We have reached our first milestone of the trip – Port Douglas. 5147km = 3215 miles, or the distance from London to Boston or Doha.
We have met a number of people up here who have had plans to tour lots of Australia, found PD and didn’t leave. Once here it is easy to see why. This really is heaven on earth. It is our 5th trip here since we first arrived in Australia in 1998 and the place has changed hugely over that 11 year period.
It is Victorian school holiday time and not surprisingly there are lots of Vics up here, seeking the sunshine. We have three groups of friends in PD – Sheena, Paul, Noula and Brenda, then the Savarirayan clan (Ravi, Sophie, Jacob, Noah, Priya and Zoe++) plus Davin and Kath Holt and the kids. After so long on our own it was wonderful to see our friends. We also used the time to prepare for the next leg of our journey – lots of red sandy roads. The car was serviced and stocked full of goodies. Nic (grumpy bearess) has rightly decided that if the husband become hungry then we may see more of ‘grumpy bear’ and so has stocked the car to the gunnels with food. So far we have not had to eat witchety grubs and don’t plan to start soon!
And finally it was a chance to have some time out of the car and relax before quite a bit of driving, some of it full on 4WDing.
We have reported on some wonderful wildlife, but the most common sighting is the Laughing Kookaburra. We have not seen too many sitting, “in the old gum tree”, but lots on the electric wire. We have had a local one in the tree over the tent. They are truly magnificent birds and quintessentially Australian.
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