We’re involved in a bit of a mad dash ‘up north’ at the moment, to get to Mission Beach in time for Charlotte’s birthday. That’s involved some long days of driving, and we’ve driven 1,300 kilometres (about 800 miles) in the last two days – which has meant most of the day in the van. The girls have been amazing – settling down in the back to make dens, colour and generally amuse each other. A sign of how well they are doing this is that last night, at 4:30pm, Charlotte asked “When are we there?” for the first time – after 10 hours of driving! And the bit we’re travelling through is pretty boring, apart from the occasional roadside treat (?) like the Big Mango. Yes, I know it’s not a great photo, but it was the only thing worth photographing for all 800 miles!

We’ve now arrived in Townsville, 120 miles short of Mission Beach, and we’re going to stay here for 2 nights before doing the last stretch on Wednesday. I think we’re all relived to have a day of not travelling – it means we don’t need to pack away/tie down/re-organise everything inside the camper van first thing in the morning,