The end of the trail......or maybe not!

This is my last post....as far as I know.
We returned home 2 weeks ago, and already I want to go back. I promised you a bit of a summary of statistics. Here are a few from our side of the fence - K&B have their own as well:

• 11,043 kms travelled 
• 3527 ltrs of LPG and ULP
• 4 ltrs of 2-stroke (tinnie)
• $4276.00 of fuel
• $lots.00 on food
• lots of crocs
• lots of beautiful sunsets/rises
• 1 helicopter ride
• 54 days away from home
• 0 punctures  
• 0 incidents
• 0 accidents
• heaps of money spent while in Caravan parks
• Lots of $0 costs while we stayed in free camps
• not many fish taken home, but lots of frustration
• 1 blog - 17 posts - 849 pageviews
• 1310 photos 
• 18 videos 
• 23 GoPro
• ....and Heaps of good memories

This was our route

Almost finished!

We stayed is Tallabudgera for all 4 nights. Wendy said if we had any rain, or really bad weather that we would pack up and head home! We actually had out first rain for the trip, but it was only short, and didn’t cause any probs, so we lasted  it out. It wasn’t a very busy time but more a relaxing time.

We caught up with Con and Margaret, who we had known since Gymea days. It was great to see them as it has been a while, and they haven’t changed at all. K&B went down to Bribie Island and visited Dave and Jenny Mensforth while we were with Dave and Tania. I used to play soccer with Dave – and Con for that matter – back in Gymea days.

We also went up north and saw John Duncan who used to be in our fishing club in Gymea. He still has a lot of the old newsletters, and I saw my name against a few ‘largest catch’ records against some species. I had forgotten all about that stuff. It was really good to meet with him again and relive a lot of old memories. His daughter was there with him, and talk got around to schooling and we discovered Wendy went to Endeavour High with her brother, and I went to school with a lot of her good friends, who she still meets up with.

The days were getting colder and the nights worse, and we knew it would get colder as we headed south.

We left Tallabudgera on Saturday morning, and arrived in our next stop – Yamba after lunch. We got in earlier than K&B as they had called into Beryl’s sister who was holidaying on the far north NSW coast.

When we got to Yamba quite a strong West North Westerly was blowing so the temp was quite cold. We only paid for 2 nights as Wendy repeated her rain/bad weather promise of going home. K&B paid for 3 nights.

Wendy wanted to see her cousin Eunice so she drove back up north on Monday to see her. She was gone all day, so K and I went fishing in the howling, cold wind while B stayed in the van, keeping as warm as she could. We caught some fish, but none to take home, yet again.  

Wendy got back to camp about 10:30pm but as there was no rain, the next day we paid for another night. 

Monday was just a tourist day for us and we went for a drive into Maclean to wander around, drink coffee, eat lunch at the pub, wander around again, then head back to camp, via a bakery to get afternoon tea! 

As we had pigged out most of the day, we elected to forego dinner, and just sit in the van with K&B to keep out of the cold wind. At least the wind had eased off and there was no rain in the forecast. So it was off to bed early-ish as we had to prepare for our last pack up the next morning.

I have picked up a bit of a cough so sleeping was not very good last night, but all should be ok.

This morning, we left Yamba and I am currently sitting in Grandma’s house in Belmont. We are staying here for the night before heading home tomorrow.

We have been away for 7 weeks and 5 days. It has been a long trip and we saw lots of great things, as well as a few ordinary things. I will post up a summary after I get home when the final figures will be in. I have not taken may photos in the past week or so, but here are a few, as well as a few I missed from Hervey Bay which I didn’t get from the camera in time for my previous post. 

Hervey Bay calls itself the Whale capital of Australia, so almost everywhere in town there is some link to whales. These guys are being updated in the water feature on the northern end of the Esplanade. Unfortunately the work is not finished as can be seen by the fencing and bunting surrounding the construction.  

Not really a whale, but dolphins also frequent the area 

The other end of the above whale.

This is a Cold Press Coffee machine. W&B came across this shop while K&I were out fishing. We all came back to taste this iced coffee, and Wendy ended up buying 6 bottles to take on the road. Wendy is going to replicate this process at home.

I was intrigued by the patterns the outgoing tides made in the sand. These shots are from the 800m pier. 

Sun setting over the growing sand floor.  

....and again

...and again.

This was our campsite in Tallabudgera. As you can see, we ended up putting up the walls as well because of the short rain we had.

I took this from the rock wall at Tallabudgera Creek, looking south to Coolangatta Point.

This is the flatty that ended up being legal, but as I measured it wrong, I thought it was under size and thus threw it back into the water.

Our campsite at Yamba, but you cannot see the strong wind in the pic!

When K & I walked out to the rock wall to check it out for fishing, there was a storm out to sea and this double rainbow appeared. You really cannot see the second one very well, as it disappeared very quickly. 

While Wendy was away, I had dinner in the newly created cafe in the camp ground. I wasn't very hungry so I told the guy I wanted something small (that is...cheap) and he recommended this. It was the kids whiting & chips! It was perfect. There were 5 pieces of whiting, chips and salad.

K&I looked everywhere for a place to fish out of the wind. This spot was under the road bridge, but the wind still howled through the tunnels.

A forlorn-looking K as he sat out of the wind, under the bridge. We caught some bream, but as it was the last day, and we couldn't remember the size limit, we threw them all back. If there was no wind, it would have been a perfect day. 

Post Hervey Bay

Emerald was a nice camp. We stayed in the caravan park as we needed a bit of a tub, and recharge. The camp was pretty big, but we basically got the last 2 sites, so that was good.

From Emerald we headed east – still with the head wind – towards Rockhampton. Emerald is home to the world’s largest painting on an easel. It is the Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gough – see photo with Wendy standing in front. We didn’t stop there, and just turned south down the Bruce Highway, with no real objective, but it was going to be a road-side camp. We eventually found one about 60kms north of Gin Gin. It was a nice spot, but it was pretty well on the road, and of course, the Road Trains don’t stop when the sun goes down. We were about 100m from the road, but it sounded like they were outside our door. Wendy said she was a bit worried that one may veer off the road and come through our camp. I assured her that they would have to get through the concrete large undercover eating area, and then through K&B before they got us!  

From there, our next sleepover was Hervey Bay. However, before we got there, we had to call into K’s sister Sylvia in Bauple. Bauple is about 40kms south of Maryborough. Bauple is famous –even though no one has heard of it – because Bauple is aboriginal for Macadamia, and that is where macadamias were first found! So there you go. The visit went well, and we had another look over their property with its large variety of tropical fruit trees.

From Bauple, the next stop – after lunch – was Hervey Bay (HB). We arrived after lunch and checked into the Big-4 – after a few strange turns – at Point Vernon (PV). PV is at the northern end of HB, and is a nice little spot. The HB stop was going to be a nice rest for 4 days and that is what it was. We didn’t run around much, but we did get some fishing in, and some nice food, coffee and things. K & I ended up fishing in the Elie Creek run out into the bay at the north of PV, and it was quite amazing. The bay is very flat, so at low tide, pretty well the whole bay. We had to walk about 500m to get to the creek, but it was nice to walk across the sound and see the variety of sand types, contours and puddles. We fished the end of low tide, and stayed until the water was in again, and it was up to our thighs. We caught a few flatheads over the days, and K took his home, but I put mine back in, even though it was legal – only because I measured it wrong and thought it was too small!

We went out to the end of the 800m pier a few times and watched the bogan locals trying to catch fish. They must get something big out there as quite a few people had special carts built to wheel out all their rods and gear. The water is at least 10m below the pier, so if you had a good fish, it would be an interesting lift up to the top as there was no ladder, or landing on the pier.

One of the good things about the bay north of Pt Vernon, is that it faces far enough north so that the sun sets over the water, hence some great shots of the setting sun over the low tide sand and puddles. I think 90% of the photos I took were of the sunset, sunrise, full moon rising and fishing – see below. It was a good 4 days with great weather, but we did have a couple of cool nights.

I am typing this at Garry’s place after spending 3 nights here visiting with the family. It was so good to see everyone again – it has been quite a while since we were up. We haven’t done much except talk, drink tea/coffee and eat! We took Garry and Chris out for dinner last night down to the Boat Shed at Maroochydore and it was really nice. We left Garry & Chris’ after hearing the good news that their approval had been granted to start building on their new property. I may go back sometime and help with the build. Our plan was to head south to the Gold Coast for 4 nights, via a visit to Dave and Tania near Redcliffe. It was so good to catch up with Dave, Tania and Jesse. We missed them last year when they stayed at our place, as we were overseas. Jesse has really grown up and is such a little man, but also a typical little boy! K&B spent some time visiting their friends while we have been up north, and we caught up with them last night when we landed in Tallabudgera. We will visit some friends this week, do a bit of fishing, and then head further south. 

The full moon rising over Fraizer Island

Sun rising over Fraizer Island...

again..

I had some friends with me for the sunrise..

an Osprey trying to get warm

...he hasn't got his make-up on yet !

These 3 loved the morning sunshine..

...the moon again...but behind some cloud

low tide at the 800m pier..

coffee at the beach.

Sun setting in the east??

Elie creek at half tide..

our friend who lived just near the pole in the above picture..

sun setting over the low tide ripples..

sun setting again - beautifully!

My flathead which was legal - exactly 40cm

Klaus up to his thighs in rising tide at the creek..

a heron chasing fish in the pool as the tide goes out

We have been offline for the past few days – the joys of the outback. Some people miss it more than others.

Since we left Tennant Creek, we have had a strong south-easterly head-ish wind all the way to where we are now. The fuel economy has been shocking on these wind driven roads.

There haven’t been too many things to talk about, as we basically wake up, have brekkie, get in the car, drive to where we intend to get to, setup camp again, and go to bed.

Our first night out of TC was at the Camooweal Waterhole. It is a billabong just west of the township, and we drove 3.5km south along the river. We setup camp, and for the first time, we felt really cold. The wind was blowing from the SE (as usual) and when we got up in the morning, it was only 6 deg C! No wonder we were cold. I even had to put on my tried, proven and holey Saucony trackie dacks. I have not had to use them since, but I am sure the further south we go, the more I may need to get them out again. See the photos for what it looked like.

The second night we got to Wal’s Camp in Cloncurry. Never again! It was disgusting, with us all lined up in alleys, which was a pain, but the worst part was the amenities. The toilet/shower block was made of a little tin shed, with 2 ramps up the middle. One was to the men’s, the other to the women’s. The 2 sections were divided by only a shower screen! Ahead of you when you walked up the ramp, was the men’s toilet, and the door between you and the toilet didn’t go anywhere near the floor. The women’s was the same, so you could see if anyone, either a man or a woman, was on the loo! The showers were no better with only a shower screen between you and the rest of the world! Luckily we found the handicapped toilet/shower out the front, so we used that. At least it had a door, but it did get completely flooded, so the floor was wet all the time. I do not think the whole affair would come close to any sort of building and health standards….let alone privacy rules! We shall not be going back there, and will tell everyone who asks. Also, they only take cash, and no receipts, so it is all a bit dodgy.

The third night we made it to a roadside camp, 25kms NW of Longreach. This was a huge camp, and very few people, so we put up camp, and settled in. Of course, when we were all settled after dinner - at about 7:30pm - 3 road-trains pulled in for the night, and left their engines running for a while. Eventually they turned off the engines, and went to sleep. Surprisingly, we didn’t hear from them until about 6am, so all was good. Of course, quite a few road-trains went past, but we were about 100m from the road, so we were able to cope.

This morning we broke camp again, and left about 8:30. Our objective was Emerald, and that is where I sit now. We pulled into a nice caravan park so that we could get a good, and private, shower!

The following photos show our ‘exciting’ road travels over the past few days. We are only here for the one night, with another free camp tomorrow (don’t know where), and then we are booked in for 4 nights at Harvey Bay. None of us have stayed there before. I know people who have stayed there, and I have driven through there about 6 years ago, but didn’t stop. We are looking forward to it.

Enjoy!

Sunset at Camooweal Waterhole - it wasn't our best sunset, but was still nice to watch.

The setup at Camooweal, with the setting sun giving a nice glow...

Things can look a bit upside-down when wine is involved.

Sunrise at Camooweal....it was cold!

This is our setup at Wal's Camp......never again!

All set up at our roadside camp near Longreach. We didn't put up the awning, as we were not going to be there long..

The sunset...

The sunrise next morning....

One of the road-trains kept us company overnight.

It was very tempting not to run over the 40+ Apostle birds that ate their way past our tent. Wendy doesn't like these at all. Lucky she was still in bed.

Farewell Tennant Creek

Day 33 – Wed 24^th June.

It is our last evening at Tennant Creek. We have just pigged out on Pizza, Garlic Bread and drink. It was really good. It is the first pizza of our trip!

We have really enjoyed our stay here with Chris & Ali. The 4 days have gone really fast, but we have seen most of TC has to offer, so it is time to move on.

While we have been here we have been out to the ‘Pebbles’ (Kunjarra) which is an aboriginal cultural site which is a smaller version of the Devil’s Marbles further south from here. Unfortunately a lot of people do not respect these sites as they should, such as the tourist family who set up camp (tent, screen, flower pots, clothes line, etc) under the picnic gazebo, with their 3 large dogs who wouldn’t let anyone near them. They parked their car and camper in the car spot adjacent to the picnic area. They are probably the same people who left the toilet paper amongst the rocks. It is disgusting what people will do, especially when there is a camping area with toilets within 50m of where they were. Walking around the site with Ali was very enlightening, as she was able to tell us some of the history and meanings.

Chris also took K, B & I out to one of the Gosse River – about 1hrs drive into the bush. Beryl didn’t realise that we went out there to site in Chris’ 22.250, but she soon found out when we got there. We were there for an hour or so, and ended up returning just on sunset. It was a great drive. Chris was also able to impart a lot of his knowledge of the area, history and culture understanding…it was very enlightening, and I have a greater appreciation of the aboriginal culture.

We also spent some time with Bugalugs. He is a Bearded Dragon who is very friendly. You can see him in the photos below.

We made a quick trip to Lake Mary Ann (Tingkarli) which is the dam created to supply water to the town. We saw some very strange Australian wildlife while we were there – chickens, roosters, Peacocks, Geese and Guinea Fowl – not what we expected, and these were in the main grassy picnic areas. There was one Pelican on the far side of the lake so at least we did see some ‘real’ wildlife.

K&I did an underground mine tour without the women. This is a gold mine pretty well in the middle of town, which was active up until the late 1990’s. This mine was a bit different to other gold mines in that instead of finding the gold amongst the quartz rocks, it was imbedded in the blue Ironstone, and it wasn’t seam gold, it was ‘grains of sand’ sized bits. We were shown a piece of gold in the rock, and I had trouble even seeing it. However, the quality and value of the gold found here was larger than the Bendigo and Ballarat fields combined. Of course the problem with these mines is the effort needed to get the gold out of the rock. Large Battery machines were used, but continually failed due to the effort required, and the poor miners lived a very hard and brutal life.

W&B came along after our underground mine tour, and they saw the Battery tour, in which they actually showed the Battery running, but it was crushing quartz rather than bluestone to show you how it worked without damaging the Battery hardware.

Both tours were very informative.

Late this afternoon, we said farewell to the town by all six of us driving up on one of the outlying hills and watched the sunset, with our chairs perched on the wind swept rocky ground and drinks in our hands.

I am sure we will return to TC someday, and we will have a more interest in staying and looking around, rather than just driving through like we have done in the past.

Again, a big thank you to Chris and Ali for putting up with us ‘old folk’, and allowing us to be part of their personal lives for a little while.

So….we are off in the morning, heading 35kms north up to the ‘Three Ways’, then turn 90 degrees right and head East towards Qld again. Hopefully there will not be the usual SE ‘Barkly Breeze’ blowing which means a fairly strong headwind, for all of the roughly 460 km objective. We shall see, so watch this space.

A Holy Grevillia tree is endemic to this area and is actually a threatened species now. 

The wind made these grasses dance, and enhanced the beauty of this special area.

Chris & K doing some first aid training???...or maybe it is sighting in the 22.250 at 100m!

Leaving the 'range', by exiting the dry Gosse River bed and starting the return trip as the sun drops behind the horizon.

Bugalugs the Bearded Dragon....very beautiful.

He is fascinating to watch....

...and he probably says the same about us...

He was happy to sit on my for 30 mins or so. 

The rugged rock formations found in the area. It would have been a very hard life in the early days...

These are some of the 20-odd strong Guinea Fowl that roamed the picnic grounds of Lake Mary Ann.

Our underground gold mine tunnel...

This is a 'Bogger', which is really a small front end loader that scooped up the dug out rock and tipped it over the top to the 'trailer' that followed it. 

The Battery in action as it crushed the quartz rock...

After the crushing, mercury was added to the slurry which adhered to the small pieces of gold to form an amalgam ball. This was then removed, the mercury scraped from the gold, and the gold was melted and put into bars. This was a very long and intensive process. 

Preparing for the sunset....

Enjoying our drinks as the sky changed coulours

Looking across my car to the sun sinking...

What a hard life...!

Mercury and Saturn sinking behind the horizon..

Before....

....and after.

Nice silhouette Chris!