Innisfail

After approximately 2600 kilometres, we have reached our semi-permanent home for the next two months in Innisfail. The Kombi got a well-deserved bath after collecting a few dead bugs along the way.

After two weeks of beautiful weather on the way up here, it hasn’t stopped raining since we arrived. The town next door, Tully, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest banana split, at 8040 metres long! It also goes on record as being the wettest town in Australia! Daph reckons that must mean that Innisfail is the second wettest by proxy. Great.

On the upside, Innisfail is the Art Deco capital of Australia, due to a devastating cyclone (of course!) in 1918, when the town was rebuilt. It is a delightful mix of old and new, incorporating the Art Deco buildings as modern-day stores. They look beautiful, despite the menacing grey skies.

Daph and Ern are staying at the River Drive Van Park, along with a mixture of Grey Nomads, more European backpackers, and Fijian banana pickers. It’s an eclectic bunch, which makes for interesting conversation.

We met Little Johnny, a Grey Nomad and comedic genius who has been on his road trip for nineteen years! He showed us photos of him drag racing his 1960 VW Kombi with a V8 engine. What a character! He’s “been there, done that” and has more than one story to tell.

And he collects electric jugs.

Ern: “Electric jugs?! How many do you have?” (Thinking there can’t be that many to collect) ...

Little Johnny: “Oh. Only about 2000.”

What a guy.

We are just settling in and getting familiar with the town before Daph starts work on Monday. Eeeewwwwww. Work.