Sunday 4th September Tully Gorge – Mt Fox
It rained all night, but what a place. Have been nursing a headache since Noah's beach – think it might be the weather. Despite the mist, rain etc. you can't help but be moved by the beauty of it. Couldn't handle it for long though. Watched a couple not far away pack up their tent (Tassie number plates) in the wet. Hmmm, although we are wet as well, glad we don't have a tent or a manual camper. I know it is my warped sense of humour, but long raincoats with shorts underneath does look funny. We'd cooked inside last night, and had enough water to make coffee inside as well, oh what a treat. Eventually set off further up the gorge, the trees becoming more and more like sticks with ivy on them. At the top we found a hydro electric plant and a white water rafting group of guides waiting for their 'tourists'. We stopped and chatted in the fat israeli weather. No, it doesn't stop up here apparently, this is the norm. Well, I guess for a hydro electric plant and white water rafting to be here, there has to be rain. Now I know I am 'growing up' (no, not getting old) because 20 years ago I would have been begging Malcolm please please can we join in as well. But I was quite content to chat and watch, and very glad to get back into a nice dry Dmax and head back down the gorge. The tour guide confirmed to me that the bare tree trunks were indeed all that was left of the rainforest before Cyclone Yasi hit earlier this year, in fact where we standing which was very open and exposed had been completely undercover of the forest. Driving back down the gorge and now knowing that these 'strange' trees were indeed the result of the cyclone impacted me all the more. Whew, what a scarey, noisey, catastrophe it must have been. The guide, a local from Mission Beach, reckoned it would take 50 years for the upper storey of the forest to return to its former size. Next on the list of 'falls' to visit was Australia's highest, Mullaman Falls . If I thought we had found Henry's No.1 drive before this one out did it. More devastation as we wound our way up and up. Then suddenly we seemed to be out of the rainforest 'stalks' and into gum trees. How interesting. Didn't think we would ever get there, but we did, and were rewarded with a feast for the eyes. I always think when it is wet and grey it is a real bummer, but in this case it meant the falls were surrounded by swirling mists, ever changing. So although it wasn't really the type of weather to lounge around and take it in, we made our lunch and walked out on to the viewing platform, and it was well worth it. One of the most common sights we have seen all the way from Perth is the amount of, mostly, cow poop in the middle of the road. And even driving up here, yes you guessed it, poop, in the middle of the road. Mind you, one side of the road, was the upside of the mountain, the other side was a vertical drop so where else would you poop,but why do the cows want to go up there (over 700m) – I thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, not at the top of the mountain. Michael had commented earlier in NT that these Brahmin cows looked gormless. Anyway, back down the mountain through Trebonne, near Ingham and back up another mountain to Mt Fox. Another rewarding drive – this was all with a view to keep away from the coast and tourist areas. This certainly was a locals only drive and we loved it. Found Mt Fox to discover it was called Mt Fox Crater. Eventually found somewhere to camp after driving around the mountain, literally. Nipple Hill. I guess we were up on a plateau, and up rose this pointed mound. Took quite a while to find a level spot – think Djan is shrinking, at least it is not opening out fully, the floor is at a slight angle and the supporting legs aren't quite long enough to reach the ground, so we have to park with Dmax on the level, but against a slight rise to lower Djan on to. (hopefully it will get fixed next week).
Monday 5th September – Mt Fox to Charters Towers
Climbing boots on first thing and up the 'nipple' we climbed. Over 800mt at the top. A bit of a steep scramble over lots of loose lava rocks and scrubby bushes. Once at the top we looked down into the 'crater'. Headache not improving, and the gusty wind not blowing the 'cobwebs' away, but it was worth it for the view. A long drive into Charters Towers. What a quaint, very historical town. Missed the op shop, closed at midday, as we first had to visit O'Brien's windscreen repairs. One of the hundreds of road trains thundering towards us had kicked up a stone and we had quite a chip. Lunch in a nice park with a vege van on the side. He was from Atherton, so we had a nice chat and stocked up on some Tablelands grown veges and fruit. Ended up camping a few Kms to the East of town, after a fruitless 150Km circle of a wild goose chase trying to find a Basalt Wall in a NP. The free camp out of town, was just beside a nice river but sandwiched in between a railway line and the major road out of town at which there were roadworks.
Tuesday 6th September – Charters Towers – Theresa Creek Dam, Nr Clermont
Not a quiet night. Top that off with the worst stage of headache (most painful laying down) I was rather fragile and grumpy in the morning. Managed to get going somehow – chauffeur keeping out of my way :-). Back roads again, which normally we prefer, but doesn't make coping with the headache any easier. We made our way to Burdekin Dam. Although it was an official campsite, it was quite deserted, and I wished we had pushed on yesterday and spent the night here. A huge dam, (popular fishing spot) we will have to come back to QLD with a tinny. To get to the other side you actually drive across the bottom of the dam wall, quite unusual and visually dramatic. We eventually came to a place in the middle of nowhere that only seemed to have a little bush pub. (Will have to check with Michael if it is in the Pub 'Bible'). Chauffeur convinced me that a little tipple at lunch time might be just the medicine I needed – well it couldn't make things worse I decided so in we went. It turns out Mt Coolon was once QLD's largest gold producing area. It was one of those 'history' places, that had the obligatory tipsy local holding up the bar (not quite midday when we walked in). Turns out there was still a gold mine there and he was one of the workers!! Chauffeur was right, 2 ciders later, the medicine had numbed the worst of the headache and I felt well enough to be 'civil' again. Unfortunately it was still a long drive on bumpy roads to Clermont where we got directions to Theresa Creek Dam campsite. I had to chuckle, despite feeling most unwell, as the lady from Lancashire in the information centre asked me what scent I was wearing as I smelt so nice. Having been on the hot and dusty road for 2 months, the showers have been infrequent, and most nights come down to a bowl of water, and wet wipes in the morning with the occasional swim in a creek. She was quite amused when I told her it was my lemon myrtle insect repellent. We found Theresa Creek Dam, and no sooner had we set up than visitors arrived – the feathery kind. Lorikeets, obviously used to campers, alighted all over me much to my delight. They stood on the top of the kitchen cupboard, leaning over chauffeur as he sliced up our dinner. They would have been inside Djan if I had let them. After watching the kookaburras steal Trev's weetbix at Lake Tinaroo, I kept a watchful eye on them.
Wednesday 7th September – Theresa Creek Dam – Baralaba
Another bad night, feel absolutely exhausted, but feel like the headache monster is going to get back in its box today. This area of QLD is very much the 'gem' centre. A little south and we drove through Sapphire. Yippee, I found the quaintest Op shop and delighted the ladies in there when I told them I had a birthday party to go do and needed to find something smart to wear. I did find a $1 top so did chauffeur. We will wear them with pride to Bruce's 60th on Saturday. Further on we found Emerald. There is a huge painting on an easel (about 10 m high) in a park with a painting of Van Gogh's sunflowers, quite impressive. A few more groceries whilst chauffeur made some phone calls to find a dentist (he is missing half a tooth) and to book Dmax in for another service. Is it really 10,000 Km since Darwin. Spent the night at another water hole in Baralaba. The monster is back in its box, although the lid not quite shut yet. Anyone who suffers with headaches will know what I am talking about. Camped next to an old guy that seemed to know all the good camping hidey holes, so he advised us of a 'spot' for tomorrow night.
Thursday 7th September – Baralaba – Ban Ban Springs
Yippee, finally a proper sleep and I think the lid is locked. I am back in the land of the living and glad to be here. Chugging on through beautiful QLD, Banana, Theodore (where I washed my hair in the park in the middle of town), Cracow, Eidsvold. Who thinks of these names. Chauffeur thinks it must be a bible belt as we have only passed one pub (that was in Cracow and it was the only thing there). Eidsvold delighted me with a little op shop that had a pair of white trousers that fit me!!! So now I can go to the party with a 'new' top and trousers that don't need to be held up with a belt. Did have to pay $2 for them. Next stop was Gayndar which holds the title of Oldest town in QLD. Stuck between the choice of 2 pubs, one on each corner of the main cross roads in town, a passing local advised us which one to go to. As they had XXXX Bitter on tap chauffeur didn't complain, neither did I when I saw that they had cider on tap as well. We had to come for a drink as we needed small change. This is the roadside fruit stall area where they usually have honesty boxes. I don't think we would be believed if we were caught raiding one of these boxes for change for a $50 note so we could get a bag of oranges. Another op shop produced a nice pair of shorts for chauffeur and a pair of sandals for me. So far I have spent $9 on our 'party ware' and believe it or not they are all brand new! Hmm, Gympie tomorrow, wonder if an op shop will provide a $1 belt just in case my trousers get a bit loose. Ban Ban Springs is a gem. We are parked up on a level bit of grass (the odd cow poop around :-) and a fast running creek a stone's throw away. Another couple here assured me there are no crocs around, so we hightailed it into the water before the sun went down. Smartened my chauffeur up with a haircut and beard trim – we should look semi-respectable to catch up with Bruce and Judy tomorrow. Xxxx
Friday 10th – Friday 16th September
What a week, most of it under a proper roof :-) have had full coverage all the time and I haven't been near the comp. Arrived at The Farm. This is the 30 acres that Bruce and his sister, Lynn, grew up on. Lynn and her husband Greg now live here (in a beautiful new house that Greg built). Got here early afternoon and Greg took Malcolm out the back to choose a spot in the paddock to open up the camper. Slowly more friends and family arrived. What a great family, but it was very hard remembering names and who belonged to who. Especially as Judy went to school with some of Bruce's cousins. Lovely people. There is a train track not far away, so the trains trundled through during the night stirring childhood memories for chauffeur. By Saturday afternoon, there were more kids (Bruce's) and grandkids than you can shake a stick at. But being such a large place, verandah's on all sides, beautiful views, people just blended. It also meant there were plenty of hands to get involved in the roasting of the meat over a spit. It took a bit longer than planned, but there was so much food around no one was wasting away. Many people sleeping over, there must have been mattresses all over the floors, but we were tucked up snugly in Djan (chauffeur had to don beany as it was a crisp night). Djan also had company as another couple Fay and 'Slippo' came over in their huge bus and parked nearby. It was nice to check out someone else's 'home away from home'. They are more experienced than us and have spent years travelling. Alan (otherwise known as Slippo) had refurbished the inside of their home. Not only was he a diesel mechanic and had rebuilt all the engine/working parts, he was obviously a dab handyman with the furniture side of things as well. Fay was interested to check out our Djan and as she had worked for a company making marquees, could see why we were possibly getting leaks.
We eventually dragged ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning to find a huge BBQ breakfast underway. No chance of going hungry. By lunch time the numbers had dwindled to just 'family' and after a lunch of cold meats and salads, there was just a handful. Believe it or not we still found room to eat dinner, but it was an early night for most of us – 60 year olds just can't take the pace any more!
Bruce and Judy were leaving to fly back to Perth on Monday and after saying goodbye to them, we took our Djan down to the Travelander workshop, which unbelievably is 10 minutes away. Lynn and Greg have made us feel part of their family, and invited us to stay (under their roof – not in the paddock) whilst Djan is being repaired. After such a busy weekend, with so many people to cater for, I felt they must surely be glad to get rid of everyone and have their place back to themselves, but they are quite insistant we stay even though it looks like it might take until the end of the week before we can pick it up.
Tuesday Malcolm had a dental appt.. No problems, tooth fixed with no major drama. Talk about a small world, the receptionist there was from Lesmurdie – lived near the school that the boys had gone to on Falls Road. Drove up to Noosa Heads for a bit of a sticky beak, as we had been there over 27 years ago. Despite it being unrecognisable other than the mouth of the river, it is still lovely. At one point, chauffeur commented “Why are we living in Perth??” Talking about mouth's, the dentist must have thought chauffeur was a bull, and injected him with enough anesthetic to numb one for a week. Five hours later he was still dribbling and speaking as if he had been on the 'juice' all day. I wasn't very sympathetic, it was quite amusing. Our hosts, Greg and Lynn, are great company and obviously like minded – love the Ozzie bush, fishing, camping etc, so the evenings are spent swapping stories.
Wednesday, it was D'Max's turn for attention and we took him off for the 20,000km service. This time it was the Ford dealer who Isuzu sent their ute's to for work. After our 'experience' in Darwin, we were ready to be given a bit of a run around. But no, this mob have their act together and were very professional and experienced with Isuzu's. Know all about the squeal coming from the wheels (apparently a common fault, and a work in progress to improve it). We took the courtesy bus into town and spent the day meandering up the river. In fact had breakfast sitting along side a small creek and after throwing my prune stones into the water were amazed to see quite a lot of bream swimming around. Also what might have been a large mullet – 40/50cm long. The Maroochydore river mouth is an angler's delight, so many bays, sand banks, deep flowing channels, quite a few people fishing, so chauffeur chatted them up checking out what was biting etc. After half an hour lazing on the sand watching the surfing, dogs playing etc. we wandered up to the surf club for mornos. Greg had been an avid lifesaver in his earlier years (what young Ozzie lad living by the coast wasn't) and he had reminisced many of his mis-adventures as a lad. Surf clubs here are quite something – pokies, restaurant etc. Later on found us having a burger at the Pig and Whistle with a beer and a cider whilst watching one of the World Cup rugby games, before being picked up by our courtesy bus to collect D'Max.
Thursday, chauffeur was having 4x4 withdrawal symptoms so it was off to a beautiful forest about an hour's drive south of Woombye, and we ooooh'd and arrrr'd all day over the glass house mountains, views over dams, rolling green hillsides, rainforest, giant cedars, etc. Pictureque perfect. Driving back through Maleny and Montville we were enchanged by the unique little townships, touristy, but lovely all the same. Back 'home' in the evening for yet another lovely evening with our hosts.XXXX
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