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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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!!
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
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
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