Finally...

...we made it!

After the Whitsundays, Jeepy took us to Townsville. Supposedly known for cool backpacker parties. Well... let's just say... nothing's happening there at the moment 😁 In the evening, we actually motivated ourselves to drive into the city to see what parties they were talking about. The plan was to eat and then drink. The eating part was already obstacle number 1. Naively, I let myself be convinced to go for Thai food. I knew they like it spicy, but I didn't know a dish could be so spicy without any indication 😂 I was on fire. But the owner was so nice and brought me an alternative dish, which was really delicious! And I had my first gin and tonic since we've been here, with actual alcohol in it. My kneecaps found it amusing 😁 During our city trip, we saw many cool bars... but they were all empty. Well... that's all the party scene had to offer ^^ back at the campground, it was time to call it a night.

The next day, we originally wanted to make it to Mission Beach. However, our sightseeing urge got the better of us, so we didn't quite manage. Among other things, we saw the highest waterfall in Australia - the Wallaman Falls. It plunges 268m into the depths. An impressive sight. There was also a hiking trail that led to the bottom. But since the warning sign at the top said it's super steep and strenuous, we decided to spare my knee ^^ we planned to stay overnight in Cardwell. On a whim, we took a short trip from the campground to a boardwalk where we were supposed to see crocodiles. Unfortunately (or thankfully), we weren't lucky. In the evening, I forced Basti to play a round of MauMau. The TV was on in the background. TV for the first time in 6 weeks. Exciting 😂

Yesterday started off really sad. Our cat Sammy had to be put to sleep last night 😪 as consolation, I was allowed to play AutoDJ this time and even eat Nutella with a spoon. Mentioned briefly in the travel guide, we headed to Paronella Park. We skipped Mission Beach because it was raining non-stop. Paronella Park is an old facility from the 19xx with 6 cute little castles that have been shaped by floods and cyclones. Everything was covered in moss. The spirit of the past really came alive. Really beautiful! We also got to feed turtles 🐢 after that, we drove to the Josephine Falls and didn't let the weather deter us. Without the rain, we could have gone swimming in the natural rock pools. We had actually planned another stop that also involved swimming. But the windshield wipers couldn't keep up anymore, so we skipped the next stop. Instead, we drove directly to Cairns to our Airbnb. We focused on planning the next few days and eventually fell asleep.

Today, we're still completely clueless... but since it's supposed to rain all day anyway, we're not in a hurry 🐌