The journey begins

Saturday

Last night we had Pizza for tea. After dinner loads of their neighbours came round for drinks. We went to check over Pepina and Hannah came with us. She had been very wary of it before but this time she got in and even sat on the bed. She told me her car didn’t have a bed but her mum was going to buy her a caravan. Hers would have a moon on the roof, not just stars like we’ve got. She was very funny. We went back over and one of their neighbours Steve was a fisherman. He was showing Dan some video of the Sharks he’s seen not far from where we were diving. I didn’t want to watch it. Hannah however sat on Dan’s knee watching it all. We went to bed about 11pm.

Today we woke up at 8.30am. We heard Jackie and Thomas getting ready so we got up to see them. They had to go to Cairns to pick up Thomas’s dad from hospital after an operation. We explained to Hannah that we were going today in our van so she wouldn’t come home and ask “Where’s Dan? Where’s Tamar?” like she had asked a million times before. We had breakfast and then packed our stuff into Pepina.

Dan drove as he wanted to see what the new tyres were like. We stopped at the supermarket to get some essentials, like dried milk, sugar, tea bags and things for dinner. We drove on to Mossman and stopped to get some oil for Pepina. Eventually we were on our way properly. We were heading to Cape Tribulation. We passed through some of the Daintree Rainforest and had to get the cable ferry accross the river. It cost $20 return but when I saw how far it was I thought it was a con. The Dartford crossing is cheap compared to that!!! The roads were very windy and up and down. Dan drove brilliantly. The scenery was spectacular, we hugged the cost line all the way. We stopped at Alexandra lookout point and had magnificant views of the Daintree area. We made a cup of tea. It took ages to make as we had to boil it on the stove but we had loads of time so it wasn’t a problem. I tested out my she wee too. Dan spoke to a man and it seems everyone is a mechanic!

We carried on driving. We stopped at a beach called Thornton and had a little walk along it. It was very hot so we didn’t stay in the sun too long. We were heading to a campsite that Thomas told us about called PKs Jungle. We found it but it wasn’t right on the beach like we thought. Don’t get me wrong it was close to the beach but we had past places which were closer. Plus the beach was pretty busy because of the campsite. We decided to buy some lunch and head back to Thornton beach. The price of food in such a remote place was extortionate.

Dan drove us back to Thornton beach. We parked in the overflow car park bit so we were pretty much on our own. We got ready to go for a swim. We put all our valuables in the backpack and put the pack safe around it. We walked the 50m to the beach and smoothered each other in sun cream before heading into the sea. It was beautifully warm . We stayed in a fair while but then got out and played hang man in the sand. Dan kept writing rude words when it was his turn. I then found a bit from a tree which we could use as a pen. I got Dan to draw around me and then he did the same. We wrote our names and dated it. It looked really good. Dan went back to the van to get the camera and I drew some more pictures in the sand.

We were pretty much on our our on the beach, except for one guy who Dan’s suspects was taking photos of me as I only had my bikini bottoms on. We went back in the sea to wash the sand off and then went back to the van. We sorted our things out into their new home and set the bed up. We thought we’d just bought 1 sheet but when we opened the packet it had a fitted sheet and pillow slips in with it too. So our bed is really luxurious. Dan then made a cup of tea while I went to find some toilets. When I came back Dan started to prepare dinner. We had rice and chicken. Simple but very tasty. He did well considering the limited things he had to work with. After dinner Dan found a paint pen to write on the van. He wrote “If this van’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’!” and drew a smiling face on the i of Pepina.

So now we’re just sitting outside the van on our fold up chairs and deciding what to do for the evening. I think we’re going to be eaten alive by the bugs as we forgot to get any insect repellant. I can’t upload this now because there is absolutely no signal here. We don’t get any phone signal and I think all the electricity here runs off generators.

Once it got dark there wasn’t a lot we could do. We were being eaten by the bugs so we sat in the van. It was pitch black outside. We sat on the bed and played cards. We taught each other some games. We used Dan’s head torch as the van light wasn’t very bright. We got fed up with cards so we decided to use up some of the laptop battery so we could play some music. At about 8:30pm we decided the best thing to do was go to sleep. I was wide awake but Dan was knackered, obviously all that driving had taken it out of him and I don’t blame him. A few cars came and went but soon it was silent.

Sunday

I woke up at about 8am. I read for a little while and then fell back to sleep. Dan got up at about 9am. He made a cup of tea and we got up. We boiled enough water for 2 cups of tea each as its such an effort to boil it. We set up the table and chairs and had our breakfast. We used powdered milk and it tasted ok, a little bit warm but we can soon solve that problem. We cleaned up after breakfast and went back on the beach. The tide was right in and the water was cold so we only got our feet wet before deciding it was too cold to swim.

We went back to the van and drove off to the next bay, called cow bay. It was very hilly as per usual, with loads of speed bumps but Dan got us there. We parked up and walked along the beach. There was a stream leading to the sea. Dan got really excited showing me a tiny crab until I said “wow look at that!” and I saw a massive Lizard. Thomas told me what it’s called but I can’t remember, something begining with A. I was at least a metre long, if not more. We managed to get a photo of it before it disappeared into the undergrowth of the swamp.

We walked back along the beach and put our things down so we could go for a swim. The water was still cold ish but the sunw as out so once we were in it was lovely. I stayed in and did a few exercises while Dan stayed in the shade (except for his legs). I came out and Dan said he was bored just sitting so he went off the explore. He ran down the beach and then swam back. I walked along to join him but it was too hot so we went back for lunch. Dan cooked us some beans which we had with our bread and salami. It was a very good lunch.

We wanted to get back to Jackie’s before it got dark so after lunch we packed up and drove back. Dan drove the difficult bit up to the ferry and then I drove us back. It’s getting easier to drive on normal roads. We stopped at the supermarket and picked up a few more essentials. Now we know what we need we can stock up. We got a big peanut butter, some tuna, some clothes washing soap and a few other bits and peices. Dan drove us back to Jackie’s. As we pulled up we saw Hannah and Thomas so we beeped them. Hannah was so excited she ran in to tell her mum we were home. We had a drink and then some dinner before we got onto the computer. While Dan was talking to his mum I was talking to my mum and dad. Now I’m just watching the footy on TV. Essenden are losing to the team who is bottom! Everyone else is at Jackie’s friend house. Dan is using someone else’s laptop to try and get the scuba diving photos off the disk. Hopefully we can upload a couple of them today.