Port Douglas, Daintree, Lions Den, Cooktown, Lakefield Nation Park, Archer River Roadhouse, Elliot Falls, Loyalty Beach, Cape York

Wednesday 23 July 2014
Today was a quiet day but we did manage to venture to Mossman Gorge. It is a lovely part of the world however we did think it looked a lot like many other nice rivers in both Australia and New Zealand but was a welcome outing for the day as we were all going a bit stir crazy.

Thursday 24 July 2014
Mostly recovered, we headed out to the closest servo to fill up all available fuel containers, (90 LPG tank, 90 litre fuel tank, and 4 x 20l jerry cans).  We did get told off for filling up the jerry cans on the roof rather than removing them to fill up! Some hundreds of dollars poorer, although prices here were very reasonable, we started the next part of our journey into territories unknown (almost, as we’d been to Cape Tribulation a few years ago on a wonderful (larger) family holiday for Richards Dads birthday)
Before we got to Cape Trib. though, we did have to stop for an ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company (Wattleseed, Pineapple, Raspberry and Yellow Sapote were flavours of the day), the obligatory photo at Noah Beach and (Trish’s favourite) an insect museum/collection. The insect collection was very impressive and the man who had made it had wandered the planet collecting bugs to bring them back to display them in his small museum of which he had made all of the displays and shelving from timbers in the area.
We had done a beach walk at Cape Trib. on our previous visit and we did try again however there was no parking for trailers so we kept on heading north on roads not yet travelled. The track past Cape Trib. is four wheel drive only and did prove to be so. It’s called the Bloomfield track and while much of it is passable by two wheel drive, there are a number of river crossing and some very steep sections both up and down. One of the ups did stump CJ and Richard had to do a very nasty change from high to low range on the fly which did thankfully work out (and there weren’t a bunch of gears left on the road!). Needless to say he was much more cautious on future ascents.
We drove on to one of the more famous outback pubs called the Lions Den. Many of the pubs have camping available out the back and usually have amenities although often fairly basic. It had been mentioned to us the pizzas here was good so after a couple of cold ales and a couple of pizzas it was time to crash.

Friday 25 July
The day started with us playing at skimming stones in the river next to the campground.  Crocodile free, thankfully!  Its a selling-point for campgrounds to have a swimming river as so many aren’t ok for swimming.
Today we drove into Cooktown for a visit which was very interesting. The info centre was quite interesting also housing a small museum so learnt even more info about crocs and termites. There are three types of termites up here and they all build very different, distinct mounds.  We then had a walk along the main drag as there are points of interest and info about when Cook landed and why.  There is a very cool playground which has a boat made of plastic tubes that you can play music on – think Blue Man Group type music.   After a quick visit to the lighthouse on the hill and a visit to the servo to see if they had LPG in (truck with LPG was supposed to be in on Tuesday, then on Thursday) we headed back to the Lions Den.

Saturday 26 July
We headed back into Cooktown to refuel and saw there was a market on and Trish can’t pass up a good market so we had a wander down the street. It was all but over though and didn’t look that interesting anyway.
The LPG truck had been to the servo so after topping up with LPG (using this as the emergency) and fuel, we headed off for a fairly long drive to Hann Crossing in Lakefield National Park. This was our first taste of the red dust and while driving we saw many termite mounds of different types, a couple of fires along the side of the road (fairly common around here) and managed to run over a long snake (long enough that it wouldn’t fit between the front wheels but did manage to run over only it’s tail rather than it’s head but I bet it’s still not happy if alive).
Hann Crossing was also on the river and was a fair distance from the toilets so required a drive for the girls. This was our first taste of more remote camping although there were about 12 other campsites along the river but each site was several hundred metres from each other so was fine. The biggest problem was there were crocs in the river and while no one saw any, we were very conscious of being “croc aware”. The stars that night were amazing and one of Didge’s favourite things so far. There was so many to see that it all blended into a fuzzy light and we also saw some shooting stars. After dinner (cooked on the fire followed by some smores ) we decided to turn in and as it was also very warm, around 22 degrees, we left the side window up to see the sun come up in the morning.

Sunday 27 July
Sunday was Emily’s friend, Freyas' birthday and Emily was a bit sad she couldn't ring her as we didn’t have any phone coverage. We had been talking to some folk at the Lions Den who mentioned a 4WD track which bypassed much of the Peninsula Development Road (PDR – the road to the Cape) and came out on the Port Stewart road so we thought we’d give that a go. While we were expecting it to be slower, we didn’t expect it to be as slow as it actually was. We ended up taking around 7 hours to do about 300km of which around 100km was proper 4wd track with around 11 river crossings. Richard was having fun as there were 2 quite challenging crossings, not so much for the car, but more so for the trailer which isn’t a “proper” offroad trailer. There are now a couple of bent bolts beneath the tool box and there was a moment there after dropping off a steep bank he thought the tow ball hitch might have snapped off but after crawling around underneath for a bit it looked to be ok.
Once on the Port Stewart road it was much quicker however getting onto the PDR slowed us down a bit as the corrugations were pretty severe and we often couldn’t travel much faster than 50-60kph and even then we lost half our fillings. We nearly stopped at Coen where you could camp at the Exchange Hotel however everyone thought we should push on the next 60 odd km to the Archer River Roadhouse as the burgers were supposed to be very good. We arrived in the dark, set the camper up and headed to the Roadhouse and had a proper burger the likes of which you could get 30 years ago at your local takeaway shop before they disappeared.

Monday 28 July
Today we made the decision (on the back of the previous days 4wd track expedition) to leave the trailer at Bramwell Junction rather than take it on more corrugations and 4wd tracks. This meant organising the car to be self sufficient which took a bit of time but the more we did, the more we thought it was the right decision as it then gave us the option to look at some more tracks and also not risk any more damage to the trailer. It was still a fairly long day however as we still had over 160km of rough road and corrugations to travel before dropping the trailer at Bramwell and then a further 90km to travel including some of the infamous Telegraph Track before arriving at the Eliot Falls camp ground. It all went without hitch although there was one river crossing (very muddy water and couldn’t see the bottom) which had us stumped until someone came through and we saw the line they took so wasn’t a problem after that. Eliot Falls was a fantastic campsite and is Trish’s favourite so far.  We went for a swim here and it was warm enough for Trish to get in which tells you it must have been warm indeed!  There were some great rocks to jump off and everyone had a good time here.

Tuesday 29 July
After breakfast we packed up and headed down to swim in one of the falls further upstream called the Saucepan. This ended up being a very nice swimming hole although the rocks weren’t as challenging as the previous day. We headed off further up the Tele track and came across the first river crossing which was indeed very gnarly. The river, while not that deep, had some very deep holes and Richard was wondering what he’d got himself into. So, after walking through and scoping out what he thought was the best lines, he dived in. All was going fairly well, made it across the river had to make a sharp right, then across some bumps and off to the left again. The last part proved to be tricky as there wasn’t enough lock to get around to the left so had to have a couple of goes at it and the fact the tow bar was digging into the ground was making it very difficult too. We did make it out and Richard was thinking to himself if the rest of the track looked like this he wasn’t so sure it was going to be that much fun! We stopped and took stock as we hadn’t actually finished this bit when we saw some other cars coming in the other direction. It just so happens, we’d wandered off the main track and had gone off and done the “fun 4wd stuff” off to the side and there was a much easier track off to the left! We had all got out of the car and Didge had got her jandal (thong for you Aussies!) stuck in the mud and had completely lost it. So, after fishing around for about 20min in the mud we eventually found it and so carried on in one piece very happy we had dropped the trailer the previous day.
We then carried on the variable red road towards the Jardine River ferry. Once across the ferry we experienced some of the worst corrugations but also some of the smoothest roads to date. We really couldn’t work out how to deal with the corrugations, fast , slow, it didn’t make much difference and it was easier to opt for the slow (second gear)  as at least you could still talk or hear the radio. Extremely happy to have put the Lovells springs and Bilstein shocks combination in as well as replacing all bushes as I think that helped a lot. The smoothest road was because there were a couple of sections the graders were working on and we were the first folk through so was wonderful.
We arrived into Bamaga and headed straight for the wreckers. Last year this wrecker pulled 62 writeoffs out of some sections of the Telegraph track and he’s up to 30 this year having pulled out 3 just last week (one being a 100k plus 3 week old Landcruiser).  The drivers window control had stopped working and Richard had hoped he would have one but not to be. After refuelling and a quick top up on bread and essentials, we headed on to Loyalty Beach camp ground where we enjoyed a beer and watched the sun go down.

Wednesday 30 July 2014
Today we drove to Punsand Bay where there is another campground and had a wander around there. It did have a much nicer feel to it, the restaurant and bar looked a bit nicer and the beach was much nicer although you still couldn’t swim there. It was also a bit more expensive than where we were staying .
We saw there was a 4wd track which was a short cut to the main road to the tip of mainland Australia so thought we’d head out onto this track. It did prove to be a “proper” 4wd track and we  were almost digging ourselves out of a  bog. However (thankfully!) we were able to reverse out of it and attempt another track to the side which worked out ok. As it turned out though, the reversing did rip the undercover protection off the LPG tank which we only found out later that evening.
We drove to the end of the road, parked and had some lunch before donning hats and sunscreen for the walk to the end of the mainland. It was very warm and also very windy which meant we weren’t able to wear hats but after clambering over a couple of rocky hills we had made it. After taking the obligatory photos, we headed back to the car to visit the site of a couple of crashed planes from WWII. There is quite a bit of the planes left to see as they were built from mostly aluminium. There are also many aviation gas fuel drums left scattered through the bush also.
We had collected firewood during our 4wd adventure so had a fire cooking toasty pies (jaffles) for dinner.

Cooktown and beyond

Very quick post. In Cooktown about to head out but will probably not have Internet access for the next few days maybe up to a week or more.

When we get access and time we'll update.

Townsville, Magnetic Island, Paronella Park, Mareeba and Port Douglas

Friday 18th July

Magnetic Island is only a 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland – in fact lots of people live on Magnetic Island and travel to the mainland each day for work. It is (as expected) a very touristy place with a good bus network and lots of accommodation.  There are lots of backpackers as it is so easy to get around.  We bussed over to Horseshoe Bay and spent a lovely few hours wandering up the beach collecting shells.  There are lots of coral to be found being so close to the reef and lots of very impressive shells.  The kids were itching to ride horses and kept asking every 5 minutes what the time was.  We were all very glad when the time came to go riding!  The horse riding is very well run.  Both kids were ok on their own and the staff seemed surprised that I even asked if an adult had to go with them.
The riding group was split in two – (experienced and non-experienced riders) but all followed much the same path.  The groups rode down to the beach with some trotting on the way.  The horses were then unsaddled, and ridden into the sea.  The horses walk along in the sea with staff walking along the beach beside.  It was very well organised and one of the few places you can ride a horse into the sea.  Then it was back on with the saddles and more trotting on the way home.  Richard and I walked back to meet them at the end, sneaking in a quick drink on the way!
We had to then get three busses and one ferry back to the campground due to not having a car since it was after garage closing time which meant CJ had a night in the garage.  The horse riding was definitely the highlight of the kids’ trip so far.

Saturday 19th

Richard got up early and walked to the garage to collect CJ while I did some washing and tidied up.  We then packed up and drove up the coast towards Cairns. We stopped at ‘Paronella Park’ which had a free campground if you paid for park entry.  Paronella Park was built by Jose Paronella in the 1930’s as he’d always wanted to live in a castle!  He moved to Australia from Spain and made money buying and selling cane farms.  He then went back to Spain to collect his bride (who didn’t wait the 11 years it took him to make the money so he married her younger sister!) and moved back to Australia to set about building his castle.  He started with the steps up from the riverbank so he could more easily carry the stone and building materials up to the house/castle site.  The first building he built was the cottage for his family.  Most people would have stopped there – a nice cottage in the lovely bush, but not Jose – he goes on to build a castle, tennis courts, ballroom, movie theatre, etc etc.  He installed hydro-electric generators to power the park so the locals could have movie nights and buy ice-creams there.  This was some 20 years before nearby Innisfail had power!  Those original generators have been restored and are still in use today to power the park.  It was a very interesting place to visit and we did both the night tours (incl fish, turtle and eel feeding) and the day tour.

Sunday 20th

Today we drove along the Atherton tablelands to Port Douglas. This is a very popular area for people wanting to escape the heat of the beaches and has lots of do. Our first stop was at the crystal caves in Atherton where one couple have travelled the world collecting crystals for display.  It was an amazing display and well presented.
Next stop was at the Mareeba Information Centre.  We were looking for Dave’s Mum but she wasn’t working that day so we took a look around the Info centre instead.  The locals (including Dave’s Mum) have done an amazing job of setting up a museum of the local area.  It is really good and has lots of interesting things to see.  Sadly we must be getting old as both Richard and I remember using some of the “museum pieces” like old telephones (the ones with the handle to wind to ring) and farm implements.
Next stop was coffee and chocolate world.  This museum/display has coffee memorabilia from all over the world.  But more importantly has unlimited coffee and chocolate tastings!  It’s a great place and really interesting.  Not to mention yummy chocolate and good coffee!
Then it was on to Port Douglas where we're staying for a few nights.

Monday 21st

Today we were up early for a reef tour.  We went out aboard Calypso Blue which specialises in snorkelling tours.  We stopped at three sites, all on the Opal reef.  The day wasn’t the best – a bit windy and overcast but the water was warm at 23-24 deg C.  They provided wetsuits which us three girls used.  Didgy had a sea-sickness tablet and sat out the back in the fresh air all the way out to avoid getting sick.  Richard didn't and ended up losing his lunch on the way back in!  The snorkelling was great with one of the highlights the tour by one of the staff who dived down to show us things then came up to tell us about them.   The whole day flew by and was one of my highlights of the trip so far.

Tuesday 22nd

Today Emily is getting over a cold and Didge and Richard have colds so we've decided to have a relax day.  I did some washing and cleaning and tidying while everyone else slept, read books or watched movies. Temp is currently around 26 degrees although Richard is complaining of it being cold and we're putting that down to his cold and would still rather be here with a cold than back in Sydney without!
We have booked an extra night in Port Douglas for everyone to recover as much as possible from the colds before moving further north.

Townsville

Thursday 17th

After leaving Airlie Beach we headed  back to the Bruce Highway for our morning coffee at the Whitsunday Gold Coffee shop. We grabbed a couple of takeaways so we could drive on as we had a big day ahead, well, that's how it started.

We had been umming and ahhing over whether we needed a snorkel, well, Richard had anyway. There are a number of creek crossings to be done but also many of the roads we want to travel will be dust as well as bull dust and having a snorkel above most of the dust will stop it getting into the engine. So, while Trish drove Richard organised a snorkel which actually meant we were going to stay in Townsville rather than push on to Cairns. Cairns has a public holiday on Friday which meant everything was closed so we couldn't do it there.

On the drive, we did manage to see a large mango and also a large pumpkin. We have also noticed many "red" trucks coming back from further north, assuming this is what our truck will look like after our trip to the top.

Reached our campground in Townsville around 3.30, set up, had some dinner and crashed.

Friday 18th

We thought we'd drop the car off and then head to Magnetic Island for the day. The children have been wanting to go horse riding ever since we started so they are booked in on a 2 hour horse ride in Horseshoe Bay where they even get to go riding in the sea. Will report back on how that goes.

Airlie Beach

Tuesday 15th

On the drive to Airlie Beach, we had seen a couple of signs for Whitsunday Gold Coffee which was one minute past the turn off to Airlie Beach so thought we'd drop in. Well, what a find, the lady there (whose name we will get tomorrow when we stop in again) was a mine of information regarding the trip to Cape York as she and her family had just arrived back a few days prior. The coffee was also fantastic so if you find yourself anywhere near this place drop in, oh, and the Lime cheesecake was pretty special too!

We arrived into the Big 4 Adventure Whitsunday at a reasonable time (for a change) and had everything set up before it got dark! It was still a reasonable drive, around 3 and a half hours but seemed to go fairly quickly.

The big change we've noticed is while the days are still similar temp, the nights are much more pleasant and we no longer have to wear all of our clothes to bed and the kids are down to just one sleeping bag. In about a week or so I reckon we'll be complaining of it being too hot at night!

Wednesday 16th

Today we spent regrouping and catching up on some washing as well as enjoying the fact we didn't have to rush off anywhere. We did wander into town for a walk along the Bicentennial Walk and to check out the beach and Lagoon. The water is a very nice aqua colour and right now, even though it's a bit cool, you can swim however in summer it's full of stingers so not so pleasant then. There is also a pool in the centre of town (called the Airlie Beach Lagoon) which is where people can swim even during the stinger season.  Most of the towns up here seem to have these pools in their centre for this reason.  The one here is pretty big and even has Life Guards.
Downtown was full of backpackers and looks like it would have a pretty good nightlife but we were happy to head back to the campground for some very good fish and chips from Fish D'vine.

Tomorrow it's off to Paronella Park which will be around an 8 hour drive which everyone is looking forward to, or perhaps not.

Track Me
Photos
Photos 2

Bundaberg, Camila Beach and Sarina

Sat 12th
We left Hervey Bay on Saturday and headed to Bundaberg to check out the Bundaberg Ginger Beer factory.  They had a great interactive tour with tastings afterwards.  The Ginger Beer making company was first started in Sydney but when the use of cordials took over, one person started their own company in Bundaberg.  The Ginger beer is still made the traditional way here.  They make a range of different drinks and we tried them all!

That night we stayed in a free camp just outside Bundaberg.  We have discovered this whole parallel universe of Grey Nomad travellers who frequent these free camps.  QLD is very good for free camps and some councils advertise and maintain them.  This gets the Grey Nomads into the town where they spend money on groceries, petrol and dinner.  We have found some of the best information on places to stay from these travellers.  Of course they’re all travelling in big RV’s and very flash caravans that are worth more than our house!

Sun 13th
This was a big driving day to get to just south of Mackay.  We stayed in another free camp – this one right on the beach.  There is about 1.5 km of beach front sites near the little town of Carmila.  The spot is amazing and fairly popular.  The only downsides are the drop toilets and lack of showers.  The toilets aren’t too bad but the kids aren’t too keen!
The tide here is amazing – it must go out almost 1km!  Because of the distance it travels, the water goes quite fast so you can literally watch it go in and out.  The kids have spent hours playing and beach combing on the beach.
We have also had a fire here which is great and gives us an excuse to toast marshmallows.

Mon 14th
After a great sleep listening to the waves we headed off into Sarina to the sugar factory.  They have a great tour of a sugar “mini-mill” there which goes through the sugar life-cycle from growing the sugar cane to processing the sugar.  The “mini-mill” has similar equipment to the big mill but on a smaller scale.  This lets you get close to the equipment and watch the process.  Some of the equipment is modified though – the “mini-mill” has a Bunnings cement mixer and heater instead of the big mills’ sugar drier!
Sugar cane is harvested from June to December and the area around here produces 80% of its product for the overseas market.  The factory is pretty efficient and makes use of all the “waste” products.  The waste sugar cane is used as fuel for the factory, the waste liquid is sold back to the farmers as fertiliser.
The “mini-mill” has a side-line in sugar products – chutneys, dressings, mixes, candy floss, vodka and rum.  Everyone gets a taste of the products after the tour but we didn’t really like anything so came away empty handed.
Then it was a quick stop at Woollies before home to another camp fire.  On the way we had to stop and watch a sugar cane harvester in the paddock.  They are pretty impressive and run 24 hours during the harvesting season.  Rain only stops them when the sugar cane gets too water logged as the farmers are paid by weight and sugar content, more water = lower sugar content.
After 3 days of free camping, two of those at the beach, we’re all ready for a shower.  So, it’s off to Airlie beach tomorrow for a couple of nights of luxury camping in a caravan park.

Have yet to update photos so will post again when that's done

Emilys Birthday

Thursday was Emilys' 12th Birthday.

The girls went shopping in the Stocklands Mall which (unknown to us) opened the same day which meant it was busier than boxing day sale crowds!  Emily had received some money for her birthday & it was burning a hole in her pocket so she had to try to spend some of it.  I headed out to find some spare parts and talk to some suspension folk about an uncomfortable shudder we'd been experiencing in CJ. We had also broken the jockey wheel on the front of the camper trailer and I needed to replace it.  I did replace it with a much bigger heavier item however it was too big and I had to swap with the smaller item.

We went to the movies to see 'Blended', a movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore which Emily wanted to see, as well as have a pizza for dinner followed by cheesecake from the Cheesecake shop.

CJ was booked in to Fulcrum Fraser Coast on Friday to replace some very worn trailing arm bushes and some sway bar mounts which surprisingly were not picked up at a couple of previous visits to other establishments.

Friday I dropped CJ off at the suspension shop and we then headed off down for a wander along the beach before visiting The Great Australian Ice Creamery which sports 72 flavours of ice cream!! Needless to say it was then home to have a much healthier dinner previously made by my mum some weeks before, thanks mum, they were great.

CJ now rides unbelievably better and is not unsettled by the slightest bump after having all bushes and rubbers replaced along with Lovells springs and Bilstein shocks installed before leaving Sydney. It's a load off my mind that we're not going to be shaken to pieces when travelling along the corrugated roads we will visit in the not too distant future.

Have also added another photo gallery Our Big Trip 2 as well as this one Our Big Trip

A few days........ later

Well, time to fill in a few days.

Stayed at the Gateway Village Resort in Rochedale for a couple of nights where I had my cousins come visit which was great for a catch up over dinner at the local pub. On the Saturday we drove up to Samford Village to visit an old school friend who I hadn't seen in years. It was great to catch up and meet the rest of the family and also check out their (relatively) new pad which was great as was the roast done up especially for us! Thanks!

Sunday we packed up and drove on through to Australia Zoo. It really is a well set out Zoo however both Trish and I thought if you'd already been to a few Zoos around the place already, there wasn't really that much more to offer in the way of animals but I think the highlight for us both was visiting the hospital over the other side of the car park. They did have some good demonstrations though which you may not get elsewhere and I think the croc feeding and info was an eye opener for the kids.

That night we stopped at a free camp in Kangdanga. Wasn't sure what to expect but it was really well set up with a fire, running water and access to clean toilets by the rugby grounds. There were around 10 other vehicles there, large 5th wheelers and caravans but no camper trailers. As we arrived late we just set up the 4 man tent we have and as this was the first time we set it up were pleasantly surprised at how easy and quick it was to set up. Up early for the 90min drive to Inskip Point where we caught the barge across to Fraser Island.

I had let the tyres down (16psi) prior to getting on the barge however once we got across they would have easily been left at about 20psi or maybe a bit more. So after about almost 2 hours of hooning driving along the beach (which is classed as a road, speed limits and all) we arrived at the Dundubarra campground. There is no phone or power and the closest shops are about 45min away down the beach so it was great to get away. The camp ground was about half full and was excellent with good facilities which did include a dingo proof fence as there have been a few issues of late. We did have a few goannas roaming about the place which the kids thought was great.

On Tuesday we managed a drive to Lake Mackenzie and a swim, well, three of us did as it was not the warmest however it was a nice warm sunny day. Driving inland is interesting as all the roads are sand so while there's fairly heavy traffic and quite compacted, it would still be possible to become bogged and you really couldn't get out of second gear for most of the way and often had to use first as some parts were very rough. On the way back we had to ford quite a deep wash out (Eli Creek) but luckily for us we watched someone else go through so I had an idea of how deep it was.

We were up early today (Wed 9th) to visit the Champagne Pools near the north which were really very nice with the sun beating down and the many whales making their way past, some even breaching.

We then had to head back to camp, pack up and then get back to the barge to the mainland before the tide came in as there are some parts which are impassable if the tide is up.

After about a 90min drive we arrived into Hervey Bay which is where we'll spend a couple of nights before heading off further north. It's Emily's birthday tomorrow so I think we're off out to dinner and then a movie.

Link for where we are CLICK HERE

Link for photos, will be updated from time to time. PHOTOS LINK There are many more photos so will update when I get time.

First few days

Well, after a 4.30am pack on Sun night/Mon morning and a 11am departure, we made it to the Gold Coast by 11 Monday night.
Still have a few things to get done, few little electrical things like wire up some new LED bars, sort out a place for the Thumper in the toolbox, put up some inside curtains so we can leave the outside ones unzipped and open from inside if required, buy a couple of camping odds and ends but it has at least begun.

Stayed at the Tallebudgera Creek Tourist Park (called forward on the drive to book a cabin cause didn't really feel like setting up at 11pm) and thought it was a very nice campground although didn't really get much time there with visits to Dreamworld and Seaworld as well as a few hours in Surfers.

Dropped the truck into Gold Coast 4WD in Nerang for a service and a thorough going over prior to heading further north. Great service and Ben was straight up and down with what was happening and the truck was returned going better than ever.

We have moved to Brisbane and are staying a couple of nights to catch up with family and friends before heading further north for a visit to Australia Zoo and then onto Fraser for a few nights which is where I'm hoping it will feel more holiday like but since Trish and I are really keen to get further north we'll have to wait and see.

Weather nice, coolish nights but very nice days so far but then that's why loads of folk move here I guess.

Am using an ExplorOz mapping app on phone so you can check out where we are (when I remember to log it) can be found here CLICK FOR MAP Will be boring for a while as it'll be a few straight lines but once out of built up areas will see if we can run it live.

Will attempt to update as often as I can time permitting and may even work out how to add some pictures!