Cairns to Sydney Road Trip Day 1

Today began our camper van relocation from Cairns to Sydney. We have a week to drive it back down, making some stops along the way. Today is a pretty boring day, just driving to get as far as we possibly can before we are too tired. Rockhampton, 12 hours away, was the goal, but we only made it to Waverley Creek about 2 hours north of Rockhampton.

We picked up the camper from Cruisin Motorhomes, went back to the hotel to load up and check out, and then we were on our way! The drive wasn't too bad once we left Cairns. We stayed on the A1 highway the whole way occasionally going through small towns. The potholes on the road were absolutely awful, huge and deep and gave me a shock every time I couldn't avoid one. Hertz and all the tire drama has really stressed me out!

We stopped for an on the go lunch to cover as much ground as possible before it got too dark. We didn't make any other stops along the way, waving at Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays as we drove past. It got dark early, and quickly; the sun did not linger. A combination of bad windshield wipers, horrible potholes, and a huge van made it nerve-wracking to drive at night. We drove a few hours in the dark, but knew we wouldn't make it as far as we wanted.

We parked up at Waverley Creek, went to the bathroom, and then got ready for bed. Unfortunately getting ready for bed, meant chasing and killing cockroaches while we brushed our teeth and put pajamas on. Over the course of the next hour and a half, we killed many little cockroaches. It was deeply unpleasant and once we finally did turn out the lights and try to sleep, occasionally being so paranoid that they were crawling on the bed that we turned flashlights on to double check and then kill them on the walls. It was going to be a long night...Read more