The last two weeks have been rather slow paced compared to the rest of the trip, though funnily enough we don't feel that rested! We are all feeling like the time is right to head for home.....

Day 140 today and it's starting to show ! We left you last about to depart Cairns on our road to nowhere. We packed up from Cairns Coconut (again) on Day 127 and headed north via the coast road. We considered stopping in at Ellis Beach but it was just far too crowded for us....maybe next time. We found ourselves in Port Douglas by mid arvo and managed to snag the last remaining powered campsite in town. We met a lovely fella (Ian) who was setting up next to us. He introduced the boys to a guy named Phil who had been coming up to Port Douglas for 20 + years fishing. Phil used to live at Mt Edgerton, which is the next little town up from Yendon. Turns out the only people he knew in Yendon, built, and used to live at, No. 63 Ballantyne Lane (our place)!! It wasn't long before Mark and Max has hatched a plan to follow Ian and Phil out for a fish the following morning. Day 128 started with Mark's alarm going off at 630am, and with the boys out of camp before 730am. Tess and I had a much more leisurely start to the morning, and by 10am we were headed for the shops.....first stop 'The Bookshop Cafe' for a cuppa and morning tea. After our shopping we headed down to the waters edge and saw Rach and Mick's wedding venue - St Mary's by the Beach. We made it back to camp at 1ish at about the same time as the boys returned empty handed from their fishing. It was a lazy afternoon by the pool recovering from our busy morning!

We kicked off Day 129 with a not-so-quick pack up - lots of interruptions by other campers which was good !! We hit the Sunday Market (along with every other tourist in town) but managed to keep most of our money in our pockets. We left town after lunch heading north to a place called 'Home Rule'. We knew nothing about it other than what a fellow camper at Port Douglas told us about it - it was quiet, it had a waterfall, and there was a little river running through it. We drove north through the Daintree which was nice to see draped with sun as opposed to cloud and drizzle as it was when we were there last year. We crossed the Daintree River on the barge and made our way up past Cape Tribulation and then onto the Bloomfield Track. About 15mins from our destination we realised we had made one of the biggest mistakes of the trip - we had forgotten to buy beer (and had only 6 in the fridge)! We arrived at Rossville around 530pm and turned right at the dodgy little 'Home Rule - Budget camping and accommodation' sign, not knowing what we were going to find. After an initial shock of seeing 10 horses in a paddock and feral looking toilets scattered around, we drove through to a beautiful campground beside Wallaby Creek. We ended up spending five nights at Home Rule - a place that in fact hosts the Wallaby Creek Festival each Sept where 3000 people attend a folk-type music festival (hence all the toilets). One of the highlights of the place is the Waterfall just up behind the campground. It was actually a pretty tough walk through the rainforest and up quite steep and rocky ground. It took us an hour to walk it, and we had it all to ourselves when we arrived. We didn't think we could manage to spend five nights in a place where there was not actually anything much to do, but the kids had an absolute ball catching cherabin and little fish in the creek below with their little nets - and if they are happy, we're happy! We had a couple of 'outings' from Home Rule - the first one was into The Lions Den Hotel to buy some beer and have another look at the brilliant pub, and the second was a quick trip into Cooktown. The kids managed a few good 'school work' days at Home Rule thanks to the fact that we weren't packing up and moving around. One of their favourite sessions was the Maths session where we measured their captured cherabin (head/body as well as nippers), with Max then graphing them largest to smallest. It was made difficult due to the fact that some of the baby ones captured had not yet grown nippers! Mark and Max managed to throw the lines in a couple of times - there are three dams up the top of the property and Mark caught a Rifle fish on a lure.

On Day 134 we figured we should move.....the rainforest was getting a bit overcast and cloudy for us and we knew there had to be more sun somewhere. We decided to head back to Mareeba - first stop the butcher for some more rippa Porterhouse and some Beer Sticks (a bit like Kabana but heaps better). We called into Coffee Works for a top up on our coffee - the plunger that Tonina had bought us is great! We managed to catch up with Tonina and the kids enjoyed another cuddle before we left the place for the fourth time on the trip. We hit the Info Centre next as we weren't quite sure where to go - we tossed up Granite Gorge, Malanda or back to Tinaroo - we decided on Malanda as it has a Cheese and Chocolate place to visit. I ended up doing a market with my cards on the following day (Day 135), however the kids managed to spend the money much quicker that I could make it (jumping pillows, fairy floss and cakes from the cake stalls). It turned out they had an Innovation and Fun Expo the following day, so we booked in with my cards again. It was a pretty quiet weekend but the sun was nice and the kids were entertained. The Caravan Park has some calves to feed, chooks to collect eggs from and some kids to run around and play tiggy with. We enjoyed a visit to Gallo's Cheese and Chocolate on the morning of Day 137, before heading on to the Herberton's Historic Village. It was a great little place with buildings from various eras full of great stuff - my favourite was the toy shop and the 'frock shop'. It was probably a bit lost on the kids, although they did enjoy the jail and the old gun shop! Our last to-do at Malanda was to see the very elusive Tree Kangaroo.....they live in the forest behind the Caravan Park we were staying in. Unfortunately after searching for them on four different occasions, we ended up leaving having not seen one....much to my disappointment and everyone else's frustration - I made them traipse through the forest all gazing upwards!

We packed up from Malanda in the rain on Day 138 with Cairns once again in our sights - though we are all a bit over it now! We arrived after lunch and it was overcast and raining, though not cold. We decided to give the camping in the rain a miss and instead booked a cabin back at Coconut. The kids were back down at the jumping pillows for a play, however it wasn't long before they returned with Max complaining that his underarm was itching like mad. A minute or so later and we had extracted a tick that had started to bury itself in his skin! We weren't sure if these were dangerous (we know they cause a dog trouble!), so Max and I (and his tick) headed up to the front office to ask for some local knowledge (you do it with fish so I guess it works with ticks too). Turns out one of the staff members was a bit of an expert after an infestation at her home. She handed us some tweezers and suggested we check all the warm spots (mmmmm- nice I hear you saying - armpits, groin, and eyes). As I stepped outside the office I looked at Max's eyes and found another one that had buried itself in his lower eyelid (alongside a couple of eyelashes that were lost in the tick removal). So - tick-boy and I returned to the cabin with his ticks......and thankfully none of the rest of us had any trouble. Turns out they were scrub ticks - which he could have picked up either from the calves or from the vegetation in the forest (from the tree kangaroo walk!). Day 139 in Cairns brought more rain and overcast conditions. We did a morning of school work before heading out and doing some jobs in town. We then met Kev and checked out his Seawind Catamaran which he's offered to take us out on if we want to......mmm do you reckon Mark will pass that up?!?!

Day 140 today and we checked out of Coconut and hit the town for Mark's bloods and drug. He dropped the kids and I down The Esplanade and the kids had a ball in the sun - yes it was back! We had a top of 28.4 degrees and it was lovely to be back in bathers and swimming again. We are nearly ready to head for home, although it now looks as though we can finish our time up north on a real high. Kev is picking us up in the morning and we'll spend a day out on the ocean on his luxury Cat "Champagne on Ice" - though we'll just pack beer. Max has finally gone to sleep ...... "dreaming about catching Mackerel but will be happy with anything!"

The trip is finally coming to a end, so you'll hear our last report when we make it safely back to Yendon.....

PS - with a tip off from Julie Torpy we have made it onto Explore Australia's Road Trippers Hall of Fame. They asked for a Guest Blog from us, some of which was posted on their facebook page a couple of days ago (http://www.facebook.com/exploreaustralia). They have posted the 'educating the kids on the road' now and will be posting the round up of the trip later on.