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.

Townsville to Port Douglas

It has been quite a busy week. Last thursday we said goodbye to Kerry, a Kiwi (new zealander) who is traveling australia on his own in order to find the real meaning of life. We used the opportunity to also celebrate Terriann's birthday. Needless to say that we had a few drinks and ended up in bed late again.
After a quiet friday ( is that why they call it good-friday?)we used saturday to do some shopping and prepare for a nice evening: a life rugby game in the Dairy Farmers Stadium (dutch: het zuivelboeren stadium) between the Townsville Cowboys en de Sydney Tigers (for the dutch: dit is eredivisie rugby). It was a sh.t match, but the happening was super! Fireworks, full stadium, mad supporters, cheerleaders, national anthem, etc.etc.
But the niciest thing was the aftermatch. We travelled back with the bus from the stadium to the Cowboys Clubhouse in the centre of town. Hundreds and hundreds of supporters of the Cowboys AND THE TIGERS, all the players, the coaches, the cheerleaders, having a drink and chat together. Dad taking pictures of his 8 year old son in club t-shirt with the Cowboys captain (the
boy with a smile even larger than his face), that was great to watch.
Can you imagine Utrecht and Den Haag supporters in the same clubhouse after a match, or Ajax and Feyenoord?
Sunday we had a peacefull easterday and monday we packed most of our stuff in order to travel.
Tuesdaymorning we left Townsville heading north. We ended up early afternoon in Cardwell on a beautifull restarea just outside town and spent the night there. View over the ocean to Hinchinbrook Island, palmtrees, 30 degrees.........jealous??
We woke up early because of a bloody rooster wo started his cockedoodledoo (dutch: kukeleku) at 4:30 and enjoyed the sunrise over the island and the ocean.
After coffee and a slow start we headed north again. We diceded to visit Paronella-park on our way and had a coffee-break at Mena Creek, one of the many lovely spots along the road. Our plan was to go to Cairns, but as we got there, both of us did not like the idea of being around another large town again, so we decided to travel on to Port Douglas, some 90 km further
north.
Port Douglas is lovely ! We set ourselves up in a caravanpark and we will stay here a week or so. It's great also to use as a base to do some travelling to the Daintree National Park and more.

fishing near Saunders Beach

Sundaymorning again, 8 am, the Caravan Park starting to wake up. Noisy
Lorrekeets all over in there bright colours, an Ibis walking around the
caravan looking for any food he can get. Many people outside under the
awning of their camper or caravan, reading the paper and having a coffee. Me
sitting there at the table typing this little story.
Friday evening Pete asked me to join him "crabbing" on saturday. Leaving
here at six, we were in the boat at Saunders Beach around 7. We had 7
crabpods (nets), and the first thing to do was to load them with bait
(dutch: aas): filthy stinky fishheads, a kangaroo-leg, etc. The stinkier the
better. Trow the pods overboard with a floater attached to a rope (an empty
lemonadebottle), and wait. Waiting was so peacefull: the boat anchored under
the mangrovetrees in the shade, a fishingrod, some prawns as a bait, and
hope for the big fish to bite. We ended up with three beautifull mudcrabs
(only males are allowed to catch, minimum size of their body 15 cm). Sh.t,
they are nasty basterds, their claws easily cut your fingers or toes,
including the bones. But putting them on ice makes them nice and sleepy (and
keeps them fresh). We ended the day with a last cast of our fishingrods, and
YES !! rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the line was ripped off my reel (dutch : molen)and
i had a real fish hooked. Not just a 10 cm bream but a 2 kg sweetlip. My
little baitcaster rod (dutch: hengel) did the job perfect and
yesterdayevening we had a great meal: sweetlip filet on the bbq.

back in Townsville

Ok, Ok, neef Rein (nephew Rein) I got the message. I will put a little more efford in keeping the blog updated. There are quite some people who get an email from time to time, but the rest of the world (as far as they are interested) has to read my blog to be up-to-date. I will pay more attention to this !

What happened since last sunday in Mission Beach ? Drip drip drip along the airconditioner and along a hatch in the roof after 200 mm of rain came down in a few hours time (and in total 700 mm during the entire day). Obviously a leak that needed to be fixed. The nearest caravanrepair in Cairns had no time in the weeks to come, so our only option was to go back to Townsville.

Last monday we left Mission Beach, and we are glad that we did not wait another day: tuesday all the roads were blocked again due to river floodings all over the area.

In Townsville we set ourselves up in the same Caravanpark that we left a week before, waiting for the repairs to be done this week. A new awning (dutch: luifel) and front hatch. The rest sealed.

Last saturday we celebrated my birthday with some friends here: Terriann, Pete, Kerry, and of course Pam, we had a few drinks and some bites, rolled in bed after 2 am, and needed a restfull sunday.

Today the caravan was repaired; we had to pack and drive it over to the other side of town and picked it up again late afternoon. Its now 7 pm, we are set up again and will enjoy a quiet evening.

Keep an eye on the photobooks (see the link top-right), i will keep them updated too.

Mission Beach

Sundaymorning, locked inside the caravan. Bloody hell its raining. Actually
its bucketing down. The water is coming down over the awning (dutch: luifel)
like a waterfall. Not much more to do than listen to the radio, fiddle
around on the PC and the internet and have a mango for breakfast. Yum Yum, a
box of them (27) for $10,--. We just have to wait till its over. Tomorrow
morning we hope to be able to move on to Kurrimine Beach, but the weather
will be the same there i am afraid. It would be nice to have a nice sun
again.