http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ValandDoug/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ValandDoug en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:39:42 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:39:42 +0000 We reluctantly left Woolgoolga yesterday in the worst possible conditions a dust storm smoke from bushfires and very strong wind. We would have liked to have had a couple more nights there but it was too unpleasant.We had a last look from the headland a drive around Coffs and then visited Doug's sister Barbara at Macksville before turning off the highway and booking into the Big 4 caravan par http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Laurieton/blog-445126.html It is 31C degrees here at Woolgoolga and itrsquos windy. Every afternoon a wind comes up which shakes the motor home and blows over tents. Wersquove given up having the awning and our table and chairs out and instead are cooling off in the air conditioning chilling out.Yesterday morning we walked along Woolgoolgarsquos beautiful beach to the lake. Because of the recent high seas and 'Woo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Coffs-Harbour/blog-444573.html I love the drive from the border down to this Byron BayBallina area. The hills rising above the coastline are green and lush and the beaches are long and tempting. Driving beside the Tweed River and seeing Mount Warning rising above the cane fields is always a thrill. From Murwillumbah we made a little diversion to the rather hippy little town of Uki then continued on our way to busy backpacker http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Ballina/blog-443140.html We are staying overnight at Tweed Heads and are on daylight saving which Queensland doesn't do. We survived the drive down the Bruce Highway and over the Gateway Bridge yikes called into a shop I love in Brisbane Lily G and then drove on to the Gold Coast. From Bundaberg we have been thrilled to see the jacaranda in flower all down the coast and there were many beautiful flowering trees i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Tweed-Heads/blog-442527.html Wersquove been having a great time around Noosa. Yesterday we went in early to get our great parking spot in the shady car park near the beach. The heavy seas earlier this year did a lot of damage to the beach and the boardwalk but theyrsquove pumped a lot of sand onto the beach and the boardwalk is being rebuilt. We enjoyed walking along the beach sitting watching the passing parade then http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa/blog-441666.html How awful to see on TV the terrible pictures coming from the Samoan earthquake and tsunami. We feel so much for those who have lost loved ones.We have had two restful days at pretty Burrum Heads. We always enjoy our little stays here. We've stayed when all the campers are the retirees who have been coming for years to spend the winter months here gradually 'working' their way to the front river http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Hervey-Bay/blog-441092.html We are at Bundaberg after a night at Tannum Sands just past the very industrial town of Gladstone. It is very dry around all north Queensland they could sure do with rain and the air is a bit hazy from bushfires. We will be here another night before heading to quiet and pretty Burrum Sands.We called into the twin towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters on our way to Bundaberg. A thrill on the way out t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Bundaberg/blog-440055.html We have spent the last three nights at Yeppoon the coastal town in from Rockhampton on the Tropic of Capricorn. We picked up our mail thank you Nicholas and mostly lazed about though we did have a swim in the ocean one day. This time we didnrsquot go over to Great Keppel Island we had intended having lunch at the Mercure there to celebrate our wedding anniversary yesterday. We found th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-439483.html We have been staying at the Big 4 Whitsunday Park at Cannonvale just out of Airlie Beach. We like staying here because it's out of the busyness but handy to shops and transport and Airlie Beach is the jumping off place to cruise around some of the 74 Whitsunday Islands. Yesterday we picked up a bus at 7am and were taken to Shute Harbour to catch our boat. This firstly took us to Hamilton Island http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-437772.html We had intended heading north from Port Douglas to Cooktown but a wind had come up and we remembered what a windy place Cooktown can be. So we headed south instead. It's a shame we missed going back to Mossman Gorge and the Daintree but we'll do that again next timeWe had a couple of nights in Rollingstone .. again .. which always recharges the batteries and took off again this morning. It's a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Bowen/blog-437020.html We have been staying at Port Douglas almost in town at Four Mile Beach. Yesterday we had lunch on the wharf overlooking the very smart boats moored there and had a good look around the area especially up to the lookout.Today as every Sunday the markets were held down on the waterfront. They are quite big and full of lots of goodies tropical fruits beautiful plants .. how I wish I could ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Port-Douglas/blog-436107.html We are enjoying Cairns after arriving here yesterday afternoon. We called into Paronella Park once we'd left Mission Beach. httpwww.paronellapark.com.auA Spanish immigrant Jose Paronella who made money first by working on sugar cane farms then buying and selling farms had the dream of building a castle. He bought an acreage containing the Mena Falls in the 1930's built a home for his http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-435639.html We tore ourselves away from Rollingstone yesterday morning and continued north a nice drive through sugar cane country We arrived in the sugar mill town of Tully. We had never been to Tully Gorge so decided that we'd drive the 40 klms west of Tully and have a look a pretty drive with very healthy looking bananas lining each side of the road. I think in the wet the Tully river is a raging torr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Mission-Beach/blog-435083.html Well only in a manner of speaking. It was great if very busy being back home getting to see all the family and helping to celebrate all the special birthdays. Tara and the boys making the trip from New Zealand was a great bonus and we were glad we were there for Jason after his car accident. Thankfully when it was time to leave the big city life was almost back to normal and Jason recovering.W http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Rollingstone/blog-434718.html We have had five wonderful days and nights at Rollingstone walking the beach swimming in the pool just lazing around in the sunshine chatting to the other campers and I've begun the big job of scrapbooking my photos of our trip. We've found birds have been prolific around the country and here is no exception. Each evening lorrikeets make a racket as they settle into the trees yesterday there http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Rollingstone/blog-429106.html After we left the caravan park at Charters Towers we drove into town to have another look around. I like it there the old Queenslander houses with their wide bullnosed verandahs and the solid Victorian buildings from the time Charters Towers was a very wealthy town in the gold rush days. Now I think it's a cattle town I certainly saw a lot of big hats and boots around townWe drove on to To http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Rollingstone/blog-428072.html We left Mt. Isa and drove through very boring country to Cloncurry. We stopped at the John Flynn Memorial Centre there to view an excellent display on Dr. Flynn's work his starting the Australian Inland Mission which became the Royal Flying Doctor Service begun in Cloncurry in 1928. He was a man of great vision. The network depended largely on a pedalpowered radio invented by Alfred Traeger http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Charters-Towers/blog-427789.html We are now in Queensland and on Eastern Standard Time once again. After leaving Tennant Creek we called into the old Telegraph Station a few kilometres out of town to have a look around and read how they lived there when it was very remote and morse code was the manner of sending messages. There were small buildings for smoking meat and keeping food cool underground a blacksmith's and a butch http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Mt-Isa/blog-427230.html We have travelled 600 kilometres from Katherine to Tennant Creek a long trip but with quite a few interesting things to see on the way.Yesterday our first stop was at Mataranka in the Elsey National Park. Jeannie Gunn's wrote of her life at Elsey Station in We of the Never Never and in Mataranka's park they have statues of Jeannie and her husband Aenaes and also the Little Black Princess Bett http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Tennant-Creek/blog-426642.html We've had a nice stay in Katherine catching up cleaning up and catching our breath. We spent a good bit of the day yesterday by the pool we always see someone there who we've met somewhere before on our travels.Some caravan parks mostly in Queensland have evening entertainment. We knew there were things on here so last night we went to the outdoor bistro beside the pool to have a look. At http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Katherine/blog-426258.html