Mike & Carol's Bushtracker Adventures Around Australia

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

Carnarvon Gorge to Sydney -The final entry for this trip.
Thursday 8 September to Tuesday 20 September

The sight seeing part of our trip is over and we are now heading back to Maroochydore for the repair of our van. As we drove south from Warremba Farmstay which is south of Carnarvon Gorge, the countryside was used more for crop growing than cattle and Carnarvon Gorge in the distance looked majestic.

Our first stop was Roma. Originally a mining town, it has a memorial of more than 90 bottle trees that line the street starting at the railway station and ending at the cenotaph. Each tree has a plaque for a soldier from Roma who was killed in WW1. We saw the Historic Lenroy Slab Hut. A tiny place that accommodated husband, wife and 9 children!!!

We had a look at the Court House and then headed off to Miles, Chinchilla Dalby and finally to Kumbia. The free rest stop had free electricity and available hot showers so we decided to eat out and support the little town. The food was great and with real country quantities so of course neither of us could finish our meals.

We spent some time in Kingaroy the next morning. The countryside grows most of Australia’s peanuts and beans for baked bean production and chic peas. Kingaroy has a huge peanut silo and processing plant. It is also Jo Bjelky-Peterson country. We were shown into the, as yet unopened, art gallery. Mike took a fancy to a water colour of a drover and cattle and an Aboriginal dot painting of a kookaburra, both of them are beautiful and painted by local artists and we made our first purchase of the trip. We made the compulsory stop at the Peanut Van to buy some of the local peanuts and then drove across the mountain back to Gympie on the coast and back down to Maroochydore on highway 1. We were definitely back in suburbia and our beautiful coast.

Cotton Tree Caravan Park at Maroochydore, situated on the beach where the Maroochy River runs into the ocean was our home for the 4 days before our van was sent to be repaired.

Phil, Helen, Steve and Leith, our Cape York Bushtracker friends were also there and we met up with a few other Bushtracker owners. We were all getting ready for the Bushtracker’s Rally at Copeton Dam near Inverell.

It took 3 days to repair our van but by Wednesday evening we had a new suspension and all the other bits and pieces had been fixed. The van was happy again and so were we.

We spent those few nights when we didn’t have our van in Seaford Oak Apartments in Alexander Head. I had walks along the beach, did the shopping, the washing, some reading whilst Mike supervised the work on the van. We enjoyed the local flea marked, watched the AFL and got to know Maroochydore really well. Another beautiful spot.

After having some repairs done on the Lexus in Brisbane we headed back over the mountain for Glenn Innes and were joined at the rest stop for the night by Steve and Leith who were also on their way to Inverell and Copeton Dam.

Copeton Dam is set in a beautiful State Park and there were about 40 Bushtracker caravans all gathered for a few days of fun and exchanging of ideas. Our first night, Friday night, was very cold with strong winds and rains and we all thought if the weather doesn’t improve we would all head home. Saturday morning arrived with beautiful blue sky and warm sunshine. We walked, enjoyed the kangaroos, many birds and cattle that wandered around the vans and of course the chats and meals around the camp fires.

There was a damper cook off which provided lovely hot damper and jam for us all to eat for afternoon tea and one evening we all enjoyed a spit roast, some country singers and a bush poet.

Tuesday morning we said our goodbyes, to old friends and new friends, after exchanging details to catch up in other places at other times and headed home.

We decided to travel home along a road as yet untravelled by us. The Thunderbolt Highway provided us with more beautiful scenery of undulating hills, lush pastures with cattle and sheep and a short stretch of VERY STEEP decline down the Great Divide to the coast to Newcastle and then the freeway to Sydney.

Our first trip was over. We saw fantastic places, met some wonderful people, made new friends and are already planning our next trip down south this time.


Roma's largest Bottle Tree


Lenroy Slab Hut museum in Roma


Roma Court House - bottle trees everywhere


Huge Peanut storage silos in Kingaroy


Amazing variety of peanuts available from the Peanut Van in Kingaroy Queensland


Carol, Helen, Phil and their daughter Jo walking on the beach at Cotton Tree Caravan Park, Maroochydore


Cotton Tree Caravan Park in the backround (right). All of the caravan parks had the best locations


Typical country town main street as we drove to Copeton from Kingaroy


Bushtracker Caravan owners registering for the Meet at Copeton Dam


Sitting around the camp fire enjoying the evening at Copeton Dam - just magic.


Saturday morning, rain gone, blue sky, kangaroos everywhere and some of the Bushtracker vans set up at Copeton "Heights" on top of the ridge. Most of us set up below the ridge


Our van (left) set up at the Bushtracker Meet, Copeton Dam. Our friends were directly behind us on the other side of the road


Bob cooking his breakfast on the camp fire


Steve looking at Bob's breakfast thinking it's time for a toasted jaffle


Steve sharing his jaffle with apostle birds. They ate right out of your hand


Apostle birds waiting their turn to be fed a piece of jaffle


Two day old calf thought Mike was his mum and decided to follow us


Kangaroos everywhere as we took our stroll around Copeton Dam


Copeton Dam, well below normal level


Big Kangaroo checks us out whilst the cows keep on eating without a care in the world


Steve, Leith, Carol, Bob's wife, Bob, John and Rhonda enjoying a break and the view during our walk around Copeton Dam


Lots of time to sit and chat to other bushtracker owners


Boys preparing two spits, one pig, one lamb. It will take all day to cook the beasts


Oh no, said the pig!


What's going on, thought the lamb on the spit


The girls - Helen, Rhonda, Carol and Leith


Okay it's time for the great Damper Cook-off


Helen and Phil, we'll win this damper cook-off for sure


Leith and Steve were going for a bike ride... but the smell of Damper stopped them


Phil and Helen checking their dutch oven


Rhonda and Carol, contemplating the cooks making great damper


Show us Helen's damper ...is it ready yet?


Helen's damper... it's more than ready


Jay gets to try damper with honey


Helen enjoying her damper


Okay so what is the secret in cooking a great damper


Dawn at Copeton, we are getting ready to go


Bye Copeton, it's been just so peaceful and beautiful


Copeton Dam wall as we drove off


Last view from Thunderbolt Highway. Next stop ...Home. It was a great trip

Sunday, September 11, 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

Mareeba to Carnarvon Gorge
Monday 29 August to Wednesday 7 September


Mareeba is coffee and mango country so we had to stop at the mango winery and taste their wares and of course buy some and then we headed for the Coffee Factory. The countryside is quite high in the mountains and beautiful.

We headed down the mountain to Cairns, which is already familiar territory, to have some repairs done to the van and service the car. We even managed to wash both the car and van.

Right outside our van at the caravan park in Cairns two curlew birds, one sitting on a nest with 2 eggs and the other guarding the nest were getting angry when anyone came too close. Of course Mike managed to get them very annoyed. What a great sight.

We stopped off at Lake Tinaroo near the quaint village of Yungaburra on the Atherton Tablelands. We spent some time walking along the river and exploring the art works. Each little town has its special thing and here it was the curtain fig tree located in a rainforest, which was a must see. The air was cool and it was raining. The first cool rain we have had for weeks. We stopped at Malanda Falls and Millaa Millaa falls which looked just like in the postcards and all in the misty rain.

The next stop was Herberton, an historic mining village but very quiet and small. We headed towards Atherton itself where the crystal cave museum was fantastic. Well presented and beautiful crystals. Our final stop on the Atherton Tablelands was The Crater at Mount Hypipamee National Park, all old volcanic structures. If I was still teaching I would be collecting great photos for my classes.

We continued to travel further south west to the Undara Volcanic National Park to explore the Undara Lava Tubes. On the way we stopped at the Innot Hot Springs which is really just a little stream that has hot water bubbling up from below. The campsite at Undara was in a beautiful bush setting with lots of birds and kangaroos around. Our guided tour through the Lava Tubes was great. Val our guide knew so much about the geology, aboriginal history and biology of the area that she kept us entertained for hours. The photos don’t really do the colours in the Lava tubes justice. The caves are formed from the lava flow and the outside cools more quickly due to contact with the air above and the ground below while the centre remains hotter and more fluid and therefore keeps moving after the surrounding cylinder has solidified. Eventually when the lava flow stops from the volcano it leaves an empty tube. Amazing stuff.

This area is definitely cattle country and on our way from Undara Lava Tube to Charters Towers we saw a herd of Brahman cattle being herded by 4 drovers on horse back, all with their UHF radios. What a fantastic sight right next to us on the road. Mike said hello to one of the young drovers who asked where we were from. When we told him we were from Sydney all he could say was “Jesus, what a bloody long way”. It was a great interaction.

Along the way we saw 2 magnificent Wedge tail Eagles and a mother emu with her 4 little chicks.

Charters Towers is a lovely old gold mining town with lots of mining and WW2 history. We went up to the lookout late afternoon and really enjoyed the view, especially the rock wallabies.

Then we drove to Belyando Crossing where we stopped for lunch and finished the day at Clermont Caravan Park.

Our next stop was Emerald which is the heart of sunflower and chick pea country. Emerald has the largest painting on an easel. It is Van Gogh’s sunflower painting. Next to it there is a series of mosaics depicting 100 year history of Emerald.

Lake Maraboon and Fairbairn Dam in Emerald provide the water for the town and irrigation. Emerald has an ancient fossilised tree, 140,000 years old and a beautiful old Railway Station. All the little claims to fame that are always part of the explore.

We met up with some friends that we were together with at the Cape and had 2 lovely evenings together.

From Emerald it was a couple of hours further south to Carnarvon Gorge where we spent the day hiking and exploring the ancient Aboriginal art work, some of it 2000 years old, and enjoying the coolness of the moss gardens.

We climbed up and down, walked at least 12 km and still managed to be able to move the next day!!! Fred, the aboriginal elder at the art site was the most entertaining part of the day. He explained how his mob used the gorge mainly for burials and their totem was the emu. We walked some of the way back with him and he picked and fed us bush gooseberries, real bush tucker. The photos don’t do it justice because they don’t capture the dimensions, smells and sounds.


Carol buying Mango Liquor at the Mareeba Mango Plantation and winery


Rows and rows of Mango Trees at the Mango Winery


Coffee Works Mareeba - nothing special


Coffee berries on the tree - Mareeba


Curlew bird angry at my approaching


Climbing up to the top of the Atherton Tablelands late afternoon


Our view of Lake Tinaroo - all the caravan parks have the best locations


Lets walk along the river at Yungaburra


Platypus inhabit this river in Yungaburra


Yungaburra Pub


I loved this sign at a local shop in Yungaburra


Curtain Fig Tree in Atherton Tablelands


Creation of the Curtain Fig Tree


Malanda Falls


Magnificent Millaa Millaa Falls


Promotional car outside Crystal Cave in Atherton


One of the hundreds of crystal formations we saw in the Crystal Cave - Atherton


Atherton lookout - wet but beautiful


Layout of our trip from Kuranda to the Crater


Top of Crater - cannot see top to bottom in one shot


Bottom of Crater


Innot Hot Springs


This is Undara - 160 km of Lava Tubes from one volcanic eruption 194,000 years ago, here two Lava Tubes meet


Colours are just unbelievable


Another Lava Tube


Carol speaking to our guide Val inside a Lava Tube


What amazing formations on the roof of this Lava Tube


See the land, tree, sky above the ground and the top of the Lava Tube below


The sand on the floor of the Undara Lava Tubes is just so incredibly fine


Last look at the colours in the Lava Tube


What a sight - droving the herd through the bush


Hundreds of Brahman cattle droving to market


Drover with UHF strapped to shoulder


Charters Towers from the lookout


Late afternoon sun on the grasses at the Charters Towers lookout


Rock Wallaby just checking us out


Old Stock Exchange at Charters Towers


Incredible buildings in such a small gold mining town as Charters Towers


Miners Cottage and Museum - Charters Towers


Quaint shop in Miners Cottage


I like this Miners Cottage says Carol


Rainbow Lorikeet enjoying an apple at Belyando Crossing where we stopped for lunch


This is a piano in the tree on the road into Cleremont - that's how high the flood waters rise in this part of the world


Carol sitting under "the largest painting on an easel in the World - Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers"


One of the mosaics depicting Emerald's history


Fairbairn Dam - where is the water?


Parking to look at Lake Maraboon, 17km from Emerald


Beautiful Lake Maraboon


140,000 year old fossilised trees


Emerald Railway Station


Map of Carnarvon Gorge, half way up is the Art Gallery, and on the left half way between the Art Gallery and the bottom is Moss Gardens


Crossing one of ten creek crossings in Carnarvon Gorge


Some of the scenery as we walked into Carnarvon Gorge


The variety of trees and views was fantastic


Aboriginal Art up to 2,000 years old


Mike with Fred, one of two Elders and traditional owners of Carnarvon Gorge


More Aboriginal Art


Walking back towards Moss Gardens, the fallen fern on the right of Carol is over 30 metres long


Just beautiful walking through Carnarvon Gorge


Moss Gardens - the photo doesn't do it justice - lush, wet, green great


Orchards growing wild in Carnarvon Gorge

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A pair of Kangaroos said hello as we were leaving Carnarvon Gorge