5th July 2026: pending
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2nd July 2026: got up early to take our caravan to Cairns AutoElectrical and then we headed back to Kewarra Beach! We managed to wash all our sheets and towels and get them dried on the line. We had lunch with Col & Mo- a delightful experience on their verandah! We had time for a walk along the beach, and on the way back looked in the back gardens of all the MacMansions, but saw nothing as nice as Col & Mo’s, whose house is totally dwarfed by its neighbours in terms of footprint! Then it was time to pick up the caravan. They repaired a fault in the Automatic Braking System -a severed wire, but we were left with a half green have amber warning light- - a sign that there was still a fault with the brakes requiring the wheels to be removed to inspect the brake drums. Brett, the owner of the business, took a special interest in our van! He offered to replace all 4 shock absorbers plus fully service the van as well as fix the brake fault the next day!! We accepted this of...
Cape York Trip
1st July 2026: got up early to take the caravan to Northern Wheel alignment for wheel aligning! We dropped it off in an awkwardly narrow street in a premises with the narrowest of drives and fortunately the technician offered to back it for us. We then headed to COFFii nearby for great coffee and toasties. I then posted Julia and Frances’ birthday presents from the Cairns Post office and bought some barramundi and yellowfin tuna from Seafood Express in Sheridan St. my old apartment is still there somewhat tarted up! We returned to Kewarra for lunch and then picked up the van late in the afternoon, where we were told we had a leaky shock absorber and Eric recommended Cairns Autoelectrical in Stratford. We headed straight there at 4 pm and saw Sam, the boss Brett’s wife who was extremely knowledgeable and booked us in the next morning based on the Nic’s research probe findings( VeePeak OnBoardDiagnostic scanner)! We headed back to Kewarra and I cooked Barramundi( over and rice and s...
30th June 2026. Nic started the day under the caravan doing an electronic test where he inserted a diagnostic probe that came with the caravan into somewhere he found lying on his back in the wet grass lying on our sun visor! Amazingly it came up with the diagnosis on Nic’s phone of a severed right brake cable! Another thing to be attended to in Cairns! Meanwhile we got an appointment with Northern wheel alignment for first thing Wednesday. We left Cape Tribulation in the rain and drove over the Desailley range being careful to take things easily re brake situation! It is such a beautiful drive along the coast! We drove through Mossman and stopped at Port Douglas, looking for a coffee- a great deal of development since our last visit, and full of beautiful mainly young people wearing resort wear! We stood out a little in our camping gear, walking boots and aged state! We could not find a coffee! Just lots of bars and licensed restaurants with outside eating along the street! ...
29th June2026: Yet more rain overnight and in the morning! Nic tried to look under the caravan and is concerned that one brake cable might be severed. We will try to sort it out in Cairns. We set out to do a couple of walks in the National Park. Along the way we saw 2 cassowaries on the road! The first one was a board walk called the Madja walk where mangrove ecosystem meets rainforest ecosystem! It was truly amazing! So much biodiversity amongst the ferns and tree ferns and palms! However, the mangrove ecosystem had a real primordial feel! Several different types of mangroves with different patterns of root systems, and different types of pneumatopores were on display. We saw brightly coloured Fidler crabs and mudskippers amongst their roots. Next we decided to do the Jindalba loop walk instead of an easier board walk! This took us along a very muddy path with tree roots constantly crisscrossing in front of us on the narrow path, plus a number of fallen trees which ne...