The Last Post

6/7/16 - 9/7/16 The Last Post

Heading down inland though Charters Towers, Emerald, Roma & Toowoomba so a lot of backtracking again.

We were going to take a bit of time going down the coast but our daughter in law, on the 3rd revisit to hospital after having the baby, had major surgery (we’d have lost her if nothing was done) so we decided to head inland and get back ASAP to help them out. Trouble is Ray’s back doesn’t like the long days driving and they are becoming tedious so it’s taking a bit longer than possible.

So now we find ourselves back at the first stop on our way out, James Hedges Park 20k south of Toowoomba. The car’s brakes overheated and stopped working on the way down through the ranges so Ray had to use the caravan brakes to slow us down before running into the back of a truck, lots of traffic so nowhere to go. Needless to say it was a stressful few kilometres for him especially but he did a great job and got us here safely. We are early so Ray is washing the van (with our own water) while I finish this blog.

Next stop an overnighter between here and Sawtell then 1 week there to meet Isaiah and  spend time with the family.

11/7/16

We spent last night at New Italy, a place we have often passed but never called into. It’s our last free camp before going to Sawtell. We got the best spot on the bush side and went to visit the museum set up in recognition of the early immigrants who settled in the area. Very interesting and we found one of the daughters from one family married a McPhee, so will have to do some genealogy research and see where they fit into Kay’s family tree.

Beautifully restored sulky in one of the buildings at New Italy

Old carts out in the yard at New Italy

There is plenty to see and apparently good food and coffee (the cafe was crowded) and gift shop with some lovely things from Italy and Australia.

Now in Sawtell, meeting this gorgeous little bub 

and catching up with the rest of the family. Lovely to spend some quality time with these ones we don’t get to see often enough and why I’ve only just got to put this post up.

The scenery as we have travelled has been amazing and although the photos through the windscreen may not seem to change much the colours and landscape do tend to vary quite often. It’s just that there is so much land out here and so many kilometres between anything that I tend to tune out. I’ve got some knitting done when the road wasn’t too bumpy and I wasn’t trying to take photos or follow the maps, gps or wiki camps. It gets a bit crowded on my lap sometimes! Not to mention the swapping of sunglasses and reading glasses for the above activities.

I wanted to see if the mirage would photograph!

Colours of the soil change from newly ploughed fields
to those that were black soil when we went through 5 weeks ago and are now sprouting 

Having a caravan this time has been wonderful, except for losing hot water. So much easier than setting up the camper trailer, even though we’d had that down to a minimum. Having a place to eat in along the way was great. The car and van ran well apart from the warning light which drove Ray mad and was a worry that we might be causing more problems, hopefully that will be fixed next week.

Thanks to those who’ve encouraged me as I’ve been posting to this blog. It’s as much for me to remember in the future but it’s lovely to realise others are interested in our travels and great to have the opportunity to share photos of our beautiful, vast country.

Homeward bound

4/7/16

Better day, weather wise, today. 
Ray rang Cairns Land Rover and got someone who worked on Mercedes but would get the Land Rover person to ring us back, after waiting a few hours Ray rang again and only got an answering machine, leaving a message to say we were still waiting for the phone call and left his number again. 

Went for a drive to see a woodworking shop and one of the lakes here. The woodwork was fantastic with prices to match but so much work in them and beautifully made, some craft, jewellery and pottery by local artists for sale as well, so much talent. I had said that the couple we had met and played cards with, at Tomato Island, should see the display as she had just taken up woodturning in the last 12 months and he was getting into blacksmithing, combining their talents on some pieces. When we got back to Atherton we ran into them at the shops and told them about the shop, so were meant to see them again. They'd done a tyre and had to stay while one was ordered in.

We heard from Forster friends that they were driving around the Atherton loop from Cairns so met up with them for a coffee in town. Was lovely to catch up as we thought we might miss them with us moving along so fast.

We thought we'd try and get the van hot water service fixed in Cairns as well but seeing we are still waiting to hear from the Land Rover service dept. we decided to skip Cairns and start heading out to the coast and on to Sawtell. Our daughter in law is having quite a bit of medical trouble after the birth so we thought we'd get down there for early next week. Ray rang the Land Rover dealer in Coffs Harbour and they couldn't be more helpful, got all the details, looked up what it could be but no luck so booked it in for next Wednesday and have a gas fitter/plumber coming to the van at Sawtell next Wednesday. We thought, being the school holidays, we may not be able to get into the caravan park at Sawtell but had no trouble and have one of our usual sites from Tuesday so it's all working out and hopefully the problems can be fixed as we head on our homeward leg.

5/7/16

The drive through the mountains was beautiful this morning but sadly I couldn't get many photos. I think Ray found it a bit stressful, with warning coming on every 60 secs and the steepness of the drive but we got through to a van park north of Townsville. Went in search of water for Ray to throw a line in but they had high banks and muddy shores and looked like good spots for crocodile attacks. Went on into the city and a look at the 'ocean' then back to the van park for a rest and to work out our stops on the way down the coast.

Leaving the mountains in the clouds

Sugar cane as we get down onto the plains again.
I never knew there were flowers on sugar cane

Water falling

Yesterday's post wouldn't let me add the following photos in the correct place so here is what we faced as we drove into the Atherton Tablelands 

and the van after a lot of dirt and a bit of rain 

3/7/16

Washing done and on the line but not looking like it's going to dry as we're getting light spitting every now and then. We head off to do the waterfall trail from Milaa Milaa regardless.

First stop Malanda and a look through the historic museum, then onto the falls at Malanda

The 1967 flood must have been devastating, as the photo below was taken from ground level about 50m from the shelter

Pity it wasn't a hot sunny day or this
would have been lovely to swim in

On to Milaa Milaa and the waterfall circuit. The rain was more constant here in the rainforest area so difficult to get photos through the windscreen but the scenery is just beautiful, such an interesting area. The Nerada Tea plantation, dairy products, chocolate making, arts & crafts and nature walks are all a part of the attraction here.

 A couple of views through the windscreen that didn't focus on the raindrops on the windscreen!

Milaa Milaa Falls

Could only get a photo from the top of Zillie Falls as the track down to the bottom was steep and muddy 

Interesting fungi on a tree trunk at the beginning 

of the walk down to the bottom of Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

Lots of Dairy Cattle in the fields

 Not so much rain on our return to Atherton but it's cooled down a lot, such a change from the 34degree heat of last week.

Civilisation!

Some photos from the Gopro yesterday, a different angle of the river. The reflections were incredible, though the colours aren't quite right.

30/6/16

Found out last night that Kay’s mum had an accident at home, dislocating her good shoulder and breaking a few ribs, so we’re rethinking our path back home and were going to leave Adels Grove early but decided to continue heading to Normanton, still on bitumen, then across to the coast and keep moving down.

We had time to discover the park here at Adels Grove this afternoon. 

Some of what the wet season leaves behind

Trees down and debris blocking part of the river

Now we know why everyone kept telling us we’d love it and must come here. Where we are is no different and not as nice as some of the free camps we’ve had but down in the grove is beautiful. The river is lovely, not that we’ve braved a swim…yet and a wander downstream was interesting with the debris left behind after the wet season, then in the calmer waters, the reflections again are fantastic.

I don't think we've seen tadpoles since our kids were little,
there were hundreds in the shallows here.

1/7/16

Our plan today was to get to Normanton for a couple of nights so I could do some washing and visit Karumba but when we finally arrived in Normanton there was one powered site that needed an extra long power lead and we weren’t sure that both ours together would be enough and there were branches too low for our van, no water, so we had lunch on the road beside the airstrip and decided to go back to the Cairns turnoff and get to Blackbull Siding where the Gulf lander train stops for morning tea each Wednesday on it’s way to Croydon, Qld. 

Lucky to catch this photo, they move too quick for me usually

The road keeps changing from a single lane to two way every couple of kilometres and the colour of the soil and the vegetation changes all the way along the road.

The railway tracks at Blackball Siding.
An interesting little place to stop for the night

Seemed such a long day of driving but the free camp is big with a few vans, a campfire tonight along with damper provided by one of the other campers. Lovely and quiet again and free!!

2/7/16

Set off at sunrise today towards Atherton, where we'd booked the last site available at one of the caravan parks. Another long drive around 500ks all up today.

Lucked out with the last site left in the caravan park, we're back from the vans either side and have this view out the back at Atherton

A quick stop at Croyden, then morning tea at Georgetown and lunch on the side of the road where there was a bit wider roadside, after not seeing one break spot along the road from Georgetown then saw about 4 or 5 not long after we started again, after lunch.

This river would be spectacular in the wet season but completely dry now

Views from the windscreen today

The wattles and trees are taller as we get closer to the Tablelands

Even the termite mounds changed shape

A bit of an up and down drive through hills as we neared the Atherton ranges. Such a beautiful site after such a long time of dry pastures and termite mounds and coloured soil, the green of the Tablelands is so refreshing. Clouds building for the first light rain (spits really) since the day we set off in a deluge. All this rain has done is make the dust run down the van and make mud. We're staying here for 2 nights, maybe 3 if we can. There seems to be so much to see here.

The roadside getting greener

The wind farm near Ravenshoe, very impressive as we drove over the hill