Moving away from the coast

We left Mission Beach and headed inland to the Atherton Tablelands. We drove through sugarcane fields to Mena Creek and visited Paronella Park. This is an old concrete castle ruin built by a Spaniard immigrant for his bride in the 1930s. Very romantic although the night time walk was rather eerie.

The drive was very scenic and here are just a few photos to whet your tastebuds.

Ravenshoe

Up on the tablelands we visited a lovely old town named Ravenshoe. We 'free camped' at the railway station.................Have a look.

I did mention it was an old town didn't I?

Heading Home

As we head homeward we reflect on a wonderful adventure. This is such a big and varying country. The people we met were as diverse as the country through which we travelled. Aussies still have an exploring spirit - just like their ancestors.

We travelled on seventeen different highways in our 3 month trek. 17!!

They include

Pacific Hwy

New England Hwy

Kamilaroi Hwy

Canarvon Hwy

Matilda Hwy

Warrego Hwy

Landsborough Hwy

Kennedy Development Road

Flinders Highway

Gregory Development Road

Herveys Range Development Road

Bruce Hwy

Captain Cook Hwy

Kennedy Hwy

Palmerston Hwy

Pacific Motorway (Brisbane)

Bruxner Hwy

17! We have travelled about 7,500 km and saw the rugged outback of Queensland, tropical rainforests, the Great Barrier Reef and all the country in between. BUT we haven't seen it all and, yes, we will be back...............

Early in the new year we head to Tasmania and Victoria for a few months......... we will keep you posted.

Green Island

We are in the tropics and the main attraction up here is the Great Barrier Reef. We couldn't miss the opportunity of snorkelling so we boarded an island ferry and headed for Green Island.

The water was the perfect temperature and the tropical fish were truly abundant and as impressive as ever. Maureen and Richard were with us and we made a day of it. Words can't really describe what we were lucky enough to see. Simply memorable.

Paradise Found

We finally made it to the beautiful Far North Queensland coast at Townsville and continued northward to Mission Beach. We really don't need to go any further as you can see by the photos. Our caravan park is right on the beach.....the weather is superb and we are sharing our adventure with Maureen and Richard (my twin sister).

The island you see just off the beach is Dunk Island which has an upmarket resort and great walking trails. We spend time every day walking the beach with the dog (Tilly), swimming and just enjoying our good fortune. Rainforest prevails around this part of the world and we have done a fair bit of 'hiking' (really only walking) through the bush in our quest to sight the elusive Cassowary...... (large native bird, flightless, and close to extinction). We are assured that they are about but as of today we have failed in this endeavour. Fishing is a popular pastime here and a few of the other residents have boats and, judging by the size of their catches, are very successful fisherman. We are having fresh fish again tonight - courtesy of our neighbours. Mackeral, I believe, and Eric will be the masterchef at the bbq.

Roadside stalls have supplied our fresh bananas, avocados and pawpaws..... The avos are 6 for $1 and every one is perfect.. sounds like heaven doesn't it?

We will continue north next week but our route and itinerary is still undecided - ho hum life is tough.........

Outback Queensland

Here is a brief run down of where we we've been in outback Queensland. This top photo is at the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach. Note the Qantas tail in the background as this town is also known as the home of Qantas - this is where the airline originated....

We stayed at the caravan park in Ilfrracombe (30 km from Longreach). The village has all of 50 residents and is simply charming. They have the 'Mechanical Mile' which is a display along the highway of old farm machinery and each piece has a story attached. Very interesting. The pub here served the coldest beer around....

The street names in Longreach have no bearing on the local history but are named after birds - north/south streets after land birds and east/west streets after water birds.
This intersection caught our eye -

In Blackall we visited the site of the famous "Black Stump". Australians will know the importance of this landmark. It was a surveyors mark (truly was a tree stump) that all was measured from. In Oz the 'Black Stump' is synonymous with being a long way from anywhere so if, as in this photo, you are 'Beyond the Black Stump' you might as well fall of the face of the earth...... The alternative is to be on 'This Side of the Black Stump' (photo not included) which is still a long way from anywhere.

We stayed a couple of days in Barcaldine and saw the Tree of Knowledge which is the birthplace of the Australian union movement and Labor Party. This is the site of a notorious shearers strike in the 1800s. The town is very worker/union oriented and has a large display of the proud heritage and history of the Australian union movement...

Every town, of course, has it's pubs - never only one.......... The town of Ravenswood is no exception. This old gold mining town has seen better days and was once quite thriving but today is a collection of old shoppes, a courthouse, jail, police station, primary school and two pubs. The Imperial Hotel was one of many pubs but now shares its clientele with only one other hotel. We had a counter lunch here and loved the old charm of the pub and the town....

Fletcher Creek

We just spent three great days at Fletcher Creek 40 kms north of Charters Towers. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere but there were several other campers within coo-ee. Eric tried some fishing - somewhat successfully. The spotted bream lived to swim away and Eric and Tilly were very pleased with themselves.

We saw lots of different birds but the highlight was the Wedgetailed Eagle. Majestic and just a little bit menacing.....

The campsite was primitive - no power, no water, no formalities and, best of all, no fees. It is a 'free camp' and this was our first exposure to this kind of camping. Our battery and water tanks managed very well and we are hooked on this type of campsite.

Ribs n rumps enroute

I may have mentioned the many animals we have seen along the highways and byways of this trek but they fade into insignificance when compared to the cattle drives...

Between Ilfracombe and Longreach (check your atlas) we encountered a herd of cattle being moved down 'the long paddock' (aka stock route, aka The Matilda Highway). There were two Jackaroos (cowboys of the male persuasion) on motorbikes/dirtbikes and two Jillaroos (you get my meaning) on horseback accompanied by a few cattle dogs.

The travel was slow going as we 'nudged' our way through the throng of cattle and horses. We were most impressed by this large mob totally under the control of these 4 drovers and their dogs. Ol' Have a Chat (Eric) chatted up one of the Jillaroos through the car window to be told that the herd consisted of 1700 cattle and a number of spare horses. 1700 cattle. 4 drovers. 3 cattle dogs. You do the maths!

Lots and lots of hot water

This part of Australia is known as the Great Artesian Basin. The basin covers the area from northern New South Wales to the tipof Queensland in the north.

This basin is reported to be larger than 170,000 Sydney Harbours!!!!

We don't see any running water - it is all underground AND very very hot - ranging from 35C to about 75C . The land is flat, there are no dams about - all the water comes from bores that can sink to 3,000 feet. 35km out of Barcaldine is a large station called Barcaldine Downs. In 1902 a bore was sunk on this property and since that date it has produced 750,000 litres of water per day at 58C. This water then travels through 30 miles of pipes and services dozens of paddocks throughout the property.

We have so far enjoyed hot mineral baths at Moree and Mitchell and look forward to many more.

While in Blackall we visited a steam driven woolscour using hot water from it's own bore.

Cattle Country

Cattle Country

We have been away now for nearly 2 weeks and the weather is slowly getting warmer and the days longer. The mornings are still very cold 2-5C but the days are around 22-25C. Spent an hour this afternoon listening to a local talk about Barcaldine and the surrounding area drinking "billy tea", eating damper and enduring bush poetry. One of the most impressive encounters has been with these monsters of the road . Road Trains...are about 160feet long and are not slow vehicles.

As can be seen with the photo of "Tilly" in the middle of the road, Some of the "highways" are only one lane wide..... if you meet somebody coming the other way you both move off the road , leaving only 2 wheels on the bitumin.... When you have dozens of wheels like these guys and maybe carrying 160 head of cattle , weighing many tons , we slow right down to let them pass. The other day we had to pass one of these trains travelling in the same direction......we had to wait till we had a clear Km in front and it seemed to take ages to get past him.

On Our Way

We left Sydney 10 days ago and this is our first atttempt at our blog.

Our plan is to head north through central Queensland and eventually end up on the coast at Mission Beach south of Cairns. We plan to travel for about three months.

So far all is going well. We have particularly enjoyed Kapunda Fishing Camp near St George and the photo will show you why.......

We spent 3 days on a cattle station near Charleville and got to know the owners after a day's tour of the workings of the place. Real hardworking, down to earth Aussies running 33,000 acres of hard country. Our camp included a 24 hour campfire and happy hours that lasted all evening. They work hard BUT they play harder! See our campsite visitors and view the road in.