6 & 7 June: Regrouping in Cairns

Author: Mrs A

Location: Cairns, Queensland

Wednesday morning we said farewell to our picturesque campsite and took off a short way up the coast to Cairns. Unfortunately real life continues on and we had a few tasks to tick off in Queensland’s second biggest city.

We rushed up ready to get a new washing machine installed in the caravan, as ours had some issues. It had been a struggle but the guys at Zone had managed to squeeze us an appointment at a caravan repairers. Sadly we then heard that TNT, the courier company, had failed to pick it up in time and that it would be delayed. We couldn’t get another appointment for another month.

Disappointed, we checked in at our campground and used the campsite washing machines.

We had been exchanging a few emails with a couple of Zoners, Frank and Wendy who live up this way, and they brightened our day by suggesting we come over to their apartment for drinks and nibbles and join them for dinner at the local boat club. So we decided to go along.

Of course as fate would have it, the washing machine arrived at the caravan repairers shortly after they’d given away our slot, so we picked it up and Frank and Wendy kindly agreed we could store it at their apartment until we return to Cairns in a few weeks’ time.

We had a lovely evening with our new friends, with lots of tips shared in preparation for their trip up to Cape York, and for us and our trip to Cape Tribulation.

Thursday morning we decided to jump on our bikes for an explore of one of the bike trails that started near our campground. As always it was great to whiz along completely free from traffic, through some pretty lovely scenery.Returning to the caravan we found a pair of Ulysses Butterflies fluttering around the Zone – attracted to flowers planted specifically to entice these beautiful insects. Such a treat to see them.We had booked the Toyota Landcruiser in for its 100,000 km service and so dropped it into the workshop while we went into the city.

We suspect not many caravaners have a selection of 10 or more choices of fresh tea, but that’s us – we have a wide variety of herbal and fruit tisanes in our kitchen. We called into T2 to top up our supplies – over $100 later we left with teas which should see us through until our return to Sydney, and headed to our next appointment – the hairdressers.

Hairdressers are always a challenge while travelling – you have to rely purely on Google reviews and hope they are honest and accurate. I picked one that was nice and central with plenty of good reviews, and off we both went. Fortunately it was an excellent choice, and we both left very happy with our newly trimmed manes. If you need a cut in Cairns, head to Pulse – Craig Roberts did a great job on both of us.The service did not reveal anything untoward on the car and gave us peace of mind for the next few weeks. We have booked it back in to get new shocks when we return to Cairns at the end of the month.

Tomorrow we commence our journey further north to Newell Beach near Mossman.