Queenslands Tropical North

The 3,000km road trip was not all boredom and barren roads, there were definitely some highlights.......the visit to the Kronosaurus Korner at Richmond which exhibits marine fossils recognised as some of the best in the world and if that's not enough, Richmond won the title of Australia's Tidy Town of the year in 2001!

Although at times it seemed like we had been driving forever, we finally arrived at the sea side. We had reached our destination, the east coast (Townsville). However a strange thing happened. For a few days we almost thought we were back home in good old Blighty. Initially all around us became grey, and then………it rained (and it rained)! This is not something we felt familiar with these days nor had we any intentions of getting reacquainted with. Hence we decided to 'leg it', to where the sun was shining. The need for sunshine became a necessity as we discovered Matilda leaked! Although being as resourceful (Neil) and imaginative (Me) as we both are we developed a solution. All I will say is that tarpaulin is underrated!

One benefit of gigantic Australia is the fact that because it is just so enormous there is always going to be one part of it where the weather will be good. We headed north, stopping off at many small towns along the way until we arrived in Cairns. There were plenty of fish to be caught and long sandy beaches to walk along. Cairns is nice enough, again similar to Darwin in that we would not consider it a city but more of a town. Some unbelievably fancy boats to be seen on the marina and lovely looking cafes and eateries to dine at (although not for us, budget says 'no'). But so far Australian cities have not really been our thing and we were beginning to feel the need return to the outback, although this time it would be the Queensland outback.

We embarked on a journey that would take us half way up Cape York to the wonders of Lakefield National Park and the shores of Bathurst, passing through Cape Tribulation where beautiful beaches are side by side with lush rain forest, driving the unsealed Bloomfield track snapping a shock absorber in the process and 'definitely no camping' in Cook Town. We thought we were 'bush camping' in the Northern Territory, but on reflection that was girl guide stuff, this was proper SAS style (only a slight exaggeration). We were truly self sufficient here, hundreds of kilometers of 4 wheel driving away from the nearest toilet, let alone shop. That's right! It was dig a hole, empty the content of your bowels and then cover it kind of camping. We loved it, back to cooking on open fires, thousands of stars in the sky at night, foraging for oysters the size of your hand along the shore, catching crabs and eating fresh fish and Neil demonstrating how resourceful he is made Indian style bread from flour and water (pretty tasty too). Provisions were limited and all forms of carbohydrate had been eaten.

However this life style could not last forever and Neil was in serious danger of turning into Tom Hanks in castaway, well in appearance at least. Plus we were well aware that we were beginning to scrape the bottom of the money pot, so we headed back to urbanization. Heading south we bumped into Matt and Gemma (the couple we met in Laos, it's a small world). We spent time with them exploring the Atherton Tablelands and along the east coast, through Innisfail, Hull Heads and Bowen until we arrived in Brisbane, which brings us to the here and now.

Our adventures are to be put on hold……..well only for 3-4 months whilst we live and work in Brisbane. No more sleeping on the side of the road or next to the beach in Matilda and having to search for a 'free wash' everywhere we go. We now have four walls and constant access to a shower in our wonderful house share with an Aussie/Kiwi couple. Oh and not forgetting 'chopper' and 'obe'. Brisbane so far seems like a pretty cool place. Now this IS a city! You can instantly tell this by the amount of traffic. The climate here is great, it is sunny every day, although it does get bitterly cold at night (which we are ok with since splashing out on a duvet). We have both managed to secure jobs and have commenced work (massive shock to the system).

Until next time……..take careTan & Neil xx