Way to Cairns & Cairns 05/30/2017 - 06/02/2017

Unfortunately, we can't upload any pictures at the moment, but as soon as it is possible, we will add some 😊.

On the way to Cairns, we only made a few stops. One near Townsville and the other in Mission Beach. From Townsville, most people take the beautiful Magnetic Island with them. Since we will be going to the island in September with Nette, Diddi, and Lucy and definitely see wild koalas 🐨, we skipped Magnetic Island on this trip. The overnight stay at the rest area wasn't so bad, it had toilets and drinking water. What more could you want at a free rest area 😄. We simply ignored the crocodile warning signs 🙈 and didn't get out of the car after dark 😂. Oh yes, north of Townsville, there are crocodiles, Freshies and Salties, as the Aussies call them... a really cute diminutive for up to 7m huge 🐊. The freshwater crocs 'Freshies' are the less dangerous ones for humans, they grow up to 2m long. The more aggressive and huge ones are the saltwater crocs 'Salties', they can be found in both salt and fresh water. In the last decades, they have been venturing into areas where they never were before. That's why many hiking trails and natural pools are closed... we hope to encounter one in its natural habitat, but only on a guided tour with a guide👆!

In Cardwell, there is a lookout that offers a beautiful view of the wooded Hinchinbrook Island and the strait that separates the mainland from the island. Since it was on the way, we made a stop. The view was beautiful, it looks so idyllic. There were many Aboriginal peoples in the area who hunted, fished, and lived there.

Just a few kilometers away, there is a natural pool with turquoise blue water, which we also visited. I wasn't brave enough to go into the water, but Tim treated himself to a cool refreshment 😊😅. I felt a bit uneasy with the crocs and everything else that is always in water 😏. Although the app explicitly said that it is suitable for swimming 🙈. I don't think I told you about the app. It's called WikiCamps and it's worth its weight in gold here in Australia. It contains most of the cool spots, rest areas, caravan parks, and everything that a traveler can see. With comments from others, you can find out the cost of individual attractions or which ones are free, which things are worth seeing or not. Without the app, you would be lost here, especially when it comes to accommodation options. That's how we always find great things that are not in the travel guide :).

Nothing exciting happened in Mission Beach. The beach is really beautiful 😊 but unfortunately, swimming 🏊 is prohibited 🚫 there most of the year. Stingrays, jellyfish, and Salties make the area unsafe 🙈. The cool thing was that Josh and Muriel, the couple from Airlie Beach, arrived on the same day as us and we spent the evening comfortably together as a group of 4 😊👍. The next day we headed to Cairns. Upon arrival, the preparation for our trip into the outback began. We got a new glove compartment from a scrap dealer because ours wasn't closing anymore. We had to get a 20l gasoline canister, but since we are really lucky, we found one at our campsite among the things that visitors had forgotten 😂. And of course, enough provisions and a thick new blanket 👍. It gets very very cold at night in the outback. For the trip, we found three more people who wanted to leave at the same time. On Friday 06/02/2017, the adventure into the red center started. We were able to spend the last evening in Cairns again with Josh and Muriel as they chose the same campground as us 👌😊.