farewell trip for Romana, having been in Australia since November and a welcome trip for me, having just arrived. So we set off with 10 days to play with, starting in Cairns and ending in Brisbane. We hired a little campervan so that we would have the freedom to stop when we felt the need and also didn't have to worry too much about accommodation along the way. We flew from Sydney to Cairns and as we approached our landing, the scenery was absolutely spectacular. We saw the coastal road that we would be driving along with mountains one side and beach all the way along the other side.
Once landed, we all trailed off the plane as per usual (Romana and I had hand luggage only, so thought we could make a quick exit) as we approached a door in the walkway, we found it was locked. Confused, we thought we had gone the wrong way so we all (like sheep) headed down the only other possible walkway to find that it was locked too. Clearly they
didn't want us to get off the plane!! ha ha.. after a lot of people standing around looking puzzled and murmering to one another, the flight attendant came off the plane and said he would 'radio for assistance.' After what seemed like an eternity being trapped, a lady came and unlocked the door for us and we were allowed to leave Cairns airport! The first thing that hit us both was the heat, it was about 28 degrees and we both had jeans and jumpers on due to it being cold in Sydney!! The jumpers soon came off and the sunglasses were on. I was excited about getting a bit of sunshine again after 2 weeks in Sydney frantically trying to gather some warm clothes as my rucksack was full of flip flops and flimsy dresses!
We arrived at the camper van hire centre and were shown the van that was to be our home for the next 10 days. My initial reaction was how small it was...to use the 'kitchen' (if you can call it that) you had to lift the boot up- and stand at the back of the van. But after driving it (having not driven
for 4 months) and getting used to being in it, I was glad our little 'Chubby' as it was called, was the size it was. Our first port of call was the supermarket in Cairns to gather our provisions and some ice for the cool box (they call it an eski here). Then we headed north (just for a short distance as we had many recommendations to go to some places north of Cairns). This route took us along what is known as the Captain Cook Highway, the road that we had viewed as we were landing. On one side you have the coast with many beaches and bays, and on the other, the mountainous rainforest which provides a spectacular backdrop. This was a great start to our road trip and we stopped at a couple of deserted beaches to soak in the scenery. Our first designated stop was Port Douglas, just 70 km north of Cairns. Nestled at the end of a peninsula, on one side of the village is the marina and along the other side of the peninsula stretches the sandy sweep of the Four Mile Beach. It's a very pleasant and upmarket destination and we wondered
around for a couple of hours to soak up the atmosphere, taking a walk along the beach and up to the view point and then we sat on the beach enjoying a beer in the sunshine before we headed off to reach the Daintree before dark.
At around 1200 square kilometers the Daintree is Australia's largest contiguous areas of rainforest. Named after Richard Daintree, part of the forest is protected by the Daintree National Park and drained by the Daintree River. It is also a listed as a World Heritage site so we knew it would be pretty special. We arrived at Daintree village...an absolutely deserted place, and set up camp on a campsite area down by the river. As we got out of the van and began preparing the van (table and chairs configuration) and food for some much needed dinner, Romana protested she was being bitten, and promptly began throwing some more clothes on...at first I thought she was being paranoid and then I felt bites on my hand. (the next morning we both woke up with 30+ bites each...Romana mainly on her legs and I had about 8 alone on one hand!) The joys of staying
in a rainforest and right by a river! Anyway, after a restless first nights' sleep in the sweltering heat of the campervan, we got up early to drive the 5km or so to embark on our 'Bruce Belchers' river cruise to spot the crocodiles! We had so much fun as there weren't many people on the tour and the driver took a liking to Ro and I and let us drive the boat for a while! it was a very scenic tour on the daintree river and we spotted lots of wildlife including a beautiful kingfisher. It wasn't until we dropped the others off somewhere else (they were on a package tour) and it was just Ro and I, that we actually got to see a crocodile....a very small one, but still a crocodile! I was unable to get a good photo of the little thing but at least we saw one!
We then left the daintree and crossed the river further upstream on a car ferry type thing to make our way further into the rainforest towards Cape tribulation. We stopped at an amazing lookout with views across the rainforest and the place where the daintree river meets
the sea. We also went on a 'boardwalk' around the scenic forest and spotted lots of interesting plants and some bright blue fruits that must have fallen from a tree, if anyone can shed light onto what these are we would appreciate it?!! We also went to Cow bay which is one of the beaches along the Rainforest coast and was absolutely beautiful, if not a little fearful for warning signs of crocodiles!! This whole coastal area down as far as Mackay is high risk and potentially 'crocodile infested!'
We left the Daintree area around mid-day, and wanted to make our way down as far as Townsville before the end of the evening....we were told it was around 5 hours drive and on the way we decided to take a small detour inland to a place called Mungalli where there were some falls and also a dairy where we had read we could taste the cheeses and cheesecakes that were produced there. Unfortunately we arrived just as they had closed but they allowed us to purchase some delicious rich cheesecake to keep us going. The tracks around the area were very rural, and generally one lane so very scenic.
We then stopped at the falls, just as the rain was pouring so we didn't stop for too long before we got back on the road towards Townsville. We didn't arrive in Townsville until about 8pm (after our detour) and had an interesting time trying to find our campsite, along with a random breath test stop by the police for Romana!
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mum
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Blue things from the trees!
Apparently these are quandong berries, I looked it up on Google! Glad our NZ motorhome is bigger than your chubby, looks SO 60's - talk about flowers in your hair!! More amazing travels, sounds wonderful. Love and Peace! xx