Jo's Journey: Cairns to Toomulla

Hi there

I know I'm late but because I spent one week in Cairns doing 'not much' there's not much to tell you. It was nice not doing anything but after a week I felt I had wasted the time.

I did have my motorhome serviced as did Linda. We drove to the place and then they drove us, including the 3 dogs, into Cairns. I had arranged to meet my friend Denise and her husband, Zeno, there at 9.30am. They were up from Mt Eliza ( Melbourne ) and staying 10 days. We had coffee and a great chat.

From there Linda and I walked to Cairns Central ( The shopping complex in Cairns ) where Linda bought a new camera. By this time it was nearly 2pm and when I rang about the motorhomes they said mine was ready but not Linda's. At 3pm they picked us up. They did make the comment that they hadn't 'done' a Fiat before which worried me a little. The reason was that they had obviously rang Fiat about what oil to use and of course were told some Italian stuff. Can you believe that they got the italian oil and it cost me $133.00 for 7 litres, and no it's not gold!!

Whilst waiting for Linda's motorhome to be finished, I took Linda to Dan Murphy's as she had never been in one before and boy was she impressed. We did spend up and had to wait till 4pm to buy cask wine, as that is the ruling when you are less than 10kms from the city centre. We eventually got Linda's 'home' and got back to the Caravan Park at 6pm - way past happy hour.

We had been into Cairns earlier in the week and went to the markets. The fresh fruit and Veges was terrific and they had an amazing variety of tropical fruits. The night markets weren't anything special.

We had planned to leave Cairns on Friday but went on a Tour of Cairns instead. It was great and we really should have gone on it when we first arrived but not to worry. We went to the Botanical Gardens, Barron Gorge National Park and an outback Opal Mine to name some of the areas we went to.

We left Cairns yesterday and drove to Cowley Beach which had been recommended to us by another camper. It was only 100kms from Cairns and by the time we got there it was blowing a gale and raining - not very pleasant. We booked in for 1 night but would stay longer if the weather improved. We played scrabble and drank, of course which meant we forgot to get dinner!! The showers were set up like stables so you could see the tops of peoples heads when they were showering.

Next morning the weather was just the same so I decided to move on. Linda wanted to stay so we are no longer travelling together. Hopefully we will catch up again down the track as I really have enjoyed the company. I'm now at a free camp which is about 45kms north of Townsville. It is near a beach and it is still windy but not raining.