Still at Wonga Beach

We had a great day today.  We visited Daintree Village on the banks of the Daintree River and walked around the village, looking at lovely artifacts and displays.  We went down to the boat ramp and wharf and had lunch watching the tour boats plying their trade.  It reminded me of the cartoon "Swamp" in the comic strips in the newspapers.

We then went to the Daintree Ferry which connects the southern bank with the northern bank and is the gateway to Cape Tribulation and the interesting bits of the Daintree Forest.  We inquired about fishing trips and Peter got one for Wednesday.  He and I will be off to try our luck with the Barra and whatever else we can catch.  I'll let you know how we go - or not.  There will be a very low level report if we get nothing, but expect a colourful report if either of us catches anything - and I mean anything.

We then ventured down to Port Douglas for a look around.  As I turned a corner, I knew that I had made possibly the gravest mistake on the whole trip so far.  They had a &*%$#* Sunday Market down by the beach.  M spots it and says "Oh look, a Sunday Market, let's go".  I know, I know, I should have been more alert or someone (Peter) could have warned me, but no, I was trapped in the Sunday Market.  Ah well, there was always photography to pass the time.  What?  You expected me to "browse the stalls" and "check out the bargains" and "Oooohh" and "Aaahhhh" over all this stuff?  You have got to be joking!  Photography it was, but there is not much in that part of Port Douglas, so the pickings are slim, to say the least.  M, however, purchased a necklace and a hat!!!

Peter had to try some sugar cane juice with lime. Verdict - it's very sweet.  Duuuhhh!

Port Douglas beach.



Meanwhile, back at the ranch (van park), the lyrebirds were milling about near the caravans.  That's right folks, we have our own herd.........eerrrrrr flock........ummmm flight............hmmmm squadron............bunch..............platoon................squad....................display......................collection (you choose the correct collective noun) of lyrebirds in the park.  I have been trying to get some shots, but they have been recalcitrant and uncooperative - until this arvo.  Got some good close-up shots and their plumage is magnificent.  All males showing off, of course, the females are off doing things while the blokes strutt their stuff.

I also wandered down to the beach that backs (fronts?) onto the caravan park for a look at sunset.  The setting sun in the west does nothing for a beach in the east, but you get the general idea.  Noice beach!  Peter has seen what he thinks are turtle marks on the beach.  I told him to watch out for the crocs - they leave marks too, but they have muuuch bigger teeth!

Our beach...........

Off to Cape Tribulation tomorrow via the Daintree road.  Off to Cooktown on Tuesday via the Bloomfield track, which is four wheel drive only, steep and slippery, but Max is more than capable to traverse it.  We will return via the bitumen road to save time.  Wednesday fishing in the arvo.  Thursday rest and pack for departure Friday for Cairns.

Hope you enjoy the pics.  As (usually) always, I will link it to FB and do a short post on FB for those following there.

Hoo roo.

Home sweet home at Wonga Beach

Safely arrived at Wonga Beach before lunch today after a short run from Lake Tinaroo, down off the escarpment and along that iconic bit of coast north of Cairns - bewdifulll!!  We have settled in to domestic bliss (check out M and the washing line in the pics).  All is well with the world.

Peter has gone to check out what fishing trips are available at what cost and tomorrow, we will be On!!  Off to catch a Barra (hopefully) or a nice Mangrove Jack would do me nicely.

More reports to come, as we will be here for about six nights or so.  We will let you know what we are doing when we work it out ourselves!

Noice little spot - just like home......

Us on the right, them on the left.....

M experiencing domestic bliss, well, almost.

See you tomorrow with more tall tales and pics.  Hoo roo.

The Waterfall Circuit

We had a cruise around today to the "Waterfall Circuit" which includes, amongst others, Malanda Falls, Milla Milla Falls, Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls.  It's a lovely drive in this part of Queensland, amongst the rolling hills of dark red and chocolate soils, growing everything from wheat, sugar, corn, spuds, avocadoes, beets and every other kind of vegetable that you can think of.  The countryside has real character, with hills and valleys, magnificent rivers and beautiful creeks.  For the Victorians and Gippslanders in particular who are following this blog, the country strongly reminds me of the South Gippsland hills from Mirboo North to Korumburra.  Lovely!!

Today was about the waterfalls, however, so the pics are mainly about this.  There was a cassowary that popped his/her head out of the scrub, so it got snapped too.

I played with the camera settings a bit to give different effects, so hope you enjoy it.

Malanda Falls - standard (above) and "artistic (below)

Milla Milla Falls

M & H at Milla Milla. Note the flood level marked on the building.....

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

Off to Wonga tomorrow, north of Cairns and in the Daintree - at last.  We will be by the beach, but very close to the forest - the best of both worlds.

Until Wonga, hoo roo.

Lake Tinaroo....still..........

Well, we had a quiet day yesterday, washing clothes, cleaning bits and pieces, organising stuff in the caravan and vehicle.  Peter fixed his sullage connection again.  The original was removed from his caravan just prior to Longreach, by a dead Kangaroo in the middle of the road.  There is a lot of native road kill out here, and it is hard to dodge at times.

The day started with a pancake breakfast put on by the caravan park to get people to know one another.  It was great and the pancakes were good too.  They do it twice a week for all comers in the park.

We also shopped and replenished our supplies yesterday, with a large Woolies in town.  We also got some info from the Tourism Information Centre, they were very helpful and friendly.

The caravan sites are very small, with not much room for larger vans like ours - or Peter and Helen's for that matter.  We had to be creative with our parking, as I have a freezer in the back of Max (Toyo Landcruiser) for our extra supplies.  I have to plug the freezer into 240 volt supply overnight, as I dont want to risk flattening Max's battery with the freezer.  So, long story short, we made a partial "carport" for Max with the annex.  This gives me a parking space which I would otherwise not have and gives me acces to mains power for the freezer.  Good job all round.  And Max must be happy to have a (partial) carport.

We are off to drive the local area around the "waterfalls circuit".  With a bit of luck, I will have some noice pics for your entertainment tonight, so tune in sometime after dinner and have a look.

Off to Cooktown tomorrow for a few days, then, maybe Wonga Beach or somewhere north of Cairns - Port Douglas perhaps.  Do you get the feeling that we are no longer on a mission, just taking it easy and going with the flow?  You'd be right, coz that's how it is.  Noice!

Lake Tinaroo (near Atherton on the Atherton Tablelands)

Here we are at Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tablelands.  We are heading into town soon, so no pics to post til this arvo.  Till then..........adieu.

Undara National Park - and those lava tubes.

We arrived at Undara a bit tired from the drive.  Only non-powered sites available and a bit of a hike to the ameneties, but definitely worth the visit.  On the way, we passed through Charters Towers, a lovely old town with intact verandahs and charming architecture.  We passed through, but want to come back and see more of this lovely town.

We had plenty of room at Undara, so we "circled the wagons" and settled in.  M and I treated this as a free camp (it was not free, but cheap), connected the generator which P & H shared, and settled in for a noice camp.  We booked a tour of the lava tubes for 0800 in the morning, so early to bed.  We wanted to leave immediately after the tour to make Lake Tinaroo.

The lava tubes are magnificant.  By now, after Googling them, you know how they were formed, so I won't go into details here.  You did Google them, didn't you?  Go on, you know you want to - now.

That's all from Undara.  On to Lake Tinaroo for a few nights.  More from there.  Hoo roo.

Campaspe River Free Camp

Kev recommendedthis stop on the banks of the Campaspe River on the way to Charters Towers.  It was sandwiched between the highway and the railway line, but we slept well.  It is very popular with travellers like us (please don't use the term "Grey Nomads, most of us hate the term) and about thirty caravans and one truck pulled in to stay the night.  Flush toilets were a feature, the setting was great and the company friendly.  It was our first free camp for this trip and it was a beauty.

The bed of the Campaspe River.  Noice spot for a stroll and relax after a drive.........

This is the main railway line to and from Mt Isa, so it's busy with some veeery big trains.

Noice stop, now off to Undara Lava Tubes (go on, you know you want to Google it).  Til then, hoo roo.



Hughenden

We arrived at Kev's place and set up "out the front", hooked into his power and water and settled in.  It's a good spot, but no internet signal, so I had to wait to post this until we got to another stop.  This turned out to be Lake Tinaroo, near Atherton.

Kev was waiting for us (noice whiskers, Kev!!):

Hughenden is also famous for dinosaurs and has it's own exhibit in town, so we went to have a look before leaving town:











So, off towards Charters Towers for a free camp at the Campaspe River (Kev's tip).  Hoo roo.















Off to Winton and Hughendon today....

with a stop at the dinosaur exhibit at Winton.  This was dawn - yes DAWN - over Peter and Helen's caravan this morning.  I feel tired already.................

Longreach, still...............................

We will stay another night here at Longreach, because the camel races at Winton means that there is no room for us. However, Longreach is a nice place, so we will have a further look around and take some pics. Off to Hughendon on Sunday.
Helen will be on the air again, as she bought a new laptop today to replace her dead one. Good on you Helen!
More tomorrow.

Back again.  Went into Longreach to have a look around.  Pics tell the story better than I can.  This is a great western town, the gateway to the Australian Outback and steeped in history and folklore.  I like the place - nice people live here.

We found out that there was a (sheep) shearing championship in town at the Youth Centre, so we went down for a look.  It was great to see the shearers vying for position (best time to shear four sheep) with the female shearers giving the blokes a bit of a scare - well, some of the blokes.  I enjoyed the whole thing, as it has been a lifetime - literally - since I stood in a working shearing shed.  It evoked some great memories, like being covered in lanoline at the end of the day from carrying and stamping wool in the press.  The smell of lanoline was everywhere.  The great difference that I noticed was that the sheep had no nicks or cuts - at all - which is a bit different to a working shed.  One of my chores was "tar boy" to dab tar on the cuts on the sheep the shearers made when shearing.  Yuk!

And a video of some of the action:

Off to Hughendon tomorrow.  More from there.

Hoo roo.