We arrived in Airlie Beach on a Sunday with the avowed intention of staying a few days, looking around and relaxing, and only then deciding which boat trip to take around the Whitsunday Islands which lie just offshore. The Whitsundays were named by a certain James Cook when he found them on the day of that name on June 3rd 1770. There are 74 islands in all, some big some small, some with expensive resorts on them and some deserted apart from the wildlife. They h...

After reaching the warm weather we decided to head from Yeppoon to Seaforth, another coastal place which had a camping reserve right next to the beach. As we were only planning on staying one night we put up the little tent. We arrived late in the day and were worried that the sun was going to set before we could get our food cooked, and we need the natural light as our led lamp isn't that bright. Luckily the sun went down later than we expected as we were furth...

After recovering from our Cooyar hangover (maybe that should become our stock phrase? "I was out at the pub last night and I've got a terrible Cooyar") we set off on the Great Trek northwards through Queensland. Still not feeling like a long drive we pitched up for the night in a small town called Miriam Vale, where we stayed for just $10 at a roadhouse. These establishments are usually petrol stations with a café or restaurant, maybe a small shop a...

One of the things we had been eagerly anticipating in Australia was the free camping. There are sites where you can pull up by the side of the road and spend the night at no cost. Admittedly, many of them are nothing but patches of ground in close proximity to public toilets and better suited to vans than tents, but so what if they don't cost anything? We decided to test out one of these sites after leaving Guyra and continued heading north through country t...