A complete transformation of scenery as soon as I joined the coastal road heading north from Townsville. Very green, hilly and lots of foliage. Also very humid – so much that I’m now starting to sprout curls again. Some nice looking fresh produce stalls along the roadside, but given we’re departing on our tour on Sunday, I resisted. On my way to Cairns, I stopped over at Cardwell for a couple of nights. Another beautiful little town, with a shore front paved walkway from one end of town to the other so I was was able to get some good walks in.
I arrived in Cairns on Friday and wandered into town to catch up with MAJ and Nancye over lunch. MAJ was feeling the heat a bit, but wisely was treating it with a medicinal G&T when I caught up with them at the Yacht Club. Which made for a nice lunch.
The caravan park here is a complete turn around from others I have stayed at. It’s full of international backpackers rather than traveling nomads. The choice of accommodation seems to be a car, some sort of an annex ( tarp mahal) and swags to sleep in. With 3-4 of them on a site, they’re probably paying less than $10 a night in accommodation. I’m thinking of letting out my van while I’m off on tour.
My big learning in this park is to lie about the size of my van when booking. They’ve allocated space according to van size, with no room for niceties such as opening the awning or parking a car. My first effort of parking had me opening the side door to step into the tent of my neighbors. Sorted by rotating the van, so at now least I’ve got the side of a camper van. I’m pretty sure we could sit in our respective vans and enjoy a glass of wine together.
Today ( Saturday) we caught the bus up to Palm Cove for lunch and a wander around. Palm Cove looks to be very much the Noosa of Cairns – a place for beautiful people. Tomorrow we depart on our 13 day tour up to Cape York and TI. The itinerary is below. I’m looking forward to experiencing the rigors of the far north – exploring destinations such as the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort at Port Douglas will surely test us to the extremes.
Round about 