Starting from (A) Mount Surprise
Leg 40:16 September – 286km in 4:02 to (B) Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort in Cairns for 3 nights.
Leg 41:19 September – 101km in 1:56 to (C) Pinnacle Village Holiday Park in Port Douglas for 3 nights.
Leg 42:22 September – 423km in 5:59 to (D) Big4 Townsville Woodlands Holiday Park in Townsville for 2 nights.
Leg 43:24 September – 289km in 3:33 to (E) Big4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort in Airlie Beach for 3 nights.
Leg 44:27 September – 492km in 6:32 to (F) Beachside Caravan Park in Yeppoon for 2 nights.
Leg 45:29 September – 435km in 5:34 to (G) Australiana Village Top Tourist Park in Hervey Bay for 4 nights.
Leg 46:3 October – 208km in 2:46 to (H) Mooloolaba Beach Caravan Park in Moloolaba for an overnight stop.
Leg 47:4 October – 168km in 1:54 to (I) NRMA Treasure Island Holiday Park in Biggera Waters for 7 nights.
Leg 48:11 October – 327km in 4:11 to (J) Park Beach Holiday Park in Coffs Harbour for 2 nights.
Leg 49:13 October – 163km in 2:08 to (K) Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park in Port Macquarie for a detour.
Leg 49:13 October – 127km in 1:51 to (L) 111 – The Ruins Campground in Boomerang Beach for 2 nights.
A few of these are placeholders. Ok, most of these are placeholders. The thing is … there’s no way we’ll be keeping to the schedule as it is on this plan, up to now. It’s a plan … a budget … and our luck just doesn’t go that well to even talk seriously over a beer down the pub that it’ll go together like its written here. Uh uh … no way … not a chance.
Once we hit Cairns and start heading south it’ll feel very much like we’ve started down the long driveway and we’re nearly home. It’s going to be Kels turn to drive and my turn in the back seat since its too tempting for me to just bullet it home.
We’ve not been up this far up touring before though, so we do want to spend some quality days north of Brisbane and travel the coast all the way back home. That ought to help me keep it slow(ish). I’d rather spend days North than South as the sourthern legs have been the destinations for many a family holiday, past and future. It’s a bit trickier to get up here and have enough time to enjoy it.
I’ve put in a reasonable budget for time and distance, but we’ll be stopping wherever we like, for as long as we like, pretty much and just meandering home. There’s a ton of things to do down the coast and after all the ‘boring rocks and stuff’ that the kids have had to endure on this trip so far, I reckon that anything that looks like fun will be on their agenda.
Continue on to part 6: Port Macquarie to Home