Day 1 Palm Cove to Townsville

And so it begins.  After months of preparation we have finally set off on our road trip around Australia.  How far will we get?  We have no idea and no expectations.  We will head west into the Northern Territory and then into Western Australia.  From here we will head south until we can't go any further and then turn the car and van eastwards towards South Australia. We will probably head home after South Australia and plan on being home early 2023.

So, back to Day One. We spent most of Monday shutting down the apartment in Palm Cove. We washed all linen and re-made beds.  We cleaned two fridges and emptied the contents into cold bags/eskies. We then turned off those fridges.  We packed the final pantry items into bags.  Almost every item of food in the apartment is now in the caravan. The caravan is groaning.  We have been packing the van over the last week, always anxious that everything is going to fit in but miraculously it has.  Thank goodness for a caravan with lots of storage. We decided to sleep the first night in the van that is still inside the storage shed.  It was a wise choice as it is always difficult to get the van out of the storage shed if there are vehicles parked in our exit.  There were but because we were up early we asked that the vehicles be moved and the owners obliged.

We finally set out at 7.30 am today.  We were both a little apprehensive.  Have we done everything we needed to do?  (We have) Is the caravan going to be too heavy? (It isn't) All these little things were running through our mind.  But it didn't take long for us to settle into the journey.  By the time we had negotiated the Coral Coast Drive we were well settled.

We skipped breakfast as neither of us were hungry.  Maybe too excited? So by 11.00 am we were starving!  Thankfully Bilyana Rest Area was just ahead of us so we pulled into the area and readied the van for our lunch break.  Unfortunately the mozzies here were atrocious and as careful as we tried to be, they followed us into the van. We made ourselves Ham and salad Rolls and ate them way too fast, all the time slapping away the mozzies.

Back on the road it was an easy run into Townsville where we are staying the night at the Townsville Gateway Holiday Park.  We have stayed here before and it is quiet and quite pleasant.  We have stayed hooked up as we have an early departure tomorrow morning. We have just returned from a walk around the block (that turned into a three km walk) and now feeling a little weary.  We will have some leftovers for dinner and then hit the sack.

I am going to try very hard to keep this travel diary updated on a daily basis.  Well that is the plan anyway.

Just before I sign off I want to show you the "backyard" at our apartment block that was transformed for 50th birthday celebrations of two of our residents last week.  It was a beautiful night with great food, wine and company.