Day 18 Wednesday 9th July Palm Cove - Cairns -Palm Cove (46km return) It was a warm night with no morning dew. Our camp site proved to be a great spot for early morning sun, and so we have re-booked for the end of next week when we return here to have the car serviced in Cairns .....next Thursday was the earliest we could get a booking. I did some laundry and then after breakfast we had a morning walk followed by a coffee shop coffee! Then we phoned our ins...

Day 17 Tuesday 8th July Mareeba to Palm Cove (50km) It was very cold this morning and everything left outside was VERY wet. Fortunately the chairs were not! (We took them inside overnight). We went for an early morning morning walk, which proved to me more of a scramble over giant granite boulders, and quite tricky in places. However it was lovely and peaceful, just us and the rock wallabies! One of the rocks had giant dinosaur footprints in it! (See photo!). ...

Day 16 Monday July 7th Chillagoe to Granite Gorge (near Mareeba) (150km) After much debate we decided that we would move on today. First of all though, we took a look at some of the limestone caves for which this area is known. We decided against a guided cave tour.....having seen similar caves before.... but enjoyed a drive out of town some 15km in the direction from which we had come, to look at the 'Archways' caves, which could be accessed without a guide. W...

Day 15 Sunday July 6th Hughes Crossing to Chillagoe (225km) We were awake at first light....around 6.15 am. Then we heard the kookaburras...but only in the distance. It had been a warm night, and it was a lovely morning, except for the first time on this trip there was few overnight and our chairs were wet! We had breakfast standing up!! Back on the road again we saw lots of water birds at the numerous road-side waterholes, as well as birds of prey, cattle an...

Day 14 Saturday July 5th Karumba to Hughes Crossing (Mitchell River) on the Burke Development Road (275km) There was no need for an alarm clock this morning, (not that we DO ever use one when camping!), because someone close by started their diesel engine pre-dawn and left it running for a whole hour or more! We can only assume that they were using it as a generator because their fridge battery needed charging!!! Apart from that, it was a lovely morning, and ...