Days 318-320 - Mt Isa, Qld (28-30 July)

Left Julia Creek for Mt Isa (approx. 250kms west) via Cloncurry.  As John was checking out the roof rack he found a tiny green frog perched between the kayak paddles, we have no idea where or how long it was up there for.  We put it under a tree in a damp area but think it might die as the environment in Julia Creek is very harsh, hot and dry not ideal for a little tree frog – fingers cross though that it survives!  On the way to Mt Isa we passed through another small town called Cloncurry that has an interesting statistic that on 16 January 1989 it had its hottest day on record a whopping 53degrees!  Mt Isa town of 24,000 people.  It is a hot dusty town with not a lot to do in close vicinity.  The caravan park we are in is not in the nicest part of town, nowhere nice to walk to with Coco so end up walking around the local cemetry!  A lot of the homes have wire fences to keep undesirables out or in.  Many have two dogs and some nasty ones at that.  It is quite interesting walking around the cemetry and sadly there seems to be a lot of babies and children who have died.  The oldest grave I have found is from 1932.  A lot of the graves are badly neglected a sign I guess of family members no longer visiting the the graves.  John has had something else to fix up, this time the roof rack again! all 6 of the roof mountings had either cracked or was broken through!.  A result of atrocious roads and a fair bit of weight on the rack (the 30,00Kms hasn’t helped).   Luckily again the caravan park owner has a workshop and offered to re-weld the mountings and strengthened each one with a gusset.  He did a great job for $50 and 6 cans of beer.  John is very happy as we thought this could delay us finding someone to fix it for us. Putting it back on the car took hours a horrible job!  Mt Isa was discovered in 1923 when a prospectors horse, named Hard Times, wandered away from camp and he (the prospector) found a lump of lead on the surface where he found his horse.  We did a 3 hour underground mine tour which was very interesting.  We did our tour in a replicated mine shaft built purely for tourists and it cost $12M to build.  A lot of tourists dollars to recoup the cost.  We weren’t able to take cameras so the only photo we have is the one the guide took that we had to pay an extra $5 for!  The tourist mine is named after a horse. The main mine is 1.8km deep, with over 1,000km of drives and 27 levels.  The mine produces lead, copper, zinc and silver.  It started production in 1929 and it is projected to have another 15 years of production.  Mt Isa has been founded on 92 different nationalities who came to Mt Isa to work in the mines from all over the world.  In the working mine at any one time there would be 70 miners working on a shift.  Back in the 1970s there would have been 200-300 miners working a shift.  The reduction in workers is partly due to technology and the 1970s was the development of the mine and required more workers to do this.  Our tour guide was a retired miner who worked in the mine for 23 years so was very informative and gave us good examples of what it was like to work in the mine.  We all had a turn at drilling a hole into the wall.  Would have been hard work those drills are heavy!.  Nowadays they have airconditioned cabs with drills on the end so a lot easier to work with.   At dusk we drove to the city lookout to see the sunset over the mine and city centre.  Lovely balmy night.  We have had some lovely hot days here up to 34 in the day and down to 18 at night.  Been using our air conditioning that we haven’t used for ages.

Day 317 – Julia Creek, NW Qld (27 July)

Another 250kms today heading west.  Landscape is becoming very barren, dry and sparse and it is definitely getting warmer! Stopped at Richmond which has a fossil centre containing 200 exhibits found around Richmond.  The collection includes Richmond Piliosaur the best preserved dinosaur skeleton in Australia.  There is a lifesize 12.2 metre replica of the Kronosaurus Queenslandicus found near Richmond in the 1930s.  Fossicking for fossils can be done nearby and guides can be found at the info centre.  We stopped for night in Julia Creek with a population of 500 in town.  Here we paid $1.70/litre for petrol think that is the highest we have paid so far!  This is actually an interesting town and they have a fantastic information centre which houses some really good information on the history and current day living in Julia Creek.  The information centre is housed in houses that used to house the rail workers in the early 1900s.  They have interpretative displays with many videos – could easily have spent half a day in the centre.  We found out that the big event in town is the Dirt and Dust festival which includes one of ?Australia’s major triathlon events, a horse race (the richest horse race in the NW) and novelty races like the bog snorkelling race (snorkelling in a mud bath).  This region also sits atop the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).  22% Australia (covering NT, QLD, SA and NSW with the majority being in Qld) sits on the GAB and provides a lifeline for communities and mining industries in these areas.  Government, mining, pastoral and communities are working together to manage this precious resource and in some cases have improved capture of the water by upto 95%!  Where we have hot water systems to heat our water here they have cooling systems to cool the water as when it is pumped it can be upto 50 degrees – that is hot.   There is a an endangered rodent looking marsupial about the size of a mouse called the Julia Creek Dunnart which is only found in this region.  It is nocturnal and lives on live insects.  The dunnarts shelter in the cracks on the dry soil beds during the day and come out at night to forage for food.  They give birth to up to eight babies twice a year if environmental conditions are favourable.  Like kangaroos they can hold off reproducing if conditions aren’t right.  The biggest threats to the dunnart are feral cats and dogs and the introduced Prickly Acacia tree and Mimosa’s which stop cracks forming in the dry earth which the dunnarts rely on for shelter and protection from predators.  Because they block out the sun the trees prevent grass growth again reducing shelter for the dunnart.  The prickly acacia was introduced from India to give shade to cattle.  Qld Parks and Wildlife Service and the local council and landholders are working together to control predators and the spread of the acacia trees. Julia Creek is also known for the Proa Redclaw which look like yabbies and can be caught in the creek or can cheat and go to a Redclaw farm.  Later in the afternoon we went for a nature work along the Julia Creek which runs at the back of the caravan park.  It was a lovely walk to see the colours of the outback as the sun is setting.  There is absolutely nothing quite as speccie as the colours in the outback – pictures don’t do it justice.  There were quite a few kangaroos around and Coco was going crazy as she wanted to chase them – in fact she got a good telling off when she didn’t listen to us and did chase a kangaroo.  There are no vets out here and it is a long drive to the nearest one plus who knows what damage she could do to the roo –although she would come off much worse we believe. One of the first nights for a while where we could sit outside and it is still warm – just love it. 

Day 316 – Hughenden, NW Qld (26 July)

Left Townsville heading west towards Mt Isa 904km.  We are travelling on what is known as the ‘Overlander’s Way’.  In the doldrums today as this is really the turning point for us to head home (have to go and sort out our house! who knows what we’ll do after that?)  Anyway we keep smiling.  It seems to be lately that not a day goes by when something doesn’t have to fixed and today we had to stop in Charters Towers to get the roof rack welded where one of the mounting points had two small cracks in it and was at risk of the roof rack collapsing onto the car roof.  Another rattle sorted.  We were very lucky and found a welding service that did it straight away leaving everything on the roof all for a $20 donation to their social fund ;-)  We have seen so many vans today and suspect NT will be busy so think we will have to start planning ahead and booking accommodation - we hate being so organised!   We are over nighting in Hughenden which is about 1/3 of the way to Mt Isa.   Not much here except from now to Mt Isa it’s known as dinosaur country with fossils (dead ones) dotted all around the place. You can buy a house here for as a little as $99K if you want to be in a town with an unsure or limited future, miles from nowhere and hot as hell in summer – then this is it.

Days 312-315 – Townsville, Qld (22-25 July)

John spent the first day here fixing one of the back windows in the caravan that wasn’t closing properly and it took much longer than anticipated with a couple for trips to the local caravan repairer for bits and pieces and then finally giving them the job which resulted in them breaking the glass and replacing it with perspex (all that is available these days) and we suspect they twisting the window frame as it didn’t fit back in snugly which meant more work for John realigning it.  He did a good job in the end after spending close on two days on it and it is usable again even though we now have a odd window in the van.  Friday we caught up with Sue and Fred a couple we met in Streaky Bay over Christmas.  They are from Townsville and had spent 15 months on the road before returning to Townsville to sort out tenants and fix up their house after the tenants were evicted (we are hearing these stories too often – fingers crossed).  They have been here since April and will leave by November to start travelling again.  They are staying in a caravan park while they are here.  Fred and Sue picked us up and took us on a sightseeing tour of Townsville followed by a bbq dinner with them at their caravan park.  It was great that they offered to take us out for the day as it is much better to be with locals who can tell us some of the history and give us the ins and outs of the city. Townsville is a very impressive city with great views from the Castle Hill Lookout which gives you 360 degree view over the ocean, city and river, hill ranges and Magnetic Island. The day was a bit overcast but still nice views. We stopped at Jupiter’s Casino (yes there is one here as well as on the Gold Coast) for coffee, had a walk along The Strand which runs along the foreshore edge and a drive to Paradella?? which is popular with kite surfers.  There is a coffee kiosk on The Strand that gave us a water bowl and doggie treat for Coco – what a nice touch.  We visited Riverway which is a fantastic aquatic centre, free entry to two beautiful sparkling pools of varying depths, cafe’s and an art centre.  The centre sits directly on the edge of the river edge which has a boardwalk which joins the cycleway around the river.  There are many turtles of varying sizes around this area and quite easy to see.  The aquatic centre is very popular in summer.  During the summer season (November-May) the ocean is full of stingers and it really is enter at your own risk.  There are designated beach areas that have stinger nets and life guards and these are really the only safe areas to swim.  The odd crocodile has been known to be around as well so if the stingers don’t get you, the crocs or sharks might.  There seems to be plenty of swimming pools around town so no need to risk the ocean for a dip.  There are a few boarding schools in town as well catering for local and out of town students. A catholic girls school had steel bars between the balustrade and roof not to deter the boys but to to keep the girls in!  Townsville has made great use of the Ross River that meanders throughout the city with footpaths/cycleways pretty much all around it, free gas bbqs, picnic areas, dog exercise areas and green areas with lovely gardens and trees.  It is really well done and is popular with lots of people walking, picnicking, cycling, roller blading etc.  I was in two minds about the proposed foreshore development in Busselton but after seeing what other towns/cities are doing think we could really benefit from recreational development not high rise apartment blocks.  All in all we (I particularly) have been surprised how nice Townsville is.  However from what Sue and Fred were telling us the summer season here is pretty horrendous with temps around 35 and 99% humidity with everything potentially getting mouldy and damp if not catered for properly.  Looks like we have seen it at the best time of year. 

Day 311 – North Qld (21 July)

Midge Point, Townsville
Took Coco for an early morning walk along the beach and watched the sunrise.  It was exceptionally pretty and Coco enjoyed the run along the beach with no one else around.  We packed and left for the trek to Townsville – north 320kms. Looking at a map Townsville would be in line about 3/4 of the way to Broome from Port Hedland.  It is the capital of North Queensland. Townsville lies roughly in line with 80 Mile Beach in WA (380kms south of Broome).  There is talk of making Townsville the second capital city in Queensland and directing the population boom in SE Qld to here although the locals believe the infrastructure would have to be improved upon a lot to make it sustainable.  Townsville is one of the few places that has had an increased population growth during the recession with an average of 5000 people moving here last year alone.  It sure is a big city – don’t think we have seen so many shopping centres and showrooms.  We are staying at a Seventh Day Adventist convention centre that has an area set aside for campers and caravans.  A very basic no frills place but OK for a few days.  It is very central within walking distance to the largest shopping centre in Townsville called Stockland.  The park backs onto the river which is very nice and has some great cycleways for walking.   Can walk forever.   There is fenced off leash doggie playground along the river that has agility equipment for the dogs to play on.  It is very well done.  I took a reticent Coco in there as there were lots of other dogs for her to play with but ever since she got dragged through the fence by her tail she is not keen to get near a fence with dogs on the other side.  I persevered and she spent the time sniffing the garden edges and then sat at the gate to go out.  A friendly german shepherd took a shine to her and followed her around the park but she wasn’t interested.  She must have an attitude as dogs start to come towards and then back away – she is funny and only seems to take to a few dogs.   The weather is just perfect about 27 in the day and down to 18 at night.   Bliss!

Days 309-310 – Whitsundays, north Qld (19-20 July)

Midge Point, Whitsundays Boat Trip
Monday we drove into Prosperine to check out what boat trips we can do around the Whitsunday Islands.  As you can imagine there are a lot and we opted for a one day trip on an ocean raft (see details later)) the following day. There are a total of 74 islands in total, some are well developed for tourism and a lot that are still pristine without infrastructure.  The trip we are going on does more snorkelling than other trips and visits Whitehaven Beach which is an icon on the Whitsundays. We wanted to do snorkelling to see how it compares to Ningaloo Reef in WA.  The ocean raft takes half the travel time of the bigger boats and holds 25 passengers compared to the 80 plus that others do.  After our trip to Prosperine, John went to the lagoon to try fishing with the tide coming in.  Apparently crocodiles have been seen around the lagoon and even further out on the islands!  Tuesday we wake up early to get ready for our boat trip and it was really foggy outside but once the sun shone its head through it cleared quickly into a beautiful day.  We drove to Airlie Beach which is the launching spot for most boat trips to the Whitsundays.  Airlie Beach is a really nice area with a Mediterranean feel with houses sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the water which was stunning.  Looks like we have chosen a good calm sunny day for our trip.  The vessel we were travelling on are ocean rafts that  were originally designed and built as rescue crafts and are driven by 2, 225hp engines.  There was not a lot of room with all 25 of us being squeezed on.(John said there were 28!)  At the first opportunity the skipper gave us a demonstration of how manoeuvreable and fast the rafts could go which meant going fast and turning quickly – think he enjoyed it more than some of the passengers.  We were travelling 50 minutes to get to our first stop which was Whitehaven Beach.  Along the way we stopped at Daydream Island to pick up two more people (yes they got squished in).  Daydream Island is not the daydream you might think it is with a brown sandy beach (well what bit we saw anyway).  Finally we get to our first stop but not without some more showing off and fast driving.  Whitehaven Beach is in the Whitsundays Islands National Park and the sand sure is white and is quite lovely after the beaches we have seen since the Gold Coast.  We did a bush walk to Hill Inlet lookout where we got a great view over Whitehaven Beach.  Whitehaven Beach is the fourth most photographed place in Australia after the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Uluru. The Tom Hanks movie Castaway was filmed here.  It is quite spectacular and we couldn’t have had a better day for taking photos.  After our walk back down we ate lunch on the beach.  The sand is the same as Esperance in that it squeaks when you walk on it.  The whiteness is due to the amount of silica in it.  After lunch we had plenty of time to relax before we get back on the boat to do our two snorkels at Hook Island.  On the way there, we almost ran into a humpback whale mother and her calf they were so close – it was fantastic.  Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough with the camera and missed a fantastic photo opportunity.  The sad thing the skipper told us is that they are seeing less and less whales due to the Japanese whaling.  We also saw a turtle.  Our first snorkel was at Mantaray Bay.  We had our own snorkelling gear but were asked not to use our fins due to the damage they can cause to the reef and as it turned out we didn’t need them, the water was calm and we didn’t have to swim too far.  The Whitsundays Islands National Park wants to ban the use of fins which would be a good idea as they can do a lot of damage by novice snorkellers/divers.  The water was cold even with our 3/4 wetsuits but the fish life was superb.   We saw many large schools of different fish and the coral was quite colourful and plentiful.  It was a great snorkel with the visibility at about 10-15 metres, not the best but still good.  On the way back to the boat we saw two enormous lumphead wrasse.  They would have been over one metre long – have never seen fish so big – quite magnificent!  Our next spot was literally around the corner at Butterfly Cove – this one was more coral – nice but not so colourful and very few fish.  After this snorkel we headed home. 
It was a great day however we both agreed that we have all of this and much more in WA, we might be biased but you cannot beat Ningaloo for snorkelling and diving, Exmouth and Esperance for their beautiful white sand beaches and WA in general has the best expanse of beautiful beaches we have seen by far! Rottnest island might not have neighbouring islands like the Whitsundays but it is definitely in the same league. The great thing about WA is that you don’t have to get on a boat for 50 minutes or longer to see any of this we have it right there on our shores!  Makes us appreciate how lucky we are in WA.

Day 308 – Whitsundays, north Qld (18 July)

Midge Point
Had a relaxing day today, went for a couple of walks on the beach and a walk to the lagoon.  It is very quiet here even though the park is busy.  The beaches here are the kind where the tide goes a long way out and when it comes in it is shallow and the sand is not white but brown and hard so we have ridden our bikes along it.  The beach is lined with palm trees which is very tropical.  Behind the park is a lovely walk through a forest that ends up at a mango farm and then lagoon which is all part of the park.  The lagoon has crocodiles in it apparently so glad Coco didn’t go into it.  There are about 500 mango trees and some avocado trees.  They used to get pickers but now leave to the park guests to pick as many as they can but still means 1000s of mangoes fall to the ground and get wasted – how criminal is that.  Unfortunately mango season is not until the end of the year so we miss out although it is avocado season now so will have to see if we can grab some.  Midge Point is a very small town with a population of about 500 and back in March it copped the brunt of Cyclone Ului.  There is still evidence of the devastation now with debris on the foreshore.  Some houses still have tarpaulin roofs and fences down while they debate with insurance companies.  The winds were recorded at 253km/hr and it raged for 8 hours!  The town was without power for over a week and Ergon bought in generators to assist. The park managers had evacuated the caravanners two days earlier.  The manager showed me some photos of the devastation and it is truly incredible – you can’t recognise the place.  It took them 11 weeks and $250K to clean it up and only a quarter of the park trees still stand.  It is set amongst a rainforest. It is amazing what the owners  have done to restore it to its former glory.  It is also amazing to think the ocean came in so far that it flooded the park when it is a good 200m out from shore and is so calm!

Days 306-307 – Whitsundays, north Queensland

Midge Point, north of Mackay
Left a chilly Cania Gorge without any real destination in mind just to head north to get warm!  We decided to travel via Rockhampton (240kms north east) to restock on groceries and if tired would spend the night. On the way we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  Rockhampton is known as the beef capital of Australia and is a big regional town with a population of 77,000 and as we prefer to stay in quieter areas decided after a quick grocery stop to drive on another 100 odd kms to a small town called Marlborough. (This is also the name of the suburb John was born in, in Rhodesia!) Rockhampton and the surrounds is known as the beef centre of Qld and 30% of beef produced in Australia comes from a 500km radius of Rockhampton.  We drove past the stock saleyards and there was plenty of action going on there and plenty of smell!.  We left early the following morning (Sat) for Mackay another 230kms north and again may or may not stay.  Mackay is also in line with Karratha so expecting some warm weather – yay! We are looking for a nice beachfront caravan park that takes dogs (not easy to find) so we can spend a few days relaxing and absorbing the sun! so decided to drop into the visitor centre in Mackay.  BIG mistake! as the volunteer there was not very helpful at all (particularly compared to many other centres we have been too) getting accurate info was like trying to extract teeth! so we decided to do our own research and found a place called Midge Point 100kms further north which has a park in a rainforest on the beach edge – sounds perfect.  So we start our trek and were about 22kms out of Mackay staying to the left in a slightly uphill stretch of road with an overtaking lane when a 4wd overtook us doing about 100ks/hr.  Which happens all the time except this one had two serious looking mountain bikes perched on the roof and just as they were about 50m ahead of us one broke loose from its mountings and bounced down the road towards us!  John braked hard whilst moving our car in the opposite direction of the where he thought the bike was going to go and then to the other side while trying to keep the van and the car on all wheels! the bike bounced off the road and into our windscreen on John’s side of the car.  The windscreen shattered and we eventually came to a stop.  John had a sliver of glass in his eye which he managed to wash out with water thank goodness and we checked the damage.  Luckily the windscreen was the only damage it could have been a lot worse – there was no damage to the car or van.  In the meantime the driver of the 4wd realised what had happened and came running down the road to make sure we were OK and his mate retrieved the remains of the bike.  They were travelling to Townsville to compete in a bike race – well that came to an abrupt end.  After we had stopped shaking I called Windscreens O’Brien to get a new windscreen and John got the drivers details who accepted liability immediately although he is driving a company car so could be a long winded process to get reimbursed the $580 replacement windscreen.  As you would guess Windscreens O’Brien had closed half an hour earlier and we were now in after hours charge time.  Ordinarily it would cost $408!  We had to drive back to Mackay, after putting some cloth tape on the hole to stop more splinters falling out, to get the windscreen replaced which took over two hours.  Once done we dusted ourselves off and continued onto Midge Point and got there about 5.30pm, so much for our early start.  We had called the reception there to advise them what had happened and they were very concerned and made allowance for us to come into the park after hours.  Our site is amongst the trees and the beach is 200m walk.  I took Coco for a quick walk along the beach and whilst the ocean is way out and the sand is brown and hard, it is palm tree lined and will suit us just fine for a couple of days.  There is lots of walking that can be done and relaxing as there is nothing else here – hooray!  We do have internet again after being without it for 4 days. 

Days 303-305 – Cania Gorge, Qld (13-15 July)

Set of to do a 216km trip north west but we had to go quite a way south (almost back to Hervey Bay John kept harping) to get to Cania Gorge.  We also had to increase our trip by about 50kms to avoid a 36km dirt road.  So it ended up being a long drive and not helped that we had no choice but to drive over a dead carcass in the middle of the road which had rotted sufficiently to cause a nasty mess on the side and underneath of our van and it stank when we stopped.  Anyway we eventually made it and the campground is lovely.  Fairly busy with other campers.  The caravan park borders the edge of the national park which is handy and they are happy for dogs to stay behind while owners explore the park.  And no fee to get into the national park a bonus.  Our first job was to get the carcass off the van – nasty work.  There is short walk for dogs which John lengthened by some rock climbing so we could overlook the caravan park.  The next day we went to check out the lake which is stocked with bass and silver perch but nothing biting although there were heaps of dead fish on the edge which had died a few weeks ago due to the water being too cold!  After lunch we dusted off the bikes and rode the 1km to start one of the many walks.  Our first walk was to the Dragon Cave, Gorge Lookout and Bloodwood cave.  Very pleasant walk but the caves nor lookout were entirely spectacular.  On the way back we saw a whip tailed wallaby (we think – it had a very long tail) and a king parrot.  That evening we sat outside with two other couples (the southerners from Victoria) we have met in the park and had dinner together and that was very enjoyable.  Both couples live in the area that was burnt last year and some of the tales they told of the fires and the terror was incredible.  Can’t imagine how difficult it would have been to have experienced that.  Today John went back to try to hook a fish, no luck and I went on a 5.2km circuit walk which again very pleasant but not spectacular.  In the afternoon we rode again to do another walk to Dripping Rock and the Overhang.  Now this was a spectacular walk, we walked through a rainforest and came to dripping rock which would be something to see in the wet season when there is more water running down the wall.  We continued on past ochre rocks and small overhangs, some beautiful colours, yellows and browns.  Eventually we come to the highlight the overhang which is quite speccy.  It has a permanent waterhole with ferns around it and ochre rock.  Well worth the climb to get to it.  In the evening we had dinner with the two Victorian couples, Kaye and Hugh and Heather and Athel.  They had invited us to have a roast dinner with them they were cooking pork which John enjoyed and lots of roast veges and greens for me.  It was so cold though that we pretty well ate and ran back to our vans to get warm.  It is so cold here but the night sky is absolutely fantastic – the stars and milky way are so vivid!  Cania Gorge is a great place to relax with some nice walks it is very quiet and the park is well maintained.  However we have been told it is nothing compared to Carnarvon Gorge in the central highlands of Qld.

Day 302 – Bundaberg, Qld (12 July)

Because we liked Elliott Heads and Bargara so much when we visited yesterday we went back today.  It was another glorious day and we decided to dust off the kayaks and go for paddle in the estuary (Elliott River).  It was a good day, John tried fishing but only caught a small flathead so threw it back.  We then drove to Bargara Beach to grab a coffee.  This coast here in Bundaberg is quite stunning and along with Coolangatta/Tweed Heads is one of the few spots in Qld we would could think about living in for a while (haven’t seen any cane toads yet).  Compared to Busso houses here near the beach front are quite a bit cheaper.  Tomorrow we leave Bundaberg to head north but are diverting inland (220kms west) to a national park called Cania Gorge National Park.  It is near a town called Monto.  The national park has a caravan park right on the edge of the park that allows dogs and we figured as we have so few opportunities to go into national parks with Coco we should go and see it.  Heaps of wildlife venture into the park and the gorge is formed from sandstone with ochre sands and many overhangs.  It sounds really nice and has had some good reviews.  Lake Cania is nearby and is well stocked with fish and you are able to kayak on it.  From there we will head north east to Glasdstone and then to Rockhampton.

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Day 301 – Bundaberg, Qld (11 July)

Coastal drive, Elliott Heads to Moore Park Beach

Explored the coast today and discovered some great beaches.  The closest beach is 9kms from Bundaberg city and whilst the coastline is mostly rocky there seems to be a lot of snorkelling and diving spots.  There is an artificial reef about 3kms offshore called Cochrane Reef where they have sunk things like an airplanes (2 mohawks and a 15 seater Kingair plane), a gravel barge a landing barge and a gravel dredge, a water tank, concrete pipes and steel prisms and 2 lightship and an ex trawler.  It is a very popular dive site and over 14 species of fish inhabit the area including wobbegongs, leopard sharks, batfish, turtles, dolphins and manta rays.  To get there you need a boat and off course diving gear which we don’t have but would be a great site to dive.   There are many offshore snorkelling sites that can be reached by scrambling over the rocks but as it is tidal here you need to pick you time and day and today wasn’t a good day due to the low tides and being a little windy.  We found a wonderful place called Elliott Heads which is just delightful and still a quiet hamlet, the beach was lovely.  Another spot we liked is Bargara Beach which has some lovely modern homes and is well catered for the tourist with some high rises, restaurants etc.  Some of the houses back right onto the beach.  We had a look at a home open and the backyard bordered the ocean edge.  The ocean would have been 10m from the edge of the verandah!  It was a 3x2 and the agent estimates it will sell around the $700K mark.  Not as expensive as we had expected.  We had a coffee at a spot called Nielsen Park which is right on the beach.  Today was fantastic about 23 with lots of sun.  Perfect!   From here we went to Burnett Heads which is popular fishing area not as popular or as nice as Bargara or Elliott Heads and the pre-requisite for the guys there seemed to be a tinny (boat and drink) and a beer gut that hangs well over your belt!   Next stop was Moore Park Beach which is a golden sandy beach which goes on and on for 20kms!  Not a doggie beach unfortunately.  We are quite impressed with the beaches near Bundy – didn’t expect to see anything quite so nice here.  Apparently the weather here is fairly moderate all year around and compares with Hawaii and there aren’t the big temperature fluctuations in other parts of the country.  We are quite impressed with Bundy.   There are lots of sugar cane fields around and it seems a lot have been sold off and developed into housing estates.

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Days 299-300 – Bundaberg, Qld (9-10 July)

Left Hervey Bay after having a wonderful time there.  We really enjoyed it and it is a great spot.  Bundaberg is about 130kms north.  As we got closer to Bundy or Rum City (local speak) we came across lots of sugarcane fields and fruit farms.  It is avocado season at the moment and they can be bought so cheaply.  This region is known at the ‘salad bowl’ due to all the fruit and veges produced here.  We are also in the area known as the Coral Coast and southern Great Barrier Reef.  We decided to do our normal system which is drive into a town check out the caravan  parks choose one and set up.  Well not to be here.  All the parks were full!  Fully of southerners we were told on more than one occasion.  Southerners being NSW and Victorians escaping the cold winters.  So we ended up free camping at a recommended free camp by the Information Centre.  It is called Sharon Gorge about 20kms out of town.  Basically it is a layby on the side of the road, a busy road I might add.  The free camp has loos, bbqs, picnic tables.  There is a 1km walk to the gorge but not the kind of gorge we were expecting.  Basically it is a track through a forest to the Burnett River that has very limited access due to being private property.  In  a quieter area it would have been a good stop as the bbqs were spotless and the toilets very clean.  We have noticed that the free camps on the east coast aren’t as good as in WA ie. here they just tend to be on the side of the road whereas in WA they tend to be further off the road.  We quickly made a call to a caravan park to check availability for tomorrow (Saturday) and booked ourselves in.  After leaving the free camp we headed back to Bundaberg and settled into the caravan park.  After lunch we did the tour to the Bundaberg Rum distillery.  $25/head so not a cheap tour but interesting.  The basis of the rum is mollasses and there is a huge holding pit up to 5m deep of mollasses, the smell was overbearing but I liked it.  We saw the bondstore where they hold the rum for 2 years where it matures in oak vats.  The raw rum gets it flavour from the wood.  The wood is oakwood from the American/Canadian border and vats are made locally in the traditional manner.  It costs $75,000 to have a vat built but they last 80-100 years.   The next process is bottling which is done on site and the premix cans are canned in Sydney.   There is $2B worth of rum on site!  The entrance fee includes two free tastings and not the piddly tastings you get in wineries, these are standard size drinks so for non rum drinkers this was quite a challenge.  We tried the Royale liquer which was very tasty. It is made of rum, caramel, chocolate, vanilla and coffee flavour and it was delish especially with cream.  Comparable to Baileys or Kaluha.   Will buy some of that as the distillery is the only place it can be bought.  Some trivia, the bear was introduced in 1961 due to the southerners (ie Vic, NSW) not drinking Bundy as they had the belief it was a tropical drink only drunk in tropics not to be drunk in cold climes.  So to capture the market the company wanted to depict that if you drink rum on a cold day you will get warm.  They wanted to use a cold weather animal to promote the product and the only Australian animal to resemble the cold is a fairy penquin not the image they wanted so the polar bear was decided upon.  The idea being that a nip of rum on a cold day will warm you up and the bear has been an institution since.  Now Bundaberg rum is drunk all around Australia in big quantities I might add.

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Days 295-298 – Hervey Bay, Qld (5-8 July) – Week 44 (month 11)

Not to much to report the last few days – getting ready to leave tomorrow (Friday) heading north to Bundaberg (at this stage).  We visited with Rod and Lynn a couple we spent Xmas with in Streaky Bay who are staying in the caravan park about 40kms away at Burrum River.  It was lovely to catch up with them and we had a nice lunch.  Hopefully we’ll see them again when they head west – Lynn is keen to do the Margaret River wineries again.  The weather has been really miserable, wet and cold.  The coldest day today at 17 degrees!  Seems like all of Australia is having an unseasonally cold and wet winter.  Thought global warming meant warmer weather – more like the ice age.  At least heading to north NT will be warm.  As it was our last night we went into town and had a Balti curry – very very nice.  Balti cooking originated from northwest Pakistan and is a style of cooking curries that uses very aromatic spices but not overly spiced with chillies so not as hot as normal curries but very spicy.  The first Balti restaurant opened in Birmingham UK and took off enormously with lots of Balti restaurants now in the UK.  The chef at the curry house we went to was trained in Birmingham by a Pakistani chef and opened about 12 months ago in Hervey Bay.  They also had UK style curries which are much hotter than what we are used to here and we had been warned so went with the milder choices.  I had a biryani curry which is rice based and John had a Malay curry which as mild and he said it was hot.  We really enjoyed our curries.  Must say we have not eaten out as much as we did in Hervey Bay – more opportunity and choice.  Steve the house owner got home about mid afternoon and we had a chat with him in the evening.  He has telling me about the cane toads and how in the wet season he has had upto 10 of them sitting at the back door trying to get in, they sit in the dog bowls (even though they are empty) looking for food and putting the washing out on the line at night time he says can be a challenge and he says they are big!  Well if I wasn’t put of Qld already now I really am!  Apparently from Hervey Bay north we hit cane toad country big time all the sugar cane plantations I expect.  Not looking forward to that, think we will be using the port loo in the van for any night time visits.

Day 295 – Hervey Bay, Qld (4 July)

Maryborough (Mary Poppins Festival)

Had a good day today at the Mary Poppins Festival in Maryborough.  It is an annual event when the town celebrates the Mary Poppins phenomena.  There was a best dressed nanny, nanny races, chimney sweeps and chimney sweep races.  Heaps of stalls selling food, nic nacs, vintage car exhibition, workshops for kids, steam engine rides.  Heaps to see and do and lots of people.  I stuffed my face on delicious mini panckaes with cream and caramel sauce, yummy. The day was beautiful and sunny although a bit on the cool side.  Would have taken a lot of organising as there was a lot happening.  On the way home we stopped at a conservation park which is know to have koalas and we were lucky enough to see one and it was awake feeding on gum leaves which is unusual we think for the middle of the day.   Almost forget we had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant in Hervey Bay called Santini on the Esplanade.  We both had seafood dishes and they were delicious followed by homemade gelato with rhubarb crumble for me and crepes for John.  Can recommend it if ever this way.  Thank goodness for free days!

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Day 294 – Hervey Bay, Qld (3 July)

After yesterdays coldness and more rain overnight we had a day hanging around Hervey Bay, walking along the foreshore and beaches.  It really is a lovely spot especially when the sun is shining!  Went to the Matthew Flinders lookout which is the spot where Matthew Flinders landed on his ship the Norfolk in 1799.  It is a good lookout across the Sandy Strait to Fraser Island.  Went for a walk along the beach at sunset and surprising there was a camel train on the beach, so  Cable Beach in Broome isn’t the only beach to offer a camel ride at sunset!  The sunsets here are quite stunning the the pink on the beach tonight was quite beautiful.  My pics don’t really don’t do it justice.

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Days 292-293 – Hervey Bay, Qld (1-2 July)

Maryborough

We spent the day (Friday) in Maryborough which is about 36kms south of Hervey Bay.  It is one of the oldest cities in Australia being first settled in 1847.  Many of Australia’s first settlers entered the colony via the Port of Maryborough between 1859 and 1901.   It is a very historic town with lots of museums and restored and not so restored old buildings.  It has a population of 26,000 and its rainfall is between 900-1100mm annually – hence it is green!  Maryborough’s claim to fame is that the author of Mary Poppins, P L Travers was born here and there is a statue outside the building where she was born and many testaments to her around town.  An annual event is the Mary Poppins festival (on this Sunday) where they have the best Mary Poppin’s lookalike competition, chimney sweeping competitions, stalls and lots of other fun things.  We are thinking of going for something different.  We did the 1.5 hour walk heritage walk around the city taking in a lot of the history and looking at the old buildings, a lot have been restored to their former glory. We then did a drive tour around looking at the old Queenslander homes the city is famous for. Apparently Maryborough has the most old Queenslanders in the State.  Some are just gorgeous and are immaculate.  From what I’ve seen on the internet some inside look just like modern homes.  The cost of houses here is really very reasonable $350K could easily buy you a nice home and in some cases on acreage.  One thing we have noticed here and in Queensland generally is that people don’t seem to have landscaped gardens.  Its almost like they plonk their house on the block and that’s about it except for the hills hoist and a shed.  Hardly any homes we looked at in Maryborough had gardens to speak of.  Not sure where they entertain guests, must be indoors or on verandahs. 

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