31st October

Had to finish breakfast quickly so David could get to the beach for his swim took my coffee to the beach and then went for a walk while he caught a few waves. We went for another walk and on the way back saw a massage bed with a sign "Massage for donation" and I had an awesome massage. David was given one also while he waited for me.

Bargara

After a week at home catching up with family,friends and Tanyalla and cleaning after a camp we are now at Bargara.

Ayr

19th - 20th October

We free camped at the Minnuzo Cane Farm.  Eddie asked if I would be interested in looking at some old farm equipment and I said no that he and David could go but we all ended up going and i was was surprised at the collection.  He had an amazing display of ford memorabillia as well as other old wares including treddle sewing machines.

Pam was our tourguide and took David and I to places and people David knew when he lived inAyr.   Our first stop was Hutchinson Lagoon where they remembered the times when they went to cabaret’s there.  We then went to Allva Beach and on the wayback we stopped where Mary Bonarto lived to find she had moved and the lovelyMan that now lives there showed us around the garden and Tennis Courts and gaveus the address where Mary lived now.   Mary was overwhelmed that we would come tovisit and it was lovely catching up with her. It was then back to the farm to watch a cane fire, a quick shower andoff to dinner at the Anzac Club where David was able to catch up with PeterSaxby another old friend from his Ayr days.

We headed for Claireview stopping at a coffee plantation formorning tea at Proserpine, we were undecided whether to stay at the free campor the caravan park, David was keen to stop in the caravan park for our lastnight before getting home.  On reflectionthe following morning we both thought we may have been better staying at thefree camp.

We headed for Gladstone stopping at Mum and Dad’s to collectthe trailer and Dad’s car and headed for Kylie’s to help them do a couple ofdump runs.  We arrived at Tanyalla about4pm with Aunty Louise welcoming us.  Wewill stay in our caravan for this week and help with cleaning after the camp onthe weekend.  We then plan to go theBundaberg for a week.

Richmond to Ayr

About 200k from Charters Towers the bells in our car started again saying check engine.  What do we do hop out check all we knew but it still seemed to be running fine so we drove to the Holden agency at Charters Towers and a young mechanic came out this time with the computer as they needed to clear the computer not just reset the service alarm. 

All fixed and David wanted to go to the Burdekin Falls Dam, there was a caravan park listed in our camps 5 book and the road said 80k but boy it seemed a lot longer than that, we finally found what looked like an abandoned caravan park with a sign saying $15 powered site and would be collected at 7am in the morning.  It was a lovely place with grass and the bird life was amazing.  We saw an echnida on the way to the BBQ where we cooked our dinner  about  200m from our camp.  No phone service though.  We packed up and went for a walk to check out the dam and were amazed by the facilities just left dormant.  The dam itself was massive and the waterfall spectacular to look at.  There were a few road blocks (cows) on the way. 

cows on the road

On the way to Ayr we stopped at Ravenswood to view some of the history, David had been here before and enjoyed reminiscing.  It was then on to Ayr to visit Eddie and Pam where we free camped at their can farm.  Some more reminiscing for David of his days he spent working in the Court House in Ayr.  We had lunch at the Queens Hotel for $10 each and it was the best value for money I have seen in a long time.  It is great to be able to catch up with Eddie, Pam and the children.

Austin A 40 van at Ravenswood

Burdekin Falls Dam

16th October

Packed up hitched on went to get Woolies Petrol gotta love 15cents off. We still had our pass at the Outback at Isa so checked out the fossils and the mine museum. I ducked over to a patchwork shop that I spotted while David kept reading the history. Oops went past the turnoff to Winton (intentionally) and now we are at Richmond tonight. A nice park overlooking Lake Fred Tritton.

15th October

 

We started the day with a tour of the Hard Times Mine which involved 2 ½ hour trek  under ground.  We had to don hard hat, miners lamp, overalls and boots before descending into the mine in a cage.  The tour incorporated a demonstration of the actual equipment used to drill and excavate the ore.  We also got to listen to an actual blast which gave the impression you were feeling the real thing.  We were able to have morning tea in the crib room before returning to the top.

It was then time to take the car to the holden dealership for them to take one minute to fix it.

Some grocery shopping, dropping the easy lift to a workshop to have it straightened because when we arrived yesterday David noticed when he unhitched it had been bent somehow, driving past 5 17^th Avenue (the scene where I put my arm through the washing machine wringer). 

We packed a picnic of sausages and things and headed for Lake Moondarra where David lit a wood BBQ and cooked our dinner.  It was a very pleasant place to dine.

 

14th October

Today we are at Mt Isa, we did plan to go to Cloncurry but our car is ringing bells telling us to check the motor. We think when we had it serviced in August they did not reset the service time. We will go to a Holden dealer tomorrow and get it checked. We are in a nice van park and will take the opportunity to look around Mt Isa. We may stay 3 nights and then head home. We were going to go across to Townsville but at this stage plan to visit Mike Vercoe in Emerald and be home to help with the camps at the end of the month.

11th and 12th October

We left early and headed for the Hot Springs where we had breakfast in the car park and then went for a plunge before heading to Banka Banka for our overnight stop.  We met a great group people in the van park and had a very social time.  We had a craft session with me showing one lady how to button hole stitch and another showing me a tip on crochet.  I had another wash up cloth made and was able to give that away.

We headed out of the van park early headed for Camooweal.  On our way up we fueled up at Camooweal and then at Renner Springs and all was good but that did not work today.  Five Kilometers out of Barkley we ran out of fuel.  It was fortunate that I had enough signal strength to google and find the phone number of Barkley Station and phoned them and they were very helpful and came to our aid with some fuel.  Just after this we saw a sign saying "Caution headwinds increase fuel consumption".  Upon our arrival at Cammoweal we met the neighbours, had drinks with them and then went to the pub for Apple Pie for dinner.  Well David and the others had it not me! I made another two wash up cloths in the car today and I am getting better not as wonky on the sides.

One of the highlights we have found has been the camaraderie of those who we have met.

  

We left Darwin and stopped at  Adelaide River to see the bits we did not know about on the way up.  The War Cemetery  was the first stop and was very sobering particularly when you looked at the young ages of the servicmen whose graves were there from the conflict in Darwin.

Next was the Adelaide River Inn. The Inn welcomes locals, visitors and travellers alike. The Inn is home to "Charlie" the Buffalo from Crocodile Dundee.

 Bitter Springs at Mataranka is our stop for tonight. We waded into the warm waters of the Spring and drifted with the flow down along the stream that connects the two swimming areas and up the exit ladder at the pedestrian bridge onto the walkway that circles the Spring area, walked back to the beginning and did it again.
 The water is incredibly clear.

Darwin Day Seven

The tyres did not arrive yesterday so we had to stay another night.  We thought we would go to see what was at Howard Springs as some people we had met on the way said they had stayed there.  It was only 15-20 minutes away and after driving through the town where a 4,000 bed workers village  is being constructed for the LNG project we went to the Nature Park and had morning tea that we had taken with us, lucky cause there was none to be got there.  It had been a recreation area for the forces during World War II and now has been developed into a picnic area for the people of Darwin.  On the way home we stopped at the Palmerston Shopping Centre to get some supplies before heading back to have the picnic lunch we had taken with us by the pool in the van park.

The Tyres arrived and we had them fitted so we will leave tomorrow headed for Mataranka.

Darwin Day Six

Hanging around just waiting for the tyres we ordered for the car to arrive.  Went for a drive to Smith Street and a walk around finding airconditioned shops to loiter in.  The rest of the time I spent in and out of the pool trying to keep cool.

Darwin Day Five

Today we went to the wave pool and it was great fun. David was a bit disappointed the waves were not quite the same as catching them at the beach. The shallow water was good for doing a bit of yoga but water aerobics for exercise is the way up here. We visited the war tunnel and the goal as well. They would have had to be slim prisioners to fit through the door ways.
We also purchased a new tap for the water tank and David was able to fix it.

Darwin Day Four

We started the day by going to the Cathedral to what was advertised as 9am Sung Eucharist to arrive and find dogs everywhere.  The service was a pet blessing service celebrating St Francis of assisi,  Despite initially being a little surprised we enjoyed the service which had been shortened significantly due to the short attention span of many of the attendees according to the Dean.   We stayed for morning tea they had good coffee but we were left to our own devices.  We took the opportunity after church to walk to the wharf development.  Gladstone could certainly take a leaf out of Darwin’s book.  What a magnificent complex with bathing areas including a wave pool as well as shopping and apartment complexes back up to Smith Street where we did the historic tour and walked through the mall without the hustle and bustle of the weekday crowds.

Our other event for today was a visit to the Aviation Museum wow I can’t believe how large the B52 bomber was, it was massive and we both enjoyed walking around the memorabilia, particularly that of world war II and Darwin.  I found it incredible an old plane could be converted to a caravan.  

 

We finished the day with a visit to the Mindil Markets where we had tea and watched the sun set over Fannie Bay.  As we were about to leave we noticed a crowd off to one side and went to find an acrobat performing.

 

Kakadu

We were picked up from outside the caravan park at 7am to head into Kakadu.  On the way we stopped at the Bark Hut which is one of the original Buffalo Hunting lodges built in the 60’s.  The Bar area was covered by huge crocodile skins and the heads of Buffalo’s and wild Bulls.  A real  frontier type place. 


From here we headed off into Kakadu National Park with our next stop being  to view some rock art which included a habitation cave which was still being used up until the 1960’s, then it was to Gagudju Lodge Cooinda  to have lunch, then onto the boat for the Yellow River Cruise here our Aboriginal Guide was able to show us the diverse range of Fauna and Flora including large salt water crocodiles.  Back on the Bus we went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre before heading into Jabiru to change buses before heading home.

Check out that fellow between the trees with his mouth open

Jabiru

 

Darwin Day Two

After a sleep-in we went to the Information Centre to enquire about a trip to Kakadu, they were very helpful and we were able to get on one tomorrow, he also suggested we go to the art gallery and museum of the Northern Territory.  We spent a few hours there looking at Aboriginal Art, the story of cyclone Tracey and the link between Australia and South East Asia as well as the fauna and flora of the Northern Territory.  After this we found the Darwin Patchwork Shop where I was able to get a souvenir of fabric. 

Darwin

4^th October  = We left Batchelor stopped at Berry Springs for a massage under the waterfall and a refreshing swim, some morning tea and then on to Darwin.  People had told us the Freespirt Caravan Park was a good one to stay at and was on the highway.  We had a little difficulty finding it and were a bit confused that there were two Stuart Highways.  When we finally arrived the lady at reception confirmed that yes you have to turn off the Stuart Highway to get on the Stuart Highway and that it could only happen in the Northern Territory.  We settled in and then found our way to the Mindil Markets, the Sky Casino where the German Beer festival had just started in a marque on the lawn out the back it was free entry so we soaked up some of the atmosphere including the Umpah Band.

Today we explored the Litchfield National Park, definitely a place to wear your bathers  as every waterhole invited you in.  First we had to have a photo with the magnetic termite mounds, standing up to five metres in height and possibly 50 years old.  This configuration acts as a built in temperature control  mechanism allowing only the least possible surface area to be exposed to the heat or the sun.

Buley Rockhole was a series of small waterfalls and rockholes where we just paddled our feet, next was Florence Falls which was a spectacular double waterfall set amid monsoon rainforest, we walked the 1.2k to the plunge pool  and after our swim  back to the car via the 135 stairs.  When we got to the Cascades we were only going to go the 700m to the small falls, we went in to discover that when you stood under them it was like having a massage.  We had clambered over rocks to get there and thought going  the 1.7k circuit back to the car could not be that bad.  We treated ourselves to Mango Cheesecake at the Litchfield Café before going to Wangi Falls which was only 200m to the water where another refreshing swim was had. Wangi with the waterfalls cascading 100’s of metres over sheer rock face into a huge natural swimming  pool was probably the most spectatular, we had our picnic lunch here before heading back to the van park at Batchelor.

Cascades

 

 

Florence Falls

                                                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Wangi Falls

Darwin Bound # 3

2^nd October –  We travelled from Katherine stopping at the Adelaide River Railway Heritage Precinct. We stepped back in time and viewed the original 1888 Refreshment Rooms and Residence.  The Overland Telegraph has been partially reinstated and relics of the steam era can be seen throughout the grounds as well as WW11 history.  We then travelled to Batchelor, booked in to the caravan park and then took the Batchelor Heritage Walk.  This walk took in Rum Jungle – how it began, the discovery of uranium in 1949 which led to the development of the town site on an area previously comprising part of the wartime camp.  We stopped and read the history of the Anglican Church, The Mine Manager’s House and the Virgins’ Villas/The Nunnery.

Darwin Bound # 2

We had a relaxing three days at Lake Argyle and David was able to watch the two football matches.

On Sunday David was a bit bored so enquired about using one of the gardeners rakes and did some raking.  I got paid two Mangoes for his work and made some Mango Ice Cream with them yum! yum!  We met and spent some time with some people we met last time we were at Lake Argyle.  Tonight we are at Katherine in a different van park than last time and it is lovely to have cement and grass. While we were at Lake Argyle we took advantage of the infinity pool again at least twice a day and I did a little yoga. today somehow, somewhere the tap from our water tank was broken off and we lost all our water.  It is a good job we have decided to mostly stay in caravan parks and can hook up to their water.  Aunty Louise's washing up trick of a spray bottle and paper towel has come in handy, I also use cheap baby wipes for morning tea washing up and they work a treat.