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CAIRNS/KURANDA
Scenic Rail TripHi everyone, trust this finds you all well. This is being written from an internet cafe in the wonderful town of Port Douglas, where we have been for the last week.
Our last 2 days in Cairns were both good and bad. Bad on Saturday cos Ken had money taken from his wallet; he had lost it and found approx 2 hours later, cards intact, money gone. Not happy but at least he hadn't been mugged to obtain the money and he still has access to money. The good was Sunday when we went up to a village in the mountains called Kuranda via a scenic railway and down the mountain via a cable car (Linda was brave). Some of the views were stunning but the weather was a bit against us.
We picked up our campervan on Monday morning. It was a cheap but cheerful Wicked Camper. For those of you who are unaware of the Wicked Camper vans they are all sprayed in different designs ranging from the characters in Reservoir Dogs to looking like a can of coca -cola. Ours is the Graceland model with paintings of Elvis adorning the outside.
We had intended to
just park up anywhere and generally rough it. We were advised however that such a strategy would probably end up with us paying a hefty fine if we were caught. We decided that it would be better to find a handy camping site, which we did. Nice showers and cooking facilities.
Having the van allowed us to do a bit of exploring in the vicinity of Port Douglas. But first let's tell you about Port Douglas itself. It is a small seaside town about 40 miles north of Cairns. It has one main street which is chock-a-block full of boutiques, restaurants, art galleries and, would you, believe drinking establishments. The people here are all wonderfully friendly.
So where have we been? On Tuesday we ventured up to a place called Cape Tribulation, which despite the reports of magnificent splendour was a trifling disapponting. The journey itself was spectacular however; consisting of a ferry crossing through crocodile invested waters!! and driving up huge winding roads overlooking rock cliff faces to the rainforest or sea below.
The weather here has not been that brilliant rain or cloud most days. Apparently there was a thunder storm one night but Linda
CAIRNS/KURANDA
Kuranda Station never heard it, shattered recovering from a bad cold.
Our other trip out was on the only other sunny afternoon. It saw us visiting the nearby Mossman Gorge, both Linda and Ken ventured to cross the suspension bridge across the gorge (Linda is getting brave in her old age, helicopter rides, cable cars and suspension bridges normally she can't cope with high heels!!)by the time we get to NZ she'll be bungie jumping) My god that'll be a sight for sore eyes we here some of you say, don't worry Ken's going surfing first or so he was telling some lads on Friday night promising to send them the photos. Sorry have digressed somewhat, back to our day trip and the village of Daintree. Again the journey was more thrilling than the place itself.
We have also had a few good evenings out and met some really nice people. Particularly noteworthy was Saturday evening when we got talking to a Welsh couple who have lived in Australia for over 20 years in Sydney and now Port Douglas. Having engaged them in conversation it transpired we all had a lot in common, well music and football. As a consequence
CAIRNS/KURANDA
View from the cable car we all ended up in a local watching the FA Cup final live until 3a.m. Good match even Linda enjoyed it.
Well folks tomorrow sees us going back to Cairns to drop Elvis off, overnight stay and then the hop on hop off train down to Brisbane stopping at suitable places of interest on the way. Will keep you well informed.
Ken and Linda.
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RUTH BONNER
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LOOKING GOOD
Dear Linda and Ken, looking good Linda, hope you've got over your cold although you look really healthy in the pickies. We keep following your adventures and look forward to the next installment. Thinking of you love Ruth and co. xxxxx