| June 2004 |
Tuesday June 1st [more pictures] Drove to Bundaberg and visited the famous rum distillery to understand Australia's most recognized brand mark, the polar bear (bundy wards off the Bundaberg cane prior to harvesting Symbiotic relationship between cattle & birds most bitter of cold). Quite an interesting tour, good marketing and new canned carbonated products including a favorite of Christie's Dark and Stormy, a mix of rum and ginger beer. The tall sugarcane fields were magnificent and the harvest had just started. Stayed at Moore Park on the ocean but by the lagoon with the duck and water hen all around. Very, very laid back place and excellent, clean facilities. Wednesday - Thursday June 2nd-3rd [more pictures] Newly surfaced road completed to Anges Waters and Town of Seventeen Seventy (named after Captain Cooks landing on May 24th 1770). Stayed for 2 days on the camping park absolute beachfront at 1770. Bustard Bay is beautiful with a backdrop of the unspoilt Eurimbula National Park, protected 
from the prevailing northeasterly winds with a deepwater channel for boats. Town of 1770 is very small with very few blocks of land left at $750K/block. Lady Musgrave Island and the only navigable inside reef of the Great Barrier Reef are only 75 minutes by fast boat and there are no stingers
in the water in the summer. These towns are just south of the Tropic of Capricorn and Agnes Waters is the most northerly surf beach before the Great Barrier Reef. Something special about this place and could be gearing up for future development but 60 kms from Hwy 1, 125 from Bundaberg and no airport.
Getting close to the Tropic of Capricorn and the weather is moving towards high/lows of 25/15 C so clothing down to shorts and singlet. Meet 2 young entrepreneurial couples interested in working together on joint backpackers, eco-environmental business and partied on Thursday night.
Christine's knee started to swell up.
Friday June 4th [more pictures] Stayed at Awoonga Dam just inland from Galdstone and sampled freshly caught barramundi fish dinner right at our campsite overlooking the lake. Noisy minors and kookaburras kept us company. The views from the cafe overlooking the dam were excellent. Saturday June 5th [more pictures] Ventured back to the coast via Rockhampton, a famous Braham cattle country, but ugly town and camped out of the wind at the causeway between Emu Park and Yapoona where we cooked up chili and teriyaki chicken with beans and bok choy. Christine picked up the rudiments of cribbage card game. Experienced again, very clean facilities at a caravan park with retiree villas and permanent caravan sites, so typical along the coast. Sunday June 6th [more pictures] Got up early, leaving at 8 a.m. and made the 400 kilometer trip toward Mackay with Christine's help in driving, heading inland past the numerous cane fields to Eungella National Park camping on top of the mountain in the clouds and rain showers. This was our first experience of camping inside the van which turned out to be fine with a good chicken bean chili and a game or three of dominos. In addition, we are really enjoying national radio ABC that has very in-depth interviews with all sorts of people covering a broad range of very interesting topics. Rural ABC Queensland is linked to the nationwide ABC that allows for such diversity above and beyond just rural issues. Monday - Tuesday June 7th-8th [more pictures] Walk to the falls at the Finch Hutton Gorge in Eungella NP cut short as Christine cut her big toe badly, requiring attention. Stayed in Mackay for 2 days, a fine down town and had the Troopy's major, all-day 40,000 kilometer service changing all the oils, lubricants and coolant, ready for the July Cape York trip. 
Vehicle checked out fine and MacKay Toyota replaced the front and rear driver's side wheel bearings under warranty. Cost about $940. Filled in the day with a fine full breakfast, internet café and pub lunch. Next time we will check out a movie and lunch-time restaurant prior to an all day service.
Discovered the simple, guest cottage design, which we documented.
Wednesday - Saturday June 9th - 12th [more pictures] Moved onto Proserpine for a bakery lunch and Airlie Beach for a few of relaxation days. The water around the protected waters of the Whitsunday's is turquoise and pale blue. This is a young, backpacker's paradise and describe by a young German man I met as similar to Majorca, Spain. Relaxed and for 4 days with various wildlife including possums, Merten water monitors and bush turkeys. Unpowered site was the most expensive so far at $20/night. At the camp kitchen, met many young people from the UK traveling around Australia or just the Queensland coast. On Friday, spent the morning with in a modern 2-person Salty Dog sea kayak and ventured out from Schute Harbor to White Rock Island, spotting large green sea turtle and jumping fish. Christine really enjoyed this despite some feeling of sea sickness. The view from the top of the rock covered many of the Whitsunday group of 70 islands including Hook, Hamilton, Dent, Long, North and South Molle. Seafood dinner at the Shipwreck restaurant wasn't bad either. On Saturday, Chris went real sailing with Reg Eggers on a Lidgard 36' Domino from Abel Point Marina snorkeling along Lanford Reef at Bali Hai off Hamilton Island, lunching on Hook Island. Sailing experience and care must be taken with the daily 25 knot south easterly winds, strong currents and tides. This was one of Chris's best days out so far. Christine and I are phoning the parents-in-law weekly on Saturday using Telstra's cheap 1-800 home-link program. Sunday June 13th [more pictures] Visited Bowen and was very impressed with the restoration of this old, industrial town whose industries are mangoes, vegetables, salt, coal port and fishing. The design of the tourist lookout site/café was documented. Struck the Queens Birthday weekend so no places to camp so moved up the coast to Molongle Boat Camp Caravan Park, a cheap, "rustic" van site @ $10/night and famous fishing spot for Cape Upstart. Monday June 14th [more pictures] Headed inland to Charters's Towers along the red tinged surface of the Flinders Highway, SW of Townsville. Very interesting, historic gold town and toured the Venus Stamp gold processing site started in 1876 and immensely enjoyed the tour by a humorous guide with stories and dry wit. Extracting the gold from the crushed stone using mercury amalgam and the tailings using cyanide until 1974 made this a very interesting heritage site. Lunched at Henry's Cafe near the old stock exchange. The Aussie Oasis new caravan site had excellent new facilities. Tuesday June 15th [more pictures] Off to Townsville for shopping and an internet café. The development of downtown, particularly along the waterfront overlooking Magnetic Island and known as The Stand is excellent. The weather is noticeably warmer and more humid. Met a great guy, formally a Director of TAFEs in Queensland with all this equipment and clothes in army camouflage colors; also not a bigot towards aborigines which was a nice change. 
Also met a nice couple with an autistic son in their huge RV. Hopefully, we have finally organized our sat/CDMA phone through Vodafone. Most of the young people in the caravan park and back packers hostels undertake this very dirty work to clear, after tax, about $450/40 hour week. The van park was more like a labor camp with residents rising at 5.30 a.m. for a 6.35 a.m. start and retiring early to bed after dinner.
The Tully Cane Mill had just restarted processing sugar and on one train we counted 166 bins of cane. The highlight was a day white water rafting on the Tully River in the National Park. Expensive at $155, but a blast. Safety and fun were the two aims and you definitely get wet often. The very experienced rafting captain, Chris and good crew of 7 (German, American, 2 English and 3 Australians) made shooting the 20 or so rapids up to grade 5 (out of 7) one of my best days so far.
Christine and I revisited the National Park for a brief walk and nice drive on Friday.
Friday-Tuesday June 18th-22nd [more pictures] Stayed in South Mission Beach overlooking Dunk Island for 5 days R&R (rest and recreation). Joined the Big 4 Caravan Park, 2-year program to book ahead on a 1-800 free call for luxury stays during the approaching school holidays and attain 10% discounts. High/low temperatures are 26/10 Celsius. Did not spot any cassowary flightless birds but saw their 3 claw tracks on the beach. Many walks along the beach, Friday dinner and Sunday lunch at Ramon's Retreat Restaurant at Wongaling Beach for excellent seafood. Met Rick, the keyboard player for the Mixtures, (a 35 year old Melbourne band) famous for the Bicycle song. He had great stories about Billie Joel and other famous bands and musicians. His bohemian lifestyle has not changed after inheriting $9+M and although going through some turmoil, seems to be content. At the restaurant we bumped into Mike and Pat from Melbourne we met on Fraser Island. Coincidently we also reconnected to Ron and Dawn from Nowra, caravaners we met at Airlie Beach. Also met Rodney, horticulturist with dreadlocks and Tracy, massage therapist from Airlie Beach. Rodney has a nursery and some excellent ideas on Indian timber, palm breeding and landscaping. Also met nice couple from The Netherlands and Wyalla, South Australia. The Australian weekend paper is an excellent publication covering domestic and international news, opinions, business, art etc. Terrific weekend read, so much better than typical Sunday papers and more in line with the New York Times. Picked up a Post Office parcel drop to Mission Beach and got our new satellite/CDMA mobile phone; set out the phone number to all our friends around the world and got a nice call from Paul Hollywood, our investment strategist from Vanguard the next day. He wanted to advise us on the upcoming changes in the bond market. Also got a call from Les. On Tuesday did a clothes wash and inside car clean-up. Wednesday June 23rd [more pictures] On Rodney's advice tracked back a short distance to Murray River Falls, not listed on the map. Great decision and camping spot @$4/night/person with wood supplied, campfire, sound of the falls in the background and OK toilets. This is now so typical for the national park and state forest infrastructure. The falls are quite spectacular and the Girrgong aboriginal walk to the top of the falls is recommended. The showery weather did not dampen our spirits and fine coral trout cooked on the campfire. Thursday June 24th [more pictures] Onto Innisfail via Paronella Park, a Spanish man's dream of the 1920's. After a cyclone, fire and floods his ideas, labors and castle are still an insight but the place is in poor condition. It is the sight of probably the first small scale hydroelectric scheme on the Mena Creek set up in the early 1930's before electricity was available to the area. Camped right on Branson Beach; the seawaters in this region and north are silty, due to coral dust and river water and other silts carried north by the strong southeasterly winds. 
There are no singers and box jellyfish because the water temperatures drop over the winter months and they move north. Interesting talking to Dave, who after spending 20 years with the navy as an engineer, boarded 98 Indonesian illegal fishing ships in 18 months. These ships hunt shark fin in Australian waters for bosses in Hong Kong. Christine met a Ryan whose brother lived in Bombala and we also met a great French couple.
Friday June 25th [more pictures] Off to the Atherton Tableland in the Great Dividing Range west of Cairns. Checked out plenty of water falls around Millaa Millaa. Free-camped at Lake Koombooloomba. The bird calls when waking at dawn were amazing. The cask of red wine leaked after the rough road - what a mess. Christine got physically sick on the escargot, is OK, but what another mess! Saturday - Sunday June 26th - 27th [more pictures] Moved onto Atherton for a shower and clean-up. Had a great night around the camp kitchen meeting caravaners and a German couple but Chris had his wallet stolen from the unlocked glove box. What a downer - cash and all the credit cards. Played it very cool and did not see any activity on either the credit or ATM cards after checking for a week so decided not to cancel them. Made out a stolen report with the Atherton Police on Monday because of the loss of Chris's driver's license. On Sunday tried to cheer ourselves up by touring the Crystal Caves (containing some fascinating rare amethyst and other agates, crystals and minerals from around the world) and the Hou Wang Temple (a wonderful Queensland Heritage site covering the lives of those in Atherton's Chinatown). To make matters worst, Atherton was colder and windy. Monday June 28th [more pictures] After that experience, we were keen to move on and visited the very tidy, heritage town of Yungaburra, the amazing Cathedral and Curtin fig trees and through the Danbulla State Forest to Fong-On Bay, a terrific campsite overlooking the beautiful Lake Tinaroo. The lake, previously at 37% capacity, was full after the huge back and had excellent, inexpensive products. Bought up big for the Cape trip and moved onto Port Douglas, off the colder Atherton Tableland and down to the warmer, more humid coast. Port Douglas has developed tremendously after our stay at the Sheraton Mirage, after Chris's mother death in 1991. We found the location of the famous chili mud-crab dinner at the Fish Markets 13 years ago and the new restaurant, The Inlet, was also outstanding; so we blew $160 on a great bottle of Donnelly Pinot Noir from Western Australia, a couple of cosmopolitan cocktails, two very inventive entrees and a huge plate of Morton Bay bugs in Asian vegetables. Although there are plenty of scattered showers, the high/low temperatures are back to 26/16 C. |