Category Archives: QLD NT Trip 2017

There goes the neighbourhood …

Todays travels take us from Townsville to Port Douglas with a stop on the way at Cairns Airport to pick up Rachael who is spending the week with us in Far North Queensland

We allowed plenty of time to make the journey leaving an hour earlier than we normally do but there was no accounting for roadwork delays and there were plenty.

There was also a couple of stops for big things today. First stop was at Frosty Mango with mango icecream to die for but very expensive and the second stop was the Golden Gumboot in Tully. The height of the gumboot represents the amount of rainfall that Tully receives each year. Across the road was a sugar refinery which has started strong with cane trains lining up to go in and drop their loads.

After encountering heavy rain around Innisfail, we drove into Cairns Airport about an hour later than expected. Of course, the airport is not large vehicle friendly but did manage to find Rachael and upset some taxi drivers at the same time. Lets say they know how to use their horns and mine works well too.

It is only 60 kilometres north to Port Douglas but the road is windy and hilly so takes a little longer than expected with the ThommoTaj in tow. 

Carn the Blues …

Today was another travel day but the further we moved north, the more we saw the effects of Cyclone Debbie that came through back in March and April. The trees had been stripped of their leaves and the regrowth was going strong. A number of older buildings and signs were on the ground.

There was also signs of the mining boom at its end up north with a large number of wide loads carrying mining machinery heading south. I guess tourism is going to be the main drawcard for a lot of those towns now.

We did go in to Airlie Beach and once again the effect of Cyclone Debbie could be seen with broken signs and rooves covered in tarps. For a town that is named for a beach, the beach itself is not very big. I guess it is more a drop off point for the islands.

The big thing for the day was the Big Mango at Bowen, then it was on to Townsville. We arrived at dusk and went for a look up at Kissing Point Fort (a World War 2 em-battlement) for a sunset shot.

Tonight was the first of the State of Origin Rugby League series between Queensland and New South Wales. There was no way that we were going to miss out with the caravan park setting up a big screen and BBQ next to our site. So there was to nothing to do but join 100 of our newest friends and watch the game.

It was a good game even though NSW gave Queensland a hiding – most of the folk watching the game seemed to like the outcome. Just as the game finished, the rain came down.

No lightning cracking in the cane fields today …

Well the mozzies had not taken a holiday as they were as hungry as ever when we woke up at Capricorn Caves this morning. Luckily they had not found their way into the caravan although we did find a couple in there later in the day. There was a lot of slapping by all waiting to take the 9am tour into the caves but once we got underground there were no mozzies.

Even though the Capricorn Caves are limestone caves, they are dry caves due to a lot of air movement so there is a lack of the usual stalagmites and stalagmites. What they lack in features, they make up with history, stories and a cathedral cavern where operas are held.

Many years ago, a thriving guano industry was centred here due to the bat poo through the caves and we managed to see some bats on the ceilings and flying around during the tour. There were a lot of timber bridges and stairs to negotiate as well as a zig zag squeeze. A very different cave experience from your normal cave tour but still enjoyable.

A quick run to the car to avoid the mozzies and we headed north towards Mackay. Another good travel day with 27C but there was some patchy cloud cover. The countryside changed from the cattle grazing around Rockhampton to sugar cane fields as far as the eye could see when you got to Mackay.

Pulling into the caravan park at Mackay, we booked in at the same time as another South Australian couple with a Silverline Outback. After setting up, it was happy hour with Rob and Cheryl from the Barossa who have been on the road for a year. Good company but it all comes to an end on dusk when the bities start biting.

So who is the Birthday Boy …

No way at getting away from my birthday even on the road. The Facebook feed went nuts with birthday greetings from friends so I was not going to forget it. Also I had a bout of gout so a painful reminder of getting older. Jenny surprised me with a prawn wrap for birthday lunch.

We farewelled Liz and Bruce and we were once again on the road again. Todays travels took us from Bundaberg to Rockhampton, well just north to Capricorn Caves. Another good day for travelling with blue skies and 27C.

Arriving around 4pm at Capricorn Caves, we were soon descended upon by mosquito’s which certainly put a damper on spending some time outside in the bushland setting. Apparently they only arrived a couple of days ago after some soaking rains.

 

No need to ward off the Southern chills today …

Bundaberg is synonymous with Bundaberg Rum so what do you do when visiting Bundaberg, visit the Bundaberg Distillery, even if it is Sunday morning.

I had tried to book online for the tours last night with no success but found out today that it closes off 24 hours before the tour time. This was not an issue as there was not that many around on a Sunday morning so they were happy to take our money.

The tour starts by going through the museum showing the origins of the distillery and the process involved in making the iconic rum.

Following a bit of knowledge it is time to head into the distillery and the sights and mainly the smells of the distilling process.

They are fairly serious with regard to ignition sources. You are not allowed to take in cameras, phones, watches and even car keys. I guess after a couple of large fires in their history, it is understandable.

First stop on the tour is the molasses well which has some amazing amount of product stored. They have 3 large wells and need to store enough molasses for 12 months production even though they only get molasses from the sugar mill for 6 months of the year. The smell is overpowering and I can still smell it in my clothes now 12 hours later.

The tour then takes you through the various plants that distil the rum. There is not a lot to see here apart from vats, then it is into one of the Bond Stores where the barrels and wood vats store the rum while it matures.

The tour ends in the bar and shop where of course there is the opportunity to taste the finished product. Bundy Rum is just not rum anymore with a large amount of blended products now. I just had to try the most expensive bottle (sells for $180 a bottle) and it didn’t really rock my socks. Remember I am a bourbon and beer drinker. I was more partial to some of the blended rums but I will probably stick to bourbon.

After leaving the bar with a Bundy Buzz, it was time to head to the local park and meet up with the Bundaberg Geocachers for an event. Even though it wasn’t a huge event it was a fun way to fill in the afternoon and meet other cachers. We even all headed out to do an underground geocache.

Tonight we headed out again for a meal with Liz, Bruce, Graham and Cheryl, this time to a local Indian restaurant. The meal was really good even though we were the only ones dining in. They did do a lot of take away while we were eating.

We bid farewell to Graham and Cheryl and headed around town with Liz and Bruce to grab some caches before heading back to camp.

Tomorrow we continue north to Rockhampton.

That will fix it …

At some ridiculously early time (it was probably around 7am) there was some little banging on the door. It seemed that Chloe and Amelia had woken the house so Ken thought it would be good to get the girls to wake up us as well.

First order of the day was to fix the bed. A trip up to Stratco and some steel hinges were purchased to replace the flimsy aluminium ones. A bit of drilling, pop riveting and screwing and we soon had a bed better than the bought one. It should last a bit longer than 2 years now.

We bid our farewells to all and we were soon on the road north, passing the Ettamogah Pub, missing the turn-off to the Big Pineapple (there were no signs) and finally stopping at the Ginger Factory and Nutworks in Yandina. Some sampling and purchases and we were on the road again.

It was good going while the Bruce Highway was still a dual carriageway but that soon ended and we were at the mercy of slow drivers. The was a bit of cat and mouse for a while with the carnival trucks coming out of Maryborough and heading into Bundaberg, each time I stopped for a geocache.

We arrived at the caravan park in daylight around 4pm and moved onto our riverside site next to cachers, Liz and Bruce. It wasn’t long and it was happy hour with Liz and Bruce arriving back at camp then Graham and Cheryl (some newby cachers but enthusiastic from the Sunshine Coast).

After getting the initiation of bitten by midgies (I am sure they know we are southerners), it was off to the Bundy RSL for dinner meeting up with some more cachers, John and Christine. With the 8 of us there, it was almost a mini event.

Tomorrow is a big day with the Bundaberg Distillery visit. Is 11am too early to be sampling Bundy Rum.

It’s Island life …

Another perfect start to the day with blue skies and temperatures warming. Kally and her two kids joined us for breakfast and we all chatted for the morning. A nice laid back welcome to Bribie Island.

Where to for lunch? Why the Sandstone Point Hotel of course with its overlook of the back channel between Bribie Island and the mainland. It is a very impressive complex with still a lot more work to be done over the next few years. The meals and atmosphere was great and soon a couple of hours had been gobbled up.

We enjoyed some seafood and sandwiches with appropriate beverages, before going on a tour of the Island checking out the canal suburbs and the beach on the eastern side at Woorim. There was even a car carrier heading through the channel towards the Port of Brisbane.

It was approaching afternoon smoko time so off to Scoopys for Icecream and coffee. You could definitely get used to this island life.

Julie and Jenny headed down to Brisbane to catch up with Jenna and to grab the grandkids for the night. The kids are apparently early risers so it looks like Jenny will be staying in the house tonight. Aunty Jenny will be in charge of the kids in the morning.

Thought I had better catch up with Liz and Bruce since we are staying with them at Maryborough tomorrow night. Lucky I did. They are up at Bundaberg for a Geocaching Event so I guess we will be heading through to Bundaberg now.

We were about to go to bed when one of the corners moved forward. That was strange. I check to see if there was an issue with the slide out motors but they were working OK. Then the whole bed launched forward. That was very strange. A quick check and the first movement was a bed hinge breaking and the second movement was the other 3 hinges opening up and letting go. The two lifting rams then pushed the bed forward.

On checking the hinges, they were only aluminium with little strength. After doing a quick fix it was off to bed. I will look at replacing the hinges in the morning.

No Bushrangers today …

Rather than take the freeway into Brisbane, a more pleasant drive was the Cobb & Co Tourist Drive which followed the original route from Toowoomba to Ipswich of the mail route in the 1860’s by the Cobb and Co coaches. The coaches were later abandoned when the rail road went through which provided a more reliable and faster mail service.

The trek went through Gatton, Forest Hill, Laidley, Grandchester (with its historical railway station that you cant get near to), Rosewood and Walloon. The country side varied greatly with the steep escarpment out of Toowoomba (which warmed up the brakes) onto the flood plains with corn and sorghum crops and market gardens before getting back into hills and scrub coming into Ipswich.

It was then time to tackle the Brisbane traffic and roads which were not much fun until north of the city and the Bruce Highway. Prior to that it was a series of windy, hilly, narrow roads with plenty of traffic lights to contend to.

Just as I was enjoying the Motorway north, the off ramp to Ningi appeared and it was off to Ken and Julie’s, Jenny’s cousins, where we will spend a couple of days. Of course I had better remember to pick up Jenny from the airport tonight. That will mean tackling the Brisbane traffic two more times. Bugger.

Jenny’s flight was due in at 9:25 pm with 10-15 minutes to get from the plane to the pickup area meant that if I got to the airport around 9:40 pm it would timed to perfection. Given we are staying 45 minutes from the airport, leaving around 5 minutes to 9 would be the ideal time to leave.

I was just about to leave Ningi at 9:00 pm when I received a text saying “we have just landed”. Great the one time I have decided not to stalk a flight on Flight Radar and it is half an hour early. Oh well, guess Jenny will be waiting for me.

A quick drive down to the airport apart from the roadworks on the Gateway Freeway, right on 45 minutes, picked up Jenny who was waiting with all her friends in the pick up area and back on the Gateway and Bruce Highway to Ningi for another 45 minutes.

Ken and Julie were still up so Jenny got to chat with her cousins until the yawning became too much.

Today it is the Sunshine State …

Well Queensland lived up to its slogan, “The Sunshine State“, today with sunshine all day and temperatures around 27C. In fact, this afternoon the shorts came out and should stay out for the next month.

The moment of truth with the repaired camera cable this morning and the verdict was positive. It is amazing how much you miss the caravan camera when you haven’t got it. It makes it a lot easy to tow in conjunction with the mirrors.

Another travel day but not that far with 140 kilometres from Stanthorpe to Toowoomba, geocaching along the way.

I did make a stop to “Robins Nest”, a caching team but unfortunately they were not home. Found out later in the day the local Cancer Morning Tea was on. If I had known earlier, I would have made an appearance but not sure that I could mimic some of the costumes.

Tomorrow it is into Brisbane and pick up Jenny for the next phase of the trip up the East Coast to the Great Barrier Reef.

Welcome to Queensland …

A bit if a travel day today with some geocaching along the way. Travels took me through a lot of little towns in New South Wales including Stonehenge (with its attempts of stacked rocks), Glen Innes (with its natural Balancing Rock), Deepwater (with its scarecrow festival), Bolivia (with its hill that tests out your gearbox and brakes – just make sure you don’t have a truck following behind) and Tenterfield (with its infamous massacre in the 1840’s at Bluff Rock).

The border between New South Wales and Queensland has split towns with Jennings on the NSW side and Wallangarra on the QLD side. The border itself goes on a diagonal line through the town with the railway station on the Queensland side and the platform on the New South Wales side.

Just south of Stanthorpe is Ballandean where the dinosaur “Fruitisforus” used to roam apparently. To me it looks more like a Triceratops and I am not sure that it even lived around here.

Tonight’s digs are in Stanthorpe and finally managed to find someone that could fix my camera cable for the caravan. I stopped into the local music store (Top Beat Entertainment) that moonlighted as a Jaycar stockist and they found a couple of broken wires in the cable. The morning will confirm if they were able to fix the problem.