By most measures, Australia is a fairly big place, and the state of Queensland covers a fairly big chunk of it. To put that into some sort of confusing perspective, if one was to travel norther from the southern most bit of the "North Coast" (of NSW), one would have to travel 700 kilometres or so until one reached Qld's "South Coast".
A few hundred kilometres north, you'll find us, tucked away in beautiful downtown Dicky Beach in what is known as Queensland's South East, and we think of those in New South Wales as "Southerners".
1200 kilometres further north you'll find yourselves in Townsville, officially in "North Queensland" unless of course you are talking to someone who lives in Cairns "Far North Queensland", who call people from Townsville "Southerners".
Sadly for them (the people of Cairns), while they may actually live in the most populous city in the region (by far) they are actually still 1000 kilometres give or take, south of the tip of Cape York known simply as "The Cape", which is the Northern most part of the Australian Mainland and of course is far enough away for people living there to think of the people living in Cairns as "Southerners".
Not all of that road is sealed. Some of it was once the stuff of which legends were made, although these days while it does take a certain amount of determination and a tolerance for red dust, there is not a lot to fear for those who take the time to prepare their vehicles properly, and whose dental fillings are secure.
Many of you will have seen this postcard, a copy of which we carry on our boat to put things into some sort of scale.
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Checking an alternative means of transport, with which I think you are familiar, hugging the coastline and doing a brisk pace of 10 km/h with the engine drinking 4L/h the non-stop trip to the Cape from Maroochydore would be about 2250 km, take a bit under ten continuous days and consume a bit under 1000L of diesel.
No locks to pass or bridges to raise though!
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