We lost by a horse's head!!

Hello Everyone,

Sorry about the lack of Blog’s in the last few weeks. Our satellite internet modem died while we were in Mt Isa so our regular source for internet when were out of Telsta mobile coverage just wasn’t available anymore. Due to this, I have not sent any more Blog’s, but I have still taken photos!

After leaving Mt Isa, where we stayed for 5 nights, we headed to a free camp at Bengeacca Creek, which is just north of Boulia. Originally we thought we would stay at Dajarra, but as we arrived it did not appeal to us and it’s an Aboriginal town so we thought we would keep going and stop at the next roadside stop and that was Bengeacca Creek. Lovely spot and we sat outside under the awning after we were all set up.

The next night we stayed at another free camp at Bedourie King River. The roads by now are dirt and some are brilliant and some are just shocking. We sort of worked it out that it really does depend on which Council you’re in. The Diamantina Council, which is where Birdsville is, is definitely the best by far!

Birdsville loves it's races!

We arrived in Birdsville on Tuesday 1^st September. The normal population is about 115, but the average Birdsville Races crowd pushes the population up to around 7,000. We certainly found it busy from the day we arrived, but on the Thursday (the day before the Races started) it was bedlam!!

Yes, they even acknowledge it gets busy! 

The races were great fun though. Our friends Guy and Keith arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we met them at the Birdsville Pub. To drink here from this day (and at the Races) you need to purchase beer tickets. This meant there is no money at the bar and it made getting drinks very easy and fairly quick. The crowd slowed you down a little though.

Keith made us each a foam horses’ head hat at his Dad’s factory. We put names on each head to reflex previous Melbourne Cup winners. This is what we were called:

Anthony: Dust A ----- (Just a Dash)

Julie: M-Diva (Makybe Diva)

Guy: Think Big

Keith: Archer (The first horse to win the Melbourne Cup)

Fun at the Races

Guy bought up some sheets which I made into togas and this was our outfits for the 2 days at the races. On the first day of the races, Friday, I think we were stopped and photographed about 100 times!!

The entrance to the Races 

On the Saturday we entered the ‘Fashions on the Field’- Novelty section. We made it through the heats, but were beaten in the finals by ‘The Adams Family’. Again it was a great day, but the competition did take most of the day and we never even got to see a race or place a bet!

The winners of the novelty section  

Last night we were in Mungerannie and again it was fairly crowded. The drive on this day down the Birdsville track was also very, very busy but it was all fairly orderly. Most people called you on their CB to say them were going to overtake you and the really slow people usually didn’t have a CB so we just went passed them and waved.

Tonight we are in Marree and have just been down to the pub for a beer. We left Mungerannie today at 11.00am so a lot of people had already left and we had a very nice drive to Marree. The caravan park here is reasonably full but again we won’t leave really early so we should have another good drive south tomorrow. And it’s 82 km to the bitumen- yay!!

Tomorrow morning we will say good bye to Guy and Keith as they will head across and down to Roxby Downs and we will head directly south, probably stopping half way between here and Adelaide.

We should be home on Wednesday, 161 days after we left home. All of a sudden I have realized that I now can’t wait to get home!!!

Stationary at the Station (title suggested by Anthony!)

Hello All,

Sunday 9^th August

Well it has been a few weeks since my last Blog (I sent it on Friday 3^rd July!!) and we have fallen into a well structured lifestyle here on Jervoise Station. Yes, we are still here- we’ve been here for 7 weeks tomorrow (Monday 10^th August) and boy has that time just flown by…. and we have had some very exciting adventures!!

Every night there's a superb sunset!

Well, I have continued to make a few more curtains (I did about 17 in all!) and have also become a bit of a dab hand mending torn clothes, cutting off and cuffing jeans into shorts, bringing in the waist band on jeans, shorts and good pants for the Manager (who has lost a lot of weight) and fixed huge holes in jean knees and bottoms!! I did end up getting most of this done after the kids went back to school because Cooper, who is the youngest child, a boy and not at school yet, never comes near me while I am sewing, unlike his sisters!!

The family dogs: Cody and Honey (she was bought a few weeks ago!)

Anthony has covered almost all of Jervoise’s 71,000 acres since we arrived. Every day he heads out, mostly with Greg (the head-honcho whose eye sight isn't too good) to fix pumps, water troughs, solar panels and generators. Greg enjoys spending time with Anthony and, as he can’t see well enough to drive, he loves the fact that he is still getting around his beloved property. I swear he knows where he is on any given part of a trip just from the bumps, curves and washouts on the roads and tracks.

Anthony also has a new love in his life!! Now come on people- it’s not what you think!! He is now quite proficient at driving the station’s huge semi trailer and moves the mustered cattle from place to place, usually over very rough station tracks. Anthony has now had quite a few mustering days, where everyone (all the back packers and grey nomads- I even did it once!) rides motor bikes, quad bikes and even a horse, to move the cattle into groups and heard them towards portable yards, which they had only put together the day before!! The days are long and everyone works really hard but after this, they would all get 2-4 days off and everyone would be sun baking, mucking around on the motor bikes and listening to music- loudly!!

A day of mustering and a well earned lunch break- I had to cook the meat patties on a small BBQ on the back of the tray top ute.

One Sunday afternoon (and evening) we all headed into Greenvale, the nearest town, to attend a local fundraiser. It was held in the beer garden of Greenvale’s pub, the Three Rivers Hotel. This hotel was made famous by the Slim Dusty song of the same name and I really don’t think it has changed much since!!

It is a very quaint country pub full of extremely hospitable staff. The local crowd was great- brilliant storytellers- and we all had a fantastic time there.

Every now and again I like to spend a day in the caravan on my own. Normally I would crank through some washing, sweep and wash the caravan floor, read my book or e-mails and spend some time on our family trees (I am doing one for my Dad’s family and another on Anthony’s Dad’s family). The beauty of doing this while I am washing is that I can hear the washing machine finish and get them on the line straight away. The weather has been so glorious up here: most days are around 28C, but the nights are cold around 5C!! I always get the washing dried and put away in a matter of hours- I love it!!

2.5 weeks ago I found my hair was out-of-control. You know what it’s like girls- it just didn’t look good no matter what I did, mainly as it had grown too much. I called the Greenvale pub to see if one of the bar staff/backpacker, who used to be a hair dresser, could cut my hair. She was away, but I was told the Atherton Tableland hairdresser, who comes to Greenvale every 6 weeks, would be there on Saturday. So in I went and had it all chopped off. It is now fantastic- really classy and everyone (except Cooper!) loves it- especially Anthony!!

Anthony and I are still doing our 5:2 diet, although Anthony does occasionally eat dinner on a fasting day if he has been hard at work as he needs the food/fuel!! I jumped on the scales last week and am still my normal weight which is fantastic as we have something to drink 5 out of 7 nights. There's nothing better than a beer after a hard days work!

Monday 10^th August

Well Anthony and I have just returned back to Jervoise after being away on a weekend trip! On Thursday night we both decided we needed a weekend away just to have some down time away from everyone and I was really missing spending some time with my husband, as he was always helping everyone else, so I loved the idea! Anthony finished doing stuff about 4pm on Friday so we quickly packed up the van and headed out. We found a lovely spot about 5 km from the house and set up for our weekend break. It really was just lovely- a quiet, pretty place and no one asking either of us to do anything! Over the weekend we sat down and worked out the remainder of our trip, downloaded our many photos off of our phones and cameras, watched a few things we had taped off the TV (Landline a few weeks ago was excellent!!) and basically just chilled out. It was a great weekend away.

Last Wednesday was a huge day here at the station, and not really in a good way. Shayla, Pam’s 2^nd child who turned 5 just a few days earlier, experienced a seizure. It happened just as Shayla and her sister were getting up in the morning. Everyone freaked out and Pam called the RFDS. They were unable to come so the Emergency chopper was contacted. They flew in (that was very exciting, I must admit) and they took Pam and Shayla to Cairns Base Hospital. Moments before the chopper landed in Cairns, Shayla had another seizure. Many tests were done but nothing was found. They left hospital after 24 hours and will need to go back this week for more tests.

Shayla's 5th birthday- cake made by Pam (her mum)

Emergency chopper

Well, we will be here for just over a week then we will go back to being Grey Nomads. On leaving here, we will travel to Charters Towers then head across to Mt Isa then down to Birdsville for the races on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd September. After that we'll head home. So hopefully I'll get 1 or 2 more blogs in, so I don't think our adventures are over just yet!!

Stay warm, love Jules and Anthony xx

Life in the country is way too much fun....

Hello everyone,

We hope our blog message finds you all fit and well. Today is Thursday 2nd July and I am writing this blog out the front of the caravan in the shade trying desperately to get it finished. This is the third time I have tried to do my blog, but I keep getting interrupted by little people wanting me to play with them. More on that later!

Continuing from the last blog, we stayed in Weipa for 2 days which was nice enough, but there's not an awful lot to see or do. The town is there primarily for Rio Tinto Alcan to mine bauxite, which is used to make aluminium. Most of the people staying at the caravan park are like us, just there to see the town as it's so far away from 'down south', or they go fishing all day, every day. 

On Monday 15th June we left Weipa and headed south to Coen, where we stayed at 'The Bend' free camp again, then on to Laura, where we stayed behind the Quinkan Pub again. Although it was only 2 weeks ago that we stayed at both places, they were now full to the brim with the majority of people heading North to the Tip.We are so glad we went when we did as the roads weren't over crowded and the camp sites were still comfortably "half full". From now until mid September everywhere will be busy.

The Bend campsite

Find a spot and set up quickly, or you'll miss out!!

After spending the next night at Palmer River Roadhouse again, we arrived in Mareeba on Friday 19th June. While reading up on the places to stay (both free and in caravan parks) we decided to stay slightly out of town at a place called Mareeba Country Caravan Park. This place was just lovely. Nothing flash, mind you, and the amenities were average, but the place itself was great as you felt like you were in the middle of a tropical forest. It's not until you drove out the front gate that you realized you are actually in a farming area and that the hinterland was a few miles away. Murray, the owner, has done wonders in the 11 years he has been there as it is a beautiful little oasis.

The Atherton Tablelands- spectacular!

We stayed here for 3 nights as our next stop was going to be a more permanent one... what, I hear you all saying!! Anthony and I realised a couple of weeks ago that this trip was actually moving along a lot faster than we had planned. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was like our enormous supply of alcohol. We thought it would take us ages to get to the tip, but once you are travelling, you're there before you know it!! What we thought would take 3 weeks was all done in 10 days!!

Now, like I mentioned before, we are sooo glad we went to the tip when we did as it was a very comfortable drive and the caravan parks were not chockers. But we worked out that we really did have about 4-6 weeks up our sleeve and with the school holidays just around the corner, we  probably couldn't 'wing it' with caravan parks. Most of them are 100% full during school holidays. 

So I said to Anthony, why don't we find a place that could do with a hand for the next few weeks so we can "hide" from all the Mums, Dads and kids. I know just the place, says Anthony. Anthony gets an on-line newsletter called 'Grey Nomad Times' and it was in here that he saw an ad for a cattle station wanting a hand for a few weeks. They were looking for people with mechanic, computer and gardening experience, so we thought this might be a good fit. 

We called the number listed and yes, they were still looking for helpers. So we got the address and said we would be there on Monday 22nd June. Well, we arrived on the Monday and what a brilliant place this is. The station is called Jervoise and it is a 70,000 acre certified organic beef station. 

It is situated about 250 kms from Townsville, Atherton Tablelands and Charters Towers. The nearest town is Greenvale which is 35 km away and has a supermarket, school and a pub (of course!). The main house is situated right next to 'Dry Creek' which is linked to the Burdekin River, so there is always a very good supply on water here. 

When we arrived we met Pam, who is one of the 6 adult children of the owners, Kerry and Greg Jonsson. She gave us the 'run down of the place', then we went off to find a nice spot to set up our caravan under some trees, but near a tap and a power board. Then we met all the backpackers, who are called wWoOF-ers (willing workers on organic farms- woofers!!). There's Joel, Quentin, Ingrid and Antoine from France, Dimitri and Gemma from Italy, Gregor from Scotland, and Lucy and Anthony from Australia. 

The main house

Since we've been here some other grey nomads have arrived too! Allan (a carpenter) and Joan arrived from Naracoorte, SA, as well as Tommy and his brother in law Dennis from Moonta, SA. (the South Aussies are ganging up on everyone!!) Tommy's job will be trying to set up a charcoal furnace for the family to make some income from. It's something he is quite familiar with and he was asked to come up here and set it up by Greg (the head honcho). Jervoise has been affected by a few of the recent cyclones and it has knocked down quite a few old hardwood trees. Tommy hopes to set up a charcoal furnace that they can use to make some very high quality charcoal to sell to businesses. Bunnings has already expressed an interest. Dennis will be flying back to Adelaide in a few days time as Tommy will stay up here for a few months.

The Grey Nomads - all sticking together!!

So, the woofers must work a minimum for 4 hours a day and for that they get free board and meals. Some days, when they are mustering the cattle, they could easily work a 12 hour day, so then they might have the next few days off. Other times they are helping around on the station, like cleaning out the huge shed here and sorting through everything so it can be found more easily. They aren't the busiest workers I've ever met, but they are doing something that no one else here has got time to do!!

The shed!!

Anthony and Allan have been very "busy beavers" since arriving. Anthony has got their internet all sorted and working, he has ordered some wi-fi extenders so they can get internet into the other houses, fixed the sewing machine, a cool drink vending machine and installed a cellular phone repeater to improve mobile phone coverage (and don't the woofers love him for that!!), plus a heap of other things. Everyday the family ask if we are leaving soon as they are so worried will have had enough and will run off in the middle of the night. They have even threatened to take the wheels off the caravan so we can't leave!!

Allan and Pam's ex-fella Grant have made a storage box/seat on the veranda and have fixed a wall that had a huge hole in it from a plumbing blockage. I have done 2 days work in the veggie patch with Lucy (Miss Chatty!!), then I was asked if I knew how to sew. All of a sudden I has handed a whole bunch of curtain material and asked to make some curtains for the dongers ('Atco hut' style accommodation that is used for the woofers and anyone else who visits the station to help out- like men doing the mustering). I have now made about 8 pairs of curtains and Kerry (the matriarch of the family) has just found some more for me to attack!!

The dongers- Atco hut style accommodation

Pam has 3 kids- Mackenzie, 7, Shayla, 4, and Cooper, 3. They have a step sister Holly who is about 12 and is visiting for the school holidays. The station manager here is Rodger, who hails from South Africa, but has a family living in Townsville. He left on Sunday and has returned with his 2 boys: Hugh, about 6, and Ian who is 4. (Mum has stayed in Townsville as she doesn't want to come out here!!)

The girls, Mackenzie, Shayla and Holly, have all taken a big interest in my sewing so I have tried to teach them some basics about hand sewing. They are really quite good at it now as we have been doing it for 4 days and they love using the metal cotton threader which is good as they keep loosing their cotton!! But I must admit I get a lot more done when they have lost interest and have moved onto something else!!

The Jonsson family is just lovely. Greg tells the most amazing stories and his wife Kerry is just fantastic. Another daughter Kristine turned up yesterday and she is a laugh- she tells it like it is!! Pam is the best mother and friend anyone could hope to have and is such a hard worker cooking all the meals and keeping the main house clean and running efficiently. The kids are all very well mannered and polite, which is so nice to see!!

We are both really loving it here and we think we will probably stay here for another month, or so. So it's goodbye from us and I'll keep you updated with the latest from Jervoise soon!!

Love A&J xxxxx

The tippy top of Oz

Hello Everyone from the top of Australia,

Well, we were there a few days ago but have now started our trek south. Continuing on from my last blog, we left Laura (where the rock art was) at 8.55 am on Friday 5th June and hit the dirt at 8.57 am and, except for small sections of bitumen, we are still on the dirt. Or should I say dust. That's all it is really: dust and more dust on top of rock solid clay which, when wet, all turns into mud!! But we have been so lucky with the weather. It has rained, but it has usually been after we've set up and occasionally we have driven while it has been spitting, which is OK as it dries off almost straight away. When we bought the Mazda, we did have the paintwork protection done and I think that has really paid off. Below is a photo of our car and our current neighbors' Ford Ranger. Even they were impressed with how clean our car looked. 

After Laura we stayed at a lovely free road side stop right next to a small creek, just north of Coen. There's no water or power, but it is very popular! It's called The Bend road side camp and it's just lovely. We are hoping to stay there again on our way south, but our current neighbors stayed there a few days ago and said it was packed out. The southerners are heading north and in a few weeks time it is the Qld, NSW and Victorian school holidays for 2 weeks - all at the same time! I think we'll need to find somewhere to hide for 2 weeks!

The Bend campsite- very popular!

After 2 nights at the Bend, we headed 205 km north to a place called Schramm Creek. This is a free camp just north of the Moreton Telegraph Station, which we did call into but decided not to stay. Once we were set up at Schramm Creek and as there was no one here at the moment, we decided to take account of our alcohol. There are very tight restrictions and huge penalties on what you can carry in FNQ, whilst travelling in or around aboriginal lands. The limit is 30 beers (which is handy as XXXX Gold is package as a slab of 30) and 2 bottles of wine, and the penalty, if over, is around $42,000 and they confiscate your car! We had way more than that- for a start we bought two slabs of XXXX Gold in Cooktown thinking it would take us a few weeks to get to the top. Well, we left Cooktown 5 days ago and we will be on the Jardine River Ferry tomorrow, so the restrictions will be enforced. OMG, what will do with all our extras: a slab (30) of XXXX Gold, 6 bottles of wine/sparkling, 2 bottles of scotch, a bottle of bacardi and a bottle of gin. We had a slab of XXXX Gold, a bottle of champers and a very expensive bottle of pinot noir (to drink after we had been to the top), but we needed to hide the rest. Aahh, HIDE..... so we dug 2 huge holes and placed the slab in one and the bottles in the other, then covered them with dirt, leaves and branches.... and hoped no one would find them. "Look, there's alcohol gold in those, them free camp sites!!" The things we do...

So we left the following day, happy in the knowledge we were almost to the top and we had enough grog for awhile... and then we hit a wild pig! Yep, he came out of nowhere and hit the bottom of our bull bar, near the side of the number plate, went under the car and Anthony said he saw it scurrying off the road from the other side of the car. We stopped to take a look and nothing was broken, just the corner of the number plate was pushed in. You can see where he hit the bull bar as there is a scuff mark, but we were very lucky. Anthony said he could probably smell the beer we buried. I kept saying "we hit a pig" in the same tone as the ad "we bought a Jeep". 

Crossing the Jardine River 

Soon we were crossing the Jardine River on the ferry, which must be the most expensive ferry ride in Australia. The river is about 30 metres wide, the ferry is smaller than the Swan Reach ferry and it costs $129 return for our car and van. You literately are on the ferry for 4 minutes- total! We thought there would be a huge que, but we were the only ones waiting and the ferry had just left the other side! You can be lucky sometimes, as there were heaps of cars in the car park!

That afternoon (Monday 8th June) we arrived at Loyalty Beach Caravan Park, which is 31 km from the tip. This is a lovely caravan park, right on the beach, but you just pick where you want to set up. We headed to the back section of the park, away from the beach front as that was packed. 

The following day we drove to the tip. We left our site at 10.10 am and drove the 31 km, arriving at the car park at the tip at 11.15 am. The road is basically one lane for about 20 km with tropical vegetation on either side, so you go around corners expecting to meet someone coming the other way. We sort of fell in behind 2 other 4WD's who were travelling together so the front car would CB the second car when a car was coming and we would hear them and would know to expect a car too! We ended up walking to the tip with these people and we took photos of each other, and I was very thankful to them for their CB messages. 

Following the car on the one lane section to the tip

Anthony leaves the car park

Once you get to the car park, there is still about a 1.5 km walk to the tip over boulders and rocks. You climb over one section thinking this will be the tip, to only find another lot of boulders! But the one thing that kept taking my breath away was the colour of the water- it was turquoise blue and just so inviting!! Reaching the top was great and we walked back a slightly different way so we would end up on the beach. It was a lovely day.

The next day we did a full day tour of Thursday and Horn Island. Both tours were very interesting as there is a lot of history on both islands about WWII. The people taking the tours were very passionate and informative which made the tour worthwhile. I think we had the better tour guide on Horn Island- she was a wealth of information! On the ferry ride back from Horn Island to Thursday Island, we had 2 Customs officials sitting near us and also 4 cops with a girl, whom I would allege, was under arrest. Well, after 20 questions to the Customs girls, it was 20 questions for the police!! Both were really nice about it, and quite funny, and I think the other passengers (and the arrestee) appreciated it!! 

After a 4th day at Loyalty Beach (a rest day- yay!), we headed south, back to Schramm Creek- and the buried grog. It was all there- still buried- not a branch out of place. We had to dig it out with our hands because if we used the spade we might break something, and we weren't gonna loose it now!! The bottles were covered with damp soil as it had rained while we were away, and the slab box was a bit soft, but we were able to carry it all back to the van and wash it with the outdoor shower hose. What a relief!

Yesterday we drove from Schramm Creek to Weipa, where we are still. The roads around here are very similar to the ones going north- some sections are just brilliant- you can go 80 km/hr no probs- and other sections are full of corrugations, look and feel like they have never been graded and are just awful! So we have found out, it's all to do with which council the road goes through. Some a bigger on grading than others, and you can tell. But as Anthony says, it just makes the driving more interesting. He's enjoying it a lot, so that's a good thing!!

Well, that's it for now. We'll be back in touch with a few more stories in a week or so's time! xxx

Quinkan Aboriginal Artworks

Hello Everyone,

Well, have we had the best time over the past week. On leaving Mareeba we headed North to a place called Palmer River. This is where the Queensland gold rush started in the late 1800's, but now it is just a roadhouse. As it is about 160km north of Mareeba, we decided this would be a good place to stay for a couple of days.

While we were setting up, 2 ladies were getting into their car and mentioned that "you need to try the hamburgers- they're enormous!". OK, we thought- that's our 'lunner' (lunch and dinner) meal for today (as the kitchen is open all day, with it being a roadhouse).

But before we had 'lunner', I cranked out 4 loads of washing as the weather was lovely (not being on the coast any more, the weather had dried out and there was no rain or humidity) and Anthony set up the both satellite dishes as we needed internet and TV. Well, that always gets people to come over and take a look and one person to do that was our next door neighbor, Rick. Rick is living in a huge bus at the moment as he is trying to organize gold mining licences, but has not been able to get his satellite to work since Christmas. Along comes Anthony and in about 10 minutes he has Foxtel and TV coverage. As a thank you, he gave us 2 bottles of wine (a chardonnay and a pinot noir). When he gave them to me he did say "enjoy, but pack them well as they're worth a few dollars". I googled the label, Banjo's Run, and we are talking about a pretty expensive thank you!! We thought the price shown (about $300) was for a dozen, but it is actually each!!! On chatting to Rick later over a beer (!), we found out he is a very experienced business man and it was a pleasure to meet him. Lovely person number 1.

THE burger - $12.00

We stayed at Palmer River Roadhouse for 2 days and we did have the hamburger and it was de-lic-ious!! We also needed to do some repairs on our bed!! When I lifted our bed up to get a clean set of sheets out of the storage area, the whole bed moved. The bed frame hadn't been screwed into the wooden base where the studs were, so Anthony needed to fix it up. We had the mattress and the frame out of the van on the table and I was telling people we were sleeping outside tonight! It was all fixed in about 15 minutes though and I was able to remake the bed again. Not that happy with JB Caravans again though.

On Saturday 30th May we left Palmer River and headed to Cooktown. Now Anthony and I really liked Cooktown. It is a small tropical country town but it is beautifully kept. The streets are wide and the amenities basic, but it is a lovely place. There's 2 pubs, 3 bottle-o's, a pizza place, 3 caravan parks, a hospital and a brilliant IGA. We walked to wharf area on the second day and picked up a fresh 1 kg bag of tiger prawns for $25 and had them for 'lunner' that afternoon. We also visited Captain Cook's house which was very well restored (Cook ran aground here and stayed for 7 months fixing the 'Endeavour'). The house itself was a nunnery back in it's day, but it now has information, artifacts  and stories about the Nuns, Captain Cook and the local aboriginal people.

Captain Cook's Museum and the 'Endeavour's' anchor

We stayed in Cooktown for 3 days and on the third day, we got new neighbors at the caravan park. First, Joe and Karen arrived and they live on the Sunshine Coast. Next to them was Bill and Catherine from West Beach. Both couples were lovely and we had beer o'clock together in the camp kitchen area that night. It was fantastic. Lovely people number 2.

And guess who found the last 2 bottles of Jansz in Cooktown - 

and it was cheaper than Cairns!!

On Tuesday 2nd June we headed 31 km's south of Cooktown to Lions Den. Now, a lot of people had told us about this place and we were so lucky to get a spot when we rocked up. As it was only 31 km from Cooktown, we arrived at about 9.30 am, and we got the last spot in the park. Everyone else has pre-booked or were staying there already so we were very lucky. The pub here does all day pizza's so of course we had one for 'lunner'. They're so big we only needed to order one and it was fantastic. I'm so glad I bought heaps of groceries at Coles in Cairns 'cause we certainly aren't eating at home a lot! We don't even eat out this much when we're at home!!

Welcome to the Lions Den Hotel (and pizzeria!)

Yesterday we left Lion's Den (we only stayed 1 night) and drove to Laura- a whole 120 km away!! We dropped into the Quinkan Cultural and Arts Centre on our way here and the man suggested staying at the campgrounds behind the pub in Laura. He also told us about the tours they do and we booked in to do a morning tour of some rock art for this morning. Late yesterday afternoon we met Wayne and Margie who were parked next to us and were preparing their car for a 'quick' trip to the top (up and back in 4 weeks). They were leaving their camper at the pub and needed to put everything for the trip in the back of their vehicle. Such a great couple. We had drinks with them at the pub before we had dinner - lamb shanks were on the menu so I couldn't say no! Yet another meal out though!
Lovely couple number 3.

Today we went on the rock art tour and it was spectacular. The rock art was done by the Quinkan people and they are probably some of the best and most well preserved aboriginal rock artworks in Australia. The tour took us onto private property on a dusty scrub track that no one would know about except the owners and the guides. The art work was very well preserved and is situated in recessed rock that has protected it from the sun and rain. We went on the tour with a lady from France so it was just the 3 of us and Steve, the guide, let us stay as long as we needed to get photos and ask questions (of which I had tons!) Lovely man number 4. 

Quinkan aboriginal rock art

And just this afternoon, while I have been doing this blog, a couple from Renmark have pulled up next to us (at the back of the pub). Kevin and Ruth are just fantastic- ex truckie and ex quarantine worker (road side quarantine station near Renmark). We just keep meeting these lovely people. (I truly think this is karma from us meeting that awful lady at Mareeba). Lovely couple number 5.

That's all for the moment folks. Tomorrow we will be heading further north so I'll be in touch soon!!

Queensland- perfect one day, torrential the next!

I have only just realized that my last blog was over a week ago. Where has that time gone!! We have definitely hit the tropics and the muggy weather. High 20s and 98% humidity. I now remember why I never wanted to live in the tropics again (for those that don’t know, I lived in Queensland for 4 years when I was 24 to 28, the last 18 months in Cairns).

Let me pick it up from my last blog…

We left Hughenden on Sunday 17^th May. This road travels east towards Townsville and has a railway line right next to it. We were very lucky to have a train come towards us and there wasn’t a lot of vegetation between him and us on the road. We both waved and he tooted- Yay!!

We are definitely heading for the tropics.. 

On Monday we arrived in Townsville. We stayed in a lovely caravan park here so we could recharge the batteries with power and fill up the water tanks. The mornings were overcast but the days were sunny. I was able to get all the washing up to date and we were able to get things at stores like Jaycar and Spotlight. The weather was lovely and the nights very comfortable for sleeping.

While we were here we really wanted to get the car and van washed. The first car wash we saw we just knew we wouldn’t get the van underneath the wash bay. After asking, we were told of another one closer to the CBD and we went there as we were leaving town. We only just got the van under the ‘max limit’ sign, but we got both cleaned without any hassle.

On this trip, we aren’t doing huge driving days. We mainly do around 200 km a day which is so comfortable for both of us. We stop for morning coffee and make it into our destination about 11ish. The van is not hassle so set up (not like the camper trailer) so we are all done about 15 minutes after stopping.

We left Townsville on Wednesday 20^th and headed north. We are now travelling on the Bruce Highway and the traffic is quite steady, but we don’t seem to be holding many people up as the car is handling the towing brilliantly. Tonight we stayed at a free road side stop. We noticed a small well driven track through some tree which led into a huge grassed area, next to the railway line. We set up here and it was just lovely. The rail line is used for passenger trains and they are really good looking ones- a similar shape to a bullet train. But we only had 2 go past and I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo!!

The next day (Thursday) we headed towards Cairns. We selected the Big 4 Crystal Cascades Caravan Park which is a bit out of town and is situated right in the rain forest. We had originally thought we would stay for 4 nights but when we arrived, we decided to stay for 5. After a few nights we decided to stay for another night, so we ended up staying for 6. The place was just so nice and relaxing, even though we had some rainy days with really high humidity. We always had a breeze to cool the van and us off and we had such a nice site too! This place was such a find- we would recommend it to everyone!

Crystal Cascades Caravan Park- beautiful! 

One day we did drive along the coast road to Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge. Brilliant road- so picturesque. And I remembered the spot where I fell off the motor bike- yuck! Port Douglas hasn’t changed much from when I was up here last, just a few 100 more houses on the main road into the town itself. The main street is basically the same, and we found a really nice pub to have lunch: barra, salad and chips for $12.50- bargain!

The coast road  to Port Douglas

Mossman Gorge was lovely and so much cooler due to the rain forest. It was mid to late afternoon by now so it wasn’t that crowded. We even got photos of the suspension bridge with no one on it!

When no one was around, we ran long this- very bouncy!

Cairns has really changed since I lived here 24 odd years ago. There was nothing that really reminded me of living here before. I remember a small city surrounded by Queenslander homes and a few ‘local’ shopping centres. The CBD was the main hub, but it had a very country town vibe to it. The Thomas Cook foreign money office where I worked is now a Billabong store!! The Esplanade and beach area (not that you would swim there) used to have mangroves all along it and now there is a brilliant infinity pool, grassed area for sun baking and picnicking, and a lovely board walk. The housing goes on forever and there are heaps of shopping centres. I really didn’t recognize a lot!

The old Thomas Cook office!

The Esplanade- so user friendly for everyone! (above and below)

Today, after 6 relaxing days, we have headed up to Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands. Again we have selected a park out of the town, on a working property run by a fella called Dave. He is just lovely and when we arrived, he spent the first hour showing us all the flora and bush tucker on his property. Such a warm and friendly man. Unlike our current neighbors who abused us for where we set up our van. As we are just an open paddock, you can set up any where. We don’t particularly like to be really close to others, but we do need to consider trees and the sun for our solar panels, especially as this is an un-powered site. The neighbors have conveniently ‘plonked’ themselves right in the middle of the paddock so any place you pick is going to be too close. They said we hadn’t left them enough room to get past! Honestly, if they had a semi they might have had a hard time, but a car and/or caravan would have no trouble. People really don’t know the width of their vehicles!

But none the less, we won’t be staying here for the 2 nights we thought we would. Tomorrow morning can’t arrive soon enough!!

Tomorrow we head up to near Cooktown for a few days, then we’re on the road to the top. No rush though. We still have 3 months before the Birdsville races- our one and only appointment on this trip! Next blog soon.