ValandDoug

We left Tweed Heads and drove on the old highway towards Murwillumbah. I love this road beside the Tweed River, cane fields and Mt Warning in view ahead. When we were at the Murwillumbah Art Gallery earlier in the year, we stood on the balcony and were very impressed with the green, lush country spread before us, and this was where we now were driving, towards the mountains. We were going to the Natural Arch, now called the Natural Bridge. We drove about 20 kilometres through pretty farmland and then up steep hills, poor motor home! once more crossing the border into Queensland. We stopped at the carpark and took the path. I love walking in cool dense rain forests and this was beautiful. Tall gums, strangler figs, vines, palms carrying birds nest ferns high on ... read more

We enjoyed being back at Airlie Beach, in fact we added another three days to our stay. We stay at the Big 4 Whitsunday Adventure caravan park at Cannonvale, the grounds are very nice with many palms and tropical plants, the usual jumping pillow, playground, mini golf etc. but it's the pool that we love the most. A breeze came up each afternoon but the pool was protected and so we spent a lot of our time lazing in the sun around on the pool recliners or actually swimming in the heated (slightly) pool. The bus goes right by the door so we spent one day back at Airlie Beach and another wandering around Proserpine. But mostly it was by the pool, chatting to the other campers. One couple travel six months north and six months ... read more

After a restful, sometimes sunny and sometimes damp couple of days at Mission Beach, we headed back to Cairns for the weekend with our son and his family. About 60 kilometres south of Cairns, there's a turnoff to Josephine Falls. It's a few years since we've been there so we turned off the highway and headed 20 kms towards the mountain. There was the inevitable backpacker bus in the car park. The walk to the Falls was 700 metres through beautiful dense and cool rainforest, tall trees, a little bubbling creek beside the path. We passed several backpackers and at the bottom pool, there were quite a few swimming and clambering over the rocks and rushing water (obviously not thinking 'broken legs' as I was!). The path continued alongside the waterfall with lookouts at various spots ... read more

The trip down the mountain from Kuranda is very steep but very scenic! We drove around Cairns, as busy as ever, filled mostly with young backpackers - it's a popular spot. We stay at the Coconut Caravan Park a few kilometres south, a nice park with lovely gardens and lots of fun things for children - pool, water park, mini golf etc. and, a plus which appeals to us, they have a shuttle bus to take people to and from Cairns - parking there is at a premium, especially for a motor home. We took their bus into Cairns on Saturday and wandered around the markets that were along the Esplanade, in front of the pool. I love the pool in the Esplanade, large and popular with well kept grounds - grass,trees and even a little ... read more