HEADING WEST

We have certainly done some different things over the past 2 weeks since my last blog, which was written in Longreach. We really enjoyed Longreach and learning how the early pioneers, explorers, cattle hands and even convicts, managed to make Australia into the country it is today. The population is very proud of its history, even of the Ned Kelly gang and other very crooked early settlers. After Longreach we moved onto Winton which is a small outback town with the claim to fame that this is where Banjo Paterson wrote “Waltzing Matilda”. There is a Waltzing Matilda Centre; a statue of Banjo Paterson and a statue of the swagman all in this little town of about 300 people. We have decided to spend a few nights on this trip in either free camps on the side of the road or out the back of outback hotels or similar places. This was going to be our first experience. We arrived at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton and parked out the back along with about a dozen other vans. We had to register at the hotel which is similar to hundreds of such hotels around the country. The arrangement was we had to pay a $10 bond that was refundable when we either bought a meal or drink in the pub. This place was advertised as having showers and toilets but no power, which didn’t worry us as we have gas for cooking and our own toilet. The shower was something to behold I can tell you. The water in Winton smells like the sulphur smell in Rotorua, except about 10 times worse, and has lots of iron in it as well, so it leaves a stain and smell on wash basins, showers etc. You wouldn’t believe what the shower looked like so Jim & I decided to use our own hot water for a “top and tail”; ABC (armpits, bum and crotch) or as another Australian told me “a Pommie wash”. You can take your pick!!! It was a lot of laughs though. We were told of a new exciting happening in Winton and a group of us went out on the main street on the Saturday night to see. It was described as an aquarium filling up in a shop window! We could hardly wait. This phenomenon took place in an empty shop which looked as if it was a café with chairs and tables. The sequence started with what looked like water pouring into the shop through the roof and as the shop filled with water, the chairs and tables started floating all around and then a barramundi and a huge crab floated by. It was all done with a TV set and lighting set up in the shop being reflected onto the shop window. The whole town came out to watch. I wish I had videoed it. Another funny thing happened to us in Winton. Jim & I were walking along the street on the Sunday afternoon where nothing was opened except the pubs and a few gem shops. We saw this very bored gent sitting outside one shop obviously waiting for his wife to finish her shopping. He had a pair of hiking sticks which Jim & I have been trying to buy since our walk around Carnarvon. We asked him where he got them and he replied, “Invercargill New Zealand” Now most of you know that Jim and I both come from Invercargill so he got rather a surprise when we told him. He was over in Brisbane with his wife and sister and decided to come up to Winton and Longreach for a couple of days. His name was John Anderson and he worked with Jim’s sister and her husband at the smelter. Small world eh!
We then moved on to what was going to be our second free camp but I’m afraid they were just too basic for us so we drove onto Cloncurry and stayed at a lovely caravan park on the main road. On our trip that day we passed the hotel where “Crocodile Dundee” was filmed. We took some photos but it has been done up a bit and lost some of its originality. Cloncurry is another small country town that was built on mining but is now getting smaller all the time. Our next stop was Mount Isa where we stayed last year but we wanted to stock up on groceries, wine etc. The roof of our annexe has been deteriorating with being left outside all the time, so after another hole was found in it, we set out to find another patch to cover it up. To cut a long story short, they guy was a very good salesman and we ended up with a completely new roof. The installer gave us a real good deal and had it up and fitted within a day. It looks great and no more worries about tears and rips. We met Diane and Graham in Mount Isa, he is another ex cop, and we had a great time with them. Here’s a story against us. There are not the special wine deals that we have had for the previous 2 years, especially in the outback, so in Mt. Isa we found a bottle store that had 2 litre wine casks, past their ”best buy” date but not their “use by” date, and only $5! We bought 4 of these and very proudly told Diane & Graham about our great buy that night. They went and got some the next day, after having to wait an hour for the shop to be able to sell cask wine. That night, which was the night before we left Mount Isa, we decided to sample the wine. The contents of the first cask were a dark yellow colour and smelled like vinegar so we decided to try the lot and of course they were all the same. We left them by the rubbish tin the next morning and suggested that Diane & Graham return them along with theirs. We got an email from Diane to say they did just that and got their money back, including our $20. She wanted to send it on to us but it’s too complicated so we suggested she invest it in the pokies and if she has a big win, then we may look at some way of passing it on. No more cheap wine for us!!
We moved on from Queensland to Northern Territory and on the border the N/T police were bringing everyone in at 9am, breath testing them all; checking licences and all vehicles registrations. The guy in front of us got a ticket for having a cracked windscreen, so it is quite a lucrative money spinner for the local constabulary!
We had our first night free camping on the side of the road on the Barkly Tablelands. There were about 12 vans there and it had turned very windy so it was safer to pull off and park up. We’ve done it now so there will be lots more of it to come I’m sure.
Banka Banka was our next stop. We had passed this very popular cheap camp on the Stuart Highway last year and it was well worth the stop. No power but lovely grassed sites, hot showers and a video about the history of the station. It has had quite a few owners and has just been sold again to a consortium of Aborigines who plan to have a TAFE there to teach the indigenous people about hospitality and tourism and then they hope to update the facilities. I hope it doesn’t lose the character though.
We then had two nights at Daley Waters Highway Inn as we did the pub last year and then moved on to Katherine. We had planned to stay at Edith Falls but because it was a long holiday weekend here for Queen’s birthday we couldn’t get in. We had to get some groceries and do laundry so decided to make Katherine our base and have a day in Edith Falls. We went there yesterday and loved it. We went for a walk up to a waterfall where some were swimming but it was a bit cool for us, so we sat and watched and took in the beautiful scenery then finished the walk. It was only a 2.6km walk ( a doddle for us!!) but it was very hot, 30C, and lots of rock climbing. It amazes us what people wear for these walks. We passed a couple who were obviously not fit at all and very inappropriately dressed for the trip. They both had jandals, or thongs for Aussies, on and she had no hat and I’m not sure if they had water. She was complaining that the signs had not mentioned that the track was not level. We checked when we got back and it said “for a moderate fitness level” which they certainly weren’t. I doubt if they would have made it to the top.
We move west tomorrow and will cross into Western Australia in a couple of days. Really looking forward to this stage of our journey as it is all new to us. We have to put our clocks back 1 ½ hours then so we will be 2 hours behind Queensland and 4 hours behind NZ.. It’s going to be a long day that day.
Even though we had been to all the places we have visited over the past 8 – 10 days we have noticed some differences. The most surprising thing is the lushness of the bush. Queensland and southern parts of Northern Territory had a very wet season and the greenness of the undergrowth has produced new growth in the trees and grasses. The yellow wattle is coming into flower up in this area and it looks amazing with the green bush. Last year everything looked so dry and dusty. Another thing we have noticed is the lack of road kill; hardly any kangaroos and we haven’t seen any big beasts at all. Seemingly because of the lushness of the bush, the animals haven’t had to venture too far for feed and they are staying put. We sat on the verandah of the inn at Daly Waters on Sunday with our wine and watched the sunset. Fantastic. We spoke to a couple of truckies who had stopped for a rest and one had left Brisbane and the other Sydney, on Friday and had driven all the way to Darwin with a co-driver. After they unloaded and loaded again in Darwin, they would be on the road within about 9 hours and heading back home. The rigs they drive are huge with up to 4 trailers behind. One guy said he got $2,200 in the bank for this one trip. They deserve it though.
Congratulations to the All Whites. We had been inundated by media reports before the Australian/Germany game how the Aussies were going to beat Germany by taking it to them as Germany were slow starters. We all saw how slow they were; 2- 0 by half time and 4 –0 at the finish. A very sad lot of Australians the next day. This morning we waited for the news of NZ’s first game. Jim woke me at 7am to say that “NZ had an outstanding performance against Slovakia to draw 1 all” Wow! The Sydney Morning Herald had the headlines “Australasia 1 – Slovakia 1”. The TV made a big deal how it was NZ’s first ever goal scored in a World Cup. There’s no way Australia will let NZ be better than them!!!
It is now farewell from Northern Territory and our next blog will be from Western Australia. We won’t have cell phone or internet coverage for some of this trip but will be back online where and when we can.

CAR PROBLEMS

Well, the start of our big journey didn’t go that well. We had booked the Prado into a garage in North Lakes while we were at Nicolas. Jim had a list of things he wanted checked before we hit the road. The end result of that was a bill for $1600 which included a new cam belt and a new water pump plus a lot of little things as preventative measures. We had already budgeted for a new set of tyres for the van so thought we were all set to go. We managed to get out of Noosa between cyclists and marathon runners about 90 minutes earlier than expected so we were in high spirits as we headed up the Bruce Highway. Just after passing through Gympie the water temperature started rising alarmingly high and we had a boiling radiator. After a couple of stops we decided to back track to Gympie and get the problem sorted. There was no way we were heading off into the unknown with car problems. The upshot was, the radiator was in a right mess and needed replacing. Another $680! There won’t be too much dining out and drinking done for the next few weeks till we recuperate some of these cost blowouts!
We enjoyed our stay in Noosa again. It is such a lovely spot. We caught up with Trish and Llew, friends who now live in Noosa, and we all went out for a lovely Thai meal. It was good catching up with them.
The first few weeks of this trip are going to be spent meeting up with people we either met in NZ., or on the road over here. After we finally got the car sorted out it was on the road to Munduberra. This little town is north west of Brisbane and is in a citrus growing area. On our first road trip to Australia in 2008, we met Wendy and John. He had been in the NZ Police and is now doing a similar thing to us. We met them in Bagara, then last year we caught up with them in Nambour just before we flew home. They are now working in Munduberra in a citrus packing shed for 8 months of the year. We stayed a night with them and John cooked a huge BBQ on his new Webber. It was lovely but once again Jim got reflux. Thank goodness his medication has now kicked in and he seems to be having no trouble. There were lots of laughs and jokes shared that night.
The next morning we said farewells to Wendy and John as they went off to work and we left for Moura where we were going to catch up with Sally, Kent and their twin 6 year old sons, Callum & Connor. Kent is in the Queensland Police and Sally is a nurse at the local hospital. We met them on our whale watching trip from Hervey Bay in 2008. We have kept in touch and last year they joined us for a night in Cania Gorge. Kent is stationed in Moura, which is a small mining town of about 2,500 people. They were so pleased to see us and had decided they were going to hitch up their caravan and join us for our first experience of bush camping. We were glad they were there to show us the ropes but it was a magic experience. We camped by the Dawson River about 10 kms. out of Moura. We cooked a BBQ dinner and lit a huge campfire then Jim & Kent went back into Moura to see the first of the State of Origin, while Sally put the boys to bed. We then had a couple of glasses of wine sitting around the campfire in the moonlight just chatting. I loved it and can’t wait to do it again. It looked like rain the next day so we took the van back into Moura and Kent, Jim & I had a game of golf. I must admit it definitely wasn’t my best game but it was a lot of fun on a lovely 9hole course. We all went to the local RSL that night for dinner and my memories of Moura will always be the friendliness of the local people and the community spirit. It was great spending some time in a small local community with such great friends.
Our next stop was Carnarvon National Park where we caught up with Neale & Cathy, friends we met on the road last year. They were already at Takarakka Bush Resort when we arrived so after catching up with them Jim & I went for a couple of small walks in the park in readiness for the big one the next day. We all had drinks that night and the next morning Jim & I set off. There are all sorts of combinations of walks that one can take in this National Park but as we were both feeling quite energetic, we decided to do the 15 km. walk. This involved walking along the floor of the Gorge for about 5 kms. and then taking side tours to different walks on the way back. Most of the main walking track is level but there are lots of steps and the side tracks involve river crossings; climbing a 4 tiered ladder up to an amphitheatre and lots of steep uphill walks. We did it but the last 2.8 kms to the car park was a killer! There were no markings on the track to tell us how far we had to go so we were both very pleased to see the car park. There was a great feeling of achievement when we finished it though. This gorge wasn’t as spectacular as some of the gorges we saw last year but it was definitely the hardest. The sound of the birds in the bush was just fabulous and we even saw an echidna, something like a porcupine with a long snout and strong claws. We were concerned how we would both feel the next day but amazingly our bodies coped very well, although we were both in bed very early.
It was then onto the Gemfield areas of Australia; Emerald; Sapphire and Rubyvale. We both envisaged something quite different from what we found in these areas. I know of lots of people who come here, year after year, just to fossick for gemstones, especially sapphires. There are hundreds of small claims all across the land here and most of them have a caravan with a lean-to attached, an old car (usually a wreck) and lots of machinery and equipment all around. Visitors can buy a bucket of wash, where the digging has all been done for you, and you can sieve and sort out the gems, if there are any. They usually leave a few small uncut stones in most of the buckets. Or you can buy the stones either set or unset for quite reasonable prices. Judging by the quality of the houses, shops and cars, there is not much money to be made from fossicking at the moment!! It was quite an eye opener though and I’m glad we had the experience. On the road from Emerald we saw a huge paddock just covered with sunflowers. They looked so lovely with all with their faces facing the sun. We also passed a paddock of cotton. There is lots of cotton grown in this area but most of it had been picked by the time we arrived. It was good to see a paddock of the white cotton balls.
It was then on to the real outback of Queensland and Longreach. It was a long trip and the roads leave much to be desired. Lots of humps and bumps and goodness knows what sort of damage it does to our spines. Longreach is famous for the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and for being the birthplace of QANTAS. We spent one day at each of these complexes and enjoyed both. They are two different concepts but lots of imagination and thought has gone into providing interesting and enjoyable venues where we learnt lots about the struggles of the Aborigines; convicts; early settlers; and the hard times to get QANTAS accepted by the Federal Govt. All the things that are part of Australia’s history and make it the country it is today.
Had to laugh at the sports news this morning. They were commenting on the selections for the Wallabies rugby team (which is rare indeed) and called the coach Robbie Dingo Deans!! I suppose the media have to do something to make him sound like an Australian.
We have been out of range of most forms of communication over the past week; no radio; no TV; no internet; no mobile phones and even no newspapers. It was good to get back into the real world once again. We will probably be non communicado again next week so I will get the next blog done when and where I can.