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Published: March 19th 2011
We touched ‘down under’ in Cairns, Queensland after a couple of flights via Darwin. We were absolutely shattered so we headed straight to our hostel to catch up on some much needed sleep! That night we had a wee look around Cairns and decided to treat ourselves to some ‘proper’ food and got some traditional fish ‘n’ chips. Braw! It felt really strange to be back in a culture that is similar to home but with the Aussie accents around every corner! Cairns is quite a small city but with a really good community feel to it, straight away you can tell there is lots of travelers here which gives it a good buzz as well. Since landing in Australia we’ve experienced about 4 or 5 torrential downpours a days as it’s their wet season, but with the heat still roasting!
We now introduce to you, Sheila… The next morning it was time to pick up our ‘house on wheels’ and become travelling gypsies for the next 6 weeks! We’d both been pretty excited about starting this new adventure on the road ever since being in Scotland. As soon as we seen our beauty we were pretty chuffed with
it and thought she had to be named so Paul decided on – Sheila (only to be said in an Aussie accent!!).
Right away we decided to hit the road after stocking up on some cheap food supplies. We headed north from Cairns on the costal road passing some great scenery and amazing beaches! It felt brilliant to have the freedom to go where we wanted after being restricted to local buses – Paul was loving it!! Once we reached a little town called Port Douglas we thought it was time to set up camp for the night so booked ourselves into Dougies Campground. After having the joy of making our own grub for a change and a cheeky beer we decided to hit the sack, jet lag was still taking its toll. Little did we know what we had in store!! The temperature in the campervan was like a furnace, we’d never sweated so much in our life. It was unbearable! At this point Tina was having second thoughts on life on the road!
Cape Tribulation! The next morning, after dragging ourselves back to life, we were looking forward to going to Cape Tribulation – which
is one of the ‘must sees’ of Queensland. It’s basically an enormous rainforest which meets the coastline at a spectacular beach. The journey gave us another glimpse of the real Australia, we even had to cross a river on a barge that had crocodile warnings!
Once we were in the Tribulation we booked onto a night walk through the rainforest – which had the promise of meeting some random creatures! We were picked up a by a big Aussie guide called Mick who was really friendly and informative. The walk itself took us through really narrow tracks which meant we were constantly worried that a snake or spider was going to land on our face! Mick pointed out tons of spiders, frogs and lizards that we’d never have seen but the cool thing was being out in the middle of the rainforest in pitch black with tiny torches for the only light. Unfortunately a downpour of rain hit again which left us drenched to the skin!
The next morning we set off back down the road to Cairns - but with a pit-stop on the way to make some noodles at the side of the road on our
portable gas stove. It only took Paul 26 matches to finally get it going!
We’ve loved our first couple of days in Australia, already we’re feeling much more outdoorsy and adventurous with having Sheila! (every chance this might change when we come face to face with our first proper spider or croc!).
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Betty
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All I Can Say Is . . .
WOW! I am almost speechless and you know what a rarity that is! :) Sheila is adorable and, even though it is hot and humid, perhaps it still is better than a 20-man dormitory? I hope she serves you well on your adventures. BTW, I really do not need a Wolf Spider souvenir when you get here. Really. I appreciate the thought but don't go to the trouble. :) Have fun, stay safe and keep blogging! Love ya!