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G'day from down under ! (sorry, couldn't resist! J) We are having a great time in Australia -the weather is absolutely gorgeous here (bar a couple of tropical downpours) and the wildlife is amazing - so many new and fascinating animals!
We started off in Cairns after 3 flights in one day to get there! It's a really nice city with quite a laidback backpacker atmosphere and a really cool 'lagoon' on the waterfront where you can swim/sunbathe or have a bbq for free! After really enjoying our campervan in New Zealand, we decided it would be really good to get another one in Australia -this proved to be a lot harder than we expected with everywhere saying they were fully booked except for the mega expensive hotels on wheels which were obviously out of our price range! We spent our first night at the YHA as we still had no van sorted - it was really nice and even had a pool, but it also made us realise that hostels just weren't really for us after having our campervan and loving the freedom they provide! Having been here 3 weeks , that decision was definitely the right one! We managed to arrange another Spaceship but had to wait 10 days until it was available, so we hired a car for the beginning of the trip. The woman at the car rental pace was horrible and told us exactly how much we'd have to pay if we hit a kangaroo - complete with a drawing of a past such incident!lol!
We also bought a tent (or so we thought!........) We went to the first camping shop we could find and picked the cheapest 'tent' and carrymat they had - we were a bit surprised at the small selection they had but carried on regardless. The first night we pitched up and were amazed at how quickly the tent went up. All you had to do was pull two cords and voila! Amazing! Then in the middle of the night we were woken by something hitting our faces - water.As Cairns is in the tropics, there was a tropical downpour and our tent was definitely nowhere near waterproof! On closer inspection it appeared we had purchased a 'recreational shelter' for use on beaches and in your garden! Whoops! We contemplated risking it for another 9 days but decided a new tent was in order, so back to the shop where we found the actual tent section!! Ironically our new very waterproof tent complete with metal pegs instead of plastic ones(!) wasactually cheaper than the shelter. After a few uncomfortable nights, we decided that pillows were also needed, so 'treated' ourselves to one each!
Once we got the car we didn't hang around, we were off, desperate to explore only a day after arriving! We headed up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree rainforest "where the rainforest meets the reef" to see the famous beautiful beach and the oldest rainforest in the world. We did a river cruise down the Daintree River in search of crocodiles and saw one just under the surface. There was a really annoying European woman on the boat who thought it was funny to shout "There is a crocodillus!!" every 5 minutes when there blatantly wasn't! We then stayed at a campsite right on the beach which we had to take a car river ferry to get to and which was gorgeous- the beer and the chairs were quickly retrieved from the car! As November - May is stinger season in Northern Queensland, you can't swim in the water outside of a net without a stinger suit which is a bit cruel of nature when all you want to do is jump in the sea to cool down! There are also crocodiles in the water which is a bit scary, especially as you aren't supposed to leave food near your tent! Eek! We visited Mossman Gorge and went on a boardwalk through the rainforest, a lot of which is inaccessible unless you are an experienced 'bushwalker', which was really interesting. We saw strangler figs, black crabs, a spider and bush turkeys.We've just about got used to random creatures being around in the strangest of places- we found a lizard in the van this morning, there are turkeys everywhere (!) and the campsite at Cape Tribulation was full of toads and the hugest beetles I have ever seen! I actually got Dave to remove one from the women's toilets once! They are so disgusting!!! Speaking of toads……. Whilst North of Cairns we visitedPort Douglas, a lovely beachside town witha harbour and lots of nice places to eat….and Cane toad racing! We decided this must be worth a look so went into the pub where it was advertised. No sign of toads so I sheepishly went up to the barman and asked and he told me to 'see the man at the end of the bar in khaki' hehe . After paying $5 each we were ushered behind a curtain into the cane toad racing room! How ridiculous! Everyone was given a number and a man who was trying so hard to be Steve Irwin did a draw to see who would complete. Now I wasn't daft here and there was no way on this earth I was touching one of those disgusting not to mention poisonous things so I held both tickets in case mine came up…which it did….so my number swiftly became Dave's number, hehe! Dave had to get up, be assigned his toad 'Gay Freddo'(lol, cue Pommie jokes from Steve Irwin), then compete against about 5 other people and their toad partners. It was absolutely hilarious and I was sitting crying hysterically on the sidelines. Each person had to pick up and kiss their toad and then blow a party hooter at it to make it jump off the table. Once off the table, it was a free for all and you had to chase your toad around the room trying to grab it and throw it into a bucket! Amazingly, Dave and Gay Freddo won!! It has to have been one of the most random evenings of our lives!
Near Port Douglas we visited the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary, which is one of the best things we've done so far! We got to hold a koala named Glen and had some pictures taken. He was so soft and cute! We also got to hand feed the kangaroos and wallabies, which were really tame and friendly. The sanctuary isn't like a zoo - most of the animals are free roaming especially the birds who are flying all around! We had 'lunch with the lorikeets' where we got lunch and held the rainbow lorikeets, which are bright red, blue, yellow and green. They will walk all over you if you let them, even on your head! There were so many birds flying around, they even try to pinch your food from the table and they're not small! There were emus as well which are enormous and a LOT bigger than us! We enjoyed it so much that we took advantage of the free return within 2 days! We definitely got our money's worth!
From Cairns we travelled to the Atherton Tablelands; countryside inland from the coast. We went to the markets at Kuranda, where we first encountered all of the kangaroo body parts you can tale home as souvenirs. Having fallen in love with them at the wildlife sanctuary, there is no way we would buy any of the products, even though it's only like leather from cows really. Let's just say they don't waste a single bit of the kangaroos L. We also went to Barron Falls and to a butterfly farm, where we saw lots of the famous bright blue Ulysees butterfly. Everyone was trying to get a picture of the dazzling wings but they close their wings whenever they land so it's near impossible. It was a funny sight to see everyone either chasing them round or standing in the same spot for ages waiting for their wings to open. All you could hear in the whole place was "I'm trying to get a blue one!'
Back in Cairns we did a snorkelling trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, which was absolutely amazing! We chose a trip that visited 3 different reef sites so that we would get to see different areas. We went to Flynn and Pellow reefs, which were so beautiful. The colours are are so vivid and vibrant and there were fish everywhere. One of my favourites were bright green, blue and purple - so colourful! At the second site Dave did a scuba dive, which he said was really exhilarating and surreal. He even saw a turtle swimming along the seabed while he was diving!! While Dave was diving I got 'buddied' with a woman whose name I couldn't remember after about 2 seconds and whom I lost after about 5 - whoops! At the third site, we did a guided snorkel, where we saw Clown Fish (nemos) and a reef shark! Argh!! They are quite small but still…..a shark!!! It was such a good experience, it's like an endless underwater world with colours so much brighter than almost anything on land!
After 10 days of camping we picked up our second Spaceship, this time named 'Potter'. We were very thankful to finally sleep on something other than the floor! As it's so hot, we are using the awningextension section at the back of the van to sleep, which is a lot cooler, although we still have to get up early (sometimes before 8, shock horror! J) as it gets too hot to sleep in there!
Travelling down the coast, we stopped at Mission Beach, which had a lovely beach and a view of Dunk Island off the coast. We also stopped off at Townsville, where we had a swim in the sea, in a stinger net of course!
Next stop was Airlie Beach, which we really enjoyed. It's a lovely town with a hippy feel and gorgeous views out into the sea. We explored Horseshoe Bay sitting out on the rocks as the tide came in and went to the markets down by the beach where we did a bit of souvenir shopping. There is also a man made lagoon there, where we spent a very stressful afternoon sunbathing and swimming! Airlie Beach is the main departure point for trips to the Whitsunday Islands and we decided to do an hour long scenic flight over Whitehaven Beach, the reef, including Heart Reef, which is shaped like a perfect heart and used in all the Whitsunday honeymoon brochures. The flight was in a Cessna and was brilliant - it was quite turbulent at times but the views definitely made up for it! Whitehaven beach has the whitest sand you could ever imagine and the pictures have come out really well! The reef looked incredibly dramatic from the air and you got a whole different perspective on things from the air, especially the blue and turquoise colours! Dave reckons he could have done a better landing than the pilot though, who managed to bounce the lane twice!!
We then had a loooooong and boring drive down to Rockhampton. When people say there's nothing between towns in Australia, they mean it! The roads are so straight and flat and most of the landscape is barren with absolutely nothing to see apart from a few kangaroos. No wonder the whole of the 200km is an accident 'hotspot' according to the road signs.
There was not much to see at Rockhampton apart from the Tropic of Capricorn marker which we can now say we have stood on! Wowee! Lol! Our guidebook also says "All this money hasn't bought much class, however: you'll see plenty of wide boys roaring through town in custom-trimmed cars..." hence why we decided not to hang around!
Hope everything is well back home.
Lots of love Claire and Dave x x x
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