In our usual spontaneous way, we bought a campervan last week.  We hadn’t planned to buy a campervan but I said wouldn’t it be good if we could just go away whenever we fancied it and wouldn’t it be nice if we could meet up friends and go camping in off-the-beaten-track type places and wouldn’t it be nice if we could go to music festivals and camp overnight?  Andy got on the tinterweb and researched a few that we could afford.  We went to see a Toyota Hiace 1987 up in Woodford, a shabby-looking thing that they apparently.  wanted $12000 for.  It looked like it was probably not going to be a go but he persevered and suddenly found one in Cairns, an ex-charter with a gozillion miles on the clock but with a re-built engine, really tidy and, more importantly, affordable.  A few days later we flew to Cairns and had a very enjoyable week bringing it back home.

 

 

Cairns’ lovely lagoon pool lit up at night.

 

 

 

We drove through the Atherton Tablelands stopping at a couple of the many waterfalls and took a walk through the Budaadji Canopy Walk which is the tropical rainforest. I could have taken a hundred photos of the sun streaming through all those amazing leaves on exotic plants. The waterfall is Millaa Millaa Falls, a bit dry at the moment as there’s been no rain lately.

 

 

Next stop Mission Beach. I think I could live here! Lovely beaches and a bit hippy!

 

 

 

View from the terrace of the Whitsunday’s Sailing Club in Airlie Beach.

Sandy from Grotty Yachty put a photo of this on her FB the other day and I was very pleased to meet her here for a quick beer.  Could look at that view all day long.  Unfortunately it was schoolies week and we were soon forced to leave when the music started just below us!

 

We didn’t stay at Bowen but had to stop and take this photo of the Giant Bowen Mango to add to my collection.

Our last and best stop was at Turkey Beach to see Del and Gary, cruiser friends from our big trip in 2009 and again in the Mediterranean in 2014.  Lovely couple of days non-stop talking, eating and drinking.  What more could you ask for?

 

I think we’re going to like this camping stuff.