|
June |
Friday the 1st of June |
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Heading for the hills |
Hills from Newell Highway |
Driving
through Coonabarabran |
The sky was becoming very dull and unfortunately they have predicted rain for the next three days something that we wish we could avoid. The highway was now flat and the going was easy with farms both cotton, wheat and beef following the highway along with the yellow box gum and the cyprus pine. We finally arrived at Narrabri and first stop was at the Coles Shell Roadhouse where they took both Coles and Woolworths discount dockets so we went in and did a top up at $1.53.9 cents a litre and as was 12-30 pm we pulled into Cameron Park and had our lunch. It was a nice little park with ample shelters and toilets etc beside a river. We were there for over an hour before getting back on the highway. We have no desire to reach Moree today even though it is only 100 kilometres away. |
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Cameron Park Narrabri |
Loading wheat Edgeroi |
Galahs
waiting for grain at Edgeroi |
Again the going was flat and traffic had dropped off,
we were looking for a spot to park up for the night close as we could
to Narrabri so as to get television, about 20 kilometres up the road
we spotted wheat silo's in the distance so we thought we would check
them out. |
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Newell Highway to Moree |
Train loading near Moree |
Bridge
on Gwydir Highway |
Saturday the 2nd of May |
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Main Street Inverell |
A deserted Glenn Innis |
Lions
Park Rest Area |
We came across farms with beef and cattle which was
higher up the mountains. A first for me for I have never seen sheep
put into turnip paddock to feed only cattle so there you go! At 12-30
pm we arrived at Inverell who boast a population of 12000 residents.
We parked up and noticed they had all the major supermarkets Plus Best
& Less, Target and all the gift and bookstores. We walked three
blocks to KFC for lunch, their blocks were the equivalent to our two
blocks we couldn't believe how far we had to walk and just as well for
our lunch we had the three piece dinner box plus a large chips. By the
end of the meal it was obvious that tonight's evening meal would only
be light probably just packet soup. |
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Climbing the Great Dividing Range | Warning! Steep Descent |
Sunday the 3rd of June |
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Peter Allen tourist centre |
Post Office Tenterfield |
Old
Buildings Tenterfield |
Even though overcast with a few sprinkles of rain we
donned our coats and went over to the Tourist information centre. The
first thing you see when you enter is the display indicating this is
the home town of the famous entertainer Peter Allan. There is a lot
of memorabilia that Allan has given to the centre in fact all the displays
in the centre are top notch. There is one display that alerts you to
the large German population in the early days of last century. There
were at least forty families listed and most were producing wine and
a few of the descendants are still producing wine today. |
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Coming down the pass |
Single lane bridge at Tabulum |
Coastal
waters near Byron Bay |
Monday the 4th of June |
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Sugar Cane alongside highway |
Entrance to tunnel |
In
Tunnel at Tugen |
It wasn't long before we were to see hectares and hectares
of Sugar Cane stretching back into the mountains. The traffic has picked
up and they were certainly in a hurry even going into the tunnels at
Tugan and out the other side. They were just completing this by pass
when we were here four years ago and it has made all the difference
rather than going through Tugan and then Tweed Heads then across the
border into Queensland and then onto bypass 87 into Dads place. |
Tuesday the 5th of June |
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Surfers Paradise High Rise Buildings | Tweed Heads High Rise Buildings |
Wednesday the 6th of June |
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Surfers awaiting right wave |
Burleigh Heads Beach |
Palm
Beach |
First up we went into the food hall to have lunch and
we chose to have Subway. Liz had a 6 inch and I had the 12 inch both
Moroccan with plenty of salad and toasted as well. They were very tasty
and filling and we washed them down with a cup of Fanta. Then into Best
for Less and the Big W where looked at the seat covers for the Motorhome,
we didn't like what we saw so just purchased some gas canisters; then
Liz went into the jewelery store to purchase ear rings. Then down to
Burleigh town to replenish the cash reserves and then onto the headland
to watch the surfers go through their paces. Unfortunately the swells
were not large though a bystander indicated when the tide changes the
swells would get larger and better for surfing. |
Thursday the 7th of June |
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Highway to Southport |
Entrance to Southport |
Mirage
Resort Southport |
Friday the 8th of May |
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Hi rise on Surfers beachfront |
Surfer's Paradise Beach |
Ibis
near Beach |
The first thing you notice is all the anti camping signs
threatening very large fines for camping overnight the second is the
amount of hi rise buildings placing shade across the beach for they
are built very near the beach. |
Saturday the 9th of June |
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Entrance to Metricon Stadium |
Supporters in the stands |
St
Kilda running through Banner |
We left home around 3-30 pm bound for the car park at
Robina to catch the bus. Helen gave us her sisters and brother in law's
Gold Coast Sons membership lanyard which entitled us to a free bus ride
to the Metricon Stadium and entrance to the game. It is a very nice
ground and surrounds they certainly have spent many millions of dollars
bringing the stadium and ground up to AFL standard. There were plenty
of people in attendance especially St Kilda supporters. We were sitting
in the Gold Coast Sons stand and had no compulsion in wearing my St
Kilda membership lanyard there were only a few who picked that I was
supporting the Saints. |
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Driving over the Gateway Bridge | Across bridge to Redcliffe |
Sunday the 10th of June |
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Liz inspecting Motorhome's |
Caravans on display |
Central
Loop Train |
We had a cuppa and caught up with the latest happenings
in Queensland and then went with Kerry and Julie to the Queensland Motorhome
and Caravan show at the Brisbane showgrounds. We drove to Sandgate and
discovered that trains were not running from there this weekend and
they had bus's on hand to move us. We arrived at Bowen Hill and then
walked down to the complex paying pensioner rate of $10 each for admittance.
Now where do you start, the show is so big and spread out over many
exhibition halls. So we just wandered and there were caravans of all
shapes and sizes and I was surprised to see how many they had sold this
weekend then onto the fifth wheelers and towing vehicles, camper trailers,
motorhome's and when we arrived at the Winnebago stand and inspected
what they had on offer we were more than satisfied with our layout,
that is with the exception of the Longreach 31. There were tents on
display of every kind and many camping goods no matter where you looked.
There were plenty of LED light displays and after selecting the light
that suited us we returned and made the purchase. This is to replace
the light fittings that use the old 21 watt globes. Not only are the
LED's much brighter they only burn 3.5 watts which is a battery power
saving. The LED'S are much dearer that other lighting and these were
certainly dearer than can obtained on the internet. |
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Canopy of trees over road |
Jetty at Redcliffe |
Walkway
to the point |
Monday the 11th of June |
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Glass House Mountains in distance |
Marina at Redcliffe |
Fishing
from the Spit |
Tuesday the 12th |
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Family having a meal at the RSL | Liz playing the poker machines |
It was decided that we would all go out for our evening
meal this evening so the whole family headed out to the RSL Club. On
arrival it was obvious that it was a popular place for meals and it
was very modern. The meals as such were excellent with Liz having the
assorted fish and chips and I opted for steak and kidney with proper
yorkshire pudding. The others had meals from the menu along with garlic
bread. All the meals looked good and there was plenty on the plate especially
for the price, |
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Leaving Caboolture |
Travelling through Kilcoy |
Huge
roadwork's on Blackbutt Mountain |
Wednesday the 13th of June |
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Sun
in all its glory rising over Benarkin Rest Area
New feature in the park looking very effective History
of Benarkin Railway Station |
Thursday the 14th of June |
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Driving up through Pine Forests |
Nanango wood cutter |
Heritage
building Nanango |
Out onto the highway and we were steadily climbing many
gear changes were required. We came across many small villages who appeared
to have the logging industry as there main income. There were many pine
forests that were on either side of the highway and when you reached
the top of some of the hills you could see the plantations stretching
out into the distance. We finally arrived at Nanango another town that
rely's on the timber industry. We parked up and decided to walk around
the town centre that was just off the highway. Here is a town that had
no vacant shops and looked to have a vibrant economy. There were many
statues in the streets depicting wood cutters and the same at the information
centre which is very modern. The information centre offers 24 hour touch
screen facilities for tourists, this is the first time we have experienced
this. |
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Camp site at Ban Ban Springs the home of the Wakka Wakka's seen gathering around the waterhole |
We noted that there were many semi trailers going south
carrying hay and many paddocks not only had this years hay they had
plenty of last years as well. We arrived at the rest area that we had
decided on and we thought it was not what we had in mind so we pushed
on for another forty kilometres. The road was much the same with plenty
of trucks and caravans heading north. We noted
that we had now entered the North Burnett region. We finally pulled
up at the Ban Ban Springs rest area where you can camp for 20 hours
and the bonus is the toilets. Signs state that this is the sacred site
of the Wakka Wakka's and is guarded by the rainbow serpent. And if I
have a happier than normal happy hour I may just see the rainbow serpent
during the evening. |
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Across the open plains |
Citrus Groves Gayndah |
The
big Orange at Gayndah |
Friday the 15th of June |
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B-Double climbing 9% ascent |
Mundubbera Rest Area |
Indigenous
centre Eidsvold |
We were to catch up with a B-Double cattle truck that
had passed us some time earlier. We were climbing a very steep incline
with no passing lanes and we were back in second gear due to the truck. |
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What type of trees are these? |
Barbecue area |
Ceratodus
Railway Station |
Saturday the 16th of June |
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Cropping country |
Cactus by the highway |
Lawgi
Rest Area |
Sunday the 17th of June |
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Good morning to you all |
Paddocks of trees for cattle |
Beautiful
countryside |
Monday the 18th of June |
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Banana the old drovers bull | Welcome to the Shire of Banana |
We were on the way at Midday towards our rest area for
the night. The going was good when we left Biloela and failed to take
photo's of the area. The land was still undulation though the motorhome
was handling what ever was thrown at in an easy manner. The countryside
is very green and we came across many hectares down to crops of some
description. There were plenty of cattle in the paddocks and for the
first time we saw the lovely silver/grey Brahman cattle laying around
in the shade of the trees for it is now 22 degrees and getting warmer. |
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Mullock hill from Coal Mine |
Dawson River Rest Area
|
We were coming up on Moura and about 10 kilometres out
we were to see the huge Mullock hills from the open cut coal mines.
Then the huge stacks of coal awaiting shipment to Gladstone and then
overseas. We were to see a train loading and the carriages went for
a considerable distance so they must drag many hundreds of tonnes to
the coal port. We did not stop in Moura for there was nothing that attracted
our attention so we continued on towards our rest area for the night
at Dawson creek which is only 7 kilometres from Moura. |
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Tazzie meet Pink Koala |
Beautiful countryside |
Massive
open cut mine |
Tuesday the 19th of June |
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Wattle flowering |
Early Settlers Hut |
Hectares
of Sunflowers |
At times we were driving through wooded areas and the wattle trees were flowering which looked nice. The road did not improve before we arrived at Rolleston. We pulled up near the park and went for a walk for we were both stiff from the roller coaster ride. We went in and looked at the displays of early settlers and a replica of the first bush huts of the area. Then down to the shop to buy a paper which was to no avail for they did not arrive until 1pm and we were not going to hang around just for a paper. As the town is very small there is not a lot to see so we headed off and took the turn on the Dawson Highway again towards Springsure. |
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Floods on way to Springsure | 4.5 metre wide load on Dawson Highway |
Once back on the highway we were to encounter road trains
carting coal to the rail station. Rolleston has a large open cut coal
mine though you cannot get into the place to view it in operation. We
came across signs that indicated that the road ahead had been undermined
by the recent floods and care should be taken due to the road works
underway. |
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Mountain range before Springsure |
Wide load Springsure |
Mountains
leaving Springsure |
Wednesday the 20th of June |
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Approaching Emerald from the east |
Bougainvillea's Emerald |
Cattle
Train near camp |
We enjoyed the scenery of the mountains on our left
with all their beautiful colours made even better by the blue sky and
sun shining on them, we were to pass them on flat ground and the highway
into Emerald again has several road works in progress though we didn't
lose any time. We were back into cropping country and we came across
a paddock of steers with very long twisted horns that we haven't seen
before in our travels. |
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Book stall across the road from us |
Wide load Emerald |
Roads
under construction |
Thursday the 21st of June |
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Farewell from Cappella |
Construction work on highway |
Entrance
welcome to Clermont |
Friday the 22nd of June |
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Coal conveyer Clermont | Cattle Road Train Belyando | Wattle
flowering in abundance |
About 10 kilometres out of Clermont we were to see a
reasonably new covered conveyer belt that no doubt transports coal for
shipment that followed the road for a distance before branching away
from the highway. We came across heavy machinery working on top of mullock
heaps and they were huge, that is machinery and the height of the mullock
heaps. |
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Crossing floodway | Welcome to Charters Towers | Entering
business district |
Saturday the 23rd of June |
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Town Hall Charters Towers | Beautiful Architecture | How
are these for rain gutters |
As we were walking around we noticed the large gutters
which means they must have plenty of water flowing when it rains we
do not wish to be here when it does. |
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Miners Museum | Is this house falling down | Two
bush pigeons at our camp |
We set up and out came the awning and though it is overcast
I am down to a singlet again though the shorts have still not made an
appearance. We had a late lunch and set up the satellite dish for once
again you could not receive digital television out here. We watched
the Western Bulldogs V Brisbane Lions football game for awhile and though
very tired the both of us read our books and spoke to our neighbors
for awhile. After our evening meal we watched the television and the
Essendon V Fremantle game though at half time we were both tired so
we went to bed and straight off to sleep |
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Fletcher Creek in flood | Liz lighting the fire | Our
camp Fletcher Creek |
Sunday the 24th of June |
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Gathered around the fire last night | Caricature of Liz and Jim |
Monday the 25th of June |
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Poor day around the camp | Kettle on the boil | Our
resident bird |
We had our lunch and sat out by the fire even though
it was drizzling rain ever so light. Then we had 45 minutes of entertainment
with the antics of the couple that arrived who were trying to maneuver
their caravan in the space about 30 metres away. It became that heated
that they both started to use the F word in a very loud tone. At one
stage the woman had a go of reversing though didn't last long. Then
finally parked up and the fun was still continuing as they blamed each
other for the length of time it took. I have to say I thought the bloke
was in the wrong due his continual provoking of his wife. I was of the
opinion that all he was doing was creating attention to himself. Then
it continued for the rest of the afternoon so much so we hopped in the
car and drove around the grounds and came across a few more Tassie's
and we chewed the fat. We were able to find where people we knew were
and who is travelling north. |
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Driving into rain | Back to single bitumen highway | Greenvale
Roadhouse |
Tuesday 26th of June |
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Onto gravel road & blue sky | Deeper floodway | One
of many floodways |
I noted that the GPS now said we had 490 kilometres
to go. So we took the turn and before we knew it we were on gravel which
I baulked at. I checked the GPS and yes in the avoidance's I had ticked
avoid unpaved roads. Here we were on a gravel road with no room to turn.
I reset the GPS and it still told us to take this road for 74 kilometres
as it wasn't a bad road we decided to push on. In all there were stretches
of corrugations though we were able to still maintain 80 kph. One thing
about it the scenery was magnificent and as we went along the road we
struck a lot of dust in front of us so I called on the UHF and found
we had a drill rig traveling in the same direction, he kindly pulled
up and we went past thanking him for good deed. We finally completed
the 74 kilometres and then the GPS told us to take a turn right towards
Mount Surprise. We did this and the first thing we noticed was the sign
that vehicles other than four wheel drives should have high clearance
to travel the road. This put us off and as we went down a bank I saw
room to turn so I parked up and walked down the road and found that
there was a floodway with about six inches of water running at a fast
pace over it. We turned back and went into the small town and came across
a fellow camper who was going to try with his four wheel drive and caravan.
We followed him and he crossed easily so we followed, now this road
was only 34 kilometres long and it was to take us as long as it did
to cover the previous 74 kilometres. We found more floodways with sandy
or rocky bottom not nice. However, we laboured on the motorhome was
taking it all in its stride though we will need to be careful when we
open cupboards. |
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Road through Rain Forest | Colourful Rain Forest | Koombooloomba
Dam and Floodway |
Wednesday the 27th of June |
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Fog blanketing Tully Falls | Falls coming down rain forest | Liz
inspecting small falls |
We drove back to camp retrieved the memory card and
then decided to go out to the Tully Falls and the Koombooloomba Dam.
It turned out to be a 70 kilometre return trip though it was well worth
the effort though the Suzuki is just a mess due to us having to drive
on 28 kilometres return of wet gravel road. |
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Fog blanketing the Wind Farm | Approaching Rain Forest | Highway
through Rain Forest |
Thursday the 28th of June |
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Approaching Atherton | Sugar
Cane near Mareeba |
Liz
using her washing machine |
We came through many small villages and it was obvious
to us that we were now in the tropics given the nature of the land.
Then we came through Atherton which is both sides of the highway and
the shopping centre and its building are very old. Down onto flat country
before Mareeba and there were olive groves, avocados, sugar cane, peanuts
and large banana plantations the area looks to be volcanic soil. We
came through the town of Mareeba and then on the northern outskirts
of the town we turned left and came across the Mareeba Rodeo Grounds
which was advertising the Rodeo later in the month of July. When we
pulled into the grounds it looked like a small city with all sorts of
caravans, camper vans, motorhome's and 5th wheelers. Those in charge
indicated there were 195 units on site. The charge is $15 per night
and they could not let us store our motorhome for a period due to the
Rodeo in a couple of weeks. So we decided to move on and see what we
could find further up the road. We arrived at Mount Malloy and decided
to refill with diesel in case we needed to push on as far as Cooktown.
The cost was $1.55.9 cents per litre some 8 cents a litre dearer than
Mareeba. Again them's the breaks. The going on the highway was easy
though the GPS ran out of road once again and tried to recalculate quite
a few times before coming back on line. We finally found a caravan park
for $18 per night and if we paid for five nights then we could stop
for seven. Now we have decided to stay first for four nights and as
they will park the motorhome for free while we are at Cape York, on
our return we will use the other three nights. What an obliging couple
that run the caravan park they couldn't do enough for us. We can leave
our frozen food from our fridge in their freezer while we are away and
that will allow us to turn the fridge off. What an excellent park and
nestled in amongst trees with power. When we set up out came the washing
machine and straight to work I put up three clothes lines and Liz had
no trouble filling those. It took longer than we thought for we had
ten or more woman come and check the washing machine and they were suitably
impressed with what they saw. We did not have lunch until 2-30 pm and
would you believe it we are now both in shorts as it is humid. Luckily
we are having happy hour with happy campers that have just returned
from the Cape and their message is do not take to much fuel, food or
groceries for all are in plentiful supply though take plenty of money.
We cooked our evening meal outside and listened to the radio going inside
to watch tellie around 8 pm and I am still in shorts and singlet. This
is as far north as the motorhome will be traveling and no doubt "Speedybago"
will looking for the rest while are away. |
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Friday the 29th of June |
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We left Port Douglas and decided to drive into Cairns
for it was only another 70 kilometres away. The drive was good for the
first 20 kilometres and then it wound its way around the shoreline and
due to the tightness of corners we had to reduce speed to 60 kph. We
came across roadwork's that held us up for ten minutes or so. The closer
we came to Cairns the traffic thickened and there were roundabouts every
1000 metres which were really a pain in the pumpkin. |
Saturday the 30th of June |
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