Exmouth and before that too

Well we finally made it to Exmouth, that is a week ago we did.  We have definitely been slack in updating this but here it is.  

I just read Todds last update and i think he missed a couple of things out so i will just add them in here.  Before we hit Darwin we stopped at Litchfield National Park which was just beautiful. Its known for its waterfalls and watering holes and thats what we saw there.  We spent the whole day travelling around to all of the different water falls.   They also have the huge termite mounds there so we checked those out too.  They incredible how big they are, i really dont understand it.

So about our drive to Exmouth, theres not much to say really. It was long and hot, well the last two days it got cooler which was nice.  We even had to grab the blankets one night as the temperature seemed to drop dramatically. We did stop in Broome for a night which i found to be a really cute town.  We got to walk on their famous Cable beach at sunset and saw the original 'Sun Picture' movie theatre which was built in 1916.

So we made it to Exmouth last Sunday and i think surprised Mandy and Ro (Todds sister and her boyfriend) with our early arrival.  We ate breakfast, had a shower and then headed out on there boat for some fishing.  Well Todd and Ro went fishing and Mandy and i did a little bit of swimming.  

The next couple of days, Todd and I took it pretty easy, well we did nothing at all.  Which i have to tell you felt so nice.  Wednesday we drove over to the Coral reef that they live right by and went snorkelling.  It was so beautiful and we saw some amazing fish and a big turtle.  Todd and I both agreed that we thought this was better snorkelling than on the great barriers reef. The water is just so clear and you can just walk off the beach and swim to the coral unlike the great barrier which you have to get a boat too.  

Yesterday our gracious hosts took us on a quad biking tour of Exmouth in the morning.  We had such an amazing time.  This was definitely the highlight of the my trip Exmouth, i just absolutely loved it and want to buy a quad bike now, it was just so much fun.  After quad biking we went home, made a little picnic and headed out to the beach.  We had a bit of a rough time at the beach as we were constantly being attacked by hundreds of fly's.  But once in the water all was good.

Our time in Exmouth has almost come to an end, we are leaving Exmouth on Tuesday and heading down to Perth where we are going to try and sell our van.  We have a bit of limited time to sell it as we have tickets to fly out of perth on the 13th, so fingers crossed. Who knows what we will do if we dont sell it but i guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.  

Until next time....

Darwin

I liked to dedicate this post to Charles Darwin, this ones for you brother!

Alright party people, we have arrived in Darwin... and now looking forward to leave. Although this is a great place, it is just to stinkin hot! So westward bound it is.

We have been in Darwin for a couple of days now. We started down by the Wharf precinct, which is very nice and a little up market, but due to the renovations around there we managed to score some free parking and hang out for a couple of days without getting hassled. Although with the weather being what it is we have dogged it and actually had to stay at a hotel a couple of nights to get some sleep! Thankyou for all you help with this Mother :)

We've spent most of our time here just recooperating, wanting to stay out of the car, so we haven't done a lot. But I found my heaven, a sports bar with around 20 Tv's, with sport on all of them, AC, beer on tap and TAB! I'm not sure what Laura has been doing?

We are hitting the road today, bound for Exmouth. So the updates will be a little low, at least until the weekend when we should be back in some land of the living.
Hope all is well on everybody elses end

Cairns to Darwin Pt1

So we've been moving way to slow up the east coast thus far, we're putting on the turbos and hitting Darwin, over 2800's km away (1750 miles for you Americans)

We have rounded up a posse, the double Dutch rudders and a lovely pair of Canadians and are looking to be in Darwin by Thursday!

We got a little late starting on Saturday, with not a dry eye in the place having to farewell the Cairns Lagoon. But after stocking up on supplies we were away mid afternoon. 1st stop was via the curvey highway and we only managed around 160ks. We lucked out pretty well with a free campsite set up for travellers, complete with toilet! We woke to the bustling scene of the regional markets which offered absolutly nothing of interest!!

Day2 we pumped out a solid 750kms after getting on the road early. We exceeded our expectations and managed to have an hour to relax so we decided to stop in at Normanton, scope the scene and check if they have a swimming hole, seeing the Mercury was above 40. Please can we warn one and all if you are ever in the area of Normanton , DO NOT STOP THERE. The chick on the fuel bowser was an utter mole and told us the pool was closed for the day, which we later learnt was not true and we spent an hour there cooling off!

But our day ended on a high when we discovered the Burke and Wills Roadhouse in the middle of now where. Where prices were $7 per person or a powered site for a total of $18! So I've showered, played darts, 5 games of asshole, and ready for day 3. And to our amazement they also have free wifi hence the update. Who would have thought that a truck stop in the middle of Queensland would have free wifi.

Daintree and starting on the road to Darwin

We just finished spending two days up in the Daintree and it was really beautiful. We went on a couple of walks around the rainforest and were just amazed at the size of the trees and leaves. And since its called a rainforest we werent that surprised when it rained the whole time we were up there. (i will update with photos at a later point)

We are now off on our five day drive to Darwin so we wont have any contact until about friday or so of next week. We are driving with the two dutch boys we met a lot earlier in our trip and who have been in our group for all of our little trips. So at least we will have another car driving with us if anything does happen. I will let you know how it goes late next week, hopefully very uneventful.

Car Troubles

So we headed north to Townsville and 30k's out of town we had a tire blowout. Very freaky and i was glad Todd was driving. So as this was actually our spare tire that we were driving on due to a flat earlier in the trip, we knew that we were going to have to buy a new tire. So the next day we went tire shopping and after visiting a number of shops and them all advising that we replace all of our tires as they were all old and bad, we decided to bit the bullet and spend $500 buying 4 new tires. UGH!!! We just didnt think it was safe driving on old tires as on Sunday we are leaving for the big trip off to Darwin, which we be 5 straight days of driving.

So with Tora all kitted out with new tires we made our way to Cairns, stopping off for lunch in Mission beach and passing the Big Mango along the way somewhere. It was a beautiful drive coming into Cairns as we are truely entering the tropics and it feels like we are in a completely different country.

Today we are off to Cape Tribulation, which is where the rainforest meets the great barrier reef. We are going to be spending two nights in the Daintree rainforest, which as i have heard is the oldest rainforest in the world. So it should be really beautiful.

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

So after the Fraser Island trip we travelled north to Airlie beach, although on the way we ran into a little car trouble ourself. Luckily Todd figured out pretty quickly that we had no oil in the car and we were able to stop and fill it up.
Airlie Beach is where our 3rd and final trip left from, our 3 day 2 night sailing trip around the whitsundays. We set off on Friday on a huge 30 person Maxi racing sailing boat, that apparently was one of the fastest boats in the world in its haydays of the 80's. These days she just cruises the whitsundays with backpackers on it.
Todd and I had an absolutely amazing time!! The first day was our free scuba dive. I was pretty nervous about it and actually didnt like it that much. I couldnt get my ears to equalize and it all seemed a bit unnatural, but Todd absolutely loved it. But im glad i did it, always try things once right. The rest of that time when others were scuba diving we were snorkling. It was amazing to be snorkling over the Great Barrier Reef and to see the coral and all of the beautiful fish. Unfortanutely we didnt have an underwater camera so we have no pictures to show of that.
The next couple of days were spent cruising around the islands and stopping at different islands and beaches. One of which is the world famous Whithaven beach, which was incredible. The sand was the softest sand i have ever felt, its something like 95% silica, which i have to admit i dont know what that means but i guess its good.
Then the last day we stopped at an area for snorkling which is known for turtles. And boy did we see loads of beautiful huge turtles swimming all over the place. Both todd and i managed to swim to them and touch them which they dont seem to mind at all. And that was our trip, just an amazing time on a beautiful boat, water, beaches and fish.
So today we are going to be leaving Airlie Beach and heading north to Townsville and then on to Cairns and slightly further north than that to Cape Tribulation.

Fraser Island

So the night before we left for Fraser island we got a full briefing of our 4WD and our itinerary. There were 11 of us, 5 scottsman, Korean, Japaniese, the Dutch Rudders again and us. We were packed into a Toyota Land Crusier which is considered an 11 seater.

So the next morning we were off bright and earlier to Fraser Island. We took the ferry across and then in our first 20min of driving on the great sandy beaches we encountered car troubles, over heating. We didnt stop the car until the full smell of burning was intense and the alarm went off in the car because the temp was at 110 degrees! Not good. After pulling the coolant top off way to early and coolant spirting out of the car like a geiser, we were lucky enough for a highway patrol car to come by and fill us back up with coolant. We were then on our way after one more quick stop to let the car cool down.

Our first destination was Lake Wabby for a couple of hours and then on to our Aboriginal campground, camp Kagari.

The driving was full on 4wd driving at parts and on the beach it was just amazing. The fact that the beach is the main road on the island is incredible, its the 75 mile highway, and its beach the whole way.

The second day we spent at Eli creek during the day and one to another campground that night. Getting to the campground was 4wd the whole way. Pretty exciting.

And the last day was the best. They definately save the best for last. It was Lake Mackensy. It is absolutely beautiful. The water is crystal blue and just incredible. We definately could have stayed longer.

Our way back was plauged with car trouble once again with us stopping about 6 times on the way to the ferry. We finally got back an hour late but luckily the car was in perfect condition so we didnt have any charges.