Cape York Adventure Before Dimentia Trip 2015: July 2015

Thursday, 30 July 2015

Thursday 30th - Cairns Rest Day

Today we recouped at the Lake Placid Tourist Park, I had issues with my UHF radio which was solved by resold earring the aerial plug. Garry and Shane both visited the dentist and Ian done some repairs to his campers water pump. We all went different ways in the afternoon, Cam and Garry visited Yorkys Knob beach where the signs warned of Stingers and crocodiles, they later went fishing in the Barren River near the park.

Chris and I went into central Cairns and had a walk around the Marina area, a lot has changed since we where last here 25 years ago.

Tomorrow we start the real reason we are here, the trip to the tip of Cape York everyone is really looking forward to it. It may be a while before the blog is updated as it depends on phone reception.

Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Wednesday 29 July -Cairns

Today we made the last leg to Cairns arriving at around 4.30pm, another long day but worth the effort to make Cairns in 4 days. Lake Placid Tourist Park is a bit further out of town than expected but not to mind as we are only here for tonight and tomorrow. The trip north was ok with the weather overcast and raining at times, plenty of sugar cane on the way up.

The park is full so we are glad we booked and the sites are a bit squishy. Off to tea at the Red Beret pub, the meal was ok and Cam scored a free beer after chatting up the barmaid.

Tomorrow it's some running repairs on Shane's car and food shopping for the next leg oh the trip to the Cape.

Tuesday 28th - Cape River

Another big day of driving 609 km, the weather is getting warmer as we venture further north.

Wallaroo camp in the morning

We broke the day into two sections with lunch in Emerald. When we left Emerald the temperature in Shane's Triton started to fluctuate so we dropped our speed so the trip to Cape River took a little longer. When we arrived ther was already about 15 vans setup so it was a tight squeeze to fit us in but we did it. Another night around the fire which was the only one tonight. Cameron is going to tow Shane's camper to take some of the load off the engine until we get to Cairns and he wifi have it checked out.

Cape River camp

A beautiful sunrise to start the last leg of the trip into Cairns, we made the decision last night to take the coast route which is 100km shorter than the inland route.

Monday 27th - Wallaroo Truck Stop

Today we headed into Qld, the trip today was shorter in distance with only 458km travelled, again plenty of water along and over the roads and an abundance of road kill (dead Roos), one of the first signs we saw was one for a $30,000 fine if you kept rabbits. We travelled today through Tallon, St George and Ninidigully where there is a pub that offers free camping and free showers, and there where a lot of vans parked there. It was then off to Roma where Ian and Helen caught up with us.

On the way we passed through Surat where there is a Cobb & Co Changing Station and museum. Camp site tonight is the Wallaroo Truck stop with only one other camper there, plenty of trucks stopped for a break earlier in the night but quietened down later on. Off to Cape River rest area tomorrow, another 600km plus day.

Sunday 26th - First day of the trip

Well today finally arrived and we headed off North at 6.15am. Only 3 cars at the moment as Ian and Helen will be catching up in a couple of days. An uneventful day and all went as planned, it was amazing with the amount of water lying along the side of the roads and the crops where so green. Cameron and Garry took a couple of detours on the way with a trip to the old pub in Quirindi and a drive past a couple of old family homes. We had a couple of stops along the way with lunch at Moree, and then it was onto our first free camp for then night at the Boomi River just south of Mungindi, arriving at about 3.00pm. It was time to setup camp with Cam and Garry in their swags, Shane & Sueann in the camper trailer and Chris and I in the caravan, now I know why we upgraded to the van, so much easier and quicker to setup. A nice night spent around the open fire, what a way to start our holiday.