Milestone
Mission beach is a neat little area of 4 towns linked closely together with a great atmosphere. Unfortunately for us, there was an endless grey sky full of rain in the forecast, which was expected because this is one of the highest rainfall areas in Australia (with a record of 7.9 metres in one year), so we decided to leave the area and head up the coast to Cairns. On the way we stopped at Wooroonooran National Park to see the Babinda Boulders. These massive granite boulders have been cut and shaped by the fast flowing water. It’s a beautiful area but extremely dangerous as there were plenty of warning signs not to enter the water and that many lives have been claimed here. We started a walk nearby through the rainforest, but we didn’t know much about the walk and there were no signs posting how long it was or where it went to. We decided to turn around and later discovered it was a 17km walk (one way) that went nowhere.
Hooray! We made it to Cairns today. It feels like the first major milestone of our trip as we’re almost finished exploring the East coast. From here we need to plan out a few day trips North of Cairns and one more dive on the Great Barrier Reef before heading into the red centre. So much to see, and so little time! The reason we are starting to stress about time is because we have been informed by a few locals not to take certain roads on the next leg of our journey due to the unpredictability of the roads during the wet season. This is actually going to force us to back track quite a bit now, and our next destination isn't for 2400km! We also met a tour guide who referred to this stretch of road as “a graveyard for backpacker vans”. We will be sure to let some people know where we plan to be day to day, because if something happens we are supposed to stay with the car no matter how tempting it may be to leave it. We spent the day relaxing in Cairns, had some nachos and drinks on the pier and wandered along the esplanade. Tonight, we’re staying at a BIG4 Caravan Park that has 2 giant jumping pillows, mini golf, beach volleyball courts, tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, table tennis, outdoor big screen, giant chess board and tether ball, so we got to act like big little kids and play until dark.
Hooray! We made it to Cairns today. It feels like the first major milestone of our trip as we’re almost finished exploring the East coast. From here we need to plan out a few day trips North of Cairns and one more dive on the Great Barrier Reef before heading into the red centre. So much to see, and so little time! The reason we are starting to stress about time is because we have been informed by a few locals not to take certain roads on the next leg of our journey due to the unpredictability of the roads during the wet season. This is actually going to force us to back track quite a bit now, and our next destination isn't for 2400km! We also met a tour guide who referred to this stretch of road as “a graveyard for backpacker vans”. We will be sure to let some people know where we plan to be day to day, because if something happens we are supposed to stay with the car no matter how tempting it may be to leave it. We spent the day relaxing in Cairns, had some nachos and drinks on the pier and wandered along the esplanade. Tonight, we’re staying at a BIG4 Caravan Park that has 2 giant jumping pillows, mini golf, beach volleyball courts, tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, table tennis, outdoor big screen, giant chess board and tether ball, so we got to act like big little kids and play until dark.