Michelle and Dennis Shaw
Let us introduce ourselves, my name is Michelle & my Hubby’s name is Dennis & we have travelled half way round Australia with our dogs (that we lost this year). We have two grown up sons both married to great girls & they live in the country so we don’t see them much. We have 3 Beautiful grandkids & 1 beautiful Great Grandchild, we are known as GG’s . We decided to go around Aus while our health was still good. We sold the house & took off, we had a great time. We are travelling in a 2002 Land cruiser gas & petrol & a 2009 21' Jayco, off roader with slide out bedroom, big fridge & washing machine. We love free camping & have met some great people along the way. Dennis also bought a Hobbie Outfitter kayak for fun, recreation & fishing, it’s his pride & joy, we have had some good times in it, If you are planning a trip like this do it while you can & your health is good. We are still living in our van & looking for somewhere to settle, but we are in no hurry. We left Wollongong on the 20-04-2009 & saw a bit of QLD, NT, WA & a bit of SA. There is still a lot to see & we have not finished yet. Here are some of our adventures. Enjoy. Now it’s time to see Cape YorkCobb and Co 4
Travel Blog Posts
Carnarvon Gorge to Chinchilla
Published: September 24th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Carnarvon Gorge
September 24th 2011
19-9-11 lazy day today, we are both stiff & sore, so decided to go to the Rock Pool & have a swim & picnic lunch. It was nice & relaxing, but the pool was cold. 20-9-11 Back on the road again, went through Injune, Roma & landed at Chinchilla about 4pm & set up. It was good to see everyone again. We left on the 20-7-11 & travelled for 9 weeks. We travelled 9275 km & had a great time. Our holiday is over & we will go to Goondiwindi next & then back to Wollongong as my Dad & Ivy are not too well. ... read more
Carnarvon Gorge & The Big Walk
Published: September 20th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Carnarvon NP
September 20th 2011
18-9-11 big day today, we were only going to go to the Art Gallery Gorge, we decided to go to the furthest point then see the walks on the way back (14km return). We reached the Art Gallery in 1 ½ hours & felt pretty good, so we pushed on to the Cathedral Caves, another 4 km on (22km return). The track was pretty good to the Art Gallery, but after that was a lot of creek crossings & rough tracks. We reached the Cathedral Caves after 3 hours of walking. It was well worth it. The Cave was spectacular. Den pushed on & did the Boowinda Gorge, I could not walk ant further as I knew we had to do the return walk. We were both hurting & my feet were burning, but after getting ... read more
September 20th 2011
17-9-11 Got to Takarakka Bush Resort early & set up ($41 a night for 3 nights), then took off to Carnarvon Gorge Visitors Centre, to get our maps for our walks. We decided to do the shorter walks today, so we went to Mickey Creek Gorge, Warrumbah Creek Gorge (3 km return) & Baloon Cave (1 km return), where we saw Aboriginal paintings. We then headed back to camp where we had a walk & saw an Echidna & visited the Platypus Pool with no luck seeing one. It is a great park with a beaut camp kitchen & fire pit. Tomorrow we are doing the big walk (I hope I make it, I will have a go).... read more
Cloncurry to Carnarvon Gorge
Published: September 20th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cloncurry
September 20th 2011
12th to the 13th September, spent the last 2 days cleaning & washing, today we went to see the Mary Kathleen Museum & lookout. There was a lot of restored tractors & machinery. Margy cooked a baked dinner for tea, yummy. 14-9-11 we headed off to Winton & went about 90 klm’s & struck a couple that had lost a wheel off their van, all 6 studs had broken. Dennis & Warwick helped get the tyre back on by taking 3 studs off the other wheel & putting them on the broken one. They did a little damage to the van, but not too bad considering. They put the van on a RACQ tow truck back to Cloncurry to get it fixed. 3 hours later we headed off to Winton & got there late. We booked ... read more
Lawn Hill nationional Park
Published: September 12th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Boodjamulla National Park
September 12th 2011
9-9-11 Went to Lawn Hill today & we all kayaked up the Lawn Hill Gorge. Even Margy made it, with a lot of pain in her rib, but she was not going to miss out. It was just beautiful; the waterfalls at the end were great. If anyone is going we suggest that you hire a canoe if you don’t take your own. They are $20 for 2 people for an hour. We had a picnic lunch & then headed back to Adel’s Grove. We did some packing up in the arvo, ready to go to Gregory Downs tomorrow. We had booked in for a Kingfish dinner at the tavern & it was delicious. 10-9-11 Off to Gregory Downs & this time we camped on the river, it was cooler today & was breezy, but not ... read more
Adels Grove
Published: September 11th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Boodjamulla National Park
September 11th 2011
7-9-11 happy Birthday Merry, have a great day. We left Gregory Downs being told the road was good & sealed a lot of the way (NOT). It was rough & bumpy but better than the last time we went to Adel’s Grove. We got the vans through ok, with no trouble. We set up & all had a swim in the creek as it was very hot. Poor Margy, we hope she has not cracked a rib as she is very sore. It cooled down at night though. 8-9-11 today we kayaked up Adel’s Grove River & had a fish, no luck, even though another couple caught fish. Margy is still not well, so they had a lazy day. After lunch we went for another swim in the creek, very refreshing as it is 35 degrees. ... read more
September 11th 2011
5-9-11 off again, on our way to Lawn Hill. We stopped at Normanton for supplies & fuel. We stopped & had a look at Normanton Railway Station & the Gulf Lander train. Then off again to a freebie we had heard about & not in the Camps Book. It was 60 km south of Normanton at the Flinders River Crossing, a great spot. We set up camp & went down to the river where the fish was jumping, set Margy up on a chair as her foot & side were hurting from her fall & we had a fish. Guess what, we could not catch anything, they were teasing us. It was very hot, but cooled off at night. 6-9-11 off early & stopped at Burke & Wills Roadhouse for fuel & then onto Gregory Downs ... read more
September 4th 2011
1-9-11 today we are heading toward Karumba, through Mt Surprise, & Georgetown, where we got petrol for $1.54 & we did not get gas as it was $1.21. We decided to camp at Cumberland Historic Mine Site (249) a great free camp. We set up & it was so hot, Margy & I got into our sarongs & wet ourselves, it was great. We put the chuffa on & cooked tea & sat by the fire that night, it was good. We did 350 km today. 2-9-11Today we went through Croyden & stopped at Normanton where we had our photo taken with a croc statue. It was killed in 1957 & is believed to be the biggest croc killed in the world .On to Karumba where we booked into The Sunset Caravan Park at Karumba Point. ... read more
Lake Tinaroo, Lakes & Mt Hypipamee
Published: September 4th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Atherton Tablelands
September 4th 2011
29-8-11 happy Birthday Warwick!!!!!! We spent the next two days just relaxing, kayaking & fishing with no luck, but had a good time. Weather is a warm 25 degrees. 31-8-11 Awoke to a drizzly day so we decided to go sightseeing. We went to Lake Eacham & Lake Barrine; these lakes were formed out of craters. At Lake Barrine we visited two twin giant Kauri trees, they were enormous. We had to try out the Scones & coffee at the tea house, they were good. We then went to Mt Hypipamee Crater & Dinner Falls, with a nice drive through the rainforest. The crater was amazing with 80 meter high walls & you looked down from a viewing platform to the bottom. Below the surface are a lot of unexplored caves. We then walked to the ... read more
Lake Tinaroo Atherton Tablelands
Published: August 28th 2011Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Atherton Tablelands » Danbulla Forest
August 28th 2011
25-8-11 headed off after saying goodbye to Tom & Di to go to Lake Tinaroo in the Atherton Tablelands. After Navman lead us astray twice & nearly got us lost, we arrived at the most beautiful lake, where we are going to stay for a week to have a bit of R & R. We have flushing Loo’s & we can run the generators & it is only $74.20 for a week. We set up & cooked tea & this very cheeky Kookaburra came down & pinched a sausage off Warwick’s plate. 26-8-11 happy birthday Cheryl, girlfriend, have a great day. We had a great morning in the kayaks, fishing & exploring, but the fish are on holidays. The boys went off & collected a whole lot of tree trunks & had trouble cutting them up, ... read more
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