Broome to Exmouth

Another early start and we're off again! 6.30am and heading for Port Hedland. We had a lovely day yesterday at the beach. We took our Lonely Planet and our books and chilled out. Had a dip in the Indian Ocean and tried bodysurfing ..... alas it's not for us ! We just couldn't catch the waves. We will keep trying though. We sat and waited for the sunset and then walked down to see the Sunset Camel rides. They take people down the beach and then back up for the sunset. Ben was off like a whippet, getting photo's. He was legging it up and down the beach but looking at the photos he did a great job!

We made it back tpo the campsite and had tea and some beers and talked about our next journey. Next stop Port Hedland.

You'll be pleased to know we've had a nightmare of a day. First the car wouldn't start in the middle of nowhere (luckily it did after a lot of praying!). Second I (Claire) ran over a 2ft lizard, I was swerving and ended up squishing it. Worst of all it's the biggest lizard we've seen while we've been here ........ dead now! And C we got a stone chip in our windscreen by a roadtrain! Gutted !!!!!! More expense, we're hoping it'll be ok until Perth. We're going to get her fixed and then sell her ...... sniff, sniff !!

We're going to base ourselves in Perth for a few months and try and get some work. We've got a lot more sights to see before then,. which we're very excited about. Just a pitstop here in Port Hedland, it's an iron ore town and there's nothing much here. We did see the longest train ever on the way in, there must have been over 200 carriages being pulled ....... amazing. Set off back down again, next stop Freecamp for the night then onto Exmouth. Thats if there's no more diasters going on the way ! Think Gracies heard us talking about selling her and she's not happy! What a sunset, Ben got his clouds he's been asking for and they look lovely. We sat up with a few tinnies and just chilled, the site was ok. Full of people who obviously work at the Iron Ore mine and were happy it was friday and beer o'clock. We just happened to be right near the railway track and a train had to beep his horn every time he went passed. Though all that, we still woke at 5am. Same time as every morning. We had brekkie and then set off, we're just hoping a windscreen place will be open as it's now saturday and the cracks getting bigger. 2 and a bit hours drive to Karratha and we'll see how far we can get before stopping with a kip in Gracie.

We arrived at Karratha just before 10am. Ben drove most of the way. We checked at Tourist Info and they gave us the address of the windscreen place. We got there and the guy was lovely. He said he could fill the crack as there was no need to replace the screen...... Bonus ! $80 ...... Bigger Bonus ! We left Gracie with him and went for a look around the Shopping Centre. We bought snorkling masks ready for the reef tomorrow. We checked back in to see if Gracie was ready and she was. Ben went in to pay as the guy was closing up for the weekend. He took out his wallet and asked if we could pay cash, yes we could. "In that case make it $60", he said and pocketed the money ...... Bigger than Big Bonus.

We got to our Freecamp, it's about 200 kms to Exmouth from here. Too far to go there now as it's 4.30pm, so not much daylight left. The drive was fine, we didn't have to watch the crack in the windscreen moving. We saw 4 emus at the side of the road (alive aswell!), they trotted off before Ben could get his camera. Nothing run over by myself (Claire) today .... thankfully! We got the car sorted for bed and Ben put tea on. We got the Citreonellas out and sat and watched the stars. We decide to go to bed because it suddenly gets windy. We can hear cars pulling up and it's pitch black. They advise you not to drive when it's dark , as all the wildlife come out and wanders all over the roads.

Blimey!, we had a lie in this morning 6am! Saw the sunrise through the boot, it was lovely! Ben had sorted brekkie and I sorted out the car, we've got it down to a tee now. Had brekkie and we're on the road again for 6.45am. Just an hours drive for each of us and we should arrive at Exmouth (home of the Ningaloo Marine Park!). We tried our snorklling masks out sitting in the bush last night, so we're excited to use them.

Well ..... Claire's killings spree has started again. She hit a bird on the way to Exmouth, we turned around to check ..... yep it was definitely dead ! Claire says " it looked old anyway!", Ben says, "it didn't !!!!!".

We got to our campsite at about 9am, after seeing more emus on the way. The Campsite if so nice, the camp kitchen is huge and has a fridge ...... yey cold beer tonight ! We had a shower to freshen up and went for a walk. About 1km from the campsite was the Town Beach. It wasn't quite the white sand and blue water but it was nice walking along the beach. We made our way back to the site and couldn't believe it, we were less than 5mtrs away from an emu !! And with no camera ! We walked 'quickly!' away from it as we weren't really sure what we had to do. We got away safely though.

We're now heading north of exmouth to check out the snorklling. We drive to Bundegi Beach and had a walk along the jetty. We parked our butts looking out into the ocean, nobody was in the water which was strange. All of a sudden in the distance was some whales ! Humpback whales jumping and splashing in the water. We couldn't belive it as we weren't even looking for them. We sat for a while and decided to go for a walk. We then saw the reason noone was in the Ocean. A sign said that some Tiger Sharks had been spotted in the area and it advised not to go into the water...... good enough for us! We decided against the snorklling. However on the way back to the car, people were in the water....... not for us!

The we drove to Sufers Beach on the westside of the Bay. There wasn't much beach, so we sat on some rocks looking out. The water was rough and splashing beneath us. The reef wasn't that far from the edge of the water, then Ben spooted a head popping out of the water. As quick as it came up, it went back down again. Our first turtle !! Then after ages, I (Claire) then spotted another one. Popped up to say hello then went back in again! It's the season for the Marine and Loggerhead turtles to come onto shore and lay there eggs. Just up the beach about 4kms from us they have the Juarbai Turtle Centre, where you can learn about them. But we did a simialr thing at Bundaberg last time, so we gave it a miss. Instead we drove to the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, to see if we could spot any sealife ....... we're usless we didn't see anything in the water. Only spotting 2 peregrin falcons on the side of the head.

What a night!!!! We thought we were going to get blew away! The tent was going like the clappers. Ben was awake before me (saying his prayers I thinK!). Unfortunately, I needed the loo so had to get up. I brought the chairs and table into the tent and walked to the toilets. Trying not to open my eyes fully so I would wake up and wondering if I would bump into an emu. We didn't really sleep much after that, worrying about if the tent was going to blow down. Not sure why it was so windy?

We made it through the night and decided to walk to the camping shop and buy some better tent pegs. Now the tent looks like nothing could move it, it's all pegged and ready for anything ! It's still windy this morning so we've done our washing ....... it's a good drying day!

Road Trip! Darwin to Broome!

We had a lazy morning around the tent ... having breakfast on our new chairs and table !! Ben checked Gracie over and I 'handwashed' our washing ..... it's just like being at home !! I got chatting to a woman who said her and her husband saw us in Kakadu. She was telling me about Western Australia and giving us tips, which was cool. They were going into Darwin for a pubcrawl. It was her husbands birthday and thats what he wanted to do ..... nice for some !

We made our way into Darwin Centre and had a wander around. managed to find an internet place and update our Blog. We then went for a walk down by the Harbour. It's so beautiful!! We love it here !! Not sure as much as Cairns but we just love everything about it. We dipped our toes into the Salt Water Lagoon and had a walk around the wave pool enclosure they have. We then had a walk along the Esplanade. There's loads of WWII memorabilia. We then decided to make our way up to the East Point. We pitched our chairs on the beach front with our $1.50 muffins and Crush fizzy drink and waited for the sunset. We were the only ones there, it was really nice. We got some good photos. Just on our way home now to bring the washing in and get ready for moving on again tomorrow.

Had breakfast and set off for Litchfield National Park. We arrived just after 10am and stopped off at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. There was loads of them, they were all the same shape and all pointing the same direction. There was even a couple which were 5 metres tall and 50 years old !! They build them in a way so they don't get too hot in the sun on one side .... so clever ! They live in the mound with the Queen and King Termite. The Queen does nothing but gives birth, gets fed and watered ..... Genius !!

We decied to drive through Litchfield Park and stop at the sights on the way back to the 1. About 50 kms in Litchfield is Wangi Falls .... it's stunning !! A huge waterfall with a gigantic swimming hole. We couldn't resist a dip, the water was warm and crystal clear. There were fruit bats hanging from the trees. During the wet season the swimming hole is inhabited by Saltie Crocs ..... glad it's still the dry season .... just !!

Then we visited Tolmer Falls, no swimming this time, just a look out from a high platform.

It was hot again so another cool off in a swimming hole was in order. Florence Falls provided just that ! The water was a lot cooler than before. Underground springs collect water during the wet season and then for the rest of the year the water seeps out creating these awesome swimming spots !

We ended our Litchfield tour at Buley Rockhole. It was nice, but packed with people. We had a paddle but didn't stay long.

On the road again, back to Katherine to start our journey towards the West Coast.

We got to the campsite at Katherine just before 5pm. It's the same one we stayed at before with the eveing Wallabies. The journey was ok, the usual. We pitched our tent and Ben went for a swim. We met a couple at Camp Kitchen from Burnley. They were lovely, they even offered us a beer !! Precious things to offer around ... so we declined !! The wildlife has started already ..... we've just seen 2 possums. Well the guys from Burnley didn't take no for an answer and they made us take the beers. Ben had a cold beer and me a cold cider ..... mmmmm lovely! The couple came and sat with us and introduced themselves as Scott and Heather. We chatted most of the evening and we exchanged details with tehm ... deffo catch up with them in the UK. We saw and heard loads of wildlife that night .... bats that actually sounded like Batman !

Slept great through night cos it seemed a bit cooler than last time we were here. We said our goodbyes to Scott & Heather and set off for a full days driving to Kununurra, it's a pit stop on our way to Broome !

Mid Journey we stopped at a lookout bridge that crossed the Victoria River. We hoped to see some crocs and stayed for about 20 mins ......... again we were dissapointed !!

WA baby .......... yeah !!!!!! We crossed the border from the Northern Territory to Western Australia today ..... Wahoo !

Gracie got frisked by a customs man but she wasn't trying to smuggle bananas across the border so it was all good and we're on our way to the Indian Ocean..... we're very excited ! The views on the side of the road have changed yet again as we drive through the Pinkerton Range, it's beautiful. We got to our Campsite not far from town, its a Big4 .... our first one this trip and it's great ! We've camped on grass !!!!! Lush green grass, it's like a big fluffy blanket under the tent ! We're so not used to this .... Ben didn't even bend any pegs putting up the tent !! We then found we had to change the clocks back by 90 mins for crossing the border. We're now 8 hours ahead of UK time. It feels like a whole new trip again and we can't wait to get further West. Just sitting eating our tea and seeing the sunset was lovely. We've got a full days driving tomorrow ..... passing through Halls Creek ....... quickly probably !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're planning on staying in gracie tomorrow so we can drive all day, early start so we'll be having an early night.

Ha ha ha ha ha, I (Claire) woke to the sound of some finches outside the tent. There was loads of them. I just had to wake Ben and through tired eyes he saw them. This was 5am !! The sun was shining and we'd had a great night sleep. The temp was perfect and either we were tired and fell straight to sleep or there was no wildlife out. We had breakfast in the sun and set off for Fitroy Crossing, well about 70 kms past.

Aaaaahhhhhhhh, no we've stopped at Halls Creek. it's our change over point and it's lunchtime !! Everybodies so strange ....... hopefully we'll make it out alive !!

Yep ..... still alive !! We were making good time until we had to stop to let some cows cross the road ..... jsut another day in the outback !

We arrived at our first stop for the night. It's a freecamp just 90 kms froms Fitzroy and 300 kms from Broome. it's basically a stop off the side of the main road. There's picnic tables and toilets and places where you can have fires. (Jon and Dad, you'll be glad to know the first thing Ben did was gather some firewood!) As we said earlier we're staying in Gracie, we've got her ready !

It's 5.50am and we're on the road again.... Ben's driving. The Free Camping went well, we sat up and had tea and Ben lit his fire. I made him take off a mahoosive log he'd found, I was getting scared he was going to burn down the whole of the Australia Bush with it! We layed in the car with the boot open just looking at the awesome stars ! We were looking for shooting stars but didn't see any. It got dark really quickly so we were in bed for 7pm. I was on Dingo watch but must have fell asleep. Woke up at 5am and Ben put the kettle on for a brew. I sorted out the car. We then ditched the brew idea because the milk was lumpy. We just decided to head straight off and have breakfast when we get there in 3 hours. Hopefully we'll see some wildlife with it being so early!

3 hours later and we arrived in Broome. We pulled into a garage to see if they could squeeze Gracie in over the next couple of days for her service. They said they'd do it right away, awesome! We even got a free ride into town. We were starving marvin and the temptation of those big golden arches were too much .... Maccie D's for breakfast ... it was heaven !

We took a wander around the town and awaited the call from the garage. Finally they rang, Gracie was ready! There was nothing else that needed done. We picked her up and then went to the supermarket for sausages, beer and white chocolate Tim Tams .... our treat for making it West Side! Tonight we'll be watching the sunset (with a beer!) on one of the worlds Top 5 beaches ... Cable Beach .... life it so hard!

We're sitting outside the tent chilling after our feast! We did go to the beach and watched the sunset, however it didn't quite light up the sky. It was still lovely to watch and the beach was amazing. The sand was white and the water was turquoise. I went for a paddle but Ben went for a dip. The water was so warm and clear. We walked back to the tent to make our tea and enjoyed it with a beer. Afters was the Tim Tams with a cuppa ....... they were really delicious ..... well worth the wait !

We've just been for a walk around Broome and sorted out some bank and emails that needed to be sent. We've got a beach afternoon planned and hopefully a better sunset than last night ! We're planning on moving on tomorrow, heading south and looking forward to all the new things we're going to see !

Road Trip: Cairns to Darwin

This well and truely is the start of our Road Trip. We're heading West now. Gracie B has been checked over and given the all clear. We had to stay another day longer than planned cos she needed a 'Welsh Plug', whatever one of those is ?! Still we had a nice night at the campsite.


We set off after breakfast and headed back out onto the 1. The roads are windy on the way through Kurunda, we've got a full days driving today ... hopefully it's not all like this. Normanton here we come !!

Savannah Way ........ more like gravel track. So many colours ... red/orange of the road, green/black trees, blue sky and white clouds. We're lucky cos we're on a dual track, there's been parts when it's a single track and when a 50 metre Road Train comes your way you've gotta move !! These things don't stop for anything or anyone !



We're smelling the roadkill before seeing it now........ a new game for us ! We had a bit of rain which was nice but now it's scorchio. Just had our plastic cheese roll at Mount Surprise and filled Gracie up ready for the 398km to Normanton. Ipod on shuffle and listening to some classics .... it's truely an adventure !





We made it to Normanton just before 5pm. A full 9 hours driving. We were hungry and tired. We pitched the tent next to 3 bikers, who were just pitching theres and then 10 mins later another group of 2 couples pitched behind us. We put the kettle on for our tea .... Super Noodles ! and then went for a swim. Just done a few lengths then headed back for our well deserved Cookies. Met the local idiot while we were playing cards. I spent half the time trying to read his home made tattoos. he was very strange, needless to say we didn't stay too long then headed off to the tent.

We've had breakfast and just checking Gracie before our 5 hours drive to Mount Isa. The road looks much like it did yesterday, long, straight and constantly changing from two lanes into single track. We pulled over to let another mother of a road train pass us. I (Ben) was driving when Claire spotted another kangaroo, the surprise this time was it wasn't road kill ! We turned around to try to get a photo, but it bounced off before we got a chance. It was a big one too, nice to see one alive for a change !

We stopped to fuel up at Cloncurry then drove the final hour or so to Mount Isa. We got there by 2 and it's hot! 37 degrees C hot ! We decided to cool off at the pool. Considering it was so hot, we're not sure how they got the pool so cold ! We didn't know whether to swim in it or skate across it ... it was freezing ! It honestly took us about 15 mins to eventually pluck up the courage to jump in.

We later went up to the Mount Isa lookout point. It showed a 360 degree view of the city.

Well we've never had that before .... bloody freezing through night. After it being so hot too!! We didn't get a full nights kip so we're glad we decided to stay an extra night. We thought it was lovely when first going to bed but it just kept getting colder ... so weird! That explains the cold swimming pool !

We took a walk into town and everywhere was closed .... even the supermarkets ! We bumped into the 3 bikers who we saw at Normanton. We'd played cat and mouse with them on the Savannah, seeing them at the Roadhouse. They're heading our way and Ben offered our services as 'Support Car!' They said yes, if we could take their tents and they wanted Barrimundi for there teas ! Ben's out now trying to catch one for them. They're having to stay another day as they all need tyres, this means we'll get ahead of them. Setting off on another long drive to Tennants Creek tomorrow so it'll be an early start. Hopefully we'll be prepared for the Baltic temperatures .... gloves/Scarves/Socks etc !


Well the tent wasn't too bad last night, we both still had a restless night sleep. We set the alarm so we could set off early. We were chatting to a bloke at Camp Kitchen last night and we've changed our route to save us some time and km's. We're not going to Tennants Creek now as it's not on our way. We're heading for Three Ways. We can't believe how much the landscape changes, it just goes on and on. It's a lot more hotter now as we're getting further to the centre. We passed the sign for us entering the Northern Territory, which was cool. Oh we've killed at least 2 birds today and about a million locusts !
We arrived at Three Ways at about 4.00pm. There's nothing here really, it's where the 1 meets the road North to South meets the road East to West. There are 3 ways to go up, down, or west hence the name. We've made the radical decision to not pitch the tent but to sleep in the back of Gracie tonight, we're at a roadhouse/truck stop ... we thought it would be easier! The drive was ok today, long and hot but we were chilled listening to a story off the Ipod. Hopefully Gracie shall prove herself to be a comfy bed and we'll feel refreshed ready for tomorrow ... fingers crossed !



















We woke bright and early to see the sunrise in the distance. We slept really well although it did take us a while ... too excited !! ... No it was so hot and sweaty. We slept just as we would have in the tent. We haven't got a clue what time it is but we've packed the car, had breakfast and we're on the road again for the 649 kms to Katherine. We met a couple who were doing the $1 / day hire car. They've had 6 days to take a 4wd camper from Cairns to Darwin. We might have too look into that for NZ. We mentioned we were going there and they said they'd just left there. they'd gone travelling around there 15 years ago and just stayed ..... awesome !



We made it to Katherine, we're both feeling the long journey now. We think it's the heat more than anything. Did see a Roo jump out in front of us though, luckily we had loads of time to slow down. We were waving to everyone on the Highway ... it was the only exciting thing we could do because the roads were so long and straight ! Well we got here and found the campsite. Pitched the tent and then went for a cool off in the swimming pool. It's the hottest it's been yet and we're just sweating constantly .... Nice ! Not nice, it took us ages to get to sleep in the sauna ! In the tent you can hear the bushes and leaves rustling and all the animals outside. We decided to have a look out cos there was an awful racket! We were surrounded by Wallabies, even little baby ones too. Well that was it for me (Claire), I was Bill Oddie all night. Ben wasn't too impressed as I kept waking him up. Eventually we did get to sleep!


We did (we think) have a lie in today, although we still have no idea what time it is (bloody daylight savings!) ... so who knows ? We took a 15 minute drive up to Katherine Gorge. We were told by several people that the best way to see it is by boat or canoe, but we did neither and took one of the walking trails. As it was 50 degrees, this probably wasn't our brightest idea! We did see the Gorge but we didn't make it to a swimming hole as planned. We decided to go back as it was too hot and we didn't have enough water for much more walking. We crawled back to the car and decided to go and see Katherine. We started with the Thermal Pools, 32 degree water .... it was well weird!! We had a little swim, well deserved after our morning walking. We then had our sandwich and had a walk down Katherine. We decided just to go back and sort Gracie out for the morning. Kakadu here we come !!!!




After another unpleasantly sweaty night we hit the road to Kakadu. 40 mins out of Katherine we pulled off the road to see the Edith Falls. There's a 2.6km walk that takes you in a loop around the falls and swimming holes. I'm glad we decided to put trainers on instead of our thongs, walk ..... it was more like a climb ! We got to the top and took in the view, it was definitely worth the climb. To cool off we took a dip into the rock pools by the waterfall. The water was refreshing and not too cold. The rest of the walk took us about 40 mins. It was great, climbing in the rocks and taking it all in.



We made it through the gates of Kakadu National Park, the scenery changed yet again. Everything is so green, the trees all look false. We stopped off and got a map of all the park. We pitched our tent at Gagudju Lodge in Coolinda and then headed back out to Mardugal. We're hoping yo do the Gun-gardum walk 2km circular walk through woodlands and then hopefully make it back for the sunset at Yellow Water.

It was just so hot that we decided to stay by the campsite pool instead. After tea we walked down by the Billabong behind our campsite. The walk should have taken us to see the sunset, however it was VERY close to the waters edge and we were getting nervous with all the Croc signs there was. We didn't fancy walking back that way after seeing the sunset. We just sat a safe distance away looking to see if we could spot any crocs ... alas we didn't ! Good news the tent was cool last night so we slept like babies! We thought we'd start the day with a nice short walk to Mirrai Lookout. It was a killer ! A really steep 'short' walk. It was only 8am but already hot, then there is the flies to contend with, they're everywhere ! We decided to wear our fly nets for the next walk. But even so it was worth it ! The views across Kakadu were impressive, this place is huge!





A short 20 mins drive later and we stopped at Nourlangie. Nourlangie is the name of one of the big sacred rocks. We climbed up to a lookout on top of some rocks and boulders, the view was fantastic. This time we were prepared for the flies with our attractive fly nets ...... ha ha. Hines 1 - Flies 0 !!

Next is onto Ubirr with a quick rest stop at Jabiru on the way.


Wow ! Ubirr was better than expected ! There's loads of Aboriginal cave drawings, some as old as 5000 years ... it's just crazy to think they are there still on the rocks. We scaled up onto another mountain or rocks to look out over the flood plains. it was so green ! We've spent so long looking at red dust and rocks, seeing lush green land as far as the eye could see just seemed strange ! We stopped for lunch ... a plastic cheese slice sandwich in floppy bread ...... ummmmmmm mmmmmmmmm !! We're now heading to Darwin, our reward for making it there is carrot cake ..... we can't wait !!


Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh oohhhhhhhhhh carrot cake was delicious, we were focused on it all the way ! It was a hard slog in the heat but Ben got us to our next stop Darwin. We pitched our tent in Virginia about 30 kms from Darwin and then legged it to Woolies for our cake. We even treated ourselves to some chairs and a table (about time ... says Claire!). We sat outside the tent for ages, we did get bitten alive but it was nice with the candles.

A typical night hanging out on the campsite

This is how we spend most evenings, though they don't always include all the booze, we're not alcoholics!! (though the guy at the beer shop does wave everytime we walk passed!)

Photos Down Under

This is a humpback whale, awesome!
Here's two of them, one only a little calf though still scarily big! Tried to get pics of them jumping out of the water but they're so quick we didn't get too many good ones!

This is the view from the revolving 360' Sky Tower restaurant in Sydney.

Driving out of the dust storm into blue skies, finally!

Ahhh, Gracie B. Our Ford Falcon doing all the hard work!

Yep?!

Some highlights from Florida, USA

Claire with her two fav characters ever!

Legend!

Homies chillin' in jacuzzi, ai!

Now we're in Cairns and have got some time we've uploaded a load of photos of what we've been up to since we left the UK. Enjoy this selection from our time in Florida with the big man, Mickey Mouse!

Enjoy the tour of our Villa below.

Wow, Whales!!

Here we are sitting in the Camp Kitchen in Hervey Bay Campsite after eating Chips & Chicken Nuggetts for tea !! Using up the chips from last night after having Lasagne and Chips, can you believe !!! I'm loving this slumming lifestyle !!We've been out on the Quick Cat II today and had a whale of a time ..... sorry couldn't resist! The bus picked us up outside the campsite today at 12.30 (the only other time was 6.30am and even we don't get up at that time!). The bus took us down to the Harbour and we boarded the Catamarran. We went straight to the top deck (there was three decks in total). There was about 50 people on board. We set sail and boy was it windy on top ... we were a bit wind swept and I was freezing, even though it is about 30 degrees during the day.

It took about 40 minutes before we could see the splash of whales playing in the distance. The skipper took us straight over and we sat and watched a mother and her calf splashing around, diving, jumping and sticking their tails up in the air..... it was awesome! We just bobbed around and watched them for ages. We were joined by two more a little later and the captain followed them while we watched from a distance. They came closer and started breaching out of the water, it was then that you really got an idea of how huge they are, even the calfs are massive! We were still on the top deck at this point and decided to go down and watch from there .... easier said than done !! We were all over the place, it was so choppy. We eventually got down to the lower deck and watched a bit more, trying to catch them on camera "performing" for us. The skipper then decided to take us out further, it was there we caught up with another 3 whales. They really are huge and I was waiting for one to pop up by the boat ... I really would have shit myself ! (Claire) The more whales we saw the bigger the display was ... it was awesome.

Time just went so quickly and the skipper said that it was time to head back to shore, we'd been out for 3 hours. Even the sail back you could see the whales in the distance. We are so pleased we got to see them this time around, we really enjoyed it and we know it's something we'll never forget ! We'll pop a couple of pics on but we'll probably bore you with all of them when we're back in the UK.

Next stop ......... not sure yet but we're heading for Cairns (about 1600 kms from here) so wherever the car takes us tomorrow. We've been recommended some stops on the way so we'll check em out and let you know.

We stopped off at Mackay, supposedly the campsite was a short walk from beaches and shops but it took us ages to find it. We practically drove all day, counting roadkill on the way and arrived at a shabby campsite. It was a large field right next to a busy road and the ground was like concrete. We bent most of our pegs trying to put the tent in .... not funny !! We were originally going to stay for 2 nights but soon changed our minds, we were out of there at 7.30 in the morning and heading away .... well trying too, there was nothing signposted so we ended up getting lost trying to get out of the place !

We drove for an hour and a bit and stayed at Airlie Beach (wonderful!!). It was just like we remembered from last time and we even stayed at the same campsite. We planned to sort a few things out with our flights and chill by the pool for a couple of days. Decided to treat ourselves (after the dissappointment of Mackay!) and got some beers and a bottle of Bundaberg Rum. We sat in the camp kitchen all night having hot dogs and drinks.... it was great! We met some nice people and shared our experiences until bed time (10pm! Wow, that's a late one for us!). Down by the pool is a massive spider sitting in its web, it's about the size of an adult hand, huge. Apparently it's a bird eating spider... cool!

We also found out the campsite guy had found a snake behind the fridge a couple of days ago !!!! Not cool!! Oh and we got attacked by a giant cricket when trying to get our water out the fridge .... Claire had to hide behind a towel and get the water in the end ..... very horrible ! Apart from all that we love the place .... happy memories ... good times !!

So now we're just sitting in the Camp Kitchen drinking Tooheys and planning our next drive tomorrow. Thinking Bowen with a few beach stops in between. The plan is to stay at Townsville though, which is about 300 kms away ... should be there by lunch time ish. We're just going to spend the rest of the day chilling and eating.

We made it to Townsville in good time, as Bowen didn't look that impressive and ended up staying at another Top Tourist Campsite about 7kms from the city. We passed the campsite we stayed at last time but said we would have a change. We managed to get a shady spot and pitched the tent. We had some lunch then went for a drive into the city. The town was really nice and very quiet. We had a walk down by the Strand beach front and walked from start to finish. It was really dusty so we couldn't make out Magnetic Island just over the water. We passed the Lagoon and there were plenty of people swimming. There was warnings on the beach about not swimming in the ocean because of the Jellyfish. Later back at the campsite we had tea, played cards and ate doughnuts, oooohh doughnuts, mmmmm mmmmm!! We realised while enjoying the delicious doughnuts that our campsite is right by a major road with huge trucks roaring by at regular intervals but it's ok because you can't really hear them over the noise of the jets and helicopters taking off from the airport next door. Oh and when getting into the tent Ben noticed a Cane Toad sitting by the doorway, he was gone by morning but we don't know where? Plus, once in bed we also came to the conclusion that we are next to a train line. All that considered we slept pretty well actually!

We felt we'd seen most of what Townsville had to offer so we took a drive the next day across to Charters Towers, a town about 130km inland which was founded due to gold. It's like stepping back in time, we really liked all the old buildings and stories about the miners and local council! We picked up some leaflets at the tourist info and decided to do one of the walks around town. Claire acted as the tour guide reading the information about all the sights along the walk. The town hasn't changed that much since the 1880's, we saw the Post Office, Stock Exchange building, Town Hall, Police Station and we took a look around the old ambulance centre. We had a guy walk around with us talking about the different items and relics in the centre. There was even an ambulance there from 1943 and it was still working .... although the battery was dead so the guy couldn't sound the siren for us ..... we did ask!! Everything was so old and some of the equipment looked quite scary. The guy had lived in the town for over 35 years and had some stories about that too, saying when they found gold the town had 138 pubs ..... the towns tiny and they had that many pubs!! He was talking about one of the pubs had a boxing ring in the back for anyone who had a bit too much drink and got a bit mouthy.

We got back from Charters Towers and headed straight into Townsville, we noticed there was a Quantas Flight Centre so called in. Our flying home day is now officially the 28th May, with us landing in London on the 29th ...... booooooooooo !! It's our last night in Townsville tonight and we're driving to Cairns tomorrow, we can't wait to get back there. Should be there about lunchtime ish and we're planning to stay there a week and soak up some sun and prepare Gracie B for the gruelling journey ahead of her.

Ok, so we made it to Cairns, we had a good journey and boy it's hot!! We arrived and had some lunch before an afternoon of chilling by the pool and topping up our tans! (Yes, it's a hard life!) Today we're looking for a garage to get Gracie B serviced at, want her to have fresh oil and filter etc before we head over to the West, plus it keeps our warranty valid if we get it serviced by a garage. We'll let you know what happens there.

Thanks for reading the latest about our adventure, more to come soon.

Love to everyone

Ben and Claire x x x