New arrivals, new places...
The morning of Sunday 21st of August was a long one, awaiting the arrival of Mum and Dad; the kids had no idea! We were at a roadside camp when Natalie spotted their ute pulling in and began screaming! It was awesome to see the kids reaction and even better to see Mum and Dad! We crossed into outback Queensland just a couple of hours later and camped beside the Georgina River in Camooweal. The next day we headed north 165km on a dirt track into Myumba Bush Camp, stopping for a fish in the Gregory River. It is amazing after driving through such dry, arid landscape to come across the oasis of these pandanas-lined waterways.
We explored the World Heritage listed Riversleigh Fossil site, where there is evidence of 200 million year old giant crocs, emus, turtles, wombats, fish and snakes. Then we drove into the stunning Lawn Hill (or Boodjamulla) National Park and setup camp, squeezing the van, tent, boat and two vehicles onto one site! While here we walked alongside the blue-green waters of Lawn Hill Creek, swam in the magnificent Indarri Falls, and the boys fed the archer fish and sooty grunters, by sticking chips out of their mouths underwater!
The road into Gregory Downs, via many cattle stations, then north into Burketown were very rough and rugged! We finally made it into Burketown - part of the Gulf Savannah. This unique, isolated town is actually set back from the sea about 20km, on small inlets that are fed by the massive Albert River that is up to 1km wide in places. We stayed here for 3 nights enjoying fishing (damn catfish), mudcrabbing, checking out the huge flocks of Brolgas amongst the grassplains, and generally trying to keep cool.
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Mum and Dad surprised the kids, then crossed into
Queensland with us! |
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| Brolgas wading in the Georgina River |
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| Noelie crossing the Gregory River |
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| Nanny and Nat cooling their feet! |
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| Ollie the king fisherman! |
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| Beside the cool waters of Lawn Hill Creek |
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| Pa cooling off under the Indarri Falls in Lawn Hill Creek |
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| Fish feeding! |
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| Exploring Indarri Falls |
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| Looking over the Indarri Falls |
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| The beautiful Lawn Hill Creek Gorge |
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| Nat and Ollie strike a pose! |
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| Tys taking the easy way home |
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| Susie exploring Lawn Hill Creek |
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| Trav at the 'cascades' of Lawn Hill Creek |
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| Ollie trying to spot some fish! |
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| The huge Albert River at Burketown |
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| Cooking up some mudcrabs - yummy! |
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| Nat and Nanny hang out in the shade |
Exploring the Gulf Country...
On the 27th August we left Burketown, stopping to check out spectacular Leichardt Falls, and Burke and Wills' camp 119 (their most northern camp in 1861) before arriving in Normanton. This is quite a quaint town with lots of history as a major port, where a barge from here to Karumba still operates during the Wet. We setup camp amongst the mangroves and coolabah trees on the Norman River. We spent the next couple of days exploring the town, including the famous 8.63m Krys the croc replica - the largest confirmed croc in the world, fishing (some elusive Barra got off), and dining out at the famous Purple Pub.
On the 29th we headed 70km north to Karumba - the only town on the ocean in the Gulf of Carpentaria that is accessible by bitumen. The Norman River meets the beautiful blue sea here at a huge, wide mouth, with lots of sand bars and mangroves. It was great to stop and spend 6 wonderful nights with Mum and Dad here. We visited the Barramundi Discovery Centre to learn all about the breeding and restocking of this incredible fish; we did lots of fishing, with Pa snaring a 101cm Black Dewfish (mulloway), and Tys reeling in one 90cm and one 120cm Black Dewfish, and we also got some blue-nose salmon, and spotted grunter. We spent hot days in the shade or in the pool, and balmy evenings on the Cane Toad warpath. Oliver was like a man possessed and provided hours of entertainment out there with his planks of wood or tennis racquets, and Tys fleecing the toads out from under buildings with a waterpistol full of dettol.
We celebrated Tyson's 11th birthday while here - he was very excited to have his Nan and Pa share it with him! We went out for tea to celebrate. We shared Father's Day morning with Mum and Dad before we all headed off. It was an amazing couple of weeks with Mum and Dad - the most time I have spent with them since I was a kid. We all shed a tear as we waved goodbye and watched Mum and Dad head south as we turned off to head towards the East coast of Far North Queensland.
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| The plains of the Gulf Savannah |
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| The Brahman cattle are a tough breed |
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| Leichardt Falls |
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| Dipping our toes in at the Leichardt Falls |
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| The boys from the bush are back in town.. |
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| Exploring the historical Burke and Wills camp 119 |
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| A tree emblazoned with Burke's intials |
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| Nan and Nat admire the sunset over the Norman River |
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| Our campsite on the Norman River |
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| Storytime! |
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We had a great night at the Purple Pub - I will never
forget us all singing 'American Pie' together! |
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| Sitting in the jaws of 8.63m Krys 'the Savannah King' Croc |
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| Hard to imagine... |
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| Trav wetting a line at Karumba |
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| My blue-nose salmon |
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| Pa, keen as ever, still fishing on dark |
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| Pa's prize catch - 101cm Mulloway |
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| Ollie the cane toad warrior - 'die, toads, die!' |
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| Tys feeding a huge barra - the force of their suction is amazing! |
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| A huge 40kg Barramundi! |
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| Nanny and Pa - aaaaah, relaxing! |
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| Happy Birthday Tys!! |
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| A huge Jabiru |
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| Tys slurping up the raspberry on his birthday night! |
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| Nat and her Pa |
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| Smooching Nan |
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| Tys blowing out 11 candles! |
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| Happy Birthday big boy! |
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| Sparkler fun! |
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| Tyson's 120cm Mulloway! Very proud! |
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| Ollie's Bream! Very proud! |
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Happy Father's Day Dad! The kids made
yummy rum balls! |
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| Happy Father's Day Pa! |
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| Family snap - don't go yet Mum and Dad! |
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The kids made Pa some special
presents for Father's Day too! |
Heading into the Atherton Tablelands...
The 600km Gulf Developmental Road across to Ravenshoe was a bit crazy, going back to one lane of bitumen at times, but had some amazing little historic outback towns along the way. We camped alongside a river just west of Mount Surprise, stopped to swim in the Innot HOT springs, and checked out Australia's widest falls - Millstream Falls. It was such a contrast coming from the 34 degree dry grasslands of the savannah, up into Queensland's highest town - icy cold Ravenshoe. While here we explored the 'Waterfall Way' loop, the lush rolling hills of the dairy farms, and the amazing rainforest country, seeing our first Cassowary in the wild on our first day exploring the rainforest!
We also stayed in Atherton, meeting up with our great travelling friends Paul and Alexa Marketos and their boys Oliver, William and Quinton. We haven't seen them since we first met in Espernace, WA. We spent an afternoon at Lake Eacham, an old gas vent tunnel from an old, inactive volcano, with the kids swimming and kayaking. Our time catching up with with them was lovely - great company for both the kids and us! - but we had to bid them a sad farewell as we wound our way through the rainforest town of Kuranda and down to the tropical metropolis that is Cairns.
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| Swimming in Innot Hot Springs |
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| Millstream Falls |
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| Ollie beside Pepina Falls |
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| Nat enjoys the views of Soutia Falls |
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| The kids loved Ellinjah Falls |
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| Surreal Ellinjah Falls |
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| Zillee Falls |
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| Popular Milaa Milaa Falls |
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| Our first Cassowary in the wild! Incredble creatures! |
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Mount Hypipamee Crater (in the
national park of the same name). |
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| Tys performing tricks beside Lake Eacham |
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| Ollie swimming in Lake Eacham |
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| Trav and Ollie just chillin' |
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| Tys with Oliver and Quinton Marketos |
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| The lovely Marketos Family!! |
Arriving in tropical Cairns...
We arrived in Cairns on the 9th September, and stayed at a fantastic Big 4 in a northern suburb of Redlynch. We spent our time lounging around the pool, eating lots of mangoes, and going to the big smoke (Nat's jaw dropped when we walked into Myer) for Tys to make his big Nintendo 3DS birthday purchase. For the first time on our trip, Tys got a dose of gastro while here - poor fella! The kids loved Muddy's Playground on the foreshore in Cairns, and the Barron River (where we walked over the bridge to check out the hydro plant) was stunning!
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| Trav looking out over the valley where Cairns is nestled |
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| Cooling off in the pool! |
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| Muddy's Waterpark on the waterfront in Cairns |
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| Muddy's Playground |
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| Catching crabs on the mudflats of the Cairns foreshore |
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| Tys beside the Barron River at Kamerunga National Park |
Port Douglas and The Wet Tropics...
On the 13th September we headed north along the coastal Captain Cook Highway another 70km to the awesome seaside oasis of Port Douglas. We checked out the Sugar Wharf, explored the foreshore, then setup camp in the front yard of Tristan, Lauren and Elijah Berry's house. We spent five nights catching up with the Berry crew, playing and falling in love with Eli, fishing, and checking out the southern end of the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest at Mossman Gorge.
On the 18th September we packed up the car, stored the van at the Berry's and hit the road heading for Cape York Peninsula. Our first day we drove through Mossman, sugarcane country, alongside huge misty mountains. We took the vehicular ferry across the Daintree River and spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful Daintree Rainforest. The natural beauty of the rainforest is overwhelming. I never thought I would get to see this in my lifetime, and here I was wandering through here with my whole family - priceless! We meandered along the Marrdja boardwalk alongside Oliver Creek, where rainforest turns to mangroves at the mouth of the creek, flowing out to the Coral Sea.
We setup our tents at a park right on the beach at Cape Tribulation, and had an interesting night's sleep with mine and Trav's airbed too big for our tent! We had to laugh! The next morning it was so humid that it was like it was raining on us inside the tent! We walked along the beach - the pristine, blue waters are fringed by rainforest and coconut palms - feels very exoctic! This is the only place in the world where two world heritage sites - the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef - meet.
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| We loved balmy Port Douglas |
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| Mossman Gorge, Daintree Rainforest |
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| "Hey, Mum! The trees are THIS tall!" |
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| Making a statement in the Daintree |
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| The kids wore out little Elijah! |
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Crossing the Daintree River by ferry (I certainly wouldn't
swim across anyway!) |
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| The Daintree Rainforest |
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| Nat - a budding botanist |
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| Ollie beside Oliver Creek in the Daintree |
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| Cape Tribulation - paradise! |
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| Horse riders cruise Cape Trib beach... |
We took the Bloomfield track north of Cape Trib - a narrow, winding and very steep dirt track that led us high into dense rainforest, then down only metres from the sea to our right. It took us four hours to cover the 104km from Cape Trib to Cooktown. Along the way we crossed the Bloomfield River, stopped near the small Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal to look at the Bloomfield Falls, and passed through the tiny towns of Ayton and Rossville. We made a stop just before Helenvale, for history's sake, at the Lion's Den Hotel, est. 1875, before checking out the black granite range that is Black Mountain National Park. We arrived in historical Cooktown and setup in Cooktown Caravan Park. We drove to the lookout on Grassy Hill that looks over the huge, winding Endeavour River and all of the estuaries that branch off of it. We were surrounded by massive, rolling green hills covered in mist from the humidity. In the morning we visited the monument that marked where Captain Cook had the Endeavour moored for 6 weeks for repairs in 1770, then went to the impressive James Cook Museum before hitting the road again.
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| The start of the Bloomfield Track through the Daintree |
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| Bloomfield Falls at Wujal Wujal |
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| The historic Lion's Den Hotel |
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| Black Mountain National Park, just below Cooktown |
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| The Endeavour River, Cooktown |
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| Paying hommage to Captain Cook |
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| Tyson was saved from this vicious croc! |
We headed NW out of Cooktown along Old Battlecamp Road, going via the pretty Endeavour Falls, before making it to Lakefield National Park, stopping to look at Emma Lake and the 100 year old Laura Station homestead on the way. We camped at Old Faithful campsite on the Nolumby River, where the river is quite wide and home to a 6m resident estuarine croc. Some of the other campgrounds in the Park had been closed for camping due to increased croc activity. The kids roasted marshmallows over the fire on a very balmy evening.
The next day we visited the picturesque White and Red Lilly Lagoons, crossed lots of little creeks, then the landscape changed all of a sudden from bush, to dry barren grasslands of the Nifold Plain, with magnetic termite mounds.
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| Laura Station, Lakefield National Park |
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| We camped beside Nolumby River |
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| Magpie Geese on White Lilly Lagoon |
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| Red Lilly Lagoon |
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| From wetlands to the Nifold plains in the blink of an eye |
We refuelled at Musgrove Station where there were cattle everywhere and lots of red, dusty travellers, before driving through the Aboriginal community of Coen - the 'capital' of Cape York, and hit Archer River Roadhouse to camp. The next day we made it to Chili Beach campground on the east coast of the peninsula, in Iron Range National Park. This was an awesome spot, but very windy. We felt like we were the only people to ever set foot here. We were surrounded by low-lying rainforest; the humidity here felt like we were in a hot house - there were hundreds of butterflies, including the stunning blue Ulysses. We spent two night's here, then attempted the Frenchman's track, where the steep, rocky entry and exit of the Pascoe River crossing had us turning around and going the 'long way' - we later learned that it took one couple 5 hours to get across the 42km 'shortcut'!.
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| Cattle wander through Musgrove Station |
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| The kids loved the horses at Archer River Roadhouse |
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| Ollie braved them too! |
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| Iron-Range National Park |
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| Chili Beach - heaven on earth! |
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| The tiny seaside town of Portland Roads just above Chili Beach |
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| Our sheltered Chili Beach campsite |
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The Pascoe River crossing on the
Frenchman's track |
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| More red dust and 4000000 more corrugations |
At the back of Bramwell Junction is a small timber sign directing you onto the Southern section of the Old Telegraph Track. This is a one-way, sandy, washed out goat track with deep, eroded banks at creek crossings, and was to be one of our most exciting, picturesque and isolated parts of our trip to date. We made it through all crossings unscathed, camped on beautful, clear rivers, swam in rock holes, and met some great characters.
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| The beginning of the Old Telegraph Track |
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| Our first crossing - Palm Creek |
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One of the original telegraph poles -
now fibre optic cable is in use |
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| Swimming in the Dulhunty River - we camped here |
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| An example of the track washed away |
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The infamous, treacherous Gunshot Crossing - there is actually
a by-pass road to go around this one! |
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This bloke nose-dived then wynched
himself out! |
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There are at least 8 approaches to cross
Gunshot - we took a sensible one! |
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Crossing the rocky, pot-holed
Cockatoo Creek |
We completed the Southern section of the OTT, before going onto the Peninsula Development Road (PDR) and the worst corrugations of our lives, for the final 60km to the Jardine River Ferry. We finally made it to coastline, having a look at the Aboriginal community of Injinoo, and the Islander community of Seisia, where the ferries to Thursday Island and other Torres Straight Islands, leave from. There were Aboriginal kids diving and doing backflips off the jetty here talking in their native language. We then drove through the main community of Bamaga, to setup camp at Loyalty Beach. We wasted no time in heading off a further 35km through more rainforest and creek crossings to get to The Tip (or Pajinka). We parked at the point, then walked on the beach at low tide, over rocks to FINALLY get to the Northernmost Point of the Australian Continent! What an exhilarating feeling after such a huge trek to get here! We sat on the rocks watching turtles and dolphins in the waves over some celebratory bubbles and nibblies!
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| Crossing the Jardine River by ferry |
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| The kids found this turtle shell at Injinoo |
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Camping at Loyalty Beach - we could see a lot of
the Torres Strait Islands right off the beach |
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| Making our way out to The Tip |
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| Spotted this war memorial - so lifelike! |
The descent... The next day we had a look at a WWII DC3 plane wreck, the old Jardine River vehicular crossing, crossed back over on the ferry, and turned in to have a go at part of the northern section of the OTT (the Nolan's Brook crossing just above us was 900mm deep - we were not going to give that a go without a snorkel!). We crossed several creeks, the kids having a dip in the warm clear waters, before arriving at Elliott Falls and had a swim at the base of the sublime Twin Falls - could've stayed there for days! More crossings, then a swim in the rock hole at Fruit Bat Falls before finding a sheltered bush camp. We made it to the coastal Gulf town (solely owned and managed by the Comalco/Rio Tinto bauxite mining group) of Weipa. Here we spent a couple of days catching up with Tara Dixon, her partner Jay, and their gorgeous boys Jet and Koda. Tara even cooked us a roast I will never forget!
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| WWII DC3 plane wreck near Bamaga |
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| The old vehicular Jardine River crossing |
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Crossing Canal Creek - was a bit deceiving, dropping down
to 1m deep in some places. |
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| Enjoying a dip in Canal Creek |
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| Gorgeous Elliot Falls |
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| We loved swimming under the Twin Falls |
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| Swimming at the top of Fruit Bat Falls |
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The whole width of the river dropped away
to form Fruit Bat Falls |
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| Massive King Brown snake |
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| Tara teaching Tys to throw a cast net |
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| Trav tries his luck at Weipa |
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Nat was the Queen fisherwoman for the day pulling in
3 little catfish! |
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| Ollie shows off a nice spotted grunter |
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| Tara and her little man Jet |
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| Koda wets a line |
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Nat is usually keen to get amongst it!
Tara's partner Jay in the background. |
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Jay hooked this Queenfish, and Tys reeled
it in - great fight! |
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| Ollie wrangles a crab! |
On the 28th September we left Weipa doing a massive 11 hour day in the car to get back to Port Douglas. We spent the next few days with the Berry's again, exploring Port Douglas and awesome 4 mile beach, where Ollie got stung by either a jelly or marine tick - poor little guy!. We then spent a few nights down at Palm Cove caravan park - right on a fantastic beach, with a little jetty. While here we witnessed Collingwood getting annihilated by Geelong, while gutsing a bucket of prawns and cocktails! We also did a day trip back up to Port Douglas to go on our Great Barrier Reef snorkeling adventure on the Aristocat. We had an amazing day out, visiting three outer reef sites on the Agincourt Ribbon Reef, right on the edge of the Continental Shelf. Unfortunately the day was a bit choppy and not as conducive for the kids - but they all had a ball anyway. On our last day in Palm Cove we did a day trip back out to the rainforest village of Kuranda to see the magnificent Barron Falls.
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| We farewelled the lovely Berry family! |
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| Four-mile Beach, Port Dougie |
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| Nat catches a wave at Palm Cove |
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| Ollie adding to his collections at Palm Cove |
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| Our Great Barrier Reef catamaran - Aristocat |
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| On the way out to the reef - took about 90 minutes |
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| Our first snorkel site |
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We found Nemo! The abundance of
fish was amazing! |
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| This giant Maori Wrasse kept circling us! |
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| The seascape was like something out of this world - breathtaking! |
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| A slimy sea cucumber |
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| Nat and Tys checking out the reef! |
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| Stunning Butterfly Fish |
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| A colourful Parrot Fish |
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| Having a ball! |
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| Getting amongst the action. |
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Tys and Trav didn't hear the whistle and
had to be rounded up! |
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| Removing their gear after a big day snorkeling... |
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| Tarzan in the Kuranda Rainforest |
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| Stunning Barron Falls |
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| Checking out the view over Barron Gorge |
On the 5th October we left Palm Cove, smashed a wheel bearing coming out of a servo (Trav got parts and got us back on the road in a few hours - thank goodness!). We made it to a rest stop just above Innisfail that evening, where Natalie came down with gastro, poor honey. We explored Innisfail the next day, checking out where the North and South Johnstone Rivers meet, saw a baby cassowary out at Croquette Point, and saw houses left battered and abandoned after Cyclone Yasi and flooding at the start of the year - heart breaking.
We drove out through scenic Canecutter way, weaving through sugarcane and banana plantations, to the unique Paronella Park. This is a cement castle set on rmassive grounds abundant in waterfalls and rainforests. It was built by the entrepreneureal Jose Paronella in the 1930's, where he developed one of the first hydroelectricity plants, built tennis courts, ballrooms, tunnels and theatres. The buildings (all hand rendered by Jose) have taken a hammering from cyclones, floods and fire, but the moss-covered effect is very old world and romantic. Trav took the boys to the night time tour as well (poor Nat still not too good) where they fed dozens of eels, and saw bandicoots and fire flies.
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| Baby Cassowary at Innisfail |
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| Trav testing out the back muscles - Innisfail |
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| Banana and sugarcane plantation meet |
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| Stunning Paronella Park |
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| Microbats in the 'Tunnel of Love' at Paronella Park |
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| Don't crumble now concrete! |
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| Trav keen to take the plunge into Mena Creek Falls |
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| Paronella by night |
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The kids loved feeding the
fish, turtles and eels. |
7th October - we stopped for a dip in the warmest waters of the long, white sands of Mission Beach, overlooking Dunk Island - would definitely come back here! Just devine! We made a quick stop at Tully - Australia's wettest town where one year they received 7.9m of rain! We then unhitched the van to drive out to Girringun National Park. Here we saw the beautiful Murray Falls that thunder over huge, smooth pink-grey granite boulders. We had a refreshing swim in the cool mountain waters and watched the dazzling, blue Ulysses butterfllies dancing above our heads - slice of heaven!
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Tyson and Natalie lepping up the warm water of Mission
Beach, looking out to Dunk Island. |
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| Ollie beach combing again! |
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The 7.9m Golden Gumboot, representing
Tully's wettest year. |
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| Murray Falls |
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| The cool rock pools |
On the 8th of October we drove through Port Hinchinbrook that overlooks the massive Hinchinbrook Island (the kids were impressed as this was where the movie 'Nim's Island' was filmed). We drove out through Halifax, across it's many creeks and estuaries, to Lucinda to check out the 6km long, sugar-loading jetty - Australia's longest. We dropped the van just inland of Ingham to drive a steep incline though forest to arrive at the stunning Wallaman Falls (also in Girringun National Park). These falls are the highest, single-drop falls in Australia at 268m. Again, words and pictures will do it no justice, but I literally gasped as we approached the viewing platform to finally spot the base of the falls.
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| The 6km long jetty at Lucinda! |
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| Sugarcane train |
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Driving up the mountain in Girringun
National Park |
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The breath taking Wallaman Falls - Australia's highest single drop falls at 268m |
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Tys looking out over the valley where Stoney Creek
winds along the bottom |
We stayed in the tiny town of Rollingstone at 'Bushy Parker' rest area, listening to the impromptu concert of the husband and wife duet 'Yeeharr' (played some great old classics!). On the 9th October we ventured into Townsville for the day where the kids loved cooling off at the foreshore waterpark. Townsville is a lot bigger than I was expecting, and reminded me of Broken Hill by the sea, with huge red cliffs and hills forming the back drop of the town. We stopped at Home Hill rest area where a lovely couple gave us a ride in their MG much to the kids delight!
From here we headed 120km south into the unique little town of Bowen. It is quite hot and dry here; Bowen is set on many sheltered bays, with mangrove-lined estuaries and red, rocky outcrops. We spent a couple of days here chilling in the pool and cruising the town skatepark.
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| Cool Rhino Beetle at Rollingstone |
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| Loving the waterpark at Townsville |
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| Sailboating was popular in Townsville |
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| Just 5 more minutes Mum! |
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| Tys cruising in the 1977 MG Midget |
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| Nat had a burn too! |
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| The Big Mango at Bowen |
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| Fun in the pool at Bowen |
It was lovely to escape the arid area surrounding Bowen, on the 12th October, and roll into Airlie Beach, about 100km south. This is a busy, upmarket place, mainly owing to it being the gateway to the 74 Whitsunday Islands, and being surrounded by azure blue waters and sheltered bays. We spent three nights here exploring the area, and doing lots of swimming on these very warm, humid days. As the actual beach front here is pretty average (lots of small shale stones) they have made an awesome lagoon, where we went after dinner as well to cool off after the muggy days. Ollie was very proud as this is where he learnt to swim all by himself!
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| Shute Harbour where ferries depart |
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| Overlooking the bay closest to the town of Airlie Beach |
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| The kids are loving these waterparks! |
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| Ollie checks out one of the main beaches in Airlie. |
On the 15th October we headed 160km south into the busy (fairly industrial) city of Mackay where we stopped for 3 nights. While here we caught up with the Gates family, heading out to the speedway with Katrina to cheer on Byron racing sidecar. Was lovely to see a familiar face from home! Another higlight while here was driving out alongside the Pioneer River to visit Eungella National Park. Here we explored the Araluen Cascades at Finch-Hatton Gorge, where the kids were very excited as we got rained on IN the rainforest - it was just beautiful. Then we drove to the peak of the range here in the town of Eungella where we drove through dense cloud. We stopped to look out over the valley at the Sky's Window, but couldn't see a thing for clouds!
We then headed down to the Broken River to the platypus viewing platform and saw some straight away! It was amazing to watch these unique, Australian animals diving down to the bottom of the river, stirring up the mud, then coming up for air regularly. Another unforgettable experience!
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| The kids enjoyed Blue Water Lagoon, Mackay |
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| Looking over the Pioneer River, Mackay |
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| The dense rainforest of Eungella National Park |
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| The kids enjoyed the rain in the rainforest! |
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| Looking over pretty Araluen Cascades |
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| We drove right through these clouds, high up in the mountains |
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| Standing in the clouds! |
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| One of the many platypi we spotted! |
Over the next few days we rolled down the East coast quite quickly, aware our time is quickly running out! We spent time in pretty Rockhampton, built on the mighty Fitzroy River. Here we enjoyed strolling through the Botanic Gardens and the little (free) Zoo. We spent an afternoon in Gladstone, home to a huge port and smelting factories, and were amazed by the amount of wetlands and mangrove-lined estuaries there.
A gorgeous stop-over was in the town of 1770, and adjoining Agnes Waters. Another 130km down the coast we spent the day in Bundaberg checking out the Burnett River, some beaches and 'The Barrel' - home of Bundaberg Brewed drinks. The kids loved the interactive displays and tastings here - you would've thought they had been to a theme park for the day, they were that excited!
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| The koalas at Rockhampton Zoo were very laid-back! |
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| Rockhampton Botanic Gardens |
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| Barney's Beach, Gladstone |
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Looking out over Sir Joseph Banks
Conservation Park, 1770 |
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| Groovy beach at Agnes Waters |
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| Building the obligatory sandcastle! |
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| 'The Barrel', Bundaberg Brewed Drinks Co. |
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| The kids loved the interactive displays |
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Ollie learning about the wonders
of yeast in brewing! |
On the 22nd October we drove into the rolling green hills of Hervey Bay. The esplanade here stretches for miles along the sheltered bay, and the caravan park managar assured us there are no crocs, sharks or stingers here - you little beauty! We stayed at the Scarness Beachfront tourist park for 2 nights, and enjoyed the beach, bike riding, playgrounds and 'The Wetside Waterpark'.
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| Hervey Bay beaches are perfect for kids! |
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| What have you found now Ollie? |
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| Still beachcombing... |
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| The Australian Playground Conoissours roadtest another one! |
After making a short stop in Maryborough (pretty town built on the wide Mary River, with heaps of historic buildings) we arrived in the pretty, lush hills of the Sunshine Coast. While this is mainly a fairly upmarket tourist mecca, there are some great little quiet spots too. We stopped at Noosa to check out the gorgeous beaches (where Trav had to perform a 28 point turn to get the van out of a tricky, dead-end street), before driving along the coast to have a quick eye-spy at Coolum, Maroochydore, Mooloolaba and Coloundra. We visited the replica Ettamogah pub, and camped at Coochin-Creek Campground, about 70 km north of Brisbane.
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| Another slice of heaven... Noosa |
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| Another day, another beach! What a complaint to have! |
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| Replica Ettamogah Pub |
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| The kids navigated through Coochin Creek |
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| Look Mum - we're walking on water! |
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| Reeling in a big one... |
We spent a week, from the 26th October, in the NW Brisbane suburb of Strathpine with our gorgeous niece Jacki and her fantastic fiancee, Adam. On their days off Jacki and Adam took us sight-seeing to the little historic village of Old Petrie, and to Young's Crossing. We had a ball at the waterfront at Southbank in the city, right on the Brisbane River. The kids couldn't contain their excitement when the rain eased up long enough for us to travel down to Southport on the Gold Coast to take them to Seaworld for the day! They loved the sealion and dolphin shows, and couldn't get enough of the rides either! We loved getting to spend so much time with Jacki and Adam, and got very spoilt with some beautiful home cooking, but had to head off, ever southward!
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| Jacki and Trav on a sight-seeing day |
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| Adam and Ollie catching tiny fish and prawns at Young's Crossing |
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| Nat the water taxi giving Jacki a ride |
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| Natalie and her picture of Jacki, at Shorncliff |
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| Kitesurfers at Shorncliff |
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| Testing out yet another playground! |
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| Ollie at Southbank, Brisbane |
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| Another lagoon - very cool! |
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| The Sealion Detectives show at Seaworld |
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| Amazing dolphin show |
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| Slow down!! |
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| Going on a ride with the old man... |
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| Natalie went on the Jetski coaster!! She got me on too! |
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| Sharkbay was incredible! |
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| The rock pools, Seaworld |
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| Ollie braved the pirate rigging at 'Cast-away Bay' Seaworld |
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| Nat and Tyson at Sesame Street Beach, Seaworld |
We camped out in the gorgeous Lockyer Valley one night before climbing to the top of the Great Divide (again) to get to Toowoomba. Here we were lucky enough to stay with Ryan and Megan Baddock and their precious little girl, Milla. They were such great fun! Lovely to catch up with them and to get to know litlle Milla! While in Toowoomba we visited the impressive Japanese Gardens, the Picnic Point lookout over the Lockyer Valley, and the impressive Cobb and Co Museum.
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| Japanese Gardens, Toowoomba |
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| Japanese Gardens, Toowoomba |
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Looking out at Tabletop Mountain and the Lockyer Valley
from Picnic Point |
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| The original coaches at the Cobb and Co Museum |
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| Now Ollie wants his own billy-cart! |
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The local newspaper commemorative display
took Tyson's fancy... |
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| Nat thinks it would be great to go by horse everywhere! |
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| Ollie enjoyed the kids corner! |
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| Tyson cooking up a storm! |
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| Nat adored little Milla |
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| Milla, Ryan and Megan - lovely crew! |
Our last stop in Queensland was as we drove south of Toowoomba out via historic Warwick, to the stunning Queen Mary Falls. This is just one of the catchment areas for the start of the Darling River. As we were walking out to the viewing platform of the falls we came across this Water Dragon who had dug a hole and laid her last egg while we were watching, before covering them up with dirt - pretty cool to fluke seeing that in the wild!
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| The Water Dragon covering up her precious eggs! |
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| Tys and Nat admiring Queen Mary Falls |
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Aptly named majestic Queen
Mary Falls |
After two and a half months of exploring vast, diverse and stunning Queensland, we arrived back in our home state of New South Wales for the first time in over 10 months! We can't wait to see what our home state has to show us...
