Friday 26th February 2016

We had some breakfast at the free campsite and then headed west, inland to a place called a chillagoe which has loads of natural caves. The drive took 3 hours so we were quite a way inland and the soil became red, roads turned into travel tracks and we saw loads of signs warning about road trains. Don't think we were supposed to bring Kylie onto these roads by it was to late to turn back.

So we bumped along the gravel track, kicking up a nice dust cloud. We didn't see any road trains unfortunately but the more outback type scenery was good to pass the time. We finally reached the national park but the caves weren't sign posted, so using Maps Me we tried to find them on foot. It was so hot, a very dessert feel with the humidity much lower thankfully. We saw a large granite formation and believed the caves to be there so we walked through the bush with crickets jumping all around us. No sign of any snakes or spiders, yet!

We reached the granite and climbed onto it. We couldn't find a cave but the rock formation was pretty cool and it was high up so provided so good views. We continued walking towards another granite formation hoping to find the caves. After walking for about 40 minutes with no obvious way to reach the rock, we gave up and headed back to Kylie. On the way back we saw a very young kangaroo cross the road and then we saw a police car waiting with Kylie. The officer was just checking the vehicle and spoke to us about our plans. We explained that we were looking for the caves but got fed up with the heat. He laughed, asking if it was hot enough for us.

We got into Kylie and started the 3 hour journey back towards Cairns. We could only find 1 radio station in the outback and it was on AM frequency. We listened to an Australian sounding version of Terry Wogan who was having an argument with an Australian bigot who was complaining about all of the immigrants. The radio present was very annoyed by this, hung up on the caller and called him a B#stard and a nasty Pr!ck. Very funny and made us laugh that they can swear on the radio so early in the day.

Once back in civilisation we purchased some food and continued our mission of hunting waterfalls. We drove to one called Davies Creek which was a big waterfall in the middle of nowhere, you couldn't get to it to swim, so instead we went up stream and paddled in the small creek. We had the place to ourselves and it felt very crocodile Dundee lie just in the outback swimming but luckily without the crocodile. We then drove towards Cairns and went to a waterfall called Barron Falls. This was a very large and fast flowing waterfall the looked very impressive. It also powers a hydro generator further down stream. Definitely no swimming allowed in this one.

We then drove into Cairns and stayed at the same powered site as before. Here we met and English couple who had a smaller camper but from the same company. We also met an Irish couple who had the exact same camper as us. We spent the night talking about travelling and we gave them some advice as they had both just collected their campers. The Irish couple had a problem with their deep cycle battery that powers the fridge and lights. They had to call out a mechanic who told them it was knackered and they would need a new one. They were so angry as it was the first day. It sums up the company really because our camper was clearly not serviced before being handed to us.

So we went to bed for the last time in Kylie and reflected on the experience. Although she had been a pain in the bum at times it was still amazing and all in all she carried 5000k across Australia.

Saturday 27th February 2016

So we woke up and gave Kylie and good clean inside and out. We then had to fill her up with petrol and fill the gas canister up before handing her back. We dropped her off at the depot in Cairns and the staff member had a quick look over and then asked us if there had been any problems. As they had clearly handed her to us faulty we decided not to tell them about the dodgy Collin system or the leaking pump as they would probably try to blame us and if they were not going to take the time to check her over then it's their fault.

We then walked to the seafront at Cairns and booked 2 nights in a hostel. Although it's a hostel it was still expensive. £20 per night and the amenities were not that great but it was the cheapest one. We then went for a swim again in the lagoon to waste some time. We also went and hired and underwater camera for the scuba diving as we did not trust that our one would work that far under water. It was quite a good price, $40 for the day and you get a free memory card.