Andre and Jill's Adventures: Road Trip: Week 1

Road Trip Week 1:

I'm not sure how often we will be able to update our blog as we have begun the East Coast road trip…and while many caravan parks offer wifi, it isn't as easily accessible as from a hotel. So, for now, we are going to try to bring a weekly update as the road trip unfolds!

We started our east coast trip with a flight to Cairns from Perth. The only flight available on JetStar (uber budget airline) was a red eye that landed in Cairns at 4:15am. Awesome! Unfortunately, the van rental company did not open until 8am so we cuddled up on a row of comfortable chairs in the airport for a few hours of sleep. The good news: our new ride has a bed in the back, so as soon as we had somewhere to park, we could go back to bed. We picked up the Hippie Camper and made a break for the first van park we could find. Andre took first crack at the van, and thankfully the park was only a 5 minute drive. (Trust me, learning to drive on the left side of the road in a manual transmission campervan is NOT the way to begin a trip after only a few hours of sleep!!)

It may be surprising to some that we would entertain the notion of camping for 42 nights in a 4.5 meter long van…I think some of "us" were quite skeptical as well. BUT, the van parks are really quite comfortable and amenities include kitchens, tv rooms, laundry rooms, pools, and very clean private shower rooms. I wouldn't really call this sort of camping "roughing it". Unless of course we think that for an extra $5 on top of what it costs to camp, we had a fairly luxurious hotel room in Asia. But it's all about the experience, RIGHT??!!

The Beginning....

Our "Hippie". Home on the road.

A lovely little site

On a side note: I have been driving and Andre is my navigator, we make a pretty good team. After a few "Jill!! Ditch!!" and "Wait, you're turning into the wrong lane!!", we are unscathed and in reasonably good humor. I don't think I was really that close to the ditch, but the left lane thing did take some getting used to. The great part about driving in we can stop anywhere we want to eat, swim, or just enjoy the scenery.

Now, on with our weeks sights and travels. We spent a few days in Cairns and then drove further north to Port Douglas. You can actually on go about 90km further north without 4WD as the roads are no longer "sealed" (paved). So we reached our most northerly point driving through the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation. We stopped off to tour the Daintree Discovery Park, learning all about the forest, its inhabitants, etc. We were in Port Douglas for the first day of Carnivale, their week-long winter celebration, and attended the parade on Thursday night. It was indeed very country/small town…but good fun. We made our home for 3 nights at Douggies Backpackers Hostel and Van Park. It was a great choice, where all the campervan kids stay :)

Us at Daintree Rainforest Discovery Centre

Caravan-ing...it's what all the cool kids do! (spot the Hippie Twin at the end)

Andre having his breakfast at a small cove along the road

Another great morning coffee with a view!

We left Douggies and the Tropical North of Queensland behind and began our journey south. We stopped off to see the Babinda Boulders and Josephine Falls on our way to Mission Beach. Originally, we planned to stay in Mission Beach, but I was happy (as captain of this Hippie) to push on to Townsville. The area from Mission Beach to Townsville was hit in February, for the third year in a row, by a cyclone, and today we noticed how few tourists there are here. The trees and plants along the highway are growing bay, although sporadic, but otherwise you wouldn't even know it went through. Unfortunately, people are staying away for now, but lucky for us prices are reduced and there are no crowds to fight through for any of the sights!!