Townsville to the Daintree Rainforest

July 8 - Townsville

While we had breakfast I finished charging my computer since it didn't have enough time last night to fully charge. After, we wrote up our ad for the van since we hope to sell it in Cairns. We think if we post it a few days before we arrive we might have some hits. We also cleared most things out of the van and took some “staged” photos of the interior. We hit the road to continue to Townsville. Along the way there was a guy selling seafood so we bought some local blue salmon for dinner. Once in Townsville we again stopped into Hungry Jacks for wifi and got the van posted on Gum Tree. We headed into the CBD but had to take a bit of a roundabout route since there was a few road closures due to the races. Once downtown we tried to go to the info center but they were closed. We were pretty annoyed since it was only 2pm and it's supposed to be open till 5pm. We could see there was a big rock formation in the downtown area so we decided to check it out. We drove up to the top of Castle Hill. It was a very narrow and windy road and there were a lot of pedestrians on it. Beau felt bad that we didn't hike up but I was okay with it. Up at the top we went on two short walks and enjoyed the look outs. Or at least enjoyed as much as we could see, it was pretty overcast and grey. You could, however, see some the racing going on and there were quite a few people on the hill with binoculars. Once we had enough we headed down to find our caravan park. We also picked up some lemon and tinfoil so we could grill our fish up nicely. The fish turned out yummy for dinner and we had a veggy risotto (made from a box) with it. We watched some tv in the kitchen for a bit then I had a shower while Beau played guitar before bed.

July 9 – Driving

We had a slow morning with breakfast and coffee while watching the news. Beau had a shower and I set to work packing up the van. We back tracked a bit and checked out the price of fixing the window ourselves. It was about $35 for a fix kit so we thought we'd we find out how much it was at a shop. Back at Hungry Jacks again we looked up the price of fixing the windshield and from the website it looked like over $100. Obviously we're going to do it ourselves... once we get some sun! We started driving towards Cairns and made a pee break after a little bit. When we got going again the battery charge light was flickering on and off then stayed on. Beau was worried our alternator might be toast or else the battery might be shot. We kept driving until we hit a small town and pulled into a garage parking lot. We checked the voltage of the battery while the car was running and it read about 15V so obviously the alternator still works. We then turned off the van and were able to restart it with no troubles so we think it might be a loose connection. We kept driving through the rainy foggy day and then stopped for a late lunch. We made our tuna wraps then drove on to a rest stop just past Innisfail. We drove about 250km today, originally I had hoped we would go to Magnetic Island today but with the weather being the pits it wasn't worth it. At the rest stop we continued to try to trouble shoot the battery light. Both batteries were fully charged and we don't know where the wires go but we are next to positive it's just a loose connection. Maybe the light will turn off by magic... or removal.

July 10 – Cairns

It rained all night and into the morning. Beau heard that it had rained about 7 inches last night! THIS IS DRY SEASON! Since it was yucky we were pretty slow moving. We drove the 100km to Cairns. It was pretty warm out even though it was overcast and obviously quite humid. We stopped into Hungry Jacks for wifi but they didn't have their $1 menu so we bought a coffee instead which cost a lot more. We then headed into the CBD and grabbed some free parking. We started walking to try to find the tourist info center. We were stopped by a delivery guy who needed a hand with getting a box up some stairs and he pointed us in the right direction for the info center. At the center we asked about going out diving but apparently its high season so there were no deals on and many were booked into next week. Feeling a little dejected we start off down the street but decided to pop into to a tour center. This one said they had a good deal on with Cairns Dive Center where you paid for 2day/1night and got upgraded to 3day/2night unfortunately after she called to book us the deal had expired so we were back to paying full price. They did, however, have one room open on the boat for the 12^th to 14^th. There was also supposed to be a good weather window at that time. We decided to go for it and booked our dive trip. It was $570pp for 3 day/2 night and 10 dives. We'll be double our number of dives. Feeling poor and hungry we split a sub for lunch and then discussed what to do tomorrow. We decided to head up to Cape Tribulation. We drove to the Daintree River Ferry Crossing, caught the cable ferry across then continued to a caravan park 16km further. There were cassowary crossing signs everywhere but we didn't spot one. Our caravan park had a small reptile display and there was also to be crocodile and kangaroo feeding in the morning. Once we found a pseudo-dry spot to park Beau set to work taking the dash a part to try and find our lose connection. Sadly he didn't find it so we just pulled the bulb :P While we were doing this our phone rang and there was a girl interested in seeing the van. Turns out she lives and works in Cape Trib and we set up a meet for tomorrow morning. We then set to work give the van a good scrub down. We made some dinner, chatted with a British guy in his early 20's about traveling then headed to bed.

The Daintree River Ferry

On the Daintree River

July 11 – Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation

We woke up around 8 and met up with the park owner for his daily scheduled crocodile feeding. He has a 3 meter crocodile, Doris, who was rescued from a pet shop in South Australia. Doris used to be known as Boris because the crocodile farm she came from had sexed her as male and it wasn't until after she had laid eggs her new owner realized the mistake. Since it was pretty cool out Doris wasn't very hungry so she didn't eat anything. Afterwards we headed to the kangaroo pen where he had some rescued roos and wallabies. Most had been hand reared since their mothers had been killed in car crashes so they would never survive in the wild. We got to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. It was weird feeling their teeth graze your palm but super cool too. People pay big money for this at the zoos and we got to do it for free. The ground was saturated from the rain and extremely muddy. We had a shower and then breakfast before heading out. We headed to a backpackers to meet up with this girl to show the van. She didn't show up to the meeting until an hour later and only because she had to work. She said she lost track of time. We gave her a quick run down of the van and she seemed interested but we need to get a road worthiness certificate to sell it. We drove up the road to Cape Tribulation and went to the Kuluki lookout. We took a little walk along the Cape Tribulation beach as well before getting back in the van and heading back the way we came. We stopped at the Dubuji Boardwalk and took a nice 1.2km walk through the mangroves and rainforest. We then had some cheese, crackers and tomato for lunch. We headed back down the the Daintree River ferry but sadly did not see a cassowary. A cassowary is a large emu like bird with a big nob on its head, google it, they are very strange looking. They are also in Fern Gully! Once across the river we stopped into the public wharf to find out about river cruises. We decided to go out on the Solar Whisper which is a smaller, electric powered boat. It also had solar panels on the roof. We went for a 1.25hr cruise along the Daintree River and saw 3 adult crocodiles and many baby crocs. Some for the babies were only 6 inches long. We also saw a python that was coiled all up around itself in a tree. It was an enjoyable and quiet way to see the river. Back on land we returned a call regarding the van to the girl from this mornings uncle. He was headed up this way so we agreed to meet him and he could have a look over the van for the girl. We met him around Port Douglas and he had a quick check over the van. Back into Cairns we found a holiday park for the night and had a late dinner. Beau had an e-mail about Bombardier so he gave the agency girl a call and she'll be officially submitting his resume. We got ourselves all packed up for our trip out to the reef tomorrow then headed to bed.

Doris the Crocodile

Feeding a Wallaby

Cape Tribulation

Adult Crocodile

Younger Adult Crocodile

Baby Crocodile

Python

On the Daintree

East Gippsland

May 17 – Wilsons Promontory

As we pulled out from the camp ground a kangaroo hopped across the road. Definitely need to keep an eye out for animals out here. We were headed to Wilson's Promontory National Park and had another beautiful day for it. As we entered the park there were all kinds of wildlife warning signs up and one advising you to get off the road if you stopped for wildlife. At one point there was an emu crossing sign which seemed pretty ridiculous to us until shortly afterwards there was an Emu on the side of the road. We stopped for a bunch of photos and then as we started off again we saw another one going off into the trees. Pretty Crazy! We stopped at a few scenic lookouts and enjoyed some breath taking views before stopping at Tidal River Campground. We got the low down on the walks in the area, unfortunately a bunch were closed due to severe flood damage last year. We picked out our campsite and ate some lunch. Then we headed off for a walk to Pillar Point. Along the way we had some awesome wildlife encounters. We had a kookaburra flying just ahead of us for a little bit and then there was a kangaroo chilling on the path. We got some photos of him before he meandered off the path. Up at the point we had some spectacular views of the coastline and the different islands just off shore. The sun wasn't right for photos in the one direction so they wont do justice to the view. We took a different route back to the camp called “Tidal Overlook” and got some more great views of the coast. This is about as south as you can get in mainland Australia. We really enjoyed sitting and soaking up the fantastic views on top of the point. When we got back down we attempted to sit outside but it was a little brisk. Beau made us tea while I bundled myself inside (I'm currently crocheting myself a toque). We found the battery was oddly low and it was quickly depleted even though we were only using out little lights inside. We made some tomato/garlic/bean soup for dinner and then started up the van to charge the battery up a bit. We are going to go into the store we purchased the battery from because it looks like we might have a dud. We did see a bunch of wombats wandering the park as well as some nasty possums.

Emu

Look out view

Tidal River

Kookaburra

Kangaroo in the path

No Justice

The view back towards the campground

May 18 – Reves Beach

It was pretty chilly last night but not unbearable once huddled under the blanket. It was warmer when we woke up this morning but it was also overcast too. It was very windy so we decided against hiking up a mountain. We made our way out of the park and saw some kangaroos hanging out on the side of the road. We stopped in the little town of Foster for groceries and gas. We also popped into the information center/library and used their free wifi. I hadn't really gone through my pictures or written up on the computer so I couldn't do much of a blog post. We continued on to our free campsite for the night called Reves Beach. It was a little bit bumpy to get down here and it's not the nicest of campsites but for the price it'll do. We took a nice little walk along the beach and then read in our chairs outside till it got too chilly for that. We have the ocean to lull us to sleep tonight.

May 19 – Paradise Beach

It was raining a bit when we first woke up but fortunately it subsided before we got up. The sun had come out and we enjoyed our breakfast outside in the sunshine. We headed out and onward to our next stop which was Paradise Beach. This beach is a part of 90 Mile Beach as was Reves Beach. It was a nice little campsite. Beau and I took a long leisurely walk on the beach but it was too cold to go barefoot. After we came back to the camp we set up the chairs and tried to enjoy the great outdoors. Beau played some guitar and I crocheted until our fingers got too cold. Sadly it was cloudy and there were surprisingly quite a few mosquitoes out, or mozzies as they call them here. I thought it would be too cold for the skitters but I was wrong. We ended up being driven inside.

 

May 20 – Sale

It was a clear sunny day when we awoke and we took full advantage it by setting up our chairs and table outside in the sunshine. We enjoyed our oatmeal and coffee and warmed ourselves in the sunshine. After breakfast we finished packing up and headed off again. As we got into the town of Sale we saw a market going on. It was mainly a flea market with people selling all kinds of stuff, tools, clothes, books, knick knacks, and also some vegetables. We bought a wack load of carrots and some red peppers for pretty cheap. We had a little walk around and then down along the river. This town was apparently very important back in the day as a main thorough fair for goods coming up from the ocean. After our little walk we bought a burger from a bbq stall at the market. The burgers were good with “salad” (coleslaw), egg, beets and onion but they were missing the cheese. We went to the information center and got loaded up with pamphlets for our future route. While in town we got some groceries as well as some odds and ends from the dollar store that we needed. Beau also picked up a guitar booklet so we can have a little more variety in his song playing. We filled up with petrol headed out of town. Our free camp spot for the night was a roadside rest stop. Not the nicest of places but there were bathrooms and I think any caravan park nearby would have been on the roadside too. I figure it's better to have free highway noise than pay for it.

May 21 – Dotti gets an Oil/Coolant Change

After a not too restful sleep we awoke to a little bit of frost on the windows! It was definitely brisk last night. Our stove just managed to last us for breakfast before the fuel conked out. We headed into the town of Bairnsdale where Dotti had an appointment with a mechanic. She needed her first oil change and a coolant flush. We went into the visitors center and got some info on the town and surrounding area. Across the road from the center was an Autobarn, the store where we had purchased the battery from. We went in to see what they could do for us and fortunately the guy knew what he was talking about and had a check of the battery and said it was a dud. They had to call our original store to find out what they could do for us since they didn't have the same battery in stock. We got lucky though and they straight up swapped it for a better battery they had in store. It probably costs about $50 more than the one we had originally purchased. Saweet! After our battery score we went into a camping store to check out stove options. Ingo and Monique had given us a small propane tank they had kicking around so we were trying to figure our whether we should stick with the small camping stove we have and buy canisters every two weeks for $12 a piece or get a new stove top and fill our propane tank. We found out some information from the camping store dude and decided to go with the propane tank set up although we weren't going to buy the stuff from the camp store since it was way more expensive, go Super Cheap Auto. We took the van to the mechanic then walked back to the library to use the internet. We stopped into K-Mart first and Beau bought a new cotton t-shirt. We are also on the look out for a new travel game since you can only play crib so much. At the library I got my blog a little up to date with some pictures and Beau did the same with his website. We then went to pick up the van and just under $200 later she's ready to keep going. We headed towards Lakes Entrance to a Caravan Park for the night and a hot shower. It's been much too long since we've been clean. While we made dinner we chatted with the Aussie couple who are the park managers as for four weeks ago. They were very nice a let us hook up to power without charging us for it! Beau and I both had stinking hot showers and loved every minute of it. Tonight is much warmer than last night which is a blessing.

Melbourne to Albury and Back

Mar 16 – 19

It's been hard to write about things that we ourselves don't want to dwell on too much. We've been feeling a little sorry for ourselves and kind of home sick with the way things have been working out. Or rather how they haven't been working out. We've been applying to jobs and trying to get in touch with some agencies. We did go into to town on Sunday the 18^th, it's a much cheaper fare. We checked out the Queen Victoria Market. It reminded us of the markets in Asia although a lot more expensive and a lot cleaner. If needed we'll come back here to pick up some warming clothing. You can buy a hoody for $10-20. But honestly we've been pretty boring. We have been walking the dogs though and in one park there are kangaroos. I got some pictures of them on one of our visits.

Mar 20 – To Albury

Today we are driving to Albury, New South Wales with Monique so we can put the van in our name. Monique is going there for a conference so fortunately we have a ride. During the day though we got a very unfortunate phone call from the mechanic. Turns out that one of valve sleeves had fallen into the engine and had been rattling around (at least that's my understanding of what happened). The engine needs to be replaced or reconditioned....shit. The mechanic said he was pursuing all the contacts he had to see if he could find an engine. This put a huge damper on our day. We were traveling to another state to change over a van into our name and it may never run again but it needs to be done. We picked Monique up after work and started the three hour drive to Albury. Along the way we called some places to stay, we hadn't pre-booked, and of course the place we had been looking at was full. We contacted a hostel and they wanted $35/person for a 4 bed dorm! We figured we'd find something once in town or worse case scenario go stay at the hostel. On the way into Albury we saw a sign for a motel room for $70/night and it included breakfast. We dropped Monique off at her hotel and then checked into the motel. We walked down the main street from the motel and got some stirfry noodles for dinner. We were feeling pretty down about everything so to cheer us up we decided to go see a movie. “21 Jump Street” was playing at the theatre across from the restaurant so we decided to go to that. It was also cheap night Tuesday which was a plus. The movie was pretty funny and our night ended on a laughing note.

Mar 21 – Back to Diamond Creek

After our included breakfast, toast and cereal, we walked down to the vehicle registration offices and got Dotti put in our name. We headed back to the car and ran some errands in town. Then we headed back to the main strip and walked around the down town a bit. I was able to find a kangaroo charm for my charm bracelet. We met up with Monique around 5pm when her conference had ended and then headed back to Diamond Creek. We were glad to have our little trip over and done with.