Sick of dawdling in the mornings and being the last to leave a campsite, we got up early, packed up camp and hit the road before 9.30am - a record for us! Drove up through Coen, and got our free Cape York information pack (Lea loves tourist brochures), before driving on up to the Archer River Roadhouse. The roads have been fantastic so far, we haven't needed 4WD at all, and they are as smooth as a highway in most sections. A few corrugations every now and then t...

Headed off from the Lion's Den and up to Lakeland to fill up the Navvy, before turning on to the Peninsula Developmental Road - finally on our way up the Cape! Passed through Laura and Hann River, before setting up camp at the Musgrave Roadhouse. It was damn hot, so Lee tried to convince Lea to go for a swim in the nearby river. It took much persuading, and confirmation from the staff at the roadhouse that there were no crocodiles in there, but he finally succee...

Left Cairns and headed north, feeling a bit excited as this was the start of our Cape adventure. Drove up to Port Douglas and had a look around, then up to the car ferry to cross the Daintree River. Drove up through the rainforest, and, lo and behold, it rained! Amazing. Set up camp at Noah Beach, just south of Cape Tribulation, and fell asleep listening to the rain. And woke up again in the middle of the night listening to the rain... Next day we were up early...

Not too much to report from Cairns, it is mainly a pit stop for us, as we prepare to head up to Cape York. Last minute safety supplies, last minute shopping, and a few restaurant-cooked meals, before we head off on our first offroad leg of the trip. We're very excited! L & L xx

Went to this amazing place called Paronella Park after we left Mission Beach, on the advice of the girl at the tropical fruit winery. It was built by a somewhat crazy Spaniard in the 1930's called Jose Paronella, who had a childhood dream to build a castle. It was an amusement park of sorts for the locals back in its day, and also had a ballroom and a bandstand. We did a guided tour - Jose was quite ahead of his time - the place was run on hydroelectricity, and...