Back at home after 17,000 kilometres and 20 weeks, having had a wonderful trip where we saw splendid scenery and learned to appreciate the different types of landscape and flora and fauna.
We've seen crocodiles big and small, freshwater and salties, seen thousands of birds including at least a hundred species we hadn't previously seen (we wish we'd started recording them at the beginning, but we didn't- we had no idea we would see so many new ones). We've seen endangered species like bilbies and cassowary, we've seen many feral animals- cats, pigs, goats, foxes, cane toads, brumbies- the only camels we saw were tame but there are millions of feral camels too. Noxious weeds that people have introduced as pot plants or to solve one problem thereby creating another.
It's amazing to think that only yesterday we were in Queensland, in Cunnamulla to be exact. We'd planned to stay in Bourke but we arrived there at morning tea time, so decided to continue down the road, and reached a freebie near Warren in the afternoon. Just before dark we discovered the caravan battery was flat, so no lights, no water (pump doesn't work without power), no gas )piezzo lighter ditto)- so we went into Warren and stayed at a caravan park. This morning we checked the battery, it had charged with the power connected, but the frig drawing on it while we drove was dragging it down again. It's supposed to be charged through the car as we drive but for some reason that wasn't working, and the frig draws a lot of power- even though we have a solar panel, it's not enough power to run the frig all day and still have power left over. So we decided to just come home where these things are not a problem.
Then when I arrived home, I found my car battery also dead flat. Oh well, NRMA will come tomorrow and fix that. It's good to be home. As soon as we reached the Hunter Valley we started thinking how lovely everything looked, wattle in bloom, pastures green after rain- it's always good to be home again. Over and out.
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Monday, 20 August 2012
EMUS AND ROOS
Now at Cunnamulla, and enough said on that subject. It's not a very interesting town.
We've travelled 200 kms today and seen many emus, but only 2 live roos (many dead ones). The roadkill count's been amazing for the last week or so- it must have been a good season for the animals or there'd be none left at all. We saw a few feral cats today (in different places)- we've probably sighted about a dozen of them all told. they're a terrible danger to small native animals, unfortunately.
The first 50 kms from Charleville was fairly boring, with mulga growing thickly both sides of the road, and in this flat land there was nothing at all to see. The mulga itself is fairly ordinary, bushy rather than trees, and so thick you can see only a few metres into the scrub.
It was a relief to get to a place where the mulga had been cleared so you could actually see 100 metres or so. A little later, there were huge paddocks with sheep or cattle- that's where we saw the emus.
Halfway to Cunnamulla, there's a little town named Wyandra. It boasts a hotel which sells fuel (last fuel for 100 kms) and a post office which doubles as caravan park and grocery store. One of the houses has a fence made up of hubcaps, which is reasonably common out here, but the next door neighbour's decoration is dozens of bras strung up along the fence. Big ones, small ones, polka dotted ones- they ask for a donation to breast cancer research if you take a photo. Different.
Cunnamulla has some sand dunes which they seem to find quite interesting. For people who live in such a flat land, I suppose they are. They're not much compared to the dunes at Williamtown, though.
Tomorrow, Bourke. I'm also going to put up some photos, having finally gotten around to downloading them from the cameras.
We've travelled 200 kms today and seen many emus, but only 2 live roos (many dead ones). The roadkill count's been amazing for the last week or so- it must have been a good season for the animals or there'd be none left at all. We saw a few feral cats today (in different places)- we've probably sighted about a dozen of them all told. they're a terrible danger to small native animals, unfortunately.
The first 50 kms from Charleville was fairly boring, with mulga growing thickly both sides of the road, and in this flat land there was nothing at all to see. The mulga itself is fairly ordinary, bushy rather than trees, and so thick you can see only a few metres into the scrub.
It was a relief to get to a place where the mulga had been cleared so you could actually see 100 metres or so. A little later, there were huge paddocks with sheep or cattle- that's where we saw the emus.
Halfway to Cunnamulla, there's a little town named Wyandra. It boasts a hotel which sells fuel (last fuel for 100 kms) and a post office which doubles as caravan park and grocery store. One of the houses has a fence made up of hubcaps, which is reasonably common out here, but the next door neighbour's decoration is dozens of bras strung up along the fence. Big ones, small ones, polka dotted ones- they ask for a donation to breast cancer research if you take a photo. Different.
Cunnamulla has some sand dunes which they seem to find quite interesting. For people who live in such a flat land, I suppose they are. They're not much compared to the dunes at Williamtown, though.
Tomorrow, Bourke. I'm also going to put up some photos, having finally gotten around to downloading them from the cameras.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
BULLS AND BILBIES
We walked a couple of kilometres to the Blackall Showground, very well rugged up (even gloves for me) because it gets quite cold once the sun sets out here. We found seats in the grandstand and waited. And waited. And waited. Half an hour after the stated starting time, the announcer came on and announced that they were about to start. He thanked all the sponsors at great length and said they were about to start. He thanked the sponsors again and introduced all the riders, who were in 3 divisions, junior, novice and open. He thanked all the sponsors several times before the first gate (chute) opened and let out a little boy on a big bull- for a few seconds, anyway. He didn't make the five and a half seconds minimum. Neither did the next one, or the next, or the next. Each time we waited ten minutes or more in between rides, with the announcer thanking the sponsors. The boys were probably teenagers, hard to tell as they didn't stay visible for long, they surely ran fast to climb the fence once they fell off the bulls. One of the bulls refused to leave the ring, and it took some time and some antics by the clowns to get him through the exit gate. Probably the most amusing and interesting part of the night.
So the novice comp started. Same story. None of the riders stayed on long enough, most of them falling as soon as they came through the gate.
Finally the open comp began, and somebody actually stayed aboard for the grown-up requisite 8 seconds. Most of them fell off but then another one lasted the distance. They stopped for a break (as far as we could see, they'd been having breaks all night). We left at this stage, after two hours sitting in the freezing cold, feeling sorry for the poor bulls who were so scared. Most of this time we were waiting for something to happen, as the long breaks in between riders continued. Oh, I forgot to mention that all the riders had fancy clothes, with spangles and shiny bits- hardly mattered, with the little time you see of them. Are they supposed to make them rider better?
They're very brave (and stupid) but I kept thinking, "Would I let my son do this? No way!"
Blackall to Charleville was a long leg, just under 300 km. We stopped in the pleasant little town of Tambo for morning tea and Augathella for lunch, meeting up with the same two vans in each place and chatting to the people, who were from Adelaide. They were heading for Roma, we were turning to Charleville. The country changed quite a bit. Blackall was at 900+ metres above sea level but we kept rising so Charleville is higher. It's the biggest town since Mt Isa, which surprised us.
Last night we rugged up again and went to see some bilbies. First we listened to a delightful young man, Lawson, a volunteer, who also volunteers for Red Cross, is doing Year 12 at present and will join the Air Force at the end of the year. We watched a video on the Save the Bilbies appeal before going to meet some of the little critters in the noctarium. No flash allowed so no photos but they are awfully cute with their big ears and their black and white tail which looks like it's been stuck on the wrong animal. They are highly endangered so a big fence has been erected at a national park west of here, the area cleared of foxes and cats, and a colony left to breed there.
Today we've done the washing and will take it easy before heading for Cunnamulla tomorrow. Only about another hundred k's after that, we'll be back in NSW. The weather's getting cooler all the time as we go south- 25 predicted today, but down to about 6 overnight. Lovely during the day, of course.
We've driven in excess of 14,000 kms so far and we still have a long way to go. We expect to be home by the end of the month, which will be 5 months away.
So the novice comp started. Same story. None of the riders stayed on long enough, most of them falling as soon as they came through the gate.
Finally the open comp began, and somebody actually stayed aboard for the grown-up requisite 8 seconds. Most of them fell off but then another one lasted the distance. They stopped for a break (as far as we could see, they'd been having breaks all night). We left at this stage, after two hours sitting in the freezing cold, feeling sorry for the poor bulls who were so scared. Most of this time we were waiting for something to happen, as the long breaks in between riders continued. Oh, I forgot to mention that all the riders had fancy clothes, with spangles and shiny bits- hardly mattered, with the little time you see of them. Are they supposed to make them rider better?
They're very brave (and stupid) but I kept thinking, "Would I let my son do this? No way!"
Blackall to Charleville was a long leg, just under 300 km. We stopped in the pleasant little town of Tambo for morning tea and Augathella for lunch, meeting up with the same two vans in each place and chatting to the people, who were from Adelaide. They were heading for Roma, we were turning to Charleville. The country changed quite a bit. Blackall was at 900+ metres above sea level but we kept rising so Charleville is higher. It's the biggest town since Mt Isa, which surprised us.
Last night we rugged up again and went to see some bilbies. First we listened to a delightful young man, Lawson, a volunteer, who also volunteers for Red Cross, is doing Year 12 at present and will join the Air Force at the end of the year. We watched a video on the Save the Bilbies appeal before going to meet some of the little critters in the noctarium. No flash allowed so no photos but they are awfully cute with their big ears and their black and white tail which looks like it's been stuck on the wrong animal. They are highly endangered so a big fence has been erected at a national park west of here, the area cleared of foxes and cats, and a colony left to breed there.
Today we've done the washing and will take it easy before heading for Cunnamulla tomorrow. Only about another hundred k's after that, we'll be back in NSW. The weather's getting cooler all the time as we go south- 25 predicted today, but down to about 6 overnight. Lovely during the day, of course.
We've driven in excess of 14,000 kms so far and we still have a long way to go. We expect to be home by the end of the month, which will be 5 months away.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
LONGREACH TO BLACKALL
More on Longreach: it's situated on the Thomson River which is one of the tributaries of Cooper Creek and eventually flows into Lake Eyre- seems odd to be in the Lake Eyre catchment when we were so far, I suppose well over a thousand kilometres, from Lake Eyre.
We had a great time at the Qantas museum, spending about 6 hours there. We did a tour of a 747 and of a 707, behind the scenes as it were- we got to go upstairs in the Jumbo and to sit in business class seats. If I do any more air travel, that's how I want to fly! The seats are like my recliner chair, and this is a 20 year old plane. The 707 was the first one delivered to Qantas but was later fitted out for an Arab sheikh and has ensuite bathrooms with gold taps and a queen sized bed- now THAT's the way to travel.
The museum has lots of little films you can watch as well as many full sized replicas of planes, and a new exhibit which Chris had a go at, the flight simulator. I think he would have been happy with a Tiger Moth simulator but he got the latest (not yet in service) jet fighter and he had a bit of trouble with the very sensitive controls and crashed a few times. He became quite good at taking off! Apparently kids, who are all used to electronic games, find it easy but even people with pilots licences find it hard, Anyway, he enjoyed the experience, I think. I'm just glad I didn't try to fly it, I felt a bit sick just watching when he did loops and spins.
Today we've continued down the highway through Barcaldine (pron Bark- awl- din) which is a pretty town, the birthplace of the Labor Party. Nice parks, lots of trees and all the streets are named after trees. (In Longreach they're all named after birds).
We're now in Blackall which is a smaller but pleasant town and we're about to set off to see the bull-riding. We''ve managed to avoid rodeos in about 6 towns so far, but we've decided tonight's the night and we're rugging up before leaving the van. Weather continues to be wonderful but the temperatures have dropped a bit since we've started heading south. Still mid twenties in the daytime but low temps overnight and it will be chilly outside.
Tomorrow, Charleville, 300 kms so a longer run than usual for us.
We had a great time at the Qantas museum, spending about 6 hours there. We did a tour of a 747 and of a 707, behind the scenes as it were- we got to go upstairs in the Jumbo and to sit in business class seats. If I do any more air travel, that's how I want to fly! The seats are like my recliner chair, and this is a 20 year old plane. The 707 was the first one delivered to Qantas but was later fitted out for an Arab sheikh and has ensuite bathrooms with gold taps and a queen sized bed- now THAT's the way to travel.
The museum has lots of little films you can watch as well as many full sized replicas of planes, and a new exhibit which Chris had a go at, the flight simulator. I think he would have been happy with a Tiger Moth simulator but he got the latest (not yet in service) jet fighter and he had a bit of trouble with the very sensitive controls and crashed a few times. He became quite good at taking off! Apparently kids, who are all used to electronic games, find it easy but even people with pilots licences find it hard, Anyway, he enjoyed the experience, I think. I'm just glad I didn't try to fly it, I felt a bit sick just watching when he did loops and spins.
Today we've continued down the highway through Barcaldine (pron Bark- awl- din) which is a pretty town, the birthplace of the Labor Party. Nice parks, lots of trees and all the streets are named after trees. (In Longreach they're all named after birds).
We're now in Blackall which is a smaller but pleasant town and we're about to set off to see the bull-riding. We''ve managed to avoid rodeos in about 6 towns so far, but we've decided tonight's the night and we're rugging up before leaving the van. Weather continues to be wonderful but the temperatures have dropped a bit since we've started heading south. Still mid twenties in the daytime but low temps overnight and it will be chilly outside.
Tomorrow, Charleville, 300 kms so a longer run than usual for us.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
LONGREACH AT LONG LAST
We first started thinking of visiting Longreach some years ago. At the time the idea was to catch the train from Brisbane, visit the Qantas museum and the Stockman's Hall of Fame, and return to Brisbane by train. This proved to be impractical so the idea was shelved.
This morning Chris took the car to be serviced and we rode our bikes the kilometre or so to the Longreach School of Distance Education, formerly School of the Air. What an interesting place it turned out to be! We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and recommend it to anyone, doesn't cost much and you'll be surprised what you see. We tuned into a Preppy class (Kindergarten)- five children scattered over the countryside, talking to their teacher via computer. They were so funny with their spontaneity, as they tried to play a mix and match word game, under the teacher's control ("take your feet off the desk, Nathan"). Priceless.
The school is set up beautifully, the kids do actually get to meet their teacher at least once a year. They are brought in for short periods to stay in the dorms (with several mothers coming too) and iinteracting with each other. They are currently teaching 171 kids from 150 families, in an area bigger than Victoria. Most of the children go to boarding school after finishing Primary, in any event the school teaches only to Grade 10.
On the way back to the caravan park, we visited the Hall of Fame, and we enjoyed that so much we plan to return as soon as Chris comes back with the car. Our entry fee gave us free entry all day, and if we wish we can get a pass-out to return tomorrow as well. We paid $10 extra for the live show- worried it might be a Smokey Dawson sort of thing, but no, it's Luke the all-rounder who has horses, dogs, camels and bullocks well under his control while he tells jokes and recites a few bush poems. Very funny.
The museum's not just about cows, but covers pioneer history with really interesting exhibits. We've only "done" half of it so far and really enjoyed the experience.
Our neighbours, the Brolgas.
This morning Chris took the car to be serviced and we rode our bikes the kilometre or so to the Longreach School of Distance Education, formerly School of the Air. What an interesting place it turned out to be! We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and recommend it to anyone, doesn't cost much and you'll be surprised what you see. We tuned into a Preppy class (Kindergarten)- five children scattered over the countryside, talking to their teacher via computer. They were so funny with their spontaneity, as they tried to play a mix and match word game, under the teacher's control ("take your feet off the desk, Nathan"). Priceless.
The school is set up beautifully, the kids do actually get to meet their teacher at least once a year. They are brought in for short periods to stay in the dorms (with several mothers coming too) and iinteracting with each other. They are currently teaching 171 kids from 150 families, in an area bigger than Victoria. Most of the children go to boarding school after finishing Primary, in any event the school teaches only to Grade 10.
On the way back to the caravan park, we visited the Hall of Fame, and we enjoyed that so much we plan to return as soon as Chris comes back with the car. Our entry fee gave us free entry all day, and if we wish we can get a pass-out to return tomorrow as well. We paid $10 extra for the live show- worried it might be a Smokey Dawson sort of thing, but no, it's Luke the all-rounder who has horses, dogs, camels and bullocks well under his control while he tells jokes and recites a few bush poems. Very funny.
The museum's not just about cows, but covers pioneer history with really interesting exhibits. We've only "done" half of it so far and really enjoyed the experience.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
MEET THE NEIGHBOURS
Today we've travelled to Longreach, a town of 3,500 which boasts the Qantas museum, The Stockman's Hall of Fame, and School of the Air, all of which we plan to visit. There are a few other museums as well, but we probably won't bother with them.
The car's booked in for a service tomorrow and we'll ride our bikes up the road a bit to see School of the Air, which should be interesting. If we have time we'll drop in at Stockman's Hall of Fame on the way back. Qantas museum's across the road but we're booked in for Friday morning to tour a 747 and a 707, hopefully getting to see the cockpits of each.
This is a very big caravan park- our site number is 254. It's spread out over a large area on the outskirts of town, and has amenities which are palatial compared with those of Winton, and the water doesn't smell of rotten eggs either.
As we drove in, Chris pointed out a statue of a brolga. It took a few moments to realise it wasn't a statue. We actually had to wait for one to get out of the road so we wouldn't run over it. A pair of them are stationed at the back of our caravan, and every now and then the male starts a chortling sound. With a bit of luck we may even see them dance!
I've been trying to upload a photo of the brolgas, but Google who host this site must be having problems. I'll try again later.
The car's booked in for a service tomorrow and we'll ride our bikes up the road a bit to see School of the Air, which should be interesting. If we have time we'll drop in at Stockman's Hall of Fame on the way back. Qantas museum's across the road but we're booked in for Friday morning to tour a 747 and a 707, hopefully getting to see the cockpits of each.
This is a very big caravan park- our site number is 254. It's spread out over a large area on the outskirts of town, and has amenities which are palatial compared with those of Winton, and the water doesn't smell of rotten eggs either.
As we drove in, Chris pointed out a statue of a brolga. It took a few moments to realise it wasn't a statue. We actually had to wait for one to get out of the road so we wouldn't run over it. A pair of them are stationed at the back of our caravan, and every now and then the male starts a chortling sound. With a bit of luck we may even see them dance!
I've been trying to upload a photo of the brolgas, but Google who host this site must be having problems. I'll try again later.
Monday, 13 August 2012
DINOSAUR TRAIL
We know so much about dinosaurs now, having met several different species up close (but not quite personal). At Richmond we met replicas of Kronosaurus and Minmi (I forget what type he was); in Hughenden it was Muttabutasaurus, and here in Winton there are three at the Age of Dinosaurs, Banjo, Matilda and Wade. 110 kms south of Winton, the Lark Quarry stampede involved yet three more species, these not positively identified yet. We were told as children there were no dinosaurs in Australia, but this is proving increasingly incorrect. Winton's three have all been found in the last 12 years and they are still finding more every day. (If you're up this way you might find one for yourself).
The Age of Dinosaurs is an excellent exhibit, which starts with a presentation of the three dinosaurs. Banjo is a carnivore, Matilda was much bigger, as you can see by Chris standing near her front leg, which is estimated to be only one third of her height.
Chris beside Matilda's front leg
Her femur was contrasted with that of a two tonne bull, making the bull's bone look tiny in comparison. Wade is a different type of beast, but they're still working on categorising his bones- he won't be "released" to science for a few years yet.
Note: although none of the brochures mention this fact, the Age of Dinosaurs is not actually in Winton, but 24 kms away- 13 towards Longreach then 11 kms in. OK as long as you know about it, timing is everything for hourly tours.
Lark Quarry's also a bit out of town- 110 kms on a road that's about halfway tarred. It's up on a mesa (locally known as a jumpup) and through some incredibly barren land which still had sheep grazing, though goodness knows what they were eating. 1 beast to the acre, I would think, they were very sparsely scattered.
Jumpup behind Lark Quarry
At Lark Quarry itself, the countryside was quite lovely, the red jumpups contrasting with the spinifex grass. Again it's a guided tour at fixed times, so you need to plan ahead, particularly in terms of food and water as there is no kiosk. (There are toilets). The dinosaur stampede, preserved forever in the rock, is now contained in a huge shed so it's out of the sun.
We've also visited the Waltzing Matilda centre- I should mention that Banjo Patterson wrote the song here, hence the names of the dinosaurs. This is a pretty good museum but I'll be happy if I don't hear that song again for a hundred years. Did you know Winston Churchill sang it to Bob Menzies once? Do you care?
There are other exhibits at the centre including some to do with Qantas, which is the destination of the first Qantas flight, after the first Qantas board meeting was held here.
Winton's a very dry place where tap water gives off a rotten egg gas smell. If you've never smelt rotten eggs, remember how perms used to stink? It's artesian water, which is pumped up at 80 degrees and cooled before being circulated. They say it's fine to drink, and the smell does dissipate once you've had the water on for a minute, but still!
Tomorrow, on to Longreach for a few days.
The Age of Dinosaurs is an excellent exhibit, which starts with a presentation of the three dinosaurs. Banjo is a carnivore, Matilda was much bigger, as you can see by Chris standing near her front leg, which is estimated to be only one third of her height.
Her femur was contrasted with that of a two tonne bull, making the bull's bone look tiny in comparison. Wade is a different type of beast, but they're still working on categorising his bones- he won't be "released" to science for a few years yet.
Banjo gives Chris a welcome hug. Look at those talons!
A pleasant walk across the cliffs (or you can drive the distance) brings you to the lab, where a hyper young man named George sounded as if he was auditioning for the Wiggles, as he postured and yelled his spiel at us- interesting if he'd just been himself. I found myself switching off, bored with his antics. It was interesting to see how the bones are processed, using equipment very like that which dentists use- they are looking for volunteers, if anyone's interested.Note: although none of the brochures mention this fact, the Age of Dinosaurs is not actually in Winton, but 24 kms away- 13 towards Longreach then 11 kms in. OK as long as you know about it, timing is everything for hourly tours.
Lark Quarry's also a bit out of town- 110 kms on a road that's about halfway tarred. It's up on a mesa (locally known as a jumpup) and through some incredibly barren land which still had sheep grazing, though goodness knows what they were eating. 1 beast to the acre, I would think, they were very sparsely scattered.
At Lark Quarry itself, the countryside was quite lovely, the red jumpups contrasting with the spinifex grass. Again it's a guided tour at fixed times, so you need to plan ahead, particularly in terms of food and water as there is no kiosk. (There are toilets). The dinosaur stampede, preserved forever in the rock, is now contained in a huge shed so it's out of the sun.
We've also visited the Waltzing Matilda centre- I should mention that Banjo Patterson wrote the song here, hence the names of the dinosaurs. This is a pretty good museum but I'll be happy if I don't hear that song again for a hundred years. Did you know Winston Churchill sang it to Bob Menzies once? Do you care?
There are other exhibits at the centre including some to do with Qantas, which is the destination of the first Qantas flight, after the first Qantas board meeting was held here.
Winton's a very dry place where tap water gives off a rotten egg gas smell. If you've never smelt rotten eggs, remember how perms used to stink? It's artesian water, which is pumped up at 80 degrees and cooled before being circulated. They say it's fine to drink, and the smell does dissipate once you've had the water on for a minute, but still!
Tomorrow, on to Longreach for a few days.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Winter in Winton
Brr it was cold when we woke up in Hughenden this morning, 8 degrees inside the caravan and a bitterly cold wind blowing outside. Up till the last few days we've had to remind ourselves this is winter, with temps up to 30 degrees. Today it warmed up, but when we stopped at Corfield for morning tea the wind was still cold and I kept my jumper on. Arrived in Winton at lunchtime, and it's now warm enough to take it off, just.
The road here was straight and constantly rising at a very gradual incline. Women would be well advised to wear a very firm bra because the road, although tarred all the way, at times has become corrugated through the black soil shrinking. You get jiggled about a lot. The strong winds make driving with the caravan harder, too.
Winton's not a bad town, a mixture of old and newer houses though nothing brand new apart from a really good covered skate park for kids. For the oldies there are bowls and golf clubs, three independent supermarkerts,wide streets with odd names like Manifold St, Sesibania St, Vindex St- some of them have trees in the middle, as does the main street with flowering plants and most of the businesses we need like hardware, bakery, hairdresser etc. Oh, and a cafe. No McDonald's, we haven't seen one of those since Mt Isa, and not for weeks prior to that, probably Cairns. Not that we miss them, of course.
The road here was straight and constantly rising at a very gradual incline. Women would be well advised to wear a very firm bra because the road, although tarred all the way, at times has become corrugated through the black soil shrinking. You get jiggled about a lot. The strong winds make driving with the caravan harder, too.
Winton's not a bad town, a mixture of old and newer houses though nothing brand new apart from a really good covered skate park for kids. For the oldies there are bowls and golf clubs, three independent supermarkerts,wide streets with odd names like Manifold St, Sesibania St, Vindex St- some of them have trees in the middle, as does the main street with flowering plants and most of the businesses we need like hardware, bakery, hairdresser etc. Oh, and a cafe. No McDonald's, we haven't seen one of those since Mt Isa, and not for weeks prior to that, probably Cairns. Not that we miss them, of course.
Friday, 10 August 2012
FOSSILS AND DINOSAURS
Yes, we are two old fossils, but that's not what I'm talking about. We left Julia Creek yesterday (pop 500, pop of the whole shire 1,000) and headed over tarred but bumpy roads to Richmond and Hughenden. We're back in black soil country, which cracks badly in the dry season and the road moves with the drying soil, forming small hills and valleys even though the actual terrain's quite flat. Very noticeable when towing the caravan.
Julia Creek actually has a native animal which lives in the cracks. It's a tiny marsupial called a Julia Creek dunnart. We saw a couple of stuffed ones at the very good info centre, they will have live ones for viewing when the new centre's finished next month. They are nocturnal so I guess they're building a noctarium. Cute little guys, the size of a mouse, they can carry up to 8 little babies in their pouch. They live on insects and caterpillars so the farmers like them. Found only within 100 kms radius of Julia Creek.
At Richmond we stopped at the excellent fossil museum called Kronosaurus Korner, which also has a nice cafe which doesn't charge the earth. The fossils are awesome, all found in the area, and including a replica of the Kronosaurus skeleton fossil found near here, as well as Minmi, a much smaller fellow also found in the area. You can look for fossils yourself, 16kms from town- really good fossils are still being found, some by tourists. An English couple found something just last year which excited the scientists.
Fossilised skeleton of a plesiosaur, the first complete one ever found in Australia.The finder was so pleased he opened the excellent museum at Richmond, which has many other fossil remains.
At Hughenden, they have a replica of the huge dinosaur known as Muttaburrasaurus (found at Muttaburra) as well as dinosaur eggs and many, many others. A great area for anyone interested in these things. Another unique feature is the Flinders poppy, named after the local river, which although being the longest river in Queensland, is currently dry, as it is every winter.
Today we visited Porcupine Gorge, some 60kms from Hughenden, and did a walk down the steep sides of the gorge to the creek at the bottom. The gorge is 27 km long and quite deep, very impressive.
Porcupine Gorge from the lookout
One of the rockpools at the bottom of the gorge
On the rocks below we found a dessicated cane toad, which looks as if it died laughing.
Tomorrow we're off to Winton, for more of the Dinosaur Trail- this is where you can see the rocky remains of a dinosaur stampede from millions of years ago. Three days there, then Longreach- Chris has the car booked in for a service and we want to see the Stockmen's Hall of Fame and the Qantas museum.
Julia Creek actually has a native animal which lives in the cracks. It's a tiny marsupial called a Julia Creek dunnart. We saw a couple of stuffed ones at the very good info centre, they will have live ones for viewing when the new centre's finished next month. They are nocturnal so I guess they're building a noctarium. Cute little guys, the size of a mouse, they can carry up to 8 little babies in their pouch. They live on insects and caterpillars so the farmers like them. Found only within 100 kms radius of Julia Creek.
At Richmond we stopped at the excellent fossil museum called Kronosaurus Korner, which also has a nice cafe which doesn't charge the earth. The fossils are awesome, all found in the area, and including a replica of the Kronosaurus skeleton fossil found near here, as well as Minmi, a much smaller fellow also found in the area. You can look for fossils yourself, 16kms from town- really good fossils are still being found, some by tourists. An English couple found something just last year which excited the scientists.
At Hughenden, they have a replica of the huge dinosaur known as Muttaburrasaurus (found at Muttaburra) as well as dinosaur eggs and many, many others. A great area for anyone interested in these things. Another unique feature is the Flinders poppy, named after the local river, which although being the longest river in Queensland, is currently dry, as it is every winter.
Today we visited Porcupine Gorge, some 60kms from Hughenden, and did a walk down the steep sides of the gorge to the creek at the bottom. The gorge is 27 km long and quite deep, very impressive.
On the rocks below we found a dessicated cane toad, which looks as if it died laughing.
Tomorrow we're off to Winton, for more of the Dinosaur Trail- this is where you can see the rocky remains of a dinosaur stampede from millions of years ago. Three days there, then Longreach- Chris has the car booked in for a service and we want to see the Stockmen's Hall of Fame and the Qantas museum.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
MT ISA TO JULIA CREEK
Mt Isa exists only because of the mines, the reason for the town's beginnings in 1923 and remaining the dominant feature of the landscape. They employ 7,000 of the 23,000 population so it has a big economic impact as well. We did a surface tour of the mines and smelter (without getting out of the bus)- it was much more interesting than I expected. They mine copper underground currently, but within a few years all the existing infrastructure will disappear, being taken apart for scrap, and they will commence digging a great big super-pit, an open cut mine that extends for five kilometres to a depth of 800 metres.
250 tonne trucks all driven by women.
There is already an open-cut mining lead, zinc and silver, which will continue operating. Apparently the prevailing wind blows away from the town, so no lead is blown onto the town. Wonder why they have TV ads reminding mums to wash kiddie's hands frequently and to wet wipe floors and benches often- put out by the Lead Alliance. We found the air rather polluted although not as badly as you'd think.
There's a good shopping centre and a lovely lake which forms the local water supply.
Lake Moondarra, near Mt Isa
We also toured the Underground Hospital, a WWII relic- after the bombing of Darwin, the locals thought Mt Isa would be the next target (mines producing metal for ammo) and if the hospital was hit, what would they do? So they went underground- digging equipment provided by the mines, but voluntary labour did the work. Thankfully never needed.
Underground hospital, Mt Isa.
This morning we've moved on to Julia Creek, where we are staying in a lovely freebie near the waterholes which in the wet season are the creek. We're about to ride our bikes into the attractive little town, about a kilometre away. Tomorrow we'll go to Richmond, then Hughenden, before turning south to Winton and Longreach, where Chris has organised to have the car serviced. We'll be at Longreach until Sunday week at least. From now on we should be in biggish towns, hence mobile coverage most of the time.
There is already an open-cut mining lead, zinc and silver, which will continue operating. Apparently the prevailing wind blows away from the town, so no lead is blown onto the town. Wonder why they have TV ads reminding mums to wash kiddie's hands frequently and to wet wipe floors and benches often- put out by the Lead Alliance. We found the air rather polluted although not as badly as you'd think.
There's a good shopping centre and a lovely lake which forms the local water supply.
We also toured the Underground Hospital, a WWII relic- after the bombing of Darwin, the locals thought Mt Isa would be the next target (mines producing metal for ammo) and if the hospital was hit, what would they do? So they went underground- digging equipment provided by the mines, but voluntary labour did the work. Thankfully never needed.
This morning we've moved on to Julia Creek, where we are staying in a lovely freebie near the waterholes which in the wet season are the creek. We're about to ride our bikes into the attractive little town, about a kilometre away. Tomorrow we'll go to Richmond, then Hughenden, before turning south to Winton and Longreach, where Chris has organised to have the car serviced. We'll be at Longreach until Sunday week at least. From now on we should be in biggish towns, hence mobile coverage most of the time.
Monday, 6 August 2012
FROM THE CURRY TO THE ISA
We left Cloncurry this morning, without regret- we weren't terribly impressed by the town. Heading west towards Mt Isa, we were amazed by the changing landscape. Where yesterday we were passing through fairly flat though elevated land, with occasional higher spots, and a great deal of vegetation, with shrubs coming into flower and an abundance of different trees giving differing shades of green, from silvery grey to dark green, today we were suddenly climbing hills and more hills, with Namatjira landscapes of red cliffs or red hills barely covered with grey/brown grass and spotted with small trees. It may not sound great but it's actually quite beautiful.
The Isa, as the locals call it, is a biggish town dominated by the three tall chimneys of the mine. The town's grown up round the mine, and is surprisingly close to it. It's located in the valley formed by several large hills, and we were pleased to find Coles and Kmart and even better, hairdressers! We've both had our hair cut and are feeling much better for it. We've done the washing (it dried within an hour) and a big grocery shop - we don't expect to see another decent supermarket for a while so we've stocked up. Now we can concentrate on sight-seeing. Chris has just suggested going to the local look-out at sunset, which sounds like an excellent idea. It's right here in town, so should have a good view of the place.
The local rodeo's on this weekend; and rodeos are big in the outback, we've already been close to three others. But we couldn't stay even if we wanted to, because the caravan park's booked out.
The Isa, as the locals call it, is a biggish town dominated by the three tall chimneys of the mine. The town's grown up round the mine, and is surprisingly close to it. It's located in the valley formed by several large hills, and we were pleased to find Coles and Kmart and even better, hairdressers! We've both had our hair cut and are feeling much better for it. We've done the washing (it dried within an hour) and a big grocery shop - we don't expect to see another decent supermarket for a while so we've stocked up. Now we can concentrate on sight-seeing. Chris has just suggested going to the local look-out at sunset, which sounds like an excellent idea. It's right here in town, so should have a good view of the place.
The local rodeo's on this weekend; and rodeos are big in the outback, we've already been close to three others. But we couldn't stay even if we wanted to, because the caravan park's booked out.
KARUMBA PHOTOS
For some reason I'm unable to reopen any of my posts to add photos so I'll get around it this way:
BIRD ATTACKS AND PARADISE
We're in Cloncurry today, having started on the way south and heading home, though we won't reach it for several weeks yet, still lots to see.
In the past few days we've been almost to the Northern Territory border, visiting Adel's Grove and Lawn Hill National Park, just about due north of Camooweal. Lawn Hill is a little bit of paradise, with a deep gorge, deep river, and wonderful colours. We canoed up to a little waterfall, through sheer red cliffs on emerald green water, with lush riverside growth including tall palm trees and many other trees, lots of birdlife and freshwater crocodiles- we saw one of them sunbaking by the side of the stream. they say you can swim there, but we didn't!
On the way to Adel's Grove, which is 10 kms north of the national park, on the same creek, we were besieged by birds of all types.First a peaceful dove stood on the road in between the wheels, refusing to fly away with its friends. If it stayed still while the car and the caravan passed over it, it was fine, but we couldn't tell if it did stay still.
Some miles further on we found ourselves racing an emu, who wanted to cross immediately in front. At the very last second he did an about turn, actually falling over from his sudden movement, and the car and caravan passed him safely. He probably had sore knees as a result. We've never seen one at such close quarters before, just inches away!
Next it was a big kite. A number of birds were gathered round some roadkill, as they do out here. The bigger birds are always the last to fly away (wedge-tailed eagles are the worst, they leave it till the last second). This one took off to the left but in trying to gain height he turned back in front of the car and we thought the windscreen would hit him. At the last moment he cleared the top of the car, but the caravan's quite a bit higher so there was still some concern, but apparently he made it.
Last close call (on a 75 kilometre stretch of road) was a flock of budgerigars, one of whom misjudged the timing and was almost hit. Luckily on the second half of our trip the birds were behaving themselves and we had no more near things.
The birdlife at Adel's Grove is amazing, there are birds there we'd never seen before. In the last few weeks we've added about a hundred new birds to our mental list of birds sighted.
Prior to this, we've been staying at Leichardt Lagoon, 25kms east of Normanton. This is a beautiful spot with wonderful sunsets and dozens of different birds including brolgas. On the way to Karumba for the day, we saw about 50 brolgas in a field, and hundreds of little wallabies. We did a sunset croc-spotting cruise, spying some 7 or 8 of the big salties, our first in the wild. (We've seen a number of freshies, but they're supposed to be harmless and though it's impressive to see them, it's not the same as seeing salties.)
We spent a night camping at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, which is located at the intersection of the Burke development road and the Wills development road. About halfway between Normanton and Cloncurry, it's the turnoff for Gregory Downs and Adel's Grove. It has surprisingly good amenities and as the only place on the road is very busy. We bought a meal which turned out to be huge, and watched the "locals" come in for a drink - young people, male and female, from the properties around. They all wear big Akubras which they forget to remove, even while sitting at the bar. Reminded me of McLeod's daughters.
All the staff in these outback places are foreign, mainly backpackers, many of them English or Irish but also many from European countries. The outback businesses could not get on without them, it appears.
Tomorrow we're off to Mt Isa for a few days. We both need a haircut and haven't been able to find anyone to do it. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be successful, and we won't look like shaggy dogs anymore.
In the past few days we've been almost to the Northern Territory border, visiting Adel's Grove and Lawn Hill National Park, just about due north of Camooweal. Lawn Hill is a little bit of paradise, with a deep gorge, deep river, and wonderful colours. We canoed up to a little waterfall, through sheer red cliffs on emerald green water, with lush riverside growth including tall palm trees and many other trees, lots of birdlife and freshwater crocodiles- we saw one of them sunbaking by the side of the stream. they say you can swim there, but we didn't!
On the way to Adel's Grove, which is 10 kms north of the national park, on the same creek, we were besieged by birds of all types.First a peaceful dove stood on the road in between the wheels, refusing to fly away with its friends. If it stayed still while the car and the caravan passed over it, it was fine, but we couldn't tell if it did stay still.
Some miles further on we found ourselves racing an emu, who wanted to cross immediately in front. At the very last second he did an about turn, actually falling over from his sudden movement, and the car and caravan passed him safely. He probably had sore knees as a result. We've never seen one at such close quarters before, just inches away!
Next it was a big kite. A number of birds were gathered round some roadkill, as they do out here. The bigger birds are always the last to fly away (wedge-tailed eagles are the worst, they leave it till the last second). This one took off to the left but in trying to gain height he turned back in front of the car and we thought the windscreen would hit him. At the last moment he cleared the top of the car, but the caravan's quite a bit higher so there was still some concern, but apparently he made it.
Last close call (on a 75 kilometre stretch of road) was a flock of budgerigars, one of whom misjudged the timing and was almost hit. Luckily on the second half of our trip the birds were behaving themselves and we had no more near things.
The birdlife at Adel's Grove is amazing, there are birds there we'd never seen before. In the last few weeks we've added about a hundred new birds to our mental list of birds sighted.
Prior to this, we've been staying at Leichardt Lagoon, 25kms east of Normanton. This is a beautiful spot with wonderful sunsets and dozens of different birds including brolgas. On the way to Karumba for the day, we saw about 50 brolgas in a field, and hundreds of little wallabies. We did a sunset croc-spotting cruise, spying some 7 or 8 of the big salties, our first in the wild. (We've seen a number of freshies, but they're supposed to be harmless and though it's impressive to see them, it's not the same as seeing salties.)
We spent a night camping at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, which is located at the intersection of the Burke development road and the Wills development road. About halfway between Normanton and Cloncurry, it's the turnoff for Gregory Downs and Adel's Grove. It has surprisingly good amenities and as the only place on the road is very busy. We bought a meal which turned out to be huge, and watched the "locals" come in for a drink - young people, male and female, from the properties around. They all wear big Akubras which they forget to remove, even while sitting at the bar. Reminded me of McLeod's daughters.
All the staff in these outback places are foreign, mainly backpackers, many of them English or Irish but also many from European countries. The outback businesses could not get on without them, it appears.
Tomorrow we're off to Mt Isa for a few days. We both need a haircut and haven't been able to find anyone to do it. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be successful, and we won't look like shaggy dogs anymore.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Where the devil are we?
We're at Adel's Grove in Lawn Hill NP, the furthest west we'll be going this trip, and almost to the NT border.
Short entry as I'm standing at the back of the car, the only place we can get access. Two nights here, then to Cloncurry, hopefully will get access there to tell you about all the things we've seen.
Short entry as I'm standing at the back of the car, the only place we can get access. Two nights here, then to Cloncurry, hopefully will get access there to tell you about all the things we've seen.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
COBBOLD GORGE AT LAST
After many delays, we finally managed to leave Mt Surprise. We had intended staying there for 2 nights, but this became 5 as we tried to get new tyres delivered and fitted. One unexpected outcome was a last minute decision to catch the once weekly train to Einasleigh, which turned out to be a pleasant afternoon. We were bussed back to Mt Surprise, with a fair dinkum billy tea on the way (water taken from the Einasleigh river). All very pleasant with nice scenery and good weather.
Einasleigh hotel, welcome sight on a hot day
Boiling the billy beside the Einasleigh river
The weather's been great for a week or more, every since we left the coast. It gets a bit cool at night, but the days are splendid, warm and sunny. Who'd believe it was winter? Chris was just invited to pick some star fruit from the caravan park tree, and the mangoes are in full blossom so they'll be full of fruit soon.
We stayed at Cobbold Gorge for 2 nights. I didn't like that place at all. There's a magnificent swimming pool but the weather's not THAT hot, and the rest of the place leaves a bit to be desired. I gather the owners want it to be some fancy resort and are working towards that end, but they're already charging top prices. $34 for a powered site, no slab, uneven ground, and a climb up to the admittedly quite good amenities (though no refinements like soap or paper towels to be found).
Cobbold Gorge from above
The attraction is the stupendous gorge, and they charge $75 for a guided tour- you can't go there otherwise. The tour was good, but not worth that amount for three hours. We had bush tucker commentary, then climbed to the top of the gorge and looked down, finally into boats to be driven up the narrow gorge. Dozens, literally dozens of big and small freshwater crocs live here. We saw at least 8 of them, and the guide said there are 80 in residence. Who counts them? We got as up close and meaningful as we would ever want to be, with all those teeth grinning at us as we glided past.
Freshwater crocodile, Cobbold Gorge
For anyone contemplating a visit, I would recommend staying at Georgetown and driving in for the tour only- it doesn't start till 10 am so there's plenty of time to cover the 70 or so kilometres, which is all rough gravel from Forsayth onwards, another reason they shouldn't charge so much.
Today we're having a washing/shopping day in Croydon before pushing on to Leichardt Lagoon, a cattle station near Normanton. From there we'll do a day trip to Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Croydon is a former goldmining town, which like most of these is a shadow of its former self, but a likeable town with friendly people and a caravan park with FREE use of washing machine and, as mentioned above, free pickings of their many fruit trees. There are a couple of servos/small supermarkets in town, one of them claiming to be the oldest store in Australia, and it includes a free museum.
The picture below is a kapok tree. Many of us will remember those awful kapok mattresses which became so lumpy and made it so hard to make your bed neatly before innersprings were thought of. It has a bright yellow flower, making it stand out in the bush, although the wattle's out as well. The kapok is found in the seed pod, somewhat similar to cotton.
Kapok tree, very plentiful in the savannah land.
The weather's been great for a week or more, every since we left the coast. It gets a bit cool at night, but the days are splendid, warm and sunny. Who'd believe it was winter? Chris was just invited to pick some star fruit from the caravan park tree, and the mangoes are in full blossom so they'll be full of fruit soon.
We stayed at Cobbold Gorge for 2 nights. I didn't like that place at all. There's a magnificent swimming pool but the weather's not THAT hot, and the rest of the place leaves a bit to be desired. I gather the owners want it to be some fancy resort and are working towards that end, but they're already charging top prices. $34 for a powered site, no slab, uneven ground, and a climb up to the admittedly quite good amenities (though no refinements like soap or paper towels to be found).
The attraction is the stupendous gorge, and they charge $75 for a guided tour- you can't go there otherwise. The tour was good, but not worth that amount for three hours. We had bush tucker commentary, then climbed to the top of the gorge and looked down, finally into boats to be driven up the narrow gorge. Dozens, literally dozens of big and small freshwater crocs live here. We saw at least 8 of them, and the guide said there are 80 in residence. Who counts them? We got as up close and meaningful as we would ever want to be, with all those teeth grinning at us as we glided past.
For anyone contemplating a visit, I would recommend staying at Georgetown and driving in for the tour only- it doesn't start till 10 am so there's plenty of time to cover the 70 or so kilometres, which is all rough gravel from Forsayth onwards, another reason they shouldn't charge so much.
Today we're having a washing/shopping day in Croydon before pushing on to Leichardt Lagoon, a cattle station near Normanton. From there we'll do a day trip to Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Croydon is a former goldmining town, which like most of these is a shadow of its former self, but a likeable town with friendly people and a caravan park with FREE use of washing machine and, as mentioned above, free pickings of their many fruit trees. There are a couple of servos/small supermarkets in town, one of them claiming to be the oldest store in Australia, and it includes a free museum.
The picture below is a kapok tree. Many of us will remember those awful kapok mattresses which became so lumpy and made it so hard to make your bed neatly before innersprings were thought of. It has a bright yellow flower, making it stand out in the bush, although the wattle's out as well. The kapok is found in the seed pod, somewhat similar to cotton.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
MULTI-TALENTED PEOPLE AT MT SURPRSE
Quiet day at "home" today, we've been doing housework, the washing, washing the car etc. Our neighbours are Pauline and Kevin from Kurri, who we first met at Malanda- we were amazed to run into each other again because they were going in the opposite direction, but changed their minds. Good to see them again. Turns out they both knew a relative of Chris, Jack Donne, who used to manage Stockrington mine- Pauline's father was the under manager and Kevin worked there. It appears that Jack passed away very recently. Small world.
Yesterday we walked down to Elizabeth Creek, which is very pretty. The walk from the caravan park brought home to us the nature of the land here. It's all basalt rocks just under or on top of the ground, the locals say if you want to dig a hole here, be prepared for a lot of hard yakka. On the way in we passed long piles of rocks and wondered who was responsible, now we know it was Telstra workmen putting in cables, and the roadworkers building the road. The caravan park owners put in a lot of time clearing the ground in little bits, it's been 14 years to get it to this stage.
Elizabeth Creek, Mt Surprise.
We walked back along the railway line, which was much easier and not at all dangerous because the only train runs out here on Thursday and returns on Friday.
There's a tourist train ride to Einasleigh which Pauline and Kevin have decided to do. They've already been to Undarra a few weeks ago.
It appears everyone in Mt Surprise has another string to their bow. The caravan park owner is a mechanic and can mend anything, they also run tours to Undarra and on the train. The post office across the road doubles as a cafe as well as a gem shop and runs fossicking tours. Down the road a bit there's another much more basic caravan park where the owner runs snake shows and I think he's also the owner of the little museum. The service station is also the grocery store and a cafe. And so it goes. I suppose you have to be resourceful in a place like this, which is over 300 kms from Cairns and most of the other towns on the road are fairly small. I'm hoping to find someone who can cut hair as I'm looking like a shaggy dog, last had my hair cut in Bowen, which was a long, long time ago. Chris has had his done a bit more recently so he's not too bad yet but a trim probably wouldn't go astray with him either.
Did I mention that Rocky, the dog who accompanied us fossicking yesterday, had an encounter with a freshwater crocodile a few years ago? It bit him on the nose and he needed 28 stitches- it hasn't stopped him swimming in the same creek though.
Rocky the croc attack survivor.
Yesterday we walked down to Elizabeth Creek, which is very pretty. The walk from the caravan park brought home to us the nature of the land here. It's all basalt rocks just under or on top of the ground, the locals say if you want to dig a hole here, be prepared for a lot of hard yakka. On the way in we passed long piles of rocks and wondered who was responsible, now we know it was Telstra workmen putting in cables, and the roadworkers building the road. The caravan park owners put in a lot of time clearing the ground in little bits, it's been 14 years to get it to this stage.
We walked back along the railway line, which was much easier and not at all dangerous because the only train runs out here on Thursday and returns on Friday.
There's a tourist train ride to Einasleigh which Pauline and Kevin have decided to do. They've already been to Undarra a few weeks ago.
It appears everyone in Mt Surprise has another string to their bow. The caravan park owner is a mechanic and can mend anything, they also run tours to Undarra and on the train. The post office across the road doubles as a cafe as well as a gem shop and runs fossicking tours. Down the road a bit there's another much more basic caravan park where the owner runs snake shows and I think he's also the owner of the little museum. The service station is also the grocery store and a cafe. And so it goes. I suppose you have to be resourceful in a place like this, which is over 300 kms from Cairns and most of the other towns on the road are fairly small. I'm hoping to find someone who can cut hair as I'm looking like a shaggy dog, last had my hair cut in Bowen, which was a long, long time ago. Chris has had his done a bit more recently so he's not too bad yet but a trim probably wouldn't go astray with him either.
Did I mention that Rocky, the dog who accompanied us fossicking yesterday, had an encounter with a freshwater crocodile a few years ago? It bit him on the nose and he needed 28 stitches- it hasn't stopped him swimming in the same creek though.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Nature studies
We'll be staying at Mt Surprise a little longer than expected because of a flat tyre on the way in. It happened while we were traversing a one-way bit of roadwork where we couldn't stop so the tyre was damaged enough to need replacing. Unfortunately they can't match the tread so Chris is forking out for a whole new set of tyres. I don't understand why the treads have to match, but he says it's a safety issue.
Lots of money going out..... Luckily the caravan park owner is also a mechanic so he's ordering the tyres for us but they won't get here till tomorrow night, he'll fit them first thing the next day so we can be on our way. A day was wasted with staff not passing on messages to us or to him (we haven't met him, but have spoken to his wife) but it's all sorted now.
We were lucky Mt Surprise has someone to do this sort of work because it has a population of 65, not exactly a metropolis. Our bus driver/tour guide yesterday, Steve, a former surveyor who loves the bush, said he lives in nearby Einasleigh, which has 20 people, if they're all at home, and he was out, so the population was 19.
We've had a busy couple of days. yesterday we did a tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes, which are awesome. Lots of exercise involved, starting with a 2.5 km walk around a crater rim, then up and down stairs and rocks in various tubes. The lava system spreads for 160 kms, the longest single lava event in the world. Not all of that is tubes, of course. Some of the former tubes have fallen in and created fertile hollows, others were filled with lava which solidified. But there are a number of hollow tubes, like giant caves, and probably more not yet discovered. One of the tubes has a small entrance, and brown snakes hang from trees to catch the bats as they emerge in the evening. Undarra Lodge runs a twilight tour to witness this delightful event. Not for us, thank you. Steve told us about this happening just as I was descending the stairs past the trees into the tube. "Where are they now?" I asked and he said the bats were still asleep. Not the bats, the snakes! No sign of them, luckily. We did see lots of bats, though, 3 different species, and at times had them flying above our heads. No worries.
In one of the many Undarra Lava Tubes.
We had a great time in terms of animals and birds while in the National Park- apparently there are 10 species of macropods (big-foot, that is kangaroos, wallabies etc.) and we saw six species, dozens of roos and wallabies, most of them in full flight- it's always great to see them bounding away, I always think they look like some sort of mechanical toy, their action is so unlike any other animal's.
Australian Bush turkey, or Bustard
As for birds, we had close-ups of many including wedge tailed eagles, a bustard, and a kookaburra chorus while we ate lunch- the kookaburras flew inside the high roof at Undarra Lodge and sat there watching us eat after they'd sung to us. The Canadian kids who were with us were delighted. Such a nice family, with polite, helpful boys. In one of the lava tubes my torch gave up the ghost just as I was about to walk down some stairs. I told the guide, who was walking behind me, but 15 year old Tyler immediately gave me his torch, which was very thoughtful of him, and this turned out to be typical of his and his little brother's behaviour. Nice boys. I felt sorry for them at lunchtime- they were given small helpings of chicken nuggets and chips, the type of thing you'd give a 5 year old. Since Tyler is a gangly teenager who towers over his parents, I thought he must have wished for more, but nary a complaint was heard. He did help himself to a big dessert, though, and who could blame him!
Today we've been fossicking, and found a couple of topaz stones. We came home with 5, but 2 of those were salted into our pan by the tour guide, so I don't count those. It was fun, though. This time there was a German family with us; although the parents had lived in Australia and spoke good English, and chatted with us, the kids didn't understand the language, so there wasn't a lot of interaction there, but they did say they'd had a good time.
Quiet day tomorrow, no tours planned but there's a pool here (did I mention that I'm wearing a sleeveless blouse, sitting outside under the awning in a pleasant breeze?) It does get cool at night, under 10 degrees, but warms up quite quickly once the sun rises. There's also a creek which is apparently worth a look, we haven't been there yet.
Lots of money going out..... Luckily the caravan park owner is also a mechanic so he's ordering the tyres for us but they won't get here till tomorrow night, he'll fit them first thing the next day so we can be on our way. A day was wasted with staff not passing on messages to us or to him (we haven't met him, but have spoken to his wife) but it's all sorted now.
We were lucky Mt Surprise has someone to do this sort of work because it has a population of 65, not exactly a metropolis. Our bus driver/tour guide yesterday, Steve, a former surveyor who loves the bush, said he lives in nearby Einasleigh, which has 20 people, if they're all at home, and he was out, so the population was 19.
We've had a busy couple of days. yesterday we did a tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes, which are awesome. Lots of exercise involved, starting with a 2.5 km walk around a crater rim, then up and down stairs and rocks in various tubes. The lava system spreads for 160 kms, the longest single lava event in the world. Not all of that is tubes, of course. Some of the former tubes have fallen in and created fertile hollows, others were filled with lava which solidified. But there are a number of hollow tubes, like giant caves, and probably more not yet discovered. One of the tubes has a small entrance, and brown snakes hang from trees to catch the bats as they emerge in the evening. Undarra Lodge runs a twilight tour to witness this delightful event. Not for us, thank you. Steve told us about this happening just as I was descending the stairs past the trees into the tube. "Where are they now?" I asked and he said the bats were still asleep. Not the bats, the snakes! No sign of them, luckily. We did see lots of bats, though, 3 different species, and at times had them flying above our heads. No worries.
We had a great time in terms of animals and birds while in the National Park- apparently there are 10 species of macropods (big-foot, that is kangaroos, wallabies etc.) and we saw six species, dozens of roos and wallabies, most of them in full flight- it's always great to see them bounding away, I always think they look like some sort of mechanical toy, their action is so unlike any other animal's.
As for birds, we had close-ups of many including wedge tailed eagles, a bustard, and a kookaburra chorus while we ate lunch- the kookaburras flew inside the high roof at Undarra Lodge and sat there watching us eat after they'd sung to us. The Canadian kids who were with us were delighted. Such a nice family, with polite, helpful boys. In one of the lava tubes my torch gave up the ghost just as I was about to walk down some stairs. I told the guide, who was walking behind me, but 15 year old Tyler immediately gave me his torch, which was very thoughtful of him, and this turned out to be typical of his and his little brother's behaviour. Nice boys. I felt sorry for them at lunchtime- they were given small helpings of chicken nuggets and chips, the type of thing you'd give a 5 year old. Since Tyler is a gangly teenager who towers over his parents, I thought he must have wished for more, but nary a complaint was heard. He did help himself to a big dessert, though, and who could blame him!
Today we've been fossicking, and found a couple of topaz stones. We came home with 5, but 2 of those were salted into our pan by the tour guide, so I don't count those. It was fun, though. This time there was a German family with us; although the parents had lived in Australia and spoke good English, and chatted with us, the kids didn't understand the language, so there wasn't a lot of interaction there, but they did say they'd had a good time.
Quiet day tomorrow, no tours planned but there's a pool here (did I mention that I'm wearing a sleeveless blouse, sitting outside under the awning in a pleasant breeze?) It does get cool at night, under 10 degrees, but warms up quite quickly once the sun rises. There's also a creek which is apparently worth a look, we haven't been there yet.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
MAREEBA TO MT SURPRISE
After a week in caravan parks or freebies with no mobile coverage, finally back online at Mt Surprise. We stayed at Malanda for several days, the caravan park immediately next to a small waterfall and lovely bushwalks where we walked looking upwards because there were tree kangaroos, but the trees are so tall we couldn't see the tops of the trees, let alone the kangaroos. Saw lots of baby tortoises, though.
Malanda is near the Misty Mountains, a very appropriate name for the area near Millaa Millaa, where it appears the sun rarely shines. Lots of great waterfalls in the area and although we're a bit blase about waterfalls now, they still come up with something different to surprise us occasionally. Millaa Millaa Falls are right next to the carpark and very pretty; Dinner Falls is a long series of cascades with a very strange crater nearby, Little Millstream Falls, despite the name, is quite impressive, and the real Millstream Falls (both of these near Ravenshoe) is awesome. Love to see all of these in the wet season, they must be incredible!
Millaa Millaa Falls
One day we did a round trip which took in the famous Curtain Fig Tree, Yungaburra and Lake Tinaroo, the Cathedral Fig Tree and crater lakes Barrine and Eacham. Each of these provided great sights and it was a spectacular day. Strangler fig trees are a parasite which starts from bird droppings in the crown of the tree. Aerial roots descend and eventually envelop the host tree, which over much time dies through lack of light and rots, so the inside of the strangler fig becomes hollow. These two are the best examples I've seen- we do have strangler figs in the rainforests at home, but they don't grow quite so aggressively.
Curtain Fig Tree.
While walking around Lake Eacham, we saw a couple more examples, but they are not as photogenic as the curtain and cathedral trees. This was a pleasant walk with the misty rain clearing up as we went, and at the end, when the sun was coming out properly, we saw a biggish black snake coming out to warm up. He was fairly sluggish after days of rain.
Lake Eacham
After Malanda we headed for Ravenshoe, planning to stay at the freebie right in town, but it was just too popular- though there were a couple of spots, we decided against it and went to Archer Creek, which is a pleasant and large campground. Lots of others decided to join us there and we ended with about 45 neighbours.
Next we went to Innot Hot Springs, a big 15km further west. After such a long drive, we had to plunge into the hot pools and found it very relaxing, so we stayed there two nights and enjoyed several dips.
Moving along this morning, we have now reached Mt Surprise and tomorrow will do a guided tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes. The following day we'll do a tag-along fossicking tour, and the day after that we'll head to Cobbold Gorge, where we're booked on a guided tour which includes a boat ride through the gorge, which has a number of freshwater crocodiles.
So all very exciting at the moment, lots to do and plenty of money going outwards, but we've been fairly prudent since the Thursday Island trip and tours are the best way to see things properly and understand what you are looking at.
Mobile connection is a sore point with me at the moment because my mobile phone tells me there's no signal even when passing a tower, though Chris (also Telstra) has a good connection. I can't use his phone because the screen's all scratched so I can't see what it's saying. I see a visit to a Telstra shop coming up- when we can find one! It's been a real problem this week because of illness in the family, but luckily that's over now.
Obviously as we continue further west, we will have even worse service. The few people who live at Innot Hot Springs have to drive up the nearest hill to get a signal, and we are heading for some fairly small towns. Here in Mt Surprise they have a phone signal but are still on analogue TV and we can't pick that up either. We've had no TV for five days but at least we don't need to look at the weather forecast for a while, as it should be all fine. Not much rain falls out here, but I've been surprised to see so much greenery. When I think of outback, I think of red plains, dust and flies,and we haven't encountered any of that since we returned to Cairns from The Tip.
We plan to visit Normanton and Karumba, which is on the Gulf, before returning south.
Malanda is near the Misty Mountains, a very appropriate name for the area near Millaa Millaa, where it appears the sun rarely shines. Lots of great waterfalls in the area and although we're a bit blase about waterfalls now, they still come up with something different to surprise us occasionally. Millaa Millaa Falls are right next to the carpark and very pretty; Dinner Falls is a long series of cascades with a very strange crater nearby, Little Millstream Falls, despite the name, is quite impressive, and the real Millstream Falls (both of these near Ravenshoe) is awesome. Love to see all of these in the wet season, they must be incredible!
One day we did a round trip which took in the famous Curtain Fig Tree, Yungaburra and Lake Tinaroo, the Cathedral Fig Tree and crater lakes Barrine and Eacham. Each of these provided great sights and it was a spectacular day. Strangler fig trees are a parasite which starts from bird droppings in the crown of the tree. Aerial roots descend and eventually envelop the host tree, which over much time dies through lack of light and rots, so the inside of the strangler fig becomes hollow. These two are the best examples I've seen- we do have strangler figs in the rainforests at home, but they don't grow quite so aggressively.
While walking around Lake Eacham, we saw a couple more examples, but they are not as photogenic as the curtain and cathedral trees. This was a pleasant walk with the misty rain clearing up as we went, and at the end, when the sun was coming out properly, we saw a biggish black snake coming out to warm up. He was fairly sluggish after days of rain.
After Malanda we headed for Ravenshoe, planning to stay at the freebie right in town, but it was just too popular- though there were a couple of spots, we decided against it and went to Archer Creek, which is a pleasant and large campground. Lots of others decided to join us there and we ended with about 45 neighbours.
Next we went to Innot Hot Springs, a big 15km further west. After such a long drive, we had to plunge into the hot pools and found it very relaxing, so we stayed there two nights and enjoyed several dips.
Moving along this morning, we have now reached Mt Surprise and tomorrow will do a guided tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes. The following day we'll do a tag-along fossicking tour, and the day after that we'll head to Cobbold Gorge, where we're booked on a guided tour which includes a boat ride through the gorge, which has a number of freshwater crocodiles.
So all very exciting at the moment, lots to do and plenty of money going outwards, but we've been fairly prudent since the Thursday Island trip and tours are the best way to see things properly and understand what you are looking at.
Mobile connection is a sore point with me at the moment because my mobile phone tells me there's no signal even when passing a tower, though Chris (also Telstra) has a good connection. I can't use his phone because the screen's all scratched so I can't see what it's saying. I see a visit to a Telstra shop coming up- when we can find one! It's been a real problem this week because of illness in the family, but luckily that's over now.
Obviously as we continue further west, we will have even worse service. The few people who live at Innot Hot Springs have to drive up the nearest hill to get a signal, and we are heading for some fairly small towns. Here in Mt Surprise they have a phone signal but are still on analogue TV and we can't pick that up either. We've had no TV for five days but at least we don't need to look at the weather forecast for a while, as it should be all fine. Not much rain falls out here, but I've been surprised to see so much greenery. When I think of outback, I think of red plains, dust and flies,and we haven't encountered any of that since we returned to Cairns from The Tip.
We plan to visit Normanton and Karumba, which is on the Gulf, before returning south.
Monday, 16 July 2012
FINAL DAY OF TOUR- BACK TO CAIRNS
We woke to drizzling rain, which would continue all day. During a brief respite we managed to walk along the main road of Cooktown to see the sights but by the time we drove up to the excellent lookout, which has 360 degrees views, it was raining hard and almost nothing could be seen. We did find a spider huddling out of the rain.
On the highway south, we stopped briefly at Black Mountain, a very strange affair of huge granite boulders piled on top of one another, making a very unstable surface which has accounted for a number of climbers. The rocks are covered with lichen, which gives the black appearance. Apparently the local tribes greatly feared this mountain and gave it a wide berth.
A stop at a quaint pub named Daniel's Den and a visit to Wojul Wojul Falls before we headed off on the Bloomfield Track, through dense rainforest and up slippery slopes. Again and again on this trip we have been very pleased to have someone else doing the driving and someone else's vehicle copping the pounding, and this was another of those times. There are a number of creek crossings on the way, and we stopped beside one big one while the bus brakes cooled down. Most drivers are cautious but there are some who are just stupid, and who fly through the crossings without knowing how deep they are.
Creek crossing, Daintree National Park
Cape Tribulation was disappointing because of the heavy rain, which meant a very hurried trot up the track to the beach and back, and because of the huge crowd of people doing this. The rain meant we had to eat lunch in the bus, but since it was sandwiches this was not a problem.
Next stop was a tropical fruit plantation which sold icecream made from exotic fruits- yum! Then on back to Cairns, where we were the first ones to leave the bus, as our caravan park was on the outskirts of the city. Everyone waved to us as they drove off- it's always a sad moment at the end of a trip, but at least we know we'll keep in touch with Bob and Faye.
On the highway south, we stopped briefly at Black Mountain, a very strange affair of huge granite boulders piled on top of one another, making a very unstable surface which has accounted for a number of climbers. The rocks are covered with lichen, which gives the black appearance. Apparently the local tribes greatly feared this mountain and gave it a wide berth.
A stop at a quaint pub named Daniel's Den and a visit to Wojul Wojul Falls before we headed off on the Bloomfield Track, through dense rainforest and up slippery slopes. Again and again on this trip we have been very pleased to have someone else doing the driving and someone else's vehicle copping the pounding, and this was another of those times. There are a number of creek crossings on the way, and we stopped beside one big one while the bus brakes cooled down. Most drivers are cautious but there are some who are just stupid, and who fly through the crossings without knowing how deep they are.
Cape Tribulation was disappointing because of the heavy rain, which meant a very hurried trot up the track to the beach and back, and because of the huge crowd of people doing this. The rain meant we had to eat lunch in the bus, but since it was sandwiches this was not a problem.
Next stop was a tropical fruit plantation which sold icecream made from exotic fruits- yum! Then on back to Cairns, where we were the first ones to leave the bus, as our caravan park was on the outskirts of the city. Everyone waved to us as they drove off- it's always a sad moment at the end of a trip, but at least we know we'll keep in touch with Bob and Faye.
DAY 7 TO COOKTOWN
Wallabies were hopping around the lawns during the night, but disappeared by morning. We set off down the road, and Peter soon turned onto a little track to take us to Low Lake, a lovely spot where he was hoping we'd see a crocodile, but no. They all duck underwater when we come along.
Finally at lunchtime beside Normanby river, after crossing so many creeks and rivers, and seeing so many beaches with nary a sighting, we finally saw a croc.
Freshwater crocodile on Normanby river
I still say we haven't seen one, because this one was reasonable small, and was a freshwater croc, recognisable by the narrow snout- they are not dangerous although you wouldn't want to pat one.
We visited Old Laura station, now deserted but with some buildings still standing. A surprise here was the donkey behind the building, being unpacked by her owner. They are WALKING to Cape York! I think I've seen this old guy on TV some time ago. The donkey carries a huge load of tent and supplies, and he walks beside her.
A man and his best friend. "She's not a pet."
He has few teeth, and little time for people. After being surrounded by people taking photos and asking questions, he politely asked us to go away, he needed peace to set up his camp. What a character.
Isabella Falls
Isabella Falls was a lovely sight in the afternoon before we hit the highway and headed for Cooktown, a remarkably welcome sight. Here we were to stay in an airconditioned motel with "seaview" rooms- actually estuary view, but water nonetheless. Lovely sunset photos.
Cooktown sunset
That evening, our last of the tour, Peter took us for a farewell dinner in a very nice restaurant down by the water. The weather had closed in and it was very blowy, but apparently that's normal for Cooktown.
Bob and Chris enjoying final dinner
Final dinner- with Peter the ace driver/guide
Finally at lunchtime beside Normanby river, after crossing so many creeks and rivers, and seeing so many beaches with nary a sighting, we finally saw a croc.
I still say we haven't seen one, because this one was reasonable small, and was a freshwater croc, recognisable by the narrow snout- they are not dangerous although you wouldn't want to pat one.
We visited Old Laura station, now deserted but with some buildings still standing. A surprise here was the donkey behind the building, being unpacked by her owner. They are WALKING to Cape York! I think I've seen this old guy on TV some time ago. The donkey carries a huge load of tent and supplies, and he walks beside her.
He has few teeth, and little time for people. After being surrounded by people taking photos and asking questions, he politely asked us to go away, he needed peace to set up his camp. What a character.
Isabella Falls was a lovely sight in the afternoon before we hit the highway and headed for Cooktown, a remarkably welcome sight. Here we were to stay in an airconditioned motel with "seaview" rooms- actually estuary view, but water nonetheless. Lovely sunset photos.
That evening, our last of the tour, Peter took us for a farewell dinner in a very nice restaurant down by the water. The weather had closed in and it was very blowy, but apparently that's normal for Cooktown.
Bob and Chris enjoying final dinner
Final dinner- with Peter the ace driver/guide
Day 6 to Musgrave station
The roads today were the worst corrugations yet. We shook and rattled over many sections and saw a few vehicles which failed to make the distance. Archer River roadhouse was a welcome break, where we crossed the road to photograph a giant termite nest. We've seen hundreds of these, sometimes looking like a cemetery's headstones, but this group was really tall. As we approached, a man and his little boy were in front of us. The boy reached out his hand and touched the face of the mound, and Chris said :Isn't it amazing that ants did all that with their POO?" The kid, who'd been nodding his head in agreement, at the end suddenly snatched his hand back as if he'd been stung.
We had a little tour of Coen quarantine station and were duly surprised at some of the many infestations of plant, insect and animal life. We had only recently heard of electric ants (that name really makes you think, doesn't it?) Turns out they are miniscule, so tiny you can barely see them. A bit further down the road, we came to Coen township and visited their excellent free museum. Although the displays are static, they are not just objects, but stories about people, for example a woman named Toots who, despite a family of eight children, drove a truck in the area and could be relied on to deliver the post come rain or fire or flood for many years. Another story was about the last official black tracker, who was retiring after being replaced by tracker dogs. He'd saved a number of people's lives in the old days as well as catching numerous escapees.
Musgrave station is another former telegraph station where the accommodaton is in dongas. We'd never heard this word until we were in Queensland but it's becoming increasingly common. Dongas are multiple prefab. units, very basic, usually used by mining employees and sometimes even shared by two people in a "hot bed" situation where the people concerned work different shifts and never actually meet. Ours was OK, similar to a very cheap motel without the ensuite. Bathrooms were a short distance away.
We had a little tour of Coen quarantine station and were duly surprised at some of the many infestations of plant, insect and animal life. We had only recently heard of electric ants (that name really makes you think, doesn't it?) Turns out they are miniscule, so tiny you can barely see them. A bit further down the road, we came to Coen township and visited their excellent free museum. Although the displays are static, they are not just objects, but stories about people, for example a woman named Toots who, despite a family of eight children, drove a truck in the area and could be relied on to deliver the post come rain or fire or flood for many years. Another story was about the last official black tracker, who was retiring after being replaced by tracker dogs. He'd saved a number of people's lives in the old days as well as catching numerous escapees.
Musgrave station is another former telegraph station where the accommodaton is in dongas. We'd never heard this word until we were in Queensland but it's becoming increasingly common. Dongas are multiple prefab. units, very basic, usually used by mining employees and sometimes even shared by two people in a "hot bed" situation where the people concerned work different shifts and never actually meet. Ours was OK, similar to a very cheap motel without the ensuite. Bathrooms were a short distance away.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
T.I trip- Day 5 to Weipa
For some reason this silly thing won't let me look at my previous posts but I think I'm up to the day we went to Weipa.
We crossed the Wrexford river and headed south. Yesterday was a snake day, today it was wallabies and eagles. At one stage Peter pulled over next to the road to show us a kapok tree. The more mature readers will remember those horrid kapok mattresses we used to have, usually all lumps and bumps, and so hard to make the bed look neat. The kapok itself is found inside the seed pod, and it would take a lot of pods to make a mattress. thank goodness for inner springs!
The main reason for the existence of Weipa, which is located on the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the western side of the peninsula, is bauxite, used in the manufacture of aluminium. The mining is open cut, but quite unlike the open cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley. Here the land is flat, the bauxite is found between one and four metres under, and they simply remove the top metre and put it aside, remove the next three metres, and replace the top metre, although now three metres lower than it used to be. It is replanted with vegetation similar to that which was removed, and the rehabilitation looks not too bad considering- at least it's more natural than the Hunter Valley rehab jobs. The bauxite itself (which looks like reddish brown ball bearings) is washed and screened several times before being shipped by train to the shipping terminal and sent either to Gladstone or Newcastle for refining, or overseas.
We stayed in a very nice motel and enjoyed very nice outdoor meals, went for a bus tour of the mine, and although some people have actually been taken by crocodiles in the recent past, we still didn't see one.
One of the highlights was seeing azure-winged kookaburras in a nearby nest. The blue is amazingly bright but they don't laugh, they cackle.
Chris gets a bit of help from Faye
We crossed the Wrexford river and headed south. Yesterday was a snake day, today it was wallabies and eagles. At one stage Peter pulled over next to the road to show us a kapok tree. The more mature readers will remember those horrid kapok mattresses we used to have, usually all lumps and bumps, and so hard to make the bed look neat. The kapok itself is found inside the seed pod, and it would take a lot of pods to make a mattress. thank goodness for inner springs!
The main reason for the existence of Weipa, which is located on the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the western side of the peninsula, is bauxite, used in the manufacture of aluminium. The mining is open cut, but quite unlike the open cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley. Here the land is flat, the bauxite is found between one and four metres under, and they simply remove the top metre and put it aside, remove the next three metres, and replace the top metre, although now three metres lower than it used to be. It is replanted with vegetation similar to that which was removed, and the rehabilitation looks not too bad considering- at least it's more natural than the Hunter Valley rehab jobs. The bauxite itself (which looks like reddish brown ball bearings) is washed and screened several times before being shipped by train to the shipping terminal and sent either to Gladstone or Newcastle for refining, or overseas.
We stayed in a very nice motel and enjoyed very nice outdoor meals, went for a bus tour of the mine, and although some people have actually been taken by crocodiles in the recent past, we still didn't see one.
One of the highlights was seeing azure-winged kookaburras in a nearby nest. The blue is amazingly bright but they don't laugh, they cackle.
ATHERTON TABLELAND
Drove down to Lake Tinaroo to check out the free campsites at the northern end, but decided not to go there. Isolated, reached by bumpy road, and nothing to do if you don't have a boat. We had morning tea at the Platypus day area after climbing a fairly recent staircase to the top of a huge boulder to a "lookout" which has no view whatsoever- big trees all around prevent vision of the lake. ????
We then returned to Kuranda as we wanted to see the Butterfly place, and so glad we did as it's wonderful. I adore the brilliant blue Ulysses butterflies, have seen a few individuals in the bush but great to see them close up. Also the amazingly large birdwing butterflies, also with brilliant colours. Many other types as well. One landed on my hand and stayed for a while. (Someone I know would be freaking out at that but I quite enjoyed it.) They are so quick moving it's hard to get photos, I ended up with a lot of photos of leaves and bushes. We had a guided tour of the breeding and rearing rooms, which was quite interesting.
Then we drove to Barron Falls, where we had a pleasant elevated boardwalk to a place with a much better view of the falls than we'd had from the train.
On the way back to Mareeba, we stopped at a coffee plantation but were a bit disappointed in it. We were a bit too tired to do the tour and would have liked some information about the coffee but it wasn't available. We looked it up on the net instead.
Mareeba District's sign calls it "District of Diversity" and that certainly applies. We've seen roadside signs for avocadoes, zucchini, potatoes, peanuts, and hay, and we see bananas, sugarcane and coffee growing all around. The people seem to be diverse as well- there's a large Italian influence, reflected in the cemetery which has not only ornate graves, but quite a few mausoleums with Italian names, as do many streets in the area. There are also some street names which sound more Croatian or Serbian. There's also a large indigenous population if people you see on the street are anything to go by.
Tomorrow we've booked into a caravan park at Malanda, as we want to visit Lake Eacham and the surrounding area.
We then returned to Kuranda as we wanted to see the Butterfly place, and so glad we did as it's wonderful. I adore the brilliant blue Ulysses butterflies, have seen a few individuals in the bush but great to see them close up. Also the amazingly large birdwing butterflies, also with brilliant colours. Many other types as well. One landed on my hand and stayed for a while. (Someone I know would be freaking out at that but I quite enjoyed it.) They are so quick moving it's hard to get photos, I ended up with a lot of photos of leaves and bushes. We had a guided tour of the breeding and rearing rooms, which was quite interesting.
Then we drove to Barron Falls, where we had a pleasant elevated boardwalk to a place with a much better view of the falls than we'd had from the train.
On the way back to Mareeba, we stopped at a coffee plantation but were a bit disappointed in it. We were a bit too tired to do the tour and would have liked some information about the coffee but it wasn't available. We looked it up on the net instead.
Mareeba District's sign calls it "District of Diversity" and that certainly applies. We've seen roadside signs for avocadoes, zucchini, potatoes, peanuts, and hay, and we see bananas, sugarcane and coffee growing all around. The people seem to be diverse as well- there's a large Italian influence, reflected in the cemetery which has not only ornate graves, but quite a few mausoleums with Italian names, as do many streets in the area. There are also some street names which sound more Croatian or Serbian. There's also a large indigenous population if people you see on the street are anything to go by.
Tomorrow we've booked into a caravan park at Malanda, as we want to visit Lake Eacham and the surrounding area.
MORE ABOUT CAIRNS
We've been so busy with one thing and another that I'm way behind on my blogging. We've been on the Scenic Train and Skyrail one day, and had a visit to Green Island another day, plus catching up with various relatives.
Marg came with us to Kuranda on the Scenic Railway, which is a lovely trip through rainforest and steep hills with outstanding views of the Cairns area and several waterfalls. Kuranda itself is a tourist town- I think you could probably go there before 10 am or after 3 pm on any day and not see a soul. Between those hours, especially around lunchtime, it's packed with eager shoppers buying various tourist kitsch. Japanese girls love wearing shorts, black stockings and ugg boots. At 29 degrees! Akubra hats are popular, and we actually saw someone wearing one of those hats with dangly corks (to keep the flies off). He was an Aussie boy, not a foreigner- he won't be troubled by flies anyway. Neither are the rest of us because flies aren't a problem, at this time of year at least.
Coastal plain seen from descending Skyrail.
Green Island turned on the sun for us, luckily because it was still damp and cloudy back in Cairns. We'd already snorkelled on the Whitsundays so this time we tried the glass bottom boat, and found it really interesting. Lots of biggish fish, especially when the driver threw some food overboard, we witnessed a feeding frenzy attended by gulls as well as various fish almost leaping out of the water.
Green Island from the glass-bottomed boat
The water round the island is a beautiful blue and the beaches are sandy. Quite a beautiful place. We found an empty clamshell which was an awesome size- not the giant ones, but big just the same. The animal who used to live in it must have made a good feed for someone.
Back in Cairns after our half-day trip, we caught up with my sister and several other relatives, took Ben to the airport and visited another relative in hospital. (Ben's plane was delayed two hours so he was not happy).
John and Marg have moved on so we're on our own now, and looking forward to doing our own thing. Today (Sunday 15th) we've come to Mareeba- we'd planned to stay at the rodeo grounds but picked the wrong weekend- the rodeo's on. Hundreds of people camped there, all using the same amenities blocks, queues of people waiting for showers or to clean their teeth- no thanks. We've moved on to Granite Gorge, which is a fairly basic caravan park but with pleasant surrounds and several bushwalks. It started to rain just as we set up so we haven't tried the walks yet, but it's fairly light rain so we'll probably brave it after lunch.
Later- the granite around here is awesome. The word "boulder" doesn't cover it, they are enormous. A creek tumbles down through the boulders- you can hear it chuckling but much of the time you can't actually see it without scaling a big rock. Rock wallabies live on the rocks, scrambling around like mountain goats. I saw one who was seemingly hanging onto the side of a rock, nibbling- I got Chris to take a photo of him. A moment later, his lower leg, which I thought was holding him onto the rock, came up and he casually scratched behind his ear, hanging on with only his upper leg and his little paws.
Some German kids were thrilled to be able to hand-feed the wallabies, who would come right up and eat literally out of their hands. Such excitement! I saw one woman exchange kisses with one of the wallabies. I have never seen them so tame. The male wallabies are feeling amorous but the females are not interested at the moment.
A big Thanksgiving turkey is gobbling outside the van, which is a change from all the scrub turkeys we've seen. His mate is with him- we've seen them wherever we've been in this park so perhaps there's more than one pair.
Marg came with us to Kuranda on the Scenic Railway, which is a lovely trip through rainforest and steep hills with outstanding views of the Cairns area and several waterfalls. Kuranda itself is a tourist town- I think you could probably go there before 10 am or after 3 pm on any day and not see a soul. Between those hours, especially around lunchtime, it's packed with eager shoppers buying various tourist kitsch. Japanese girls love wearing shorts, black stockings and ugg boots. At 29 degrees! Akubra hats are popular, and we actually saw someone wearing one of those hats with dangly corks (to keep the flies off). He was an Aussie boy, not a foreigner- he won't be troubled by flies anyway. Neither are the rest of us because flies aren't a problem, at this time of year at least.
Our train crossing Stony Ck Bridge- there's a waterfall there.
On the Skyrail back to the coastal plain (spectacular views) we met a honeymoon couple from Bowral. Their choice of honeymoon souvenirs floored us- a stuffed cane toad and a crocodile head!
Green Island turned on the sun for us, luckily because it was still damp and cloudy back in Cairns. We'd already snorkelled on the Whitsundays so this time we tried the glass bottom boat, and found it really interesting. Lots of biggish fish, especially when the driver threw some food overboard, we witnessed a feeding frenzy attended by gulls as well as various fish almost leaping out of the water.
The water round the island is a beautiful blue and the beaches are sandy. Quite a beautiful place. We found an empty clamshell which was an awesome size- not the giant ones, but big just the same. The animal who used to live in it must have made a good feed for someone.
Back in Cairns after our half-day trip, we caught up with my sister and several other relatives, took Ben to the airport and visited another relative in hospital. (Ben's plane was delayed two hours so he was not happy).
John and Marg have moved on so we're on our own now, and looking forward to doing our own thing. Today (Sunday 15th) we've come to Mareeba- we'd planned to stay at the rodeo grounds but picked the wrong weekend- the rodeo's on. Hundreds of people camped there, all using the same amenities blocks, queues of people waiting for showers or to clean their teeth- no thanks. We've moved on to Granite Gorge, which is a fairly basic caravan park but with pleasant surrounds and several bushwalks. It started to rain just as we set up so we haven't tried the walks yet, but it's fairly light rain so we'll probably brave it after lunch.
Later- the granite around here is awesome. The word "boulder" doesn't cover it, they are enormous. A creek tumbles down through the boulders- you can hear it chuckling but much of the time you can't actually see it without scaling a big rock. Rock wallabies live on the rocks, scrambling around like mountain goats. I saw one who was seemingly hanging onto the side of a rock, nibbling- I got Chris to take a photo of him. A moment later, his lower leg, which I thought was holding him onto the rock, came up and he casually scratched behind his ear, hanging on with only his upper leg and his little paws.
Some German kids were thrilled to be able to hand-feed the wallabies, who would come right up and eat literally out of their hands. Such excitement! I saw one woman exchange kisses with one of the wallabies. I have never seen them so tame. The male wallabies are feeling amorous but the females are not interested at the moment.
A big Thanksgiving turkey is gobbling outside the van, which is a change from all the scrub turkeys we've seen. His mate is with him- we've seen them wherever we've been in this park so perhaps there's more than one pair.
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