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Hello everyone, stu here.
After a week in the van we have travelled from Cairns (all in queensland) to a small town called Airlie Beach. The gateway to the whitsunday islands or as advertised 'paradise'. Yes, yet again Lauren and I are forcing ourselves against our will obviously, to venture to white sands and tropical waters. We're embarking on tuesday on a 'real' sailing boat for a 2 night island cruise and and massive snorkel session.
However before all that is the tale of the first week in the van.
We had a few uneventful days in the town of cairns before we picked up our Camper and were so excited to get our hands on a mode of transport so that we could get out of what we call australian 'box' towns. Oz towns really are dismal. All it is, is billboards, fast-food outlets, petrol stations and a miserable town centre. Anyway last saturday, a week ago, we signed it all off, kept giving them more and more money until it was all sorted and evetually we drove away, having already decided in the last 4 days where we were going to go in the first week. We headed to a very nice but expensive town called Port Douglas. This is where we first tried our trick of going onto a campsite when the reception is closed and sneaking off in the morning early enough that the owners never knew you were there. We hope. In the next two days we visted the favourite sights advertised of the tropical rainforest region. These were the Mossman gorge and the Daintree rainforest, both of which were absolutely stunning locations. Its so hard to drive and not be amazed by the surrounding scenery. You'll happily driving when all of a sudden the forest on your right drops off a cliff and all you can see is beach and blue water and to your left huge massive mountains as high as you can crane your neck. The Daintree was one of our favourite places so far and is only reachable by a river ferry. All very exciting and I saw another croc just resting on the bank so wouldn't want to forget your handbrake here! This area is supposedly the only place in the world where Rainforest meets reef, I dont believe it but it really was amazing and a definite to visit if you're in the area. From there we headed south but took a different route more inland into the mountains where there are some seriousl amazing views and waterfalls, but that is about it. We had a one night stopover in cairns, where we met up with someone we did our trek with in thailand, and then began our big journey south, down the coast.
Our next stop was the small village named 'Mission Beach'. This is skydive land. We found a lovely council site for the equivalent of 4.50 pound each which is cheap as chips here. Anyway this is where we booked to do our 14,000ft skydive. We both agreed this was the best thing we've ever done and both wanted to go straight back up and do it again. They don't really train you, just strap you in and throw you out attched to the professional guy. The plane was so cool aswell, it was a 20 minute scenic flight above all that I've talkied about and you can see the reef so clearly. I wasnt sure where the sea finished and the sky started it was such an amzing view. I think we were lucky, the weather was perfect. The feeling as you freefall and roll out the side of the plane is like nothing else. And once the parachute is open it has to be the most tranquil thing in the world. I'm defintely going to try and do another one at somepoint in my life if not many but it'll be hard to beat the location as we landed on the beach.
The same day we drove for 8 hours, which was horrible, hit a bird and bent in our winscreen protector grill which is fun because we're now arguing with the rental company about who has to pay for it, and arrived here in Airlie.
However all is still amazing and we're having the best time ever so we'll update again soon enough.
Take care, Stu x
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