ON THE HOME STRETCH…………..

 

With only 1550klms to home, it’s nothing compared to the 33000klms we have already travelled.  We, three girls wanted to head straight home, but Mike dragged it out for as long as he could.

Babinda Boulders is a nice spot.  Good free camp here,  we kept moving south to Mission Beach, still recovering from Cyclone Yasi.

 

We camped at Paluma Range N.P for 2 nights.  There is a safe swimming hole and rock slide which was fun.  We had the place to ourselves once again.

Wunjunga, Seaforth, Ball Bay, Haliday Bay are tiny fishing villages north of Mackay.  Beautiful blue waters only for looking, no swimming!

Visited the Nixon's for a night and headed to Lake Awoonga just outside of Gladstone to hopefully catch some red claw. A grassy spacious free camp right on the lake, we were able to moore the boat in front of our van.  A nice old man showed us how to clean the red claw properly and they taste delicious marinated in ginger & garlic, cooked on the barby.

 

Seventeen Seventy & Agnes Waters have certainly grown in size, the beaches are really nice. 

Inskip point was our final stop for our round Australia trip.  Would you believe we caught no fish since we crossed the Queensland border!

Our budget was $800 a week.  We tried our hardest to stick to that.  Finding the cheapest campsites, only eating out half a dozen times, the thing we bought most was thongs.  After 51 weeks on the road our budget averaged $940 a week.

We had a fantastic time, it was a challenge and sometimes very hard travelling but we did it and made it home safely.

Thanks for reading our blog. 

CAIRNS TO COOKTOWN continued…….

 

23/10/12 Travelled along the well known Bloomfield track today.  It started off like a roller-coaster ride, very steep incline to the top of the range & down the other side.  Crossed creek crossings, passed through cute little towns, but all in all it was a pretty good road.  Stopped at the Famous Lions Den for a cuppa.

Cooktown, we thought was a nice town too.  We drove up to the lookout where Captain Cook, every day would walk up & plot his way out of the reef.  The view from here was beautiful.

Port Douglas is very touristy.  Lots of shopping & cafe’s.   Doesn’t fit into our budget! 

We went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and it is amazing and wonderful, but very crowded.  We saw some very colourful fish, enormous clams,  the coral not so colourful.  It was good to get in the saltwater again.

CAIRNS TO COOKTOWN

 

The tropical, touristy city of Cairns, sits along the coastline with a gorgeous backdrop of lush mountain ranges.  If you had lots of money & time, this area is full of things to see & do.  We stayed at Palm Cove, right on the beach for only $32, bargain!

The Daintree is dense beautiful rainforest, very peaceful and relaxing.  Not many walks though.

Mossman Gorge(more of a river).

Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the beach.  It’s a great place to unwind & relax. 

Mike was treated to a foot spa for his Birthday.  Doesn’t he look relaxed!