avelog

I’ve done it again: taken so long between posts that I must break my story up into sections, or fear the wrath of an audience bored to the brink of death by my aimless ramblings. Therefore, look below to the previous post for the final story of New Zealand, since this post will busy itself with novel news of Australia.

Arriving in the early evening to low petrol prices (only $1.30!) and balmy temperatures, we set all of our stuff down at Liz’s grandparents’ house, to enjoy a couple of days of rest and relaxation on the ever sunny Gold Coast. Temperatures had by now dropped to highs of around 22 degrees: as icy as the depths of winter, I’m told!

On the 26^th of May, we flew up to the Cairns in the tropical north, where tourist season is just getting started. Staying the night at a hostel in town (a room, having abandoned the tent on the Gold Coast), we got up in the morning and picked up our home for the next 35 days: a Toyota Hi-Ace campervan from Backpacker Campervans. Slightly narrower and shorter than a full-size North American Van, it packs a fridge, microwave (requiring outside power), cupboards (complete with dishes, pots, pans, and a French press coffee maker, and a big table with two long benches that altogether transform into a double bed. With its somewhat ugly high top, it has headroom enough to stand up, and a small transformation could theoretically supply a little loft in which a third vagrant could sleep.

We set off to explore Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park, with all its sociable crocodiles and cassowaries. Having left Cairns late in the day, we were ill-prepared for our first night of free-parking-wherever-we-please-and-to-heck-with-the-law, which resulted in a nervous midnight stay on the side of a little street in a new, rich development in the little town of Mossman. The problem with our campervan is that it sticks out like a big white-and-orange sore thumb, of which the local residents must have been somewhat suspicious upon waking to a beautiful Saturday morning. Happy and relieved that nothing ill had befallen us during our first night in the van, we cut back half an hour to visit the market at Port Douglas, eat breakfast by the beach, and lie on the sand for an hour. We then headed up, across the Daintree River on a little cable ferry, towards Cape Tribulation, and into the most remote and unpopulated part of the East Coast. In defiance of the warning signs placed every few kilometers, not one cassowary deigned to cross our path and chance being hit. These ostrich-sized birds are apparently pretty dangerous if you’re on foot, and if you see one, you’re instructed to back away slowly for fear of being clawed to death.

After the anxiety of the previous night’s stay, we chose to park (legitimately) in a real (and very cheap) campground at Noah Beach, run by the state’s wildlife and parks service. We spent plenty of time that day and the next sunning ourselves on the beach, with only brief intermissions to explore the local flora and fauna; unfortunately (or fortunately), no crocodiles or cassowaries to be spotted, but a big Lace Monitor and a few wild turkeys came out to play.

Cape Tribulation

Having recovered somewhat from the stress of our first night of free-parking, we came to rest for the night in the fairly isolated gravel lot beside the pristine beach at Cow Bay, and spent the evening walking on the beach and making a leisurely meal. The next morning, we set off south again, crossing back over the ferry and driving down to the long, lovely, sunny, and sandy Ellis Beach, just north of Cairns, at which we’ve spent the better part of two days, leaving only to spend the night at a cheap caravan park in the nearby-but-far-more-touristy Palm Cove. Our campervan has been parked right beside the beach, and we’ve alternated between beach sunshine, ocean frolicking, and contemplative relaxation in the campervan, with the door open and the rhythms of the ocean constant and soothing in the background. We chose to bring Liz’s laptop on this part of our Australian adventure, and I’m therefore typing this as I sit next to the beach, looking up to the ocean for inspiration when I’m at a loss for words. I think we’re adjusting well to this whole vagrant-campervan-Australian-beach-bum thing that’s so popular over here. To be complete though, we’d need to have bought a hippy styled van, and brought along a good supply of pot. There aren’t many times in my brief history that could hope to rival this moment for relaxation.

Cow Bay in the morning

A break from the sun at Ellis Beach

We’ve now made our way back down to Cairns, and will pause for supplies, perhaps parking illicitly along the road, before continuing south on our 3500km journey to Adelaide (June 30^th). Hopefully we get lots and lots of beach weather in Queensland before we hit colder winter temperatures in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Plans after Adelaide are a bit murky at this point as the financing has yet to be pondered. I continue, intermittently, to try to sort out my life-after-Australia, but things on that front aren’t progressing all that quickly, perhaps owing in part to the intensity of relaxation.