We are back in the area where we used to live. I guess it's nice to see familiar things, but I feel no attachment to anything. I think the biggest challenge we had when we were travelling was the lack of organisation. We had to constantly rebuild our base area from the ground up - setting up tents, chairs, cooking area etc. Which was fine for a little while, but long term, it got old and frustrating. Constantly shifting boxes in order to find food and equipment in other boxes, was a bit much. We almost gave up on the idea of living on the road, but, with everything that was happening, we realised that we just needed to stop and remember why we were doing this, and rethink it all. We had wanted to stay in the house an extra month, but that didn't happen. The caravan was supposed to come in a month ago, but that was delayed. Which meant that our "little holiday in tents" was a bit longer than we had originally intended. Also, there were five of us plus a dog so we're talking a bit of stuff, even though we all travelled light.
So we are back on the Gold Coast. We picked up our small camper, a 2007 Jayco wind-up with a king bed on one end, a queen on the other, dining slide-out, and internal shower & toilet. She is a sweet thing, and such luxury after being in tents! We have a gazebo set up outside for some extra area with our long table, cooking bits and pieces, and some shelves for food etc. It's nice to have some room to spread out a bit. The drawback of this particular place is that we are not allowed to have pets so we can't have Gypsy with us. We are having her boarded nearby so we can see her often though so that is the best compromise for now. This park is across the road from the beach, and it has a couple of swimming pools. Our storage unit is not too far away so we will be working on getting that minimized by selling or donating things. We are enjoying catching up with good friends we have in this area. Our bigger camper has arrived in Australia and is waiting to clear the authorities. We are hoping that won't take too much longer.
Here are just a few photos of our recent adventures.
Barron Gorge, behind Cairns. There is a hydro-electric power plant at the bottom of this which went to. We weren't able to see the actual workings of the plant, but there was an info center with a video about it all which was pretty interesting for the engineer minds of the guys in the family.
We took a trip over the Daintree river and to cross the river, we had to get on a car ferry. As we were waiting for the ferry, we got out of our car and wandered around like most of the other passengers. Sure, there were the typical warnings of the crocodiles in the area (we actually saw crocs in the wild when we crossed another river). But sleeping near the front of this little boat was a deadly brown snake. It's coiled up near the rope and you can't really see it in this pic.
I took a lot of photos that day.
The boys were happy to be on another adventure!
I love the different trees and shapes in the rainforest!
AJ and Cary at Cape Tribulation.
Another beautiful tree, or shell of a tree.
The green water of Mossman Gorge
The boys found an old plane museum in Malanda
And a war museum, which was closed, but they had fun playing on the tank out the front.
We went to the Cairns Tropical Zoo where my step-cousin is the head reptile keeper. We got a special, behind-the-scenes show and got to know some of the critters a little better, like this boa constrictor...a really sweet guy!
I love coconuts!
Rope swings and creeks are all over the place (just beware of crocs!)
Mission beach is still recovering from the cyclone that went through it last summer. We found several coconut palms that had been bent way over, which were fun to climb on.
We all fell in love with the peace and beauty of Mission Beach.
Ahhhhh....
