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6th July 2026: Left Forrest Beach after a brief look at the beach for me, a site for green turtle nesting. We left via backroads through cane fields until we eventually rejoined the Bruce Highway. Driving was quite stressful for Nic because the Bruce was single lanes albeit with overtaking lanes at intervals. This didn’t stop many vehicles trying to overtake us anyway.! We circumnavigated Townsville and refueled at Bowen. We then headed for Shute Harbour and Airlie Beach unrecognisable from the tiny places they were in 1975 when I was last here! The development has been extraordinary, but not unexpected for such a beautiful place. There were just so many boats in the harbour and at the Marina! We ended up at the Tasman Caravan park, surrounded by bush stone curlews. We shopped locally and ate at the Pub. Tomorrow we head for Cape Palmerston.
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 5th July 2026: Left Col and Mo’s about 10am after washing sheets and towels etc and tidying up,  and  a delicious breakfast of fruit. We drove past Walsh pyramid, looking like a volcano. We drove through lots of rainforest and drove through Innisfail and Tully. We stopped at Cardwell for lunch as recommended by Mo at the Seaview Deli Cafe for crab sandwiches- the most expensive sandwiches we have ever had, but with 250gm of crabmeat they were delicious! We continued on down the one laned Bruce Highway. We heard one impatient driver say something derogatory about our caravan. He then said “ I bet they’re fucking old!”. Nic agreed that we were indeed “fucking old” to which he replied “and no fucking brains!”. We laughed a lot at our first and only case of road abuse! We stopped at the wonderful Hinchinbrook lookout with magnificent views to Hinchinbrook Is and surrounding waterways from a high vantage point(126meters) We rolled into Forrest Beach via backroads with high su...
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 4th July 2026: pending
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 3rd July2026: Once again we got up early to take our caravan and the Prado to Cairo Autoelectrical! Mo kindly picked us up and drove us to Rusty’s Bazaar, where we bought bread, avocados, red pawpaws and Manchego cheese, and I bought a dress from an Indonesian woman, trying it on in a tiny cubbyhole with a hanging shirt for a curtain.!. Mo drove us back past the mudflats and the new hospital built onto the old. We headed back to Kewarra for lunch on the verandah. Nic and I went for a stroll along the beach, patterned by Fiddlers crabs.I saw a spangled drongo. We were then summonsed to pick up our van and car and Col kindly took us back into Stratford. Amazingly, albeit at the cost of $3000, most of our problems have been solved! There turned out to be a very difficult to locate break in the brake cable up right near the water tank which was repaired. They replaced all 4 shock absorbers, but explained that instead of the bolts being inserted into 4 round holes, these holes were now...
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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...
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Cape York Trip

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 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...
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 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! ...
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