Aug 5th, Thursday. We got a late start today from Cairns after a rough night out at the pub with our friend Alan Witt who just flew in to join up with Eye of the World. As the saying goes, a sailor would sooner part with his life than with his grog, and despite being jetlagged a whole day and a half Alan was still up for all you can drink happy hour.
While recovering from Cairns nightlife Will downloaded some useful maps onto his I-phone which has proven to be an invaluable tool for adventuring. It serves as a GPS, internet device, calculator, dictionary, atlas, compass, the list goes on. It’s kind of like the electronic version of a Swiss army knife. As we left Cairns, finally headed north, we slowly made our way away from the rainforest, the wet tropics region, and into miles and miles of sugar cane fields and low lying floodways.
We passed through Gordonvale and Babinda, an RV “friendly” town which they boast on a large sign, and then on to Innisfail. We picked up some fresh foods and cheap sausages for dinner there as well as some fuel. It was getting late so we took a side road to Etty Bay that advertized camping. We found an RV park full up (this seems to be a common trend) beside a great swimming bay with jellyfish nets for the peak season. While it looked like a nice place, we weren’t going to be able to sleep there. We moved on up the road about 5k and found a “rest stop.” Although close to the road, it had some trees and grass next to a creek and a bridge and although it was pretty noisy with trucks driving overhead there was not a single no camping sign to be found. We cooked dinner on the provided pick nick tables and had an uneventful albeit noisy rest for the night in the tent beside the car. Another free campsite in the books and well on our way down the “Great Greenway”, from Cairns to Townsville.
