Jayco

Our brandnew Jayco Sterling Caravan.
Same outside dimensions as the Coromal, but a lot more interior room, mainly because of the single beds. Built in washing machine, separate shower and toilet (no longer shower halfway around a toilet pot), large workbench in the kitchen because there is no second lounge, large fridge and freezer, two flatscreen TV's with each a DVD player. Short: we are very happy and proud. A nice X-mas present to ourselves.
Right now we are busy packing and organizing.
There are more pictures in December's photobook.

Brisbane

OK, OK I got the message. Plenty of time, good internet connection, so why not more posts from Mt. perry ? The answer is pretty simple: WE ARE NOT THERE.

Last weekend we decided (after long discussions and after a long "wikken en wegen") to trade our Coromal caravan for a new Jayco. We wanted a different layout and took the opportunity. At Brisbane Camperland was our choice of Van in stock, so off we went. Coromal stripped and cleaned, everything unpacked and stored in the garage. Sunday we travelled south to the sunshinecoast, stayed overnight at the streetside opposite Sharon's place, and on Monday we went to Brisbane Camperland. We made a deal, and the new caravan will be ready for delivery on Friday. Right now we are staying at John and Val's place in Brisbane (Pam's brother) waiting for everything to be finshed. Friday/Saturday we will travel back to Mt. Perry.

I used the spare time in Brisbane to help James and Jillian (John and Val's son) with their boat.

a visitor

They are beautiful, but they frighten the sh.t out of you if you step out the house toward the shed and you run into them. This guana (dutch: leguaan) was just sunbathing and wiggled slowly away when I approached. All in all about a meter long.
Quite some wildlife around the house that we enjoyed. I will put a few more pics in the photobook (december 2008).
Life in Mt. Perry is pretty quiet. A little fiddle in the garden, some maintenance jobs, a read. It is too hot in the afternoon to be very active (35 degrees) so we take life easy and slow.
We got a new internet modem (wireless) so Pam and I can use our laptops at the same time without having to swap out internet dongle. very handy !

Reverse cameras

What's happening in Mt. perry?
I started the reverse camera project (dutch: achteruitkijkcamera). The view to the back while towing the caravan is not great. Yes i have mirrors, but there is always a black spot. So when we were in Singapore I bought a set of four wireless mini-cams and a viewer to solve this one day. Question was how to get the cam weatherproof on the back of the caravan. Well, here is my solution.
A standard licenceplate light (Super Cheap Auto), strip all the interior parts with a Dremel, replace the diffusing plexiglass with some clear plexiglass, and fiddle the cam in the housing. Done !
Now its a matter of mounting the unit on the back of the van, connect a 9V powersupply (12V -9V converter from Dick Smith Electronic's), and it should work.
I will mount a second cam on the back of the car (handy for hooking up the caravan) and maybe a third to the front of the car that takes a picture every minute or so (to record where we have been).
I keep you informed. Jan is busy !

Mount Perry

Mount Perry is a great place to be. We are enjoying the opportunity to make some modifications to the car and the caravan. The back of the car is now nicely set up to get the more heavy stuff easy in and out. The genny (generator) and washing machine now have a rolling floor that we can pull out. Some stupid cabinets in the caravan have drawers now. So we are busy in rearranging and repacking.

In the meantime we get our regular visitors: the birds, the green frogs, and yes those ugly canetoads as well. We enjoy a visit to the pub, drive around in the area, be lazy; short: bloody comfortable !

Coming weekend are the Mount Perry races (horseraces). It is going to be a great event. Looking forward to that.

There are a few more pictures in the photobooks.

Mount Perry truck pull

back in Mount Perry since last weekend. We had a busy week in unpacking, cleaning, some repairs to car and caravan, but it was also nice to have a bathtub to yourself again.
It is hot here, but a lot nicer than in Darwin. Not so humid.
Today was the anual Truck pull. One of the big events in town. It was realy fun to see the kids, the women and the big guys pull the huge dump truck over 10 m. After a long day there was entertainment and food in the hotel. Huge crowd.

Toolakea (Townsville)

Last friday we arrived at the east coast and set up camp in Toolakea, 20 km north of Townsville, right at the beach. We have a very bad internet connection here, so updating this blog and sending email is limited to the lucky moment that we do have a connection (like now). Our plan is to stay here till next friday and then make our way south along the coast towards Mount Perry.

Today/tomorrow we will visit Pam's Aunt and cousin who live nearby.

more next weekend !!

Julia Creek

Yes we did leave as planned. Via Mataranka, Banka Banka station, the Three Ways, Bakly Homestead, Mount Isa we travelled to Julia Creek where we are now. Two more stops (in Hughenden and Chartes Towers) and we will be in Townsville. It is HOT inland. the temperature has not been under 35 during the day. Looking forward to the cooler coast.
Once there, we will update this blog a bit more often.
Just now for you to know: we are enjoying !!!

Back on the road soon

Good to read the comments on the last articles ! Time to start adding new posts to this blog again.

After our stopover in Singapore, wich was very nice, we returned safely to Humpty Doo. We found the caravan and car well taken care off.
The first thing I wanted to find out what the conditions in my visa really meant, so I made a phonecall to the Immigration Department. And yes, it looks very good: I am allowed to travel in-and-out Australia as many times as I like until 3 September next year, and after each entry I am allowed to stay 12 months. So if I plan my next trip to Europe in August next year (and return to Australia before 3 september), I can stay another 12 months after that. Very nice !
The rest of the time here has been spent on preparing to travel on, although I also have been fishing with Chris and one of his friends a few times, we had our barbies (bbq), our drinks, a meal in the club, and all the rest that makes life pleasant.
We diceded that we will leave next wednesday (1 October). The car had a major service and is ready to do its job again.
It is very hot and getting humid (dutch:vochtig) in the north now, not very pleasant. So we will travel back to the eastcoast and enjoy the coast with its nice breeze. We propably be in Townsville in another 10 days. From Townsville we will head south, a part of the eastcoast that we did not discover yet. Looking forward to be on the road again.

to be continued.........

Maastricht

YES !!! i got my new visa, valid untill 3 september 2009.

A little more than a week to go. Monday evening the 15th we will fly out from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and travel via Paris to Singapore. There we will stay over a few days and end up in Darwin again early morning the 19th.
This week we will catch up with several people (family and friends) to say hi and goodbye. Its quite a busy agenda.
In the meantime we enjoy our stay in Maastricht, exept the lousy weather (windy, rainy, fresh).

Wedding....and more

Maartje and Jan Andries are now Mrs. and Mr. Kruijsifix.

After the wedding ceremony in the Maastricht city hall, together with family and close friends, we all left town and headed for Spa in Belgium. Villa "Le Boqueteau" was ready for a party week. It was a great opportunity to be close together for all that time. Party, dinner, breakfast, lunch, a drink, play with the kids, beautiful !!!
We came home last saturday, and that's the reason there was no update of the blog till now. I will update the photobooks as soon as possible; there are 850 pictures to chose from.

Kuala Lumpur

On our way to Amsterdam (underway??). Please be carefull if anybody plans a similar trip. A budget airline does NOT have a baggage transfer to your next destination. So what happened?
There are three terminals in Changi (Singapore Airport): we arrived in T1, had to leave 9 hours later from T2, so we decided to book a restroom in the transithotel at T3 which is in between T1 and T2. ..... To make a long story short: we walked some miles from 1-3-2-1-2-3-etc. The lesson of all this is to treat your budgetflight as a totally seperate trip. Fly from Darwin to Singapore with Jetstar, collect your baggage, go through customs, and check in again for your connecting flight at the right terminal.
Anyway ....we are in Kuala Lumpur, 10 AM right now, got our duty free smokes and drinks, our last flight to Amsterdam leaves in two hours from gate C25. We will be home Saturday evening !!!!

Humpty Doo (2)

Nicely tucked away in the bush, we are very comfortable here.
Using the time when Chris and Annie are to work to do some home and garden jobs for them, going shopping if we need or want, visit a club, or just be lazy.
We did our preparations for travelling back to Europe : all tickets confirmed, seat reservations done, transit-hotelroom at Singapore airport booked for 6 hours (because we have to wait there 9 hours). We will fly Malaysian Airlines this time from Singapore to Amsterdam, curious how we
will like that.
In the meantime: the kids (Annie and Christopher) are busy making everything look very nice bacause Annie's parents will arrive next thursday (they live in England). Will be a busy time for them all.
Last weekend the firies (fire brigade) burned down the bush and grass right next to our block in order to prevent an uncontrolled bushfire (see the photobooks for a few pictures). That was quite spectacular. Fire hazard is very high at the moment, so care has to be taken.
Not really more to be told at the moment...see ya soon folks

Humpty Doo

At last, back online on the Net after almost two weeks. We had a defect in our mobile internet-thingy and had quite some troubles in getting it replaced. We first got the wrong one send out to us, but after many phonecalls, at last this morning we got the right replacement. We are back online.
We moved to Christopher and Annies place in Humpty Doo, about 30 km out of Darwin. Great time, great place to stay, great people !
At the moment I am in a club in Palmerston (between HD and Darwin) waiting for Pam to get back from the hairdresser. I am using the time to type this and promise to update the blog a little more serious this weekend ! see you soon folks ( In three weeks from now we will travel )

Buzz' Cafe

A very nice lunch day at the Wharf in Darwin. Many stalls serving superb asian food in a great atmosphere on the pier, overlooking the sunny bay.
It's Kim and Terry's last day in Darwin; tomorrow they will take off and travel west towards Western Australia, home again in October, finishing their 2 year trip around Australia. The four of us really enjoyed a send-off lunch.
From the Wharf we went to Buzz' Cafe for a drink. The cafe has a very nice feature: the urinal in the men's toilet is a glass wall that has a one-way view. You can look out, not in. Its a funny idea to stand and p.. while you look whats going on outside.

Darwin

We finished the major part of the trip to Darwin.
We set up camp in Howard Springs, just outside of town.
Time to update our map again.

Six month of travelling, 12.200 km, roughly 2440 L diesel (1:5), no flat tyres, one oilchange, one check and adjustment of the caravan wheel bearings (dutch:lagers), a new caravan awning (dutch: luifel) and roof repair due to storm damage, I don't dare to mention the estimated amount of beer cans (more than 500 I am sure I have enjoyed; actually having number 501 while I am typing this).

The map shows our track till now.

On August 8 we will fly out via Singapore to Amsterdam.
In the meantime we will keep you updated with our adventures in and around Darwin.

Litchfield National Park

Last Wednesday we left Daly River and headed further north. Litchfield National Park starts about 60 km west from the Stuart Highway, and the gateway into the park is a little town called Batchelor. We set up camp there in a very beautiful caravanpark.
On friday we had a day drive into the National Park itself. I updated the photobook with some pictures. It was a very rewarding day ! Too bad we could not have a swim in one of the rockpools below the waterfalls because of the presence of some crocs.
Sunday we drove to Berry Springs, 80 km from Batchelor, to have a look at our next caravanpark. Its near the Northern Territory Wildlife Park that we would like to visit, so why not set up camp there. It looked very nice. But on Wednesday, as we prepared to drive on, we changed plans and drove directly to the neighbourhood of Darwin. We heard that it is very very busy in all the caravanparks in and around Darwin and making a phonecall confirmed that. So we grabbed the empty spot that Howard Springs Caravan Resort had to offer.

In the meantime we have been in contact with Christopher and Annie, Pam's
cousin's son and his wife. They live in another suburb of Darwin (don't laugh, it is called Humpty Doo) and have enhoughspace on their property for our caravan to be left there while we visit
Europe in August. We will visit Cris and Annie in the weekend and have a nice family update.

Daly River (2)

Tuesday morning: a drive with just the car along the river. Sh.t, this is a beautiful countryside. Ending up at Brown Creek, where the road realy ends. Looking out over an inviting sandbank, briefly thinking of having a swim. Nah...better not. Those saltwatercrocodiles would love to have me for breakfast.
The area is discribed like this: "This is tropical North Australia as it is imagined by southerners. The park abounds in saltwater crocodiles, reptiles, spiders, cockatoos, wild pigs and buffalos. The foliage is a combination of mangroves, giant bamboos, pandanus and even Kapok trees".
We filled up with diesel at the local aboriginal community, and headed back to the caravan (61 L; $109,-). Tomorrow we will travel on to Litchfield national park.

Daly River

Monday morning, right in the hart of barramundi country.
Do I need to say more? One just below 80 cm, one just above. Both roughly 18 pounds each.

Have a nice day too folks.

Katherine

After Daly Waters we travelled to Mataranka, after another roadside camp on our way north. Mataranka is known for its hot springs that were used during WWII as a relax point for the army. Nice and warm !!!! The caravan park was not realy great but we stayed three nights.
From Mataranka we made a trip 80 km inland to visit the Barunga festival. Aboriginals from all over Arnhem Land visit this festival. It is great to see.
Next day we travelled to Katherine, famous for Katherine Gorge (for the dutch: Gorge= kloof, ravijn). Impressive ! We had a cruise through three of the 13 gorges, and after that the boys (Kim and I) had a helicopterflight. My first time in a chopper !
We will stay here in Katherine till Sunday and use the time to stock up supplies. In the weeks to come we will not be in a larger township, so we better make sure we have enhough food and drinks. Our goal is the Daly River: I want to catch that famous baramundi myself (minimum legal size = 55 cm !) and then on to Litchfield National Park.

Daly Waters (2)

This is definitely the best pub I have seen until now. You all would laugh your ass off. You cannot imagine how many memorabilia are collected and displayed here. Of course the most famous are the bra's and knickers hanging from the ceiling, and not to forget the licence plates and thongs. But the meals were great, the drinks too, and the live 'n-tainment was fun ! The six of us went back to the caravan at a reasonable time, but spent some more time (and drinks) there. We all slept VERY well !

Daly Waters

Almost a week without TV, Phone and Internet connection. Not that we really missed it, actually: Not at all.
After we left Soudan rest area, we stayed at 41 Mile Bore in the bush, and turned north at Three Ways roadhouse. Banka Banka station is 70 km north from there. We arrived just after midday and immediately knew this was the place to be. Clean and grassy and calf's, goats, and turkeys walking around between the camp spots. Friendly staff, a little camp bar with reasonable pricing, a slide show in the evening telling the history of Banka Banka ( a cattle station). Excellent ! We stayed 4 days and really relaxed and enjoyed. Yesterday we finally left and travelled further north towards Newcastle Waters rest area. Again an evening of free camping at the side of the road.
This morning we left and arrived at Daly Waters around 1 pm. That's where we are and that's where we will enjoy one or two days around the Daly Waters Pub.
You all should write this spot down on your travel-wish-list ! I added more pictures of last week in the photo books (new one for June). Tonight we will have a nice meal and a drink in the pub.
Looking forward to a great evening with life entertainment of "the chookman" (Chook=chicken).

Barkly Homestead

As we predicted, the second night at the rest area was a nice one. There was a difference though: Just the four of us last night; the second night we counted 22 caravans and motorhomes. And because our fire was lit, it worked like a honeypot: we ended up with 7 couples around the fire. They brought their chairs and drinks and we had a fablulous evening. Next morning one by one the vans left, and so did we, on or way to Camoweal. We arrived there shortly after noon, set up camp in a caravanpark, and rushed for the toilets and showers. In the afternoon we walked to the local pub and had a drink, but the far north is an expensive area to buy a beer: $4.60 !! . Next morning I took just the car to fill up with diesel and had another expensive experience: $ 1.98 per liter (although this was expected to be that way). After hooking up the caravan we left around 10 am.

The first rest area was not what we expected, so we decided to move on to the second:  Soudan. Nice place beside the highway, a dingo just crossing the road in front of us, plenty of room for a nice camp under a few trees. Later the afternoon a few other vans joined us and we ended the day again with a gathering around a quiet camp fire.

We woke up around 7 with the sound of howling dingo's just across the road. We could not see them but there were plenty of them. Quite impressive, I had never heard them this close. Again we left around 9 am and had in mind to stop for another night in the bush, but the area was not too inviting, so we decided to drive to Barkly Homestead. And that's where we are now. On our way we passed another caravan who had an accident and tipped on its side. Thank God no injuries, fellow travellers where with them and professional help was on its way. No need for us to be of any assistance. It just reminded us to drive carefully. We will stay one night here at Barkly Homestead and move on tomorrow in the direction of 41 Mile Bore; a restarea just before the "Three ways" : the junction where the major north-south highway (the Stuart Higway) and east-west highway ( the Overlander) meet. At Three Ways we will turn North towards Darwin, our first stop is to be at Banka Banka Station. We plan to be there on Wednesday and propably stay a few days.

On the road to Camoweal

Unexpected, but we do have an internetconnection here.
We are somewhere between Mount Isa and Camoweal at a rest area besides thehighway. Just out in the bush, in the middle of nowhere. We left Mt. Isa yesterday morning, together with Kim and Terri, a couple we met in Karumba and who are heading in the same direction as we do.
We pulled over for a coffee in the morning and had the same thought: Why move on, its beautiful here. So we set up camp, pulled the gennies (generators) out, chairs and a table, and cracked a beer.
After a rest (cool caravan thanks to the gennie and the aircon), we started to collect firewood, got the bbq and prepared for a beautiful afternoon and evening in the open. Fire lit, because the evenings get cool. We had a lot of fun and drinks. We watched the moon rise over the horizon, heard the skippies hop around somewhere, and had a star-canopy that you can hardly imagine. Glorious.
In the morning we had enhough wood left to start the fire again (it was f.cking cold at 5:00) and we decided to stay one more night. So that is what is going to happen today: another fire and bbq and maybe a beer or two.
Life is great folks !!

Mount Isa

Wednesday evening, Mount Isa. We left Karumba as planned on friday morning and had actually a pretty boring trip via Normanton to Burke and Wills roadhouse. The roadhouse caravanpark was a pretty nothing, though they served a good meal and beer. The nicest part was the early morning: a hay-loaded road train stopped, the driver had his breakfast, and within a few minutes the cattle came out of the bushes and started to eat from the fresh hay. Great view. We took off early again for the next part of the trip to "The Curry" (Cloncurry). Cloncurry did not keep us very long: just one night. Sundaymorning we headed for "The Isa" (Mount Isa"). This was a beautiful trip. Great countryside to watch, beautiful road; we enjoyed every second. As we approached Mt. Isa the road trains showed up again. This time loaded with cattle. Three trailers behind the truck, each loaded with 144 heads of cattle on TWO decks. Roughly calculating: 144 x 3 x 600 kg = 260 TONS load.
I added a new photobook for May 2008.

Ready to move on

Thursday afternoon, we just have to wind in the caravan legs and the awning,ready to leave Karumba tomorrow. It has been the perfect weather and tide last few days (actually the weather was perfect all the time) for the fishing guys and girls to be out on the water.
You can see how the park looks like when they all are gone with their trailers and boats.
For us, it's time to move on. Tomorrow we will travel south from Karumba towards "Burke and Wills junction", and from there to Cloncurry. In Cloncurry we can turn west towards Mount Isa. Mount Isa is the largest town in north-west Queensland and we will propably stay a while there. We plan to arrive there on Sunday, and till that time we propably will not have an internet connection.
Will be continued...

Mrs Mac's Pharmacy

You have to see this, in order to believe it.

I quote from an official advertisement in a local paper:

" Mrs Mac's Pharmacy:
Furniture, prescriptions, gift lines, Vet lines, film processing, childrens toys & clothing, plant nursery & all gardening requirements".

And yes, Mrs Mac's really exists: In Karumba.

for the dutch readers: "meubelen, apotheek, cadeaus, diergeneesmiddelen, film ontwikkelen, kinderspeelgoed en kleding, plantenkwekerij en alle tuinbenodigdheden"

I will never doubt the Australian versatility again !

Normanton / Karumba

Sundayafternoon in Karumba. North Queensland at the Gulf of Carpentaria. Back at the water again after crossing the northen peninsula of Queensland from east to west.
We left Georgetown on thursdaymorning and headed for Normenton. The first part of the road towards Croydon was one lane bitumen, so we had to pull over to the side quite a few times to let some roadtrains pass (55 m long !). But once near Croydon it was all nice road. From that moment on we had the car in cruise-control at 90 km/h.
We arrived in Normenton in the early afternoon en set ourselves up for one night in the caravanpark, just opposite the purple pub. Have a look at the pictures why the pub is called that way.
Fridaymorning (Anzac-day) we attended the dawnservice at the local war memorial and after a coffee we hit the road again towards Karumba. On our way out of town we passed Krys, the savannah-king. Krys was the largest crocodile in the world ever cought : 8.63 m !!! HolyDooley what a monster. The statue is a replica in its original size !
Karumba is only 70 km out of Normenton, so after an hour drive we set ourselves up in the caravanpark there. we plan to stay here a few weeks, it's BEAUTIFUL !
Karumba is a fishing town: boats, boats and boats in the caravanpark, all leaving in the early morning, returning around 1 pm, and then everybody starts to fillet their catch. We will have a go ourselves in the days to come. I will keep you informed.
By the way, the sunsets over the Gulf are very beautiful to watch with a cold drink on the errace !

Sherreen

A morning visit to "Terrestrial" in Georgetown QLD , home of the Ted Elliott
gemstone collection. A beautiful display of a lifetime hobby, collecting
gemstones, minerals, precious stones, gold and silver in the area and from
all over Australia. The collection is now Shire property.
We were welcomed by Sherreen (I hope i got her name right, if not, she will
forgive me) and I promised her to put her on my blog. So....Sherreen here we
go, and I am curious how that pink party dress will look on you !!!

Innot Hot Springs

We left Atherton on saturdaymorning, heading west, inland. It's not good to
drive the car up those slopes in automatic gear. I discovered that when a
red light came on: "Automatic Transmission Oil Temperature". We had to pull
over in the middle of a long slope and alow the baby to cool down. The rest
of the trip I used manual second gear on longer slopes and we had no further
problems.
We ended up in "Innot Hot Springs", vulcanic hot springs in the creek. The
creek-water is cool, but there are plenty hot wells, so you can make the
water as warm as you like by digging a hole. The caravanpark was right on
the creek and had its own hot spa's and swimmingpools, fed by the mineral
spring water. A nice hotel at the other side of the creek run by Larry and
Ross. No internet, phone and TV in Innot.
Tuesday morning we left again and headed further west along the Savanah-way
towards Georgetown. We are there now in a nice quiet caravanpark and will
stay here propably 2 or three nights and then drive on in the direction of
Normenton/Karumba

8000 Km

After filling up the dieseltank of the car yesterday, I wrote down the amount of litres and the km reading. I noticed we had just done 8000 km (to be correct: 8007 km) since we bought the car and started travelling.

I keep track of where we have been until now on a map of Australia and thought this might be a good moment to share.

Especially for the dutch readers it shows what small part of Australia is covered by driving this distance in 4 month time. Sh.t this is a LARGE country !!!

Millaa Millaa

Sundayafternoon, just back in Atherton from a nice drive through the Atherton Tablelands to Millaa Millaa. This is no spelling error it is really double-Millaa. Several towns in Australia have doubled names: Gin Gin, Ban Ban Springs; don't ask my why. Anyway, in Millaa Millaa are the same-name falls and a great lookout over the area. Beautiful ! We had a tour around via Malanda and Ravenshoe. Lunch-picknick and back home to our caravan. a Nice 200 km drive.
When we leave Atherton next saturday (thats the plan) part of our drive will be in the same direction. That will be hard work for the Toyota again. Wow, we had some narrow, winding, steep slopes ! And that is called the Kennedy Highway. For the Dutch: pull your caravan up through Sweykhuizen, and down just outside the village to the right to Spaubeek through Stammenderbos. That is whats called a highway here in Australia. It will be a challenge again for this 13 m, 4.0 ton combination.

New photobook

I added a new photobook for april 2008. See the menu to the right.

Atherton

Last Saturday we left Port Douglas and headed southwest, inland. Our goal was Lake Tinaroo near Atherton. The route was a beautiful but narrow winding and climbing road up into the Tablelands. The Toyota had to show (and use) its muscles pulling the 2.5 ton caravan and its own 2 ton up to Mount Molloy. No problems, although some other cars behind us were not impressed with the speed.
We passed a nice and impressive world war II monument near Mareeba where we had a coffeestop. Within a few minutes Kelly the Ranger of the park showed up with his dog, he was glad somebody stopped, so he could have a chat.
From there it was a relative short drive out to lake Tinaroo.Di sapointment ! A nice lake, but the caravanpark was at the other side of the road, no view over the lake. This was not what we had in mind, so we decided to move on, directly to Atherton, to see what the parks were around there. Our first choice was a park just outside the town and we hit the nail right on its head. This is definitly the most beautiful caravanpark we have been in. Tropical rainforest all around, birds, wallabies, nice grassy and shady spots, swimmingpool, perfect toilets etc. We will stay here a while. Its a great basecamp to discover the tablelands.
Sunday we had a trip to the local market in Tolga: Great ! More news soon !

PS: Nan, manoeuvring the caravan is just a matter of beiing a good driver and getting the right instructions from your partner. Just back in, a few times forward and backwards, and then step out the car knowing that everybody in the caravanpark has been watching you.

Port Douglas

We set ourselves up in Port Douglas, a quiet corner in a basic Caravanpark, all facilities of the township in walking distance. But guess what...we are really in the tropics, so we have to deal with all sorts of tropical surprises.
The biggest is not a pleasant one: dengue fever. Once in a while North Queensland has to deal with a (limited) outbreak, and yes there are 18 reported infections. Where?? In Port Douglas and in Mossman ! Just where we are !
So I was a little frightened when I ended up with a big rash ( dutch: uitslag) over my body on wednesday, but no worries, its just a rash, I just got mad from the itching. Its almost gone now, so I can stop scratching.
Right now we just are a little carefull and use a lot of tropical strength insect-repellant.
Wednesday we will travel on again, heading inland to Lake Tinaroo, in the middle of the Atherdon Tablelands. We will leave the oceancoast behind us. Looking forward to that.