Let the road trip begin....

The girls have had a bit of catching up to do with the blog, so I said I would do this one before we hit the Whitsunday islands, then its back to them!!

We left Port douglas straight after our snorkelling trip, and drove away from the coast, where we stayed in a lodge in the rainforest. The sounds of the rainforest are amazing, but so loud. As we were driving today, we could hear them above the sound of the car and the radio! The following morning we had a walk round the nearby village, Kuranda, then drove to see another waterfall, which was quite tame as it is coming to the end of the dry season. We then drove on to our next stop, Atherton, which is a town in the tablelands. Whilst there, we did another couple of walks through the rainforest, and round some lakes.

We also went for a swim in a crater lake (it had started to rain by then, so it was nicer in the water than out). The water was so fresh; a real change from the salty ocean.

Today we started our drive down the coast, stopping in a city called Townsville. We hadn't expected much; it was really just a stop to break up the journey, but it actually turned out to be ok, with a lovely waterfront. The girls really enjoyed swimming in a lido filled with water from the ocean.

There was also a park and water park type area that Emma didn't want to leave.

The drive down was beautiful. We could have stopped at countless waterfalls, viewing points and rainforest walks on the way, but if we had, we would still have been driving now!! Instead we stopped next to the ocean to have our lunch.

It reminded me of driving in France, with lots of picnic spots and facilities along the road. The differences are though- the toilets here are better, and the picnic areas have public barbecues you can use...they know how to do outdoors these Aussies!! Tomorrow we hit Airlie beach, which is the jumping off point for the Whitsundays. We haven't booked anything yet; wanted to keep our options open and see what was what, but I definitely want to fit in some more snorkelling...it was just amazing (and want the chance to wear a stinger suit again...not!!)