It didn't take long for us to realise that Port Douglas is the flashy playground of tropical northern Queensland. The main road into the town is lined with huge palm trees that were imported, one by one, at great expense in the 1980s. It cost a bomb to transfer them, yet it was done with one intention, apparently: to impress upscale tourists as they arrive, a la Los Angeles. If the palm trees failed to do the trick, the huge pick of upmarket accommodation and e...

We have yet to visit all the wonders of the world. Hardly surprising, really, given the bewildering range of nominations for a place on contemporary lists. But here in Cairns, we pulled on some rather snazzy lycra suits and face masks, dived into the Pacific Ocean and ogled at the most beautiful collection of ocean reef life we could ever have imagined. In the currency of natural wonder, the Great Barrier Reef is pure gold. But it took some training to get there...

How time flies. It’s a year since we properly started planning our trip and here we are reaching our half way point. It brings mixed emotions. We’ve completely fallen for this travelling malarkey and in our little land of make-believe we’d keep on going for as long as there are still new places to discover. Alas, we know this dream will come to an end (on this trip, at least) eventually, but as long as the next half is anywhere near as amazing as the first ...

As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and today ours came in form of a washing machine and indoor bathroom. We woke up this morning sad that it was our last day with Johno but so looking forward to doing some laundry and using a proper indoor bathroom for the first time in a while (we won't admit how long it's been exactly…!). We needed to drop the van off in Brisbane where we'd stay a few nights but thought we'd head to the nearby Glass House Mo...

Happy to have survived the night, and even happier with our morning view across a harbour full of fancy boats, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves when we woke up. We had little time to enjoy the moment though as there were a few hours of driving ahead of us in order to make it to the famous Australia Zoo - just north of Brisbane. After a quick pit stop in McDonalds to freshen up (classy) we made some packed lunches (hot crossed buns) and sped up the...