Days 23 - 29

We left Seaforth after spending 4 glorious days there – it was the longest we had spent so far on our trip in any one place and we felt that we had really made progress with the whole camping thing. Over the days we stayed there, we set our camper trailer up exactly the way we wanted it, cooked some gourmet meals (even if I do say so myself!), ran the fridge off the solar panel for the entire time and conquered the art of filtering vast amounts of WVO (180 litres in total – thank you Seaforth and Mackay!). We left, after managing to squeeze in one last sunrise and breakfast on the beach, feeling annoyed that we had to pack up and start again in the next place. It also didn’t help our moods that the camp next door was also packing up to move on. They sat there and watched us slaving away as they had breakfast and read. About half way into our packing up, they got up and announced that they too had to pack and with a couple of pulls and folding of tarps, their camper trailer was nicely folded away whilst we were nowhere near ready! They really did have a “Rolls Royce” of a camper trailer, which included a side annex for the shower!! Seaforth was our favourite camp spot so far on the trip and we thought we would be hard pushed to find another spot so tranquil.

We headed north, passing the Big Mango at Bowen!, to a camp spot in a national park called Bowling Green Bay NP, about 20kms south of Townsville. You can really tell now that we are in the tropics as the heat has really increased. The humidity gauge on one camper trailer read 91 percent and this is in the winter!! We stayed at Alligator Creek for two nights where we camped next to the creek and watched tiny freshwater turtles play. It was a little magnet for wildlife as on the grass behind our camp, we had wallabies, potoroos and bush turkeys. It was a pleasant spot for the two nights we stayed there but we didn’t manage to find any WVO for us in Townsville (for some reason, this always makes us not like a place as much – I think I am becoming far too keen on WVO!). It was the same old story with people already taking it the day before or takeaways having a contract with someone who pays them for the WVO. We also found a few takeaways who cook with animal fat rather than oil, which we are not using due to the fact that the animal fat would have to be heated first before it can be filtered.

We moved on further North towards Cairns and at the last moment, we decided to change our plans and headed inland to the Atherton Tableland region. We are so glad that we did as the region was absolutely stunning. The track inland wound its way right up to the top of a mountain and then the road opened out into dense forest on the one side and rolling countryside on the other. We headed into the forest and came to Lake Tinaroo, where we camped right on the lakeside. The views from our camper trailer were incredible. We spent 3 days simply relaxing, fishing and reading – again, another stunning camp spot and due to the fact that each camp spot had their own camp fire area (a very important commodity when rating camp spots!), probably nicer than Seaforth.

We are now in Cairns after travelling 4,726 kms in the Battered Fish! We will be here for a few days filling up with WVO and preparing ourselves for the journey we have ahead of us – Cape York. We have heard so many people talking about Cape York, some rate it as the best trip they have ever done in Australia, whilst others seem unfazed by it. For us, it will be a huge test of both our driving skills and the reliability of the car and the camper trailer as the roads are largely dirt tracks with hundreds of Creek crossings (for an example of a crossing, do a Google search of Gunshot Creek!). It is also the habitat of the dreaded saltwater crocodile, or "salties" as they call them here. Some advice we have received regarding creek crossings is always check the depth of the creek crossing before entering it – my thoughts are how are you to test the depth of the creek crossings with salties in them? Their reply to this is not all the crossings have crocs in them as some are freshwater. Again, apart from getting out of the car and tasting the water which will put you within pouncing distance of the croc (I’ve watched that scene in Croc Dundee!), how are you to know which ones are safe??!! Any volunteers want to come with us as our creek tester!! I am sure it will be fine and we have just built the area up into something it is not. We are not sure of how much reception we shall have in this region as it is pretty remote but hope to blog the next time at the Northern most point of Australia, the Tip, in 3 weeks time.

Regarding the Battered Fish herself, she is running like a dream and loves the WVO! The Barnacle is also behaving herself and we have not had any breakages/losses to report on this week. We have updated the blog with a running list of all items that have broken or we have lost throughout the trip. Some are being replaced as we go along whilst others have not been so lucky.

I have had a few emails from people enquiring about how we are getting on camping. The answer is we are slowly getting used to it. Sometimes it is very annoying that you cannot have a hot shower when you want one (the shower that we have is a solar shower which takes 3 – 6 hours to heat up) or just load up the washing machine with clothes (we are using a bucket with a lid that you fill up before you drive to your next destination and the vibration of the driving acts like a washing machine!) or use a dishwasher (I have Gerard!) but in a way, it is very liberating not having these things as you really do get back to nature. Some of the campsites have basic facilities such as cold showers and toilets but the last time I used the toilet, I flushed the chain and a frog appeared – I am not sure who was the more surprised
!!

Anyway, we hope you are all well and thank you for all your comments on the blog and emails. I have added a few photos of some of the sunrises and sunsets we experienced, the reflections of the trees in Alligator Creek, some of the wallabies we saw at Alligator Creek, our set up of the camper trailer at Lake Tinaroo and our view of Lake Tinaroo from our camper.

Until the Tip…..

Take care,

Rach and Ged x