Cairns

After Townsville we decided our next stop would be Tully for some banana picking. We didn't need any extra money, we just thought that it may be an experience. When we arrived in Tully we found out that its the top place in Australia that experiences the most amount of rainfall. It certainly lived up to its statistic! I don't actually think it stopped raining the whole time we were there! We did try to go banana picking, but after the early mornings and the constant feeling of being damp we decided after a few days to head straight for Cairns. We hadn't actually planned to leave when we did, it was sort of on a whim, but we were very pleased with our decision in the end.

Upon arrival in Cairns, the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. We headed straight for the airport to see if they had a list of hostels like Sydney airport did. In the airport we came across this hostel called Utopia and enquired about accommodation and whether we could do some work to enable us to get our accommodation for free. We were in luck, the hostel ran a minibus to ferry guests around and were looking for two drivers, we accepted.

This driving job worked out well for us as we had decided to put the camper van up for sale as soon as we could in Cairns. With free accommodation, we could advertise the van and save our money.

Utopia was a brilliant hostel and we enjoyed our time there immensely. We made a lot of friends and enjoyed trips out. Chantal, the receptionist had two cats, very cute and mischievous! Kept the hostel almost free of pests!

I will post about our trips in and around Cairns in the coming days.

Townsville

We continued north after Australia Zoo, stopping briefly in places like Surfers Paradise and Brisbane. We stopped at a remote garage on the way to buy a new tyre for the van. The mechanic commented on how perfect our English was! Turns out he thought we were Swedish!

Our next stop for some time was a place called Townsville. We ended up staying here for quite a while as we just loved the place and had made some friends quite quickly. We managed to negotiate a good price with our campsite as well.

Townsville is the largest city in Queensland and considered to be the capital in Queensland. There are lots of places to visit while in Townsville, such as Mission beach and Hinchinbrook Island National Park.

While we were there, we also stumbled upon a Greek festival. We tried Greek delicacies and watched some traditional Greek dancing, it turned out to be very entertaining!

From various discussions with the locals at our campsite, we learnt that 'trainers' are called 'runners' amongst other sayings!

This is where we tried Vegemite as well and in my opinion it tastes nothing like Marmite and apologies to any Australians, but it tastes absolutely horrible! Nothing beats good old Marmite!!

The nightlife in Townsville is very good, there are plenty of bars and clubs and we enjoyed many a night out there!

If travelling through Queensland, Townsville is not to be missed!

Australia Zoo, Croc's

One of the main attractions to Australia Zoo is of course the Crocodiles! At the Zoo there are Saltwater and Freshwater Crocodiles. Saltwater Crocodiles eat to their size, so the bigger they are the bigger the prey that they would eat. Freshwater Crocodiles have a more narrow snout, which is one way of knowing the difference between Saltwater and Freshwater Crocodiles, apart from the obvious, their habitat!

Crocodiles are dangerous in whatever situation, but at the Zoo the keepers know what they are doing, especially during feeding time. In the wild, warning signs should be taken seriously and respect to your guide's instructions should be adhered to.

Feeding time at the Zoo is a must. The keepers educate you on the Crocodiles and you get to see just how enormous and powerful these reptiles really are.

All in all, Australia Zoo is not just about looking at animals, its about educating the public on conservation and endangered species. We all would prefer animals to be living in their natural habitat and not in Zoo's, but unfortunately in this day and age it is not possible.

Australia Zoo, Even More Animals

Top: Kangaroo.

Kangaroo's are the largest marsupial alive on earth today. Kangaroo's have excellent sight and hearing and their collective group is called a 'Mob'

An interesting fact about Kangaroo's is that they can't move backwards very easily.

Second Top: Wallaby.

In this picture is a Red-necked Wallaby. Red-necked Wallaby's are protected by law in all states in Australia. Wallaby's are predominantly nocturnal animals.

Third Top: Exotic Parrot.

Parrots are intelligent animals and if kept as a pet, special care is needed to keep them occupied and away from boredom.

Bottom: Otter.

Otters are extremely swift swimmers and can be found on every continent in the world. Otters are part of the Mustelid family which also includes animals such as Skunks and Minks.

Australia Zoo, More Animals

Top: The Cassowary.

This bird is native to North Eastern Australia. It is a huge bird and they do not fly. They are quite territorial birds and will attack if they feel threatened. They just about eat anything from fruits to rats and frogs.

Bottom: Camel.

Camels are not natural to Australia and were brought over in the 1800's as beasts of burden for the more rugged areas of Australia.

Australia Zoo

Top: Harriet the Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise.

Harriet was born around 1830 and was brought to England by Charles Darwin. After a short time in England, Harriet moved onto a few homes in Australia. She lived at Australia Zoo for her last two decades before she died in 2006. Seeing Harriet in 2003 was amazing as she was living history and such a magnificent creature.

Second Top: Dingo.

Dingoes are Australia's wild dogs. The difference between them and domestic dogs is that they don't bark, they only howl.

Third Top: Tasmanian Devil.

Tasmanian Devils are the largest living carnivorous marsupial in Australia. They have very sharp claws and individual, distinctive white marks on their chests. They are also very fast! This was the best picture I could get!

Bottom: Koala.

Koala's are marsupials and not bears! Koala's main source of food are eucalypts, which do not give them much energy and that is why they can sleep up to 20 hours a day!

Australia Zoo, Kangaroo's

Once we were on the road in our camper van after picking up some supplies, we made our way to Australia Zoo. Australia Zoo is home to the 'Crocodile Hunter' the late Steve Irwin. Unfortunately, on our trip to the Zoo in 2003, Steve Irwin wasn't there, he was probably on one of his many adventures. We were a little disappointed as it would have been great to have met him and his family.

The zoo itself is immense with many species. Its not all about the zoo either as the Irwin family are very much concerned with conservation and protecting wildlife and its habitat.

In the zoo our first stop was the Kangaroo enclosure. Inside the enclosure are four different species of Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo and the Red-necked Wallaby.

You walk inside the enclosure with the Kangaroo's free to roam around. There are feeding areas where you can hand feed the Kangaroo's. Respect should be given the up most priority to these mammals as you are walking in their territory. In my opinion they are great, gentle creatures.

Admission to the zoo is £20 per adult (approximate). Family, Pensioners and Student fees are available.

Campervan

We noticed this camper van outside of our hostel one day in Sydney, it had a for sale sign so we rang the number to find out its price.

The van was owned by a group of lads from England and were flying out the next day so needed a quick sale.

We took the van for a test drive and made sure the right documents were with it. Neither of us were mechanically minded, so we just hoped that it would be ok. The lads wanted quite a lot for it, but we didn't want to pay that much, we gave them our price and they eventually sold the van to us, we had a good bargain. As we had ourselves a very good deal, we thought that if anything does go wrong at least we hadn't spent a fortune on it.

The van was basic but great and we couldn't have asked for anything better!

As it turns out we didn't have any major problems with it, we had to buy one new tyre and it over heated once, but a kind American family stopped and got it going for us again. When we eventually sold the van at the end of our trip, we made a profit!

The van got us all the way from Sydney to Cairns.

Sydney

We spent the first couple of days exploring Sydney and looking for a camper van. The first site we headed straight for was Sydney Harbour, The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

The Opera House is huge! Its considered one of the wonders of the world and it was certainly spectacular close up. The building was designed by Jørn Utzon and opened in 1973. We spent some time walking around it. The Darling harbour was next where we would find Sydney Aquarium and the Australian National Maritime Museum. The aquarium is one of the largest in the world with 1000's of different species living in their natural habitat. Our next site was the Harbour Bridge, which we decided to walk along. The bridge's construction was completed in 1932 and provided an important quicker route of access between the city centre in the south and the residential area in the north. Its a great point to take pictures from as well!

Walking around the city is endless with its numerous cafes, restaurants, shops, pubs and clubs. Lots to see and do, but you'll end up with sore feet, so comfy footwear would be a good idea!

Another interesting part of Sydney is Kings Cross. Its renowned as the red light district of Australia. We walked though Kings Cross as we had heard there was an indoor car park there, where travellers were selling their camper vans. We found the car park, but unfortunately we couldn't find a van that we were happy with. We returned to our hostel to look again.