smo’c-touring

  The weather on the Cassowary Coast, where we were situated, continued to be much wetter than most "dry" seasons, but that did not stop us enjoying ourselves. We left Bramston Beach on Monday, 6th July for the short trip north, reaching the outskirts of Cairns, and rapidly increasing traffic, in no time, making our way on the western city bypass to Trinity Beach, north of Cairns, where Martin's brother, James, lives. It was great to catch up with him and check out his lovely holiday apartment not too far off the beach. We enjoyed dinner at the local tavern and a night in his apartment while our caravan was parked in the street. On Tuesday morning, the heavens opened as we farewelled James and turned north onto the Captain Cook Highway. A cyclone at the end of 2023 had temporarily closed the road, which runs between the mountainous rainforest and the sea - a narrow, winding stretch of bitumen where land slips, rock slides and surface subsidence are common. Repairs and rei...

It’s been three weeks since we drove away from Paradise Point and pointed the Pajero west, and one week since we completed our westerly travels and started heading north…now, here we are, a few thousand kilometres driven along outback country roads and going back towards the sea! On Wednesday 24th June we left the lovely Pyramid Campground at Porcupine Gorge, rejoined the Flinders Highway and followed it through Prairie, Torrens Creek and Pentland. We stopped briefly at Charters Towers for fuel and lunch, then continued on for very few kilometres to the Burdekin River, where there is a nice, free camp between the river, the railway bridge and the highway. Judging by number of vans there already, plus those who came in after us, it’s a popular and well known spot!  After a quiet night, we were off again by 9am on Thursday for the 100km drive to Townsville, where we got some shopping on the way through then headed to the Black River Over 50s caravan park - we fitted right in ;-) Acco...