THE campervan at the centre of an international controversy has been found south of Cairns - and at the wheel is an English couple on their honeymoon.  

Andrew and Jo Roper were spotted in Townsville at the weekend, driving the Wicked van bearing the spray-painted slogan, "Save a whale - harpoon a Jap".

They rented it in Cairns on July 7 and are adjusting to their newfound celebrity after The Cairns Post's article about the slogan attracted international attention, with Premier Anna Bligh branding it "racist".   

"We were out at a waterfall and someone said to us, 'Do you realise you're on the front page of (The Cairns Post) newspaper'?"

"We had no idea," Ms Roper said.

The pair of 25-year-olds, from Reading, west of London, said they were allocated the van and had not chosen it, but would have done so if given the opportunity. 

"It made us chuckle and it's quite relevant, particularly in Australia," Ms Roper said. 

"If Japanese people are offended they should think about why it's being written. It's there to start debate about what's happening to the whales."

The pair said while their van's slogan was OK, other Wicked Campers went too far.

"Some are crude just for the sake of being crude, whereas this was one of the few that actually had some thought behind it," Mr Roper said.   

The Ropers are paying $40 a day for the van while they make the road trip to Sydney over the next two months.

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