Campervan Road Trip!

We survived our first campervan road trip!  What an awesome adventure.  At first, I couldn’t believe our luck when we were given the Run DMC Wicked campervan. But, we definitely felt silly when the Run DMC novelty wore off and realized quickly that our campervan was not the best smelling vehicle on the road.  We only picked up only 2 FM radio stations, packed zero CD’s, and did not have cell phone reception most of the time.  So windows down and music NOT up, we headed west to the Atherton Tablelands.

It’s tricky, it’s tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky, here we go!

The Tablelands are filled with farms and lots of places to stop and sample.   Food tour!  First stop was Jaques Coffee Plantation.  Jaques grew up on a coffee plantation in Tanzania and he and his wife relocated to Australia due to political instability with only $2000 to their name in the 1980's.  After years of financial struggles and difficulties, Jaques and his 25,000 coffee trees prevailed producing award winning roasts.  The plantation has a very interesting history especially if you're like me and love coffee.  If you're interested, here's a link to read more online. http://www.jaquescoffee.com.au/plantation/  We ordered iced coffee at Jaques' and were surprised when given a coffee milkshake.  It was a cold creamy coffee with a scoop of ice cream plopped on top with cream and a chocolate covered espresso bean.  This was not your standard Starbucks grande iced coffee with milk people!

Jaques' coffee plantation

The Bean Machine

Orange tree on the plantation

Awesome flower bush

Next stop, the Peanut Place.  Time to go nuts. 

Tourist shot

Sweet, savory, hot, cold, or just plain old peanuts ...

The day was slipping away, so it was time to set up camp at Lake Tinaroo.  I'm not going to lie, I am not the most seasoned camper, so this activity made me pretty uncomfortable. Every time I've gone camping (maybe twice), the boys of the group have taken care of all the details.  We pulled up to the lake and set up shop for the night.  

Lake Tinaroo 

Don't worry, we forgot the flashlight but not the beverages.

Camping was, well... interesting.  It got dark so fast and we really had no supplies to make a fire.  Four hours, lots of eucalyptus branches, and about 100 matches later, we got our fire going.  Now if a TV show was recording our trip, this camping episode would be most watched.  It was dark and creepy and at one point we were both standing on stumps with a fire poker shoveling rocks at a very friendly possum.  It had no fear and kept coming closer and closer all night just to keep us on our toes.  

I'm sure you are wondering about the luxury sleeping accommodations in our home on wheels.  It was smelly, hot, and just plain uncomfortable.  My feet were touching the seat up front, I woke up almost every hour, and we kept thinking irrational thoughts.  What if the possum gets in the window? What if the campervan rolls into the lake?  What if an alligator attacks me when I go to the bathroom?  At 3 in the morning, I just couldn't take it anymore and decided to sleep in shot gun up front to be on the look out.  

Lake at night

I am embarrassed to admit what happened next. We are such girls.  Instead of driving on to the next location, we drove back to Cairns to shower.  Yes, we drove back home to shower before we went camping again.  Second best shower of my life.  First best was after shoveling manure on that farm.  Second best following my night in a sweat box.

Clean, happy, and driving on the wrong side of the road!

I got over my fear of driving and figured out how to navigate Australia's highways.  The drive was breathtaking as we went north on Cook highway.  

If you go to Australia, please promise me to take the time to drive the Queensland coast.  

Daintree Rainforest was unbelievable to see. The air in the rainforest is 99% pure air and just smells clean.  In 2 hectometers of the rainforest, there are more tree species than all of North America or Europe.  And where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef is the ONLY place in the world where 2 World Heritage spots meet – Rainforest to Reef.

Rainforest canopy

Rainforest walk

We got an amazing recommendation to camp at Cape Tribulation on the beach.  If you go to Cape Tribulation, check out this place.   www.capetribcamping.com.au.  The site was clean and welcoming, there was a camp fire going when we arrived, and it was just a short walk through the rainforest to get  to Coconut Beach.  What a spectacular sight.  Forest up to the ocean, undeveloped, huge, beautiful beach.  There are not too many days that I actually feel like I am all the way around the world in Australia, but here it really hit me that I am in an amazing country far, far away.  Random/sad fact: They don't make s'mores in Australia.  How can you have a camp fire without s'mores?

Happy Hour at Coconut Beach

Tarzan swing!

Found my Aussie hammock spot :)

Coconut Beach and Cape Tribulation

Night 2 in the campervan was much better.  I don't know if it was the ocean air or pure exhaustion, but I made it through.  For some reason, I was wide awake at 5 AM.  Perfect timing to catch the sunrise.

Sunrise Coconut Beach

Sunrise Cape Tribulation

Cape Tribulation is the point where the sealed road stops and a four-wheel drive unsealed road begins heading north to Cooktown.  The road is often closed in the wet season due to flooding.  We did take Run DMC on the unsealed road for a few minutes before we realized something was not quite right and turned around.  Most of the land north of Cape Tribulation belongs to the Aboriginal people.

Coconut Beach

Rainforest to Reef

Time to head back to Cairns, but not before meeting Miss Doris!  You just never know what you are going to see in Australia.  We stopped for a coffee at a cafe and the barista asked if we wanted to watch them feed a crocodile.  Of course we do!

Doris!

I don't think I am going swimming for awhile.

Final stop: Mossman Gorge.   

Mossman River

After this road trip, I am ready to take Australia on and to keep driving all the way through this country.  The landscapes here are so dramatic and beautiful.  It's hard to put into words and pictures the beauty of Queensland.  I hope it stays that way for generations so that everyone can experience it.