Stu's Summary

It has been a fantastic six months and everything has gone as well as we had hoped. Aussie has been green the whole way round which I didnt expect (they have had lots of rain recently) and it has been colder than I expected.
I will go over a few of the practical things for those who may be interested.

Janice has done a wonderful job of the trip on on our blog which covers our feelings at the time etc.
We have as you know done a circle from Sunshine coast down to Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide up the middle to Alice, Darwin across the north back to Queensland and Sunshine coast.  That took 21,055km
and a lot of fuel. I have kept a record the whole way, consumed 3295ltrs of diesel at a cost of $5387, it sounds a lot but we averaged 15.6lts per 100km which isnt too bad towing a 2 ton caravan.
Generally the roads are very good and in the outback areas little traffic, the roadtrains were no problem at all, the driving was not stressful, we have cruise control on the Landcruiser and it was used particularly up the middle and across the top. Cities are cities anywhere, they are always busy and this is where the GPS came in very handy. If fact I would say they are a must. Mine is getting a bit old (4 years) and roads do change so next time a will buy a new one.
Aussie drivers do keep to the speed limits much more than NZ,  and on the whole seem better drivers.  I think the fines must be much higher. You can tow a caravan up to the maximum limit but I kept to about 90 most of the time. The towing has been a breeze, most towns make short term parking available for caravans, which makes sense because there are  lots of them and they spend money.
The campgrounds have generally all been very good, prices from $10 to $35.  We have tried to use as many free ones as we can and these have been great especially here in Queensland.  They are usually provided by the local council or Government Roads and generally have toilets and water, they are popular so we have tried to arrive at them by 2pm .  Security has never been a worry, we were a bit apprehensive when we started but now we are happy stopping anywhere.
Campgrounds provide all the services as you would expect,  but surprisingly,  very few,   provide a place to discharge grey water.  They are all happy to let you dump it on the grass by the side of the caravan. (In NZ binoculars would be out  to report you).  Dump points are provided for the cassette toilets at campgrounds and most towns, so this has not been a problem.
If anyone was to come to Aussie I would definitely recommend Telstra for phone and mobile broadband.
It  works just about everywhere, all small towns and most roads. We have the telstra prepay for the phone and top it up $30 at a time, it has cost us I think $180 for the 6 months.  Broadband is the same, we chose a prepay for 1 year and that cost $150, we have used half of the data allowance and have been very pleased with the coverage.
The caravan came with a TV antenna which winds up from inside and can be rotated and a booster amplifier. Initially I though we would need to purchase at satellite system but again TV is provided to all the towns along the way and so there has only been a few days without it, not that we are tv fans  but we have watched the odd DVD.  Aussie is upgrading its tv system from analogue to digital, our tv receives both and digital seems to cover 95% of the population.

           

         Looking forward to our next trip over to Western Australia.

Janice's Summary of journey March 2011 - September 2011.

Janice's thoughts:

As we come to the end of our journey for this year of 2011, it has been  six months of wonder, excitement & awe at some of the sites we have seen.  Australia is a land of many faces, many harsh, many tranquil, & most beautiful in their own way.  We have seen similarities to NZ & sometimes thought we were back there, but this country is so big & tough & resilient.  There is so much wildlife & the birds have been a delight - I must admit I never thought I would become such a birdwatcher but it has become a bit of an obsession every time I hear a bird to grab the camera & see if I can snap it in order to identify it.  My list of recorded sightings  is up to about 80 varieties, though naturally I have not been able to get a decent photo of all.  There are probably thousands more to be acquainted with, hopefully in the future.

Things I have missed are firstly family & friends, but also include our homemade bread, jam & marmalade, an oven, picking my own vegies & fruit, the art group at Ruawai & the exercise group at Paparoa.  Not least the pleasure of bushwalking without having to worry about 'nasties'.  What I haven't missed is the winter rains & housework, though strangely enough we started here in rain, & looks like we may end it the same way.

One of the most important things for me personally about being here in Australia,  is that I have reconnected with the country of my birth, an emotional journey at times, so I would like to finish with a verse of a poem I learnt at primary school in Oz & which I had entirely forgotten existed till it suddenly popped back into my head.  Strange how the right cue can unlock a memory filed away & long forgotten.

I love a sunburnt country,

   A land of sweeping plains,

          Of rugged mountain ranges
Of droughts & flooding rain

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel seas,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me.

Written by Dorothea McKellar.

 







18 August 2011 - Bundaberg to Sunshine Coast, QLD Australia

At Petrie Park



Mary River

             
               En route to the Sunshine Coast our overnight camp was at Petrie Park, another freebie beside the Mary River.  We were lucky to get a spot suitable for our van as a lot of it was not level but with a little jiggling we managed & it was OK for one night.  There was quite a nice sunset, & Stu took some lovely photos of a boy & his dad fishing by the river & silhouetted in the sunset.  There were quite a lot of birds, including whip birds, galahs, & kurrawongs though I couldn't photograph any.




Boy fishing Mary River





Jan watching sunset


  Next morning we set off,  stopping for a short break in the town of Gympie (Fiona from Sahara's home town).   At this stage we leave the Bruce Highway behind & take the tourist drive through some lovely country, heading to the showgrounds at Kenilworth which is a small village like Paparoa about 1/2 hour from Maleny where my son lives.  It is in a lovely valley surrounded by ranges & there is a caravan group from Maryborough having a rally there.  Still room for us though thankfully.   On a walk to the village we discover the local Cheese Factory which also makes yoghurt & ice-cream.  We resisted the ice-cream but indulged ourselves with yoghurt & cheese, both very nice.  The village has everything required for day to day living plus a cafe & a restaurant etc.  Really reminded us of home.
Next morning we leave at 9am to head to Caloundra on the coast to watch my two grandaughters (12 & 10) play netball.  They are both in their first season & really enjoying it, so it was quite nice to sit in the sun & watch them though the breeze was a bit cool at times.   Son Trevor was working so we tried to  rendezvous with him for lunch but after driving through all the Saturday traffic, just as we arrived he got a call-out, so that was that.  By the time we got back to Maleny, had afternoon tea with the children & their mum, drove back to Kenilworth, the whole day had gone.
Sunday morning we get an early start again to meet my son at his mate's property where we will store our caravan till next year.  Meantime my family will probably use it for a holiday in the summer.   Today Stu & I are taking the 3 children back to the caravan for the day & unfortunately it starts to rain - just what we need!  They are very keen as they also know there  is a great playground near the showgrounds, & the ice-cream factory is a great attraction too.  We duly arrive at the van & pile inside, have lunch, play games, & are grateful when the rain stops.  It's off to the playground, lots of energy expended including us two oldies.  Tyan at nearly 5 is all go & will try anything, so whatever his big sisters did, he did too.  Trouble is, he thought Nanna should do it too!!!  Luckily we had to stop before the ice-cream factory closed, so everyone was quiet for a while due to a lot of licking time.  Once again we drove the hills back to Maleny to return the children home, & were invited to stay for dinner - wonderful.  It also gave me time to listen to the girls play their keyboard & play another card game which we had just taught them.  They are all growing up so fast so it is really lovely to be able to spend some time with them & we will collect them from the school bus tomorrow afternoon while their mum is occupied elsewhere & I hope to have a short concert from the girls on their violins.  We will stay at the showgrounds in Kenilworth for another two days, then shift to another at Maleny to clean the van up before storing it.  After that will shift into my son's place for the remainder of our stay till 1st Sept & indulge in more family time.  However, there is another page to go with a summary from us both with thoughts on our journey & Stu will give some insight to those who may wish to do it themselves in the future.  

13th August 2011 - Bundaberg QLD Australia

Moore Park Beach Festival



Kites at Festival



Nice drive along the scenic route to Bundaberg passing very close to the coastal towns of Agnes Waters & 1770 (& yes, that is the name of the town).  Both are apparently beautiful spots but my driver & tour organiser said 'next time'???   There are beautiful farming properties along this route, mostly cattle.  We head for a caravan park at Moore Park Beach which happens to be just a short distance from my Australian daughter-in-law's mother on her cane farm.  Unfortunately on arrival at the park we discover there are no powered sites available, for the first time in our travels, due to a festival being held here on the beach for the whole weekend.  Also for the first time our batteries for the van were right down, so it wasn't very good, but we thought we would stay for one night on an unpowered site, see our friend, then move on to somewhere else.  So we duly spent the afternoon with Yvonne & a friend of hers, had a barrel of laughs, then she very kindly offered for us to bring the caravan & park at her place - great!  It's the best caravan park we have had, with a lovely lunch of Italian spaghetti bolognaise accompanied  by our red wine for lunch & lots of laughs for lunch.  Then Stu & I had a look at the Festival stalls, art & photography display & walked along the lovely long beach.  Only intending to be in Bundy for two nights, we were all getting along so well we extended it to three as Stu was very interested in the workings of the cane farm which Yvonne & her son now do together.  Next day Stu did a tour at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, which he enjoyed, especially the two free drinks at the end,  while Yvonne & I did the girls' thing - coffee in town.  90% of Bundaberg Rum is consumed in Australia, 5% in NZ & the remaining 5%  to the rest of the world. Remainder  of the day was spent gathering bits & pieces of 'man things' around town then Yvonne cooked us a beautiful roast lamb dinner, the first we have had in 6 months.  She is a wonderful hostess, & we certainly did not expect such hospitality.    Following morning  Yvonne took us on a  grand tour of the cane farm, Stu armed with camera taking in all the details of the industry - a real man's tour.  Very interesting even for me.  It's certainly quite a hard industry to be in, with long days often started at first light & ending at sunset.  At present the cane is being harvested & is sent to the mill in bins on small gauge railway tracks which run through the farms & direct to the sugar mill in Bundaberg.  The mill dictates when they will take the cane & the no of bins.  They are constantly fertilising, ploughing & replanting.  Usually the cane plants can be re-planted for 4 years all going well, but the floods ruined a lot of the cane this year, so quite a lot was lost.  Burning off of the stubble is still carried out, but not as much as in earlier days though it is good for the soil etc.



Sugar Cane Harvester



A long day on the Cane Farm

 Stu did a few handyman jobs for Yvonne which were greatly appreciated & he of course likes to do it.  My son & Yvonne's daughter used to live here in Bundy too before they went to Maleny on the Sunshine Coast, so Stu & I decided to cycle to the area they lived in & see how it had changed. Yvonne gave us directions but as usual we took an unplanned detour, found the road was a dead end, found a rough track & luckily ended up in the right place.  Another 20kms to add to our total. Then we all had a BBQ dinner together on what should have been our last night, but were invited to stay another night which we were only too happy to do. Next morning we walked the beach.  In total it is 19kms long, but we only managed about 9km as of course had to return as well.  Both had sore heels as we are not used to such a long distance in bare feet - the only way to walk a beach in my opinion.
 This time definitely our last night, so we feel a bit sad about  leaving  as it's been such fun & delightful company.  Stu reckoned Yvonne, I & her friend Leda are like a lot of teenagers together, so perhaps it's just as well I am going before we all get into trouble together.  He has been very tolerant being with laughing women.  To top it all off Yvonne came to surprise us with a 'novelty, item that afternoon.  Her telephone in the house rang, & when she went to answer it she found a very tiny python snake wrapped around her handset!!!  She picked it up by the head with some kitchen tongs & brought it out to show us.  While we were trying to get photos she dropped it & we all scattered (what a lot of whoosies).  The poor little thing was most indignant when she tried to pick it up again, it's little mouth opening extremely wide & hissing at us.  In the end after getting a long stick, she took it down the back to the dam.  My worry was where mummy & daddy might have been??? 
As we have to get into Bundaberg early to have our caravan fridge looked at first thing next morning, there is no  time for long goodbyes.  Unfortunately the fridge thing took much longer than anticipated, so it was midday before we left Bundaberg & hit the road towards the Sunshine Coast.  


Blue Faced Honey Eater



07 August 2011 - Capricorn Coast QLD, Australia.

Blue Faced Honey Eater



Sunset at St Lawrence Wetlands

 It's us on the road again, heading south of McKay to another recommended free park.  The scenery is a bit boring today but we will reach our destination by midday so no great problem.  One stop we did take was to buy some home-made icecream at a little shop in the middle of nowhere which I remembered stopping at in about 1998.  We bought it in little containers which we placed in the freezer for our dessert, so we  salivated all afternoon with anticipation, only to find that it was sadly disappointing this time.  So either my memory failed me or they have changed the recipe.  That will teach us to be extravagent & buy unhealthy food!  Our destination proved to be a very pleasant surprise - a very large parking area with trees, picnic gazebos with free gas  BBQ's, lovely ablutions with hot showers ($1) & a big open area at the back on which the local community hold various events.  Topped off by a walkway to a lovely wetland area, what more could we ask for.  We managed to get a prime spot quite close to everything, with the sun & breeze in the right direction for a change.  In the afternoon we walked to find the little township we were told was quite nearby.  Took a shortcut we noticed over the close- by railway line which does still have trains on it  about once a day.  We had forgotten it was Sunday so nothing was open, but actually the buildings were so old that it was hard to tell if they did indeed open at all.  We took a different route back on a walkway track which led to the wetlands or back to the camp.  What a thrill awaited us - as we wandered along I spied a movement in the grass & on inspection found an echidna (spiny anteater).  I had never seen one & neither had Stu of course, but as luck would have it I had no camera.  They are a little larger than a hedgehog & with a slightly longer snout, & it wasn't a bit perturbed by us.  I vowed to return next day with camera in hand hoping for a miracle, but sadly did not spy it again.  We decided we need to get the bikes out again, so next morning took a ride to the funny little village again.  This time there was a slight show of life & we discovered that the village is split in two, both pieces some distance apart.  There is a rather nice heritage council building beautifully restored, an ancient looking wooden Post Office/gift shop/store, a deserted/closed Police Station, a very nice community hall, & lots of other very old bits & pieces which house an art & craft group, a library, and another store plus a tiny but very nice school.  Making a small purchase in the latter store we had quite a chat with the lady owner who was born & bred in the area.  She informed us that her shop was the courthouse once upon a time, built in 1870 & it has certainly seen better days.  I don't know how she would make a living out of it, though they are some distance from the nearest 'real' town. The area survives on the 3 C's - cattle, cane & coal, lots of the latter apparently, though we hadn't realised this or seen any evidence.  Later that day we had some new neighbours move in next to us, & on speaking to them discovered they were from a place called Mandurah in Western Australia.  Very early on in our journey in Victoria we met two couples together who were also from there, & on mentioning their names, realised that they all knew each other through cycling.  It is a small world.  I promptly emailed the others to tell them, so we now have 3 couples to visit in W.A when we return next year.  After quite a lot of conversation we realised we had quite a bit in common, especially photography, so the four of us took a walk to the wetlands at sunset to take photos.  I'm sure Peter's will be magnificent as he trained as a  young man in professional photography though he did not continue in the profession.  However he has one of the biggest lenses on his camera - I would need to become a weightlifter to carry it around.   Next day we cycled 15kms along the main road just for some exercise, & sighted a lizard sunbathing on the roadway on the way back.  He was about 1/2 metre long but scuttled away before I managed a photo.  The weather has been gorgeous, so it seemed a shame not to keep up the cycling  next morning, so an old meatworks site seemed something to aim for. (Stu's choice).   It turned out to be a lot hillier than we had realised but a good challenge though my gears got stuck  going up the biggest hill so I had to walk it.  It is easier to ride it than push a bike up it, believe it or not.  An old gentleman stopped beside us in his car & chatted with lots of history about the area.  He saw us cycling that way & had passed us going the way we had come, but next thing he had turned around & went back the same way as us, passed us, then minutes later came back again.  Dear old soul had gone home to tie up his dog in case he ran out at us & gave us a fright.  He also set us on the right path to the meatworks site, which turned out to be only a lot of old boilers etc left.  We followed the dirt road on &  came to an old wharf & the muddiest riverbank we have ever seen.  It is hugely tidal (8 mtrs we believe) & very mangrovy, so was a great reminder of the Kaipara.  We think our river at the bottom of the garden is pristine in comparison.
 After such a great place at St Lawrence, our next overnighter was a bit of a shock.  Just next to the road, with a nice picnic area & trees, toilets provided, but we had to park on the sealed area which was not all that large.  As we were there reasonably early we were OK, but slowly it filled up with nomads until we were totalling hemmed in, & then the road trains arrived as well after dark.  The traffic flowed along the highway most of the night too, so all in all it was NOT a restful night.
Departing next morning we head for Rockhampton & on one section of the highway experienced the most road kill of roos we have seen yet.  It is a very busy highway for road trains who drive through the night, so that is the result but it is  very sad to see.  Morning tea stop at a tiny little village called Marlborough, &  once again we wonder how they survive.  One tiny little store which Stu bought milk from & he said the woman seemed very sadlooking & there was very little stock.  However, no matter how sad the town looks, there always seems to be a park of some kind, usually with nice picnic tables etc. The wind behind us,  we had to hold the car back or we would have flown, really good for the fuel consumption.  Before we head into our next overnighter we do a tourist stop at the Capricorn Caves.  Although I had been there many years ago, I thought Stu may like to see them.  They are privately owned & quite interesting with a central cave called the Cathedral which is set up with church pews etc, & weddings are often held there.  At one stage all the lighting is turned off & the silence is like no silence experienced before, until they play us Michael Crawford singing 'The music of the night' from Phantom of the Opera.  Amazing acoustics & in total darkness really wonderful.
Arrived at 'Rockie', stocked up on food again, then drove to the Botanical Gardens for lunch.  The gardens weren't great but they had a very small free zoo there which we had a walk around.  They had a walk in aviary so I managed to get a few bird photos such as cassowary, fruit doves etc.  The zoo was in pretty poor  condition as they are about to start a total revamp.  They had some dingoes there & we were very amused by one of the zoo attendants taking  two of them for exercise on leads.  If we hadn't known they were wild dingoes I guess we wouldn't have thought anything of it.



Cassowary

 Rest stop for the night was at a place called Calliope, with a huge area on both sides of the river for camping - must have been at least 50 vans on each side.  We got a lovely spot in the afternoon sunshine, & though it was next to an historical village, it wasn't open.  I think it must only do so at weekends so perhaps we'll see it next time??   Thank goodness we didn't have a lot of road noise like that other night, so a restful night was a bonus.


Muddy River At Newport (St Lawrence)




The Cathedral in Capricon Caves



26 July 2011 - Townsville to Mackay, QLD, Australia



Swimming Net Seaforth Beach




Cane fields

 Driving down the coast through lots of cane fields again - could say boring, but in fact they look rather lovely in the sunlight with their purplish toned pampas-like flowers.  Actually the crushing season has started, so lots of 'cane trains' with many, many little carriages like little cages, which cross the highways & rural roads like a normal railway crossing.  It really pays to be watchful.  Also lots of tractors & trucks, all involved in the industry.  Also quite a lot of banana plantations with their bananas enclosed in plastic bags of multi colours, I presume for protection against birds & also to assist in ripening?  I'm sure I've told you beefore that bananas are like gold here, so at a market in Townville we saw little ladyfingers on sale, (the small, stubby ones) , for $6.50 per kg & there was a long, long queue to buy them.  I don't think I will complain about the price of our bananas again.  The roads are mostly flat to undulating & surrounded by the Hervey Ranges.  We stop the night in a freebie rest area, too close to the road for comfort, & so heard  the road trains overnight, plus railway ones as well.   Not the most peaceful spot but one can't complain about the price.  Next morning we reach Bowen by 9am, a coastal town, very old buildings, but very tidy as we find most old towns here to be.  They always seem to have a park or two & nice wide roads.  After our morning cuppa spot we reach St Helen's Beach, a small council managed camp beside a beach which proved to be mangoves at each end & extremely tidal.  The tide was way out, but again it wouldn't be safe to swim there anyway.  We did however walk the whole length of it & also wandered out towards the water over what looked like mud, but turned out to be very sandy.  There really wasn't anything of interest to see apart from massive armies of tiny blue crab hatchlings which I would have taken a photo of if I had taken the camera.
We only stayed the one night as there was really nothing to do, & headed for another freebie which had been recommended to us called Boulder Creek.  We thought the GPS had let us down as it took us right out into some cane fields, but finally found it & what a little oasis it was.  Would probably hold 12-15 vans, was right beside a beautiful clear, clear smooth bouldered stream, had a fabulous spotless toilet & just felt like heaven.  Everyone was extremely friendly & helpful, & we even found another couple of lovely kiwi's from Keri Keri there.  Right beside us was a really old school bus painted bright blue, with a young couple with their two delightful, blond little boys of nature, aged 2 & 4 who only wore clothes when it was cold.  The father (Rajendra) was from Sth Africa & his wife Fern was from Warkworth would you believe.  The boys have very different names which I thought were African, but the eldest is Nikau Jarra (one NZ tree & one aussie), while the little one is Jaiya.  They are a terrific couple & everyone loved them as they were so natural & genuine.  They have a house on the Sunshine Coast somewhere which they have rented out for a year to spend time with the boys & make a decision what they really want to do with their lives.  Naturally they are living very basically, but as a good friend told me before we left NZ,  'it is good for the soul' & we have found she is correct.  You realise that you really need so little in life to be happy & contented.  Anyway, they are coming to see her parents in Warkworth in the near future, so we have invited them to come & stay for a few days in a tent if they wish.  I can just picture the boys on our property.  They are so good & amuse themselves most of the time.  On the first afternoon we decided to take a bike ride along the little country road to Calen, a very tiny village just off the highway 18kms away.  The road followed the river & past cane fields & tropical forest  backed by hills, so was very nice.  Apart from about 7 kms of gravel, it was sealed, & nicely undulating. & the traffic  was minimal.   We had heard that the general store in Calen was unbelievable, so we HAD to buy an icecream in order to explore it.  It is owned by the funniest little lady of indeterminate age, & I have never seen so many magazines in my life - they must do an awful lot of reading in Calen???  She had everything from groceries & produce, to plumbing & electrical, some bits I am sure from the Ark, & newspapers I don't know how old.  The front of the shop was stacked with boxes & milk crates so you could hardly find the shop at all, The magazines even extended out there, placed very tidily on top of some of the crates etc.  It must have been a major exercise to take them all in at the end of the day.  However she was friendly & seemed quite sane & happy with her lot.  There are some very interesting people in this country.  Of course we then had to cycle all the way back to camp which proved to be a little harder on the return journey.  For some reason the hills all seemed larger & the downhill runs not so frequent, but we managed quite well & felt quite pleased with ourselves to do 36kms as we haven't cycled any distance for some time.  We were happy to laze around a bit the next day, reading etc.

Next stop was back on the coast at another council camp called Seaforth.  We are well ahead of schedule so decide to book in for a week for $90, mainly because there are national park walks we can do in the area, plus some more cycling.  En route we saw several red bellied black snakes dead on the road, so they are still around, especially in the cane fields.   On a visit into Mackay city that afternoon, we asked a nice young shop assistant if there were crocodiles this far down the coast.  She told us there were but not many but that very morning a saltwater crocodile of 1.5m had been sighted at a bus stop on the side of the road - obviously he was tired of walking.!  Apparently they think he came up through a drain.  Another story we have heard is that in the very spot we swam at Berry Springs just out of Darwin, a woman had been nipped by a freshwater croc.  Doesn't bear thinking about.  She must have stood on it or something, as they don't normally harm anyone unless threatened.



View from Eungalla National Park




Finch Hatton Gorge

 After Boulder Creek to a Council camp on the beach at Seaforth,  hot showers & toilets but no power, so it will be interesting to see how we last with just our batteries as we have booked in for a week.  Stu is confident it will be OK.  We will still be able to use the computer, as there are little gazebos here & there with power points which is very convenient.  They are available not just in the camp, but in the public picnic area as well, which enables picnickers to boil a jug etc. Alongside the free gas BBQ's of course, without which no aussie picnic area would be complete. They are really very spoilt here.  The camp is pretty full at present, many of the campers are obviously here for the winter.  Actually we keep forgetting that this is their winter as it is quite warm, though there is a cool south-easterly most of the time.  Certainly not warm enough for us to go swimming.  There are quite a lot of birds again, & while sitting in the sun outside, a gorgeous lorikeet came & seated itself on Stu's knee - of course by the time I got the camera it had gone.   There are a lot of whistling ducks & a few wood ducks & pygmy goose which wander around the camp continuously though they are no bother as no-one feeds them.  The birds who are a nuisance are the bush stone curlew who visit every evening  & make the most awful racket as if they are in pain.  A rather large bird with long legs, they are quite strange as they freeze if you approach them as if you won't see them that way.  Fortunately they don't continue their noise right through the night.  We managed to get some exercise by cycling around all the little roads & along the beachfront one afternoon.  We can see the Whitsunday Islands in the distance which brings back memories of our trip with friends when we chartered a yacht for 10 days about 4 years ago.  There are about 28 different beaches around this Mackay region, so we set off one afternoon to visit a few close ones like Halliday Bay - gorgeous little sheltered bay with caravan park, then Ball Bay with the most rundown caravan park I have ever seen.  Such a pity as it was an idealic spot, very tropical with all it's palms & rainforest as a backdrop.  Would be worth a fortune if it was resurrected.  Stu thought we may move there for a night or two to repower, but I wasn't keen at all!   Not cheap enough for the facilities provided.

We did visit McKay city one day to stock up on essentials, & used our bikes again for a couple of hours doing their bike trail.  This proved to be a bit dissappointing.   They have spent a lot of money on it & the initial stages are great following the riverfront, then through the botanical gardens, but then the track disappeared & we became exceedingly frustrated.  Luckily we found the i=centre & the very nice lady commented as soon as we walked in with bike helmets on 'are you lost?'   Apparently it happens very frequently & she said it was time something was done about better signage.  Even when we managed to follow the signs it took us through not so nice residential & commercial areas until we were finally back near the river again.  Like Townsville, there are large dollars being spent here.  It's a nice enough city,  the usual older heritage  buildings, but we were glad to head back to the beach & the peace & quiet.  Next day we drove to Eungella National Park & the Finch Hatton Gorge.  It's possible to see platypus there in the early morning or late afternoon, but having seen them before  we bypassed it to do a lovely rainforest walk  to some cascades which proved to be well worth the effort.    The drive to the top of the ranges to the lookout was very winding & we thought we would never reach the top.  A bit spooky  looking down at the valley way below.  We did take a couple of photos but it was pretty overcast so they weren't great but it was a spectacular lookout. Stu asked me if I would drive home to give him a break, which I was happy to do on the condition that he drove back down the mountain! 



Hillsborough National Park



Our week being up, we headed next day to Cape Hillsborough National Park, only about 30 mins drive.  The van park is again right on the beach & there are several walks to do.  Great facilities though we mostly don 't take advantage of most like the pool table etc.  The ablutions were fabulous & that's the important thing to me, & great to be able to change the bed linen & towels etc & get all washed & dry.  In the afternoon we walked over a ridge to another bay from which we had intended to return via the beach.  Unfortunately the tide beat us to it, so we had to climb all the steps back along the ridge track, very good exercise.  Have managed to add a couple more birds to my list, a Fig Bird, & my favourite yet, an olive-backed, yellow bellied sunbird (photo attached).  It's the tiniest little thing, full of chirps & cheeps, & has a long bill for accessing nectar.  It's colour is gorgeous & aptly named.  There were two or three continuously feeding on the lovely flowers in the gardens around the camp & I watched them several times for ages.  As long as you don't get too close, they ignore you.   There are kangaroos here too who frequent the beach at sunrise & sunset & one young buck thinks he owns the camp & lazes around on the grass by the clothes lines all day.  One night I went out by torchlight & there was a female with a largish joey with her, the latter very skittish & headed for some cover till I left again.  I just never get enough of the wildlife here, (with the exception of the snakes & crocs).