Cairns

Saturday, 30 June 2012

At last, we have arrived at Cairns!

Departed a hot and humid South Mission Beach this morning for the relatively short drive to Cairns. The road condition seems to improve the further north we travel and today, joy of joys, there were no trucks!

With the temperature hovering around the 30 degrees, we arrived at Crystal Cascades only ten minutes behind Barry and Denise, and were pleasantly surprised to find we were on adjoining sites. Rex and Carlene arrived two days ago and are only a short distance away. Needless to say, setting up took much longer than normal and I think we are all looking forward to happy hour tonight.

Cat has found a nice shady spot under the awning (away from the skylight area) and is following the breeze around. Today we have started the air conditioner for the first time.

South Mission Beach

Friday, 29 June 2012

Another warm and very humid day, with the clouds clearing after lunch.

This morning we drove to the village at Mission Beach – the setting for the television series, Patrol Boat. The area looked very familiar, including a couple of bars which were obviously used in the filming, but there was no sight of Boss, Ex, Charge, Ro or Buffer. We did find an interesting takeaway and a very nice gelato shop.

Again, there was still apparent damage from the cyclone, with some houses simply abandoned but many are new or have bright, new roofs. The jungle vines have recovered quickly but the tall trees that were stripped and snapped are stark reminders of the forces of nature.

A long walk to the end of the beach nearest us – about 2 km – helped fill in the afternoon. Leslie’s second best friend, Cassowary, came to visit again shortly after lunch. He should have come earlier while Leslie was continuing his science experiments in determining if grapes will fall down the plug hole and come out the other end. To date, the answer is no.

Cassowaries

Thursday, 28 June 2012

For some reason, we were on the road much earlier than usual this morning. It was very humid, with rain threatening as we joined the many trucks and caravans heading north. The road continued to be good, with some roadworks to slow the traffic down at times. Major works just south of Cardwell will definitely improve the road, once they are finished.

Once again, we were subjected to the odd disgruntled truck driver who doesn’t live caravans. After listening to his description of caravan drivers (he had a VERY limited vocabulary and could only think of words containing no more than four letters – unless finishing in “ing”), Leslie became a little fed up, grabbed the two-way handset and told the truck driver what caravan drivers think of them. Then there was dead silence and no more comments about caravans!

We had a short stop at Ingham for a leg stretch before continuing, through the rain, to South Mission Beach. This is considered wet tropics and is also the wettest place in Queensland, but at least it wasn’t cold (25 degrees). The jungle around here is also home to the cassowary and there were numerous signs warning us of the dangers of wandering cassowaries. Never having seen one in the wild, we were amazed to come across one of these large birds right beside the road!

The BIG4 Beachcomber Coconut Caravan Village at South Mission Beach is right on the beach – such a beautiful setting and a really nice caravan park. We ended up with a smaller site which made for a few tight reversing manoeuvres and we are a little long for the slab, but who cares – it is warm and tropical. Cat is happy to tuck a hibiscus behind his ear and catch up on the news. As the rain stopped before we arrived here, we were able to have a stroll along part of the beach – at 14 kms long, a short stroll was quite sufficient – and have a look at Dunk Island just across the water. Cyclone Yasi damage is still very apparent, but vegetation is starting to return.

Afternoon tea (or afternoon wee dram, rather) turned into a bit of a battle when a cassowary wanted to join the party! Unfortunately, they are rather large and can be quite viscous, so care has to be exercised when telling them to buzz off!

Ayr

Wednesday, 27 June 2012


We awoke to a warm morning, following a very warm night. Time to remove a blanket from the bed!

Today was only a fairly short drive of 120 km from Bowen to Ayr, where we will overnight before heading to South Mission Beach tomorrow. The drive was fairly uneventful, apart from the usual roadworks. We did see lots of mango trees and tomato plants, though. However, the road was good, with plenty of traffic to stop the boredom.

We arrived at the Big 4 Silver Link Caravan Village shortly before 11.00 am, which was just as well because the office shuts for two hours between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm! We have a drive through site with grass instead of a slab for the awning. Of course, grass means midgies!!! They know I am here. The park seems to be divided into two, with tourists on one side and permanents and backpackers on the other. The amenities are fine, but strangely, the soap dispensers are placed over two metres from the ground – management probably save a fortune on liquid soap!

We decided to do the town (as well as refuel) after lunch and made the big discovery that it is show day in Ayr and the only things open were the pubs (of course), a couple of takeaways and the service stations (when we eventually found them). The roads around the show grounds were closed to traffic, which resulted in some quick turnarounds and backtracking. Ayr seems to be a small country town servicing the cane industry.

If anyone is interested - 25 degrees and sunny.

Sunshine

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Welcome to sunny Queensland – at last the sun has come out, as have the thongs and sun hats! Cat has started shedding madly.

Today we “did” the sights of Bowen, starting with the Big Mango. Bowen is famous for the Kensington mango and we didn’t take much persuading to tuck into some mango sorbet. With Bowen closed for the annual show, there wasn’t much traffic except for caravans and motor homes. We drove to the lookout at the top of Flagstaff Hill, with its views out to Gloucester Island and back towards Bowen. We were treated to the sight of two sea eagles floating directly over head – magic.

Bowen was used as a location for the movie “Australia” and tonnes of red dirt was brought into the town to make it look more like Darwin in the early 1940’s. The site that was used is now just a large, open paddock. We also stopped at the Catalina Flying Boat Base, which was the major base for these planes during WW2. A glass panel display actually gives the impression that these planes are actually flying in to land. The hard stand, put down by the Americans, is still there, with a couple of plane silhouettes painted on it to give some idea of the size.

This afternoon we discovered Horseshoe Bay, just around from where our caravan park is. This is the most beautiful little cove with sandy beach and large rocks – the area reminded us of Magnetic Island. We spent a very pleasant half hour sitting on the sand before heading off to Queens Beach. The road came to an end at a creek bank and we were surprised to see two jabiru standing in the water – more magic as one very seldom sees these birds in the wild. There were a number of fisherman on the banks, even one standing in the middle of the creek – all of them ignoring the signs warning of crocodiles.

There are a large number of caravan parks in Bowen, some definitely look better than others. It appears to be a place that people return to every year to spend the winter.

Bowen

Monday, 25 June 2012


We have realised why the weather is wet and dismal – it is showtime! Mackay Show was on last Saturday and the Bowen Show is tomorrow. It is just typical show weather, wherever one is in Australia.

We packed up in the rain and left Mackay without any real backward glances. The road north was very busy, lots of caravans and trucks heading in both directions. Leslie was starting to suffer from RSI, what with all the waving to oncoming caravans. A couple of trucks drivers (one in particular) made his feelings known about what he thought of caravans holding up truck drivers – the lack of passing lanes and rest areas didn’t help, either. Of course, we encountered more of the usual roadworks which we have decided are there just to keep the car and caravan a nice shade of mud!

With it only being a relatively short drive of less than 200 kms, we arrived at Bowen well before lunch. We are staying at the Big 4 Coral Coast Holiday Resort which has absolute beach frontage and only caters to tourists. It isn’t over large but is set out well with lots of palm trees and small gardens between sites. These are all drive through but a bit on the narrow side – we had to ask someone to move their car so we could swing into the site. Everything is nice and clean, as well as being well maintained. Such a relief after Mackay.

Today I finally admitted defeat and decided I really did need medical attention for my ongoing cold which has now developed into sinusitis. After telephoning all the doctors’ surgeries, we ended up at the Bowen Hospital and only had to wait just over 30 minutes before being seen by a doctor. We spent this time watching infomercials on the television and were quite willing to pay the $170 for a baby bullet (blender) just to have a change of product!!! A visit to the local shopping centre(I’m sure Nicolle Kidman and Hugh Jackman must have shopped here for their groceries) to have the prescription filled before returning to the caravan park for a quick look at the beach. There wasn’t a lot of beach on show and it didn’t really look a swimming type of beach – well, not today, anyway.

Sunday in Mackay

Sunday, 24 June 2012

Just a cold, wet, dismal Sunday. Not wishing to spend the full day just looking at the inside of the caravan, we decided to check out some of Mackay’s sights – the IPad came in very useful as we didn’t have a street map of the area. We headed to the Marina, with its large, new apartment developments, looked at the rough, grey sea, and counted twelve ships in the murk and discovered a boat show was happening. Not really being “into” boats, we weren’t all that interested in wandering around in the rain. We then headed into the city before turning north across the river again until we came to the Mt Pleasant area. A quick stop for a few supplies and back to the caravan, and the heater, to read the paper.

Reading a book on the bed seemed to be the best place after lunch. Cat hasn’t stirred all day.

Mackay

Saturday, 23 June 2012


The Swans are beginning to make Friday evenings very stressful!

We were on the road before 8.00 am today! We were also wondering just where all the lovely tropical weather had gone – threatening cloud quickly turned to drizzle and the temperature hovered between 13 and 16 degrees.

Our trip today took us through the Queensland coal fields, in fact, the whole region seems to be one huge coal mine. There are just so many mines, with new mines and/or villages being developed and constructed in a number of locations. Traffic was fairly heavy, with many trucks and even more mine vehicles. Of course, we encountered the obligatory road works in progress but weren’t held up as, being Saturday, most of the road workers were somewhere else.

The descent from the highlands to the coastal plains was a bit steep but only a couple of kilometres long. The temperature immediately rose to 24 degrees and the cotton and sorghum of the previous days was replaced by sugar cane. It is definitely starting to look and feel tropical now. TomTom directed us through Mackay to the Big 4 Mackay Marine Holiday Park. We have never found a “nice” park in Mackay, and are still looking! How this place received Big 4 accreditation is a mystery, but the owners assured us the place has improved 9000% since they bought it. It is very old and run down, full of permanents, the amenities are old (but clean), however there are three brand new front loading washing machines in the laundry. Our site is quite wide but a bit shallow – and there is a horrible, open drain beside us. We look straight across a lagoon which is on the edge of the park and is, without a doubt, full of crocodiles and snakes!!!

Mackay seems to be in a similar situation to Roma, Emerald, Clermont and the mining towns in Western Australia – all accommodation is taken up by mining companies for their employees. As we have driven around Mackay, we have found only a very limited number of the many, many motels have vacancies and the majority of cars in the car parks are mining vehicles. Standards are never going to improve when there is no competition.

Clermont

Friday, 22 June 2012

We enjoyed a warm morning in Emerald, but little sun due to the cloud cover, with the temperature hovering around the 25 during the day.

We left Emerald and headed to Clermont, only a relative short drive of just over 100 kms. We did encounter quite a few road works but were lucky enough not to be delayed too much. We saw lots of sunflowers and sorghum, but no wildlife today.

Arrived at Clermont before 11.00 am to be greeted by the news that the caravan park was full (I hadn’t bothered booking ahead) and we could go to the showgrounds if we wanted to – power was available. I thought we might continue to Mackay, which is only three and a half hours drive, but He wanted to stay at Clermont and thought the showgrounds sounded fine. The showgrounds are also the sale yards and a rodeo ground, as well as the local pony club meeting place. There was a large open area, with powered sites, and we could go wherever we wished. One look at all the cattle in the stock yards and Cat declared he wanted to go to the other side of the grounds! That was fine, plenty of room but also plenty of horse poo!!! The whole area has recently been used to agist horses, obviously. Needless to say, the aroma is not one generally found in a Dior or Chanel bottle.  We have the use of some public toilets and were told there are some showers somewhere - thank goodness we have our own.

We are only staying here for one night.

Sapphires!

 

 Wonder if it is manual or automated?

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Yesterday evening was very special in that we had dinner with our “other son,” Warwick, who is flying surveys out of Emerald at the moment. We had a very nice meal at an Irish pub and spent a very pleasant couple of hours catching up. It was wonderful to see him so happy with life.

This morning, it was on with our oldest, darkest clothes ready for a day at the gemfields of Rubyvale. It was a nice drive to Sapphire and Rubyvale, passing lots of cotton fields (explains why there is a massive cotton gin in Emerald!) and cattle properties on the way. We decided to take a tour underground when we arrived and were rather glad to find that the tunnels had been built in the 1980’s and we didn’t have to crawl on our hands and knees like the early miners. Of course, we exited through the jewellery shop! There are a large number of jewellery shops in Rubyvale, and Sapphire. It certainly wasn’t hard finding pieces that I liked – it was just the prices I didn’t like. A little purchase did happen, though (one must do one’s bit for the local economy). Lunch was at a lovely little coffee shop, which was a bit of a surprise.

After inspecting some rather thought provoking signage, we decided to try our hand at fossicking, the easy way with the dirt already dug for us. With a bucket of dirt each and a sieve, with some guidance as to what to do and, more importantly, what to look for, we started washing, sieving and looking. Cat was a great help and very quickly spotted a few likely looking rocks. We did end up with rather a nice collection of stones by the time the buckets were empty, including a couple of a decent size. Some were blue, some green, some parti-coloured and a few yellow zircons completed the haul, along with a collection of rather dubious stones. It was into the shop for the big inspection, with Cat quickly donning the head binoculars for a close look. The lady immediately picked up my largest stone, said it was a beautiful colour and would cut well. Another was large enough to cut into a decent gem, but did have a flaw. While some of the other stones were bit enough to have cut, the resulting size wouldn’t really be worth the expense. I decided to have one cut and will have to wait until I get home to see the result.

The shortest day has been nice and warm, the first day the air has actually felt warm when out of the sun. For those who are chilling out back home, it was 25 here.

Lorikeets

Wednesday, 20 June 2012


Another beautiful day with a maximum temperature of about 22 degrees, but the mornings and evenings continue to be rather chilly.

This morning was a good opportunity to catch up on the necessary chores such as laundry and car washing before heading into Emerald. How this town has grown since we were last here in 2008! New subdivisions and a large new shopping complex, complete with BigW and Woolworths. This was a good chance to stock up the larder – again! – and made the very happy discovery that bananas were only $1.00 per kilogram.

What started out as a pleasant hour sitting in the sun and eating lunch at the caravan quickly became a battle ground! No sooner had we sat down than the apostle birds arrived (I probably shouldn’t have given then some bread crusts), then the word quickly spread to the lorikeets. These birds hunt in packs! While two or three act cute, sit on arms and eat out of one’s hand, others will attack the unprotected sandwiches and have a lovely time before being notices. I never did find the top layer of bread!!!

A fairly relaxing day, despite another walk around a little bit of the lake.

Lake Maraboon, Emerald

Tuesday, 19 June 2012


Before starting to pack up, we were treated to a few pied currawong drinking from the dripping tap beside our caravan. They were quite happy for me to get relatively close before moving away.

This morning we made sure that everything in the caravan was very securely stowed before tackling the 12 kms of very rough, gravel road. Once again, we negotiated the creek crossings without mishap and although we seemed to drive a little slower, the trip out seemed to be much quicker than the trip in. The caravan contents rode much better as well. The early morning light through the trees and on the dewy grass was spectacular, it was such a joy to be driving this morning. We were treated to a flock of bustards in a paddock just before we reached the highway – the first time we have seen so many together.

After reaching the highway, we headed north towards Rolleston, along with nearly every caravan and truck in Queensland (or so it seemed). A real, live dingo did cross the road slowly in front of us just before Rolleston. Then it was westwards towards Springsure, with the spectacular rocky mountains and outcrops in the near distance. We had a quick stop for fuel at Springsure before travelling to the Lake Maraboon Caravan Park just south of Emerald. This park is on the banks of Lake Maraboon (Fairbairn Dam) and our hosts, Andy and Geoff, are just delightful. Geoff directed us onto our site and filled us in on all the camp activities. Meals on Wheels operates Tuesday and Wednesday nights (meals delivered to site), a seafood buffet on Thursday, dinner in the restaurant at the weekends, entertainment in the afternoons and evenings, etc, etc. All proceeds from the entertainment go to Angel Flight, not the performer.

We had a stroll along the lake foreshore this afternoon and talked to a couple of fishermen. One was line fishing and hadn’t caught anything, the other had a boat and went red claw (type of fresh water crayfish) fishing and had caught over a hundred that morning. If he had known we were going to be there this afternoon, he would have saved us a couple … There is an abundance of birdlife in the area and we are now seeing tropical birds (only a few miles south of the tropics here). As we were walking along the lake, a hawk high up in a gum tree dropped a half eaten fish virtually at our feet!

After three nights without telephone, internet or television, we suddenly feel we are back in civilization and will have three nights here.

Carnarvon Gorge

 Saturday, 16 June 2012


Another bright, clear morning but a slight breeze did keep the temperature a little higher. Our maximum today was about 24-25 degrees.

We left Roma, heading north for Carnarvon Gorge, topping up with fuel at the small town of Injune. The road north was basically good, with some very good stretches and some not so very good stretches. A large number of trucks, heading in both directions, kept the driver on his toes this morning. This was also the first day since leaving the Barossa Valley that we didn’t see an emu. However, the crows were very fat and contented looking – with the large amount of roadkill (kangaroos and a pig), they didn’t have to look far for a feed.

It was with some trepidation that we turned off the highway and headed for Carnarvon Gorge. We knew that the last 12-14 kms was gravel, with some creek crossings to make life interesting. Not having an off-road caravan, we were a bit worried about the descents into the crossings – everyone had told us we “should probably be okay!” The road was very rough, which meant driving very, very slowly and the creek crossings really weren’t anything to worry about as there wasn’t a lot of water over the road. The worst crossing was probably the one after we had turned off for Takarakka Resort!

The resort is lovely, absolutely lovely, thankfully (at $42 per night it would want to be). A lovely bushland setting but grassy and open beneath the trees. The tent area is just gorgeous and the cabins are safari tents. There is an abundance of birdlife – plenty of lorikeets, apostle birds and magpies – and the wallabies and kangaroos are very tolerant of people. There is a beautiful sandy beach beside the river and a large pool which is supposed to contain platypus.
We had just finished lunch when another Tasmanian pulled in behind us – the Gurnhills, who we had both worked with before retiring. With no telephone, television or internet, there will probably a fair bit of socialising happening here. The afternoon finished with an informative talk around the campfire by a guide. He was very good, down to earth, easy to understand and added just the right touch of humour. He assured us that MOST of the snakes weren’t active at this time of the year. Not sure about the ones that ARE active!!! We don’t think we will tackle the full 18 km walk to the end of the gorge, but will certainly undertake some of the shorter walks.

Sunday, 17 June 2012


Another beautiful day, but with a slight breeze which kept the temperature down a little.

We decided to stick to shorter walks today, with the hope that by tomorrow we will both be feeling up to a longer walk. I have a sneaking suspicion that the five short walks probably added up to one long walk! Our first venture was to the lookout located in the resort. I have now come to realise that lookouts are always at the tops of hills, and this was no exception. What we thought was going to be a short climb turned into a much longer walker along the ridge line, with great views over the sandstone mountain range.

Our next stop was for the walk into Baloon Cave, with its stencil art. This was a nice walk through the Carnarvon fan palms and cycads, with just a little climb at the end. We did discover plenty of maidenhair ferns growing alongside the track. She with the shortest legs gets to lead the walks, which is good in that she also controls the pace. However, it does mean that she is also the first to find any snakes that may be lurking in the leaf litter! Not sure whether leading or following is the better option.

After admiring the hand prints and axe print, we returned to the car and headed for Mickey Creek Gorge – this was a longer walk along Mickey Creek, with similar vegetation, until we suddenly realised that the gorge had narrowed considerably and the high sandstone cliffs were very close on both sides. We encountered our first creek crossing on this walk and managed to negotiate the stepping stones without any problems.

After lunch, we finally made it to the visitors’ centre and were amazed to find that there was no charge to enter the national park. We wandered past lots of kangaroos and whip tail wallabies and had to cross the Carnarvon Creek (more stepping stones) on our way to the nature walk, which wound its way along the bank of the creek before heading back along the waters edge and another crossing.

The Rock Pool was our final stop but we baulked at the river crossing here – with water actually over the stones, Cat flatly refused to get his paws wet. This meant one of us had to make the sacrifice and stay with Cat while himself felt his manhood was being questioned and managed to get his feet wet crossing to the other side.

Tomorrow we will head into the gorge proper, but certainly wont attempt the full 20 km walk to the end.

Monday, 18 June 2012


Weather no different. This was our last full day at Carnarvon Gorge and our plans were to walk as far into the gorge as far as we felt comfortable going. Unfortunately, the best laid plans …

My cold took a turn for the worse last night and there was no way that I would be walking anywhere today. Instead, I took the opportunity to boost my vitamin D levels while Leslie set off for the gorge. He managed the 12 kms walk to the Art Gallery (aboriginal rock art wall) and the Moss Garden and arrived home with dry feet!

With 120 grade 6/7 school children arriving today and another group due tomorrow, it is time to move on.