Author: Colin Spain

We weren’t sure how we would fill in three weeks in Cairns. Our original plan was to get a ticket to Auckland to attend my late brother’s memorial service but because my carer’s (wife Lyn) passport had less than three weeks life left in it, we were unable to attend the service. Since Covid, technology has enabled the freedom of livestream broadcasting of almost anything from birth to funeral (no movie of my birth, long before there was a media to record). The livestream happened without sound for the first 25 minutes. There was sound coming through the piano mic until I managed to find a website to pass the message to include the speakers mic in the livestream. The caravan park manager in Bowen allowed us to watch the livestream without packing up in the middle of the service.

I’m immediately impressed with Cairns. It is clean with lots of space around the town for recreation and cultural interests. The esplanade stretches over 3km with space for walkers, wheeled modes of transport and a space for those who live here and need to get to work without using their cars. The grassed areas are kept mown and free of litter. There is an open area where an appropriate pool has been constructed complete with sandy beach around the edge. When the tide goes out, mudflats are exposed beyond the boardwalk. You can’t change that without major dredging works.

Each day the thousands of daily arrivals find a way to enjoy seeing the Great Barrier Reef by ferry to snorkel or dive. The “rich” take advantage of the helicopter services. Each day, a train takes tourists to the hinterland village of Kuranda or, alternatively, the Skyrail that transports users over the tropical forest.

When we travel, no day is complete without a good ice cream. Our steps are always towards an ice cream shop – somewhere – at around 4:30pm. The waffles looked too good to be left to the shopowner to take home.

Lyn’s first criteria for a good spot for the day is a beach to sit on while reading. The Great Australian Reef prevents the rolling surf that Australia is known for. Almost the entire Queensland coast has very little surf north of the Sunshine Coast.

Being spoilt by friends you haven’t seen for over 55 years is always a good thing. Hilary was at the same boarding school as Lyn in the 1960s and a friend told us to catch up. Hilary became our tour guide for a day.

We had met up with Peter and Carolyn at the Grey Nomads convention in May again and were able to meet up after their tour to Cape York. Of course ice cream is a great way to enjoy the laughter.

Many of our friends are old, of course. Thelma was in Lae, Papua New Guinea when we lived in Port Moresby. Thelma’s husband Kevin used to stay with us in his work. She is 96 now, living alone, and still driving like Jehu. Thelma was our tour guide to the northern beach suburbs of Cairns. Life would be boring if you didn’t take time to reminisce on the exciting life we all have lived.

Visitors to the top end rarely miss taking time in Port Douglas to visit where the rich take holidays. The weekly Sunday market is a busy market of locals selling their crafts and produce. We found some red paw paw and pink pomelo.

Cairns is a prominent town in the World Ironman series. Their race is known in the competition as the “race in paradise”. As with most World Series events, there were many races within a race such as age groups, junior and senior and relay teams. The main Ironman and ironwomen swam 3.9 kilometres in the ocean, road over 180 km along the road to Port Douglas and then did a full 42.2 km marathon along the esplanade that hugs the coast in Cairns. There were over 3,500 competitors from local and overseas. (That maybe why the city looked so pristine and tidy).

The trees in the caravan park where we have stayed, are very interesting casting large areas of shade for the benefit of campers. Our motor home and Suzuki received some love and care and look sparkling with a good polish to look new again (a once a year ritual). Surprise, surprise, we have purchased ukuleles to learn and jam along with others in towns we stay. The first lesson is still to be completed. That may change the face to a happy smile.

Our tour to the top end of Australia commences after breakfast today. We scored a great room on the top floor of a flash beachside hotel.

To those followers who have never been to Australia, let me explain a few Australian terms that are used freely by travellers in this great country. I’m a kiwi (New Zealander) and this is what I’ve learned in Australian culture. My wife is Australian.

Grey Nomad – many retired couples, and singles, buy a motor home, or caravan, and tour from a month a year up to 12 months a year. Some have sold their residence and banked the money.

A lap – around the perimeter of Australia is a national highway. This is driven either clockwise or anticlockwise, so you keep the ocean on the left, or the right as the case may be. We did an anticlockwise lap in 2024 which took us 7 months and 16,000 kilometres. This map gives you an idea which month the weather is good for touring.

The West – Australia has 6 states. The largest state is West Australia known as “the west”. A large portion of the west is desolate but contains valuable minerals like iron, steel, and rare minerals used in devices and batteries for electric cars. This is exported to many countries around the globe and is a major source of income for the country.

Top End – Queensland is a vast state spreading to the north towards the equator. Many grey nomads flock to Queensland to miss the southern winter. The weather from May to October is days of blue skies and warm temperatures but not overly hot. To the far north, we call the area “the top end”. This region is north of Cairns. There are no sealed roads from Cooktown and 4WD is the obvious safest way to travel. That is what we will be doing from June 18-26 this year.

There are many Australian terms which often leave visitors wondering “what are they talking about”. To improve your useable word list, come to Australia for a 6 month “go where you may” tour. The lifestyle and language used is truly enlightening.

We left our home near Melbourne at the end of April heading to an annual Grey Nomads Camp where we met up with many friends we have known or worked with over the years. Lots of experiences are relived each year we go.

Our daughter lives at Grafton, which is an hour or two north from the convention location, We spent a weekend at Brooms Head on the coast together with her and son in law. Paul’s daughter and her boyfriend camped with us. It turned out he is a diesel mechanic – just the sort of patient mechanic we needed to find the fuel leak in the generator. We now have a non leaking working generator after limping along the past 6 years with numerous professionals trying to remedy the problem along the way.

From Brooms Head, we made the days travel to the Gold Coast where we had the motor home serviced to ensure that facilities work freely and well. The motor home has a full length slide out and a hydraulic levelling system. Both need regular checks.

On the way out of the Sunshine Coast region is a ginger factory, a nut factory and a coffee factory; all worth a visit and a taste. The ginger factory has an emphasis on testing different ways to produce ginger based products. The ginger scones are the favourite.

Then travel to Childers where we found a great farm stay with bush walks that went for a few kilometres each. Sadly, very short on wildlife to take photos of and share. We will be back on our way south, though.

From Childers we found the Calliope Free camp again. This is a nice and peaceful river side spot for an overnighter but still a long way to travel before the start of our tour to the top end.

We had seen some fabulous colours at Clairview when traveling a few years ago and decided to take a night there this time. Ocean fishermen are attracted to this stop point on the coast. The tide was well out while we were there and the overcast skies hid the colour of the ocean. So all we could see was “mud flats”.

North of Claireview is Rockhampton where we always catch up with a fellow travel agent that Lyn had as a roommate on an educational river cruise in France and a river cruise on the Mekong River in Vietnam. After a couple of hours of coffee and chat, our next night was at a pleasant campground in Bowen.

Our next night was spent with only 2 other rigs in Ingham at the Caravan and Motor home camp; just $5 a night with no facilities. We are “self contained” so that is no problem.

During the last day of travel to Cairns, we stopped at Cardwell for the mid morning coffee and cake at the bakery. There was a major accident at the roundabout just as we entered the town involving a utility and a Jayco motor home; not a good look with ambulance already in attendance. Cardwell is well known as “the town that has crab sandwiches”. Our diet does not sit well with that sort after cuisine, which saved the sandwich artist the task.

Fortunately, on our way into Cairns, there was a caravan repair shop that had an external door handle available to replace the broken one which broke who knows where. Weird things have shown up since having the service done back on the Gold Coast. The sliders for a large drawer have also decided not to function smoothly. We’ve learned that Bunnings have the “spare parts”.

The reason for constant daily driving this week was back at Childers, we had bad news that my half brother had taken his last breath in Auckland, New Zealand. Due to my Traumatic Brain Injury, I find I get confused when amongst crowds and need a carer, so can’t travel alone. Lyn’s passport was shortly to expire and we thought it best to get to Cairns in a hurry and hopefully we could cry for help, but “no” was the answer. The memorial service was held the day before we arrived in Cairns. He was 84. RIP David. We were fortunate to see him during our NZ cruise in January this year.

We have arrived in Cairns and have decided to stay at a caravan park and do day trips in the Suzuki, which is why we’ve had that thing dragging along behind us from home. No no, definitely a blessed idea.

The time has come to leave home soil and commence our 2025 venture to the northern tip of Australia right up to the top corner of this island continent in the southern hemisphere. Join me as we tell our story of the travel which takes us away from the winter chills of Melbourne and Victoria. This is over 4,500 km (2800 miles) from home with a round trip of over 10,000km. A long way but something that will create different mind passages to add to the memory bank. For those residing outside Australia, I hope the posts encourage you to visit this sparse, variable continent one day soon.