Veni Vidi Vici!!
We had a long drive planned for today and had decided that if Cairns was too far out of our reach then we would drive as far as possible along the dirt track until "the tropics dusk" and set up tent and sleep at the closest roadhouse for the night. The road had already changed so much from the four days previous when we were traveling upwards. The creeks crossings had dried out immensely and the road was smoother in parts and beginning to become corrugated in others. Maciek felt really comfortable driving along the track and so we decided around lunchtime that we would push on through till Cairns. The kids were AMAZING!!! not a single complaint from them. They just sat back and admired the scenery, sang songs and watched their movies. We made plenty of stops along the way to stretch our legs and for food and toilet stops. 500kms (roughly) from the tip, we were able to stop in at the famous Exchange hotel in Coen for some lunch and a refresher. Funnily enough some one had changed the name (as a joke) a long time ago to the sExchange Hotel. This name has now stuck! It was here that the children were able to put bias's aside and show some kindness and generosity towards the locals. We were doing our good deed for the day. We were all sitting in the outside eating area of the tavern when some locals drinking at a table near us put some money in the juke box and began listening to some music. Bella was loving it dancing around the table. All of a sudden the bar girl (a foreigner) came out and turned off the juke box. The locals politely questioned her but she just turned her back and walked back inside. I felt terrible for the locals. He made a point in saying that he had just put money in the box but she didn't want to hear it. It cut hard for us (being the only white blokes sitting around) lol! That was a really horrible thing to do when someone had paid and was listening to it. Together, Bella and I approached the locals and said how bad we felt with what had just happened and Bella gave the men the same amount of money that they had just put in the juke box. They were chuffed and ever so grateful! they were so thankful and were grinning from ear to ear. Twice they thanked us and wished us good luck on our travels. Bella is such a sweet heart. She was grinning from ear to ear too! From here on it was a further 550kms to Cairns. We could do it we knew we could!
Once we reached telephone and internet access we found a hotel to sleep in for the night and was lucky enough to stay at a 4 star hotel for $100 for the four of us. God i love Wotif.com LOL
Travelling was taxing after dark due to the animals and un-fenced farm lands. This had me on cow patrol for 900kms of the trip. Cows are deadly if hit by a car!
We pulled into Cairns around 9:30 pm and hungry and tired we grabbed some maccas and headed straight for the hotel.
The kids found it a novelty to be able to watch tv! and have a bath. Fed and cleaned we all headed for be to hopefully sleep soundly. Tomorrow's job?......Cleaning! to clean the car and trailer of all of the red dirt! Oh boy!!
BTW, we did exactly 1078km in the day, but hay who is counting......
No comments:
Post a Comment