Another change-over of mandarin variety in the packing shed left us with 10 free days on our hands. Now to some this would sound very appealing but to us it meant a lack of weekly income teamed with the decision of what to do!! After some deliberation we decided to head off to Hervey Bay where a few of our friends were spending the night after their trip to Fraser Island. We reunited over a few drinks at an Irish pub that evening before turning in for the night parked alongside the beach. The next morning we all decided to make the (very) long drive up the east coast to Airlie Beach where we could meet up with four of our fellow Lynbrook-packers.
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| Airlie Beach |
The drive took roughly 9 hours, and once we arrived in Airlie Beach we were ready for a drink or two! After checking into a hostel we met up with everyone at one of the local backpacker bars where the drinks offers – spirits for $3 – were too good to miss! I believe our first round consisted of three glasses of Vodka, Lime and lemonades and another three vodka sunrises: We were two thirsty ladies! Needless to say that the following day was spent sitting next to the lagoon, feet dangling in the water trying to soak up some rays, nothing too taxing! Airlie Beach itself is backpacker central acting as a gateway to the beautiful Whitsunday region and the Great Barrier Reef. The weather certainly didn’t disappoint with sun beaming down on us. Finally we had the chance to wear the summer clothes that have been piled below our few items of clothing suitable for Gayndah climate. Having made it this far up the coastline we decided it would be silly not to drive another 8 or so hours to reach Cairns, thus leaving us with more time post-Gayndah to spend travelling into the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This plan had to be brought forward a few days when an early morning phone call from our boss at work informed us that we had to be ready to pack 3 days earlier than originally told. We left first thing the next morning and seemed to make it to Cairns in what seemed like no time.
Our four friends from our shed joined us there later in the evening owing to the difference in transport – their campervan was no match to our Brucie!!
We managed to find a parking place on the seafront in Cairns, where we assumed we could camp for the night and headed out to explore the town. We popped into the Woolshed, which is a famous backpacker bar. After a few drinks Carla started to feel really uncomfortable and within 15minutes she was covered in bites along the length of her leg. A girl we chatted to also said that the same thing had happened to her; apparently many backpackers find that they are allergic to this pub! We were sitting in our booth, Carla stealthily itching away in the corner when a group of Frenchmen decided to join us. After a few moments chatting one of the men recognised Carla. It turns out that the French people that we replaced in our Gayndah house a few months earlier were now sitting across from us in a bar some 1500km from where we’d met originally! Unfortunately Carla was really uncomfortable by this point so we had to leave and meet up with our fellow Lynbrook packers. We went to Gilligan’s another really famous backpacker haunt and had a few drinks before squeezing three of us in the back of Brucie and sleeping on the seafront.
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| A girl's night out in Cairns |
The next day we had a lovely breakfast on the waterfront and headed further North to the Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas. We had a fabulous day crocodile hunting (no luck), climbing trees, jumping across giant stepping stones in a gorge and generally taking in the gorgeous scenery of tropical Queensland.
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| The new campaign for Benneton?? |
We had a lovely curry in the night with everyone before having a brilliant night out on the town in the city. We danced the night away…on tables before taking on some light exercise in the street gyms that generally adorn sea-fronts Australia-wide (see pic below!).
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| Who says you can't work out at 3am! |
The next day was spent lazily shopping with a cheeky visit to the cinema to see ‘Bridesmaids’ which meant that we made the most Cairns had to offer on an otherwise dismal and damp tropical day.
Our trip was over far too soon, and the next day we set off towards the south again to try and make good head-way on our journey home to Gayndah. We had a lovely lunch with Mike and Ali, our two Canadian workmates at the Townsville Brewery pub before heading to Clairview to spend the night in the car. Would you believe Brucie had enough space to allow the four of us to get a good night’s sleep! We made such good time the next day that our car beat our friends’ car back to Gayndah by 3 hours!! It was good to have home comforts back but very sad for our mini-holiday to be over!
