We are 1 week into a road trip, we have had so much fun in our converted people carry all ready. We have been ousted by Cairns City Council due to illegal camping and been rudely awaken in Mission beach by the angry owner of a camping plot...dont think the locals having taken to our SpaceShip.

We have just arrived in Airlie Beach, the closest beach to the Island of Whitsundays, our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. So we started in Cairns and spent 2 days hanging around and getting our bearings, plus I needed time to learn how to drive again, its been a while. We had the mindset of not paying for camping as we are obviously already paying out for the vehicle everyday. So after a couple hours of wandering we decided to park up at the end of the Esplande, beach front, and we successfully slept there the 1st night. We didnt get up to much in Cairns, a few beers. On the 2nd night there we decided to park up in the same spot for some kip. We woke up in the morning and saw that someone had sneakliy placed a bit of paper under our windscreen wiper, it was a warning from the council that we have been illegally camping and that we will be subject to a towing or fine if we stay again. Ha, i didnt see any warnings that close by, ok..there were warnings everywhere , BUT..not in our little area. Oh well, we were leaving that day so who cares. We travelled north 70km to Port Douglas. An exclusive beach resort area, you could smell the money. We spent the day on the beach having some serious tanning time, which we really needed as our tans were fading very quickly. We cooked out of our camper, bacon & egg for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and then on our way out of mission beach we stopped at a rest ares and made Spag' Bol.

We have had to make do with what we can when it comes to washing...we have to drive around searching for rest areas with shower facilities..today was our 1st proper shower in 3 days..uh. We were clean but not scrubbed up clean.

So from Port Douglas we travelled back south to Cairns, used the shower by the beach and then moved on to go to Mission Beach. We didnt make it to Mission Beach till around 11pm, there was no sign of life, no lights anywhere. We were both knackered and were desperately searching for a camp site,..plus we were on empty and all petrol stations were closed. We luckily found an open camp site, drove in and parked up. Now anywhere that has an open camp site but the owner is a sleep you expect that you just camp and pay in the morning. We woke up 6am the next morning to someone banging loudly on our car shouting "up"! I got dressed and opened the side door to meet a bloomin moody women who then proceeded to lecture me, accusing me of being sneaky , trying to get away with paying as I had parked in the wrong area. Lucky I had my polite morning face which is very rare..we were directed to the proper camping area and continued our interupted sleep. When we got up we had some scrabbled egg with a cup of tea, and then went to find a nice beach spot. We found it quickly and we had large beach almost to ourselves...it was lovely I must say.

We moved on around 5pm heading south to Townsville, which we arrived after a 3 hour drive. Again we arrived at night which obviously makes it so hard to get your bearings. We searched and searched for somewhere to camp but all the camp site offices were closed, it was 7pm. These campsites are ridiculous!! Seems that they only cater for those who arrive very early. We had to travel back out of Townsville, 15km north to find a rest area where it was legal for you to camp. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed back into the City. Townsville was a great place. The Beach front area has been purposefully built to cater for outdoor activities. Free gas BBQ's, massive water park play area for kids (amy wanted to go into it), fitness areas along the whole stretch, vinegar incase you get stung by the jelly fish..it was all free. At the far north end was also a rock pool. We stayed there the whole day, sunning ourselves on the grass and then occasionally going for a quick dip in the rock pool ( stingers free area). Last night we used the BBQ area provided and cooked up some massive sausages. We met some really nice aussie folk who were using the BBQ next to us. As we had some problems with our gas stove which we were trying to boil some rice on which meant we were left with sausage sarnies, they gave us some of there food, chicken Kebabs. They had a son who was in the R.A.A.F, a dog handler. With him was the newest dog recruit which he had to train to become a killer, it was only a pup and Amy got to play with him, a German Shepherd. She was very happy. We left last night (6th) late and stopped over in a free rest area in a place called Giru, a sugar cane mill town. We had trouble finding the rest area, but we were kindly directed by a local who was absolutely smashed!!!! Very funny. We stayed right next to the Mill and we spent the whole night being attacked by a lot of Mossies! We had to close all the windows, it was so hot!!

This morning we got up and left the Mossie kingdom ASAP, only to travel 20km and find a really next rest area in Ayr, it was called a comfy stop. Thats were we got to have hot showers!!

So our plan whilst we are in Airlie Beach is to book a day trip on the Great Barrier Reef and do some snorkling. Thats all for now..more to some after some more Road Trip