We leave sunny Bundaberg 9 am Sat 8th July and drive for most of the day.
Every now and then, you get a 'tourist coastal detour' you can take, so occaionally we take these to break up the journey. We stop at a town called Gladstone, it was really strange to have such a industrial area right on the coast.
Carry on to Rockhampton, our next main destination. On the way we pass a hire 'jucy' campervan on the side of the road and can see a couple of girls on the phone. So we do a quick u-turn on the busy main road, to see if they are okay. They have a flat tyre and can not find any of the tools the hire company say should be in the van to change it! It turns out there are 4 in the camper, 3 German girls and a pretty useless chap!
Matt to the rescue! Fortunately our camper does have all the tools it should have! They are very grateful and try to send us on our way with there spare beers or water or anything as a thank you. Matt says, 'no, just make sure you do someone else a good turn, when they need it.' (Lets hope they don't need a tyre changing!).
Back on the road we take another detour to Emu Park on the coast, it's very nice but the wind is really cold. There is not a lot here, apart from the 'singing sail', a large white structure (in the shape of a sail!) with 3 upright tubes with holes in, as the wind blows it makes a 'not' to tuneful sound! Built in honour, of yes, you guessed it, Captain Cook!
We look for a free camp, but can't find one, so end up back on the main road in a rest area. It's been raining heavily for a while now, which makes the driving very tiring, especially when you have been on the road from 9. It's now 7.30 and we have broken our 'do not drive at night' rule. (More wildlife on the roads dawn to dusk!) anyway the rest area is full of campervans and caravans but we manage to get in, that's the beauty of having a little camper!
Monday and Tuesday we have really heavy rain, almost no stop! So we just push on towards Cairns, it is their 'dry' season after all, so it must be okay up there?! The temperature is raising slightly which is good, if only it would dry up, it would be perfect! We stop at Innisfail Big 4 campsite and Matt has a big chat with the man on reception about our journey from Cairns to Darwin, we have heard various things about the state of the roads, gravel in parts, single track etc.etc.
He admits he hasn't been across this road for 30 years, but his information was useful in our route planning, that is until we get to Cairns and chat to the lady in the Information Centre! She has a daughter who lives in Kakadu, which is where we will be heading. She tells us the roads are now all tarmac and mostly double lane, she tells us the best route (well there are only 2 options actually) and where there are campsites and free camps a long the way. And more importantly, about the petrol stations!
Anyway, back to Cairns. Arrive nice and early, the sun is trying to shine and it is a lot warmer. We book our Great Barrier Reef snorkel cruise for Friday, the weather is suppose to be improving by then. We decide to book with a company called Silverswift, it's a smaller boat, so it's a little bit more personalised. We part with our $180 each for the pleasure!
Cairns is a small city, that feels more like a town, not to many highrise buildings at all. Like Brisbane, they too have made a sandy lagoon, its seems odd to see people in bikini's so near the city.
We go to Port Douglas for the day, it's a really nice small tourist town, just north of Cairns, it has a nice harbour and some quirky little shops. (Liked it here, a lot!)
Back to Cairns to prepare for our big day out on the reef tomorrow, very excited!!!
