Sunday 12 May 2013

10 May 2013 – Weipa back to Cairns (and back to our caravan)



It was an extremely long trek today!!  Up early, breakfast eaten and car packed – 8am and we are out of here and on our way “home”.  Not far down the road we heard about there being an eclipse this morning and as we looked out the window we actually saw it… but not for long.  We had our sunglasses on but it still wasn’t pleasant for our eyes.  Sorry – although we saw this we have no photos to prove it!  Josh had the pedal to the metal and was gunning it but the road was just too good not to.  Majority of the way he was doing at least 90-100km/hour but often much faster.  He did however slow down to cross most of the waterways and creeks.  Our only stops today were at Archer River Roadhouse for some chips and a great hamburger for Josh, a quick stop at the Quarantine station while they checked our bananas and finally about 20kms north of Laura we stopped to check on some Japanese tourists who waved us down.  It was bad news, a rock had put a hole in the auto sump and there was no way it could be fixed, especially on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.  Seeing as though they could hardly speak a word of English, Josh phoned Budget, their hire company, and told them the problem, sorted everything out so the car could get towed and then offered them a ride to the next town so they were at least near toilets, food and water.  The car was packed to the hilt so I jumped in the back with the girls along with the other lady while the men took the front.  Zoe was sitting on camp oven, school work and about 8 towels in the middle seat while Sami and I shared a seatbelt – very cosy indeed but we got the tourists there and moved back to our comfy seating arrangement.  Back on the road and by this time it was around 3pm.  We arrived back in Port Douglas around 6pm where we pulled into a car wash to give the car a rinse, it looked like a new car once Josh was finished.  A quick scoot from Port Douglas to Cairns and then into McDonalds for a bite for dinner, we arrived back in the caravan park after 7.30pm – so nearly 12 hours in the car.  We had finally made it back to Redlynch / Crystal Cascades where our van had been stored and had to do a quick shuffle and set-up so we could sleep for the night.  It was absolute bliss to be back in the van and back into a comfy bed and air-conditioning for a great night’s sleep!

































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