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Well here we are at long last with our next Blog. After arriving back on the big island from Tasmania (the small island) we spent two weeks in Melbourne and once again the weather was not the best for the whole two weeks, showers most days and chilly, we were wishing we were back in Tasmania. We picked up our new vehicle, a Chevy, whilst there and the hitch had to be transferred from the Ford to the new truck, hence the two weeks in Melbourne. My sister lives in Melbourne so she came and spent a day with us. We also met up with a lovely couple from Adelaide who were over in Melbourne visiting their family and were kind enough to delay going back to Adelaide for a day and come and have lunch ... read more

After Penguin we travelled to Deloraine, a lovely little town on the Meander River with the caravan park just beside the river so we had a great spot for the week we were there. We met up with the couple who bought our first caravan as they are travelling around Tasmania also. We went out to a 60’s diner with them one evening and had hamburgers with fries of course, a great night out with juke box music and all. We visited a honey farm at Chudleigh just outside Deloraine and they had so many varieties with tastings as well it was hard to choose. From Deloraine we drove onto Longford and stayed at which we say is the best caravan park in Tasmania right beside the Macquarie River, a wonderful spot. A great bakery also ... read more

Our trip back was taken via the inland road and our first stop was Charters Towers after turning off the coast road at Townsville and travelling south west for 90 minutes. From a chance discovery of gold in 1872 by a young Aboriginal horse boy, Charters Towers soon turned into a bustling metropolis, which in its heyday boasted being the second largest city in Queensland. At the height of the gold rush the town included 11 crushing mills, 65 hotels and one of the very first regional Stock Exchanges in Australia which still stands proudly today. There are many old buildings which are magnificent and also heritage listed. It was also a significant allied military base in World War II as there are some 30 concrete bunkers dotted throughout the hills around Towers Hills close to ... read more

We noticed in a previous blog report that we didn’t finish telling you about the person who built Paronella Park. Well it was a guy by the name of Jose Paronella who was Spanish and arrived in Australia in 1913. He worked hard for 11 years creating his wealth by buying, improving and selling cane farms and whilst travelling through the countryside he discovered a virgin forest alongside Mena Creek Falls which was perfect for his dream of building a castle for his bride and children. The castle was ready to welcome the public in 1935 and Jose did most of the work himself which was quite an achievement for such a large scale project. We finally left Cairns on the 18th of August after getting our truck back on the 16th which was a few ... read more

We stayed a little longer at Lucinda than anticipated as we received a phone call early on the morning of 10th June from Trevor’s brother to say his Mum had passed away so we booked the train and went down to Brisbane for the funeral and then back up to Lucinda for a couple more days. Trevor went crabbing with our neighbour and they got another 5 crabs as well as seeing a very large crocodile come towards them who was a little longer than their tinnie so they drove the boat away very quickly to live another day. This is a photo of our neighbours Big Al and Liz. We played a couple of games of golf at a small town called Mackdale and most of its trees were blown over by Cyclone Yasi. It ... read more