First stop in Queensland was Stanthorpe as there is a place here to get gems set.
Then Ipswich and onto Brisbane.
Then Nanango and then a bit of free camping.
Then Standown park between Gympie and Tin Can Bay and then on to Elliott Heads near Bundaberg.
Spent ten days in Gladstone then Carnarvon Gorge and the Fairbairn Dam for some redclaw.
Next stop was Sapphire for some more gems, then Teresa Creek Dam and on to Charters Towers.
One more night free camping, one night at Greenvale and on to the Undara Lava tubes.
Couple more stops - Mt Surprise for Copperfield Gorge and then Georgetown for Cobbold Gorge.
Called into Normanton and Karumba and then to Lawn Hill National Park.
After that Cloncurry, Camooweal Billabong and up to Cape Crawford.
Daly Waters Pub, Elsey National Park and Katherine.
While at Katherine our beautiful granddaughter Emily Jade was born on the 16th July 2013!
After Katherine we spent one night at Timber Creek and one at a free camp and then across the border into WA and another blog!
Left Glen
Innes NSW and headed across the border into Queensland and stopped at Stanthorpe. Main reason for coming here was to get the
garnets we found at Gem Tree in NT put into settings, must admit this cost more than getting them all cut in Thailand, but they look great!
While here we
also visited a very nice little place called the strawberry patch cafe and had some great waffles and
cream.
Then onto
Ipswich showgrounds for a few nights before heading into Brisbane.
Next stop was
Lawnton Showgrounds [a northern suburb of Brisbane], mainly here to get some
solar panel problems sorted, visit the Dr, Dentist and skin cancer clinic, all
that stuff you have to do. Spent about 8 days here then off again.
While here we
caught the train into town and took a ride on the ferris wheel which is on the
south bank and then caught the ferry from there [North Quay] to Apollo Road and
back.
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| View of Brisbane from the wheel |
Next stop
after Brisbane was Nanango for a couple of nights, nice little park, bought
some great salted peanuts (from Kingaroy) and that’s about it.
We then went
free camping for two nights at Marg McIntosh Park [Site 147 in Camps 6], very
nice spot and met some lovely people there. On the third morning we wandered
over and read the sign and realised it was a 20 hour limit, so packed up
immediately and headed off.
We were not
sure where to go next so headed for Standown Caravan Park Goomboorian, halfway
between Gympie and Tin Can Bay. This park was opened originally for War
Veterans but also welcomes grey nomads.
It is very well set up and they have a camp fire every night, highly
recommend this one!
Our next stop
was Elliott Heads – again nice spot right on the beach.
Couple of
nights there then off to Gladstone to catch up with family. We spent 10 fun
filled days here with lots of wonderful meals, plenty of wine drinking; we were
even taken to a winery here for lunch with some great mead and coffee liqueur. As most of the family are keen card players there were lots of impromptu card
games played.
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| Ken with Scott and Liam |
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| Pauline and Carol |
Rob and
Michelle, (Barbara’s nephew) asked if we would like to meet up at Fairbairn Dam
to catch some Redclaw and of course we said yes please, so we agreed to meet
there the following weekend. We headed off on the Monday and booked into the
Rollestone Caravan Park for a few days. Next day was a day trip out to
Carnarvon Gorge and a 7 kilometre walk.
Unfortunately
the day after was very wet, so we decided that we would have to come back here
at some stage and when we do we will stay at Takaraka park which is right in
Carnarvon Gorge and very pretty.
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| Beautiful spot in Carnarvon gorge called "THE MOSS GARDEN" |
So, off to
Fairbairn Dam and we had only just set up when Rob, Michelle, Emily and Nathan
arrived and set up next to us. They are experienced campers and have a great
set up! Also Madeleine and Margaret arrived and booked into their cabin just across
the road from us.
That
afternoon we put Rob’s boat in the water and went out and set some traps,
checked a few straight away and then headed back for happy hour.
Well over the
weekend we got heaps of redclaw and we all had some to take away after having a
good feed as well and I might add a great time with terrific company even if I
got beaten at cards more than I am used to.
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| Rob driving his boat |
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| Rob, Barbara and Rob's daughter Emily |
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| Rob's son Nathan |
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| Michelle and Madeleine |
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| Rob and Madeleine with Rob holding a little redclaw |
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| Barbara' Tea cosy - err beany |
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| Can't deny it, we had a great time!! |
We stayed an
extra day after everyone else had left to recuperate and then headed off to
Sapphire to do a little fossicking. I must admit we do it the lazy way, by
buying a couple of buckets of wash and sifting through that. We found quite a
few bits of Sapphire, one was 9 carats but unfortunately not suitable for
cutting. While there we had two stones
cut out of one piece for earrings. We will get them set later.
It was time
for some camping outside of caravan parks, so we headed for Teresa Creek Dam
out of Clermont and booked in for three nights at $10.00/night. Lovely spot, no
power or water of course but very peaceful.
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| Small part of the Dam |
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| View from our camp spot |
We then moved
on to Charters Towers and back into a van park. The town is
another one started by gold being found but has some wonderful buildings and
even had its own stock exchange! We
hired a CD and did a self drive around town which was informative and fun. I
was surprised though on the last morning to find that both pairs of our thongs
had been appropriated during the night. Obviously there were two locals that needed footwear
badly, I was not worried as mine were on their last legs anyway, Barbara was
not so pleased!
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| Charters Towers Stock Exchange |
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| The post office |
Our next stop
was Greenvale but we decided to stop at Fletcher Creek, a free camp about 45k’s
out of Chaters Towers first. We got there
early and got a great spot overlooking the creek, but we were surprised at the
number of vans there, it was like a mini city, with RV’s both sides of the
bridge. While there we met Ross and Judy
and we now have around 750 “E” books to read. Very nice couple!
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| Fletcher creek, just a few steps from the van |
After a night there we headed into Greenvale, a nickel mining settlement on the banks of the
Burdekin River, famous for the “Three Rivers Hotel”, because Slim Dusty sang a
song of the same name. Again like a lot of these places there is nothing outstanding
just very pleasant. Something a little
different here was that the park owner had a tame crow, it was free to go but
was happy to hang around and fight the dog for a bone.
We then
headed to Undara resort which is famous for its lava tubes, for another three nights. This place is a little
expensive at $35.00/night for two of us but we think well worth it. Next day we
did the Volcano Valley tour, but we were informed that there was a
shortage of guides so we had been combined with the “Active Explorer” tour and
those of us that wished had the option of joining in with them. John jumped at the chance and had the
opportunity to crawl into only one extra cave with a small and reasonably steep
entrance, Barbara opted out.
Their Bistro
sounded nice so we had a meal in there, but don’t think we would again, it was
OK but not special. All in all this is one place worth seeing once!
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| One of the Lava Tubes |
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| Another one - definitely different |
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| Our powered campsite |
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| One of the locals |
We took off
again all the way to Mt Surprise, about 45k’s drive. We had planned to stay at the Bedrock Van
Park at $28.00/night but as we drove into town we saw a place called Planet
Earth park at $17.00/night and it looked very nice, so we swung in there
instead. I was a little surprised as the sign advertised snakes and a snake
show on request, but Barbara never said a word.
Russel, the
owner told us to find a spot and pay him when we settled in, which we did. That
night he came past the van (with a python wrapped around his shoulders) and told us he was putting on a snake show. Barbara declined but John was the first one
there and waiting and much to his delight, Russel draped a 3 metre black headed
python around his shoulders. The show was impromptu and very informative and
was enjoyed by all that came along.
While here we
drove out to a small town called Einasleigh on the banks of the Copperfield
River which was once a copper mining town. Now it is a sleepy place that the
Savannahlander train passes through on Thursday heading for Forsayth and again
on Friday heading back to Cairns. It also has a pretty little gorge called
Copperfield gorge that we had a look at. We decided to stop at the pub and get
lunch, but they only do that on Fridays, so we settled for a curry pie and a
beer.
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| Einasleigh gorge |
Next stop was
Georgetown and another gorge out of town called Cobbold gorge. It was about an hour’s
drive out there and we had already booked a tour of the gorge, so when we arrived
we had morning tea that we had brought with us, and then on to the 4WD bus for
a short trip to the gorge entrance. The
tour involved a walk of about an hour to a couple of lookouts and an old
gravesite and then on to their specially built boat for a ride down the gorge,
about 500metres is accessible. The
difference with this gorge is that is is very narrow and the boats are only 1
metre wide so they can fit, it was pretty and kind of different!
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| Pretty little Gorge |
Left
Georgetown and headed towards Normanton but stopped at Blackbull siding on the Croydon to Normanton rail line which is famous for the Normanton rattler which makes the trip once a week.
Normanton is also famous for the largest saltwater crocodile ever captured in the world!
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| This is a life-size replica |
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| The story |
The camp spot was good and off the road and once we were in there we were joined by a
few other vans that had seen us. Stopped at Normanton next for two days with
the plan being to do a short trip (2 hour special) ride on the rattler on
Monday, but unfortunately it was a public holiday and it was not running. Went
and had a look anyway and took a photo.
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| This is driven by a truck engine and gearbox - a bit different |
Then we headed off to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria for a
couple of nights. Karumba is a Mecca for fishermen, but they were not real
happy as it had been a short wet season and apparently they were not catching
much at all. We didn’t bother trying as really you need a tinny (boat) to do
any good. Had a feed of prawns one day
and barra the next while we were here though.
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| Karumba Point |
Off again
this time towards Lawn Hill national park, first stop Gregory Downs for one
night then on to Adel’s Grove campground for four nights. A lot of dirt road to get in to here so the
van and car were covered in dust, also had a slow leak on one tyre. A bit of
work putting in a plug fixed that! The
first day we walked around the camp ground and the next a couple of the walks
in Lawn Hill Park. The day after we
hired a canoe and paddled through the gorge as far as the first falls. You can go further if you carry the canoe up and around the falls, but we decided the canoe
was a bit big and heavy for us to handle, so just enjoyed the short trip.
Back out to Gregory Downs and booked into the park behind the hotel and spent the next two
days washing the dust off of the car and van, also had a couple of meals at the
pub.
Heading South
again we camped about 40k’s out of Cloncurry for a night and then into Wals
Camp, another “Van park” in Cloncurry. This is a “DIFFERENT” park! They park vans nose to tail with three in
each row and only just enough room for a car in between. Luckily we were at the front so no problems
getting out. They also would not let us
use the washing machine as they have no waste water system and all water tends
to run into your neighbour's area and on top of that they charge $5.00 a load
for their machine and it didn’t rinse properly!
We did a couple of loads as we had to, then topped up all our tanks with
water.
Left here and went into “Mary Kathleen”, a ghost town near Mount Isa. It was built for a Uranium mine that shut down in the early eighties and the town
buildings were all sold, however the foundations and all the roads are still
mostly in place and the swimming pool clearly visible, even though it had been
filled in. We spent a couple of pleasant
nights here and did another couple of loads of washing as well.
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| Mary Katheleen townsite |
Arrived at
the Sunset Tourist Park in Mt Isa and settled in, we thought for three days, however some
papers from the bank that we had to sign were apparently not done correctly so
we quickly changed that to a week while they sorted that lot out. While here we caught up with Mike, Kelly, Stephanie and her partner Dan for a BBQ at Dan and Stephanie’s house. Had a great time!
Also had some country and western singers park alongside us one night and put on a free show!
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| Not a bad show, that's our Traveller van in the background |
We also had a
look at Lake Moondara, which is actually a dam and the towns water supply, and caught up on chores.
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| Lake Moondarah |
After Mt Isa
we stopped at Camooweal Billabong and camped for the permitted 48 hours, this
is a great spot although it was a little windy. The billabong had a few
resident Brolgas and a couple of pelicans.
Took off
again, stopped for the night at Woonarah Bore and then the next morning turned right off
the Barkly Highway at Barkly Homestead roadhouse and headed up the Tablelands
Highway to the Heartbreak Hotel caravan park at Cape Crawford. This turned out to be a little oasis with
plenty of grass and nice shady sites.
Still on the
move and this time west on Carpentaria Highway, stopped again for a night at Bullwaddy
Rest Area and next morning got into the Daly Waters pub camping area fairly
early. Booked an unpowered site and also
meal each for that night. We stopped
here on the way East with Ron and Joan and enjoyed it then and were not disappointed
this time, it was a great feed and a good show!
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| Daly Waters - different to most! |
Heading north
now on the Stuart Highway and our night's stop this time was Jalmurark Camping
Area in Elsey National park. What a
magic place, unfortunately we had already booked in at Katherine or we would
have stayed here longer! Anyway we will come back here again and do some
exploring, one afternoon is not enough.
I was surprised to find that apart from the usual Kangaroos and Dingos
they have feral donkeys and I heard them braying a few times during the night.
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