Hey Guys, we have arrived in Brisbane!

We managed to get a great deal form 'Wicked Campers'. they basically needed a van relocated from cairns to brisbane, and we were happy to oblige...paying only $1 a day for our 4 day trip (plus $200 petrol and $80 insurance levy!). So we hit the open road and somehow managed to find ourselves on Highway 1, the eastern highway on our roadtrip down Australia! This has always been a dream of Andrews, he has talked about it constantly. Emma eventually gave in!

Day 1 - Cairns to Townsville. The excitement and novelty of having our own little house on wheels was in full force! We took advantage of the fact that we could stop off whenever and wherever we liked and did so quite often! Probably the highlight of day 1 was stopping off at Mission Beach. the beach goes on for miles and miles and it was so secluded and peaceful. We saw maybe 2 other people on the beach! It was here that we recorded our video which is posted on the site. It was also fun to find ourselves a free campsite just outside of Townsville to park up at for the evening. We even enjoyed cooking in the dark and making ourselves a cup of tea using the little gas camping stove we had been given! However the excitement soon caught up with us and we were tucked up in bed by about 9pm!

Day 2 - Townsville to Mackay. Day two and the novelty was still with us. Andrew took on the role of designated driver and Emma was navigator. Today we stopped off in Airlie Beach, a popular tourist resort for travellers and beach bums. To be honest we found it rather small and with little other than the beach to recommend it. We were glad thatwe were merely passing through!Again we foiund ourselves a little camping ground to speand our evening. This search was a little more difficult though - the road signs are not all that helpful when they do not tell you if they are rest areas or campgrounds! However we found one, we ate and again were in bed by 9!

Day3 - Mackay to Maryborough. The main road that we have been following despite the fact that it is descibed as a highway is really just a normal country road, with a speed limit of 60mph. We have enjoyed looking at the view, trying to spot Koalas in the trees and maybe a kangaroo - although we saw plenty of dead ones at the side of the road! Not too nice! Anyway we found a gas station and were able to have a shower - I dont think the owner was expectoing people to actually use them, but it was nice to feel clean again! Anyway off we headed to Rockhampton, a major town in Queensland. We had a nice wander round and discovered, like most other places that we have stopped off at, that there is not much to see and do outside of the Capitals. Well there is, but only if you have not already done a similar thing already in the capital. These places are much quieter though and they do not seem to be expecting visitors, so after the initial shock they are genuinely concerened about making your stay welcome and fun! Again we managed to find ourselves a nice little campsite to spend the night, and I think we were even asleep by 8.30 this time!

Day 4 - Maryborough to Brisbane. Not far to go today, so we decided to tajke a detour via Australia Zoo, the one Steve Irwin created. We payed $51 to get in which was a bit pricey, but it was quiet so we had a good view in the crocuseum! the place is really intended for children more than adults, but we fed kangaroos, watched the crocs eating meat, saw a HUGE snake that Andrew was scared of and had a pretty good time! We set off at about 4pm to locate our friend Tamara's house so we could park up there for the night. We had a road map, but no street map...we easily located the suburb she lived in...then got lost! Thankfully we asked a helpful lady at the BP garage and managed to find her house...then went off on foot in search of her and her work!

Overall the relocation deal was really good for us. We did not want to be travelling in a campervan for too long, so 4 days was ideal. We did have to do alot of driving really in order to be in brisbane on time, but hey! we managed to see what we wanted to see!

We are planning to rent another van and go on another roadtrip...this time with Tamara