Cairns to Cooktown

Whilst in Cairns we went for a swim in the beautiful but cold, clear waters of the Crystal Cascades swimming hole just north of the town.

 We also took in downtown Cairns, walking the esplanade and the various malls.

 Our backpacker friends cooked damper for us and then, with some help from some Swiss backpackers cooked a full repast for us. All these backpackers had been in the country for over six months and it was interesting to see how people from other countries viewed Australia and our idiosyncrasies.

We then continued travelling north to Mossman 'gateway to the Daintree' and stocked up with supplies for our trip to Cape York.

After a quick trip to plastic land (Port Douglas)

we spent the day in the rainforest. After crossing on the Daintree ferry we went to Cape Tribulation and stopped at some great lookouts and beaches.



 We then had a fantastic time jungle surfing for a couple of hours. This involved speeding along the top of the forest on ropes and in harnesses, sometimes even upside down and 'look Mum no hands'. It was exhilarating.

The next stop was the Daintree River where we went on a river cruise. The cruise boat got up close and personal with a couple of large, male saltwater crocs that were sunning themselves on the river bank. The crocs were very photogenic.

We also got quite close to a number of smaller crocs, a couple of green tree snakes and various native birds and frogs. The trip was both educational and great fun. We had dinner in the rainforest at the Cow Bay Pub.
We continued north via the inland route to Cooktown. After breakfast at Cook's landing wharf we visited the iconic Lion's Den pub

 and went to an art exhibition.

Townsville to Cairns

As we left Townsville we had almost completed one month on the road since we left the Gold Coast so we thought it was a good time to reflect on what we had learnt during this time:

• Towns in the west of QLD cannot survive without good rail connections and the mines, especially coal mines
• The wages offered by the mines, especially in WA, is threatening many other industries as they cannot attract or keep workers, especially unskilled workers
• Whilst Cyclone Yasi was devastating the insurance monies are now coming thru and people are looking up again
• There is support for and caution optimism towards the NBN; the message has been "it is about time we had the chance to be treated the same as the townies down south
• QLD does not produce any good wine,
• Backpackers find Australia expensive with the current exchange rate; many prefer NZ for this reason.

We are conscious of the impact of Yasi so decided to base ourselves in Cardwell, the worst hit town. The caravan park we stayed at in Cardwell advertised itself as the 'shady place' but didn't seem to have a lot of trees. However, we viewed photos of the park pre-Yasi and realised that most of the trees had been knocked down and removed. The beach which was previously pristine was now covered in debris and some campers in the park were there as they don't have a liveable home yet.

On the way to Cardwell we had a lovely lunch in a park in Ingham and had an unsolicited tour of the park. On the first day in Cardwell we went south and looked at the 6.7 km long sugar jetty at the nice town of Lucinda and then swam in a beautiful clear waterhole just south of Cardwell. The next day we went north and visited the amazing Paronella Park near Mena Creek. The park was originally built in the 1920s by a Spanish emigrant and was the centre of society in the area at that time. It still has amazing gardens and waterfalls and the ruins of the main home, ballroom, swimming pool and cinema. As sugar is the lifeblood of the area we looked at the Sugar Museum at Mourilyan near Innisfail. On the way back to Cardwell we tasted some of the worst wines imaginable. They tasted like fermented Dettol. Marty kept a straight face and reckoned the taste was not as bad as Army cooking but I nearly passed out. I tried not to show how bad the taste was but one wine, allegedly made from local berries, was so bad my whole face collapsed.
We also drove thru Mission Beach on the way back and looked at the Yasi damage there.

Then it was off to Cairns.

We took the scenic railway to Kuranda. We went 'gold class' which meant free champagne and croissants. There were many photo opportunities as the scenery is magnificent. The rail line is a fine example of engineering of the day. We then spent a couple of hours in the Kuranda (hippieville) browsing the markets and the village. We took the sky rail back. The gondola provide more photo opportunities as we passed over the rainforest and we stopped at various points on the line and took more photos. When we arrived back at the caravan park in Cairns I was surprised to see the 2 good looking, young Dutch backpackers from Townsville camped next to us. Marty seemed less surprised, I think he believes I orchestrated it all.

Charter Towers - Townsville

Miners Cottage Museum Charters Towers

Townsville and Magnetic Island

We left Winton for Charters Towers stopping at Hughenden for lunch. Despite dinosaurs continuing to be the theme we only saw a small (almost prehistoric) dog in the park while we ate our lunch on the banks of the Flinders River, which we now know is the longest river in Queensland.

We stayed at the Charters Towers Tourist Park that promotes itself as the Shady Park. It was truly a shady spot but we were told that most of the trees had been removed after cyclone Yasi had ripped its way through the town. As suggested in the information brochure we stayed for 3 nights so that we could explore the city's rich heritage, of 'gold, greed, ghosts and grandeur'. We walked the main shopping street, admired some of the magnificent heritage buildings, one of which was the 1891 World Theatre and was originally the Australian Bank of Commerce when Charters Towers was referred to as "The World". It was in this building back in 1902 that the Mosman Street Tragedy took place, and the blood stains are still visible on the table where the shooting occurred. We also took a drive up the once heavily mined Towers Hill to take in a panoramic view over the region, and visited the Venus Battery, an old gold processing plant where the 'ghosts' come alive. The Battery is a working gold mine and a mine of information.

Looking for Gold

A highlight was a visit to the Miners Cottage museum with new friends from the park, George and Sonja and their friends Mike and Debbie. George is a military lawyer about to commence work in Townsville so Marty and he had a few things in common. The old host at the cottage enjoyed an audience and put on quite a show playing lots of old songs on a piano accordion and changing his hat to match the country of origin of each tune, ie when he played Swannie he had on his American hat with a US sheriffs' badge on it, and when he played a Scottish ballad he donned his tartan beret. After all the music recitals we were then treated to a demonstration on how to pan for gold. Then we were shown a DVD on the Miners Cottage with a "ghost" in it.

We then travelled onto Townsville where we meet up with Marty's nephew Billy and his soon to be wife Louise, and they turned out to be wonderful tour guides of Townsville. On the Friday night Billy and Louise took us out for dinner at the Yongala restaurant where we all enjoyed a Greek banquet, this restaurant is also the venue for their wedding reception that unfortunately we will miss. After dinner we were taken up to the top of Castle Hill lookout, a red rock monolith in the heart of Townsville to see the panoramic views. The next morning Billy and Louise took us out to the Ross River dam, before heading back into the city and to the Museum of Tropical Queensland, where we learnt about HMS Pandora, the ship sent by the British Admiralty to capture the Bounty mutineers and return them to England. The ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef and has only recently been located. That evening the caravan park put on a seafood night and I adopted 2 (young, good looking) Dutch back packers and invited them to dinner on Sunday. Sunday morning we meet up again with Billy and Louise at the Reef HQ Aquarium, an underwater observatory that is visually breathtaking. Its living reef is the largest 'captive' reef in the world. We really loved viewing the giant turtles in the turtle hospital in the museum. Monday morning we also returned to the summit of Castle Hill for a 360 degree view of the city in daylight. We also 'walked the strand' and looked at Queen's Park gardens, hiding from each other in the maze. Many of our friends know about Marty's fetish for Rivers fashions, so after finding out that there is a Rivers store in Townsville he had to top up.


Turtle Hospital at Reef HQ



Reef HQ

Barcaldine to Charters Towers

















Arnos wall



We arrived at Barcaldine on Wednesday 11 May. The caravan park put on free damper and billy tea which was a good start. The next morn we visited the tree of knowledge in the town but unfortunately nothing of the tree's sagacity rubbed off on Marty. The tree has important links to the foundation of what is now the Australian Labor Party. We also visited the Australian Worker's Heritage Museum in the town which celebrates the town's role in the first shearer's strikes. We were going to look at more things in the town but, being thirsty, decided to go to the Shakespeare Hotel for lunch instead. I ordered a Chick Parmi which, when it was served, could have fed some small countries for a week. When we commented on its size the staff advised that they only serve the really big ones for evening meals. We were joined by Dave and Angela, two Brisbanites originally from Northern Ireland who were also staying at the caravan park. After a few beers we gave up any thoughts of sightseeing and adjourned to the caravan park with Dave and Angela and had a few more quiet beers and some not so quiet bundies. Marty accepted an invite to see Angela's beaver. Please refer to our facebook site for video evidence.

On Black Friday we travelled to Longreach and stayed in a very dodgy caravan park. We visited the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the QANTAS museum where we toured a 747 jet. I also wing walked on the plane while Marty listened to the footy (the Kangaroos won so apparently it was all worthwhile).

Winton was the next stop where we toured the Waltzing Matilda Museum. Marty always tears up when he hears Waltzing Matilda so it was an interesting visit to a really good museum. We are now experts on Banjo Paterson and the poem but this will probably only last a few days. We visited the other tourist attractions in the town including Arno's Wall (a collection of junk concreted into a wall) and the musical fence. Lastly we visited the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, a working scientific preparation area where palaeontologists and volunteer work collaboratively to piece together the various pieces of dinosaur bones found in the area into 2 dinos.

A highlight was the bush poet evenings put on by the caravan park. Marty often sprouts forth bawdy verse and met his match. The bush poets, called the 2 short sheilas, were very entraining. It was interesting that in a former life one of the ladies was a senior CPSU organiser working with the new Chief Minister. Their travelling two-woman show combines fair dinkum humour with their passion for our unique Aussie heritage as they perform comic, original and traditional bush verse. One of the bush poems that Susan recited was written by Roy Wheeler my high school principal. We stayed at the Matilda Country Tourist Park and we once again enjoyed the company of fellow campers Ian and Diane who were from the Sunshine Coast.



Sheilas in the Shed



Walking with Dinosaurs



Hervey Bay to Barcaldine

On leaving Hervey Bay we headed for the Discovery Coast and the small towns of Seventeen Seventy and Agnes Waters. 1770 is a historical town with a monument where Captain Cook landed for the first time in QLD and the second time in Oz. On the way there we stopped at Childers to see the heritage buildings, art gallery and memorial of the backpackers' fire, and purchasing something for morning tea from the local bakery. We positioned ourselves at a lovely caravan park in Agnes Waters for a couple of nights, and during the day went about exploring the area, we backed tracked all the way to Gin Gin to look at the Mystery Craters – an unusual natural rock formation. Their location, origin and unique mixture have baffled international geologists, and still remain a world proclaimed unsolved mystery. Then on to Rum Town-Bundaberg home of 'Bundy' rum where we took a tour of the distillery. It was wonderful to stand in the open doorway of the bond store to take in the aroma of the contents of the big wooden vats, and at the end of the tour we enjoyed a couple of drinks before going to the big barrel to find out the history of ginger beer, interesting but not as good as the distillery. We purchased a bundy liqueur only available at the distillery. It has already been useful toward off the cold of western QLD.

We left Agnes Waters for Rockhampton – taking in some of the sights, Capricorn caves, including the underground cathedral where regular operatic concerts as well as weddings are held, and heritage village.

Saturday we took a trip to explore the islands of Keppel Bay with Freedom Fast Cats. This was a full day cruise out to one of the many reefs on the Great Barrier Reef in a glass bottom boat in search of coral and tropical fish. While this was amazing and we got to see a lot of fish, coral and a small turtle, it was nothing compared to what we were to experience. After a BBQ lunch as we were taken through the finer points of snorkeling in the shallow fringing reefs surrounding Great Keppel Island and then we were kitted up with goggles flippers and snorkel, off loaded into a small rubber dingy and let loose into the crystal clear waters. We saw pristine coral and vast, abundant marine life, many different varieties of tropical fish, hard and soft coral, and one small friendly turtle. This was the first time we have ever tried this and for over an hour we had an absolute amazing time. On the way back we zoom netted out of the back of the boat. Naturally Marty just had to get to the bottom of the net where the impact is greaest.

Sunday had us packing up again but this time we went west to Emerald. After a morning tea break at a typical bush pub at Westwood and a stop to look at the Leichhardt "DIG" tree at Comet we duly arrived. The impact of the recent floods in Emerald was immediately apparent with some shops still closed to repair the damage. We have had a lot of connections problem mainly interfacing between our mobiles and computers and the sheltered workshop (help line) of our service provider was not helpful so we spent the day at a techo store in town. On Tuesday we visited the showpiece of Emerald, the Big Easel, which is basically a giant replica of Van Gogh's work "Sunflowers", which highlights Emerald's history as a large producer of sunflowers. We also followed the Mosiac path in town and then went fossicking for the first time at the nearby town of Sapphire. Sue found a sapphire that might be big enuff to put in a pendant at some stage. Marty found dirt. Then we went on a tour of a working underground sapphire mine in Rubyvale. The weather is certainly different out west and any need for a midnight ablute means the goolies are subjected to extreme cold which is not uplifting.

Wednesday 11 May saw us head further west to Barcaldine via the very little town of Alpha. We looked at the 27murals that are the town's unique identifier. The lady in the Information Centre was a source of much fun. She told us she was happy to get such intelligent visitors. We thought this might be a sly dig at the ACT number plates but she informed us that our enthusiasm for the mud maps of the area was not matched by a previous visitor who didn't want to look at them as she didn't have a four wheel drive and therefore would not be driving in mud. The same lady when chipped that the she was a dust puffer (bum close to the ground) said she might be short but could still stand on a piece of paper and kick a duck up the bum. Sounds like my colleague Anne Mac and is a story that will inevitably be told ad infinitum in the future.

Queensland’s Fraser Coast

Well we finally left the Gold/Sunshine Coast for the on Thursday 28 April.

We joined our friends Janice and Terry Byrne at the Windmill Caravan Park at Hervey Bay.

Windmill is a small park, about 45 sites, a little back from the beach and this suits us perfectly.

Some of the activities we have done since arriving include:

Riding bikes along the Hervey Bay Esplanade, and then down the Urangan Pier.

A seafood banquet at the Marina watching the royal wedding, although Marty was most reluctant about the wedding but couldn't find a footy game to watch in lieu.

The next morning we set off early down to River Heads for the first morning barge across the Great Sandy Strait to world heritage listed Fraser Island for an unforgettable day of self drive 4WD on sand tracks.

Some of the sights that we saw on the Island were:

Lake McKenzie with its pure white sand and the fresh water and its shade of light blue,

Wanggoolba Creek at Central Station where you walk from an open, sunny picnic area into dark, lush rainforest wilderness with tall straight trees and lichen-covered logs and with water in the creek which is so clear and calm, and with the sandy creek bed it is hard to see the water.

Seventy Five Mile Beach with its smorgasbord of attractions along the way, the 'Maheno' wreck, the Pinnacles, and a spectacular coloured sand formations, the Cathedrals.

Waddy Point stopping to look at Stonetool Sandblow, before heading back to Kingfisher Bay and the 40 minute barge ride back to the mainland.

One of the frew things that we did not see were dingos, but we did hear them

In total we did 115 Kiometers in the Byrne car with Terry doing most of the driving except for some four wheel track and beach driving lessons under the guidance of road safety officer Terry.

Well after years of dreaming, planning, and talking about it, we have finally left.

With all our leave approved, and with, we hope, everything else all sorted out, paid up and taken care of, Marty and I left home on Friday 15 April.

The first stop was the Taree show grounds where we were the only campers. Lovely, nice and quiet and lots of room. A good night's sleep was followed by a very early start as the good folk of Taree run markets from the show ground and started setting up from 5 am.

The next night was at Broadwater just south of Ballina. A lovely caravan park adjacent to a koala sanctuary which provide a lovely walk. Thoughtful staff who gave us a perfect camping spot and we didn't have to unhitch. Just before we left Canberra a work colleague of Marty's, Anne, gave us a couple of farewell gifts which were handy this night. Firstly our planned meal did not quite defrost as expected so we used Mrs Mac's curry instead. Her other gift was a lantern holder and I found out that it will support the weight of a short fat bald over-active husband, sort of a bush time out device for me.

We travelled up the east coast to the Gold Coast where we have been able to visit and spend some time with family and friends over the extended Easter holiday period.

We took our trailer up to DSS on the Sunshine Coast to have the electrics in the trailer updated and then with that all done we headed back down to the Gold Coast.

We stayed a couple of nights with our friends Janice and Terry at North Arm. Terry drove us around to show us the sights on the Sunshine Coast region stopping for coffee at Mapleton, shopping at Maleny and lunching at Kenilworth before returning to North Arm to change so we could go out for dinner that evening. We have had a lot of rain, so much so, that while getting ready a large tree on Terry's property could stand no more and down it came with a large thud bring down the power lines with it across the drive way. So a long time later with the help of the local fire authority, electricity company, and a chain saw, we were able to get out, but we decided a night out was to be no more so it ended up with a candlelight Thai takeaway dinner at home.

Back down on the Gold Coast for Easter, we enjoyed a picnic with my brother Eddie, his wife Carol and their boys and their families at Natural Bridge.

On Saturday we visited our friends who were spending the Easter break at Binna Burra in the Lamington National Park.

Both of these places were just wonderful and we enjoyed a couple of short bush walks through the rainforests, but nothing too strenuous, just enough to walk off lunch.

Sunday was my oldest nephews birthday and he cooked us all a lovely Sunday roast, it was good to spend a bit more time them all again.

Monday saw Marty and I off to visit my Uncle Jim up at Burpengary.

With the Queensland school holidays over we are going to head off, again this time up to Hervey Bay until next week.

 

 

And so the plan began

And so the plan began.

 

With Christmas and New Year over for another year and our small Toyota corolla packed up to the hilt with tent and all other camping gear we made our way down the Clyde Mountain for our annual camping holiday on the NSW South Coast. 

There was just the two of us in the car and we did not have any radio reception, so we had nothing else to do but to talk to each other, this is when Marty first came up with the idea of a camping trip that would last for 12 months and take us around Australia.

And so the dream began, but we would need to upgrade our camping equipment to something a little more fitting and comfortable for the task.

After a good look around we settled on and acquire our complete campsite camper trailer (CT).  We also had to get a new car that would tow the CT.

In the last two and a half years we have managed to get out and about with the CT either on our own or with family and friends to some nearby destinations to investigate how everything is going to work.  This also involved going a doing a introductory level CT driving course to find out the operation of a four wheel drive vehicle and vehicle recovery techniques. In addition to this we learnt how to tow our CT on unsealed surfaces and over 4WD terrain. Trailer maintenance and daily checks.

2011 is to be our year so we have returned to work after the Christmas period and are trying to stay focused on what we are being paid to do, but ever more important things are being a bit of a distraction, check that we have to make sure that our leave from work is approved 

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