So first road trip of retirement. We’ve been in Australia since March and staying in Hervey Bay catching up with friends and enjoying the autumn sunshine.
Life’s a gamble!
Our first road trip has an element of our decision to retire, not sure it’s the right thing, but you only live once.
So we are heading North for a 28 day 2800 mile tour when the cyclone season is lingering on, and doing one of Queensland’s most remote roads during a fuel crisis.
We’ve rented a roof tent camper so absolute luxury compared to just sleeping in the back of a car which is how we usually go!
The trip between Hervey Bay and Arlie Beach which is about 550 miles is a well trodden path for us and we have done it many times over the years, so we didn’t intend to spend too long heading up the coast and then onto Cairns, some 900 miles away, before heading up to our most northern point of Cape Tribulation. Richard’s never been to Cairns and I’ve only been a couple of times, but heading north from there will be a first for both of us.
So we set the van up and headed just a short 150 miles up the coast to test how everything worked. We’d decided to stop at a very small town, nothing more than a public rest stop and petrol station with a few houses, But the reason for stopping was the nice pub! No official free camping here and last time we stayed in the back of the car at the side of the road. We did find a spot on the grass.
But then the nice bartender suggested we park on their back lawn as it would be quieter, told you it was a nice pub!
Next morning we headed off early, quietly impressed with the roof tent, and the service station 2 mins walk away did the biggest egg and bacon rolls, so we were set for the day!
We never really set a route by day and usually just drive until I’ve had enough. We are free camping this trip and download a great App called Campermate, this seems to be better than some of the other ones available, it’s free to use, and you can also search for free showers. For the trip to Cairns it gave us a couple of nice places, one in a very small town with views of the mountains.
And then one by the beach.
Most free camps seem to have toilets and some with showers as well. But they are all pretty clean and a chance to chat to other people on their travels.
Cairns was a little bit of a disappointment, we paid for a site as there were no free camping options in the city and regretted this. We should, have just drove in for the day and then headed out of the city for the night. But lesson learnt we carried on our way to Port Douglas. The weather has been kind and we’ve taken advantage of a couple of swimming spots, Belinda Boulders just south of cairns.
Then Mossman Gorge, just north of Cairns.
Both were freezing, but once you were in it was pretty special.
Our most northernly stop was Cape Tribulation. We were quite excited about being up here as it’s proper crocodile country and we were hoping we’d see one. I’d managed to book us a spot on a government run site ‘Noah Beach’ and it stated that Crocs were regularly spotted around the camp. Another good reason to be in the roof top tent!
The camp was fairly organised and was fenced off to keep the crocs out, which I must admit was a little bit disappointing! But it was in the forest and right next to the beach.
So this was the most northerly spot, spotted loads of kangaroos, kookaburras (my favourite), a wild boar, a few dead snakes, but no platypus this time and these were the only crocs about.
