Today I went down to Low Cost Car Hire and picked up my little campervan. It went down here originally to pick up an orange Spaceship (www.spaceships.tv) but I managed to negotiate this van for less money than the Spaceship and it has room for 3 people and space to actually stand up. The van also included a proper fridge with freezer compartment and a microwave (which only worked when plugged in at a campsite). Overall I am glad that I decided to go for this one.

First stop in the van was to get to a supermarket and stock up on the essentials....yes you guessed it.....I bought a crate of Strongbow's!!!!

Then I found a car audio shop where I bought a windscreen mount for my iPhone, a radio transmitter and a double cigarette lighter adapter. Now I could use my iPhone for SATNAV and also listen to all my songs while I drive around too. Home from home.

I decided to drive North up to Port Douglas and along the way I met 4 people in Wicked camper van in layby. We had a drink and a chat and then we decided to head off together to Port Douglas as we were going the same way.

We stopped at the beach at Port Douglas and then drove around trying to find somewhere to park the vans. All the car parks had signs saying "NO OVERNIGHT PARKING/CAMPING". Oh no, where were we going to park. We found a campsite and popped in. They told me that you can’t park campervans on the street as there was a $300 fine if you get caught. There campsite was full but she suggested some other places to try.

We finally found some where to park at Dougie’s Hostel which had camping and van parking around the rear of the hostel. The other guys didn’t want to pay to park their van so decided to go and find a quiet road somewhere to park. I booked in at Dougie’s and paid my $14 to park here for the night with electric hook-up.

I hope I don’t have to pay every night as this campervan thing will soon get very expensive and would work out more than actually getting the bus and staying in hostels.