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Cool Waters Campground, Yeppon, Queensland, Australia. 1738 km

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Australian word of the day: Stubby – a beer bottle. As in: I’ll have one.

The last few days we have covered a great amount of distance driving south. We left Townsville on Friday morning and got stuck in a 3 hour traffic holdup. The highway was blocked due to a timber truck overturned on the road. Thank goodness for a motorhome in such a situation. The kids watched a movie and played while we were waiting. (more…)

Rowes Bay Campground, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 778 km

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Australian word of the day: Nappies – Diapers. As in: Hope we won’t run out of nappies for Shir and Orr today on Magnetic Island.

We spent the last two days learning more and more about Australian wildlife. Yesterday we visited the Billabong Sanctuary, a great Aussie zoo a few km south of town. The main attractions were crocodile feedings, koala petting, cassowary feeding, fish feeding, dingo feeding etc…We passed from one guided feeding to another, and tried to pick up as much of the explanations as we could despite heavy local accents and rugby jokes.
Here are some interesting Koala facts – they sleep 18 hours a day (more…)

Big4 Campground, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 712 km

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Australian word of the day:  How’re You Going? – How are you? Asked without really expecting an answer.

After reaching the northern apex of our Australian voyage in Cape Tribulation, we started progressing southward on Saturday. After crossing the Daintree river southward, we drove through Mossman to Mossman Gorge, also part of Daintree National Park. They have some rainforest walking tracks (trails), and a few swimming holes along the Mossman river. At one such swimming hole a crazy old Aboriginal with a very high pitched voice was making all the white folks laugh. We had a little problem with Orr, as one of her crocs shoe strap broke off. Each time we made a makeshift solution, she kept taking her shoe off and checking out the problem by recreating it. (more…)

Cape Tribulation Campground, Far North Queensland, Australia. 165km

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Australian word of the day: No Worries – You’re welcome.

Yesterday was a relaxing day with no movement. We went to the beach and played around with the kids. At noon, just before naptime we spotted a giant lizard near our RV. It is at least 1 meter long and has a huge snakelike tongue. I didn’t know what it’s called, but it was very cool to see. Other than the lizard, we saw various types of birds flying around. The celeb bird in these parts though is the cassowary, a large flightless bird the size of an ostrich but much weirder looking. (more…)

Koala Beach Resort, Cape Kimberly, Far North Queensland, Australia. 119km

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Australian word of the day: Sullage – Sewer. As in, sorry, we don’t have sullage here. You’ll have to go south to Mossman to dump your toilet water.

Happy Sukkot!

Today marked many changes in our trip. In the morning we were sad to bid farewell to Alfredo and Raquel, after spending the last two weeks together. At 8am the taxi came to take them to the airport, on their way to Thailand. Thanks for all the good times and help with the kids!

Later in the morning I took a taxi as well, to the motorhome depot in Cairns. (more…)

Water’s edge Apartments, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

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Australian word of the day: Breaky – Breakfast

It’s been a week since the last posting. So much action going on here. I’ll give you a brief rundown. On Thursday, we spent a few hours at Trinity Beach, one of the nicer beaches to the north of Cairns. The water was a bit cold and the waves made it hard for the kids to get in. So we spent most of the time on the sand. (more…)

Water’s edge Apartments, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

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Australian word of the day: Wallaby – a small kangaroo-like animal. Photographs especially well when being fed by young children.

We had a good night’s sleep and a relatively calm morning yesterday before heading off to explore Australia nature. We drove east to where the tropics meet the outback, a place known as the Atherton Tableland. On the roads were signs warning of kangaroos present. Every few miles you see some roadkill; I hope we won’t run over something driving around here. (more…)

Water’s edge Apartments, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

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Australian word of the day: Pram – a baby stroller. We discovered this word when we were told we couldn’t gate check our pram but rather had to check it in with all the luggage, meaning walking through Sydney airport with all three kids loose…

What a long hectic day of travel. We got up at 4am for a 7am flight from Sydney to Cairns. Our 5am van pickup failed to show up and when he asked me on the phone in a sleepy voice what time is my flight, I realized we needed a quick solution. (more…)

Hotel Stellar, Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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“G’Day Mates”, as you can tell we are down under, where the folks speak Australian, a fun and lively version of English. We have spent 4 days in Sydney, the largest city in the country and the business and entertainment center as well. (more…)