Oz360 - Tom and Amy explore Australia

The End of An Incredible Era

2011-10-18T14:28:00.000+11:00

Coming out of a life changing journey such as our 12 month trip around Australia, you would like to think that we learnt a thing or two along the way. Through hardship, happiness and mishaps, somehow we still managed to stick it out together and come out the other end as a couple even more in love and understanding of each other than ever before. So, what was it that made Oz360 change our lives forever more?

Well for Tom...
He mastered the art of changing tyres, four to be precise. Each time with a loving (nagging) girlfriend asking stupid questions and giving useless advice along the way.

He learnt that if you creep up on a 4 foot sea lion while it's sunbaking on the beach, it will turn nasty and could possibly tear you to shreds if you're not fast enough on your feet.

Having now serviced a Troopie four times and being in charge of any vehicular maintenance along the way, Tommy is now a very talented token Bush Mechanic.

Tom learnt that if you wear a khaki akubra, faded blue shorts, a khaki King Gee work shirt and a pair of hiking boots, you are bound to be mistaken for the Park Ranger on at least more than one occasion. (The big bushy beard didn't help the situation either).

He discovered a new found love for fishing. He transformed from being one of the most useless fisherman who threw back his first fish ever caught in Australia only to later learn that it was infact a nuisance pest the size of my pinkie with strict orders to kill on the spot and never to return to the water. Even after a bumpy start, he still managed to find a love and yearning desire to fish every waking minute of the day.

He never fished in the hopes of food at the other end of his line, Tom fished because he loved evaluating the water, the type of fish present, adapting his rig depending on his predicted catch, and standing for hours on end gripping onto that rod so tight as he stood back and just watched the day go by. When I think of Tom fishing, I recall his return to camp after each outing. I could tell just by the stride in his step, the weight of his bag and the look on his face whether or not he had an amazing catch to speak of. It is now safe to say that fishing has become a direct rival with the geology of the land for Tom's attention & affection. He has without a doubt, unveiled a new found love.

And considering how useless I am behind the camera, thankfully he also managed develop quite the eye for photography...

And for me? What did I learn after a whole year of living on the road?

I realised how extremely lucky we were to be able to do it in the first place. The hardest part about buying & setting up a vehicle, saving up, quitting our jobs and actually set off on our adventure was making that commitment & following through. Having a dream will always remain a dream until you make it a reality. Once we had made the commitment to go, there was no turning back. Once we had finally set off, you would like to think that all of our cares went out the window and we could just drive the open road for the next 52 weeks without a worry in the world. Well, quite the opposite really. There were days when it was just plain shit. Times when we would be so worried about our spendings after calculating that we had blown our weekly budget by 250%, or when the weather was so miserable that we all we could do was coup ourselves up in the cramped confined area of the Troopie cabin praying for the rain ease the following day, or when the Troopie blew a head gasket and we risked possibly having to call off the trip altogether or source an alternative vehicle. Those times were admittedly testing but in reflection, I now realise that they only made us stronger. So many times I remember Tom turning to me and saying "While this may seem really horrible right now, it sure beats working 9-5 Monday-Friday sitting behind a computer in an office somewhere"... that made us feel better everytime.

I love thinking of all of the people we met along the way, those special ones that shaped our journey and gave us stories to share for years to come -

We made friends with Ned & Tren in Eden, NSW by default really, thanks to the terribly rainy weather we crammed ourselves under a tarp the first day we met and enjoyed endless pots of tea & pancakes for the whole day.

This was the Troopie Trio at Swimcart Beach, TAS. After spending a few days with Maria (in her Troopie called Norbit) and Jess & Dave (in their QueensLandCruiser), we instantly decided we must keep in touch. It wasn't until 4 months later that we literally bumped in Maria in Monkey Mia, WA and we caught up with Jess & Dave not long afterwards in Darwin, NT.

Our generous mate Aaron & his family in Tassie, who took us in, fed us, donated an abundance of fresh honey and took us out shooting. Such an awesome experience, one with many stories to tell for years to come...

The pub in the outback - Mungerannie Hotel. WOW! I am so glad we worked there. There wasn't one day during our whole three weeks there that it ever felt like a day at work. Pam and Phil just made us feel like we were part of their little family. I can't wait for the day that Tom and I go back there, even if it's ten years from now - it's definitely worth a revisit.

Co-founders of the Coward Springs Cup - Tom and I met Denise & Sparks on the Oodnadatta Track, damn smack in the middle of nowhere. Even after three days in the outback, we still managed to keep ourselves very well entertained...

Our second and last time we worked - at Lake Argyle Cruises in WA. And by 'work' I of course mean socialised with Greg & his family and answered a phone calls in between :)

After hours at Lake Argyle - our neighbours in the Caravan Park - Don and Fina were the ones that kept our sanity (and the only other non-grey nomads in the whole park). We were so lucky to be camped up next to our new found friends...

After now returning to my home town of Brisbane, we have been thrown right into the deep end to return to 'reality'. Both Tom and I are really excited to be normal once again, there were certain aspects that we used to take for granted during our normal life. Fresh, running & drinkable water. Hot showers every morning without a 100metre dash to the ablutions - and no need to wear thongs in the shower!! A hot cup of tea within minutes after the initial flick of a kettle. No artistic gymnastics every morning to roll the bed up with only one metre head clearance from the base of the bed. Comfort in the knowledge that we knew exactly where we'd sleep that night and how much it'll cost. Access to a washing machine that doesn't need to be activated by endless numbers of gold coins. And a bank account that gets topped up on a weekly basis.

Even after being in a home for over a week and jogging my memory of all of those little quirks of living on the road, I realised I've already begun to take it all for granted once again. We loved everyday on the road and while the list above may identify all of those little things in life we missed, not having them there didn't bother us so much. We had comfort in the knowledge that we were free, travelling the open road, we had each other and always enough fuel to get us to our next campsite. That was all that mattered.

Through all of the ups and downs, highs and lows, good times and not-so-good times, I wouldn't change a day of our adventure. Oz360 taught me to be thankful for what I have, to appreciate every second of your freedom and above all else that stress is purely a state of mind and so too is happiness.

Oz360 changed our lives.

The day we left.

"Locked in Love" on the Seacliffe Bridge, NSW

It was a pretty tough life.

The day we got Charlie back after he blew a head gasket.

Just the three of us.

Sunshine & Happy times.

Looking towards the future.

CAMPSITE # 169 - Freshwater Campsite, Rainbow Beach QLD

2011-10-13T17:03:00.000+11:00

We were trying to be very strategic when choosing our campsite on the Cooloola Coast in Rainbow Beach. School Holidays meant hundreds and hundreds of people crowding the whole beachfront and the last thing we felt like doing was spending the last week of our trip having to contend with the school holiday crowd.

We wanted a campsite that was nice and secluded, somewhere that we wouldn't be camped right on top of our neighbour but somewhere that was still within walking distance to the beach. When booking our 4WD passes at the Rangers office, we were informed that they were preparing to have their second busiest weekend of the year to date. We quickly responded by querying the whereabouts of the quietest campsite. That's how we found -

Site : Freshwater Campsite
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Dappled woodland, lovely and shady area, within 200metres walk to the beach. Hot showers available for $1 = 4 minutes except it's the only campsite in the whole area with hot showers so there was a line up of 20 women to use the showers - urgh!! $5 per person per night for camping, $30 for a 4-7 day 4WD pass.

Tom took a 1.3km stroll to the Freshwater Lake and returned to inform me that after all of the freshwater waterholes that we'd seen during the last 12months of our journey, the Freshwater Lake was quite a let down. I suppose you can expect that once you've seen so many beautiful things, places with limited beauty just don't seem to shine like they used to.

Welcome to the world of having to deal with School Holiday campers. Driving on the beach during school holidays alongside all of those irresponsible rev heads is an absolute nightmare. Tom and I went for a walk down to the beach from our campsite and sat and watched the highway of cars racing along the beach at a million miles an hour. We sat right at a creek inlet watching the tide rushing out creating mini-cliff like drops along the way. The legal speed limit on Teewah Beach is 60km/hr but anyone who has ever driven a 4WD on the beach knows that you can never expect to be driving a continuous & steady 60km/hr and that you must be prepared to come to a complete halt in preparation for soft sand, washouts and any other points of danger. Some people proceed at snails pace with absolute & extreme caution while others like to show off how rough and tough they are by pressuring slower drivers and being altogether irresponsible. Combine these two types of drivers on one stretch of beach and it results in absolute beachfront chaos. Road rage on the beach surely is not my idea of a good time.

CAMPSITE # 168 - Bundaberg Rum Distillery

2011-10-05T13:14:00.000+11:00

I don't even drink Bundy Rum! I can't stand the smell of it let alone the taste. So, why on earth would I even consider going to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery? For the same reason you quit your job, pack your life into a Troopie and go for a big long drive around the country for a year - the experience. (And also for the love of your rum drinking boyfriend).

For $15 per person, you can go for a self guided tour around their museum. The museum explains the process of making the rum and gives a bit of history about how it all started. You can pay an extra $10 per person to do the tour of the distillery and see for yourself how the rum is made and where it is stored.

As a non-rum drinker, I couldn't help but have a little chuckle at the seriously-serious-rum-drinkers on our tour. Just as we were lining up for the tour, I turned my head to the earth shattering rumble of a shiny black V8 Ford Falcon with tasteless red hot flames paintwork and cheap glossy chrome covering all of the plastic that lay beneath, this bogan-mobile certainly was difficult to miss. But the car had nothing on the young family that climbed out of it. Let's just say, they were A-typical Bundy Rum drinking Aussie Bevans. And then there was their chubby little son, surely his t-shirt reading "My Dad Can Kick Your Dad's Ass" says enough.

No doubt these guys were friends with the 5 or 6 fellas parked up on their camping chairs right out the front of the entry. After noticing two of them with laptops perched on their laps and a couple of others engaging in a card game (using Bundy Rum cards of course) it was quite clear that these guys had been sitting around for a long time. We went over to have a chat to them and to find out why on earth they were there. Turns out, Bundy Rum release exclusive bottles and they were there to get the first ten on offer. So, how long would you wait in line 24 hours a day with only loo breaks and a shower to break up your day all to acquire one bottle of your favourite drink? The guy in position number one had been there for 2 days. He had another 12 to go. That's all. Nothing else to do but play World Of Warcrafts out the front of his Bundy Rum factory. But that's ok, his 'Mrs' drops the kids off after school for half an hour so he can still see the kids.

Site : Pippies Beachhouse Rainbow Beach
Rating : 5 / 20
Facilities : Setting up camp underneath a hills hoist in the carpark of a backpackers wasn't exactly our idea of an ideal campsite. But, after touring the Bundy Rum Distillery all afternoon we turned up so late that this was the best we could get. $12 per person to sleep in your own car in the carpark and use their backpackers facilities.

CAMPSITE # 167 - Southern Cross Backpackers, 1770 QLD

2011-09-27T12:28:00.000+10:00

Naming a town after a year, now there’s an interesting approach. Was it just laziness that drew Cook to give it its name? Perhaps he was so fed up with trying to be creative when naming his discoveries? Or maybe there was some sort of insight into its naming – either way, the town name of “1770” surely is a difficult one to forget. It got me thinking about strange names of places that we’ve come across on during our journey –

Deadman Creek, NSW - was a body lying in a gully the result of its name?
Alligator River - Kakadu, NT – Now this one was named after sighting prehistoric reptiles in the water that they assumed to be an alligators but then later discovered to be crocodiles.
Chinaman’s Knob, VIC – Does it speak for itself?
Dismal Swamp, TAS – Which contrary to its name, was far from dismal.
Murder Point Rifle Range, QLD – Yep! Actually exists, don’t think we’ll be going there in a hurry.
The End of the World, TAS – Really does feel like the point at the end of the world. If you were to travel directly west from “The End of the World” the next continent you would reach is South America.
Useless Loop, WA – Just off from Monkey Mia, we didn’t take that road.

I'd been to 1770 just once before, as a quick stopover during a road trip to Airlie Beach. I remembered it to be a quiet coastal town just at the beginning of a major tourist boom. Aside from a few dozen modern mansions erected in the last 4 years, it was still the 1770 I remembered it to be. Last time I went there, it was during the peak season so to no great surprise we had a very rough time trying to find accommodation due to our lack of pre-planning. I was distraught four years ago when we tried to check into the Southern Cross Backpackers and were turned away because they were fully booked. I desperately wanted to stay there. Second time round, I was determined to not set myself up once again for disappointment.

Southern Cross Backpackers in 1770 is without a doubt the BEST backpackers both Tom & I have ever seen. It's located 2km out of town, and seemed to me to feel more like a rustic bush retreat with a touch of funk. Let me paint a picture for you of our first 2minutes of our arrival.

Take the turn off at the blue VW combi parked out the front - always a sign of some happy hippies in residence.

Follow the long driveway into a paddock of luscious green grass meeting an man made dam covered in white water lillies.

Park up next to the golden fern palm trees and colourful Bali flags blowing in the wind.

Walk alongside the sparkling blue backyard pool and gaze over towards the good looking people (insert gender preference here) lazing about in there togs under the glow of hot summer sunshine.

Enter a glorified shed decorated in foreign flags, comfy lounges while listening to funky music you've never heard but already want to jump straight onto itunes and download a copy for yourself.

Find yourself increasing your intended one night stay to three nights when you learn you can setup camp on the grass out the back and use all of their facilities for just $13 per person per night.

Finally! Somewhere we could camp with people that we were closer to their age of than their own grandchildrens'. People we could relate to and share stories of our world travels. Finally, somewhere to drink in public at seriously reasonable prices.

We broke out the damper, and sat around the campfire socialising and sharing our Aussie bread...

And then, it was time to do as the backpackers do, get really cheap deals on all of the local attractions. Would you believe, that there is still a place in the whole of a Australia that you can join a small group of other beginners for a 3 hour Learn To Surf lesson for $17 per person at Reef 2 Beach Surf!! Holy moly that is CHEAP!! That includes board and wet suit hire. We had an absolutely fantastic time, to a point where we were so disappointed we hadn't learnt to surf at the START of the trip!!!

Meet Patrick, he's our new friend that suggested we all went surfing together. We have Patrick to thank for our full day of awesomeness!! Patrick is from Ireland and has taken a year off to see as much of the world as humanly possible. He also has a blog you can check out at - http://padraicstrip2011.shutterfly.com/

Perfect learn-to-surf conditions resulted in Tommy and I riding those waves like we were the next Mick Fanning...

And then Tom decided to start showing off by surfing backwards...

And then the man and his dog decided to start showing off...

By the completion of three days in the life of a backpacker, I was ready to return to our old life. 72 hours of funky music blaring through the shed that no longer felt glorified was beginning to give me a headache. Cooking three dinners amongst the pig sty left behind by grubs that wouldn't wash their own dishes made me concerned for our hygiene. Standing in the kitchen watching three youths 'meditating' to the water on the stove to make it boil faster just made me roll my eyes. Showering in a unisex bathroom while an American in the cubicle next door was busy trying to suss me out in the hopes of sharing one cubicle to 'save water' and I had just about had enough.

Time to return to our old life, just the three of us - Tom, the Troopie and I. At least for the next very small handful of campsites remaining.

CAMPSITE # 166 - Lake Causeway, South Yeppoon QLD

2011-09-22T10:36:00.000+10:00

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock... time was running out. With just a couple of weeks left of the trip, we were determined not to spend our precious time sitting in the Troopie driving from place to place day in & day out. We decided we would prefer to set up camp for a few days at a time as we slowly made way back to Brisbane.

We were expecting to reach Yeppoon, fall in love with the place and be desperate to stay there for another week. But it was completely not like we expected. Yeppoon seemed like a town trapped in between old school untouched coastal town and the urban, booming place to be. Give Yeppoon five years and it will no doubt be the next Noosa but at the moment, run down and tasteless old sheds adjacent to utilitarian Coffee Clubs just didn't feel quite right. We gave Yeppoon a miss and continued heading south towards Emu Park. That's where we stumbled across -

Site : The Causeway Caravan Park
Rating : 8 / 20
Facilities : Slight trailer park trash feeling to the Caravan Park but it's located right next to the Lake - with great fishing for 50 - 60 cm flatheads. Lovely family spot to setup for a picnic lunch by the lake. Facilities are pretty average but at $22 per night for a powered site - it's very well priced.

One beautiful sunny day, we spent $25 for one hour and hired a double peddle boat (and snuck in a 6 pack of beer to accompany us)...

A day trip to Emu Park made us quickly realise that we were staying in the wrong spot. Don't be misled by it's name, Emu Park is infact a gorgeous little coastal town right on the water with amazing views. It was one of the NICEST towns we visited in all of Australia. I tell you what, if we had a few hundred thousand dollars just sitting around, we'd definitely be buying a holiday house at Emu Park. Discover it for yourself... it was simply breathtaking...

This is the Singing Ship, honouring Captain James Cook who discovered Keppel Bay on the 26th of May 1770. Unfortunately for us, it was a very calm day with no breeze at all so we didn't get to hear the ship singing away. From looking at how it's built, I imagine it would sound similar to a faint pipe organ...

Tom would like to introduce you to his all time favourite ice cream. According to him, it's the best ever ice cream in the history of mankind (and no- this is not an advertisement however it is heavily endorsed by Oz360)... the Maxibon Caramel Rough Nut

CAMPSITE # 165 - Technology take over?

2011-09-14T08:43:00.001+10:00

Stopping over at Sarina, 30km south of Mackay, was never really part of the plan. It was more a stopover from lack of desire to continue driving. We were quite lucky to stumble across the Caravan Park we found, it was extremely well maintained with perfectly manicured lawns - always a favourite for me!!

Site : Sarina Palms Caravan Village
Rating : 10 / 20
Facilities : Like I said - amazingly well maintained. Ok distance into town but Sarina isn't really that exciting. $27 for a powered site.

I spent the afternoon sat at camp, enjoying the fluffy green grass, sunshine and the comforts of a real campsite with all of the perks i.e. power & running water. I got out my laptop to spend an hour or so blogging my little heart out. Not long after I just sat down, our neighbour from the caravan aside from us, poked his head around the corner, looked me up and down and said "Gees love, get off that bloody thing, you're wasting away a beautiful afternoon". I glanced up at him and in shock just gave him an uncomfortable smirk and then quickly returned my eyes to my computer screen. As I stared blankly at my screen for the next 10 minutes, my brain was busy thinking of a reply. I think I'm still thinking of a reply, what do you say to that?

Later that night, Tom and I sat out under the stars enjoying a steak and vegies cooked on our gas stove under our only dimly lit LED light. As I relayed the story of the afternoon's events to Tom, we turned our heads towards his caravan. Through the window of a very well lit caravan, I could see a shadow of a man lying on his bed watching TV as his wife was busy working her way around their kitchen, removing their uncooked meal from their oversized fridge and was busy cooking it in the microwave. Hmmmm.... need I say more?

I want to know from you guys, what would you say in return to a comment like that - "Gees love, get off that bloody thing, you're wasting away a beautiful afternoon" ??

CAMPSITE # 164 - Henning Island - Our island disaster

2011-09-11T18:21:00.001+10:00

We had our very own image in our heads of what one week on a deserted Whitsundays Island was supposed to be like. A whole island all to ourselves, no people for us to have to contend with, just Tom and I surrounded by nothing but the open ocean.

At least that's how it was sold to us by our agent, and we got sucked right in.

As we thought more and more about our week in paradise, we got excited by the idea of spicing things up a little. Survivor / Bear Grylls / Gilligan's Island - eat your heart out, we were doing it rough.

Initially our plan was to go the 'full hog', just water, a flint, a knife and all your essential survival tools. Call it common sense (or just chickening out) if you will, but I had to pull out the female card and put my foot down when it came to food supplies and sleeping arrangements.

The agreement was to take minimal food in the hopes that we would catch the majority of our meals. The tent and sleeping bag would come along for the ride but were only to be used should the weather turn extremely nasty.

We then unveiled another spanner in the works. All of the prospective islands to camp on were National Parks with a zero fire policy... there goes our plan to cook everything on an open fire!

As our departure day grew nearer and nearer, the list somehow got longer and longer.

For $105 per person, we caught a Scamper water taxi that specialised in overnight camping trips. We journeyed to our new home for the next six nights, Henning Island.One of 74 islands in the Whitsundays region, Henning Island is just south of the famous Whitsunday Island and directly west of the high class (and super expensive) Qualia five star holiday resort.

The boat ride there was wet and choppy. Strong winds had decided to settle in for the day and were forecast for the following day as well. We knew we would have some unfavourable weather to contend with but we were in high spirits, our excitement made us blind to the weather.

As we approached OUR island, we were overcome with disappointment at what lay before us... A bright orange kayak beached up on OUR island. It wasn't supposed to be like this, there wasn't supposed to be anyone else on the island.

Unloading our minimal gear onto the island, we were given the welcoming we desperately didn't want. Nigel wanted to know where we were from, how long we were staying and where the rest of our gear was. Stupid Nigel-No-Friends was quick to escort us to the campsite, inform us of where we should camp and just outright would not leave us alone. It wasn't supposed to be like this, Nigel was DEFINITELY not supposed to be on OUR island. The real problem was, Nigel didn't have NO friends, he had a whole fleet of friends and the bastards were all heading for OUR island that night!

Our image of a remote island camping adventure went completely out the window. Being a National Park, our designated camping area featured mowed lawns, picnic tables and solar powered his & her toilet facilities. IT DEFINITELY WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS! Stranded on a deserted island, yeah right! Fending for ourselves with our very own loos and toilet paper, I don't think so. There were even too many bloody people around to bother trying to live our island dream. We weren't in the mood for their ridiculous questions, their smart arse remarks or even their friendly hellos, they're weren't supposed to be there!!

The only campsite remaining was located right in the brunt of the high winds, it was cold, it was wet and we were bloody miserable. It was just one giant snowball effect, it seriously was not supposed to be like this! Not in the mood for their remarks, we hung our heads in shame and set up the tent. Rather than being survivors on a stranded island fending for ourselves, we just looked like seriously illequipped campers. Not just that but we were hungry, illequipped campers. The high winds made beach fishing practically impossible which left us rationing 6 portions of instant rice and 2 minute noodles to live off.

We counted one night, 32 people had pitched up their tents and surrounded us in a very small & pathetic excuse for a camping area, they were practically camped right on top of us! Each night as we lay down to sleep, we would drift off to the sounds of their invasive coughs, and their late night mobile phone conversations (yep - phone reception on our deserted island). In the mornings we were woken by their noisy conversations about how much rain we had overnight and how wet their pillows got... at least they had bloody pillows!!!

During the days, good old Qualia Resort, rented out tinnies to their guests and recommended they spend their day on no other island than... (you guessed) OUR island. At one point, we counted 6 boats run around on the island as their snobby little temporary skippers lingered up and down our beach while poking their noses in our business.

Fresh coconuts!!

It wasn't fair. Our spirits had been seriously knocked for six. After battling it out for 4 days and 3 nights, we couldn't take it any longer. All I could think was we only had 2 weeks left on our trip and we sure as hell weren't going to waste 7 days of it miserable on that stupid island. We both woke on the Thursday morning after a terrible nights' sleep (on the ground without pillows in the freezing cold sharing just one sleeping bag). The decision was unanimous, to call Scamper and arrange for them to take us back on the next boat home. But the boat was already on the water and he was out of phone range. He would swing past our island in an hour or two. We had to pack everything up and stand at the pick up point and just hope to god that he would spot us.

For the first and hopefully only time ever in my life, I felt what it would be like to be marooned on an island. We stood amongst all of our smelly and wet belongings on the beach waving frantically to our boat as it passed by.

It wasn't changing course. It wasn't veering towards us. It was heading home to the comforts of civilisation and leaving us on our crowded island for at least another day. I slapped my hands to my thighs and turned to Tom in disappointment. There I was, as I always do, dramatising the whole scenario as cool, calm, and collected Tom just raised a little grin on his face and calmly pointed towards the boat. They were coming! They must have seen us right at the very last minute - we were saved!!!!!

Except once we had loaded everything onto the boat, we stood at the bow and turned back to farewell our island. It was all over. Our island adventure was behind us and now we were in a boat racing further and further away from our temporary home.

It may not have been the adventure we were hoping for, of bright sunny days feasting on fresh seafood and lying in the hammock. It may not have been the adventure we had hoped for but, alas, it was an adventure, one that will never let us forget - Henning Island.

Please Note : Yes - The photos of Henning Island were lovely and depict beautiful sunny days in paradise. Don't get us wrong, the island itself is really nice, just a little less secluded than what we were after.

FOOTAGE : Top 5 Favourite Things To Do in Oz

2011-09-09T14:47:00.000+10:00

CAMPSITE # 163 - Airlie Beach, QLD

2011-09-05T09:50:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the Whitsundays! The Troopie got put on the backburner, camping got put on the backburner, we wanted the full Airlie Beach experience. We checked into our version of the Hilton, our very own private room with air conditioning and electricity at Magnum's Backpackers.

It's incredible how much we appreciate having a roof over our heads these days. After spending each morning exploring Airlie, Tom and I would then get very excited by the idea of returning to our new home for lunch, watching a movie on our laptop and just enjoying the confines of our little shoebox for a few days.

One afternoon, we stocked up with blue cheese, dip, crackers, strawberries and chocolate and sat on our verandah just watching the day go by. Sad I know but it felt like such a treat!

Site : Magnums Backpackers
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : $50 per room per night for a private double room with fridge, kettle & basic crockery, airconditioning. Rooms set amongst natural bushland. Shared bathroom. Very good value for money. Right in the centre of town. Very cheap beers at the Magnum's pub :)

There was a reason why we couped ourselves up for three days. Don't go thinking "They're at the Whitsundays and they spent the majority of their time indoors". Believe me, we were soaking up as much of it as absolutely possible. We were waiting out for our boat to depart. We had booked a water taxi to take us to a deserted island on the Whitsundays for a whole week. But this time, we were doing it the real way. None of those creature comforts, we were off on a survival week. Just your basic life essentials to get us by... water, first aid kit, knife, fishing rod, flint and emergency food etc. We would put our new found camping skills to the test. Survivor eat your heart out, this would be Oz360's survival of the fittest.

We plan to video diary the entire journey, from start to finish. The good, the bad and the ugly. Wish us luck!

CAMPSITE # 162 - Townsville, QLD

2011-09-05T09:15:00.000+10:00

A visit from my oldest brother James was over quicker than it started. We were to journey to Townsville and drop him off at the airport. The two hour drive from Mission Beach to Townsville made us desperate to stop in at Caldwell for one of their famous roadside pies. I had one of the best pies in the history of my pie eating career, a good old favourite Beef & Mushroom pie, Tommy loved his Beef & Bacon pie but James unfortunately was quite disappointed with his Beef, Tomato & Cheese. When the staff love their pies, you know they're good...

Arriving into Townsville, I was blown away by how much bigger it was than I had expected. But it is infact Australia's largest city north of the Sunshine Coast and is considered to be the unofficial capital of Northern Queensland.

It seemed to me that "The Strand" was the place to be. A lovely beachfront parkland with street cafes, a man made lagoon and some rather funky art installations.

And thank goodness for the man made lagoon with all of the deadly creatures lurking around. During the summer, you'd be busy dodging one of the world's most deadly jellyfish that is smaller than the size of your fingernail. Symptoms of an Irukandji sting include nausea, vomiting, cramps, high blood pressure, chronic back ache and acute anxiety. The venom is slow-acting and severe symptoms surface only after a few minutes of the attack. There is no known antidote, even morphine has been known not to subdue the pain.

We, however, had an even bigger reason not to swim in the ocean...

A visit to the Watermark on the Esplanade was high on our priority list, Tom's brother Will worked at the Watermark a few years back... it gave us a great excuse to have a few beers!!

Love this photo, we see it all too often...

Tom had an old friend from work who lived in Townsville so we planned to meet up with Kristian and his family for a meal. WOW! Tom and I were allowed to be sophisticated for one night, we were wearing the only good clothes we had. We went out for Thai, oh how I missed the taste of food cooked by somebody else! It was just delicious. We had a great night catching up and after a few beverages decided it sounded like a great idea to meet them all at 7am the next morning for a 2 hour walk up one of Townsville's highest peaks, Castle Hill.

As we were driving towards Castle Hill at 6:45am the next morning, both sporting a couple of sore heads, I dreaded the path ahead. I pictured hundreds of steep steps each one hurting more than the last. As we waiting at the bottom of a disgustingly daunting looking staircase, our friends arrived with some really pleasant news. They did the steps the day before and were still a little sore so they thought they'd just go up the road instead. I couldn't have thanked my lucky stars anymore that day, a few strides up the road with a pleasant view overlooking the whole of Townsville was like a walk in the park in comparison.

Site : Rowes Bay Caravan Park
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Nice swimming pool, decent campkitchen, very clean & modern bathrooms, across the road from the ocean, 30 minute seaside walk to the city centre.

VIDEO REFLECTIONS - Road Trains From Hell

2011-09-04T21:50:00.000+10:00

Stuff driving a truck this bloody long!! And stuff having one stuck right behind you! They're everywhere in the outback, I would say this video would have been taken in South Australia in March.

CAMPSITE # 161 - EXTREME White Water Rafting on Tully River, QLD

2011-09-04T21:29:00.000+10:00

Yes, we could possibly be crazy. After a catchup coffee with an old friend of ours, Courtney who now lives in Mission Beach, we quickly learnt that extreme white water rafting was THE thing to do on the Tully River. I guess I didn't really think the whole thing through, the next thing I knew I was on the phone reading out a credit card number.

Surely the 'extreme' in Extreme White Water Rafting was just the word they used to glorify the event. How extreme could it actually be?

In the bus on the way there...

Within the first ten minutes, we were paddling harder & harder through the rapids, dodging boulders the size of the troopie and just generally hanging on for dear life... I could feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins, my brain was buzzing with excitement and I couldn't help but give my vocal chords a really good work out. I reassured myself that the extreme just stood for extremely good fun.

By lunchtime, I had lost count of how many times I had exited the boat. I knew it had been at least twice to jump off a rock (one 5metres high) into the raging water below. It's all a bit of a blur considering how fast paced the entire experience was but I'm pretty sure we'd capsized the boat at least 2 or 3 times before lunch. Even though I'm not the strongest of swimmers, I still felt a sense of invincibility, I never once feared for what could have gone wrong. I had faith in the fact that our leader knew what he was doing, he would never dare put us in harms way.

After we had refuelled for lunch, I was ready & roaring for the adventures that lay ahead. Nothing could stop me now, I just wanted to get out there and keep on going. In between the rapids, we'd have a few spare minutes as we were floating downstream to have a little chat and get to know the others in our boat. It was also a great chance for question time with our leader. How many trips have you done? Do you still operate during the wet season? Do you get any crocs in the river? What happens if someone goes overboard and you can't find them?

All of these questions I was totally ok with, they were all questions requiring answers and Tim, our leader, was one of those guys who would just answer your question straight up, no beating around the bush. It was upon hearing his answer to James' next question that things were really put into perspective for me. How many people have died white water rafting here? Not only was I not ready to admit the possibility of any casualties on the Tully River, I certainly didn't want to hear any number above zero. Tim's answer made me want to crawl back up my tortoise shell and clench onto the side ropes all the way to the finish line.

Tim : Oh, I think we're up to five, maybe six.

Pardon me? Err what? Did you just...? Hmmm, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea. Ha! So THAT'S what they meant by extreme! I'm just glad I wasn't aware of those statistics before I got on the boat otherwise, instead of rafting I would have been sitting back at the coffee shop in Mission Beach writing a eulogy for Tom & Jimmy.

What a day! Once I finally set two feet onshore, my legs just felt like jelly, my arms were throbbing and we were all smiling for ear to ear... we had an absolute ball!

Site : Beachcomber Coconut Caravan Village
Rating : 9 / 20
Facilities : Across the road from the beach. Swimming pool. Fairly good toilets & showers. Free BBQ.

When was the last time you saw bananas at those prices?!

Raiding the sugar cane trains for our own yummy supply...

Jimmy about to catch his first fish in six years...

Mission Beach... pity the bloody palms trees spoiled the view ;)

Tully's Golden Gumboot and two disorientated captains

Interesting proportions...

AND they named a whole National Park after us!

VIDEO REFLECTIONS - We don't miss the flies!!

2011-09-04T11:20:00.000+10:00

This one was taken back in March when we were driving up the Stuart Highway towards Coober Pedy. See Campsite # 86.

VIDEO REFLECTIONS - Christmas Eve at Hayman Island

2011-09-03T20:10:00.002+10:00

As we approach the completion of our trip, we've become rather sentimental about the (almost) one year that has passed. I thought I might share some of our "Video Reflections" with you...

This one was taken at Uncle Bruce's version of Hayman Island - his backyard pool!

CAMPSITE # 160 - Paronella Park, Queensland

2011-09-03T12:42:00.000+10:00

Just as we lost one James, we gained another. Right after we said our goodbyes to Tom’s little brother James, we then had to mask our teary eyes and welcome our new visitor, my eldest brother James. Not only did the two James’ swap spots but they also swapped planes. So, within the first 30 seconds of the two James’ meeting for the very first time, my big brother was busy giving little James tips on his preference of air hostess. Yep, welcome to the next four days of our journey, life on the road with Jimmy Mac.

I’m sure the rest of my family would agree with me when I say, James is officially the most out spoken & opinionated person I know. If he thinks the Troopie has a damp mouldy smell to it, you hear about it. If he spots a number of smears & smudges on the windows, you hear about it. If you don’t drive right on the speed limit from start to finish, Mr Backseat Driver is very quick to make sure that you hear about it.

As I loaded his Mont Blanc tan leather laptop case in the car, just for a moment I recalled what it was like to have nice things. His clothes were clean, they didn’t have any holes in them. The soles of his shoes weren’t clogged up with 5 month old red dirt. I think he was even sporting ironed shorts & a freshly pressed t-shirt. I quickly realised though that he wasn’t the odd one out, we were. Everything contained inside our Troopie smells and there are remnants of red dirt on everything you touch. I guess after you’re on the road for so long, you just learn to live with it to a point where you don’t really seem to notice it anymore. That is until, you’re outspoken older brother comes along and promptly points it all out to you.

So, with a imaginary peg clipped onto his nose, we- Tom, Amy & James resumed our journey as a trio on the road. But how many places can we cram into one day??

Lookout overlooking Cairns...

Barron Falls...

Mt Uncle Distillery...

Curtain Fig Tree

It was approaching sunset and we needed to sort ourselves out with a place to stay for the night. But there was one more tourist destination on our list that we had yet to see. We decided to call into to Paronella Park to establish for ourselves whether we could cram in a viewing in under an hour.

RACQs 150 Must Do’s in Queensland, rate Paronella Park as the number #1 MUST DO destination. With a rating like that, we simply had to check it out for ourselves.

Firstly, I should point out other destinations that Paronella Park was rated ahead of...

# 1 – Paronella Park
#2 – Fraser Island
# 3 – Australia Zoo
# 4 – Maryborough
#5 – Whale Watching at Hervey Bay
#6 – Powerboat Racing in Bundaberg
# 7 – An aboriginal tour in Cooktown
# 8 – Gympie Muster
# 9 – Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame
# 10 – Paddle Boat on Brisbane River

What is Paronella Park? Well, I went onto their website, to give you their blurb about the park...

“Paronella Park tells the amazing story of one man with an incredible dream... Step back in time and be amazed by the ingenuity and determination shown by one man with a dream. Paronella Park today is a celebration of the Paronella family's achievements, particularly those of it's founder, José Paronella.”

And what did we think of Paronella Park?

Firstly, we were shocked by the price. $36 per person to be handed a bag of fish food, the option to join a 45 minute guided tour and entry into the park.

As soon as you get there, you follow a pathway leading to a dilapidated pile of rotting concrete supported by modern scaffolding. There was never any focal point, it was just a collection of random structures in various states of repair. So, I always felt as if we weren’t at the main attraction yet. But as we were guided along to more and more piles of nothingness, I realised that well, this was it.

I’m sure during its prime time Paronella Park would have been a wonderful place to visit with the family back in the 1930s, while enjoying lunch and a dip in the waterhole. But nowadays, it’s much more of a safety hazard than a tourist destination.

Time hasn’t been good to Paronella Park. We’ve seen wooden hotels and 100 year old buildings throughout Australia that are older than Paronella Park. So, why does a building made purely out of concrete not stand the test of time? Because José didn’t do his research, the building sand used came from the property and was rich in mica. The plate-like structure of mica allows water to peculated through the concrete. Mix mica with reinforcement from reclaimed & rusting railway tracks and you get concrete cancer.

We were expecting to be blown away by the beauty of brilliant architectural design in some sort of Lost City type castle. We wanted to see something mysterious and intriguing. We wanted our $36 worth.

I say, shame on RACQ for associating their reputable name with such a shit tourist destination. Are they truly trying to tell me that some incompetent fool’s attempt to build a castle with zero know-how and ability resulting in rubble amongst the rainforest seriously beats – The Great Barrier, Fraser Island, reaching the tip of Cape York and The Whitsundays? All of those are natural wonders. What about better tourist attractions like Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures, Dreamworld or Cairns Skyrail? Oz360 would put Paronella Park at the top of their list. The list of overrated, overpriced places to go to in Queensland. Tom and I both agreed, Paronella Park was the worst tourist attraction we’ve been to on the trip.

They named a motel after us...

Site : North Mission Beach Hideaway Holiday Village

Rating : 9 / 20

Facilities : Quite pricey $58 for three adults powered site. Across the road from the beach. Nice lawns, backs onto rainforest. Pool. Good camp kitchen facilities but you have to pay for them.

Quite a popular spot, particularly if you drive an 80 series Landcruiser...

CAMPSITE # 159 - Cairns, Queensland

2011-08-30T19:18:00.000+10:00

Everytime I hear the name Cairns, I am always reminded of my favourite joke (of which Tom hates)...

Two sardines travelling around Australia, where do they end up??

In Cairns!!

Now having visited Cairns for myself, I will no longer need to be instantly reminded of my cheesy joke but instead I can actually paint my very own picture.

Cairns is a traveller’s paradise. Not just for us but even more so for those new to Australia, desperate to experience our culture and ready & waiting for a really good time. It is seriously party central. Just walking through the streets of Cairns on a Thursday night, you can feel the busy nightlife atmosphere floating through the air. All of the restaurants along the Esplanade were exploding with people engaging in loud & expressive conversations over their Cabernet Sauvignon and fresh barramundi. The trendy oceanfront bars serving beers on tap by the pint would have their music blazing as their stereos compete with their neighbours to lure in potential customers. You could hear the buzz of the Night Markets every night of the week, as tourists barter their way into a new pearl necklace or genuine Australian Merino sheepskin Ugg boots. When it all just gets too much and you need a break from the abundance of tourists bouncing down the street, you can venture over to the boardwalk for a gentle stroll along the beachfront with the ocean breeze giving you goosebumps as it lightly touches your skin.

So why is Cairns such a Mecca for potential tourists? Let’s say you wanted to book a holiday. Perhaps a relaxing walk through a rainforest searching for cassowaries and birdlife is totally your thing. Or perhaps you prefer to bask on white sandy beaches sipping the milk from fresh coconuts. Or perhaps you’re an adventure seeker and are desperate to sky dive over the ocean and land on the beach. Whatever it is you’re looking for, I can almost guarantee you’ll find it... in Cairns!!! ;)

Site : Cairns Holiday Park

Rating : 10 / 20

Facilities : We kind of cheated and booked ourselves into a cabin. For $70 per night, the three of us slept in a cabin together, shared bathroom facilities with a few other cabins and a communal kitchen area. Really great value for money.

Somehow, five weeks managed to just fly right by. Returning to Cairns meant dropping young James off at the airport for a 30 hour journey back home to England as an unaccompanied minor. Saying goodbye was really difficult, we instantly felt as if something was missing. James came and spent time with us and transformed our trip in ways he'll never even know. His leaving meant Tom no longer had his little bro around to teach the ways of the world and I no longer had him around to gang up on Tommy with. Oh and it also meant I no longer had an excuse to consume Coco Pops every morning.

James - we loved every second we spent with you on the road. I just hope that you take with you everything you learnt during your travels. For years to come, the three of us will enjoy sharing memories of these past few weeks. We will certainly miss your big smiling face.

CAMPSITE # 158 - Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, QLD

2011-08-30T09:39:00.004+10:00

We couldn’t contain our excitement about visiting Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures just north of Cairns, Queensland. We had heard so many good stories from other folks on the road, we just had to go there ourselves. I used James, the 13 year old travelling with us, for an excuse to act like a child at an adventure park and from the stories we’d heard – I liked the place already even before I had set foot inside.

It’s funny how much faster you pack up camp when you’re full of energy and excitement. We arrived half an hour before opening and had expected to have a rather impatient 30 minute wait until they let us through. Instead, we were greeted by a very jovial English lady and led straight through for a pre-opening sneak preview.

The best thing about Hartley’s is that you never once feel like you’re at a zoo. No viewing animals from behind giant iron prison bars, not even the salt water crocs! 9 O’Clock marked the time for the really good stuff to begin. As we were such early birds, we were on the first boat cruise of the day and shared our salt water crocodile viewing & feeding in their man-made lagoon on a very empty boat with less than ten other people. Hartley’s houses 18 salt water crocodiles in their lagoon, 15 females and 3 very busy males. The one you really have to keep your eye out for is Big Ted... the second largest crocodile in captivity in the world.

These 18 crocs are the lucky ones, they laze about day & night, breed their little hearts out, lay their eggs on their nests and then four not-so lucky Reptile Keepers sneak into the lagoon to steal their eggs.

The eggs are then transported over to the crocodile farm where they are hatched and grown for a few years to then become upmarket fashion accessories. Interestingly, as males grow larger and faster than female crocodiles, the Reptile Keepers ensure that they are only farming male crocs. But how do they ensure that only male crocs are hatched? When the croc eggs are first laid, the unborn croc doesn’t have an X/Y chromosome. What determines their gender is the temperature at which the eggs are kept. 32.5 degrees ensure a male crocodile, any degree above or below that temperature are females. It seems there is quite an art to collecting and hatching crocodile eggs, when the Reptile Keepers raid the nests, they must ensure that the eggs remain in the exact same upright position they found them in. Even the slightest movement in their upright positioning could kill the unborn croc.

Finally! A real life Cassowary, even if it wasn't in the wild.

I certainly wouldn't be doing this in the wild...

One of James' favourite, the Koalas and the Laughing Kookaburras...

This guy spends his day living in fear, he's a Night Herron and loiters around the crocs to feasts on the Crocodiles eggs... when the keepers aren't fast enough to collect them!

Freshwater Crocodile / Saltwater Crocodile / Alligator skulls

Advertised as “The Greatest Crocodile Show in Australia”, we were really hanging out for the 3 O’Clock show. It is well and truly clear to me now that these guys must have a death wish. To climb into a confined area no larger than a backyard swimming pool with a four metre crocodile is a seriously gutsy thing to do. And there is no such thing as a tame or friendly saltie. They are absolutely vicious prehistoric beasts and only ever see humans as a giant piece of meat. Even after twenty years of working with the same 4 metre beast, our host still had to remain on his guard throughout the entire show if he wanted to keep all of his limbs intact.

At some stages, he would be standing in cloudy shin-deep water with Stan the crocodile lurking in the waters below waiting to pounce. It was absolutely the most enthralling, entertaining & mesmerising performance of any kind I have ever been to. Looking around the amphitheatre at the other 200 or so people eagerly watching his every move, I’d say it was safe to say they too were enjoying it just as much as I.

So, how much would you expect to pay for a full day of action pack family friendly entertainment? Having now been there and experienced it all, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay $100 per person and I would still be confident that it was absolutely great value for money. Finally, a tourist attraction that didn’t just see us tourists with giant dollar figures tattooed on our foreheads. Entry was $33 per adult and stuff having to fork out another $90 just to feed the family full of soggy hot dogs and oversized & overprized postmix coke – their food was actually really affordable too!

Hartley Crocodile Adventures, you’ve done everything right, I take my hat off to you. From your friendly staff, to your very affordable price tags to your very well kept & well maintained wildlife habitat... everything about our day was absolutely exceptional.

Site : Palm Cove Camping Ground
Rating : 12 / 20
Facilities : Really close to the beach & fishing jetty. A nice stroll to the restaurants & shops on the Esplanade. VERY reasonably priced @ $20 for an unpowered site. Toilets & Showers were ok.

CAMPSITE # 157 - The End of the Road to Cape York

2011-08-27T09:02:00.001+10:00

It was time to say goodbye to gravel road... thank god! After spending a whole week driving with the windows up to block out the dust, corrugation that would make every item inside the Troopie rattle to infinity and red dirt clinging to everything and anything, we were well and truly ready to put the road just travelled very far behind us.

Returning to bitumen also meant returning to civilisation. Sweet, sweet civilisation where diesel was no longer $2+ per litre, where you could actually purchase fresh milk from the local grocer and, most importantly, where we were legally allowed to consume alcohol!! It felt good to be back.

Site : Lakeland Caravan Park
Rating : 10 / 20
Facilities : Really nice facilities, manicured lawns, very well maintained garden, exceptionally good showers & toilets. But no camp kitchen or cooking facilities.

CAMPSITE # 156 - Bush Mechanics

2011-08-25T12:24:00.000+10:00

Tom and I were so glad to be driving the Troopie back down south from Cape York without any major mishaps to speak of. We had heard so many stories of 4WDs being written off at creek crossings. We even saw a camper trailer that had lost its right wheel altogether and flipped on its side while travelling along a gravel highway at 100km/hr. Every single item that was in the trailer was sprawled out across the road. As we slowed down to check if they needed any help, the poor family looked so forlorn, with their heads in their hands and concerned looks on their faces. We later learnt that they had only just bought the brand new camper trailer two days before they left on the trip that they had spent 18 months planning & preparing.

Not long afterwards, we pulled up for lunch next to this hire car that had seen better days -

We also had a little friend try and join us for lunch...

We did have a couple of little mechanical hiccups along the way, that was absolutely nothing in comparison though! Tom removed the air filter hose to give the air filter a clean out & we realised the hose must have been close to an original 1989 part as it cracked and practically fell to pieces in Tommy's hand. Nothing a good dose of duck tape can't fix...

Our poor snorkel head may now rest in peace. The clamp must have come loose and it flew off as we were driving down a really steep hill. We could see it sitting, waiting for us to collect it right in the middle of the bitumen double-laned highway. I confirmed that there were no other cars in sight and then spun the Troopie around, flung the hazards lights on and approached it at a very slow and steady pace. All seemed well and good, until a Wanker of a truck driver came flying down the road with our hazard lights in sight and speed up right on my tail. I carefully drove around the snorkel head and had to speed up to get the loser off my back. Confirming his pledge into Wankerville, he then proceeded to run over our $100 snorkel head. That's money we'd prefer to hold off on spending. So, in the meantime... nothing a bit of duck tape & an old lemonade bottle can't fix...

Site : Merluna Station Stay
Rating : 8 / 20
Facilities : Very peaceful setting. Bit too far out of our way - 30 kms off the highway. Nice outlook under shady trees with some good grass. Big camp kitchen. Really nice people. But it felt as if something was missing, something just didn't feel quite right. $25 for an unpowered site.

CAMPSITE # 155 - I still call Australia home.

2011-08-23T09:40:00.000+10:00

We did it! We got to the top... yippeeeeeee!!

I couldn't believe the road we took to get there. It was as though you really had to work hard to reach the top, no road signs directing you to where you wanted to go followed by seriously corrugated dirt roads followed by a rather deep creek crossing.

Taking the 15minute rocky walkway to the tip was quite a humbling feeling. I felt like Cadell Evans crossing the finish line of the Tour de France, or like Donald Bradman smashing century after century, or like Cathy Freeman in her condom suit in front of her home crowd at the Sydney Olympics. It was as if we had travelled all of this way around Australia just for that moment.

When I reached the top of that final peak and looked out towards the sign before me, I felt proud to be an Australian. At that point, I wished I had an Australian flagged draped over my back so I could do laps around the stadium as the whole crowd cheered as we all merrily sang together our national anthem.

We did it!!

The three of us perched on top of a shady rock and made our message in a bottle. Who knows where it might end up? Either way, hopefully they'll log onto the blog and let us know (let's just hope they speak English!!!)

Jim did the honours of throwing it out...

Afterwards, we jumped back in the car and took a short drive to meet up with our friends, The Morgans, and camp at...

Site : Punsan Bay Camping GroundRating : 14 / 20
Facilities : WOW!!! One of the nicest beach camping spots yet! RIGHT on the beach. Campfires allowed. Glorious outlook with beautiful sunrise & sunsets. Showers were disappointing - no lights so it was like showering in a dark prison cell. Very reasonably price $25 for the three of us for an unpowered beachfront site. Above ground swimming pool & restaurant. Two additional points from Tom but just one not two from me due to my scary shower.

This photo was not enhanced in any way, check out how blue the water is...

Us & The Morgans... Jayne, Rhys, Darren & Angus...

CAMPSITE # 154 - Top End of Australia

2011-08-23T09:02:00.001+10:00

We were almost at the top! Cape York was in our sites. First things first, we needed to cross the Jardine River. I suppose the joy of running the only ferry transporting vehicles to Cape York is that you can charge as much as you bloody well like! $88 for a return transfer gliding across no more than 50 metres of water. However, we didn't think twice about handing over the cash and continuing north - we couldn't possibly put a price on reaching the top.

With every ferry of course must come a ferry driver.. ours had a um, rather feisty temper, dropping his four letter words left right & centre to the car infront who didn't move far enough forward... and by four letter words... I'm including the whole she-bang... I counted at least 7 or 8 c-bombs dropped... how's that for service with a smile!!

One catch about crossing the river and arriving at the Top End...

I must say, I've never been one to let any booze go to waste. So, while we sat at the southern side of the ferry crossing for lunch, I was acting the part of terrible role model to James...

Upon first glimpse of the seaside at the Top End, it's very difficult to believe that you're still actually in Australia. The red dirt roads, crusty lifeless grass and coconut palms painted the picture of precisely how I would imagine beachfront Papua New Guinea to be. It certainly did not feel as if we were still standing on Australian land. After studying the map in further, I found out why it feel so much as if we were in PNG, we were less than 200kms away from it! Looking out towards the Torres Strait Islands, I struggled to think of any other part of Australia where you could see another country while standing on land. We had arrived at a very unique & untouched part of the country.

Site : Seisia Holiday Park
Rating : 6 / 20
Facilities : Right on the beach. Pretty second rate caravan park if it wasn't for the beach. Red dirt sand EVERYWHERE! Not very good camp kitchen facilities. Bathrooms were clean but showers were quite pathetic. $40 per night powered. Right next to the wharf which was a really winner for fishing!!

Jim was getting right into the swing of things with Tommy's cast net,
even catching us some perfect bait fish...

Yep, that's me and another big catch! It only took me ten months but
I'm now finally able to contribute to the fish dinners!

Two Queenfish, cooked on the BBQ plate of the Cob just with some slices of our only citrus on hand - orange. Really good eating fish & not too bony.

You just have to proceed with caution when fishing on the beach, this 5 metre fella was sunning himself on the beach directly across the channel from where we were fishing. We were all on our guard when all of the sudden he disappeared, no doubt in search of his dinner...

CAMPSITE # 153 - The Old Telegraph Track

2011-08-20T08:17:00.000+10:00

Time for the good stuff. We had endured the boring old gravel highway all of the way up to Bramwell Junction, where the road forks off to either the Old Telegraph Track or the upgraded bypass route. The Old Telegraph Track is renowned for writing off 4WDs from rolling mainly at the creek crossing points.

The creek crossings had claimed as many as 10 vehicles within the last two weeks. If you write your car off, you have the privelege of being allowed to mount it's number plate on their RIP tree. If you roll your car and you want to keep it, you can expect to pay around $5000 for it to be shipped to Cairns.

There was no negotiating, we had to get back to Brisbane in one piece - preferably in the Troopie and not via plane flight with a $5000 debt weighing us down. It may not have been the most blogging friendly route to have chosen, but we were all set to chicken out and drive the bypass. But, we had to at least drive down a little to check it out, see if it was all that it was cracked up to be.

Palm Creek crossing was only 3kms down the track from the start of the Old Telegraph Track. Once we arrived at the crossing, it was difficult to believe that any car could come out in one piece after driving down something so steep. We thought we had to just use our imagination, but lucky for us three vehicles turned up ready & roaring to give it a shot...

This is the first car that went down. I loved the bit where the son stood infront of the car giving directions via their hand held two-way to his dad who was driving and said "Stop there cause if you go an inch further you will definitely roll" and then he proceeded to the side it would have rolled to to... hold it up?!? As his other brother hung off the other side as ballast...

All three cars made it through but there was a lot of rather unfriendly banging and clanging going on that I'm sure Charlie the Troopcarrier really wouldn't have appreciated.

We setup camp and the makeshift camping ground right near the Palm Creek crossing with our new on the road friends, The Morgans.

Site : Palm Creek Camping Area
Rating : 8 / 20
Facilities : Free Bush Camping with zero facilities. Camp fires allowed, I assume.

Have a look at the distance between the "Wenlock River" sign and the little white sign in the tree above...

This is what that little white sign says...

Step # 1 of learning how to drive a Troopie... to learn how it all functions & how to start her up...

CAMPSITE # 152 - Charlies Camping Ground, Coen

2011-08-20T07:53:00.000+10:00

We said our goodbyes to civilisation as we headed towards Cape York, the northern-most point of Australia. The only catch was, we had a lot of ground to cover with just ten days left until Jim flew back home, out of Cairns. Our plan was simple, to get to the Cape pronto and then make our way back down seeing the sights along the way.

This meant we were arriving at our halfway point of Coen right on sunset. The next morning, the three of us woke with an opportunity to actually discover the junk of a backyard we had called camp for the night.

Site : Charlies Camping Ground
Rating : 5 / 20
Facilities : Our book must be too out of date as it said gold coin donation but when we arrived we had to fork out $20 for the night unpowered. Flush toilets & hot showers but they were VERY 'outback' facilities. Best word to describe this place? Quirky.

Try and make some sense out of this pile in the middle of the camping grounds...

I assume he uses the pile of junk to rummage through to create these little fellas...

Like I said, quirky.

CAMPSITE # 151 - A birthday in Cooktown

2011-08-19T20:52:00.000+10:00

As I lay in bed on the eve of my 27th Birthday, Tom turned to me to give me a bushy beard kiss on my cheek and asked "What would you like to do tomorrow? We can do anything you like."

I lay there, staring into nothingness beyond the ceiling of our tent as I thought long and hard about my options. Perhaps a picnic in the park on a sunny day in Cooktown? Or maybe a birthday lunch at the local seafood restaurant? Or a day on the cruise boat exploring Far North Queensland by sea?

But one thing stood out the most, one thing that I desperately wanted to do on my birthday. If I only asked to do one thing all day, it would be to take Tom to the local Barber and get rid of that bloody beard!! After hearing him complain about his discomfort from his itchy face for the last few weeks, he not surprisingly very quickly obliged.

The next morning, I woke in the three man tent all alone. As I opened my sleepy eyes and turned my ears onto listening mode, I heard two Simpsons rustling about on the other side of the tent. As they heard my morning groans and moans from waking up, the two of them unzipped the tent and all I saw was a giant flash of rainbow colours flying at my face. Next thing I knew, the entire tent was overflowing with balloons. They had been up since dark, very delicately attempting to blow up balloons and hang streamers with out waking me. From that point right until the end of the day, we were in happy party mode, and we had a great old time!..

And what about the beard? Well, fate stepped in and organised for a mobile hairdresser to conveniently camp in the same Caravan Park as us. For $10 Tom got his beard done. Then I decided he needed the hair done to match. Then I decided I needed a trim. All up... $50! I love mobile hairdressers!!

My lumberjack boyfriend...

My new boyfriend with a hairdo that finally matched his age!!...

In June 1770, Captain James Cook left his seriously damaged ship on coral reef, the Endeavour, and rowed ashore in search of an safe harbour to repair their ship and replenish supplies. He climbed to the top of Grassy Hill for a vantage point over the bay and mapped a safe passage for his vessel to sail through the surrounding reefs. Cook named the river the "Endeavour" after his ship, and, as they later sailed north, he hoisted the flag known as the 'Queen Anne Jack' and claimed possession of the whole eastern coast of Australia for Britain. He named Cape York Peninsula after the then Duke of York ("The Grand Old Duke of York").

On top of Grassy Hill...

This rock stands where it is believed to be the place the Cook first set foot on Australia...

On route to Cooktown, we passed through Bloomfield and were rather amused by their signs on display...

Not so amused by the giant salty sunny itself on the river bank...
What's with the mouth open thing? Just busying showing us who's boss?

CAMPSITE # 150 - Lync Haven Daintree National Park

2011-08-19T13:54:00.003+10:00

The Daintree - where dense tropical rainforest meets the ocean. I recall one part of our drive into Daintree National Park where the bushland surrounding us made me think that we were right in the thick of it, kilometres away from anywhere. Until we came around a bend and right in front of us was the ocean. I could feel my eyes bulge out of their sockets in disbelief, we all let out a giant "WOW" as we were so astonished by what seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere and all of the sudden all we could see for thousands of metres ahead of us was the crystal clear turquoise waters of the ocean surrounding dark blue patches of coral reef.

At around 1200 square kilometres, the Daintree is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest in Australia. The Daintree Rainforest contains 30% of the frog, reptile and marsupial species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. 18% of bird species in the country can be found in this area. All of this diversity is contained within an area that takes up 0.2% of the landmass of Australia.
We paid $12 for a one way ferry ticket to cross the Daintree river.

The consequences of handing me the keys and asking me to drive so that Tom could have a snooze in the back meant that we had pulled up to our camp by lunch time as I stumbled across one I really liked the look of (and couldn't be bothered driving any further!!)

Site : Lync Haven Rainforest Retreat
Rating : 10 / 20
Facilities : Really good camp kitchen with all supplies. Hot showers & flush loos. Powered site was $32 for 2 Adults & 1 Child. If you keep your eyes peeled apparently there's a local Cassowary in the area but we didn't see it :(

We set off on foot around their walking tracks in search for the Cassowary. What is a Cassowary? (a question I would have asked a few weeks ago) I like to think of it as in between an Emu and a Turkey. They are large flightless birds that are native to the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea and can be found on surrounding islands including north eastern Australia. Following the Emu & the Ostrich, Cassowaries are the third tallest and second heaviest living bird.

Jim and I were proceeding with absolute caution because there's one factor about these birds that I conveniently left out, when disturbed they are capable of inflicting serious injuries to dogs and humans. There have been several records of Cassowaries disembowelling humans, even causing death. Perhaps it was a good thing we didn't see any. Here's a photo of one from Wikipedia for you.

Cassowaries are endangered in Queensland, records show that approximately 55% of their deaths are caused by them being run over. Now, it is found that only 20 - 25% of them remain in their habitat. In February 2011 when Cyclone Yasi hit, it is believed that over 200 of them were destroyed which was over 10% of their entire Australian population.

As much as we hate zoos, perhaps it's best left to leave it to viewing one behind bars...