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Published: August 17th 2009
Undara
This Bull ant i'm sure may give you a painful biteDAY 283
Oh that lovely Kookaburra morning alarm again, it is barely even a glimmer of light outside but they are welcoming in the day with delight. Of course it is too early to even think of getting out of bed and although the nights are not too cold, it is a bit too fresh also.
I think Andy was up at around 7.00, with the kettle on and booting up the laptop, I enjoy a bit of a lie in, and a cup of tea was soon with me.
I hear Andy shout that my Mum has written a poem, it seems that this poetry malarkey is catching, although it is the message section of the blog, the formatting is not there so I have reformatted and you can read it properly at the bottom of this blog.
Andy read out the poem to me in bed, he thought it was excellent and wanted to share it with me, I smiled to myself as it was very well thought out, and Mum had included the two words that we gave each other to incorporate in our poems, if you don’t know what I am
Toyota FJ45
If your coming to Australia, you need to be properly kitted out, and this is the baby for ya, My favourite a Toyota FJ45 talking about then read the blogs from last week.
Amazingly today we have just reached 400,000 words, I thought we had a lot to say for ourselves, and at this rate we calculate by the end of the first year we will have well over ½ a Million.
Breakfast is an easy one with toast and marmite (Andy had peanut butter), definitely still no eggs, I still cannot face eating egg.
We were ready for the day and ready to go off for another bush walk, so with rucksack containing valuable water, first aid kit and cameras then off we go to reception to sign ourselves in.
Today we decide to do the Atkinson’s Lookout which is 1.6km there and 1.6km return. I sign the book at 10.10; off we go following the path that initially takes you on the Bluff Circuit before turning off for Atkinsons.
It is a hot day already but we take opportunity to cool down in the shady spots along the way. There is not a lot happening in the wildlife stakes today, not many birds flitting around and no kangaroos to be seen, it is too warm though so
I think they will sensibly be basking in the shade somewhere and perhaps by 100 mile swamp where there is plenty of lush green grass and water.
We take the time to watch some bull ants, they are rather large,probably just about 20mm long but while we watch them some other people come up and wonder why we are looking at them, they said we should kill them as one of them promptly stamps his shoe on one of them. We were a little dismayed by this, if they were in my house I think they would be fair game but out in the bush I feel this is their territory and we are only visiting.
We cross Iron Pot Creek this creek is completely empty, the landscape around us is dry, parched and very brown, I think this would look lovely in the wet season, all green, lush and full of colour, the creek would look lovely full of water wending its way through the granite landscape.
Granite there is plenty of to be seen around here, there are plenty of kitchen worktops on this landscape all they need is cutting and polishing except that I
Undara
Atkinsons Lookout trail don’t think the National Parks would like it very much.
We soon find ourselves at the top of Atkinsons, this is where the 6 hour return walk joins up there is a sign to tell you that you are going the wrong way and to turn back as entering this walk is serious hiking business and you need to be well kitted out, which today we are not so we are not doing it, you would also benefit from starting early in the day when it is cool.
We stand at the top of Atkinsons and look over the vast landscape of trees and distant volcanoes, incidentally these volcanoes are no longer a threat.
We rest and take on board some water, we study the granite that we are walking on and then we turn and start the hike back, for some reason we always seem to get back quicker than the original time it took to hike out.
In the heat of the day we manage to hike back to the lodge and sign out within 1 hour and 20 minutes, this walk is listed as 1 ½ hours.
The afternoon was spent relaxing,
Undara
Caroline surveying the Atkinsons Sign we did think about a swim, but lets face it we have had some good exercise today so an afternoon of relaxation we should not feel guilty about.
So, Andy is soon on the blog, I do some Sudoku we have some emails to write in time for Monday morning in England so I have to spend an hour or so preparing documents to send over.
Soon it is time for a shower as we are going for drinks in the bar tonight to bid farewell to Dagmaar. We only met Dagmaar a couple of weeks ago when we first booked up to come here for our Wedding Anniversary, it was in fact her first day on reception here at Undara. However she is now moving on and invited us to come for drinks.
We have a light dinner of cheese and biscuits tonight, I am still not very hungry and my appetite is still a bit off.
We go up to the train carriages, find Dagmaar and her husband Campbell and join them and a few of the staff here at Undara for a drink. We have a pleasant evening chatting to the team here
Undara
Massive scenery this message could say the 94 bus stops here and finding out a little bit more about Undara, they all seem happy to work and live here which is nice to know, it is in the middle of nowhere really so it helps to be happy here. They tell me that they work 10 days and then have 4 days off when some go back to Cairns for a couple of days or even into Atherton (Tablelands) to enjoy their time off, they come back here feeling refreshed ready for another 10 days work.
At 9.00 we come back to camp, we tidy up a bit before going to bed at 9.30, we have an early (ish) start in the morning as we are going out on a tour at 8.00 so we want to be up early and ready in time to be at reception by 8.00.
The wind is quite strong tonight, it is a little bit cooler but not too cold, we are soon snug in bed and wind blows outside every now and again the wind blows through the mosquito nets in the tent keeping us cool.
Mums Poem:
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Caroline and Andy, Sarah and Darryl
Are touring Australia in summer apparel
Undara
Keep on walking The days very hot but the nights can be cold,
To escape from wet England with tents to unroll
Darryl and Sarah, Caroline and Andy
Met outside Cairns, by gosh that was handy
From possums to spiders and snakes, oh! be wary
Kangaroos and koalas and the odd cassowary
The wedge tailed eagles on road kill they spy
with camera in hands, then off they do fly!
Their blogs are amazing and photos give cheer
We hear they've been fossicking, then stop for a beer
The gems that they found they took to the shop
No fortunes here, so it's no time to stop
They swim in the lakes and also the pools
Watch out for crocodiles, as they are no fools!
The water is cold which cools them all down
So back to the campsite then a trip into town
Reticulated campsites they think are a must
but, oh dear when they get there "There's no room for us!"
A lamb roast for tea with veggies and dampers
The camp fire is lit so off with their jumpers
The oven is placed on the embers that glow
And in no time at all the food is a "Wow"
With
no light pollution, in the blackness of night
Their stargazing is perfect, they exclaim with delight
An inter planetary walk would be just the thing
so next time they come a telescope will they bring
So, Sarah and Darryl and Caroline and Andy
A good time they've had, no need to be dandy
With kisses and hugs they go separate ways
And promised to meet up one of these days
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Willemien
non-member comment
anniversary
Hello Andy and Caroline, we wish you a happy anniversary for tuesday. Have a nice day! Love Chris and Willemien xx