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.