Days 289-291 – Hervey Bay (28-30 June)

We said goodbye today (Monday) to Wendy and Rob who are heading home.  We had a fabulous weekend and it sure is quiet without them around.  The good news is we get to see them again at the end of year when they come to WA for a visit.  We spent the morning shopping for flea treatment and new bedding for the boys (Luke and Ben) who have a really bad bout of fleas.  Consequently Coco, Kady and Leica have got a flea or two which is unusual.  John washed Coco and the boys who were really dirty, flea powdered them, their kennel and their beds and replaced their bedding with the new blankets we got from the local op shop.  They looked much happier and certainly much cleaner.  Luke has such a soft coat now.  Next day we had a lazy start as it was cold and miserable then went out to get pick up my sunnies that I had left on the ferry on the way back from Fraser Island, luckily they had been found.  When out walking the dogs, poor Ben got bitten on the nose by a dog when Ben went up to the fence of its property to say hello.  It all started very friendly and then suddenly the other dog got aggressive and started to attack Ben.  There was a lot of blood and it looked very nasty but fortunately this morning it looks much better and was dry.  We will keep a check on it in case it gets infected.  So far have avoided the vets.  This morning (Wednesday) is a beautiful day with the sun shining and it is warm (25 in the van woo hoo!!)  We took the opportunity of a nice day to check out the beach and foreshore.  Just beautiful.  The tide was out again but still great for walking.  Took some nice sunset shots of the Urangan Pier which is 1km long, we were in our tshirts and shorts until 6.00pm – haven’t been able to do that for a while.  Fingers crossed the weather stays so good!

Cane Toad - heaps of them here 

Shark Show

Day 288 – Fraser Island (27 June)

We have had the best day ever today, it was just wonderful!!  We had absolutely perfect weather all day with the sun shining throughout our time on the island.  Couldn’t have chosen a better day.  We had an early start to begin our adventure to Fraser Island.  Needed to be at the barge landing at River Heads (10km away) by 7.45am for a 8.30am departure.  This meant we had 45 mintues to kill while we waited.  Can you believe there wasn’t anywhere to buy a coffee!  A great opportunity for an enterprising person with a mobile coffee van. Certainly a captive market.  The weather is looking promising so fingers crossed the forecasted clouds and rain don’t eventuate.  Not too many cars going over but a couple of busloads of people of tour.  The trip to the island takes 30 minutes.  We disembarked at Wanggoolba Creek – love the name.  The barge had a cat on board that obviously lives on the barge as there was kitty litter tray for it under the stairs but this didn’t stop it from ‘spraying’ on one of the crews backpack – he’ll get a nasty surprise.  Nothing worse than cat pee!  “Fraser Island is world heritage listed and comprising 184,000 hectares is the largest sand island in the world.   It stretches 123 kms in length and 22 kms at its widest point.  It is a place of exceptional beauty, with its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, and over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and others clear and blue all ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks.  Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres. The low "wallum" heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, and provide magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.  The immense sand blows and cliffs of coloured sands are part of the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world and they are still evolving.  They are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the last 700 000 years. The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level.  The Great Sandy Strait, separating Fraser Island from the mainland, is listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention). The wetlands include: rare patterned ferns; mangrove colonies; sea-grass beds; and up to 40,000 migratory shorebirds. Rare, vulnerable or endangered species include dugongs, turtles, Illidge's ant-blue butterflies and eastern curlews”.

Onto the day.  We arrived just after 9.00am and set off with a our tourist brochure map.  Speed limit on the inland roads (sand tracks) was 30km/h and beach 80km/h.   Easy to see why it is only 30km/h, our first adventure was through a deeply ridged mud track however it was not as bad as it looked.  Some of the tracks were quite rough and it was not possible to do more than and speed limit. As you can only drive on the beach two hours either side of high tide and high tide has just occurred we decided to stay on the inland roads and visit the rainforest and then venture onto the beach.  We were all surprised how deeply vegetated the island is and we soon came into rainforest.  You would not imagine it could be so lush and beautiful.   We stopped at Central Station where we did a short boardwalk through the rainforest - it was absolutely stunning.  It is much prettier than some of the other rainforest walks we have done, hard to describe what made it different but there were lots of tall fern trees, beautiful healthy staghorns growing off trees, trees with bright green moss and pristine creeks with flowing water.  There was so much bird life that we hadn’t heard in other forests.  It really was jaw dropping beautiful.  The forest reminded us of the rainforests further north Qld where it is more tropical and lush.  We all loved it there. Whilst we had a map it was not detailed so a bit of calculated guesswork and navigation by Rob got us where we needed to be.  Our next stop was Lake Birrabeen which is one of the largest and deepest freshwater lakes on the island.  It is a popular swimming lake and the water is pristine and crystal clear.  It is quite spectacular particularly against the soft white sand.  We stopped here for morning tea, just gorgeous. “The lakes have very few nutrients and pH varies, though sunscreen and soaps are a problem as a form of pollution”.  The freshwater lakes on Fraser Island are some of the cleanest lakes in the world.  The beach sand of Lake McKenzie is nearly pure silica and it is possible to wash hair, teeth, jewelry, and exfoliate one's skin.  Unfortunatley Lake McKenzie was closed to the public so we couldn’t see it but it is certainly one of the highlights of the island.  From here we moved across to the beach and entered the beach via Eurong which is a beach resort with a small group of shops and accommodation.  The beach is stunning and we are looking at the Pacific Ocean.  The sand is very hard and makes for easy beach driving.  Rob was the first one to spot a dingo which was a surprise as we didn’t think we would due to them being timid and shy.  It was gorgeous, just ambling along the beach.  Fraser Island dingoes are reputedly some of the last remaining pure dingoes in eastern Australia and to prevent cross breeding dogs are not allowed on the island. As of January 2008, the number of dingoes on the island was estimated to be 120 to 150, and sightings have become less common.  We stopped at the Maheno wreck for lunch.  The S.S. Maheno was originally built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings. During the First World War the ship served as a hospital ship in the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and on June 25, 1935 the ship was being towed from Melbourne when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on July 9, 1935 she drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF and was used as an explosives demolition target by special forces from the Fraser Commando School. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand”.  It is a very impressive wreck and sits sedately on the shoreline.  Whilst we were beach driving we had a little light aircraft fly low over us and land on the beach behind us.  Not something you see everyday.  We think it was dropping passengers off but can’t be sure although we did see it a few more times along the beach parked near the highlights.  We stopped at the Pinnacles which are structured coloured sands.  Unexpected to see something quite like this on the beach!  On the way back to the barge we stopped at Eli Creek which is the largest creek east of the island with a flow of 80 million litres per day.  We walked on the boardwalk alongside the creek.  The creek is crystal clear and is popular for floating.  The idea being you enter the water at the top of the creek, lay on your back and float with the flow to the ocean.  On a hot day it would be a lovely thing to do.  There was someone in the water whilst we were there doing just that.  We opted to walk it – it is fairly shallow.  Surprisingly the water was not cold and we were tempted to put on our bathers and float.  The creek is lined with lovely trees and ferns and it very very pretty.   All too soon we had to move inland again and cross to the west of the island to catch the barge back to mainland.  Not before seeing another two dingoes on the beach though.  (One of them trotted to the car as we slowed to take photos which proved to us that people do feed them despite warnings not to.  We saw one guy trying to get the dingo to lick his face while photographing it.  Imagine what would happen to the dingo if it bit him!  There are some very stupid tourists). We also saw three whales not far from shore (well close enough to see with the naked eye) and they were giving a fantastic display with their dorsal fins well out of the water.  We watched them for a few minutes – wonderful to see.   It is incredible how soon after leaving the beach you enter dense forests – we saw a lot of scribbly gum trees, bloodwoods and tallowwoods and heaps of other species of trees that we don’t know.  Hearing the bird calls in the forest is wonderful.  We caught the barge back to the mainland at a different spot to where we departed.  We were leaving from Kingfisher Bay which is another beach resort.  This one looked more speccy than Eurong and we reckoned you could spend all your time there and find heaps to do.  There is a really nice day pavilion for day visitors where you can have a hot shower, swim in the pool, eat at the cafe and just relax in the forest surroundings, it was really well done. It took one hour to travel 20kms (east to west) which gives an indication of how rough and slow the sand tracks are.  Unfortunately we didn’t see all that we wanted to see and and a day just isn’t long enough.  You need to spend at least a few days there to really enjoy it and to soak up the atmosphere and relax.  There are some great camping spots around and for we will definitely try to get back there one day.  Wendy and Rob are already talking about doing another trip.

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Days 286-287 – Hervey Bay (25-26 June)

Rob and Wendy arrive today (Friday) for a few days with their van.  Looking forward to them coming.  We may cut the costs and go to Fraser Island if they are interested.  Rob phoned to say they had an issue with the van brakes but they got here eventually all OK thank goodness.  We have decided to go to Fraser Island on Sunday so went into town to get the appropriate permits.  Later in the day we sat around a lovely fire to eat dinner with the dogs, all five of them.  Saturday we went for a walk with the dogs to the mangroves and then drove into town to have a look around with Wendy and Rob.  We went to the marina and had a very reasonable lunch at the Boat Club (like a RSL).  The Boat Club overlooks the marina and it was nice sitting outside in the sun eating lunch (hey two days in a row of sunshine!)  We drove along the Esplanade which is the main drag through town and stopped at the beach to check it out, the tide is out again but still a lovely beach.  Later in the day got organised and car packed for an early start the next day to Fraser Island – we are all really looking forward to that.  That evening we decided to go to the RSL Club to see a tribute to Fleetwood Mac.  Not as good at the Neil Diamond tribute last week in Tweed Heads but not too bad and the second half did pick up.  All in all it was a very good night. 

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Days 284-285 – Hervey Bay (23-24 June)

Left Pomona to drive 160km north east to Hervey Bay.  We met Stephen (housesit owner) before we left so he could give us the heads up and the keys.  We are hoping the weather further north will be sunny!  Drove past Gympie and Maryborough.  Maryborough is an old town with lots of Queenslander style houses (wooden off the ground).  It looked like a nice town.  Went by quite a few sugar cane farms and the vegetation is different to SE Qld as it is not so lush and rainforesty. Reminds us a little bit of WA’s vegetation. We arrived just after lunch to begin our two week housesit.  The house is on 5 acres and 300m from the Sandy Straits beach (splits Fraser Island from the mainland) although we believe the beach is mangroves.  We are house sitting two cattle dogs, Ben and Luke who are very nice dogs.  Amazing how they don’t know us and at first were wary of us and obviously barking at us but didn’t take them long to relax and start to befriend us.  Don’t think Coco would be so obliging.  Although Ben and Luke have had housesitters before so are more used to strangers staying in their home.  We are staying in the caravan and decided to put the annexe up.  No sooner had we put the ground mat down and halfway through putting the annexe roof up and it started to rain, and it rained, and it poured and it poured and it bucketed down and it bucketed down for about 2 hours!  Our poor van leaked in its normal spot and our floor mat for the annexe is flooded.  Too wet to put up the sides.  We are so over the rain!  Does it ever stop here in Qld.  Locals told us from June onwards it dries up now they say July onwards!  So much for the sunshine state!  So consequently we haven’t been able to take the dogs down to the beach for a walk – hopefully tomorrow!  Hooray no rain this morning but very damp.  Went into town to check it out and to gather some information about Fraser Island.  It is a very nice town and has a nice feel about it.  First impressions it that we like it  Hervey Bay sits in the region known as the Fraser Coast.  The population is +55,000 and the predictions by 2020 is 80,000!  From what we have been told it is a fairly depressed area not as upmarket as you would think.  Similar to Busselton in that the population is growing but there is not a lot of work except for low paid seasonal holiday stuff so the demographics are changing.  The foreshore is very very nice and quite touristy with lots of restaurants, cafes and shops.  Went to the most unfriendliest information centre ever, all she wanted to do was sell us tours or accommodation.  We want to take our own car across and do our own thing.  Eventually went to the marina and found a very helpful person.  It costs $150 to take the car (4WD only) and four people over and $38 to get a vehicle permit.  One day tours cost from $165 onwards per person.  As the day progressed it got sunnier and sunnier we went down to the beach and found a nice cafe on the waters edge which was just lovely.  There are very high tides here and the tide was quite a way out.  Went back to the housesit and dried out the van and annexe mat whilst it was sunny and dry.  The housesit is very basic, 2 bedroom house but lovely gardens on 5 acres.  Stephen (owner) obviously has a passion for gardening and has many garden beds and vegetable gardens.  It is quite stunning.  Ben and Luke are lovely dogs both cattle dogs except Ben is very excitable when it walk time and tells the whole neighbourhood he is going out for a walk – ear piercing loud.  Neighbours must hate the noise.  The beach – well mangrove beach – is about 300m down the road so we walk the dogs there and they have a little run around. 

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Days 282-283 – Pomona, Qld (21-22 June)

Packing the van again. Off to Hervey Bay on Wednesday so all of our worldly goods have to be found and repacked.  We did find time however to visit the Buderim Ginger Factory in Yandina (30kms) from Pomona. It was an interesting tour particularly as Rob is currently working at one of Buderim’s Ginger suppliers.   Buderim Ginger is the largest ginger factory in the world and was established in 1941.  It has 23 local suppliers of the ginger rhizome.  This area is ideal to ginger growing due to its high volcanic soils, high rainfall and humidity.  Ginger is a rainforest plant.  Ginger is planted in September and harvested in February.  Ginger is also harvested in June and August when the ‘ginger’ is hotter.  Buderim Ginger produces confectionery ginger and it is sweetened accordingly by soaking in a sugar syrup for 8 days.  Buderim Ginger has the capacity to process over 5000 tonnes of ginger per annum and exports to more than 17 countries. Following the plant tour we then had a tasting tour which involved a tasting plate of their products.  (Good sales pitch – yes we bought!)  Apparently ginger is very good for you with many health benefits eg:

• Ginger has carminative properties (anti spasmic) and can be used to calm an upset stomach, providing relief for the relief of bloating and gas.
• The intake of ginger helps stimulate the secretion of mucus, quieting your cough and soothing any scratchiness in your throat.
• Ginger has been proven (in multiple studies) to treat feelings of nausea, particularly in the form of seasickness, morning sickness, motion sickness and as a side effect of chemotherapy.
• Ginger contains anti viral, anti toxic, and anti fungal properties, and is used for the prevention of and treatment against the common cold.
• Ginger acts as an antihistamine and aids in the treatment of allergies.
• Ginger displays anti inflammatory properties and can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and various other muscular disorders. The chemical components of the root are instrumental in inhibiting the biosynthesis of prostaglandins which are responsible for causing inflammation. Thus the root has proven to be a highly effective form of treatment, in some cases, even more so than the NSAID's that are traditionally prescribed.
• Ginger contains special enzymes responsible for catalysing the proteins in your food, thus aiding in digestion and the prevention of cramps. The ancient Greeks used to eat ginger after a large meal in order to ease the digestion process.
• Due to its promotion of mucus secretion, ginger protects against the development of ulcers, unwanted holes in the lining of your stomach.
• Ginger has proven to help lower your cholesterol levels and prevent the formation of blood clots.
• Ginger is often used to settle an upset stomach or treat severe stomach ailments such as dyspepsia or colic. It is frequently used today in 3^rd world countries to treat diarrhea.

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Days 279-281 – Twin Towns, Coolangatta Qld/ Tweed Heads, NSW (18-20 June)

Coolangatta Qld, Tweed Heads NSW

Had a lovely weekend in Coolangatta and Tweed Heads which are the twin towns on the border of Qld and NSW.  We were catching up with an old workmate of John’s - Andrew and his wife Kym who live 15 minutes inland from Tweed Heads in the northern rivers area of NSW.  As John wanted to go to an investment expo at Southbank in Brisbane on Friday we left at 7.45am to get to Brisbane at 10.00am thinking that would give us plenty of time.  It took us 2 hours 45mins to travel 137kms!  We caught the tail end of an accident and a truck breaking down within 5kms of each other.  The traffic jam went on for ever and ever.  Eventually we got there with John being 15 minutes late for a Forex seminar he had booked into at 10.30am.  I had a great time walking around Southbank and crossed the river into the city centre.  Met John at lunchtime and we started our trek south stopping to buy a new 12volt battery for the van in a place called Slacks Creek (love the name).  We reminisced along the way at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast where we used to live 20 years ago (before we were married) when John was a partner in an advertising business.  John was able to drive straight to the house we used to rent which surprisingly is still there.  It was fairly old and rundown when we rented it so figured by now it would have been demolished and replaced but it was still there and looked just the same.  We had stopped at a restaurant in Burleigh Heads which is literally right on the beach shore, fantastic views of the ocean to Surfers.  It was fun going to all our old haunts we had forgotten how nice parts of the Gold Coast are although it is very busy and populated.  We stopped for the night in Coolangatta.  The information bureau suggested the Twin Towns Outrigger Hotel which is in Coolangatta and connects to the Twin Towns RSL in Tweed Heads!  Quite bizarre how it works.  It was a lovely hotel and we had a lovely room which overlooked the Tweed River heads.  We had already decided to have dinner at the RSL as they are usually very well priced good meals and whilst we were there checking out which restaurant to eat in (there were six) we also booked into a show – a Tribute to Neil Diamond.  A lot of the RSL clubs in the bigger towns have lots of entertainment, quite a bit for free and there is always something to do.  So we figured we would make the most of it.  Our meal was great, I had a 3 course meal for $19.00, soup, fish and bread pudding and it was very good (looks like another free day for my diet!).  The show was excellent – we thought it might be a bit ho hum but Bobby Bruce (Canadian Neil Diamond lookalike) did look and sound just like him – it was great.   The funny thing was that John and I were among the few youngest in the audience, average age 65 I reckon.  Doesn’t happen often these days.  The sad thing was we knew all the songs!  If Bobby Bruce comes to a town near you go see him!  We saw him and his entourage the following morning at breakfast and he still looked the part.  Our hotel room included a buffet breakfast so we made the most of it (looks like another free day for me).  After brekkie we wandered around Coolangatta and the ocean.  The ocean is just beautiful, white sandy beaches.  Very nice.  We met up with Andrew at lunchtime and we followed him to his home along some narrow winding roads – wondered how you would even know some homes existed here.  Beautiful scenery with Mt Warning in view, though rainforest.  Andrew and Kim live amongst the rainforest and it is just beautiful, so serene, lush and green. They have 11 acres with a creek bordering their property, nearest neighbour 700m away.  During the wet season the creek floods and can mean no way out of the property – so no work that day.  They have been here for 5 months so still settling in with their two cattle dogs, Sheba who is 16 years and Missy 5 years and just recently two baby goats joined the clan.  They are now 5 weeks old and still being bottle fed.  They are adorable.  We had a lot of fun feeding them and watching Kym run around the house cleaning up after them.  Yes they come in the house at night as it is too cold outside for them.  Both Andrew and Kym are animal lovers.  We had a lovely time with Andrew and Kym and just prior to moving to northern NSW they had been on the road for 10 months in their campervan travelling around Australia so we had a lot to catchup on.  We would have loved to have spent more time in northern NSW – Bryon Bay is 20 mins away, Ballina about 90kms and in hindsight we probably should have done a housesit on the Gold Coast or nearby but as we had lived there had discounted it which we now realised was not the best move and going there again reinforced how much we like it and one of the few places we have both liked and said we could live there. 

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Days 273-278 – Pomona, Qld (12-17 June)

Caught our flight back to Brisbane at lunchtime on the 12th June which gave us some time in the morning to do some last minute souvenir shopping in Alice Springs.  Arrived at Wendy and Rob’s about 8.00pm after we stopped at the Ettamogah Pub for dinner on the way home.  Coco wasn’t as excited as we thought she would be to see us, she has been too spoilt and well looked after in our absence however the next morning she was much happier to see us.  Wendy and Rob had friends over for lunch, Ian and Daphne who are moving back to WA as soon as they can sell their house in Imbil, Qld.  They are actually moving to the Lifestyle Village in Busselton.  I’m sure we will see them when they get there, hopefully for them it will be soon.  It was a long weekend in Qld so on the Monday we went to the Caravan and Camping Show with Wendy and Rob in Brisbane.   It was huge!  Lots of exhibits, caravans, stalls etc.  It would be comparable in size to the one in Melbourne.  Surprisingly we didn’t buy much which is unusual as there is usually heaps that John can’t live without.  Rob and Wendy specifically wanted to look at a brand of lightweight caravans but we were all very disappointed in them and soon found out why they were lightweight, very plastically.  After looking at heaps of caravans I think Wendy and Rob have come to the same conclusion as we have that it is best to stay with current van and revamp it.  John has been busy making new holland blinds for our van.  The ones we had were extremely shabby and dirty and we were able to get some holland blind blockout material from Spotlight that was on special.  He spent quite a bit of time making them with the aid of Rob’s sewing machine and he has done a fantastic job and they look great.  Not something I could have done.  Wendy and Rob’s block backs onto a forest and I have been going on some lovely walks with the dogs.  You can walk forever here and all the walks are lovely.  We are heading down to NSW on the weekend to visit with an old work mate of Johns who lives just across the border (inland from Lennox Heads where the tornado/cyclone went through recently). 

The spoilt girls.  Leica, Coco and Kady	The seamstress!	Kady and Coco forest walk	Common tree snake on forest track