Day 213 – Thursday 3rd December – Arrival Down Under!

Collected luggage in Cairns airport and feeling hideously bunged up with cold, tired, ratty and very snotty we headed for customs where a sniffer dog wasn’t happy with my handbag. We were removed from the queue and questioned by a lovely lady in latex gloves! After satisfying herself that we had no fruit, veg or seeds with us, she took my boots off for a good clean before returning them and wishing us well on our adventure. What a wonderful welcome to Australia!
A short taxi ride later and we were standing outside the wrong camper-hire place... oops. So we lugged our holdalls up the road to the right place and paid yet more money to ensure our new transport had all the bits we needed for the trip; an awning, table and 2 chairs, GPS, a full gas bottle and of course a stuffed toy gecko with sucker pads, (a gift for Bee from her overworked and rundown Aussie cousin whom we have named ‘Betsy’). Betsy already has 303,000kms on the clock, small rust holes all over and I suspect colonies of bugs living in the upholstery, but on a positive note, she has 2 new front tyres, air conditioning and can at least reach the national speed limit of 80kms per hour. So all is set for the 3 months ahead.
We drove out of the camper place and joined the Captain Cook Highway north, heading for the Daintree rainforest – the tropical wetlands and celebrity jungle area. Shortly after stocking up at the local supermarket, Ant fell asleep, waking briefly to cross the river on a small flatbed ferry. We arrived at Lync Haven rainforest retreat early afternoon and crashed – totally exhausted. (mosquito bite counter already reading 4!)