Cairns–29 August to 6 September 2011

We like Cairns as it has a lovely caravan park and nice Restaurants.

As the service town for Far North Queensland it has good tradesmen close together making it a good place to clean up after a long trip.

We had the car, the air conditioner and refrigerators serviced and had an extra diesel filter put in the fuel line.  John also fitted integrated “Clear View” towing mirrors.

We found a truck wash so John could do a first clean of the exterior of the caravan before giving it a thorough hand clean to get the red dust off. 

Tricia washed the curtains and spring cleaned the inside of the van.
We spent a day driving the remaining portion of the Bloomfield Track from Cairns to Cape Tribulation. This section is bitumen and so quite an easy drive, although you can see its dirt road antecedents and it is very narrow. Still we saw a Winnebago towing a car come down so it is suitable for large vans.

Port Douglas is one of the Ports established during the Palmer Gold Rushes, now an attractive and sophisticated tourist destination.

We visited their local market and had lunch before crossing the Daintree River on the ferry.

The Daintree and its environs was settled by hippies during the sixties and seventies and is now very appealing with a mix of conservation, sustainable farming and eco lodges to stay in. There are a large number of places to camp. 

We completed the drive up to Cape Tribulation and so closed the loop.