Heading north and outback

No idea where we will end up, still unsure about heading to the coast or staying inland. That’s the beauty of not having to be anywhere at a specific time - we can chop and change our minds as we go. Looking forward to seeing more Aussie outback! Read more

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Heading north and outback Traveler
On to Sandstone Park at Carnarvon Gorge
September 13, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We were lucky enough to have water at our free camp so I took the opportunity to wash my hair and a few small items, as we won’t have any water while staying at Carnarvon Gorge for the next few days, other than what is in our tanks (about 180 litres) plus another 20 spare in the car plus 20 litres of drinking water.

As we drove the scenery once again was completely different to what we’d seen the last few days. We could see escarpments of the Gorge and the passing fields seemed greener and irrigated.

We arrived at the campsite (part of Bandana Station) early afternoon and found a spot to settle with a bit of shade and close to the portaloos. What breath taking scenery of the Gorge from every angle, and several wallabies were grazing within meters of our caravan.

Later in the afternoon we went to a talk in the park about Indigenous history of the area by Indigenous elder, Milton. In his soft spoken (difficult to hear) voice he spoke about his own connection to country, his upbringing and his people, as well as giving us guided information on what to look out for while walking in the park. Finally, he left us with his view, which we found similar to those of the elder we did a guided tour with in Brewarrina, NSW) - that his people do not own the land but rather they belong to it. He spoke of differing views among indigenous people when native title took place, with the younger members pushing the elders aside, saying they did not have the education to negotiate in the white man’s world. He said these younger people were only interested in financial gain, and this has caused deep long-held dissension among his people, and indigenous people from other areas too.

After the talk we finished off setting up our site and prepped dinner before taking in a lovely sunset against the bare rock face to our west.

A chat to our neighbours followed by dinner of chicken fillets marinated in sweet chili and kejap manis on the Weber, with quinoa and a salad. Oh, and some indulgence in some chocolate cheese cake (thanks Sara Lee!) and a slice of chocolate mud cake (thanks Woollies Roma!).

And time to call it a night and make preparations for Gadi’s long day of hiking in the park early tomorrow.

Sweet dreams from Carnarvon Gorge xxRead more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
A Day to Chill, a Day to Hike
September 14, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Gadi woke up early so he made some sandwiches for breakfast, packed his lunch and left before 7am, heading into Carnarvon Gorge for a full day of hiking.

Meanwhile, I was awake so went to sit outside with my coffee, contemplating the serenity of the early morning and the magic of the surrounding cliffs, different in every light.

While sitting outside, Cadbury by my side, I saw what i think were two eagles soaring high above the gorge. They swooped and seemingly floated on air, searching for prey. They got closer and closer to our end of the campsite until they were right overhead. I felt quite spooked and held Cadbury tightly by his collar, well aware of the stories that they can take small dogs.

I spent the day relaxing, reading, re-organizing some of our cupboards - I have no idea how we accumulate so much stuff in such a small space!

Cadbury and I walked around the camp site and were lucky enough to have a mother and baby wallaby spend the entire day just across from us, and later in the day they even made their way over by our caravan, where I got some good photos of them.

Gadi finally got back around 5.30pm, totally exhausted and barely able to walk (his arthritic toe was obviously bothering him) but he’d had a great day and walked over 25km, making it to the very end of the Gorge (which he was told hardly anyone makes it so far).

While Gadi collapsed on the bed needing a quick nap, I turned on the Weber and barbecued dinner, sitting outside under a million star, inky black sky.

Good night from Carnarvon Gorge xxRead more
TravelerGadi was walking over 26 km and he was really proud of himself that he can still do it. He had a great day exploring all the amazing places in the Gorge
9/15/18Reply
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Last day at the Gorge
September 15, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
This morning was my turn to head the 5km into the Gorge to enjoy the beauty of the dramatic landscape and do some of the shorter walks.

I started at the visitor Centre and read many of the displays about the park. Outside, I walked around the parklands nearby, enjoying the green, shady oasis. Suddenly I heard a small rustling sound among the fallen leaves and I was lucky enough to see an echidna trying to bury its face into a nearby log. I sat nearby and waited until the echidna felt confident enough that I wouldn’t hurt it and it began to shuffle away, slowly walking along the pathway under the canopy of tall trees.

After my wildlife encounter, I set off to walk to the Rock Pool, the only place in the whole gorge where you are allowed to swim. The pool was lovely and deep, albeit very cold. I sat awhile in the shade enjoying the dappled light and sound of the flowing river.

Next I walked to Baloon Cave along a dry creek bed to a cave with ancient Indigenous carvings and paintings.

I headed home around lunchtime and then Gadi drove back to the park to finish off the walks he didn’t get to do yesterday.

We made pizza in the Weber accompanied by leftover salad and quinoa and a cold glass of white wine. We sat outside under a big blanket of twinkly stars enjoying a light breeze which finally cooled the heat of the day (31 today, sorry Melbourne). We even played a card game of Bush rummy (well, part of a game as I got too tired to continue).

Night night from Carnarvon Gorge xxRead more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Epic Day of Driving...For Us!
September 16, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
From first light this morning a fog of dust hung low over the entire gorge making visibility difficult.

We set off from Sandstone Park just before 11am - could have been earlier if it wasn’t Sunday (and Gadi has to watch Insiders!).

We drove to Rolleston where we stopped to refuel and have a walk around the local park, complete with old post office (now a gallery), miner’s hut and coffee van manned by volunteers. We enjoyed a great coffee and delicious home made chocolate coconut slice.

Continuing on to Springsure where everything was shut and then on to the large town of Emerald, where again everything, including the visitor Centre, was closed. This was annoying as it was mid afternoon and this also meant the historic houses attached to the Centre were also closed. We did get to see the giant replica Van Gogh Sunflower painting in the adjacent park.

Given the heat and it was still early we decided to push on and get a few more km under our belts before we stopped. From Emerald we headed west along the Capricorn Highway. We passed the Gemfields, a vast area of some 900 square kilometers made up of several small towns including Yanakie, Sapphire, Willows and Rubyvale where gems, predominantly sapphires, can be fossicked. This is one of the largest sapphire fields in the world.

We pulled over just after 5pm (and just over 400km for the day) at a free camp in Willows, along an historic old railway station, now housing a museum, lovingly put together and maintained by volunteers. Just on sunset a couple of volunteers came by to do some maintenance and kindly opened up the museum for us to look at. We learnt a bit more about the history of the area including a bad railway accident in 1960 known as the Medway Creek railway disaster (a bridge collapsed due to flooding on a passenger train heading east to Rockhampton) that saw seven people killed and 43 injured in Queensland’s worst rail disaster.

After a quick dinner we settled in to watch some TV, thanks to Gadi’s newfound confidence in setting up the satellite dish.

So thankful there is a slight breeze coming in the window as we settle into bed this evening.

Night night from the Central Highlands in Queensland. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting a certain tree of knowledge - one that has nothing to do with the Bible!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
The birth of..the Australian Labor Party
September 17, 2018 in Australia
We packed up at our sweet little overnight stop in Willows next to the railway museum. Of course we were the last of the four caravans to leave! Before leaving Gadi wanted to try to weigh our caravan on a straight stretch of road using his new (and expensive) weighing instrument, but it proved to be difficult to get a consistent or accurate reading of both the car and the caravan.

We stopped to refuel in Alpha and chatted to another couple of travellers heading to the Gemfields. They kindly gave us some fresh fruit and vegetables just given to them by a local policeman as they had too much - leftovers from a fundraiser event, including cherry tomatoes, strawberries, a whole pumpkin and some sweet potatoes.

We continued on through Jericho (on the bank of the Jordan Creek) and on to Barcaldine. Home of the Tree of Knowledge - now a replica since the original was poisoned in 2006 - and a huge artwork canopy forming a tribute to what is now known as the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party.

Barcaldine is the headquarters of the 1891 Shearers Strike and the 1892 reading of the Labor Party manifesto. The workers of the Shearers Strike reportedly met under the branches of the big ghost gum, located in front of the Barcaldine Station. After taking lots of photos and reading all the information boards, we headed to the Australian Workers Heritage Centre to learn about the history of service workers in Australia. Displays covered railway, Australia Post, health & medical, emergency services, police, electrical and women. We were the only people at the Centre, giving us uninterrupted time to explore and read the information and interact with some of the displays. Nice they let us bring Cadbury with us as we wandered around and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade next to a man made bore watering hole.

After a quick supermarket stop, we continued to the local free camp after the worst of the heat of the day had disappeared. The caravan was still hot inside so we sat outside for a while and I chatted to some other travellers while Gadi set up the satellite dish.

We ate dinner (steak pan cooked inside tonight) and settled in for the evening. We watched ABC’s Four Corners’ shocking investigation into aged care with growing disgust and anger to this vastly unregulated privatized industry.

G’night from Labor’s birthplace in central Queensland xxRead more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
On to Lara Wetlands
September 18, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
We drove half an hour south of Barcaldine this morning to stay at Lara Wetlands, a huge station on the Landsborough Highway on the way to Blackall.

I’ve been following Lara Wetlands on Facebook for some time ever since I heard the sad but inspiring story of the owner, who bought this station with her husband. After setting up a camping ground on the Wetlands the husband died in a helicopter accident helping to muster a neighbour’s stock on the day the first paying guest arrived.

The camp ground is set around a stunning flooded bore lake filled with trees that makes for an eerie yet beautiful back drop, fringed with green grass and dotted with caravans here and there. In season the place can hold approximately 80 caravans. There is also a hot pool fed directly from the bore that sits at a constant 38 degrees (although it felt hotter than that) and several hot showers heated the old fashioned way by lighting a donkey.

Gadi tried unsuccessfully (unfortunately for him after an hour of persevering) to set up the satellite dish and then we both went for a soak in the hot pool, leaving Cadbury tied up along the fence (as there are no dogs allowed inside). Well, you should have heard the noise he made, even though he could see both of us, he still whinged and cried like a baby.

I spent the afternoon chilling, making a loaf of sourdough bread by hand and a banana walnut cake. I also cooked up a large amount of chicken mince, rice and vegetables for Cadbury - spoilt doggie!

After a second swim around sunset I showered and returned to the caravan to get dinner into the Weber. Then i gave Gadi my phone so he could livestream Survivor as he couldn’t get the satellite dish to work.

Time to head indoors, do some dishes and clean up, and dream away...

And dream away I did, dozing off at least two or three times while writing this blog, jerking awake to find my phone had fallen out of my hand on to the floor.

You sure do get tired in the outback!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Visiting the Stockman's Hall of Fame
September 19, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
When we thought about this particular trip and I started thinking about where I wanted to go, for some reason Longreach was the first place that popped into my head.

And visiting the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame was the first place I put on my list of sightseeing!

The museum is located on the edge of town on the main highway opposite the Longreach airport and the Qantas Founders Museum - which is hard to miss as it has a huge Boeing 747 out the front.

The Stockman’s Hall of Fame is a museum highlighting the work of the pioneers of outback Australia, with particular attention paid to the stockmen (and women) including the role of Aboriginal stockmen and women on the many enormous stations that peppered the harsh Australian Outback.

There is no doubt that without the back breaking work performed by stockmen driving cattle and sheep along the remote stock routes (such as the Canning Stock Route, the Tanami Track and the Murranji Track) and brave pioneer families of the past willing to work vast tracts of land in order to open up the country and make it more hospitable, that Australia would be a very different place.

I spent a few hours walking through the various exhibitions very happy to be inside in air conditioned comfort given today reached 35 degrees! Eventually, after a pit stop in town to check out the shops and a quick stop at the supermarket, it was time to drive to our camping spot on the Thompson River, where Gadi and Cadbury have spent the afternoon trying to stay cool and chatting to our neighbours.

Gadi chatted to a trio of solo female travellers who only just met each through a solo women’s camping group other before their current trip and a couple living full time on the road.

As he was chatting an emu came through the camp close to our caravan and Cadbury decided to bark and run at the emu.

I got back to camp around 6pm and, after chatting to our neighbours, got the shopping put away and we ate an easy dinner of hot barbecued chicken.

Let’s hope the night air is cool enough so that we sleep better than we did in last night’s heat!

Night night from LongreachRead more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
A day in Longreach
September 20, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
What a night we had! Cadbury ended up quite unsettled, waking after midnight and pacing up and down for a couple of hours. We took him out a couple of times but when he went out with Gadi he just shot away as fast as he could to our neighbour’s van. In the end we gave him a temazepam to sedate him a little and help him settle. He was fine in the morning but it gave us a bit of a scare especially as he’s getting older.

Today was Gadi’s turn to sightsee at the Qantas Founders Museum where he took a tour to see the big jumbo 747 and the smaller 707 up close and personal.

After exploring the Qantas museum he went across the road to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame before doing a bit of shopping in town.

Meanwhile, Cadbury and I spent the day at camp, happy that it was only 31 and not 35 degrees, as yesterday. Unfortunately the strong wind made it almost impossible to sit outside as the wind blew a dust storm across the camp area. We retreated inside most of the day, relaxing and reading. Although I closed some of the windows in the caravan, quite a bit of dust made its way inside settling on every surface.

Finally Gadi returned, the wind subsided and we had our own little happy hour with some lovely cold white wine, cheese, olives, mini tomatoes and some sweet, cold papaya. This tided is over while I rolled out some pizza dough and added some veggies on top and cooked it (in the Weber of course) for a lazy dinner.

Meanwhile, a duck came by to say hello and we snapped some pics of Cadbury eyeing off the bird. We also had a visit by the Asian couple who came by yesterday selling vegetables from a little cart (we bought some tomatoes). It was funny watching the little Asian man try to catch the duck!

Time to head indoors to clean up and chill out!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
More Qantas Before Packing Up
September 21, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
This morning I headed to the Qantas Founder’s Museum to have a look at the history of this great Aussie icon. I found the displays informative and interactive and I learnt a lot - not least of which is that the name Qantas originally was an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service.

I enjoyed learning about the founders and their dream, and how Qantas won government contracts to become an international service.

I returned to the caravan, where Gadi had spent the morning trying to rid the caravan of dust. We drove off from our camp along the Thompson River in Longreach heading north to Winton.

In Winton we checked out the visitor Centre before eating lunch in our caravan. We looked at our options of things to do in Winton and decided not to do the dinosaur museum or the stampede of the dinosaurs at Lark Quarry, about 100km away. We also decided not to do the newly built Waltzing Matilda Centre (after fire destroyed the old one in 2015). You can’t do every attraction - and some are quite pricey meaning you have to make choices, especially when you are on the road for a long period of time.

First we stopped at Willie Mar’s Chinese Market Garden to learn the story of this extraordinary dedicated man (and later his son) who single handedly created and tended his market garden, sold produce in his store front and also did deliveries in his beat up old truck. Willie Mar Junior is considered the last of the Chinese market gardeners in Western Queensland.

We checked out Winton’s musical fence, a wire fence designed by Aussie composer Graeme Leak that can be plucked and bowed like a giant string instrument. Apparently the fence was officially opened with a full orchestra playing it’s strings. Next to the fence is a junkyard band that can also be played.

We also visited Arno’s Wall, a two meter high by 70 metre long wall built by an immigrant miner made of local mined rock and filled with hundreds of household appliances, cars, motor bikes and other metal objects.

We spent a bit of time in town in the late afternoon, contemplating whether to stay at the back of the North Gregory Hotel (where you can camp for $10) but decided it was too restrictive not being able to bring Cadbury to the beer garden. The North Gregory Hotel is supposedly the hotel where Banjo Patterson first recited Waltzing Matilda.

Anyway, we decided to push on and get a few more km out of the way before stopping for the night at a rest area well off the highway, with some interesting rock structures and plenty of wildlife about. We stopped just on ‘golden hour’, that magic time of day before sunset when the sun seems to cast a golden glow across the landscape, bathing the earth, trees and any rock formations in a yellow light.

It gave us the perfect opportunity to have a glass of wine while watching the colours change in the sky and across the rocks. Gadi and Cadbury climbed up a rocky outcrop and i took lots of photos.

It was definitely hard to drag ourselves indoors tonight, to eat dinner and settle in for the night. Tomorrow we will continue our journey north to Julia Creek.Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Cold Pool and Hot Bath in Julia Creek
September 22, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
We headed off from our rest area stopover last night after I prepared dinner in the thermal cooker - osso bucco snd some rice.

We drove the recently sealed Kynuna-Julia Creek road, finding it to be utterly flat and devoid of trees. Lucky for us we had our podcast, 6 part series ‘Wrong Skin’ for company.

After around 2.5 hours and a quick stop for fuel in Kynuna, we arrived in Julia Creek and set up our caravan on a drive through site in the caravan park. This is our first time in a caravan park this trip and first time on power.

As we set up we revelled in the aircon - very welcome with the temperature hovering around 33 degrees.

As Gadi continued to set up outside, I prepared a veggie frittata which I cooked on the Weber, with some toasted homemade sourdough rye bread.

We took it in turns to take a refreshing dip in the cold 25 metre local pool directly across the road from where we are staying. Then at 6pm we had our 45 minute soak in the hot tub out the back of the caravan park. What a lovely experience, provided free if you are staying here. We enjoyed a platter of cheese, dips, olives and crackers and a bottle of bubbly while we soaked in lovely warm artesian water. Cadbury was his usually sooky self and cried while he was tied up even though he was with us at the baths.

Back to the caravan to relax. After our cheese platter we weren’t very hungry, but eventually ate a late dinner of that osso bucco snd rice I’d started cooking this morning.

We will stay here a few nights, so time to explore tomorrow.

Night night xxRead more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Around Julia Creek
September 23, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
First thing today we headed to the Visitor Centre as they have amazing displays of the history of the area as well as being able to watch the feeding of the tiny nocturnal marsupial (it kind of looks like a mouse) called a dunnart.

While watching the feeding, we had to readjust our eyesight to the dark and then we could see the unique floor in the visitor area which uses the latest digital technology to screen moving creatures, such as dunnarts, tiny gidgee bugs and snakes. Cadbury seemed to be fixated on watching the movement on the floor - we already know he loves watching screens of any kind!

After we watched the cute little dunnart running around his pen, hiding in tunnels and running around on his wheel like a mouse we went to see some of the displays and videos that were housed in old railway workers huts (each one thankfully air-conditioned). We learnt about the history of the area - the main message seemed to be about letting visitors know that Burke and Wills did not travel through nor did they survey Julia Creek or the surrounding McKinley Shire.

Next we paid a quick visit to the free camp set on a small creek and drove back through town to see the Duncan McIntyre Museum, again giving us more of an insight into life at Julia Creek in the olden days.

A quick shop (very important to purchase some ice cream) and we went back to the caravan to relax in the air conditioned comfort of our little home on wheels.

Mid afternoon Gadi went for a swim and then we both enjoyed a second night soaking in the hot tub and gazing at the twinkly stars above. Found that bringing a bone gave Cadbury something to do and he didn’t cry.

Soooo hard to get out of the lovely warm water!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Last Day at the Creek
September 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
No idea where the time went today, but after washing our bed linen and towels, and putting blankets and doonas outside in the sun, we ended up cleaning inside and outside our little home on wheels as everything has a layer of dust on it!

In the late afternoon we both went for a swim in the refreshingly cold pool followed by our last artesian bath experience. We again brought along a bone to keep Cadbury occupied, and it worked for the most part.

Once again it was lovely to watch the magic of ‘golden hour’ bathe the bare plain in front of us in a golden hue. Truthfully, the view was so surreal it appeared more like a painting than a scrubby field.

We dragged ourselves out reluctantly and went back to our little home on wheels to make a bbq dinner (on the Weber of course).

Night night from Julia Creek xxRead more
TravelerHole on wheels.?
9/26/18Reply
TravelerThanks for the editing ;)
9/26/18Reply
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Heading north and outback Traveler
On to Cloncurry and The Isa
September 25, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
We drove the one and a half hours to Cloncurry where Gadi had a look around the Mary Kathleen museum at the Visitor Centre. Cadbury and I chilled out in the shade where water sprinklers helped keep us cool. Then we had a rest inside the caravan - windows opened up wide to catch even the slightest breeze.

Next I visited the John Flynn - Royal Flying Doctor Museum where I learnt about how the RFDS began in outback Queensland and how dedicated John Flynn was to his vision of an air service that could traverse the outback, thereby reducing the vast tyranny of distance.

After my museum visit it was time to stop at Woollies to do a shop before heading on out of town to Corella Dam, situated on a private station, where you can camp for free. Half way between Cloncurry and Mount Isa this looked like a good place to stay for a couple of nights to explore the area. We drove around the dam and found there were many people camping and it wasn’t easy for us to maneuver the car and caravan into a spot with any view of the lake. Gadi didn’t really want to stay and given it was only 4pm we had enough time to drive to the large mining town of Mount Isa where we decided to stay behind a hostel that we had heard from fellow travellers let’s you park your caravan out the back and you can use the facilities for a small fee. We unhitched and made it in time to drive up to the town lookout in time for sunset. We saw the incredible sight of at least 20 kytes (hawks) swooping and flying low over our heads. They seemed to be enjoying their air acrobatics. As the sun sank lower, it highlighted the darkening hills surrounding the town and the smoke coming from the mine smelters. This was immediately followed by an extraordinary huge, full moon rising up yellow and orange from the opposite darkening range. As the lights of town twinkled before us you could see how big the mines were, totally surrounding and overwhelming the town.

Time to grab some takeaway for dinner and open up all the windows of our little home on wheels to cool it down now the heat of the sun was gone.

Another day well spent on our journey. Tomorrow we will continue north to Gulf country - Normanton and Karumba.

Night night from ‘The Isa’ as it is commonly known!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Visiting a Mine Before Heading Off
September 26, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Today we woke up early and Gadi did a tour of the mine. It’s not actually a real mine, as a number of years ago when they did tours of a real mine, a tourist ended up suing over some safety issue. So now they have a purpose built exact copy of a mine and Gadi’s tour guide is a mine worker - who works as a mine tour guide on his rostered days off.

He really enjoyed the tour and he learnt a lot about mining operations and about life underground for the miners.

Meanwhile Cadbury and I walked a bit first thing in the morning before the heat set in, then we chilled in the shade and eventually went back to our caravan - which was already hot even with all the windows and door open.

After Gadi’s tour finished he spent some time in the visitor Centre looking at all the displays and watching movies in their theatre about life in the mines.

Eventually we headed out of Mount Isa around 2pm and, given how hot it was, decided to keep driving until near dark - at least in the car we had the aircon!

We drove north on the Burke Development Road, glad to see the vast dry plains we had got used to over the last week or two, had given way to a more lush, shrub and tree-filled plain. Other than the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, situated at the crossroads of the Burke and the Wills Development Roads, there are no towns until Normanton.

We pulled up for the night in a large, empty rest area called Bang Bang. We found a nice spot with some shrubs and trees giving us some privacy and we opened up all the windows to cool down our little home, switching on a fan to speed up the process.

Meanwhile we enjoyed watching the sunset and then sat outside with a glass of cold, white wine and were treated to another full moon rising and a darkening sky with filled with millions of stars and planets.

Later we made a simple dinner inside and were glad we have an onboard hot shower to be able to wash away the heat and sweat of the dry, hot Queensland outback.

G’night from the middle of nowhere!Read more
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Reached the Gulf!
September 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Well today we made it to the Gulf and got to smell sea air for the first time this journey!

We woke up early in our roadside stop and continued our drive on the Burke Development Road north, unfortunately with a head wind slowing us down. We reached Normanton late morning, stopped to refuel and bought a quiche for lunch from the local bakery before continuing on to Karumba.We picked a caravan park (no free camp in town and it’s always nice to have air-con when it’s hot) and set up.

In the afternoon we headed straight for the ‘beach’ and were immediately hit with the pungent and refreshing smell of the sea as soon as we got out of the car. The breeze was quite strong,which kept the temperature down to 30 degrees - which was five degrees less than the weather in Normanton earlier today. We walked along the shore and checked out the Sunset Tavern situated right on Sunset Point, a great place to enjoy a cold drink and watch the sun go down. We drove around Karumba, a town seemingly split into two distinct areas and had a look around, buying some freshly caught barramundi from a local fish shop, before returning home for a quick rest.

Given we’d eaten an early lunch, we headed out to the beach late afternoon, stopping to buy some fish and chips to eat while we watched the sun slowly sink lower in the gulf. As we sat on our park bench I held my barra burger in one hand as we chatted. Suddenly I felt a jolt as a kyte swooped down and attempted to steal my burger. I was quite shocked and Gadi thought he would retaliate and act macho by throwing a couple of big rocks at the birds. I had a better idea and moved to a new bench situated under the protective cover of a large tree and it’s broad branches.

After we finished eating we headed to the Sunset Tavern to enjoy a cold drink and watch the spectacle of the sun as it finally sank beyond the sea, a big, round orange and yellow fireball. Once the last little bit could no longer be seen we waited for the sky to change to deep shades of orange, red and yellow.

With the twinkly lights of the stars now shining bright, we made our way back to our little home on wheels to settle in for the evening. Tomorrow we will begin the trek along the Savannah Way, which will take us all the way to Cairns.

Sweet dreams from Karumba!!Read more
TravelerYour only 730 km away from us now. We nearly neighbours again.
9/28/18Reply
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Heading north and outback Traveler
Our Hottest Day Yet!
September 28, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
This morning we packed up and went to see the new Barramundi Centre here in Karumba. The town is building a new breeding facility, which will open next season but they are opening it up this weekend only for people to have a look. And we were the first people to walk through the door!

We learnt a lot about barramundi - did you know they start off male and become female as they become sexually mature? The only thing missing from our visit were the fish themselves. The new breeding ponds aren’t ready for th barramundi yet. And we learnt more about Karumba through well done videos highlighting personal stories of some long time residents.

After our barra tour we headed away from the gulf, back to Normanton where we spent a bit of time in town checking out some of the old buildings, the old bridge, the huge 6 metre crocodile called Kris and we stopped for lunch in the bakery.

Then it was time to begin our journey on the Savannah Way heading to Croydon for tonight. Also, the thinking is given today was 37 degrees, it made sense to do some sightseeing while it was still cool and then spend as much time in the car driving as possible.

We arrived in Croydon mid afternoon, passing the ‘oldest store in Australia’ established in 1894 and filled with old bric a brac and spent some time in the visitor Centre - with air con - (they let Cadbury in as long as one of us held him all the time) where we watched a video about the history of gold mining in this town and then read the displays and inspected the gold samples on display. We also wandered around the back where they have carefully preserved some old miners cottages, as well as some steam engines and machinery from the early 1900s.

Next we headed off to Lake Belmore where Gadi and Cadbury followed the lead of some kids splashing away in the refreshing water. There were signs warning of crocodiles but, as Gadi said, if there any freshies there they would go for the kids before him!

Cadbury enjoyed fetching sticks and retrieving stones from the water and frolicking like a puppy. He’s probably over the heat as much as we are!

After a short break at the lake we made our way to the low cost/donation camp at the local rodeo ground. This weekend, which is a long weekend in Queensland (Queen’s birthday) the town is putting on a horse and motor bike event. Tonight they are showing a kids movie (The Emoji Movie) on a big outdoor screen. We parked the car and caravan a little way away from the event and cooked a simple dinner of fresh pan fried barramundi and a salad before heading over with chairs to watch the movie.

It was nice to sit outside with a cooling, gentle breeze, although I felt I couldn’t stay awake for much longer, so I headed back to the caravan to chill out for the evening - and try to sleep even though inside the caravan it was still hot.

Night night from the Savannah Way in far North Queensland xxRead more
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Horse event before Moving On
September 29, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 33 °C
After a stifling night we woke early to the sounds of the horses warming up close to our van. Unfortunately, as we watched one of the horses started bucking and the young girl riding fell off.

Not a good start to the morning, but the program of the day began soon after. We watched the little kids go through their paces, some sitting astride really tall horses and others on little ponies, all being led by their mums around several poles where they had to pick up a stick and deposit in a bucket at the other end. It was very cute to watch!

We stayed awhile and then packed up and headed back into Croydon where we had a look at some of the old buildings before heading out of town towards Georgetown, where we stopped for lunch and to have a look around town. They have a peace monument in town hand carved from local stone by a resident, honoring seven world peace leaders including Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi as well as Australia’s Eddie Mabo and Julian Burnside.

We continued driving east to Mount Surprise where we booked into a caravan park as Gadi is going to do a tour of the Undara Lava Tubes tomorrow. We set up and Gadi got the satellite dish set up in time to watch the last 15 minutes of the AFL Grand Final!

How lovely to set up in a park with shady trees, flowers and power (for the aircon!). Bonus is the bird aviary with lots of pairs of rainbow lorikeets, finches, love birds and others. There are ponies out the back and a rescued emu out the back.

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and eventually cooked dinner on the Weber before chilling out for the evening.

Very pleased to have aircon this evening...even if we will turn it off soon and open up the windows to catch the breeze.

Night night xxRead more
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Undara Lava Tubes and Time to Chill
September 30, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 30 °C
So today Gadi got up early and went on a guided tour of the Undara Lava Tubes situated about a 45 minute drive away. The caves are on private property snd the only way to see them is by guided tour.

The lava tubes are the remains of the world’s longest flow of lava originating from a single flow of lava. In the surrounding area there are 164 volcanoes, vents and cones. It is estimated that over 23 billion cubic meters of lava was released across the Atherton Tablelands approximately 189.000 years ago.

Gadi said, while the tour wasn’t amazing, he still enjoyed walking through the rock formations and the surrounding tracks he did on his own around the attached resort/caravan park.

Meanwhile, Cadbury and I stayed in our little oasis caravan park in Mount Surprise and got some washing done and sat outside chatting with our neighbours for a couple of hours. I also made a loaf of sourdough rye bread as we have run out of bread and the last couple of small towns have had none, probably due to school holidays and it being a long weekend.

Late afternoon, after the heat of the day had dissapated, we sat outside with a glass of wine and I rolled out some dough and made pizzas, which we cooked in the Weber.

Night fell quickly, settling in like a cosy blanket, as we sat eating outside, with lovely tropical foliage as our garden and a clear, twinkly sky above.

Time to head indoors as I’ve just started getting bitten by midges. Until now we’ve had no issues with either mosquitoes or midges, but I think this run of good luck may be over!

Night night xxRead more
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Hot Springs, Cloud, Drizzle & Lush Hills
October 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We packed up and left Mount Surprise around 9.30 this morning heading for Innot Hot Springs as we move closer to Cairns.

Innot Hot Springs is a tiny town with three hot springs in Nettle River. There is a caravan park alongside the river where you can pay to swim in five different temperature pools, or you can do as we did, and simply walk to the river (which is quite low at this time of year) and find your own perfect temperature pool to lie in.

Some of the pools were boiling hot, and unfortunately Cadbury learnt this the hard way by accidentally falling into one of them. But further away from the source, the water cooled down enough to paddle in.

Gadi and Cadbury splashed around and I sat
In the shade taking photos and enjoying seeing clouds in the sky and feeling the first cool breeze in many weeks.

Eventually, we continued to the Atherton Tablelands where we decided on staying at a working farm not far from the town of Atherton, so we can spend the next few days exploring the Tablelands, as we’ve only ever done day trips out here from Cairns previously.

We set up the caravan on a lush field on this maze growing farm and walked to the nearby river to spot platypus. We nearly gave up when we eventually spotted one, but it was too far away to be anything but a small black blob under the water.

After dinner we went to the camp kitchen where you can hand feed peanuts to local wildlife, and although they had already been fed when we arrived, we did see a possum and a pademelon, and Cadbury was very curious and wanted to get up close.

Pademelons are small forest-dwelling marsupials, smaller and more squat in shape than a wallaby but similar in that it hops and females bear young in their pouch.

After our night time animal adventure I went to sit at the communal fire for a while and Gadi went off to watch his TV show.

We then settled in for the night, doing some paperwork and looking at maps to decide where we will head tomorrow.

Night night from the cool, lush Atherton Tablelands xxRead more
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Exploring Along the Gillies Range Road
October 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C
Today we decided to explore the area along the Gillies Range Road, which becomes extremely windy and steep along the other end.

We saw the Curtain Fig Tree and then later the Cathedral Fig Tree, both impressively large strangler fig trees. However, the Cathedral Fig is mind blowing in sheer size and amount of strangling roots.

We explored the little village of Yungaburra, with its historic pub and cute, tourist shops. We drove to a farm where we were thinking of camping later in the week, but found it wasn’t suitable. We ended up eating a late lunch at a pub in the middle of nowhere. We sat on the deck overlooking a well shaded river. After lunch we drove back along the windy Gillies Range Road, stopping at Lake Barrine to check out the lake and tearooms (which we have visited before, but unfortunately no dogs allowed so we continued on our way back.

In the town of Yungaburra we visited the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour, dedicated to all those who served in the fight against terror in Afghanistan. This living memorial was begun by the parents of local commando Ben Chuck, who died while serving in Afghanistan. The memorial now also represents those who fell in other wars.

A quick stop at the supermarket and we headed back to our little home on wheels to relax, cook a pizza on the Weber and we made a return visit to the communal area to hand feed the wildlife.

Night night from the cool and lush Tablelands!Read more
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Cheese, Chocolate & Drizzle
October 3, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
We had a lazy morning and a late brekky before heading out for a drive around noon.

We visited Gallo, a dairy which showcases cheese and chocolate and we tried lots of samples before buying some of each to take home.

As the rain continued to drizzle we decided to leave visiting the local waterfalls for another day. Instead, we drove to Atherton to look around and found a camping shop where we bought a new chair to replace the one that broke a few weeks back, and a new compact table.

We continued heading north to a produce place called The Humpy, where we stocked up on locally grown bananas and zucchini.

Time to head back to our little home on wheels where Gadi set up the awning and pottered around checking out what candles and other outdoor mosquito fighting stuff we have hidden away in our cupboards.

Meanwhile, I baked some blueberry lemon muffins and then we cooked schnitzels for dinner before trying out the muffins for dessert. Thumbs up!

We are cosied up inside, not sure whether it feels hot or cold. It definitely is the coolest weather we’ve had since the first week of our trip.

Good night, hopefully tomorrow will fine up for more sightseeing xxRead more
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Waterfalls and Views
October 4, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Another day in the Atherton Tablelands dawned bright, sunny and with perfect weather, heading for a top of 28. I didn’t sleep very well due to some bad sciatica pain, which kept me awake. Today we decided to drive the Waterfall Way and headed south via Malanda Falls to the beautiful Millaa Millaa Falls. The falls are a stunning long drop with a lovely pool for swimming in. There were a lot of people swimming and enjoying the surrounding parkland.

Next we visited the nearby Zillie Falls and Elinjaa Falls where a number of local roosters were clearly begging for food from those visiting the Falls, before stopping to eat our picnic lunch. Then we continued our drive and found the most stunning view across the surrounding valley and mountains at Millaa Millaa Lookout.

We drove back home via Mount Hypipamee National Park where Gadi wanted to do the walk to see the crater lake. Meanwhile Cadbury and I (with my sciatica giving me a lot of pain) had a little nap in the car!

Back to our little home on wheels in the late afternoon, a perfect time to sit under our awning and enjoy the peaceful, green surroundings.

Bit embarrassed to admit that we watched the final of The Batchelor tonight, and predicted the ridiculous ending!

Anyway, g’night from the Tablelands xxRead more
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Coffee & Chocolate
October 5, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
It was just lovely to sit outside this morning drinking my morning coffee under the awning and enjoying the already warm sunshine. Even more perfect was my scrambled eggs served to me - great start to the day!

Today we decided to head to Mareeba, and we checked out a distillery there, set on a beautiful banana farm. We didn’t do tastings, just checked it out as a place we will come back to next week with our boy and my mum who are coming to stay with us in Cairns.

Next we headed to Coffee Works where we did coffee, chocolate and liquor tastings, checked out the shop, tried more coffee, chocolate and liquor, checked out the coffee museum, tried more coffee, chocolate and liquor, watched a video about coffee and tried just a little more coffee, chocolate and liquor.

After all the tastings it’s no wonder we had no appetite for lunch today!

On the way home we did a bit of caravan shopping in Atherton and then headed back to potter around making dinner and fixing bits and pieces.

We ate outside enjoying the cooling air before heading inside to chill out.

Night night xxRead more
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Quiet Day
October 6, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Today we decided to have a quiet and relaxing day, time to sit outside and enjoy the surroundings. We pottered around the caravan, slowly cleaning up in readiness to leave tomorrow.

In the afternoon we drove to nearby Lake Tinaroo where there is a dam we were going to see. We drove to a couple of different spots on the lake and Cadbury had a swim and chased some sticks and we sat down to eat some fruit, including delicious locally grown strawberries from a farm near where we are staying.

We did a supermarket shop in Atherton and then came back to the farm where we went down to the over one last time to see if we could see platypus. We saw a few but mainly on the opposite bank so not easy to take good photos. We went back to our caravan really hungry so we ate an early dinner of barbecued chicken (thank you Woollies!) and continued to pack down the caravan in readiness to leave early tomorrow for Cairns.

In the evening we watched some old home videos of previous camping trips when the kids were little - very cute!

Night night from the Atherton Tablelands xxRead more
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Family Reunion in Cairns
October 7, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Packed up and left our lovely farm in the Atherton Tablelands heading north through Mareeba and Kuranda and down the windy, steep mountains into Cairns - a journey of only 90 minutes.

We arrived at our caravan park before 11am, got to pick out our own site (plenty of shade and opposite the swimming pool) and set up in preparation for our son and my mum’s visit. We noticed immediately how much more humid it is here in Cairns than in the Tablelands!

I trekked all the way to the airport - 6 minutes away - to pick them up early afternoon and brought them back to the caravan park to settle in to their cabin accommodation.

We spent the afternoon chatting over a glass of bubbly snd some cheese and crackers before heading into town to check out the foreshore area.

Then we headed back and I cooked marinated chicken fillets and vegetables on the Weber and we had a relaxed dinner sitting outside.

Early night all round after we had all travelled to get here today. Tomorrow I am sure we will head out either in town or for a drive somewhere nearby.

Night night from the FNQ east coast xxRead more
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