1 German, 1 Brit and an American in a Car: Airlie Beach to Cairns

Luckily the weather improved the next day and we were able to leave depressingly wet Airlie Beach. This had been the furthest anyone could go previously, as the roads north were flooded in several places. Travis decided to drive with Thomas and myself on the last leg of the journey. We decided to just head straight to Cairns in case the weather got worse and we were standed.

Along the roads on the way we could see plenty of evidence of how bad it had been. The rivers we saw were all extremely full, the fields wre waterlogged and there were warning signs everwhere. Roadworkers were busy clearing up the roads after the water had lowered, and at some places there was still some water on the road.

The journey to Cairns would've been uneventful if it wasn't for all the amazing BIG THINGS we saw on the way! First, we saw the Big Mango, which was just randomly on the side of the road, as was the case with all the big things we've seen so far! The Big Crab was big, but compared to everything else, it was tiny, but still just as bizarre and random as all the others! The Big Gumboot had a story to it. It was in the town of Tully, which holds the record for the largest amount of rainfall in Australia (and the world? I can't remeber!). The gumboot was 7.9m tall, which was the amount of rain Tully had in one extremely wet year! What would Australia be like without these big things?

We also drove through the Girrugin National Park. Up some windy roads, we found the most spectacular views. Mountains and lakes, and endless green could be seen for miles around. The crash barrier at the lookout was covered in graffiti from people who had gone past, and the three of us added our names to it.

Townsville was really really boring, so we just headed to Cairns, getting there in the early evening. Our hostel, Gilligan's, was more like a hotel. The rooms were all modern and clean, every florr had a kitchen, so you never had to compete with every hostel guest, there was a nightclub, great pool and a bar.

Cairns itself isn't that amazing, the real draw (like with Airlie Beach and Hervey Bay) was what was beyond the coast. We spent the first couple of days advertising our car, which we intended to sell there (I'll talk about this later). There was one final big thing. In Cairns, on the Captain Cook Highway, was a giant statue of Captain Cook, several metres high!

While Travis started his open water course, and went to Cape Tribulation, Thomas and I went on a 3 day trip to the Great Barrier Reef!