Queensland II

Monday 7^th July 2008

Cairns.  A late night (or should I say early morning) despite our  journey from Cooktown and settling back in at the hotel, Chocko had told me that the F1 British Grand Prix was shown on Channel 10 so although it didn’t start here till 11:45 pm I stayed up to watch it.  We left the baggage (no Jenny came with me) at the hotel and got a taxi to the Britz/Maui depot to collect the motorhome, it having been serviced and a couple of concerns fixed whilst it was in storage.  “Splash” beckoned for breakfast with it’s  superb fruit platter and raisin toast (must start eating sensible again) before we went to the shopping centre to buy a mobile phone as we were unable to use ours up Cape York even when in a good reception area and it will be more cost effective when making local calls.  For the first time we were unable to get on our preferred campsite and we had to ring around for a vacant site (the phone has paid for it’s self already).  We had a lovely evening with our friends from “Billy Tea” having arranged for a “get together” at the Red Beret Hotel in Redlynch, Chocko bringing is wife Keshena and Terry his wife Ingrid as you can imagine a great time was had by all, despite Grace and Ian’s order for dinner going astray (it always happens to Grace) and the service not being very good (we never did get our coffees). Ingrid and Terry have very kindly asked us to their house for morning coffee, it will be the last time that we will be together which will be rather sad.

Tuesday 8^th July 2008

Jenny has managed to catch up with most of our washing from our trip and we have also got the Motorhome tidy for the next stage of our journey.  We then drove to Ingrid and Terry’s at Redlynch for morning coffee, what a wonderful home they have set in approximately 3.5 acres the “back garden” being rain forest and a path wandering through which Ingrid guided us along, with a creek meandering in the middle of the garden (although dry at this time of the year) it certainly was idyllic surroundings.  A photo of the group was taken with my camera by Ingrid, before we said our farewells, hopefully on our travels we will be able to visit some of the group as we have been invited to their homes if we are in the area.  We returned before lunch and spent the afternoon downloading the photographs to the laptop and I started to write up the account of our Cape York adventure from our note book, I hope I can understand my own writing as some of it was done as we travelled along gravel roads and potholes and creeks, etc; are not conducive with neat handwriting.

Wednesday 9^th July 2008

Atherton (107 Km).  We finally left Cairns this morning, calling at a camping store to purchase a lantern for when we dine ‘al fresco’.  The first stop of the day was up the steep winding road to Karunda the rainforest village with every kind of Australian souvenir that you could think of for sale.  The last time we came here on a tour ascending by the train and descending on the Skyrail.  The village has certainly grown since then however the shop where I bought my didgeridoo is still there.  With a sigh of relief  (from me) the shop where Jenny  purchased her Opal necklace wasn’t, she was hoping to buy a pair of earrings to match  it  (shame, she bought the necklace with her and wore it for the occasion) phew!  Lucky escape.  We promised ourselves we would eat carefully after the feasts we had cooked for us by Chocko but we could not resist hot Damper, Jam, Treacle and Honey at one of the cafe’s, we didn’t need to stop for lunch!  We are now at Atherton on the tablelands part of the Great Divide and it is distinctly cooler than Cairns at this higher level, from here we will visit some of the National Parks and Forests before continuing along the “Savannah Way” to more remote area’s.  Despite being near a town and supposedly having Internet Broadband  it still seems difficult to access the internet so I apologise in advance if updates are fewer then they have been.

Thursday 10^th July 2008

A day exploring the Atherton Table Lands.  First stop the Curtain Fig Tree National Park, the tree is one of the Tablelands best-known attractions  The Strangler Fig features a curtain of roots which hang about 15 metres from the ground, difficult to describe but quite spectacular.  Similarly our next stop was at the Cathedral Fig Tree, these roots hang straight down, however the host tree died many years ago leaving a hollow in the centre in which you could fit a football team.  We drove a short distance then to Lake Barrine a crater lake intending to walk around the lake edge, however, the rainforest track is some distance from the lake and made a clear view of the lake impossible, we therefore turned back and went instead to Lake Eacham again an old volcano crater.  This lake was far more accessible  and is used for a variety of water sports, a boat ramp, swimming deck and barbeque area all being close to the car park. We decided to have lunch here and sat and watched the different species of fish and Saw-backed Turtles in the crystal clear water, before having a casual stroll around part of the lake.  Our last stop of the afternoon was at Hasties Swamp National Park a lagoon and swamp area renowned for its myriad of water birds.  Jenny nearly stepped on a small venomous Brown Snake as she got out of the motorhome, the snake doing a runner (or ultra-fast slither) when he smelt Jenny’s venomous feet!

Friday 11^th July 2008

Mount Surprise (227 Km).  First stop this morning was at the IGA Supermarket in Atherton just to stock up on a few essentials before we travel the Savannah Way, it will be about 14 days before we get to a town of any size and although there are townships on the way we are sure the prices of certain food items will be more expensive in them.  We made good time all the way stopping for our customary morning stop at a nice rest area and then for lunch just before Mount Surprise, here we had a yarn with a  couple who originally came from Birmingham, the lady went to school in Erdington just around the corner from where Jenny lived.  If Jenny had been able to go to the school of  her aunt’s choosing we are sure they would have known each other.  They are stopping at the same camp site as us so we may meet up with them again.  The Savannah Way in this part is all bitumen, however it is still only a single track road with compacted sand and gravel at the edges, albeit that it is very straight and you can see for long distances we have to be aware of the road trains that come through and make sure we give them a wide berth, they don’t slow down for anything as can be seen from the amount of Cattle and Kangaroos that are lying at the side of the road.  We are staying at a campsite called Bedrock, the toilets/shower block are not Gents and Ladies or Men and Women, but Fred and Wilma someone has a sense of humour!

Saturday 12^th July 2008

Thank you today to my wife Jenny for 39 years of happy marriage

 Love You Always Alan XXXX

We met at the reception for the 9:00 am tour to the Undara Lava Tube's our driver and guide Stewie driving us out approx’ 60 kilometres to Undara. First stop was at Kalakani Crater at over 900 meters we got wonderful views over the Savannah and the other extinct volcanoes, Stewie telling us how the different volcano types were formed and of the flora and fauna that exists in the area.  After the descent back to the car park we enjoyed tea and home-made biscuits before visiting the actual lava tubes. These tubes in Undara Volcanic National Park are the remains of the earth’s longest flow of lava from a single volcano.  There were some difficult pieces of Basalt Rock to clamber over to get into the actual tubes, but aided by handrails, rope and a torch managed to reach the tube floor without mishap (no extra bruises on Jenny’s bum).  The colours of the rocks were fantastic, reminiscent of Artists Palette in Death Valley, hopefully the photographs will do it justice as I did not use flash only long exposure settings.  The 3 tubes we went into were all different in colour and size, the last one having colony’s of 3 different types of Bat.  We were back at the campsite just after lunch so, after a sandwich and drink we walked to Elizabeth Creek which Stewie had told us about that was only a 20 minute walk from the camp.  We decided to take the camera with us for a celebratory photograph on our anniversary day, then found a cool spot in the shade  to relax.  The campsite cooks a simple meal each night, tonight is Pizza night so we enjoyed Pepperoni talking to Tony and Mavis from Sydney who gave us some very useful information on the camping grounds they recommend on the way to Darwin.  Our “Little Blue Book” is filling up with all sorts of titbits on campsites, places to see (and avoid) cheap fuel places, etc. and will prove useful as we continue our travels.

Sunday 13^th July 2008

Gilbert River, 18 12 08 S, 142 52 18 E, (198 Km).  A free car wash leaving Mount Surprise this morning, to prevent seeds being transferred through the area, the Queensland Government ask you to use this facility, exactly like a car wash with powerful water jets that do the under body as well, perhaps Jenny should have used this instead of the showers at the campsite (see below).  The intention today was drive to Cobbold Gorge and stay for 3-4 days and just relax (again) and do a couple of tours, however we found out at Georgetown Information Centre that the road was gravel for approx 90 kilometres so was totally unsuitable for our vehicle despite being told it was graded for most of the way (i.e. the gravel was hard and flat).  We  have  therefore continued west along the Savannah Way and have stopped early at a Rest Area on the (dry) Gilbert River and are “free camping” (legitimately as it is a 48 hour rest area) seeking the shade of the Eucalyptus trees to park under.  We were left an “International Express” newspaper to read by a couple at Bedrock Campsite.  The newspaper was left on our outside seat last night and this morning while I was in the showers the man (Ex Bordesley Green, Birmingham) seeing the slide-door of the van open (although the curtains were drawn, popped is head around to see if we had got it, Jenny had just returned from the shower and was standing there stark naked, he walked away a very happy man!  Back to the newspaper, it is the Daily Express with a weeks worth of UK News which is sold here, well I got that depressed reading it I vow not to read anymore UK news unless it  is about F1 Racing, Aston Villa or Linda Lusardi!  It is a really warm evening and there are only 5 other couples staying in the rest area with an assortment of RV’s, we are sitting outside watching the Galahs feeding on the ground, we are trying to identify  3 parrots which we have not seen before foraging in the tree above us and we are drinking a nice cold Chardonnay  while eating Sweet & Sour Chicken.  Bliss!

Monday 14^th July 2008

Normanton, (236 Km).  Overslept this morning and what woke us was the inside of the van getting warm despite it being only 8:05 am, the weather has changed for us in the last few days it was only 12 degrees on the Atherton Tablelands when we left  Friday (in fact they had their first frost in 5 years last week) and now the temperature this afternoon on the dashboard readout peaked at 31.5 degrees and this evening for only the second time on the trip we have the Air Conditioning turned on (we can only do this on a power-site as it works on 240 volts).  We stopped for this mornings “smoko” at Belmore Lake, which supplies Croydon, the local township, with its water.  Croydon in the early 1900’s was the largest town on the Gulf  and there were many goldmines throughout the area, alas the gold ran out and Croydon today is a bit of a “ghost town”.  On the way back down from the lake we stopped at Diehm’s Lookout from which we could see for miles and miles across the Savannah, we were able to see so far we could distinguish the curvature of the earth, we have only seen this before either on the ocean or from the air. The afternoon sees us in Normanton the only incident on the road being to avoid a “skippy” who chanced it’s life by crossing in front of us (yesterday it was a Bustard trying it’s luck).  Tony and Mavis were correct about this tourist park it is really nice, Jenny being driven around on a golf buggy to choose our site and it also has a Spa and large Swimming Pool with a shade roof at one end, mind you I thought the water was a bit cold!

Tuesday 15^th July 2008

Not such a good day weather wise today there were 3 clouds in the sky and the temperature only reached 30.5 degrees!  We travelled to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpetentaria which is 70 kilometres from Normanton we were going to stay for a night there but we had already been told that there was little room in the 3 campsites so we opted for just having a day trip and returning to this nice camp site at Normanton.   We are pleased that we did because unless you fish for Barramundi there is really nothing else there, we did go to Karumba Point and have a cup of coffee sitting overlooking the sea, I spotted what I thought was a flock of small birds but when we looked closer found them to be gigantic grasshoppers, tried to photograph them to no avail, (could say they had the hop on me).  We stopped at a creek for lunch on the way back, I walked down to the original ford on the creek whilst Jenny made Tuna and Cucumber sandwiches, I thought I would take a photograph of the reflections in the water when there was an almighty splash close by, I immediately jumped back a metre (or three) thinking it was a Crocodile.  When we finished our lunch we both went down to the same place and found the splash to be a shoal of fish, there was also a Great Egret fishing close by so we deduced that there couldn’t be a croc’ nearby, however we were not going to put a toe in the water to find out.  We went to the swimming pool on our return, reading our books before having a swim and a relax in the spa, yarning to the other people then returning to the motorhome for our evening meal.  Tomorrow we will leave the Savannah Way and join the Matilda Highway towards Mount Isa, it is to long a way to attempt in one day so we will find a rest area for an overnight stay.

Wednesday 16^th July 2008

Terry Smith Lookout,  20 04 48 S, 140 13 40 E, (301 Km).  First task this morning was to fill up with fuel, as the petrol/diesel stations are few and far between so despite being over half full of diesel we topped up anyway.  We normally fill at half not wanting to be caught out if one of the roadhouse’s along the highway are waiting for supplies, as can be the case.  (Chocko needed fuel at a roadhouse up Cape York and the tanker had only just arrived, they still had the empty notice on the pump).  After our morning smoko we arrived at the only place with civilisation after 200 kilometres “The Burke and Wills” Roadhouse, and  both decided to have a Steakburger with a side of chips, now here’s me conjuring up in your mind a remote place and the two girls behind the counter were from Scotland.  The first occasion today that I needed to pass not one road train but three, spread out over about 5 kilometres all with 3 long trailers, you certainly need plenty of straight road and I was conscious as we drove past of many pairs of eyes staring at me having the audacity to pass, they were all cattle trucks!   Free camping tonight in a pretty little spot between some Eucalyptus trees, it really is enjoyable so peaceful compared to a proper campsite,  and we saw a wonderful sunset without moving from our seats.  Tomorrow we will be in Mount Isa and hopefully able to publish the website and catch up with our emails and Internet Banking and as we are now ahead of our schedule we will stay at least an extra day.

Thursday 17^th July 2008

Mount Isa, (255 Km).  We opened the curtains early this morning, lay in bed, drinking tea and watching the sun rise, it was quite peculiar the sky getting gradually lighter in the East but the sky in the West was still dark, something we had not seen before and we guess it was the flat area surrounding us whilst we were on a hill, although we did not appear to be particularly high.  At 8:30 am a guy arrived in a lorry, emptied the litter bins, cleaned the toilets and replenished the fax paper (UK = toilet paper), where he came from we do not know, but the nearest place was Cloncurry and that is 78 kilometres away and it was only a rest area not exactly a town centre public convenience, good or what?  We arrived in Mount Isa already booked in for three nights at the BIG4 with shady, grassy sites and wireless internet.  Guess what, no shade, no grass, no wireless internet, as the reporters used to say in  the “News of the World” (perhaps still do for all I know), we made our excuses and left!  But, we now realise we are in the “outback”, none of the other camp sites have Internet facilities, no luck at the local library either.  We are going to try the local McDonalds and see what we can do there, if you are reading this shortly after the update then you know we have been successful.  However putting the photos on may be a problem, watch this space.

All images on this website are copyright of Alan and Jennifer Morris and may not be used without prior written permission.