Days 32 - 36

Monday - We had planned to spend 2 days in Mackay but as we were waiting for Fiona's sister Kylie to have her baby we decided to just hang close to the town and relax so first thing on the agenda was to visit a shop that Kylie recommended called De Ja Vu. It's full of homewares as well as having some tables and chairs at the rear of the store at which we had morning tea. It's got so many varieties of teas and flavours of scones that Fiona was in her element and loved the place. Meanwhile I kept Chantelle busy so that little fingers weren't picking everything up.

Once this was done and a quick visit to Mackays new shopping centre for some groceries we had lunch by the river. Kylie and Derek also recommended we visit Cape Hillsborough and a tea room about 40 minutes north so off we went. It was quite windy and cool once we got onto the beach but Chantelle didnt care and was soon into building sand castles. We can see that this place would be very popular on a weekend with warmer weather.

Unfortunately the tea rooms were closing early today but they looked very nice as it was setup in an old railway station type building. Will be on the to do list for our next visit. We returned to camp by a couple of back roads and relaxed for the night still waiting to hear about a new member to Kylie and Dereks family but no word that night. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Tuesday - Another day in Mackay as we await word on whether a boy or girl word be a new cousin to Chantelle. We enjoyed the morning tea so much yesterday that we returned to the same place and it's while we were here that Fiona received the call from Kylie to say that they had a little girl the night before and they called her Millaa Pamela Ellis. We were so happy for them especially Chantelle who was over the moon to now have a little girl cousin. After arranging a visiting time for later in the day we made our way down to a park by the sea called Quota Park. A stroll along the beach revealed lots of nippers (or whatever you like to call them) living in the sand leaving thousands of little balls of sand everywhere. A couple were fishing using them as bait and the lady caught 2 fish from her first 2 casts while we were watching. A nice bream and whiting will be on their table that night.

At 3 o'clock we were allowed in to see Kylie and Derek and lucky enough to meet little Millaa before she was even one day old, although she slept through our whole 2 hour visit. She is a lovely little baby and we are so happy for them.
Having shared a celebratory drink with them we left them to rest and went and had fish and chips for dinner before returning to camp for our last night in Mackay.

Wednesday - Woke up early and checked the time. 5.42am. Hmmm too early yet, will get up in 20min. Heard Chantelle stirring so opened my eyes again and checked time again. 6.43am. What??? Where did that hour go? Ok up we all get as we were planning to pack up and get away early due to trying to reach Roma that evening. Finally got on the road a bit before 8.30 and after filling up got caught in traffic as there was a mining convention in town that week. Throw in all the roadworks that are going on everywhere on the highways and it soon became apparent that we were not going to make Roma that night. About 2 hours out of Mackay is Moranbah where Kylie and Derek have moved to because of work and we wanted to see what the town was like. On the way I was amazed to see the numbers of temporary accommodation that is set up in places for workers due to the mining boom. Lots of demountable type buildings row after row behind roadhouses and little towns all because of the coal mines nearby. After Moranbah the traffic reduced and we could move along a bit quicker except for those roadworks which had us stopping quote a few times. Although there was one stop we had to make as a herd of cows were being moved across the road by a few people riding horses. The landscape with rising hills in the distance and the continual sound of the cows mooing made it feel like a scene from on old American western. Just needed John Wayne to mosy on in to finish the scene.

The rest of the day was very uneventful and we reach Rollestone when we decided that was far enough and made camp.

Thursday - As we didnt get to Roma the night before we knew today was going to be a long days driving (still 263km from Roma) because Moree was our next destination. The landscape between Rollestone and Roma is quite hilly as some of it is the area near Carnarvon Gorge. Visiting there has now gone down on our to do list for another trip. We reached St George (not in Sydney) for lunch and watched as the storm clouds started rolling in with lightning and thunder. That ended up being our quickest lunch stop at about 14 minutes and we got back into the car just as the rain started to come down. As we pushed on further towards Moree we went through a few more of these isolated storms with strong winds. It was so funny watching birds that were near the road fly off across the road into the wind only to reach a certain height before quickly being blown back across where they came from. Ahh, the things that amuse you on long drives.

Reached Moree a bit after 4 and we decided to stay in a cabin for our last night on the road. I don't think Fiona was too keen on camping in a storm after 5 weeks of great weather either. All we did then was to put the swimmers on and jump into the hot pools where we stayed. There are 5 pools in the complex of which 4 are heated by the hot spring water coming from deep in the ground. The temperatures of the 4 heated pools are 34,35,37 and 39 degrees and you choose the one that suits. While we were in the pools another storm came over but most of the people thought staying in the covered hot water pool was better than freezing in the cold wind and rain coming down.


Friday - A quick morning swim for Chantelle and Brett before final pack and into town for morning tea.

Of course while we were there Fiona found a few shops that she just had to look in. It's good to see that 5 weeks camping hasn't changed her too much. We had planned to reach the Willow Tree Inn for lunch and as it was still 300km away it was a quick trip to get there but we got there in time. We both had the steak sandwich and it has to be the best we have ever had. The steak just melted in our mouths and we can see why it has won awards for best steak in NSW.
From there we made our way back through the Hunter Valley towards home to put an end to our wonderful adventure. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat and we already have a fair list of things to do for the next time we are up that way.
It is amazing how much of this wonderful country there is to see and the big thing that we learned from the trip is not to wait until we are too old to do these kinds of things. So if you are have ever thought about travelling this country then just do it and don't wait until that retirement cheque comes in.
As they say in the territory 'If you never never go, then you'll never never know'

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Days 28 - 31

Thursday - Lawn Hill National Park

 

We had heard lots about Adels Grove as a place to stay in the past so we were looking forward to having a look around the place today. Adels Grove was once an experimental botanical garden built by Albert De Lestang (where the name Adel comes from) in 1920 and had over 1000 different types of plants from around the world. He supplied seeds and information to collectors and museums around the world during his time there. In the early 1950's a fire spread through the area which destroyed most of his plants and records. That combined with other problems from then on destroyed his spirit and he soon moved into a nursing home in Charters Towers where he died in 1959. There are still a few of the plants he planted around the area and the grove camping area is a natural environment to camp in with no designated areas which gives it a much nicer feel, along with lots of shade (no good if you use solar panels though).

 

 

Unfortunately we only had the one day here as we were needing to be elsewhere later in the week so the first thing we did was to head to the main desk to get our bearings on things. We were advised of a short walk to a lookout on a hill nearby which sounded good but we managed to take the wrong turn and headed down what's known as the nature trail. This walk follows the creek as it meanders through the paperbarks and pandanus trees but what is obvious at the moment is the amount of debri that is there following some big floods that had happened previously. I had taken a few photos but it's hard to portray the size of some of the trees that had been taken down by the water. After a while we returned to the campsite area and followed the creek back to where we were camped. There is pretty much no debri along this section and there are numerous spots where you can jump in and swim. Someone told us that the water there is 24c and we knew we would be jumping in there at some stage of the day.

 

Some of the debri from previous floods

 

Now back at our campsite it was time for the obligatory morning tea which seemed to last a lot longer today. I guess that was because we were really enjoying just sitting there under the shady trees with very little noise and just chatting. When we finally looked at the clock it was nearly midday and it was time to go and check out Lawn Hill Gorge.

Brett had previously been here 24 years ago and back then the campsite that was in the national park was lush green lawn under the shady trees. That was not the case now as the campsite was now set out in individual sites on the stony / dirt ground and we found out later that the lawn had to be removed as the water that was required to keep it green was too much for the native trees and they were dying. We were also told that the showers there are not hot and camp fires are not allowed. We can see now why Adels Grove is so popular.

Nearby to the ranger station is the canoe hire which we wanted to do but unfortunately they had no 3 person canoes available. Well, there were 2 there but one had a big split down the bottom and the other had a small hole. All the rest were already out, so after Chantelle had some fun playing with the archer fish near the canoes we started off on a walk that would take us to Indarri Falls. Where the walkway runs along the river edge there are steps that go down to the water where you can sit and watch the fish come up waiting to see if anyone will throw them some food (not that your supposed to do this). Chantelle tried to fool them a couple of times with some little sticks but they soon figured her out. Brett also said that many years ago there used to be huge catfish which would come up wanting food, some whose mouths were as wide as a hand but apparently they got washed downstream in a big flood a couple of years earlier.

 

Archer fish waiting for easy feed

 

 

On with the walk and we were soon going over a rise which once at the top you looked down onto Indarri Falls. What an oasis. Fiona described it as something like where cleopatra lived on the Nile. These small falls act as a baricade between the 2 large bodies of water that you can canoe on. For the people in the canoes there is a ramp that you can use to slide a canoe up to the next level, but for us it was a case of walking down and jumping in. As is the case downstream, the archer fish were hanging around and one guy who was pretending to feed them even had them spit water at his hand. These fish do that naturally to try to knock insects off branches into the water. It's amazing how accurate they are and the 3 or 4 times the fish squirted the water they hit his fingers on every occasion which were about 50cm above the water.

 

 

After the swim it was time to wander back and have a drink at Adels Grove. Behind the reception desk is an open deck with lots of table and chairs over looking part of the creek. It's here that Fiona decided to book us in on a sunset hill tour which included wine and nibbles. There wasn't much time before we left on that so Brett and Chantelle went down to the creek for a quick dip then a quick change into some warmer clothes.

 

 

The sunset tour involved jumping on a small mini bus driven by Mick, who took us a short distance from Adels to a small rise which was deceiving in that it gave fantastic views west to the Constance Ranges and to the east the Century mine could be seen. On the way Mick gave us a detailed history of the Lawn Hill station including the story about the weathly Brazilian Sebastiao Maia who lobbed into Sydney in 1975, jumped into a cab and got the driver to drive him around the country looking for cattle properties he could buy (as he couldn't speak much english). He ended up buying Lawn Hill but years later gave part of it to the government (to make the national park) when they found out he hadn't been paying taxes. I think the funniest part is actually finding a cabbie who could speak english and find their way out of Sydney (but it was 1975).

 

 

Anyway, the sunset was wonderful and the fact he had 4 different bottles of wine for us to consume with the nibbles was also a bonus. More stories on the trip back and we had just enough light to make our way back to our campsite.

Once again it was a beautiful stary night without any wind and we were already planning the things we would be doing on our next visit here in hopefully the not too distant future.

 

 

Friday to Sunday - Lawn Hill to Mackay

 

These 3 days were pretty much a transit period as we were now heading to Mackay so that Fiona could be there for when her sister had her baby.

The drive out from Lawn Hill was good dirt for approx 75km except when you get stuck behind a road train. Ah well, who's in a hurry anyway.

Drove past Gregory downs roadhouse and onto the Burke and Wills roadhouse for lunch where there were quite a few road trains pulled up and most of them were the cattle trucks due to it being mustering season up this way. Shortly after leaving here we came across some mustering near the road. Apart from all the cattle there were guys on horseback, bikes, quads and 2 helicopters flying low over the trees. I wanted to get some photos but as some of the cows they were chasing were near the road I thought it best I keep moving and not get in their way.

That evening we camped in the one and only caravan park in Julia Creek and boy was it cold (compared to what we had up north anyway) as the wind was howling through the place.

From Julia Creek we planned to travel to Charters Towers that day and along the way we made quick stops at Richmond and Hughenden (lunch). Both these towns are part of what's known as Australia's dinosaur trail. Along with other towns such as Winton they all claim fossils are found in their area and generally have exhibits and other attractions for the visitor. We didn't really have time to explorer these things apart from a few hapy snaps and so we pushed on towards Charters Towers.

 

Outside visitor information centre at Richmond

Hughenden

 

On arrival at the van park we were advised that it was pizza night along with entertainment (bush poet) which was fine for us as we were going to eat out anyway. Our campsite was positioned in such a way that we over looked all the activity so didn't have to go far at all. It was good seeing all the people getting together to swap yarns and tell a few tall tales before they wandered back to their vans about 8.30pm.

 

Saturday night at Charters Towers Big4

 

The next day was an un eventful trip across to the Bruce highway and down to Mackay where we settled in to the caravan park for 3 nights. It was this day that I started to take more notice of my speed as we were back into speed camera territory and police who probably are not as forgiving as the policeman who just flashed his lights at me in Jabiru for doing 70 in a 50 zone.

 

 

 

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Days 24 - 27

Sunday - Douglas Hot Springs to Mataranka
 
We were only spending one night at the hot springs but there was no way we were leaving without another dip in the warm waters. So after packing things away it was on with the cossies for Chantelle and Brett and down to the water. Fi decided to skip the water and sit on the bank reading a book. Time slipped away a bit and by the time we got away it was near 11am but who cares as we were only headed to Mataranka to swim in more hot springs.
 

Campsite at Douglas Hot Springs

 
Near Douglas Hot springs is a place called butterfly gorge which we have put down for the next trip up this way. It's one of those things that everywhere you go you discover other places that you can visit but you would need a lot longer than the 5 weeks we have to see everything.
From Douglas it was a straight run down the highway to Katherine where we re-stocked our groceries and bought a quick lunch before pushing on to Mataranka. We had heard positive mentions of a place called Bitter Springs there which had a more natural setting with the swimming areas, and after our bat episode the last time at Mataranka we decided to try this location. We rang to book a site but they don't take bookings hence the rush to get there and when we arrived about 4 the place was looking pretty full (those grey nomads are quick when they want to be) but we noticed that people were walking down the road to where the springs were. It seems the swimming location was quite a bit further away from where they camp than we thought. So we decided to head towards the same place we stayed before but this time a tarp would go over the top of the camper to avoid the yellow spots that the bats leave behind.
Chantelle didn't forget this place and was wanting to go straight to the warm water, so with flotation vest, noodle, goggles and watever else she wanted to take we where off. Some other kids were down there so before long she had made a new friend and was having a great time for a while before mean old dad told her it was time to go back (with the promise she could come back in the morning).
 
Monday - Mataranka to Renner Springs
Well guess what about those bats? They decided to stay away this time. It must of been because we bothered to put the tarp up. Not complaining though but Fiona did want to film them on her iphone.
As promised to Chantelle, she got to have another swim in the morning before we headed further south along the highway, but only for a short way as we made a quick detour to visit the cemetery where some of the characters from the book 'we of the never never' are buried. Some were young when they passed away from disease while others lived longer only to have their lives taken by accident eg. one person died aged 68 by drowning in the river.
 

 

Next stop was for lunch at Daly Waters again with the slight thought we might camp there for the night (maybe it was all the bras hanging in the bar that attracted Fiona to this place). But once lunch was had we drove past the caravan park near the pub and it was pretty full already, and it was only 2.30pm (those speedy grey nomads again). Those that were there were crammed in pretty close to each other so I'm glad in a way we pushed on, but the pub would have been a great place that evening.

Final destination for the day ended up being Renner Springs. Not the flashiest place going, and camped pretty close to the highway but it would do for the night. It's funny though, in that all the driving you do up here and different places you go, that you often bump into the same people. We were walking to the shop to get Chantelle an ice cream when this lady waved at us who we didn't recognise at first, but the family ended up being those camped next to us in Kakadu who were from Switzerland on holidays. We had a good chat with them and wished them well for the rest of their holiday as from tomorrow we would be headed in different directions.

 

Campsite at Renner Springs

Road train lights under a stary sky

 
Tuesday - Renner Springs to Barkley Homestead
As we made it so far down the highway yesterday, we went a bit further south to visit Tennant Creek which is about 25km past the turnoff to head back to Qld. Fiona checked her lonely planet book on the place and found a good spot for morning tea. It called Nyinkka Nyunyu and is a cafe and art gallery place which we would recommend if passing through. Some of the dot paintings they had were beautiful but pricey, so they stayed hanging there but a couple of little things ended up in a bag travelling home with us.
Filled the car up With fuel and next stop was Barkly Homestead for the night. When we passed through here on the way up Chantelle and Brett found a bird aviary where they had a couple of red tailed black cockatoos. There was a sign on the cage which Chantelle asked to be read and it said "caution - cocky bites". From that point on whenever she spotted a black cockatoo she always said 'look, it's a caution cocky bites'. Ah the innocence of youth.
We enjoyed this place as the camp sites were well away from the road and the fact Chantelle managed to find 2 new friends within 3 minutes of getting out of the car.
A sign near the entry to the servo / shop explained that some prices here are as high as they are is because they need to run generators 24 hours a day which uses 500l of diesel each day. Certainly a different lifestyle to what we take for granted in the city.
 

Nyinkka Nyunyu

The joy of the Northern Territory highways

 
 
Wednesday - Barkley Homestead to Lawn Hill
I imagined that this would be a fairly uneventful day as we headed back into Qld and up to Lawn Hill to camp at Adels Grove. The drive across the Barkly Tablelands was into the wind the whole way which didn't please some of the caravan drivers but before too long we were pulling into Camooweal for lunch. Chantelle found a horse nearby which she wanted to pat, so over the road we went to visit the 'pony' as she now calls all horses. Fortunately she hasn't asked for one at home yet.
 

 
About 75km down the road from Camooweal is the turn off to Burketown which you take to head towards Lawn Hill. The first part is still bitumen and it's along this road while Fiona was having a snooze when we drove passed our first live snake on the road. A quick u turn and as we pulled up it stopped to check us out before retreating to the safety of the scrub. Fiona said it was the first time she had seen a snake in the wild like that and it was certainly different than what you see in the zoos.
From here the road soon turned to dirt but a lot was still good enough to still maintain 80-100km, although a few things slowed us down like creek crossings, dips and the odd big tumbleweed which was in the middle of the road (see picture).
 

Ummm....ok. Whose bright idea was it to plant this here.

 
Well after about 170km of dirt road and crossing the Gregory River twice we were pulling into Adels Grove hoping that they weren't booked out. Fortunately they had spots but there wasn't many left, but we managed to find a good flat spot near the showers. There are 2 camping sections here, one for those with generators or pets up the top area and the other for those who like the quiter life down near the river known as the Grove. Down here it's lovely and shaded and they allow campfires which is always a positive. It was fairly late by the time we arrived so we will be checking the place out tomorrow as well as Lawn Hill national park and gorge.
 
We did have a laugh shortly before we got to Adels Grove. While driving along the dirt we saw plenty of birdlife including a few large eagles and quite a few large flocks of budgies which would zoom across in front of the car. Fiona joked about how maybe we should become bird watchers and we started making funny bird calls in the car. Shortly after we crossed the Gregory River we could see this guy standing on the edge of the track, and guess what. He had the binoculars around his neck looking up into the tree. He looked like Harry Butler (those old enough to remember him) and didn't even look at us as we passed to say hello. In fact just as we got to him the binoculars went up as he wasn't taking his eyes off that bird. Maybe it was the rare 'crested red breasted tit' that caught his eye. We will never know as that was the end of our bird watching thoughts. Apart from a few more silly bird calls.
 
Today was also the day we took the last of our frozen meals out of the freezer. For those that don't know Fiona did lots of cooking in the lead up to the trip and froze the meals (18 i think) so that all was needed was to thaw one out and heat it up. Adding it to some rice or pasta or veggies made life so much easier and yummier. Some of the dishes were chilli con carn, curried mince, apricot chicken, curried prawns, beef stroganoff etc.
 

Fiona with the last 2 frozen meals.

 

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