Canberra, ACT

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Well, well, well. Here we are back in our own house. A few statistics for those interested in these things:

Days away: 138 or 4 months, 18 days
Total kilometres driven : 24,740
(BMW: 19,390, Various hire cars (4) 4,350)
Total kilometres covered by the van : 12,300
Photos take: In excess of 5000
Blog posts made : 119
Blog views, and not by us! : 4318 and counting

Best thing: Just doin' it!!!!!! For me, this was as close to an adventure as I'm likely to get. Make arrangements for the cat, house, bills, letters. Get car and van ready as best as you can. Pack up all the things that you think you'll need. Put half of them back. Have a last meal and drink with the family and then just literally, drive away into the sunset, knowing that you wont be back for at least 4 months. Transport run out across the Murray, done it all before. Had a fabulous couple of days in Mildura, Dinner in Stefano's restaurant and a whole day being shown all over Lake Mungo national park by the last of the traditional owners. This was a taste for things to come.

First time we turned our rig northward and into the unknown at Berri in SA was a buzz and we had an inkling that we were on our way. Saw Wilpena Pound and explored the Flinders Ranges, the likes of which we hadn't seen or experienced before. Now that was going to be hard to top.

I had a 'moment' as we left Port Augusta heading west and you come to the intersection with the Stuart Hhighway that heads north for 2,700 kilometres to Darwin. Now I knew we were truly going to do it and this was the start of something big.

What a place, travel for hours through apparently barren plains, visit legendary places like Woomera and the Breakaways north 'o Coober. And travel, and drive, and drive. Stay in a real dinki-di Road House. Sat up at the bar and had a drink with the locals and a few fellow tourists.

Turn left after a weeks travel and drive another 300 uninterrupted k's to a bloody big rock called Uluru, which to me was truly awe inspiring, well at least until I saw its cousin just a bit further out, Kata Tjuta. Soaked up all the Aboriginal stories and yarns and culture and law. Loved it, gave me a whole different perspective. Enough rock? I don't think so: another 300k to Kings Canyon, 'just up the road' and you see more great big rocks you and love it.

Meeting Lyn & Ray on top of a hill in a van park in Alice was pretty special and I need to thank them for their hospitality. Good on yas.

Getting sick on the road in the outback is not a pleasant experience, but hey, we were learning fast to take the good with the bad, and so, you push on, all the way up to Mataranka. Even the name sounds adventurous. And then Katherine and finally Darwin. Having to get the car fixed wasn't really a low, we got to meet Josh the mechanic who used to work for our mechanic in Canberra, and we had Russell and Josh and another Josh who fixed the gearbox itself  doing all they could to make sure we were looked after: and I have to thank them all for that as well. Like I said, we had started to learn to adapt and adapt we did. We saw more of Darwin, and loved it, than we might have. We hired cars and trucks and saw Kakadu out east and Kunanurra way out west.


We saw crocs up close and scary as hell. We saw aboriginal paintings thousands of years old, we saw landscapes as old as time. We took a ride in a tiny plane out over the Bungle Bungles, Lake Argyle and the Argyle diamond mine. The landscape is truly fantastic. We swam in rock pools, under waterfalls, in thermal spas and swimming pools on the edges of the ocean. We did all we could to immerse ourselves in the history, culture, land, people and a way of life previously unknown to us.


Pick a highlight? Not a chance.
Go again? Bet your life on it, can't wait.

Next time we'll go a bit more bush, take a few more chances. We need to taste that spirit of adventure again, to live a bit more on our own resources, to take nothing for granted in our daily life. everyone should do it, it's a transforming experience.

Worst part? That's relatively easy. Leaving the outback and crossing over back into civilisation, which started for us in Emerald in Queensland. Nice place, but too crowded, too civilised, too urban.

Biggest mistake? Taking too long wandering down the coast. Should have stayed 'out there'.

Cheers, from us for now, stay safe wherever you roam.
Brian & Judy

Sadly, this is the penultimate post

Yes folks, sad but true. Who would have thought that 137 days could go so fast? One minute your heading out all bright eyed and bushy tailed and the next you're looking back on some great times and pinching yourself to check that you really did go to all those places and do all those things. Good job we took snaps and wrote a blog and a diary otherwise we would never have believed it.

But, today is the last day out for us, we head home tomorrow, so for now i'll just leave you with some snaps from Lake Conjola, and promise to write an extensive wrap of the whole experience tomorrow.

Don't forget to look at the Lake Conjola snaps again as i added some more.

Snaps of the day

Ducks on the lake

Sunset on the lake

More arty sunset on the lake

A last fish, a last champagne...

The Great Annual Fish-off. Lake Conjola, NSW

Happy Birthday Paul

Actually, 'twas yesterday, but better late than never.

The Annual Fishing contest was down to three anglers this year, Judy, Paul and Paul's mate Kerry.

The lake's entrance is closed to the ocean, the lake is full of fresh water and sadly, the usually scarce fish are completely non-existent. SO, over to the beach. Paul had his beach rod, last used 1973 and a spare for Kerry. Judy had her trusty lake and estuary rod. Paul had pilchards on a three-gang hook, Judy had the usual prawn on a big red hook. I rigged the line as requested for beach operations and off we went. The battle was on, lines were cast, bait was thrown into the ocean, feet were frozen.

Fish? Not a one, not a hint of a one, not a bit, not a nibble. Nothing, Zippo.

The session was called when a suggestion that the only nibbles that were going to be had would be served on a platter with a nice glass of wine. And so it was that the Great Fishing Contest for the Year 2012 was declared a non-event on account of a lack of interest on the fishs' behalf. a Fish Off it certainly was. Next year, we'll get them next year!

It lives! Long live the Beemer

It true. The car was shipped on Thursday from Ulladulla to Canberra to Advanced Tech Automotive by the NRMA. Advanced Tech Automotive ordered the part Thursday morning based on the NRMA roadside assistance diagnosis.

Now get this - Advanced Tech Automotive called me on Friday at 12 noon to say the car was fixed and ready to go, now that is service. It really doesn't get much better than that in the car repair business.

My special thanks to NRMA whose Platinum Coverage service has been truly outstanding. Well done to them and especially "Chris" who took my intial call and handled it with efficiency and top level professionalism.

Now that we know how the coverage works, we wont hesitate to take off again next year and head outback again. Far out, as they say,

Rats! More car trouble

Yes, that's right, the fabulous X5 has packed it in again. Not happy, Jan!

This time we were coming back down the narrow dirt road from Pointers Hill and stopped to take a snap of some coloured birds in a tree and Bam! , a dreadful smell of burnt brakes or rubber or something and then the steering got all heavy like it had a flat tyre. Limped into Ulladulla, parked behind the NRMA shop and called roadside assistance. Turns out that the big pulley (harmonic balancer) on the bottom of the engine has collapsed. Game Over - tow it back to Canberra for repairs is the only really useful option.

Now as it happens I am a platinum member of NRMA with top level cover - and they have been fabulous so far : organised the car to be taken to Canberra, organised a hire car for us for the next week, and will, when asked , have the van transported back to canberra as well. Cost? Nothing. Doesnt get better than that.

Some snaps of Lake Conjola

So i suppose i should post the snap of that coloured bird that caused all the trouble...

Coloured bird. (aka King Parrot)

Lake Conjola, NSW

After spending a few enjoyable nights with Amy and family in their nice warm house, we spend the last night in Canberra in the van at Eagle Hawk. Couldn't be bothered cooking so we had dinner at the Eagle Hawk Hotel, which they tell us is closing in a few weeks as the new owners want to tart the place up. The van park is more of a cabin coral with a few random van sites. It's also the #1 place for large groups who come to Canberra on school trips etc. Kids - 1000's of them! Not really a problem except the insisted on taking the direct route from cabin to food - right through our site instead of the roadway which would have delayed them 23 seconds.

We had the van nice and toasty when the power dropped out. Rats. It was soon restored and the night passed uneventfully, snuggled down under our doona and three blankets. Woke to find the van an ice box and... no power. Only way to cope was a hot shower and porridge,jump into lots of warm clothes and get back on the road.

We elected to go north up the highway and turn down the Macs Reef Road to Bungendore and then back up to Tarago and across to Nerriga before the easier than the Clyde run down to the coast. We had been across once before and there seemed to be less dirt road than last time - 3k from Tarago to Nerriga and 8k on the last leg across to the highway.

Made it into Conjola to find the van park undergoing some well overdue work on the sites we normally use, so we took one of the new ones right down the other end and near to the amenities. Had lunch and restocked the van in Milton before returning to a take a stroll along the beach. First thing one notices is that the lake no longer empties into the sea, it's completely blocked and wont be reopened until it floods next.

No snaps today, but some sure to come along in the next day or two.

Canberra, ACT

Just a drive-by at this time. The day we turned up it had snowed for 1/2 an hour at the van park and was generally wet and cold and thoroughly miserable.

Went and watched #2 grandchild go through her paces at gymnastics - herds of little'uns doing the bar and the horse and jumping up and down - they're so cute.

Saturday lunch we checked out one of our old favourites just to make sure things were still up to scratch, then as we were so far south, we zoomed out to Corin Forest for a bit of snow-play. There was a good six inches of snow still on the ground, but as they say..."You should'a been here earlier / yesterday!

Some snaps

Snap of the day

Blacksmiths Beach, NSW

Blackies is right near Swansea. We are here for two nights so we can see some old mates before we make our last leg into Canberra. It's a penultimate leg actually as we go away again for a week before making the ultimate leg for good, well for a while at least!

I'll add some snaps soon...

Here's a few from Caves Beach

Snap of the day

What? No Illinois Nazis? I guess not, so we'll have to wait for it to go down. Bridge at Swansea, NSW

Coffs Harbour still

Finally the sun came out AND the wind stopped. What a combination. Sat around in the sun and wandered about. Found ourselves up the top of the mountain and looking out from Sealy Lookout for a squiz and then came back down for lunch. Judy elected to sit in the sun and read, I went for a walk along Boambe Beach, the only one here at present that is fairly soft sandy, the others have all been churned up a bit by the big seas over the last years.

Be sure to see the extra pictures at Coffs Harbour

A snap for Lauren

Rust? You wanted rust. This is the end of the railway line after 100 years being eaten by saltwater

Sawtell & Dorrigo, NSW

It's blowing a gale, it's not so hot, it looks like rain, the markets are off!

What can you do?

Go for a drive is the only option outside of going to the mall, so we went out for the day. First down to Sawtell where from the headland you can see and feel the ocean raging around you. But wait, what's that? No, its not a surfboard rider, even they are hunkered down in their hoodies, its a Kite-surfer. I stuck the camera of multi-frame, focussed the big lens on him and waited. Spoilsport, he just kept zooming back and forth across he boiling waves.

Wandered up Waterfall Way to Dorrigo. Ignoring the stack of toilets at the sewage farm, we had a quick look at Dangar Falls. It must be 100 metres down to the pool, but they still have a sign to tell you that diving or jumping into the pool is forbidden! Here's yer sign...

First stop up the hill is Newell Falls. Somehow they found enough room for a layby so you can stop and rubber-neck. Mind you part of the safety fence is now at the bottom of the zillion metre drop. As you drive up the hill you keep a close watch on the fence that's supposed to stop a two-ton car from going over the edge. No-way! Best to stay on the blacktop!
 
Dorrigo itself appeared to be closed - funny about that - it was closed last time we were there as well...

Around the corner is the Rainforest Centre where they had a cafe with a fire-box in the corner and passable food. After lunch went out onto the skywalk and took some snaps.

Sawtell Snaps  Dorrigo Snaps

Snap of the Day

Lunatic, Sawtell, NSW

Coffs Harbour, NSW

Sadly, we had to leave the relative warmth and sunny sky of Yamba and move a bit cloer to our final destination. So we moved 130k further down the coast to Coffs Harbour. Pretty slow going as the Pacific Highway is mostly under a continuous roadworks sign, but should be one hell of a road when its completed.

The weather, as predicted on BOM was starting to close in, windy, cold, a hint of rain. We didn't bother putting the awning out and its just as well as the strong gusts buffeted us all night. Drove down to the marina and watch a big fishing boat make it safely into harbour, then watched fascinated by the huge seas crashing over the southern breakwater. I snuck back at dawn with the camera to see if I could catch some of the atmosphere. These waves you can see in the photos, crash right up and over the wall, pretty spectacular. One of the pictures is taken straight on and although I was standing on a dry spot, its just a bit unnerving when you see your viewfinder completely filled with white foam right in front of you.

Coffs pictures

Snap of the day

Oi - git you rotten animal!

The sun came out, we ventured out and that's when I got the real snap of the day...

I reckon this is good.Southern breakwater, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Iluka, NSW

Iluka is right across the Clarence from Yamba, on the north head. The ferry runs over and back half-a-dozen times a day, so naturally we took a ride.

Iluka came into existence when they built the training walls, or breakwaters, in 1890 that keep the Clarence open to shipping. All the rock was quarried locally and after it was all over, a bunch of the men decided to stay on and start the fishing fleet in their brand new harbour. About all that is left of the old town is the post office, now a dress shop, and the pub. For some unknown reason, the fery drops you off right up the other end of the two streets that the town consists of.

The pub supplies a courtesy bus but many, including us, elected to walk along the foreshore, which is quite pretty. The end of the line is the fish coop, and unless you're prepared for a big hike (we weren't) that's about it. You can hang about and have a meal in the pub, or walk back down the street to the two shops; a bakery and a cafe. The other shop was a grocer bust is closed due to lack of interest. The 3 tables at the cafe were full so we grabbed a pie and snag roll from the bakery. By he time we had finished the cafe was empty so we moved into a sunny spot and ordered a muffin and coffee. Judy came back out all miffed because they had snapped at here with a terse "Why shouldn't we?" when she asked why they had a picture of Steve and Peter Mortimer on the wall. Not a good start, but wait, it gets worse. I was chewing on a piece of muffin when Judy voiced my concern: it was off! Sure enough on closer examination, the blueberry blue bits were green... Yuk! And the coffee was 'orrible

The antidote was a custard tart and lamington from the bakery and further medication in the form of an icecream back at the wharf were we waited for the ferry to take us away from it all.

By nightfall, even further medication was required, so we adjourned to a rather nice Italian Osteria  up the hill in Yamba, where apart from fabulous food and a glass of Prosecco, we were entertained by a loud Italian at the next table telling his 3 companions how fabulous the lovemaking was with some random woman he had met on the sunshine coast. Arh, those Italians.


Some few snaps => Iluka, NSW

Snap of the day

Must be that old gum-wire...

Ulmarra, Bluff Point, Brooms Head, NSW

Took the History Walking Tour around Yamba, but used the car instead. Most interesting item was this milepost. Some of us remember them being every mile along the road... Then we had little green shields ever 5k and now you get one big green sign at the start of the section and you're left to dead reckoning and GPS to know where you are 

Milepost. 1 mile to Yamba, 11 miles to Maclean

 Visited some of the places that the Pacific Highway has let us forget. Ulmarra is billed as "A visit to Ulmarra is like stepping back in time as the village remains one of the finest examples of a 19th Century riverport in Australia." You be the judge. It all looked a bit false to me, like a cardboard fascia had been plastered up to make it look like the town they suggest. For all the talk, there's nothing much there really and a quick walk up and down and a sqizz at the river was all it took.

Main Street. Ulmarra, NSW

Bluff Point? OK so you're forgiven for not knowing instantly where this is. Its a point on "the mainland" as the locals put it, on the opposite bank of the Clarence to Maclean. Our interest lay in the fact that it still has a working punt, which we just had to have a ride on. One of the reasons it survives is that the trucks loaded high with sugar can use it to get to the mill. We were first on and the little man called us right up to the gate to leave room for others. Judy complied and we turned our engine off and waited for others. Two more cars to our left and then a very large truck nosed up behind us. We thought we were off but something was wrong, we didn't budge. In the mirrors we could see the truck being backed up and assumed he was being backed off for some reason. But no! With a roar of its engine it charged back on, we braced ourselves to be pushed into the river when it slammed its brakes on and the whole ferry tipped forward. Judy was almost freaked out! Suddenly we were moving, gliding across the river as if nothing was more normal than using a huge truck to give the ferry a kick start....

Bluff Point Vehicular Ferry. Maclean, NSW

Brooms Head is a tiny town right on the coast, 20km east of Maclean. The caravan park, right on the beach, is possibly larger than the town and looked quite attractive, but maybe a bit remote and basic for most. But the view....

Brooms Head, NSW

Singing in the sunshine

We were pleased to wake to sunshine as we were going on a jazz cruise up the Clarence River at 11am for 4 hours. The Yamba jetty was chockers with a mob waiting for the ferry to arrive, so Judy was a little apprehensive about how it would be - would we get on, will there be a seat, will the boat sink?

We decided the top deck was the place to be as the seating was in pairs whereas downstairs was seating at tables for 8. There was a large group of ladies of a 'certain age' that had reserved 4 of the 8 tables downstairs and with the band in one corner it was also pretty full. We stayed upstairs until Iluka where another mob was waiting, but it was windy cold and you couldn't hear the band.  Fortunately, a big bunch got off at Iluka to go to the market, but Judy quite rightly suggested that I nick downstairs and grab some of the food before it all went. After I bought some sandwiches and ordered a nibbles platter, I noticed two great seats up for grabs, so I grabbed 'em. It turned out to be a very good decision. Settled in our new possie, we grabbed a bottle of Sav blank as an accompaniment. The band was already starting to react to the ladies who may have had a glass of something before the cruise and definitely a bottle or two since embarking, the sunshine was streaming in through the window and doorway and the food was yummy. The ladies turned out to be from the local golf club on their annual jazz cruise day out and were having a great time, enjoying the music and copious amounts of wine. They started singing and dancing and generally encouraging the musos who responded accordingly. Judy of course had to join in, even if she only got me up once for a dance. The whole boat full of people embraced the fun and I’m sure we could be heard from the banks of the Clarence. There were certainly a lot of people waving at us. The atmosphere only got better throughout the day and even though I’m sure we would have enjoyed the cruise anyway, the ladies really made the day.

We had turned about just past the highway bridge up near Maclean and the band took a break. The atmosphere was so charged up that the horn blower took over the piano and started pumping out some old crooner stuff. The crowd went wild. One lady wanted to do "I Am Woman" karaoke style nut he just didn't know it (he's a jazzman!) and it started to fall a bit flat. Quick as a flash he whips out the trusty iPad, and called up the chart from the internet. Bam! Together they brought the house down. Wow, what a show - and he was just filling in because he likes to play music...

When we arrived back at Iluka a couple of hours later to drop some people off, there was a heap of sober market goers waiting to get on for the trip back to Yamba on that leg of what was now ostensibly the normal ferry service. They didn’t know what they were in for! The band was still pumping it out, the ladies still partying, it was really just going off, but the newcomers embraced the atmosphere and some of them got up for a dance. Unfortunately the Yamba jetty hove into view very quickly and the band had to stop, pack up and get off. To cries of “one more” they obliged for a final, final song and we were dancing for the last time. We alighted after a very enjoyable cruise, a bloody cracker actually. We headed back into town for a coffee in the sunshine and a read of the Sunday papers. What a great day.

Judy wrote an original for this blog, I hijacked it, so my apologies if its a bit wonky - Brian

Daily snaps => Jazz Cruise Sorry, Picasa is no longer available

Sampler

Sofalatido

Maclean, NSW

For whatever reasons, we zoomed over to Maclean, about 20k upriver. It's a nice biggish town as well. One the hub of commercial transport on the Clarence, it's only claim today is to call upon its Scottish heritage, as many other towns do. They have a cairn they built, after they lost the bid for the real one that came out from Scotland in 1988 for the Bi-centenary and went to Mosman in Sydney. Their home-made cairn is made from real Scottish rocks however, so they are pretty pleased with it. They also have a bunch of Clan Chief poles showing the Chief's name and the Clan's tartan. All the telegraph poles (yes, all) in the town have a tartan painted around the bottom and all the street signs have the Scottish translation under them, mind you a lot of them seem to translate to No through road! What the need is some standing stones or at least a circle of standing cabers in the form of telegraph poles. I must tell them. Maybe they should rip over to Glen Innes and take their standing stones, they aren't doing much with them at the moment.

There is a park on the corner of the highway called Ferry Park, where apart from the i shop they have an old vehicular ferry and an old river barge. I love these ferries, as if you didn't know. This one is quite small, probably only two or maybe 4 T-model Fords and probably not the one that the Pacific Highway traffic went across the Clarence on until 1962.Ah, vehicular ferries, punts, as we called them. What a graceful and stress free way to travel the highway. Now of course its a 4 lane super bridge and Maclean is a name on a signpost flashing past your window. The river barge at least had a sign giving some of its history, it being the last of the barges, timber hulled and wooden sided, it carried 70 tons. The state of both exhibits was pretty bad however and its only a matter of time before they just disintegrate. 

Pictures for your amusement -> Maclean

Snap of the day

Vehicular Ferry. Maclean, NSW

Yamba, NSW

After 4 weeks of lounging about the lovely town of Tweed Heads / Coolangatta, it was time to move on.

And on we moved, this time down the Princes Highway past Ballina (yeah, it's finally been bypassed), back onto the goat track past the river towns and just before reaching Grafton, turn to the east and into Yamba. Billed as The Top Town in NSW, it's easy to see why, it's just a delight. Small and unspoiled, it runs along the Lower Clarence River for a short way and up onto the headland. The place is neat, tidy, spotless. There are walking tracks and rivers and beaches and a coffee shop on every corner and a few in between. Its a bit up market, but in a really nice way. Judy's head was turned by all the boutique dress and shoe shops but behaved herself - for now. Did the mini-grand tour of the beaches and sights, it's not that big a place, before returning to the park and taking a stroll along the river boardwalk.

I went a bit snap-happy. Check these photos and you'll see why -> Yamba Sorry, Google no longer support Picasa and deleted all the files,  and I didn't back them up.

As usual there's a snap, but make sure you see the others!

Angourie Headland. Angourie, NSW

Tweed locals

Been doing nothing much. Had lots of glorious sunshine with a bit of wind here and there but mostly really nice warm relaxing days.

Judy has given the fish a fair old shake the last few days, I can't remember her ever catching so many, and some good sized bream amongst them as well. We took a run down the coast popping into some of the smaller towns and ended up at Lennox Heads where we had lunch. Just cruising now, due to leave Friday, so we've done all our sight seeing and I don't think we have missed anything.

I have a few snaps of just the local area, enjoy -> Tweed locals

But what about one teaser for the day?

Surfie. Coolangatta, Qld

Brisbane, Qld

OK so we weakened and took a drive up to Brisbane, South Bank to be precise. You may recall this is where the Expo '88 was held, an event which transformed an industrial dump into a world class stage for this extravaganza. But that was then and this is now. We have been there since 1988 but this time it was noticeably different, having been made into an upmarket destination for everyone who lives in or is visiting Brisbane. Judy was taken by the market, (but had no cash, so it was safe!) and we walked along the river to the ferry terminal. We have doe this before but we took the river cat up river to the Qld Uni terminal and back, and then wandered back into the South Bank precinct to find a restaurant for lunch. After an excellent meal we went to the Maritime museum based around the original dry dock built in 1888. Its main attraction is the only remaining River class frigate, the HMAS Diamantina. The whole museum is really good and really made my day. After a longish day, we paid our $30 (ouch!!!!) at the parking station to retreive the vehcle and scampered back down to the less rarefied atmosphere of Tweed Heads

Snaps -> Brisbane

Daily snap because you love them

HMAS Diamantina. Brisbane, Qld

Currumbin, Qld

Finally some weather worthy of that Qld slogan about being beautiful one day and fabulous the next. The wind has dropped and the sun has come out to play.

We had heard about Currumbin Rock Pools, which sounded interesting, but then Judy's hairdresser told her that if you go there, you need to go further up into the valley there are some more rock pools and waterfalls that are just fantastic....

We followed his advice and once we had doubled back onto the right road, we found ourselves at the top of the valley where there was a very pleasant walk up into the mountains, meandering alongside the swiftly flowing creek, tumbling over rocky falls from one pool to the next. Actually the water didn't look that inviting, it was a weird green colour and freezing. Obviously didn't stop some from jumping the safety fences and having a dip. The whole area is now a national park but in a previous life had been cleared of all the huge trees and then completely cleared to make way for a banana plantation. One thing they didn't think of back then was that the arsenic they used to kill the rats ended up in the river, along with the dead rats, thus killing everything else. As t turns out the bananas were wiped out by a cyclone after two years and they took to dairy farming instead. The timber felling continued up to the 1960's but since then the whole place has been protected and left to regenerate, which as the pictures show, is working nicely. The drive up into the valley is also worth the effort.

We also spent some time the next day wandering around Burleigh Heads beach and having a general fiddle about the beach side of the Gold Coast.

Some snaps from those last couple of days -> Currumbin, Qld

Snap of the day

(nothing to do with Currumbin, just JB fishin')

Up another mountain

The wind has abated a tad so Brian went for a walk along the beach. I stayed in bed! The sun was out so we decided to check out the mountains, lookouts, waterfalls and walks in Springbrook. It is only 30kms from the turnoff at Mudgereeba but the road is very narrow and winding through the mountains. It just keeps going higher and higher with a sheer drop and hardly any guard rails. I was keeping my eyes fixed to that road and got a little sweaty the higher and steeper we got. There were even a few sections that were only one lane over little wooden bridges with a drop that went forever. We drove through Springbrook and another few kms to Purling Falls. It was a lovely picnic area where a few walks originated. Some were affected by landslips due to the amount of rain they have been having up here, so we chose to stroll the 100 metres to the falls from the car park along a moss covered path through the rainforest. We arrived at a lookout that ends in a massive drop with a waterfall plunging over a sheer rock face. There was also another walk to the other side of the falls that crossed a beautiful creek that burbled over smooth rocks before starting its journey towards the edge of the waterfall. It looked like a perfect habitat for platypus although we didn’t actually see any.

Next stop was a lookout that claimed to be and called “The Best-Of-All lookout”. It was about another 4 kms up the mountain and about 2kms further on, the temperature dropped to 8 degrees and the clouds enshrouded the mountain. It was only a 350 metre walk from the car park but it took a little bit of time because the rainforest was just so spectacular we were stopping constantly to take photos. The highlight had to be a group of 1000 year old Antarctic beech trees whose roots and trunks were gnarled and totally covered in thick green moss. Just amazing. We eventually arrived at the lookout and the best view will have to be seen at another time. The cloud was so thick, it was a total whiteout. Back to the car in a light drizzle that could have been rain or just the cloud and decided lunch at the Springbrook General Store was the go as it was nearly 2pm and we were hungry. We weren’t certain we could get anything as it was a Monday and not a lot of people about but they ‘could make some toasties and a coffee for us’ which was just fine. We ended up spending an hour chatting to the two ladies serving there and they had lots of photos of the local fauna they wanted to share as well as some stories. One lady was from Texas in the good old US of A and the other originally from Victoria but were now definitely locals. It was good fun. Why is it that it always seems much quicker returning from these trips? Anyway, were back at the van by 4.30, Brian walked to the shops and I snuggled up in my blankie and read my book for a while.

All the snaps => click here

A snap of the day

 

 

Judy admiring the view from the Best-Of-All Lookout, Springbrook, Qld

 

Tweed Heads. Cont....

Sadly, its the last day of the holidays for the kids. Kathryn & Ben & Andrew took-off fairly early, while Amy&Steve&Emily&Thomas had an early evening flight.

The weather continued to be patchy sunlight with strong gusty winds making it a fairly unpleasant day for beaches or fishing, so a quiet hour or so in the park with Emily on the swings and a long coffee in the comfort of the mall.

I've added some more snaps to the Greenmount Beach album => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/GreenmountBeachQld

A snap? Why not have two.

Help me, I'm ....

...falling!

Later I took advantage of the weather to try and get some wild water shots at the beach, here's one, the others are at=> https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/DuranbahBeachTweedHeadsNSW

A Sad Aside

The other day I heard that the house that i was born into and lived in until I was 23 has been bulldozed to make way for some new suburban Taj Mahal. I found the news disturbing because its part of my history, part of me and my family, and it's just not there any more. I have photos of course but it'sjust not the same as knowing it's there, knowing you can drive past and show your kids and grandkids.

The house was built entirely by hand by my late father in the late 1940's and was arguably fairly avant guard for its time. This is 1950s at latest. This house had built in wardrobes, and inside toilet, the cupboards in the kitchen had doors that slid up into the roof space and there was a built in 'breakfast nook'. It was double brick and the roof trusses were old school '3x2's spaced 18in apart.

It was a home for  two mum, dad and us 4 children. We had birthdays, at least my 21st, there and my sister had her wedding reception there. It hold many many memories of both good and bad times, of highs and lows, of growing up pain and joy. Just sitting here thinking about that house and all the things that took place in and around it in my life time leaves me saddened that the one thing that pinned those things and events and feelings to a place and time is now gone.


Basically it was built strong and proper by a master tradesman and made to last many families for many years and deserved a better fate than being torn asunder and levelled like so much rubbish.

The one thing it underscores is that you cannot take anything for granted: if you want to preserve it or record it for posterity - do it today.

1 Lily Street, Croydon Park, Sydney

Tweed Heads, Qld Cont....

A do nothing sort of day. Paul & Sue left at 7 this morning and we miss them already. had a late breakfast and an early lunch with Kathryn & Ben & Andrew. Even had a short snooze in the afternoon before a bit of a play on the beach with Emily & Thomas, well Emily mostly, Thomas was mostly asleep.

Finished the day at the Rainbow Bay Surf Club for an early dinner and then off home for an early night.

All the snaps from today => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/GreenmountBeachQld

A snap of the day

Sea World, Qld

Big day out at Sea World, through the gate at 930 and out at 5. Many changes here since Judy and I were here last: more rides, more displays, changes to the format of the shows. It's still a great day out and still a place of fascination for kids of all ages.

Emily found here place at the kids' corner with may rides on the merry-go-round, the flying aeroplanes and dump trucks. Some of the big children found fun in the corkscrew, aka Sea Viper, the Vikings Revenge flume ride, the Jet Rescue. Others took the monorail for a scenic look at the whole park.

The ,dolphin show was great, with three handlers in the water and 7 bottlenose dolphins going through their paces. Gone was the normal platform and hoops and balls, instead the handlers rode them like surfboards, rode them a pair of fine horses and were lifted up on their noses. The dolphins seemed to be able to jump higher than ever and all in perfect synchronisation.

Back in the main pool we found more changes. Gone were the waterskiers and speed boats. Instead we were treated to amazing acrobatics being performed on jetskis. Who would have thought you could do 6 barrel rolls in a row followed by a double back flip, or riding them underwater submarine style?

Steve and Phil found the Jungle Gym and hung around all day... This is pretty good, its a three story high steal framework structure with interconnecting ropes and suspended paths. The intrepid were strapped into harnesses and securely attached to the guide rail of the structure. They climb and balance and walk tentatively all over the place like old salts in the rigging of a square rigged clipper ship.

See all the snaps here => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/SeaWorldQld

Snap of the day

Stev & Phil shooting it out with some randoms in the pirate ships

Tweed Heads Cont...

Bit of a boys day out, Paul & I went to find an old wrecking yard we saw from the M1 the other day on our southbound return from Mt Tambourine. Trouble is we were travelling north and there's a big bit of the eastern side of the road you just can't see. Not to worry, we found ourselves at Exit 66 which happily can be taken to get to the Gold Coast Highway where Rare Spares and Route 66 Spares is located. This is a treat for both of us as it's owned and operated by two old mates, Reg & Sandi Vine. Judy and I found them last year and promised to come back and bring my brother Paul. We all first met in the early days of the computer industry in about 1970. Reg worked for Control Data Corporation, stationed at the Bureau of Census and Statistics in George Street Sydney, where I had my first computer job and its where I met Judy who was a Public Servant and was the Magnetic Tape Librarian and later a Computer Operator.

Judy and I joined the Renault Car Club where we met Reg's wife Sandi. We all went our own ways eventually, and I met Reg again many years later when I worked for Wang in Canberra and he worked for them in Bathurst. We kept up a very sporadic contact over the years,visiting them at Runaway Bay and of course last year at Rare Spares at Labrador. Anyhow we had a really nice time chatting and drinking coffee before Paul and I took our leave, this time with instructions on how to find that elusive wrecking yard.

This time we drove right past it again, doubled back, got boxed in just behind it, asked directions and finally pulled up out the front of it. The attraction was an FJ Holden parked on the first floor verandah but the rest of the yard was just an overgrown jumble of not very interesting dead cars of the 80s. The only life form there was a fearless guard dog, so a few snaps was our lot and we were of again.

We all finshed up the day by having a pizza feast with our kids who had spent the day at Movie World.

Snap of the Day

Reg & Sandi Vine and Paul Black. Old mates meet again!

Murwillumbah, NSW

Rain set in mid-morning, so we wandered back to Murwillumbah again to check out the pool, our intent was to have a swim. We had also taken our internet thingy with us as it had stopped working and thought maybe it was some local problem. Needless to say it wasn't and we went and found Telstra who took two seconds to determine that we had used our entire 12 month allowance in 3 months. Rats. Threw money at the problem and it went away.

Had a really nice lunch at a cafe on the main road before having a wander about the shops, replacing the carving knife I seem to have thrown out with the pizza box last night. Drove around the back streets checking out the lovely old houses.

Gave up on swimming, went over to the railway station hoping to take a photo similar to one taken by Merv in 1951. Alas, those lovely old station signs have been replaced by 'modern' signs and have zero character. The North Coast line stopped here and folk had to take a bus the 25miles to the start of the Gold Coast. Before they built the line the two state governments involved started talking about going right through to Coolangatta, that was in 1889, and although the line closed in 2004, they are still talking about it!

We headed due east through the Caldera and admired the lush looking farms growing all kinds of stuff apart from sugar cane. I even correctly identified the stunted and strictly groomed small shrubs as camellias use for tea-leaves by the Madura company. Judy decided that we had better take a short cut and get back to our bread dough before it became over-blown, so we headed back, raining all the way.

Andrew and Kathryn and Ben are turning up tonight so we are off in a few minutes to pick them up from the airport.

Here's a snap, only Mervyn will know where it is and what it was used for.

Hinterland

It’s raining again – our holiday seems to be linked in to old songs! Not a lot of options in the rain so where else could you possibly go but to a rainforest. Mount Tambourine was the destination today and the Rainforest Skywalk. The roads are very steep and winding but the scenery is fantastic. At least the forest we were driving through was, the cloud was all encompassing so none of the views to the coast and beyond was able to be seen. It was a total white out of clouds. But along the road there were tall and straight flooded gums with the most beautiful bark of sleek olive green co habituating with piccabeen palm trees that just pierced the sky heading for the sunshine. Unfortunately, none of that today. The little village of Eagle Heights was a stopping point where we wandered back and forth amongst the shops until we found ourselves on the island of Corfu, or at least we think that was what the café where we had lunch was trying to achieve. Everything, all white and vivid blue, even the ceiling fans. Lunch was very nice though and we enjoyed the break in the warmth of Corfu. Our hunger sated, we headed to the skywalk.
Driving through more rainforest for a couple of kms brought us to the skywalk park. It is an elevated metal walkway that takes you high above ground level into the canopy of the trees. Staghorns, elkhorns and wild orchids are everywhere on the tree branches and trunks. It was drizzling at this stage and the trees were positively glistening with the moisture on their foliage. The actual metal walkway probably only goes for a few hundred metres and then it takes you to the forest floor down along the creek where the piccabeen palms are incredibly tall and line both sides of the banks. This walk is about 1km but you can’t help but just stop often and gaze about at the gingers, strangler figs, rainforest trees and palms that abound and really take your time to take everything in. It started to rain when we had nearly finished the walk but it just seemed so appropriate in this place that we could have walked it all over again.
We had hard steady rain all the way back to the Bruce Highway and as by this time is was just after 4pm, of course we ran into peak hour traffic. It took us 45 minutes to go 24 kms! It was still a lovely day but a bit tiring so no cooking for me tonight. We had takeaway pizza and red wine for dinner. A good way to end the day.

Snap of the day

Rainforest Skywalk. Mt Tambourine, NSW

Tweed Cont..

Happy Birthday Muriel

Slowish day today. Kept myself amused by walking to Coolangatta to find the spot where Merv & Shirley took some photos on their honeymoon in 1951.

    

This is the edifice that was erected on or about this very spot in 2001

Inside this Border Marker are some old photos, sadly no captions, but this one caught my eye.

It's the same house / shed as in Shirley's photo in 1951. I think that it's the Customs House on the border and the man is holding the gate open as the border was originally fenced and closed. One had to pay Customs Duty to take goods across, also it was closed in 1919 as a quarantine measure during a Spanish Flu epidemic. Also during WWII it was not closed, but used as a checkpoint to regulate movement of civilians and enlisted men, many on R&R. The fence was removed some time in 1950.

Oh well, I'm easily amused

Tweed Cont.

It's official. It is raining. Has been on and off for the last two days. Not cold at all so that's a bonus. Amused ourselves at one stage by driving up to Murwillumbah and through the mountain roads to Mt Warning, a huge volcano remnant. It's up in the most beautiful rainforest all ferns and strangler figs reaching for the distant canopy of the giant eucalypt trees. The one car wide road winds its way up the mountain side, criss-crossing the tributaries of the Tweed River. We were surprised at the car park to find it chock-a-block. Seems its the #1 walking track with the 9km, 5 hour trek to the top being the attraction. We thought we'd save it for another day.

On the way back down we stopped and took a few snaps and were just crossing the Tweed proper when Judy spotted a platypus right near the low level bridge. We went back and forth but apart from my one blurred image, it proved to be elusive.

Went out for dinner and a show last night at the Australian Outback Adventure, which was a different show to the one we saw last year but every bit as entertaining and informative. Dinner was a Frittata followed by the main of beef and veg and all topped of with an individual Pavlova. Yum-oh.

Woke up to more rain so went back to sleep!

Snap of the day/days/whatever

Mt Warning, NSW

Tweed 2

Long walks along the beach and around the headland. Hopping lightly between NSW and Qld at Dangar Point, a late breakfast, wander through the Coolangatta markets,a quick trip to Tropical Fruit Salad World and then back to a nice little cafe / restaurant overlooking the ocean. Oh, it's just all go! Spot of fishing,nibbles and drinks, a few hundred snaps on show for Paul and Sue, Echuca to Katherine.

Dinner and a show... well the TV was on. The beautiful weather held up fine and clear all say untill about 7 when it started to rain for about an hour. Let's hope its all rained out for another fine day again tomorrow.

Snap of the day 

Tweed

The chores caught up with me again and I had two loads of washing to get done with one eye on the weather as showers were predicted. We were wanting to book tickets for the Outback Spectacular so went to find the local NRMA shopfront. Their tickets are considerably cheaper than anywhere else so that was our first stop. Successfully bought the tickets, so went on down to Coolangatta beach for a walk along the pathways.

It is the most beautiful spot with the paths meandering along the beachside for kilometre after kilometre. The sand was very white, the sun was glistening on the water, the surfers were patiently waiting for the right waves and all was well with the world. Paul and Sue passed us at one stage on their bikes and were continuing on to see how far they could go. We stopped for a coffee and sat in the sunshine soaking up the ambience. You could get used to this coastal lifestyle. Lunchtime rolled around and we decided to join the locals at Greenmount Surf Club to have luncheon on the balcony overlooking the beach. Food doesn’t really rule our life, it just sounds like it! While we were waiting for lunch, we watched the world go by from the verandah. Dads with their kids on the front of their skateboards, kids kicking footies around, people rollerblading and bike riding, people just out for a stroll, all with the beach and the Surfer’s Paradise skyline as a backdrop. What a lovely spot this is. We were scoffing our chicken schnitzel burgers and good they were too, when we were joined by Paul and Sue. We spent a bit of time just chillin’ out and sitting in the sunshine.

The sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky, so I needed to have my fishing fix for the day. The river runs around along our van park, so I just walked down to a nice sandy spot and threw in a line. Bang. Almost straight away a nice little bream.  It wasn’t a bad size but a tad small to keep. I had great fun and by the time I’d used all my bait, I had caught 6 or 7 bream. It was dark by then and I really couldn’t see where I was casting my line so was happy to call it a day after I had sacrificed my last prawn. Drinks and nibbles with Paul and Sue before dinner. Nice.

Snap of the day

Tweed Heads, NSW

Drove into a buffeting headwind all the way from Tewantin to the Tweed Heads turnoff, very uncomfortable,made even less comfortable by the trucks and buses roaring up behind us and blowing us all over the show.

Got into the van park about noon, and as the ubiquitous van park map and notes didn't expressly say we couldn't wash the van, we did so as soon as we stopped. Went to the big shops to get lots of food and came back in driving rain. Paul and Sue turned up later in the arvo and after tea and scones we went for a long stroll down the river, which is just as well because it's now bucketing down again.

No snaps to day, it's just not the day for it.

Tewantin last day

Sadly, the sky is clouding over and the temperature is dropping. Rain threatens so a day at the beach is out of the question. Instead we toured up to the Timbeerwah Lookout for views to the coast and Noosa and right around for 360 degress taking in the rest of the coast and the hinterland. Toured further up through Cooroy, Pomona and Boreen point up on Lake Cooharabaand back down to Tewantin.

Went fishing down the river, finally found a spot out of the wind and Judy settled in for a session that resulted in a few fish and one large crab that did the right thing and dropped off before it go to the wharf.

Not much else happening, so an earlyish night ready for tomorrows trek.

Snap of the Day

Eumundi Markets

Sorry Ben, Happy Birthday!

It being a Wednesday and us being within 200k of Eumundi it is obligatory that we travel to the said township and engage in the tradition known as market crawling. We've been here probably 1/2 a dozen times or more over 20 years and you know, I don't think that anything much has changed. Sure the layout is a bit different but the goods on offer? These people are stuck in a perennial craft based time warp. Life is literally passing them by in front of their stalls. Leather belts, skirts and tops, various food items, 'art' made out of bits of coloured tin or scraps of wood. Perhaps a hat or a piece of jewellery? Maybe a anklet or tattoo? You've seen it all before and you can't help but wonder just how much of this stuff any one person actually needs. I notice a few of the stall proudly claim to be 'original' Eumundi Market stall holders, and some of them look it. We stopped and Judy fondled some beads. The head magically appears above the display and leaps into the spiel of how fabulous that particular piece is and how it's the artists very own work and that they wear it themselves normally but if you truly like it and promise to treat it with respect love and devotion, they'll let you have it for say, two-ninety-five. You look up interested and they add "...hundred dollars". You place it back down with reverence and move on to yet another hat-a-d scarf stall. "Yes madam, that suits you perfectly!" You turn with interest to see who is getting stitched up with what, and you see a woman with a piece of torn and shredded rag around her neck. "That's a beautiful scarf, I think it's the last one and it looks perfect on you," she says and gives the mark a thumbs up. I stifle a guffaw and an elbow in the small of my back pushes me on..  A crowd has gathered around a man holding up what looks like a clear inner sole filled with liquid and gold beads. He is in full voice as to how it will cure all the ills of mankind, "just slip one into your shoe sir, it's a miracle!" I am tempted to ask if he has one to slip into my thongs but find myself  shuffled on again, just in time.

I have devised a plan: we create a web site and invite people to submit pictures and spiels of the most useless thing they can find at any market in Australia. First prize is a visit to Eumundi Markets and $10 spending money. Perhaps we need a Eumundi Market App, just press the button and get shown any stall and listen to the sales pitch. It'll be a big hit, you can get your Eumundi market fix and never leave home.

My favourite part of this market is a U shaped alcove where you can get your palm read, back rubbed, crystals on your eyeballs, healing hands placed anywhere you desire while you close your eyes and think positive thoughts of unblocking your chakratic energy streams while the owner of the hand stares off into the near middle distance dreaming of how they will spend your hard earned dosh that they have relieved you of. For all I know you could probably get your fortune told by a one eyed Siamese cat. People will pay for almost anything it seems, no matter how far the facts of anatomy and physiology are stretched in the name of pure quackery. Actually, in a way I'm glad there here - at least we know where they all are at least twice a week.

Having bought yet-another-top, Judy now has to travel to Sunshine Plaza to get a new top to go under the new top and another one to go with it in case it got lonely in the drawer. I'll never understand.

We have lunch at a dodgy place at Coolum Beach. We've been here before and tested out the macarons and forgotten that the woman is French and the service is a bit tardy. One old fellow next to us wandered backover to the counter at one staged and asked ever so politely if they had to take the pie he had ordered and heat it up. Oh so subtle, but totally lost on them as they thought he was genuinely interested in the methods used in their patisserie. He was way to polite to explain that he was just hungry and wanted a feed before nightfall. Regardless, we bought a vanilla slice like you've never seen, a lemon meringue tartlette (read small) and a chocolate and something or other macaron.

These we ate back at the van with a nice cup of tea and reflected on our day's activity.

Snap free day I'm afraid.

(but here's one I prepared earlier)

Sunset, Noosa River. Qld

Exploring Noosa

The weather is still quite cold overnight, so stayed in bed for a while – even Brian slept in – then after breakfast went down to Noosa Marina at Tewantin, to take the ferry down the river into Noosa Heads. We bought a day pass so we could hop on and off. It’s a tad difficult to really take advantage of this as it’s just too long between ferries to see much. We disembarked at Noosaville which has really grown since we were here last. There are heaps of eateries and boutiques. We checked all the shops out and then decided on an early lunch at a lovely cafe overlooking the river. Brian had a steak sanger and I had calamari, both really good, and sipped our coffees in the sunshine. We finished in time to pick up the ferry again – luckily it was 15 min late – destination Noosa. Hastings Street hasn’t changed that much except there seems to be a few empty shops and restaurants and perhaps it isn’t as upmarket as it was before. It isn’t really surprising as Noosaville has really taken off and is much cheaper than Hastings Street. We still did the obligatory stroll up and down the street and as it’s mainly in shade we headed for the beach to lie in the sun. It’s about 18 degrees but the wind is cool so didn’t stay on the beach too long. We had to head back to the jetty for the return ferry trip to Tewantin but just had to stop for an ice cream first. Yum. The trip back up the river was really relaxing, it’s lovely to be on the water. We might hire a boat while we’re here to explore the river a bit more. I had another go at fishing but once again, no luck. Gave up and decided we would go to the golf club for dinner then back to the van for the night.

Snap of the day

This one's for Lauren, who gave me a heart attack back in 1999 when she paid $30 for a pair of thongs with pretty flowers - they're still $30 at the same shop!

Sunshine Coast

I really do like the sunshine coast. Always have. We decided to head to the “Noosa North Shore”, this isn’t a flash suburb like you might expect but the main access to the beach “roads” to camping and fishing spots here. To access the area, you have to wait in line, be very patient, soak up the tranquillity and queue up for the 8 vehicle ferry that takes you across the Noosa River to areas north. We were not silly enough to actually drive onto the beach with our car, but the ferry was very busy with lots of others with their campertrailers and small boats making the trip. This is an amazing area with approximately 75 miles of pristine beach with fishing the major drawcard. You have to wait for the low tide so you can travel the 20 kms to the camp area along the beach and there are plenty of incidents where people get bogged. In fact we witnessed one today.  We were at the first access point and a small 4WD was totally bogged. There was a group of about 5 men with Irish accents – so we assumed they were back packers with little experience - desperately trying to push the totally bogged car forward, with a few women watching and encouraging them on. We suggested it might be better to try to reverse out instead of revving the engine and getting nowhere. They tried and it was successful, so now what to do. They lined up the car into a nice soft fresh deep sandy spot and hit the gas. Yes, bogged again. We watched them do this a couple of times before I couldn’t stand it any longer. I suggested they might  try driving on the hard wet sand first and head for previous car tracks that might be a little firmer to drive on. Yay, success. They parked in the car park and walked back to the beach.

We headed back to the village of Tewantin, a delightful place and sat in the sun and had some lunch. The pool at the caravan park is heated so we thought a swim was in order as Brian felt the pool this morning and declared it warm. He jumped straight in and came up spluttering declaring it a tad cooler than he thought! We basked in the sun for a while until it went behind some trees and decided Noosa Beach was the place to be. The days are quite warm but unfortunately they are having a bit of a cold spell here so it didn’t take too long before it got a wee bit cool to sit on the beach as the sun really lost its warmth quickly. Oh well, back to the van for champagne and nibblies in our trackiedacks and jumpers.

You'll be needing a snap.

This one is for those who don't know what a vehicle ferry is, we used to call them 'punts' and they were all up and down the coast. Ah, those were the days.

Vehicular Ferry or Punt. Noosa River, Tewantin, Qld

Tewantin, Qld

The reason you stay 3nghts in Tannum Sands is so that you can erase the previous days tortuous travel from you mind and refreshed, you go back out to the Bruce Highway (who are they kidding?) and do it all again. Anther 400K in 6 1/2 hours. It's truly atrocious, even the new bits are totally wasted, just a continuous string of potholes joined by broken tar. There's lots of evidence of road work (didn't actually see any actual work going on) and guess what? They are replacing the single lane goat track with an upgraded single lane goat track. It's not that there's no traffic, it's just a solid stream heading north with no letup the entire day. The best part is that they have these 80k / Road Work signs and no work and in the middle for apparently no reason and covering at most a stretch of 50m, a 60k sign! We finally hit a section announced with a Start Motorway sign, and the surface immediately go worse until it to it too had a 80/60 speed sign. Finally, to our relief we came to the End Motorway sign and back to the original but better roadway. What a nightmare. Stopped at Childers for a break and some tea. Stopped at Gympie for lunch at a lovely little park complete with lakes and  gardens and walkways over bridges.

The last 60k down into Tewantin wasn't so bad and we finally parked ourselves in a lovely van park just up the road from the river and its many delights. Tewantin has developed somewhat since we were here last, its come upmarket with marinas and shopping precincts, but its hardly surprising given the nearness of its famous neighbour, Noosa.

Enough already, I'm ready for a rest.

Snap of the day

Mum, Dad and the chicks. Alford Park, Gympie, Qld

Tannum Sands, Qld

Bit of a slower day today, taking a long walk in the morning around the foreshore and finding the inevitable cafe on the headland. From the lookout we could see some 30 odd coal ships 'swinging-at-picks' as they wait to come into the port of Gladstone and fill from some of those many trains we say the other day. Judy decided that she wanted fish and chips for lunch so I went back to the chippy next to the cafe, unfortunately the chips were just a sodden blob of oily potato preserved in salt and the fish, a nice looking sweet-lip, was overcooked to oblivion.

We took the opportunity in the afternoon to take the car to the car wash and scrub it up somewhat, now the van looks even more putrid that it did before, that layer of red dust transformed to mud by the three days; drizzle is just clinging on.

Ended the day on the wharf at the Boyne Island boat ramp where Judy finally snagged a small flounder after a few hours and given that the tide had turned an hour ago and the sun had been replaces by the moon and stars, we called it quits.

A snap, yes i took some photos

Central Coast Qld

Yaaaayyyy. The sun is shining and we are back in shorts and t-shirts. Brian found a walk of about 5km along the river. Unfortunately there is no view of the river as it’s all scrub and bush. Not my idea of a pleasant walk, so I stayed in bed. What a surprise. We went on a drive around the area of Tannum Sands and Boyne Island and it is obviously suburbs of Gladstone. If I had to work in Gladstone and a lot of people do- the alumina smelter employs 17500 people alone, I think these suburbs would be a pretty nice place to live. There are lots of parks along the foreshore and the council has just spent millions on the beautification of the esplanade where we are. It is fantastic. Lots of lawns, trees, playgrounds and BBQs right on the beach and river. It goes for about 2kms and is obviously popular with both locals and tourists alike. Seeing we were here, we thought we had better check out Gladstone itself. It’s about 25 kms away to the north with a very good road – not the Bruce Highway! We had a little difficulty finding the city but we had actually driven right through it and hadn’t recognised it as Gladstone. Thought it was a small suburban street with a couple of shops! We found an information centre and discovered our mistake. The info centre was at the Marina which was surrounded by parks and gardens and a nice foreshore walk. We both oohed and aahed over the boats from yachts to fishing boats to the huge twin hull cruiser that takes passengers to Heron Island.

Nice as the marina area was, you just can’t get away from the fact that this is a working industrial port. There were many ship on the horizon just waiting for their turn to fill up with aluminium, coal or cement. It had a similar feel to Newcastle or Burnie.

We had a bit of a relax this afternoon waiting for the tide to come in so I could go fishing. We headed down to the river, along a sandy beach area and sat in the sun or a while. You could hardly call it fishing as I didn’t even get one nibble. There was a family group near us and one of their kids caught a puffer fish. Or should I say jagged a fish. She was teasing the fish just on the shoreline and flung here rod out as soon as a fish came near. The hook caught the fish in it’s side. Not necessarily an orthodox catch, but hey the fish was out of the water. We stayed for about an hour enjoying the sunshine until it quickly started to disappear and headed back to the van for a cuppa where we are sitting outside enjoying the late afternoon bird chorus. (Brian is on alert to chase away the ducks and bush turkeys)