Wow what a week - we have done so much!

After a 3 hour drive, we arrived in Townsville. After a stroll down the beach, we met up with Dave's cousin, Callum and his girlfriend, Sophie. We had a good catch up and headed out for something to eat in Townsville, where Andrew, Dave's other cousin, met us for a drink. We ended up parking the campervan at Callum's house and sleeping in the van on their driveway - all good fun! The next day, before leaving Townsville, we headed up the Castle Hill which offered great views over the town and neighbouring Magnetic Island.

We then started the drive to Lake Tinaroo, to meet Dave's uncle James and his wife Rachel. On route, we stopped off at Mission Beach and saw mile after mile of secluded beach - it was so peaceful. We also saw a Cassowary and his chick who were crossing the road and we had to make a sharp stop to let it pass! They are beautiful birds but very aggressive so we were glad when it got out of our way…

Rachel's friends own an amazing house overlooking Lake Tinaroo and had a boat so we could try out various watersports. The house was massive and we had our own suite, complete with kitchen, ensuite and patio area overlooking the lake - a far cry from the campervan! We took full advantage of all the luxuries, home cooking and various water sports. Dave tried waterskiing and was great - getting up on the water on his 2nd attempt (which is unheard of apparently!) He had a great time on the water, I think he missed his calling in life! I, on the other hand, was not so good and couldn't get up after a few attempts. The first time I fell off my skis, I forgot to let go of the handle and ended up being dragged along by the boat - very amusing for those watching! We also went tubing together ,which was so much fun (if a little scary for me at least!) I screamed the whole way and the peaceful lake was disrupted by my howling J We also explored the local area of Tablelands and visited the Curtain Fig Tree, did a walk to find platypus (but they weren't out unfortunately) and visited the Lake Tinaroo Dam.

Our next stop was our final one in North Queensland - Port Douglas, a small but very picturesque sailing town just north of Cairns. We got to our campsite and headed out to explore the town. The first night we found ourselves Cane Toad racing in one of the bars. Six runners were picked out of a hat to take part and out of 50 people, me and Dave were both picked to race. We firstly had to kiss them (ew!) and when the race started, we had to move them using party blowers and mine won! All good fun - and I won a bottle of beer and some cane toad racing tattoos…

We only had one full day in Port Douglas so wanted to make the most of it. We got up early and headed to Mossman Gorge, a beautiful gorge right by a rainforest. We walked through the rainforest and it was beautiful but quite humid, so I was the first one to jump into the gorge as soon as we were done - the water was freezing but so refreshing! We then headed to the marina for lunch and fed some huge fish over the decking. Finally we went to the beach and chilled there, making the most of the swimming section, which had net protection from the stingers - followed by an ice cold beer at the surf club of course! That night, we decided to treat ourselves and went to a fancy seafood restaurant - it was yummy and I think our stomachs appreciated all the flavours even more, after our plain diet of super noodles and tortellini!

Our final stop in Australia was Brisbane, where we stayed with James and Rachel in their flat in the city centre. We dropped off the camper van at Cairns and took an internal flight back to Brisbane (since the drive would have taken us about 24 hours in the van!) We worked out we had done 3,500 km in 3 weeks in that van - not bad going considering it barely went over 80km. Despite having some good times in the van, we were happy to drop it off and stay in more normal lodgings for the rest of our trip.

Brisbane is a really cool, up and coming city. There's plenty of green areas and the river which goes all the way through the city - and a man made beach and lagoon on South Bank. The location is also really central to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.

Dave really wanted to check out the XXXX Brewery Tour, having taken a liking to the beer whilst out here and never been to a brewery before. It turned out to be personal tour for just us two and we learnt how the beer was made, as well as going onto the various factory floors. The tour ended with 4 pots (half pints) of any beers of our choice. We had those and headed into town to meet James, where we promptly ended up in the pub! The next day was Anzac day, where those who have fought and died in war, are remembered. There was a big parade in Brisbane, featuring people who had served in the wars, current forces personnel, local school bands and lots more… We felt like proper Aussies next to everyone waving their Australian flags! We then headed to the South Bank for a walk around and bite to eat. Dave and I then enjoyed the facilities back at the flat - it had a communal pool, spa, gym and sauna! We also went through the city on the river ferry and had great views of the city - but the real highlight was seeing a pod of dolphins swimming right by us in the river

After 6 action-packed weeks in Oz, it is now time for us to move onto Asia. We have had a really great time in Australia with plenty of amazing memories to take away with us (we'll just forget the 10 days solid rain whilst in the camper van!) I would definitely love to come back here - we need to pick up the Sunshine Coast again as we didn't see much of that due to the rain... We have got a really good feel for the country and it has been great to catch up with family and friends along the way! Although we are sad to leave, we also can't wait to living like kings in Asia in comparison!