Heading South

After a truly wonderful 3 days in Port Douglas, it was up at 6 o'clock this morning to start the 2600 km road journey to Sydney. We had originally hoped to make it to Airlie Beach in one day, but were concerned that the road to Cairns, which was closed by a landslide last Monday, may not be open on time. We took our chances and fortunately made it through the one lane that had been opened last night.

The weather was partly cloudy, which was ideal for traveling and didn't make us feel as if we were missing anything. The countryside was beautiful and it was amazing to watch it transform from the tropical rain forests to more open woodlands and then flat farmlands. I have never seen so much sugar cane being grown anywhere, so much that they have built their own railway to transport it from the fields to the factories where it is processed. Close to Port Douglas there were also tea plantations, fields of coffee and bananas, in fact all I need to a good breakfast!

Made it to Airlie Beach for 5 0'clock and managed to find a really good apartment for 3 nights. That will give us one day to chill out and another to explore the Whitsunday Islands, the original reason for us staying in Airlie Beach.

As the best part of 10 hours were spent sitting in the car, I thought it only right that today's blip should be a view from the car, courtesy of Mrs B, navigator extraordinaire and blipper for the journey! I thought the depth and perspective she caught in this view of the Burdekin Bridge was actually pretty good!

Hoping I have caught the wi-fi at hotel reception and will be able to upload, but systems all seem very slow or non existent here!