NORTH QUEENSLAND

Day 1 - Tuesday 15th September

Leaving Cairns

We HAD to leave Cairns today. We'd arrived 2 weeks ago and it was high time we left this city. Not that it's not a nice city - it is - it's just that we were slowly going insane with cabin fever and endless trips to Bunnings. After his service yesterday and the resulting work that needed doing, we collected Vanny, successfully purchased Third Party, Fire and Theft insurance and Roadside Assistance using the hostels dodgy wifi. We had a few other bits and bobs to buy before we could leave, unfortunately, storage boxes are bloody tricky to buy when you've got a specific space for them to go. We really started to get to know the returns desk girls at K-Mart.

We were finally on the road by 5pm! We'd found a free roadside place to camp half an hour outside of Cairns on WikiCamps (an amazing app you HAVE to get if your vanning/camping in Aus - it details all the campsites and what facilities they have) That would have to do for tonight as you are warned not to drive past dusk, or after dark as that's when the 'roos come out to play, and they can write off your car if they decide to jump out in front of you.

We pulled in to the camp spot and started to unpack our cooking stuff to make dinner. There was a group of 4 Brits who came over to say hi. They had spotted that it was out first night... Did we look that clueless!?! Yes is the answer, we couldn't work our gas stove and had no washing up provisions. Still, it was a great first night hanging out with them and getting some all important tips from people who'd been vanning for a few months already. The spot was right by the beach and with a backing track of lapping waves to go with a few tinnies it really felt like the trip had begun.

Day 2 - Wednesday 16th September

The northern beaches of Cairns to Cooktown 

We left our little beach spot at 9.30 and drove from Cairns to Cooktown via a long and dusty inland route. There is a much more direct route that hugs the coast, but it's a 4x4 track and our steed would not be up to the challenge. On the way we saw lots of interesting sights, like the black mountains (a large pile of black boulders shrouded in Aboriginal myths) and various other lovely view points along the way. It was a spectacular road, with big views. It seems everything here is big. Everyone drives massive pick up trucks, with massive bull bars and aerials. The trunks and trailers tend to be piled high with metal boxes, kayaks, tents, propane canisters, fishing equipment, quad bikes and a number of kitchen sinks. If we were not being overtaken by Ray Mears on his family holiday then it was ridiculously massive road trains, think of your average Eddie Stowbart lorry on steroids. The roads are the only things that aren't super sized, just a normal one lane road that cuts through the rugged landscape which is fine... until you meet a road train coming the other way. Flat expanses of farmland go on for ever reaching the feet of massive hazy mountains on the horizon that never seem to get an closer. It feels like you are driving in a 90s mega drive game with repeating road graphics for a whole level where all you have to do is dodge the dead roos. This sounds easy enough but there are millions of them, hopefully we will see an alive one soon.

We arrived at Endeavour River Escape Campsite at 4.30, after a good tip off from the old man at the information centre in Cooktown. The camping area was very private as everyone got their own clearing, surrounded by trees, which seemed like a great idea until it got pitch black and very scary walking to the toilet block, especially when hundreds of spider eyes would be reflected by the light from my head torch like glitter in the short grass. There were amazing hot showers and a man sized BBQ (which we were't manly enough to know how to use without adult help) The campsite was close to a creek where there were many Croc warning signs, this added to the fear when wandering around at night. 

Day 3 - Thursday 17th September 

Cooktown to The Lions Den

In the morning we found some large prehistoric type creatures that at first we thought could be baby crocs... Arghhh, however a jolly retired couple laughed at our lack of knowledge and told us it was a harmless iguana. It still looked pretty scary what ever it was. 

As it was such a lovely campsite, we had a slow morning and eventually left at 11am and drove the 15 minutes back to Cooktown for an explore. As we left the owner gave us some delicious passion fruit he was in the middle of boxing up, they were too ripe for him to sell to the markets but just right for our lunch. Cooktown was the place that Captain Cook had landed in 1770, or rather, his boat ran aground here on the reef and he had to climb to the tallest point to spot a route out. There were lots of monuments to him and we learned a little about his infamous voyage and what it meant for Australian history. We also saw the 'Queens Steps' which had been built for Queen Elizabeth, except now they were being used as a table for people's fishing bait. There was also a rather entertaining 'musical 

ship' that had lots of instruments to bang, built from recycled material. 

The views from the top of the hill that Captain Cook climbed to survey the land were gorgeous.

The exhibition in the information centre on snakes and crocodiles was particularly interesting, and worked to deter us from ever getting in the water again! We learnt about the Taipan snake and its deadly bite. The botanical gardens were rather more tame. There was also a fantastic collection of botanical illustrations by Vera Scarth-Johnson, her intricate ink work was ridiculously good.

Later in the afternoon we made the drive to The Lions Den, a bar that is famous for marking the end of the 4WD Bloomfield Track, but I wanted to make the pilgrimage there for another reason. It is where my sister spent a few months working when she was in Australia on her gap year, 9 years ago!! We rocked up and it was exactly how I remembered it from her pictures, corrugated metal walls (a bit like the road there) stickers and graffiti left by travellers dating back decades, beer top mosaics, t-shirts and caps left behind and a hotch potch of mismatched furniture and unusual items festooned around the bar. I was hoping to see all the local characters she had described from her time there, but unfortunately, there was no 'snake man' in sight. We set up camp and headed to the bar for a few beers. We got chatting to the workers - all backpackers and most from the UK too. There was no one there who would have remembered Lucy as most people only stay a few months. It was awesome to see where she'd worked and also felt completely surreal to be there.

Day 4 - Friday 18th September

The Lions Den to Mount Molloy (near Port Douglas)

We took our time packing up as it was such a lovely spot. We had been chatting to a British bartender the night before and he mentioned that him and his girlfriend watch a lot of films in the evenings, as there's not a lot to do as the bar is in the middle of nowhere. It turned out they had millions of films saved on a hard drive, so we spent a good hour copying the ones we wanted. We set off on the 4ish hour drive to Port Douglas. Just outside of Mount Molloy, the oil light on the dashboard came on. We decided to call it a day and stay in Mount Molloy so that we could top up the oil when the engine cooled. There was a lovely free rest area nestled off the road in a patch of woodland. The retired Aussies or 'grey nomads' as they like to be called, were out in force with trucks and buses complete with pull out sides and awnings that occupied more square feet than our London flat. Walking in to the town we found a few lovely shops, including a retro vintage shop, an organic food store and some old school cafes. It was a cute little village with a population of just 274. 

Day 5 - Saturday 19th September 

Mount Molloy to Cape Tribulation via Mossman Gorge

A lovely lady driving one of Vanwell's brothers gave us some tips on replacing coolant and oil. With Vanny and us fed and watered we hit the road. The plan was to head straight to the tropical world heritage site of Cape Tribulation, however a juicy looking farmers market in Mossman put an end to that plan. Within moments we were picking our way through fruit and veg of types that we'd never seen or heard of before, as well as some delicious biscuits (we've heard of them). As we'd stopped in Mossman we had to go and visit Mossman Gorge. We went swimming in the creek, which was mostly calm water but a couple of areas of hidden currents, Will had to rescue a young girl who got caught out and was clinging to a rock. Feeling suitably refreshed, we walked the walking loop around the rainforest, the tree roots marked the way and even became flights of natural steps in the steeper areas. 

It was a nice walk but not only did you have to watch out for evil insects and reptiles, in this tropical woodland even the trees would try their luck at catching a human.

Satisfied we'd seen Mossman's best bits, we jumped in the van and hit the road north. To get to Cape Tribulation, you have to take a car ferry across the Daintree River, which although it's expensive and they really could just build a bridge, was awesome at the same time. It really does feel like you're going deep into the rainforest like Indiana Jones in a Van. Once you cross that river, you enter an area that is not on the electricity grid, pumps its own water and deals with is own waste as it is so cut off.

As we were driving the last few kilometres, the car in front suddenly slowed down. At the side of the road we saw our very first Cassowary. The Cassowary is an extremely rare, extremely large bird. There are only about 2000 of them left in Northern Queensland, and the fact that we'd stumbled upon one on our first day was really rather lucky as we later learned. It was an incredible looking thing, like a brightly coloured, flamboyant cousin of an emu. They have a horn on the top of their heads, a dangly red bit on their neck, and amazing colour blues on their head and neck. The dangerous part though is their feet. They have three sharp huge claws that have been used to rip people apart who have gotten too close. Luckily we were in the van and hopefully pretty safe to take pictures. It was an awesome sight, and made even cooler by the fact she had 3 babies with her. She strutted past the van like a prehistoric Can Can dancer and headed for the undergrowth. We made it to the Cape campsite just before night fall and made an awesome green veg curry, turns out we are really missing Asian food.

As the birds are so rare, there are loads of signs and speed bumps in areas where they've been sighted, to ensure that drivers slow down as many of them have been killed by cars. We liked this sign in particular, someone had artfully turned the speed bump sign below into a dead Cassowary. A number of times we didn't see the speed bump sign until it was too late and Vanwell literally went flying.

Day 6 - Sunday 20th September 

Cape Tribulation 

By 10am we had nailed our life admin, van admin and dirty clothes admin. Then rewarded ourselves with a lazy few hours on the pristine tropical white beach just over the road and small swamp from our camp. It's pretty annoying being on such a hot beautiful beach with clear turquoise waters that's unfortunately infested with crocodiles. There are crocwise signs everywhere alerting people to the potential dangers. And if it's not a croc that gets you, there are also exceptionally dangerous jelly fish in the waters that can kill you! 

In the afternoon we booked on a croc spotting river tour up a creek that runs deep into the national park. Within moments we were face to face with a five meter male staring at us from under a bush apparently they can move at 12 meters per second for a split second in one monumental burst of energy, which is long enough to capture prey standing within one body length before it even has time to react. We didn't get too close and soon were floating up stream to "saftey". Over the hours trip we saw a handful of crocs, a massive lizard and learnt all about the saltwater mangrove trees that inhabit this part of the world. The guy running the tour went to warn a group of people that were hanging around the waters edge on a near by beach a little too close to the crocs for comfort... They said thanks but didn't actually move, crazy people!!

We headed back to the Cape via Masons General Store and Cafe which has a quaint leafy watering hole out the back, complete with rope swing. Most importantly, it was a certified croc-free zone. After cooling off in the fresh water stream we headed back to camp for beers and dinner.

Day 7 - Monday 21st September 

Cape Tribulation back to Mossman 

We climbed out of bed early to climb Mt Sorrow, a 620m peak that towers over the village. It was a 7km round trip and very very steep. We made it to the top in two and half hours after a hands and feet scrabble, we were treated to views north and south, which were amazing as the tropical rainforest ran down to the white sands and turquoise waters. We chatted to two Aussie ladies at the top. They had driven west from near Sydney to meet a relative and just carried on. They had been on the road a year now. On the way down we narrowly avoided stepping on a little black snake that slithered across our path. Further down we learned that two other people had seen a six meter black snake with a red belly. Our pace quickened after that. We made it back to the Van around 12, snake bite free. 

We ate and showered then headed south to a beach side cafe about 5km away. There we had an AMAZING butterscotch cheesecake and a carrot cake. We had to walk off the sick feeling along the beach, then carried on our journey south back to Mossman. 

After catching the ferry back across the Daintree we decided to quickly visit Daintree village. It was a quiet picturesque little place with a Big Barra welcoming visitors. In Australia there are several 'Big Things' - statues of something the area is famous for, that have become a tourist attraction in themselves, people drive the loop of Australia collecting photos of themselves with all the Big Things. Unfortunately the big barra burger joint it was advertising was closed so we made do with a banana. 

We rolled in to Mossman round five, in search of food and a place to park. In the end we stayed at Mossman Woolworths car park. Free, and wifi included! A couple we'd met the day before at the watering hole had shared their tip of parking in shop car parks for the night. As it is private property, the Rangers can't fine you for being there, the police don't generally care, and neither do the shop workers as long as you're not messy.

Day 8 - Tuesday 22 September

Mossman to Port Douglas

We left Woolworths car park early and drove straight to Port Douglas, where we found a day use area and fired up the Barbie to cook bacon and eggs. We actually would have been better off using our own stove as the BBQ hot plate wasn't all that hot, but it was fun eating our fry up looking over at the beach. We drove to the main area (via a lookout point) parked the van in some shade and headed to the beach. After a dip and a fry, we decided to look round the town. It was similar to a fancy Cornish beach town, with nice shops and cafes. I bought some new shorts, and we both bought jazzy new beach towels. We went for a posh drink at the marina before heading back to the van, stopping en route for a sea salt and caramel ice cream which was DEVINE. We drove to the free camp site just north of Cairns where we'd stayed on our first night and made anchovy pasta (our neighbours must have loved us!!)