And Finally ...'

So our adventure is over 

- we have been away a total of 66 days

- slept in 39 different places

- drove over 5000 miles in the motorhome ... that's London to Dubai

- drove another 1500 miles in a coach and 500 miles driven by friends

- visited 4 states (Western Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland) and 1 Territory

- crossed the Tropic twice

- flew 9 hours on domestic flights 

and met many, many interesting people from over a dozen countries.

The "Poms" are very welcome in Australia, it's a huge country but it was well worth the driving to see diverse scenery and cultures ... we concentrated on the coast where 80% of the population live but one day we will be back to see the Outback

Clovely Winery - 7th & 8th June

For our last night in Aus, our friends booked a 100 year old traditionally styled house in a large vineyard about three and a half hours drive north west of Brisbane.  The drive there took us through some lovely scenery including up and down some hair-raising bends into the mountains.  We tasted some wine when we arrived and then had the house and gardens to ourselves. This was very tranquil and the stars in the clear, cold night were fabulous. A lovely end to our fantastic adventure in Aus.

Port Douglas - 5th June

As I said we are having a few days R & R in Port Douglas; the most northerly coastal town on the East.  It lays on a spit of land with the beach on one side and a marina (mainly for the reef) on the other.  It has been nicely developed with no high-rise accommodation; the resorts are out of town and most places are self catering apartments with a pool in town.  Port Douglas has a great 4-mile beach to walk along - we walked both ways only to find the cafe we were looking for closed for lunch!  We had to make do with a drink and some crisps from a 'tavern' only to be told we had to eat inside since outside was smokers only and no food (even crisps) were allowed!!! This morning we have watched various events which all finished in exactly the same place on the beach -two triathlons, a mountain bike race and a 45k canoe paddle around the coast.  Very efficient organisation.  Yesterday we went for a swim and spent a very enjoyable hour or two watching the children's surf school.  It's our last night here so we went for a sunset sail - tomorrow we fly to Brisbane leaving for home on Wednesday night.

Over the Daintree River - 2nd June

On Friday, we decided to take a trip north with a small tour group - over the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation.  When we were in Port Douglas about 18 years ago the tarmac ended at the river which is about 20 miles north but now it carries on to Cape Tribulation although there is still no bridge across the river and a chain ferry that takes about 20 cars is used. From Cape Tribulation the road is 4 wheel drive all the way to Cape York at the 'top' of Aus on the East and all the tourist trips are by plane lasting 3 days.  There is still no mains electricity or drainage north of the river. 

We are now north of Broome but south of Darwin and it is almost the winter season which means the temperature is about 27C - hotter than usual but also a bit wetter too... So today is quite cloudy as you can see from the photos.  

The trip went up the coast past the beach where the unfortunate lady was taken by a croc .. The beach is still closed and they are hunting for the crocodile which none of the locals agree with - it seems that crocs are protected provided they don't come after the tourists!   We saw only baby crocs on our trip up the Daintree River and their survival rate is only about 1% - imagine if it was more!  We finished the trip with a visit to a waterfall for a swim although - it was too cold and there were too many fish and eels for me.  The photo shows how dark the rainforest can be! 

It's time to leave the Moho - 31st May

After 25 days in the motorhome on the East coast it's time to give it back! In total - east and west Rob has driven over 5,000 miles - as far as from London to Dubai (or so Google says). We packed up on Monday night and left Palm Cove to drop the van off in Cairns on Tuesday morning.  We are now having some R & R in Port Douglas about further 50k north of Cairns.  We have direct access to a swimming pool - so no need to swim in the ocean where the stinger net has been removed since it's winter. As everyone keeps telling us - we will watch out for crocs but there are no sharks here because of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast. Australia is a dangerous place - you should hear the local news! 

Back up the hill to Karunda and back down again - 29th May

As nice as Ellis beach was, the main road ran right past the site so the night was quite disturbed - it's so hot at the mo we are sleeping with the back doors open!  We had booked to go to Karunda today (yes, that's right, the touristy village we passed yesterday!) Well this is one of the 'must dos' in the area and Rob has always wanted to do the trip.  Basically you go up the mountain on a train originally built by hand (including many tunnels) for the gold rush in the late 19th century and then come back down on the longest cable car in the world over the rain forest.   The train has one stop on the way to see Barron Falls - not that much water and the cable car has two stops on the way down to look over the gorge and walk in the rainforest on raised broadwalks as well as a stop to change to the second cable.  The trip was thoroughly worthwhile and very enjoyable.  

As the site on the beach had been so noisy we decided not to return there even though we had paid for a second night so we went to Palm Cove a beach / resort nearer Cairns - it was originally used by the USA to train Australian troops in WW2 when it was called Palm Beach! Now it's a very nice small resort and the camp site allowed us to walk to the shops, restaurants and beach! 

Down from the hills - 28th May

Back to decent internet and the blog - although have to admit to lazing around instead of writing!

On Saturday we left the Atherton Tablelands and headed for the coast again via Lake Tinaroo Reservoir which was very peaceful.  We had been warned that one of the roads from the mountains was somewhat 'hairy' in a motorhome so we chose the main road and stopped at a distillery and coffee farm on the way - tourism has definitely got better here!  Before heading down you come to a small tourist village called Karunda and then the road begins to go down! It wasn't too bad - but then I wasn't driving - and we stopped at a view point to look at Cairns from above.  Once 'down' we turned north away from Cairns to a site on Ellis Beach.