7 months of Bulldust

The last leg……. And some final musings

callwill — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:54:00 GMT

As Ethan mentioned in his last epistle we have been taking a leisurely sojourn down the eastern seaboard, and since the last update we have stopped at St Helen’s Beach, Byfield State Forest (beautiful campsite but was inhabited by swarms of hungry march flies – obviously very confused however as it is September NOT March!), Agnes Waters (near 1770), and a brief lay over in Gympie to re-charge and re-stock supplies before heading to Inskip Point for a final week of “holiday” camping before heading home.

I cannot believe that 7 months are nearly over. In the beginning 7 months stretching out in front of us seemed like it would take forever, and yet it has passed us by in what seems like a blink of an eye. It is probably therefore an important opportunity to be a bit reflective about the trip as a whole in this blog, and there are some important messages and learning’s to pass along!

Ours is a spectacularly beautiful, diverse and large country, and it has been an incredible and wonderful experience to travel around it’s perimeter (with the odd foray into it’s interior).
We are a dry, dry continent. Academically, I am sure we all knew that before setting out, but a trip like this one has certainly highlighted that you don’t need to travel far from the coast (particularly in WA) to find the land dry, brown, dusty and crunchy underfoot, & sparsely populated by skinny unhappy looking cattle. Of course, even in such harsh arid areas if we took the time to get out of the car and looked there was amazing examples of beauty and flora.
Again, although we knew there was a reasonable amount of mining in WA and QLD academically, this trip has highlighted just how much of Australia is being mined. I won’t add any further on that issue…. Could occupy lots of space.
Our animal and bird life in Australia is as diverse and spectacular as our country. And, if you are quiet, still and watchful you are lucky enough to see it!
It is my observation that it is easy for people (including me) to travel without really seeing. But this trip has been a constant reminder to be in the moment…to be still ….. and really ‘see’ where we are, enjoying everything that each location and experience has to offer.
Whilst I would recommend this type of adventure to everyone, it is probably important to invest in a ‘Steve’ or equivalent model. Steve has been the one who researched foreign concepts (to me) such as 4 WD capability, recovery gear, modifications to camping gear and car, power sources, lighting, uhf radio, eperbs etc etc. All the specialist knowledge that made this trip safely possible, and even, dare I say it …. Comfortable.
I believe there should be some mandatory requirements for those folk wishing to travel such as: a) Completion and annual reaccreditation in the “Burying my own excrement course for beginners”!!!!! It has not ceased to amaze me that when toilets are not provided or when folk have not purchased their own chemical toilet, that they do not take responsibility for appropriately burying their business!

b) Certification in campground etiquette. Which includes such gems as noise, and intrusive behaviour.

c) Completion of training in “ You Carry It In – You Carry It Out”. A short course in rubbish removal and disposal.

d) Accreditation in 4WD courtesy. Including topics such as: when to wave; and … when approaching another vehicle on a dirt road …SLOW DOWN and move to the left to protect both of your windscreens! Etc.

Having said all of the above (somewhat tongue in cheek), can I also add, that by far and away we have met marvelous wonderful people on the road. Great characters, story tellers, and genuinely nice folk. Young people, international backpackers, couples, families, retiree’s from all walks of life. Invariably they have been interesting, friendly, cheerful, a font of knowledge, and fun to be around. We are privileged to have had the opportunity to meet them all and to share some of their tall tales but true.

Finally, a trip like this one reminds us of the things we hold dear. You,…. Our family and friends, and the life that we have created in our little corner of the world.

Thank you all for sharing our trip with us. A trip like this could be quite lonely away from you all, but knowing that you were reading along with us, and getting the occasional message really helped us to feel connected with you all.

See you soon!!!!

(we are already planning the next trip!!)

Ethan - Meandering down the eastern sea board

callwill — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:52:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

It was excellent today to log onto the blog and find comments from; Ella, Nick, Amelia, Leia, Beck, Myah, and Eva! Thanks so much for the messages.

Like you guys I am sort of counting down till school holidays as mum makes me do school work 4 mornings a week……. Only 1 week to go.

I have been doing heaps of swimming in the sea at Bingil Bay, where I also watched an episode of “lost in space” with another family we met there. Lost in space was on TV ages ago when my mum and dad were young and it was really funny. In it was a smart brave robot and a funny doctor who was very lazy and blamed the robot for anything that went wrong. If you get a chance you should watch an episode - it made me laugh.

At Bingil Bay there were loads of coconut palms and everyday we were there dad would crack open the coconuts so we could drink the milk and eat the coconut meat. It was yummy – but made your jaw ache a bit with all the chewing.

Since we left Bingil Bay we have visited Cardwell, - where there were two beautiful big roosters up in an old cottonwood tree beside the water when we had morning tea, they kept crowing while mum and dad had their coffee. We had to camp at a caravan park in Bowen that night because we needed to charge up the batteries and fill up with water. It had a great pool so I went swimming again of course!! During the day today, we went to Airlie Beach, and tonight we are back camping beside the beach at St Helen’s Campground which is sort of near Mackay.

At this beach there are loads of migratory wading birds – so we have been looking them up in the bird book to work out what sorts are here.

Enjoy the last week of school everyone, See you all soon!

Cheers

Ethan

Photos: Camping at Bingil Bay

callwill — Tue, 7 Sep 2010 14:16:00 GMT

Mission Beach / Bingil Bay

callwill — Tue, 7 Sep 2010 14:14:00 GMT

Afraid we didn’t get all that far after leaving Cairns – we seem to have slowed down the rate of travel enormously – perhaps a hidden desire to eke the last out of our holiday before arriving home. We are staying at Mission Beach – a popular destination with holiday makers as it is beautiful. However, always keen to avoid any possibility of crowds we are staying at another small council operated camping ground at Bingil Bay that only takes up to 8 campers at any one time. It has basic but functional facilities of toilet, shower and potable water and we are camped right on the beach. The campground lies at the end of a road that only leads to this camp area and it is surrounded by dense World Heritage Rainforest that meets the beach. We have been watching Ulysses butterflies dancing around the tree canopy and keeping our eyes and ears peeled for the illusive Cassawary but so far no luck.

Walks along the beach, swimming, music and rest , with the odd game of beach volleyball or cards in the evening is how we are spending our time in this wonderful idyllic corner of the world. aah the serenity!

Photos: The Daintree and Cape Tribulation

callwill — Tue, 7 Sep 2010 14:06:00 GMT

Ethan – The Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

callwill — Tue, 7 Sep 2010 14:05:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

I thought I would tell you about our trip up to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. This area has been flooded on and off over the past week or so, but it was fine when we went to visit…… it did rain, but it is a rain forest so I guess that is to be expected.

We had to cross the Daintree River on a vehicular ferry which cost $21.00 for a return trip with our car. The swallows were really cool to watch as they duck and wove around the ferry as we made the crossing.

We went for lots of walks through the rainforest, but the walks were almost always on boardwalks – you can imagine how impossible it would be to walk through the forest here as it is so dense and wet. The Daintree forest covers an area of about 1200 square kilometers stretching from the Daintree River to Cooktown. It is really amazing. It is one of the most complex tropical ecosystems on earth and is estimated to be between 150 and 200 million years old. From a total of 19 primitive flowering plant families on earth, 12 of them are found in the Daintree. There is magnificent scenery, mountain ranges, fast flowing streams, waterfalls, deep gorges, dense rainforest plus beautiful white sandy beaches and reefs along the shore line.

We went to the Daintree Discovery Center where we did lots of walks and climbed a 6 storey tower in the centre of the forest. Along the way we had an audio guide that you could listen to information about the rainforest, it’s plants, birds and animals at each numbered spot. You could even plug in a number to listen to various bird calls, and check to see which bird you were listening to. In the information center in the middle there were displays and documentaries on all sorts of topics like: climate change, dinosaurs, local animals and plants and aboriginal culture in the area. I liked to watch them too.

Mum really wanted to see a Cassawary in the wild – but we didn’t, however we did see a Wompoo Pigeon, and a Torrisean Imperial Pigeon and that was cool.

On our way back to the ferry we stopped at the Daintree icecream company where they grow the fruits to make some pretty unique icecream flavours. We had tubs with four flavours in:

Wattle seed

Sourfruit

Mango, Banana & guava

And Raspberry.

Both mum and dad liked the wattleseed best because they said it tasted like coffee – I didn’t really like it much.

Hope everyone is well, I am still having a really good time but I am looking forward to seeing everyone again soon. Thanks to Piper, Charlotte and Chelsey for sending a message to me on the blog

Bye

Ethan

Photos: More Undera Lava Tubes

callwill — Sat, 4 Sep 2010 09:18:00 GMT

Photos: Cairns and surrounds

callwill — Sat, 4 Sep 2010 09:12:00 GMT

Cairns and Surrounds

callwill — Fri, 3 Sep 2010 14:22:00 GMT

In Cairns we are staying at Palm Cove, one of the Northern beaches about 20k from the centre of Cairns. This area is chock full of 5 star resorts, day spa’s and restaurants where those flush with $ can enjoy a luxury holiday on this beautiful beach – BUT, tucked right next to these stately complexes snuggles a small quaint council operated camp ground on absolute beachfront. (I have no doubt the developers would be constantly harassing council to get hold of this parcel of land). So here we are rubbing elbows with the rich and famous for $17 a night!!!! We can sit under the palm trees surrounding our tent, sipping something cool, playing guitar, and watching the waves roll into the shore – bliss!

From our base here at Palm cove we are exploring the surrounds of Cairns. We have spent time with friends at the township of Kuranda (a vibrant little villiage filled with artists and musicians high on the range in dense rainforest. – The kuranda markets are colorful, noisy and exciting, and the organic foods and wines are wonderful).

Last night we had a spectacular dinner with new friends Kylie and Bruno - and their beautiful seal point siamese boys. We were all filled fit to burst with wonderful food, wine and great conversation - I now understand when our guests at home groan at the thought of trying to fit in more food!

Explored Mareeba (Big coffee growing area!!!!), the Atherton Tablelands, visited the Tolga woodworks which has the most amazing hand made timber artwork, and visited the Daintree Rainforest. The Daintree rainforest is thought to be the oldest continuous rainforest in the world at between 150 and 200 million years old, and its diverse plant and animal life is amazing. (In comparison the Amazon is merely a spring chicken at about 7 million years.) Still having a ball but the end of this trip is growing ominously nearer…… Wonder if I can extend my leave?????

Undera Lava Tubes National Park

callwill — Fri, 3 Sep 2010 14:07:00 GMT

We have stayed for a few days at the Undera Lava Tubes National Park. This area has only fairly recently (about 10 years ago) been declared a National Park area, previously it was 3 large cattle stations all owned by the one family. Apparently after lengthy negotiation the owners retained the right to provide the only camping (and other) accommodation in the park, and had the sole right to provide tours to the lava tubes for the next 10 years.

It is interesting as this is the only National Park we have come to where there are large areas of the park that are “out of bounds” unless you are part of an organized tour group. Having said that however it was certainly well worth seeing the Lava Tubes – which are huge tunnels and caves that have been formed by lava that flowed through the area about 200,000 years ago. We all found this area extremely interesting, and enjoyed our stay here immensely.

Photos: Undera Lava Tubes National Park

callwill — Fri, 3 Sep 2010 14:07:00 GMT

Photos: Karumba and the car eating cows

callwill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:48:00 GMT

Photos: Normanton

callwill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:43:00 GMT

Photos: Views of Mt Isa

callwill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:40:00 GMT

Normanton and Karumba and a new breed of car eating cow's!

callwill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:39:00 GMT

After spending a few days at Mt Isa in a caravan park (which was absolutely chockers, not just with travelers but also with men, women and families employed in the mining industry), we wended our way up to Normanton and Kurumba for a few days stay. We camped at Kurumba Point which apparently had a telegraph link to Cardwell established way back in 1876 when gold was discovered in nearby Croydon, (though at that time it was apparently called Norman Mouth) – so this area has been settled for quite a long time. The local aboriginal name of Kurumba was later adopted as the official name.

There is a permanent population of around 600 people – though this swells during the dry, as the 3 caravan parks and various hotels and motels fill up with folk seeking warmth, relaxation and great fishing during the winter months. Many of the visitors seem to set up for the 3 months of winter in very established looking campsites.

In town, the Raptis and Sons building opens to the public each day to sell freshly caught (and very reasonably priced) fish and prawns. Our first night here saw us feasting on kilo’s of giant cooked prawns, & drinking cold beer (steve) …… followed by immediate showers as we were all covered in juice!

The Barramundi Discovery Center is also in town and is the only hatchery that breeds the Gulf strain of Barramundi for release into the Gulf river system and dams. They run tours daily where you can check out and learn about the fish and its breeding requirements – and even feed a 20kg Barra (which seems a tad wrong as it should be the Barra which is feeding me!!) We have also enjoyed a feed of “barra & chips” – at ‘Ash’s’ the town chippery and apparently renouned for being the best fish and chips in Australia… and we concur….. it was pretty damn good.

The wetlands around here are full of birdlife, and the Brolgas are everywhere, including roadside flocks which take to the wing as we rattle past.

Normanton has some great old buildings which I will try to upload photo’s of. The Burns Philp & Co building was built in 1879 and is a really wonderful historic piece of architecture. It houses the visitor information centre and library which seems appropriate. The Carpentaria Shire Council building was built in 1883 using locally made bricks at a cost of 1000 pounds. The local Westpac building was great too. Originally the bank of NSW it was built in 1886, and at that time apparently Normanton boasted five banks – Westpac is the only one left. I also loved the big purple pub aptly named “the purple pub” – which given it’s wonderful color was guaranteed to be a hit with me!

The other unavoidable icon in Normaton is Krys the Savannah King, a lifesized replica of the largest esturine crocodile ever shot in the world. It measured 8.6 meters long, with a girth of 4 meters and a weight estimation of 2 tonnes. It was shot in the Normanton River by Krystina Pawlowski, (she and her husband Ron were famous crocodile hunters in the 1950’s ). This was one enormous crocodile, and I will load up some photos of the croc replica with Ethan lying in its open mouth – just to give you some sense of scale.

We were then off and on the road again, along the road today we found a wonderful “cow on road” warning sign, which really looks like they have a terrorizing herd of car-eating cows in northern QLD. I have loaded up the sign so you can see what I mean. However, just after we passed the sign we came across a family droving some cattle along the road edge….. given we had just seen the warning signs about this frightening new breed of vehicle eating bovines we crept past very carefully so as not to incite their insatiable appetites for automotives!!!

Photos: Camooweal Caves National Park

callwill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:30:00 GMT

Camp Crawford and onto Camooweal Caves National Park

callwill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:28:00 GMT

After arriving at Cape Crawford and filling up with fuel at the “Heartbreak Hotel” we continued on and camped off the side of the road in Downs country. There are no trees, and it is sooooo dry here. Lots of large steers came to visit our camp the next morning before we headed off, and Ethan tried out his ‘mooing’.

Today we helped out a nice elderly gent who had run out of petrol and was stuck beside the road in his old converted mini bus that he had bought for $100 4 years ago. Unfortunately we don’t carry any petrol being a diesel car – so we drove into Barkly Station to fill his Jerry can and returned it to him. As he had no cash we were given some lovely frozen Barramundi fillets instead.

The next day we crossed into Queensland!! Ethan was very happy that he is back in his home State. Over night we camped beside a river in Camooweal Caves National Park, and explored the Caves before heading for Mount Isa the next morning.

Photos: Lorella Springs Cattle Station

callwill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:24:00 GMT

On to Lorella Springs Cattle Station.

callwill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:22:00 GMT

After a therapeutic lunch we headed off to Lorella Springs Cattle Station. This place is amazing. It is over 1 million acres of wilderness gulf country, and the owner Rhett has no idea how many head of cattle he runs. The station predominately consists of untouched NT remote coast line, river systems, water ways, huge chasms and gorges. There are wetlands, swamps, thermal springs. You could stay here for 6 months and not see everything – but we have to just cram in as much as we can into our 2 or 3 days.

There a lots of places to visit on 4 WD tracks throughout the property, and as long as you let Rhett know where you are headed you can camp where you like. At one place you can feed the 6 foot long groper that comes in each after noon for a treat. There is an amazing collection of people here and we have been having some fascinating discussions. At 4.30pm each day, everyone meets at the homestead for “happy hour”, and food is cooked on a roaring fire in camp ovens. Current guests who are ornithological experts and a National Park Ranger has discovered a whole new bird never before seen in Australia – here at Lorella Springs Station. The bird watching is incredible, and there are frogs everywhere.

One of the other guests is a motor mechanic, and he has agreed to rivet the roof rack back on (there goes the mobile), Rhett is letting us use the station workshop for the job at a small cost.

We have done 4WD drives out to wildfire gorge, and emerald pools – both lovely. It is great to come back to camp at the end of the day where a hot shower awaits. There are these terrific ‘choofers’ made out of 44 gallon drums and car radiators to heat up the water! You do have to watch out for frogs everywhere in the showers and toilets, and last night a beautiful olive python was happy to join me in the shower as well – no doubt after the frogs.

When we went to pack up camp we opened up the trailer to find a number of frogs settled in happily inside eating mossies – infact further down the road when we stopped for coffee – one hopped grumpily out of the coffee pot!

Photos: The Lost City

callwill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:18:00 GMT