31 August 2010
We had a good start to the day with Ross, on about his third throw with the casting net, bringing in about 50 herring!! Never seen so many!! We threw most of them back and gave a couple to the kites that hang around waiting for tidbits and went on our way with great expectations for the day - pfft! Stupid fish - what's their caper? Got us all excited about catching fish and then - no more!! We lost a few lines to sharks and goodness knows what else but for the rest of the time there was nothing!! Stupid fish.
We had fish and chips for lunch - we got 4 big fillets off the fish from yesterday which will do us for 4 meals which is some consolation I guess.
1 September 2010
I got up and worked and we didnt get going from Borroloola until about 11:30ish after filling up with fuel, doing a little shopping, etc. We decided to do a big run today as we need to get to Katherine because this morning Ross' computer died again!! Grrr!! WE have to take t in to either Katherine or Darwin to get fixed again. Hopefully they will get it right this time!!
We had a big drive and drove past the famous Daly Waters Pub and almost stopped there for the night but decided to push on to a rest stop showing further along the way. It seemed to have everything we needed including water which is always handy - we didnt expect drinking water as its very rare to come by but water for washing dishes etc is always good.
We got to the rest stop at about 5:30 and started setting up while I went to the toilets - EWWW - they were pit toilets that were literally full to the brim!! All the rubbish bins were overflowing and there was no water!! Far out - bummer, but Ross had already set up camp so we decided to stay anyway. We made the rest of the queen fish into a nice curry and hit the hay. It had been a long, hot day and so far we have been luck in that the nights cool down nicely for sleep.
2 September 2010
Well, that had to be the worst night's sleep in the history of bad night's sleeps!!! Ok, so this rest stop has disgusting toilets, overflowing rubbish bins, no water - to top that off it was stinking hot and poor Boris couldnt sleep - was panting all night, we had huge road trains going past all night including driving right through the middle of the rest stop (what the heck is that all about?), people deciding to leave at like 5 o'clock in the morning and running their very noisy, stinky 4WDs for a long time right next to our van before they left, and just in case that wasnt enough to keep us awake, we had friendly locals driving past at about 5 am also, beeping their horns just in case we had managed to get any sleep at all during the night!! So if you are ever contemplating stopping at South Warloch Rest area - DON'T DO IT!!
The rest of the day was lovely though as we headed in to Mataranka and first went to the thermal pools and had a bit of a look see but Boris wasn't allowed to swim there so we headed over to the Bitter Springs to also have a look see after letting him have a swim in the Little Roper River for a cool down. We went to the barra feeding at the homestead which is free and was good but its not quite hot enough for them yet so they were still a bit sluggish. After that we headed to the Bitter Springs for a swim - HEAVEN!! Just beautiful!! http://www.matarankacabins.com.au/bitter-springs-thermal-pools.html. There was a film crew there filming so we couldnt go in the main pool but it wsa still lovely. After that I wanted to have barra and chips at the homestead restaurant so we headed there and let Boris out of the car. He had just hit the ground and I had his lead in my hand ready to put it on him and he spotted one of their pet wallabies!! Well, you can imagine the rest for yourself - very embarrassing with me having to apologise profusely to the owner!! We still had barra and chips tho!!
We then headed into Mataranka township so I could sit in the park and work before heading to another campsite closer to Katherine.
3 September 2010
Well, that campsite wasn't much better than the last one though it did have water in the tanks - that was the only improvement! Some sleep anytime soon would be very nice!!
We headed on into Katherine and to the Katherine Hot Springs http://www.google.com.au/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENAU352&q=katherine+hot+springs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=UkKETMPmDs3QceOjvdAL&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CDoQsAQwBA&biw=1440&bih=657
which weren't really hot but juuuust right!! I sat under the tree and worked for a few hours while Ross ran some errands in town including dropping off his computer for fixing again. When he came back we spent quite a bit of time lazing in the hot springs - Boris joined us too and had a wonderful time!!
We headed north again and found a bit better campsite for the night about an hour and a half shy of Darwin to camp the night. They had been burning off during the day and some of the big logs were still burning around the campsite which was very handy for boiling the billy!
We met a lovely couple who were travelling on a 3-wheel motorbike towing a trailer - had a great chat and then it started raining - blissful - certainly cooled things down!! It wasn't stinking hot so we managed to get a fair night's sleep though it was still pretty darn hot!! Boris has taken to sleeping outside because its just too hot for him in the caravan. I have never wanted him to sleep outside before because who knows what mischief he might get up to in the night or what might come along to make him bark or he might get tangled in his rope but so far when he has slept outside over the last 3 nights he has just plomped down and not moved till morning!!
4 September 2010
We headed into Darwin to try to sort out my ebook reader at Angus & Robertson which is the only Angus & Robertson in the whole of the NT and guess what?! They don't carry ebook readers!! Aagh!! The girls were just lovely however and very helpful and they are going to try to sort something out but we won't hear until Monday as the company they have to ring wasn't open today (Saturday).
We had been trying unsuccessfully to get hold of Michelle and Peter who we wanted to visit while we were here and Michelle rang while I was in Angus & Robertson and we worked out that she works just 2 blocks away so we wandered around and said hello. She wasn't going to finish work for a couple of hours so she gave us their address and we headed out there to set up the caravan and I did a bit of work while we waited. They don't have a house here as they are not planning to stay for any length of time but they have rented a shed in a paddock and both Michelle and Peter and Stacey and Tony (their daughter and her boyfriend) plug their caravans into the power from the shed and live in their vans. The shed has a petitioned off area that has a full kitchen and bathroom in it as well as air conditioning and fans so it is actually more than just a shed and is quite comfy.
When Michelle and Peter came home it was wonderful catching up and we had a BBQ tea.
5 September 2010
It was hot again last night but managed to sleep ok again.
I got up and worked while the boys fiddled around with trucks and caravans, etc outside. After I finished work Michelle and Jules (Michelle's sister who lives in a unit in Darwin) took me house hunting for a new house for Jules.
At about 4ish, Ross and I wandered off to the Mindil Beach markets for a bit of a looksee - they are an icon around here and we couldnt miss the opportunity to go and see them. They are primarily food orientated but have craft and other things there as well and we had a wonderful time wandering around sampling different foods. I had tempura camembert and squid on a stick because I wanted to try stuff I had never tried before and Ross had a hash brown and two spring rolls!! Typical!! We also stopped to watch eMDee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFcm9by8F0 who were just unreal!! There was also a guy there who sold stockwhips and gave demos as well as taught the kids how to crack them. It was a great afternoon and then we headed back to Michelle and Peter's for another BBQ.
6 September 2010
Peter was up at 5 am for work and even though he was very quiet I heard him and so was up with him so I decided to start work early and get it over and done with. Ross headed off to buy some bits for the caravan. I heard from Angus & Robertson who told me that the only store of theirs in WA who stock the ebook readers are in Perth!! I told them that we wouldn't be there for a couple of months so I rang the Perth store and they are going to express one over to the store here - yay!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
31 August 2010 to 6 September 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
24 - 30 August 2010
24 August 2010
Up early again and on the road looking for mobile reception. We reached Normanton and there was reception there but nowhere to stop in the shade and work so we decided to keep going to Karumba which turned out to be a great little riverside town right near the ocean. There was a lovely shady spot right next to the Information Centre where I stopped to finally do some work!
Would you believe it - there were brolgas just hanging around the town like every other bird - couldn't believe it - I thought they were solirary shy birds!
I finished up work and we decided to have a look around town. We have pretty much come to the conclusion that the people in the Information Centres aren't very informative when it comes to free campers, which I can't blame them for I guess. We were told that there was no free camping at all in the area and the Ranger moved everybody on who tried. There are three caravan parks here and they all seemed pretty busy so I guess they don't need free campers like us hanging around. Problem is that we can't afford to pay to stay in a caravan park as well as spend any money in the town!
We were driving away from the Karumba Point area when I spotted what I thought was a horse stuck in a bog in a paddock. I could see it trying to get up and it was obviously in great distress so we turned around and headed back to the servo to let the people there know and they made some phone calls and got onto the police, etc. We went back out to see if we could help the horse and I walked over to it while Ross stayed with the car to tell the rescurers where to go. When I arrived at the horse it turns out it wasn't stuck in the mud, it was starving to death instead and had obviously fallen over and couldn't get up again. It had blood running out of its mouth where it had injured itself trying to get up and it had bones sticking out everywhere - it was just a skeleton! I was very distressed and went back to the road to meet the police who had just arrived and the owner of the paddock next door who said that there were a bunch of wild horses living in that paddock that nobody looked after and he thought it was just an old horse that had just gotten too old and needed putting down. I could see the sense in that but it didn't change the fact that it was a very horrible experience but I did feel good that we had gotten to it early enough that someone could put the poor thing out of its misery rather than let it die a slow death.
That kinda killed the mood for the afternoon. We did go into the tackle shop back in town and the lady there was very helpful (me still blubbering over the horse) and gave us some tips on how to catch barra but we didn't really have the energy for it by then. She also told us about Walkers Creek nearby that we could camp at for free so we headed there and set up camp for the night. We went for a bit of a walk for a look around and spotted our first croc for the trip. It was only a little freshie but it was a croc!! We put the yabbie traps in but didn't hold out much hope as it looks like a fairly well-used campsite and we reckon plenty of people would have the same idea.
We got to know our new neighbours - Pete and Mary and Phil and Maryanne who were great company and we spent the evening chatting to them.
25 August 2010
I got up and did some work and we decided to have a day off and do nothing, though I was still keen to go barra fishing.
Ross went down and checked the yabbie nets and found the biggers cherabin we had ever seen in it!! He put it in one of those big white washing pails and its body reached right across – that’s a big cherabin!! Unfortunately it was the only one so we put him back hoping to catch more tonight.
After I finished work we took the fishing lines down to the creek and joined Pete and Phil for a spot of fishing and introduced Pete to our Chux cheese which he tried out and no sooner did he put some on as bait than he started getting nibbles and not long after landed a fish!! Neither Ross or I could catch one – what’s the deal there??
It was pretty hot by lunchtime so after lunch we wandered down to the water and threw the lines in and sat in the cool for a while but the fish weren’t biting so we got bored and decided to go for a walk along the river bank. It’s a nice enough spot but nothing too exciting where we are camped. However, we soon realised that we were sitting on an absolute gem!! Being dry season there is not too much water around though where we have been camped it is a fairly sizeable creek which we presumed kept going further on but when we started walking, the water finished not far from where we were and then broke off into smaller pools of water, leaving the creekbed dry to walk on. The wonderful part was that it was like walking into an enchanted forest right out of a story book!! The trees had so much shape and character that you expected them to just up and start talking to you!! Walking through the dappled shade from those trees was just glorious with long corridors of trees where the water must go down in the wet season. There was even a few trees that had hundreds of butterflies around them and when you walked through the butterflies started floating around your head – wow – it’s amazing what beauty you can find in such a harsh area!!
After dinner we sat down and talked with our neighbours again, swapping stories and had a lovely evening again – tough life!!
26 August 2010
We packed up and left camp after I worked for the morning - we had one last go at catching an elusive barra in the creek before we left but no luck - oh well!! It had gotten quite windy overnight.
On we went until we reached the Albert River just this side of Burketown. We found a nice little spot to make camp for the night and then went for a bit of a walk to introduce ourselves to our neighbours. Turned out they were expert barra fishermen and they were more than happy to share information on how to catch them - yay!! They even gave us some tracer line because we didnt have any and they reckoned you need heavy tracer line so they dont snap your line. We went back to camp to try our luck with our new knowledge but couldnt catch much in the way of bait so we didnt last long. It had also become very windy and gusty, making it very unpleasant.
27 August 2010
I got up and did some work and then we went into Burketown and decided that we would go out to Lawn Hill. Some campers we had met at Leichardt Lagoon told us about Adels Grove who allow dogs and even look after your dog for the day while you go into the National Park. We rang up and booked and were on our way. The road in was quite good. We got to Gregory Downs which is a very tiny town with not much other than a pub and no mobile reception. We got out and had lunch and had a bit of a look around and decided to go down to the river where we came upon quite a surprise - a lovely free camping area with probably about 20 or more vans camped right on the beautiful Gregory River!! We had a wander around and came across a couple we had met earlier at Leighcardt Lagoon who had little twin boys. We got talking and the offered to look after Boris for the day if we wanted to go into Lawn Hill, rather than paying for a caravan park at Adels Grove. We were very tempted but as there was no mobile reception I couldnt have done my work so we reluctantly declined and thought we might get back there later.
On we went to Adels Grove and found it to be another lovely paradise in a very dry, dusty landscape. We had a swim, had some showers, talked to some of the people we met along the track to and from the showers - for some reason we had been put at the very furtherest campsite, away from EVERYONE!! I know we were in the dog area but there were other dogs there and they weren't nearly as far away as we were!! We headed down to the eating area for a drink at the bar and caught up with the people we had talked to on the track again and had a lovely evening chatting away and swapping stories - they are from WA and are going in the opposite direction to us so its interesting to know what to look forward to on our way west.
28 August 2010
I got up early and did my work before we headed off to Lawn Hill, leaving Boris very upset with us for leaving him behind at the camp.
We weren't really sure what to expect - how far we were going to be walking, etc so we packed our lunch and some water in the backpack and headed off. We could have hired canoes for $40 but we couldnt see the value in it. We also could have lugged our boat down to the gorge but it looked like it would have been a bit of a struggle to get it down there so we decided to walk. Well, it lived up to all of our expectations - what a beautiful place!! I reckon if someone wanted to do a movie and was looking for the perfect paradise they should go there!! We had a wonderful day walking around, chatting to different people we met along the way, taking millions of photos, etc, etc. I think we ended up walking about 10 ks in the end - up and down the gorge - we were bushed by the end of it!! I think next time we went we would do the rest of the walking tracks and even take the canoes or the boat down the gorge - it would be good to see it from both angles.
Back to Adels Grove to pick up Boris and have a swim and then we headed out again - we were tempted to camp on the creek just outside of Adels Grove but it is actually somebody's property and even though it looks like people do camp there sometimes we thought we had better not. We also werent getting good enough reception for me to do any work.
We decided to go out the Doomadgee road which was quite a good dirt road though there were heaps of gates I had to get out and open!! We finally got mobile reception when we got close to Doomadgee itself and it was getting late so we decided to camp by the river there. It is an Aboriginal settlement and we werent really sure if we were supposed to be camping there so we were very unobtrusive and didnt light a fire or draw attention to ourselves. While I was on the computer catching up with work my wonderful friend Joi called me on Skype to say hello and we caught up on news - it was great to hear from her!!
29 August 2010
Big day of driving!! We kept heading west and got to Hell's Gate and needed to refuel only to find out that they don't have eftpos!! AAGH!! Luckily we could get on their internet and organise a bank transfer as there was no mobile reception either. The lady there was lovely and told us what to expect on the road ahead which included a couple of rough creek crossings that needed to be walked before driving if you were unfamiliar with them. We got through all creek crossings in one piece and even found a few really nice places next to creeks that we would have loved to have camped at but there was no mobile reception at any of them so we pushed on until we hit Boroloola. Mum had told us to go to the first boat ramp for camping which we thought we did and when we got there there were a bunch of very noisy, drunk locals (dry comminity!). We weren't all that impressed so I contacted mum to make sure we had it right and found out that we must have passed the sign to the first boat ramp so we headed back out and found the right one - much better. Apparently it is normally fairly crowded but there was no-one else in sight when we arrived so we had the whole place to ourselves!!
30 August 2010
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading - tough life. Fish fried in butter and mashed taties for dinner - yum yum!!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
17 - 23 August 2010
17 August 2010
We were up and away early - Boris had a 9.30 appointment at the vet to get his three-monthly Cartrophen injection for his arthritis.
We also had to pick up our new fridge that we won - very excited about that! We also bought a few other bits and pieces from the camping store including a new throw net to replace the one we destroyed at the Jeannie River.
We also had to run around and do a few other things like pick up Ross' compuer that had been fixed under warranty and buy me my early birthday present of an Ebook!! Yay!!
Mum and dad had stayed behind at Mount Molloy and were going to meet us back at Mareeba Rodeo grounds and we got there by about 4ish. Did all our washing, etc.
18 August 2010
We had a couple of hot-air balloons land in the paddock at the rodeo grounds this morning - very exciting stuff!
Mum and dad have booked into a resort at Cairns on the weekend to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary coming up next month. We were going to start heading up the Savannah Way today but Ross wanted to do a couple of more things on the car and van first so we all trooped back to Mount Molloy - again!
On our way through to Mount Molloy we found some great firewood to take with us so we strapped it all to the trailer and took it back to camp. Mum made a fruitcake and a banana cake in the camp oven - both turned out perfect!!
Ross spent the afternoon attaching the solar to the pod and I spent the afternoon transferring all the programs, etc from my computer onto Ross' which was the one that was fixed under warranty that we picked up yesterday. My poor old computer is literally falling apart at the seams - you should see it - so funny poor thing - there are bits hanging off it everywhere, the casing is broken, it has bolts through it trying to hold it together as well as duct tape. The hinges are also broken so its very hard to get the screen to stay where I want it - it keeps flopping around!! I am going to start using Ross' computer for my work and he is going to try to "steampunk" mine which basically means that if the computer itself is ok but the case if broken then you recase it in something else - let your imiagination run wild!! Can't imagine that anything too exciting will happen to it but Im sure Ross will come up with something to make it functional again!
19 August 2010
I was all ready to start working on Ross' computer after having spent the afternoon putting all the new programs on, etc and went to start it up and - nothing - exactly the same as what happened before when we had to send it in for warranty!! Couldn't believe it! When it was sent in before they changed the motherboard because it had blown and Ross thinks the same thing has happened again so there is obviously something causing it to blow - maybe the power supply? So now we have to wait around to get it fixed again with an hour and a half trip in to Cairns to drop it off. We are waiting to hear back from HP to find out when we can take it in and hopefully they can fix it on the same day that we take it in so we don't have to have two trips to Cairns.
It's raining and miserable today so we have the annexe up - thank goodness we have it! Everybody is having a quiet day - the first quiet day we have had the whole time really!
It cleared up in the afternoon so mum and dad walked into Mount Molloy while Ross and I rode the bikes. (its only a kilometre away). We went to the general store and did some exploring around the town.
20 August 2010
Well guess what?! Ross' computer has decided to work again - go figure. We had been waiting on a phone call from HP about when to get it fixed and their tech guy was on the phone and they got it going again - no idea why it stopped working in the first place but we are going to turn it off and on a bunch of times before we trust that it wont do it again.
A young couple pulled in in the afternoon in a Patrol that had an annexe attached to it for shelter and Boris decided to go and visit while we weren’t looking. Luckily the young couple – James and Rebecca like dogs and Rebecca even gave Boris a biscuit! Spoiled doggy!! We invited them over for Happy Hour as I had just made a bacon, cheese and sundried tomato damper – turned out pretty good I must say and James was quite taken with it though Rebecca is a vegetarian so James had to eat her share. Turns out they are a really nice couple and we had a great chat with them and swapped lots of stories. Rebecca is an avid reader and we seem to like similar things to read so we had lots in common. We told them of a few places we had been and they told us a few places they had been and in the morning the boys are going to get together and swap movies, etc.
21 August 2010
We didn’t get going until after 12 in the end by the time I did some work and we chatted with James and Rebecca some more, swapped movies and information, etc. We headed towards Chillagoe but didn’t get there until about 3ish – too late for the last cave tour of the day. We didn’t really want to hang around till the next day because there was no free camping in the area so we decided to explore a couple of the caves that you didn’t need a guide for. The lady at the Information Centre said they weren’t very good caves but we went anyway and had a great time climbing around in them. Im sure the bigger, guided caves would be much better and if you like limestone caves it would definitely be worth the trip out there.
We were all hot and sweaty by than and ready for a swim so we headed to the town’s swimming hole which was just fabulous. It wasn’t all that big but oh it was refreshing!! There was a little waterfall and the water was crystal clear and just wonderful. Unfortunately you can’t camp there the night so we headed out looking for a campsite for the night. We started down the Savanah Way which was a dirt road that connects Chillagoe to the main highway. There was NOBODY on the road and we came to a river crossing that looked ok but Ross wanted to push on for some reason and it was getting dark.
We kept going because we could see other rivers on the GPS that we would have to cross and thought we could camp at one of them but unfortunately they were all dry so nothing looked very exciting. We finally decided that we wouldn’t find a nice campsite and pulled off the road and camped for the night – our first time on this trip alone in the wilderness!! If was a beautiful night with an almost full moon and a lovely breeze. We didn’t really set up camp as there was nothing to hang around for so we hit the hay early ready to head off again in the morning.
22 August 2010
Up early again and on the road. We crossed a few more dry creeks and then came to two beautiful little fast-running creeks with crystal-clear water in them – we think they might have been springs because they were too clear to be normal creeks – they were Salt Water Creek and Fossil Brook.
We weren’t too far out of Mt Surprise – a tiny town back on the Savanah Way. Mum and dad had told us to go and have a look at Cobbold Gorge which was on a bypass off the Savanah Way so we headed off towards Einasliagh down a rough dirt track and finally reached a beaut little river crossing just shy of Einasliagh and stopped for lunch. It was such a beautiful spot that we decided to stop there for the day and head off again in the morning.
After lunch we went for a bit of a walk and introduced ourselves to the other campers on the other side of the river – they were from Cairns and said they had been to Cobbold Gorge but that it was $70 each to visit!! We couldn’t believe it could possibly be that expensive but thought we would ask when we got to Forsayth which is at the turnoff to Cobbold Gorge. If it’s that expensive we won’t bother going.
We got the boat out after that an went for a putter up the river after putting the yabbie traps out. It was a gorgeous afternoon spent with our fishing lines in the water (using our Chux Cheese bait as we didn’t have anything else with us). We didn’t catch any fish but we just drifted with the current and had a lovely time. Part of the way we had to walk the boat because it was a shallow little bit of the river and on the way back I spotted a yabbie under a rock which we tried to catch but it was just too quick for us!
When we got back after we had a swim we checked the yabbie traps and we had 2 big yabbies – yummy!
We also put the fishing lines out and although we got lots of bites we didn’t actually catch anything. It was a beautiful night and a great campsite.
23 August 2010
We were up before the crack of dawn this morning – a beautiful morning! Checked the yabbie traps but all we had were some little fish - ?herring? Ross managed to catch a fish though it wasn’t very big – it looked a bit like a bream? We were on the road by 8am and we drove into the town of Einasliagh and had a look at the Copperfield Gorge which was just lovely!
We called in at Forsayth and the guy at the shop there confirmed that the price to go into Cobbold Gorge was $69 per person for a three-hour tour – out of our budget I’m afraid!!
We kept on going until we reached Georgetown which is back on the Savanah Way and stopped at the information desk to find out what was to see in the area and the girl there talked us into paying $11 each to have a look at the mineral Terrestrial centre which is a display of one guy’s lifetime collection of minerals and rocks – a huge collection that was definitely worth the money to have a look at – absolutely fascinating! We’re glad we stopped and let her talk us into it!
Back on the road again and were planning on stopping at one of the rivers along the way to camp for the night but for a start there was no phone reception at any of the places we were thinking of stopping at so I couldn’t do any work and secondly there was no water in any of them!! It was HOT and DRY and DUSTY and did I mention HOT? So we decided to keep going an headed for a place that was showing on the Camps 5 book just shy of Normanton at Leichart Lagoon Camping Grounds on a lagoon that said it had mobile reception. Unfortunately, when we got there the only reception available was if you plugged into a lead at the toilets that was attached to a big antenna on top of a water tower – not somewhere that I could work!! It was getting late and we were tuckered out and looking forward to a beer so there was nothing for it but to stay for the night and pack up early in the morning and head off again in the search of mobile reception as it was getting too late in the afternoon to push on.
We tried rigging up our extension aerial and although it was NEARLY picking up reception, it just wasn’t quite there – bugga!!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
10 - 16 August 2010
10 August 2010
We packed up the campsite and were on the road by 10ish by the time we all had a swim, etc before heading off. The weather was still a bit iffy so we thought it was a good decision to move on. We took the new track out and hit Wakooka Road within the hour. We thought that would be a much better road than the road in and it was but it still had lots of challenges and was a very interesting run! We came across Wakooka Outstation which was part of Kalpowar Station when it was running. Everything was deserted and there were old windmills, burnt out trucks, old cattle yards, old sheds, etc, etc - it was all very interesting!
We got back to the Starcke River campsite where we stayed on our first night out. We enjoyed the pumpkin that we picked from here so much that we decided to pick the other one to make pumpkin pie from somewhere down the track. We had lunch there and decided to push on as the weather was still doubtful and we wanted to get past the swampy bits before too much rain came down.
We headed off again and had a slight detour to go and look at the mouth of the Starck River - looks like it would be a great place to throw the boat in (which we still haven't managed to do yet!!) but we had to keep moving to beat the weather. Lucky we did because it was raining when we went through the swampy bits and it was very slippery and slimy then with more rain on the way. We reached Isabella Falls at about 6ish and took some time to wash down the caravan which had about half a tonne of mud on it by then!! We only had time to quickly set up camp before it was dark and we were all in bed early after a long day!
11 August 2010
We were all up and went for a swim early this morning under the waterfalls at Isabella - Ross managed to find a way into the heaviest fall and we all got under for a very good massage - it was tough staying under there - the water pressure is so hard!!
We toddled off back to Cooktown and reached there by about 12ish and went to vote only to find out that lunchbreak at the courthouse is 12-2 so we had some lunch and had a wander around before we voted and then headed back to Steve's place to start repacking - again!!
We have made a decision that between here and the Old Telegraph Track there are about 2 million corrugations and we had just done a run that was equal to or even more challenging than the Old Telegraph Track so we aren't going to do it now!! We had a great trip and really enjoyed ourselves but we have decided that we really want to start thinking about heading over towards WA before too long with a stop in Darwin on the way to visit some friends.
12 August 2010
We spent most of the day sorting stuff out and the boys spent some time fixing the suspension on the trailer. Steve came to visit in his lunch hour and we told him we wanted to take him and his wife out to dinner as well as buy him a carton of beer as a thank you for letting us stay at his place while we were here. He said they were going away Friday night and would be back Saturday night and he would ask his mates whether they want to all go out fishing on Sunday instead so we are going to wait and find out what happens there.
13 August 2010
We all decided to troop into town this afternoon to try our luck at fishing from the wharf. When we arrived one guy had just caught a big barra off the wharf so we thought we would have a good day's fishing - no such luck!! I managed to hook a "wolf herring" but didn't land it - one of the locals reckoned they weren't worth catching anyway. Ross caught a small trevalli but had to throw it back because it was undersized. Nobody else caught much either so we weren't the only ones - it was a nice afternoon though and got to talk to some of the locals.
Looks like Steve is going to be a way for the whole weekend so we may as well pack up and get back on the road tomorrow.
ROSS' BIRTHDAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS!!
Mum and dad popped into town to grab morning tea for Ross' birthday - dad and Ross are always going on about wanting "home made pasties" so they went to the bakery to get some but unfortunately there was only one left so Ross got that while we had to suffer with pies and sausage rolls. We put candles on his pastie and sang happy birthday to him. Mum had started making a fruitcake for him and hopefully we will get somewhere this afternoon where we can finish cooking it for him for his birthday.
We had put up a sign in the local shops and post office to sell our old fridge because we will pick up the new one when we hit Cairns and we thought lots of people in Cooktown would want that sort of thing which proved correct because we sold it this morning after having the signs up for only one day!! We then had to try to fit everything into mum and dad's little fridge - luckily we had been letting the stocks run down because we managed to fit most things in and will just have to go without cold drinks in the fridge until we get the new one.
Mum and dad had heard from the locals about a great waterfall and camping spot so we decided to check it out on our way south. Just before you reach Black Mountains you turn off on Mt Amos Road and go down there for several kms and then follow the signs to the Falls. The road was pretty rough but we arrived eventually only to find that mum and dad had broken the suspension on the trailer on the way in!! We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere with no way to fix it so we decided that after we had looked at the waterfall we would move on - the "campsite" wasn't much anyway. We walked down to the waterfall and it was SPECTACULAR!! It was gorgeous!! We all went swimming (even dad) the water was quite cold but it was definitely worth it and you could stand underneath the waterfall and it just took your breath away - just beautiful! Definitely worth the drive and breaking the suspension!
When we left there we found a campsite on the other side of the Black Mountains at a river crossing where they had a sign up for toilets. The campsite itself was quite nice but the drop toilets were very smelly!! We had a great little campfire and had a really good night. We managed to cook the fruitcake but burned it on the top and it wasn't quite cooked in the middle - bumma - still tasted good though!
15 August 2010
We were back on the road fairly early (for us 9:30) after a walk down to see another beautiful waterfall near where we had camped - what a life!!
The trailer is still struggling along and holding together ok and there will be nowhere we can get it welded until we hit Mareeba so we just have to keep going until then.
We reached Mount Molloy campsite at about 12 and decided to have another go at getting some of those famous Mexican Burgers - SUCCESS!! They are just huge and very yummy - we had two burgers between us - they are too big to eat on your own!
We cooked pumpkin pie from the last pumpkin tongiht and it turned out PERFECT!! I's sure it's not as good as my mother-in-law's pie but I reckon we did a pretty good job of it!! Mum made a blackberry jam tart from the leftover pastry which also turned out perfect - yay!!
We were in bed early tonight as I hadn't been feeling well all day.
16 August 2010
The boys worked on the trailer and managed to fix the suspension themselves - very clever! Ross fiddled about doing stuff to the caravan and I worked all morning.
Pretty quiet day - we packed up camp ready to leave early in the morning for Cairns.
Monday, August 2, 2010
2 -9 August 2010
It was nice to have a good night's sleep last night - apart from a couple of drunken ladies having a noisy conversation up till about 10:30. We set the yabbie traps last night and had two cherabin in them this morning - our first ones ever! We cooked them up and ate them at morning tea time just for a treat - yummy! This creek is pretty fished out because it is such a popular spot but hopefully we will find other places where we can get more and make a meal out of them.
We decided to head up to the Mexican cafe in Mount Molloy for lunch as they have world-famous Mexican hamburgers that we had last time we came through and were dying to have again. Unfortunately, when we got there they weren't making them today!! We were devastated!! We ended up getting a bacon and egg burger - one between each couple - they were HUGE, but just not the same as the Mexican burgers - ah well - maybe on our way back through.
Got an email this afternoon from Dometic saying we won a competition that we entered recently and won a $1200 Waeco fridge - BONUS!! We had to send in a funny photo with a caption - not sure which photo actually won yet as we sent in a few - so excited!!
3 August 2010
We were up early this morning and headed off to Cooktown. We stopped to look at Black Mountain on the way which we have seen before - very interesting to see the whole story behind it as to why it is like it is (or should I say why they are like they are as there are a couple).
Stopped for lunch at Cooktown and did some shopping before heading off to drop the trailer off at Steve's place (a guy who Ross met through the Land Rover forums). When we arrived Steve was there - what a great guy!! The place we are leaving the trailer is on his property where he has a shed but no house - he works in radiology and they supply him a house in town. We dropped off the trailer, met the horse and the local dogs and Steve suggested a place to camp down on the beach nearby but it was blowing a gale so we decided against it and ended up staying overnight at the property at Steve's place.
4 August 2010
I got up to do some work this morning and Ross did an oil change on the Land Rover and Steve turned up at about 8ish to do some work on his property which Ross helped him with (Steve has the week off work). Then Steve helped Ross make a bracket for the back of the caravan.
Its a glorious day but still quite windy - we are hoping it will calm down soon. Steve is a keen camper and told us lots of great places to visit on our journey north so we are definitely looking forward to that!
Ross & I rode the bikes into town - no mean feat as it was quite hilly!! Mum and dad took the 4x4 in and we had a bit of a look around town before riding back and having a hot shower compliments of the solar showers.
By this time it was getting late and we hadn't organised anything for tea so we took a ride into town in the 4x4 and had barramundi and chips - yummy!!
5 August 2010
I got up and worked again while the boys worked on the caravan again. By the time they finished it was too late to pack up for the day again so we hand washed our sheets and orgainsed a few more things read to hopefully set off again tomorrow. We have decided to just take a quick trip to Starke River goldfield and then come back and vote on the 11th before we head up to the Cape - we will get there eventually!!
6 August 2010
We packed up and left this morning but by the time we stuffed around and went into town and filled up with fuel, etc, etc we didn’t end up leaving Cooktown until about 11:00.
First stop was the lovely Isabella Falls where we stopped to take photos and have morning tea. We were back on the road by about 12:30 and headed down Battle Camp Road and it wasn’t long before we were off the bitumen and onto dirt road. The countryside was absolutely lush!! It was just beautiful and was interesting the whole way.
After about an hour or so on the good dirt road it started getting a little rougher – we were driving through swampland and although it was dry today when we were driving over it, you could see where other people had driven when it was wet which made for lots of ruts in the road. The road steadily got worse and worse, but nothing that was overly concerning but we wanted to get to a the Starke River crossing before stopping for lunch so we pushed on and got through at about 3ish before we stopped for lunch and only one broken egg! What a lovely little place! We decided to stop for the night so set up camp, went for little walk to explore, set out the yabbie nets, had a swim, etc. Dad and Ross found some pumpkins growing near the campsite so they picked one and we will do something with it tomorrow night probably.
We had chicken casserole on the camp oven for dinner followed by damper on a stick filled with golden syrup for dessert – yummo!!
The only other car we saw all day on the dirt road was one other 4x4 that came through a little while after us and was heading for the Jeannie River mouth.
7 August 2010
We were up early to check the traps but we didn’t catch anything at all . We had managed to catch a small eel on the line the line last night but that was all – not a very good fishing spot!
At about 8:30 two more cars came through and they had come most the way last night but it had started getting dark so they had ended up camping about 100 m the other side of the river crossing – never knowing there was a river there!! They were spewing!! We had a bit of a chat and worked out they were from Foster – which is only about an hour south of Port Macquarie – small world!
We were back on the road again by about 9ish and headed off knowing it wasn’t all that much further to the spot we were heading for that Steve had told us about.
We saw our first bustard http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ardeotis-australis today – we had never seen one before – they sure are funny looking birds – big and awkward!!
It wasn’t long until the road started getting quite rough with lots of washouts and creek crossings that were quite hairy to say the least!! We got some awesome footage of both vehicles doing some pretty tough 4WDing – not to mention the little caravan – what a trooper –never missed a step!!
We ended up coming to another river crossing that Steve had told us to be very careful crossing – that very nearly made us turn around and go back but in the end we braved it and went across – there were big washouts coming into it and was very scary looking but in the end we all got across safely and were off again.
A bit further along the track we came to another crossing that I thought looked a bit scary and asked Ross to get out and have a look at it but he thought it would be no trouble and didn’t really have much of a look at it before he got back in the car. He had also forgotten to take the brake off of the caravan, which is important on river crossings. Coming up out of the crossing there were some big rocks on one side and when the wheels went over it, it made one of the front wheels come right up off the ground and it looked like she was going to tip – needless to say I panicked a little then and dad ended up standing on the front bumper to put some weight on the front and Ross managed to drive out ok. When we reflected back on it – the actual crossing probably wasn’t that bad but it was more that he didn’t pick the line very well and the fact that he forgot the brake off the caravan didn’t help!! All in a day’s work!!
There was a lot of driving through very rough terrain and it was very slow going and some of the time we were actually questioning whether we were on the right track but we eventually arrived in one piece very relieved and very elated to have survived such a tough journey and only one broken egg again. It is a lovely little camp site. There is a freshwater river that has a little waterfall running into a saltwater river. The freshwater river is croc free and fine for swimming and the saltwater river is good for catching fish – apparently. When we arrived we had a look where the waterfall went into the little saltwater creek and could see lots of big fish swimming about so we got the fishing line out but no luck. Later in the day a couple of people dropped by to say hello as they were passing through and he was a local and reckoned the fish were mullet and you would never catch them on a line.
We went for a swim.
We made banana and honey scones and had bacon and eggs for tea – tough life!!
8 August 2010
Ross and I were up early and went down to have a look at the river and the tide had been up overnight but was down again this morning – missed the tide!! The river is quite low when the tide is out and not worth fishing in so we will wait to see what its like this afternoon. We threw the casting net in to try to catch some bait but managed to get it tangled in some tree roots instead – thought we had better wait till the tide went right down before we went in and got it – we weren’t going to take any chances with any crocs.
Ross and I decided to go for a drive to see what the track was like leading out of here that the people had told us about yesterday. Well, that road was almost like a highway after what we had been through!! It took us 40 minutes with only a couple of toughish crossings before we hit a proper dirt road that is part of Lakefield National Park which leads straight back to Cooktown the easy way – phew!! We really enjoyed the trip out here but none of us were looking forward to tackling it all again in any great hurry – that was the most 4WDing any of us had done in a long time – we won’t forget it in a hurry –the Telegraph Track is going to be a breeze after this!! Ross wanted to see how the caravan would go on a short local run before heading up the Cape – we sure aren’t going to come across anything we can’t handle anywhere along the Telegraph Track!!
We spent an hour or so fixing the casting net this arvo before taking it back down to the river to see if we could catch any mullet for bait for fishing when the tide comes up. We saw a school of really big mullet and couldn’t resist throwing the net over them. Unfortunately there was a big snag right where the fish were and although we caught a big mullet – the net was completely destroyed in the process – bugga!
Seeing as the mullet cost us a net we decided to bring him back to camp and eat him!! Turns out that mullet is nice to eat. We also fried up some of the pumpkin that the boys had picked up from the last campsite - it was a good pumpkin!
We went back down to the waterfall tonight to see the height of the river – it was WAY up – it was amazing how high it comes up – couldn’t believe it. We tried our luck at night fishing but didn’t catch anything.
9 August 2010
Up early and down again to try our luck at fishing while the tide was still reasonably high. I caught a “giant herring” on a soft plastic but nothing else.
The rest of the day was taken up with doing as little as possible swimming, etc. We made pumpkin soup from the rest of the pumpkin that the boys had found - yummo!
It started raining later in the day and we started thinking that we should pack up and head off in the morning as some of the terrain we had come through to get here would turn very slippery very quickly with not much rain.