We spent the night in Cairns with my old friend Jes and her husband Garrett – was so good to catch up and like real old friends, it felt like I’d only seen her yesterday. Everyone had a good sleep and were loving the shower in the morning .. think we were all trying to make it last as long as possible, cause we don’t know how often we’ll get to have a real shower. The boys went ‘shopping’ in the morning for man tools and were gone for sooo long… after saying we’ll be back in about an hour. They traveled all over town looking for their man tools, only to find most of the shops they needed on the way out of Cairns.. which was only a few blocks away from where we were staying!!
After days of getting up at 5am and hopping straight in the car and driving for millions of hours, it was such a strange (yet oddly satisfying) sensation to have a leisurely breakfast and sit around and relax before we left. When the boys finally got back, we packed up the last bits and pieces and headed out of town.. about 10kms, until we got to a grocery store. We had decided to do a last shop to stock up on the bits and pieces that we hadn’t bought up from the GC. As you can imagine, the boys were worried about weight and the distribution of weight.. and Skye and I were only concerned with the amount of chocolate and food we were able to take. Needless to say the boys kept us in line (although we were like little kids, sneaking stuff into the trolley when they weren’t looking) with stern looks and shakes of the head…and grunts of ‘where’s that going to go??’. A few dollars (slight under exaggeration) later we were in the carpark doing a major repack to fit in the food that we’d just bought. Funnily enough though, after the moans and groans of too much food and weight, the boys stopped into the bottlo and bought as much alcohol that they thought would fit in the ‘spaces’. The boys were quite excited to find that they could buy XXXX cans in a carton – 24 rather than 30 pack.. and they were packed especially for the Cape trip (in their opinion).. all tightly wrapped in plastic with no movement.. therefore no chance of rubbing and bursting.
While we were re-packing, we were approached by ‘old mate’, who had seen our ‘rigs’ and asked how far up we were headed. To which I proudly responded, ‘All the way mate’. A solid half an hour later, we had poured over the Cape map and he’d given us some great tips of where to go, where not to go, and how expensive beer is on the way - $90 a carton!!! The good news was though, that the diesel isn’t too much more than what we’ve been paying.. which is great news for the budget..it means more food!! Hehe. While we were chatting, Swifty and Skye were taking up the whole carpark (ok, so slight exaggeration.. hehe) and had their whole truck contents strewn around their car.
By the time we’d shopped, filled up, looked for a place to fill up the gas bottle (which was closed), it was about 1.30pm! Usually we’d be on the second leg of a day trip .. but we were only just heading out. Our goal for the day was Cape Tribulation – about a 2 hour(ish) drive.. very leisurely! It was so strange to all of us who had been in the cars for hours on end each day.
The 2way radios are soo good! Such a great way to communicate and pass the time. We started car trivia – Café 75 (as Skye & Swifty’s car is known) are in the lead so far. The sugar cane all along Nth QLD have these really pretty flowers – which is the sugar cane going to seed… We were trying to work out what they were (we came up with a few suggestions, like that it was a different sort of cane sugar – with Aaron piping in with.. maybe it’s caster sugar.. Dad joke!), and then someone came over the radio to inform us that they flower each year before they harvest…
Once we came over the ferry, we looked for a spot to camp and ended up at Cape Tribulation Camping Grounds.. we are about 100m from the beach. So after we set up, we headed down to the beach.. on low tide. Very nice! Even after a great spiel from the staff on what was where, where there were crocs and what walks to do etc.. we had no idea when we got down to the beach .. we were just enjoying the serenity. We walked up to the point.. and the boys trekked a little further to see what was around the corner… while I stayed back a little working out which tree I’d climb up if I were to encounter a croc.. there were only little trees around and I was hoping that crocs had absolutely no ability to get any height.. As I typ this I do recall photos of them jumping out of the water to great heights to eat chickens on a stick.. Surely that’s only in the water.. right????
I was quite excited, because this is the first real opportunity I have had to take lots of photos.. so went a little crazy (I know! So unlike me!!) Swifty found a coconut on the beach, so took it back to camp and cracked it open.. I had never tasted fresh coconut before.. nice! We cooked dinner (yakisoba.. yummo) and sat around the table chatting and drinking. Feels like a real holiday now J
Swifty told us about a tradition they have when they go away – at the end of the day, everyone announces the highlight of their day.. so we decided to add in the last few days too…
DAY 3 Highlights
Swifty – Arriving in Cairns… and the trucks & trains while sleeping (hearing them from 5km away!!))
Skye – Morning shower at Townsville & the afternoon girl time with Jes and Kesti
Kesti – catching up with Jes
DAY 4 Highlights
Swifty – The reverberation of the 400 cubic inch V8 diesel exhaust rebounding off the cliff face 1m away from the car. Arrrr (*says in manly voice*)
Skye – Setting foot onto the beach of Cape Trib – the realization of actually being carefree (and no phone service)
Kesti – The feeling that we were actually started on our journey
Aaron – speechless
So all in all, a great day! We’re staying here two nights, cause we’re going to do a few bits and pieces tomorrow.. icecream, coffee, tea.. walks and swims in freshwater swimming holes.. bring it on!
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