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Great driving holidays – Cairns to Mossman (Qld)

WHO ever would have thought that a place like Mossman was only a 90-minute drive north of Cairns.
Tucked away in the beautiful hinterland and on the base of the Daintree. Mossman hides one of the most spectacular and entertaining places that is simply unforgettable – The Karnak Playhouse, owned by world famous Diane Cilento! It is so enchanting, I could have stayed there forever. They do world class stage performances and when you throw the setting into the equation, it’s really something out of a story book.
After leaving the Playhouse, we took in the Mossman Gorge. Once again, [...]

Great driving holidays – Ayr to Cairns (Qld)

BIDDING farewell to Ayr, we headed off for a leisurely four hour drive north to Cairns and I couldn’t wait! The Great Barrier Reef, the shopping, the Kuranda Railway, the Skyrail … so much to do.
We stayed at the Coconut Holiday Resort and this was a five star park in the truest sense. This is an ideal place to set up camp after a long drive in Queensland in your campervan or caravan. With everything from unpowered grassy sites right through to three bedroom condos, two enormous pool areas, the best children’s play activities you could think of and [...]

Great driving holidays – Mackay to Ayr (Qld)

We decided to deviate from our intinerary, something we have become very good at! Although sometimes it is not planned at the time.
So after Mackay, we decided to stop in Ayr, a great little town 80km south of Townsville. It’s a good old country town, buzzing with busy farmers and tonnes of produce. There is still enough sugar cane to sink a battleship, but two things Ayr has that not a lot of these small country towns have are, one, it is right on the beach, and two, it has an enormous water supply in the Burdekin River and [...]

Great driving holidays – Rockhampton to Emerald (Qld)

BIDDING farewell to the ocean, regrettably, we set off inland to the vast spaces of the Queensland mining Outback – Emerald. There’s some great roads around there, in fact, Queensland has had awesome roads pretty well everywhere we’ve been so far. But one thing to watch are the road trains as these gigantic things are hauling enormous mining machinery. They take up the entire road, both sides, and their support car often only travels a couple of hundred metres in front, so when you see one – get off the road! And I mean off the road. The truck [...]

Great driving holidays – Bundaberg to Rockhampton (Qld)

ROCKHAMPTON is the Beef Capital of Australia – and the world – so they tell me, with over 3500 head of stock going out of Rocky every single week.
The drive up from Bundaberg is a good one. Good roads and great areas to pull off the road, too, when those wonderful road trains almost mow you down. You will not see anywhere else in Australia the sheer numbers of cattle roaming the roadways. Obviously not too safe when you are driving, but certainly great scenery!
Upon arrival in “Rocky” we were invited to visit the Gracemere Saleyards on one [...]

Can I really get a One way Campervan Rental from a $1 a day?


YES you didn’t misread the title, and NO it’s not another one of those sales gimmicks. Truly it is possible to rent a Campervan for as little as a $1 a day or even essentially for nothing from some of Australia’s leading providers.
So, perhaps a bit of background to explain what’s this all about and how it comes about.
With Campervans and other vehicles being hired and dropped off at different locations around the country, the rental companies are often left in the position of having plenty of vehicles but sitting in the wrong locations. These need to [...]

Great driving holidays – Maroochydore to the Outback (Qld)

AS sad as it was to leave Maroochydore, it was time for some Outback fun!
We headed north to Bundaberg, the home of the world famous Bundaberg Rum and I couldn’t wait. The drive up there seemed to take forever, even though it’s a great road to travel on, as I was so excited about our distillery tour that afternoon. Sheree wasn’t so keen … I wonder why?
After unhooking our vans and setting up, we headed in the direction of the birthplace of the big White Polar Bear (yep, you know the big fella from the Bundy advertisements on [...]

Driving holidays – Melbourne to Kangaroo Island

This is a must-do trip with your camper, enjoying the spoils on offer along the Great Ocean Road and keeping the navigation simple – stay in on your left-hand side!
A shopping trip at Torquay should be first on your list and the best bargains are found in the warehouses located behind the main surf shop strip. Good quality wetsuits, fins, mask and snorkel are mandatory and easily packed in the camper.  For the more adventurous, a surfboard is worth the effort too.
Stay on the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Warrnambool.  There are many great places to stop [...]

Driving holidays – Fossicker’s Way to Armidale (NSW)

After leaving behind an awesome time “Fossicking”, and finding a truck-load of great gem stones, we headed further north to Armidale.
This place is so cold, I can honestly say I have never experienced living in such a chilly town! One morning we actually got down to minus 7! But in saying that, Armidale is a great town and full of surprises.
We met up with a guy affectionately known as “The Arrowcatcher” (Anthony Kelly). He is world famous for his amazing reflexes. His partner fires very sharp arrows and he catches them with his bare hands!
Around town there [...]

Driving holidays – Nelligen to Bathurst (NSW)

Now here is some very sound advice. Advice I wish I had been given earlier!
We left Nelligen, bound for Bathurst, and we let our trusty Tom Tom do the talking … really, really bad idea. We went to Bathurst on a “long cut”, via the goat tracks of southern NSW. I swear these roads had not been used for many, many, many months (see attached picture). We were on this particular road for four hours, so a five-hour trip turned into an eight-hour trip. I guess the scenery was spectacular and it did give us an insight into a [...]