Part VI "Townsville - Mission Beach – Cairns – Cape Tribulation – Port Douglas - Cairns - Singapore"

17/10 – It’s morning and we are all packing up our stuff. The “Azlie Cove” crew is actually leaving the camp kitchen. 

The Airlie Cove camp kitchen crew: Alicia, Valerie, Marjon, Wendy, me, Pauline, Lukas, Frank and Kristof

Marjon + Pauline and Lukas, Valeria +Alicia are heading south, we obviously north. After long good byes we're finally leaving Airlie Beach and head towards Townsville.

On the road...

Prob the most relaxed job in the world!

We arrive in the afternoon, do some grocery shopping and visit Castle Hill - about the only thing to do in Townsville. Next morning we make our way to Saunders Beach. 

Saunders Beach

According to Wendy and Frank, the very nice Dutch couple, we can camp there for free and it's directly on the beach. It's a nice spot, but we arrive early and the weather is not really "beach day" weather, so we decide to skip the free night at Saunders and make our way to Mission Beach. Everybody we met on our way so far had been to Mission Beach, so a must on our list. We arrive and everything is surprisingly quiet. The information center tells us if anything is going on it will be in "Bali Hai", a cheap camping ground. In total I think there are 5 cars staying for the night. It’s raining, we’re missing the others, there is nothing going on. Great! Haha, sounds horrible. It really wasn’t! It was actually a nice spot. So after a walk along the beach and reading my book I fall asleep. On Tuesday we start early and head towards Cairns. On our way we make an inland detour so visit a few waterfalls. Not just any waterfalls, no! We’re going to see the “Millaa Millaa” Falls which is where Peter Andre’s very very only kind of half-famous song “Mysterious Girl” was shot. I guess one can argue if that has any importance to the Australian history, but hey – 90’s baby!!! You know what I mean!!! On the way there I’m thinking about popping in to a drug store to get a bottle of Herbal Essence Shampoo to shoot my own commercial. I mean, now that the location is provided… Not quite sure what it is, but maybe my inner conscious does prevent myself from doing that. Something I would quickly regret as when visiting the first waterfall “Elinnjaa Falls”, there is a naked mid 20s South American guy who is just jumping in the water – that could have been my co-actor! Anyway, that’s life… 2^nd waterfall is “Zillie Falls” and 3rd on our list are the “Millaa Millaa Falls”. We show up, no Peter Andre – disappointing. But the waterfall is beautiful so I guess that will have to do. 

Millaa Millaa Falls

Now we’re making our way to Cairns. When Lukas, Valerie and Alicia were in Cairns, they spent most of their nights in the Wool Shed – a bar in Cairns where the backpackers from the hostels get a free dinner, and there is a free shuttle from our caravan park. 10 Dollar entry, including 5 drinks for free – sweet deal. It quickly becomes clear that the Germans really are EVERYWHERE. The place is packed with Germans and Dutch. Man, we really have to be careful what we are saying. It’s a big night out with lots of fun! Slightly hung-over we’re driving north the next morning towards Cape Tribulation. “Cape Trib” as it’s called by most of the people is the most northern point of the East Coast that you can reach with a car without having a 4 WD. It’s a very nice scenic drive with amazing views and even a little cable ferry ride over a river. 

Cape Tribulation

On the way back we stop in Port Douglas where we are planning to stay a few nights to hang out by the beach. In the evening it starts raining, no point in even trying to sleep in the tent. Next morning, it’s still raining. Surprise! So change of plans, back to Cairns. At least Cairns has shopping malls, where we can escape the rain. Tonight Max will arrive in Cairns as well. So at night we take the shuttle to the Wool Shed and meet up with him. Thursday Night – it’s Ladies Night. Sounds promising – at least for me. Guys in boxer shorts handing out glasses of cheap champagne – sweet! And around midnight the presenter manages to find 3 guys who are drunk enough to take off their clothes. 

# I want no short dick man...

Embarrassing? “Ach nicht doch”… The dance includes 3 stages. Shirt off, Jeans off and splashing water at them. At stage 2 it turns out there actually is a plan behind this little performance – the guys are all wearing “Wicked” boxer shorts. While the guys are doing their best at stage 3 and water is poured all over them, “I want no short dick man” is banging out if the speakers – how very fitting. Well, in their defense, they could always argue the water was cold… In the end one of the guys wins a 500 dollar Wicked voucher – good for him…

And there I always was, thinking Ladies Nights should always include a little treat for the Ladies. Well, I might have been mistaken... It’s still a fun night with lots of dancing. At one point I feel like I’m in a pub in London. “Chelsea Dagger”, “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Living on a Prayer” only topped by “I’m gonna be (500 miles)”. Tables and benches around - well, you can imagine what happened next…

That we are completely drenched when we arrive back at the van in the middle of the night is obviously not new for us. It’s just water right? Yes, and lots of it!

It’s the 22/10 and I have decided to rebook my flight to Singapore to a week earlier. Because of the bad weather that we had on our way up north we had to skip a few things, so we arrived in Cairns a week too early. Cairns is a nice place – and not a “Wichsloch”… but not interesting enough to stick around for another week. So new departure date is now the 27/10, which leaves me with 5 more days down under. Max is coming to our camp site and cooks Swedish “koedboller” with brown sauce in the evening! Yummi! Of course we are very excited! And the night gets even better when all of a sudden Wendy and Frank show up at the camp kitchen!! Awesome! Happy hellos are being said and lots of hugging is going on. We catch up on what they and we have been doing the last days and make plans for the next days. 
On Saturday Kristof and I head to the Cairns Tropical Zoo and spend the afternoon there. It’s pretty hot and the Kangaroos are chilling in the sun. My favourite kangaroo is this dude – I look exactly the same when I had a little too much to drink and fall asleep! 

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At night we’re all having dinner together and head out to tow for a few drinks. It’s a fun night.

The Dalton brothers - Max, Kristof and Frank

On Sunday, Wendy, Frank, Kristof and I take the Historic Scenic Railway up to Kuranda. It’s takes 1 hour and 45 minutes, and it’s totally worth it. The scenery is amazing. We spend a few hours in the little mountain village and head back with the train in the afternoon. For lunch we go to the German "Wursthouse" - yummy German sausages on the other side of the world - nothing is impossible..

 

That night it’s Frank’s turn to prepare dinner. On the menu: Pancakes – sweet and savory. Pancake with bacon and cheese – never had them before but I can tell you that’s a killer!! Soooooo good! Unfortunately I’m not feeling very well, as have been running around with a sore throat for a few days now. As Max and I are going snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef the next day, I head to bed early and hope that I will feel better tomorrow. Still a bit weak the next morning, Kristof drives Max and me to the wharf. We board the boat and off we go. The weather is beautiful and it seems like it will be a very nice day! It takes us about 2 hours to get out to our first snorkeling spot, and it’s definitely worth it. What an experience!

After a quick lunch we head to the second snorkeling spot. Just as beautiful as the first one. After 20 minutes in the water I get sting by a stinger though, which is not only burning but mainly annoying. I swim back to the boat and the crew puts some vinegar on my leg, arm and face. It takes about 20 minutes and I’m fine again. Obviously I have been stung in the Baltic sea a hundred times and it’s not a big drama, but annoying that I missed out on the last 30 minutes of snorkeling L Anyway, it is still a great trip and I’m very happy to have done it. At night we’re all having a massive BBQ. So it’s Wendy, Frank, Emma and Alex, a British couple we met a few days earlier, Kristof and me. Kristof is the cook for the night – and he is doing quite a good job.
I’m very excited about tomorrow as we’re going to do a reef flight! Next morning we arrive at the General Aviation center and meet our captain – a Danish guy who is massively relaxed. “How old is the plane?” another passenger is asking and our Captain replies in finest Danish-English “It’s from the 70’s, but don’t worry, it’s a very good machine”. We’re 5 passengers on the plane in total, and it’s no surprise to find out that the others are all German. The flight takes 45 minutes. The view is breathtaking!! 

Cairns

Green Island

It’s my last day, so I’m busy packing my stuff and get everything sorted. At night, we head to the “Wool Shed” – a proper last night out in down under!! 

That morning I get up, slightly hung-over and Kristof drives me to the airport before he picks up Max from his hostel and the two of them head south to Byron Bay to find some work there. 

My 6 weeks in Australia are over!! I have seen so many things and met so many sweet and interesting people. I’m incredibly happy that I decided to do this trip. A once in a lifetime experience. What a trip! I arrived in Singapore last night and was surprised by my brother who picked me up from the airport! It's good to be back!!

See you all in a few days, weeks or months!

Thinking of you. Jannepige