Not too much to report from Cairns, it is mainly a pit stop for us, as we prepare to head up to Cape York. Last minute safety supplies, last minute shopping, and a few restaurant-cooked meals, before we head off on our first offroad leg of the trip. We're very excited! L & L xx

Went to this amazing place called Paronella Park after we left Mission Beach, on the advice of the girl at the tropical fruit winery. It was built by a somewhat crazy Spaniard in the 1930's called Jose Paronella, who had a childhood dream to build a castle. It was an amusement park of sorts for the locals back in its day, and also had a ballroom and a bandstand. We did a guided tour - Jose was quite ahead of his time - the place was run on hydroelectricity, and...

After leaving Townsville, we drove up through Ingham and Halifax, and set up camp at Lucinda. There is an amazing 5.7km jetty there, used for loading sugar. Did a bit of a walk, had a drink at the local pub, and then went for a fish - Lee almost landed a giant mudcrab on a beach rod! Lucky it let go as we had no rope to tie it up with... The next morning we packed up in a tearing hurry, due to a storm approaching! The rain is still following us. Drove up toward...

After a failed attempt to camp at Bowling Green Bay National Park on Thursday (the campground was full!), we pushed on up to Townsville and pulled up at a nice, but rather crowded, caravan park at Rowes Bay. Friday saw us sightseeing around town, it was a beautiful sunny day so got some great views from Castle Hill, over the city and out to Magnetic Island. Went out to dinner, and then Lea discovered the wonders of Cold Rock icecream (something that Lee had bee...

Had a fantastic weekend sailing on "Wobbly Boot", we tagged along on the Dent to Dunk rally, and spent the night partying up at Cape Gloucester, along with the crews from the 48 boats participating in the rally. Janice, Shannon and Lea drove up to meet us there, and we had a great night. Sailed back on Sunday morning, a little worse for wear! Craig and Bretto were expert sailing instructors, as we had never really sailed before, and Craig even let us...