Walleroo or Kangaroo

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DAY 286


The light was starting to appear through the window, a glass window, which is unusual I have not been able to do that for a while, usually I can see the light through the mosquito netting. The Kookaburra’s have already been in full chorus this morning, but here we are snug in bed, a proper bed with those lovely crisp white linen sheets, it felt lovely and cosy.

I went back to sleep in comfortable knowledge that we were here tonight as well, so we could have a lie in this morning, no pressure to get up, pack up or move on. It was about 6.30 when I was awoken again by heavy footsteps outside on the platform next to our carriage, they walked past our door and bang heavily on the carriage next door, then loud voices as a discussion about breakfast occurred, I lay there wondering if they realised that people were still in bed and trying to sleep, we have come across this before that people who are up and about at 6.00 are very often noisy and don’t have a care or thought for others, I don’t think 7.00 is unreasonable.

At 7.00 Andy went to the Bistro area to make us both a cup of tea, they have all the facilities there so you just help yourself. He made them in our thermos mugs and brought them back to the room with the lids on. Andy got back into bed to enjoy a lie in, I thought about our lovely house and the great bed that we have back in England, the weekend was always great for a lie in, especially as we had a loft bedroom, the light used to flood in first thing in the morning and if the sun was shining then it was just magical.

Undara is just magical for different reasons, the environment here seems so relaxing, I feel very chilled out and have enjoyed being here, not rushing around and we have another night of near luxury to enjoy before hitting the dirt again. We have been lucky with the wildlife here, tonight we will have an early evening walk to see what we can spot.

Eventually we get up, and as I had a pile of washing that needed drying we wander down to the laundry to stick it all in the tumble dryer. While we were waiting we knocked up a couple of slices of toast for our breakfast, actually as we are off for a walk this morning we had 2 more slices for extra energy.

By 10.00 we were driving down to Kalkani Crater Walk, this is another volcano within the Undara National Park, there is a walk around the top edge of the crater that we want to do, it is about 2.6 kilometres and should take about an hour and a half, it is a good steep walk up to the rim of the crater.

We kit ourselves up with hiking boots, gators water and camera and off we go, passing plenty of people on the way. It is a windy day, which is nice as it is keeping the temperature down, doing this walk without that lovely wind would be much harder in the heat.

The path on the way up is man made and very clearly defined. We see a Lady photographing something on the path, it looks like a Spinifex Dragon, but I need to confirm that, I too took my photo while this lovely lizard (had lovely markings) just sat and posed, or was he just basking in the sun? Poor thing was just hoping for a quiet day basking.

At the top we find a path that splits two ways, although man made is quite rough so you do have to watch your footing. The soil here is quite a dark brown, the rock around us is quite a dark brown too, if you look you can see ripples where it was obviously once molten rock that was flowing from the volcano when it erupted. We turn right to walk anti clockwise around the rim, the views are spectacular, every now and again we stop to read the information boards explaining the landscape and how the different volcanoes may have erupted.

The wind suddenly gets stronger as we start to get higher up the path, a huge gust suddenly whips Andy’s Akubra off his head and into the undergrowth on the side of the path, we both thought that would be the last we see of his hat, it is a strong wind and it would be long gone down the side of the volcano.

However there is a small path that leads off the main path so Andy tentatively investigated it, only to find his hat attached to a dead tree on its side so with his walking stick he was able to reach it and retrieve it. Neither of us left our hats on our head after that, the wind was too strong so they spent more time in our hands.

Around we walked and came back to the defined path that was to take us back down to the car park. The wind was now dropping as we descended, the Spinifex Dragon was long gone and we were soon back at the bottom, off with the hiking boots and back on with the travellers uniform of Flip Flops (Thongs), a gurgle of water and we set off back to camp, oh actually I don’t really mean camp, we are back to the Railway Carriage at Undara.

Ah, bliss, a cosy welcoming room with a lovely bed in it, the sun is shining the windows are open, it is a beautiful afternoon, so I go off and make a cup of tea, when I get back Andy is sprawled on the bed having a nana nap, I shower and then do some Sudoku and brain training. When Andy wakes up we have a couple of rounds of rummy, we are thoroughly enjoying this relaxation time especially in these surrounds.

We decide to get on with the blog from yesterday and as we enjoyed sitting in the bistro yesterday afternoon drinking coffee in the cool shade we decide to head that way again, we sit at the same table (because it has a power point conveniently located) plug the lap top in, and I go off to make the coffee, there is already someone at the hot water point so I just patiently wait for him to finish making his tea.

I look around and take in the surroundings, then a voice booms behind me in a heavy Australian accent says “Pardon me, Ma’am I was away with the fairies then” Just as I replied “That’s ok, easily done in these surroundings,” I noticed his name badge said “Bram Collins” he is the owner and Managing Director of the Undara Experience. It seems a long while since I have been called Ma’am this guy seems very polite.

Andy is hammering away at the blog, he is talking about his snake pictures that he got yesterday, when he nearly trod on that tree snake (thankfully it was a tree snake), we were hoping to see it again today, but no luck so far, despite scouring the surroundings.

We are both engrossed in what we are doing when someone stops for a chat, a man from Brisbane travelling alone, but before long he tries to engage in a chat about politics, which quickly halts the conversation so Andy and I get back to what we are doing.

I have my camera bag with me so start to get everything out to clean the lens, I wander off to take a few photos, however when I sit down again I notice that the rubber eyepiece surround appears to be missing. I look in the camera bag and can find nothing, I am sure it was there this morning when we went hiking, I look around the floor where we are sat and I retrace my steps where I was taking photos a few minutes ago, but nothing it is nowhere to be seen. I must have lost it up at Kalkani Crater, we were concentrating on hanging onto our hats in the wind, I must have inadvertently knocked it off.

Andy said, “No problem, we will go and do the same walk in the morning and look for it.” We both know it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it is worth a shot. I did say that it would be easy to buy a new one, but Andy is happy to do the walk again as it is such a good one.

Once the blog is finished, edited and uploaded we pack everything up and go for a wander down to 100 mile swamp to see what wildlife we can spot, it is about the right time of day for them to start getting mobile, the sun is going down, it is cooler so wildlife activity will increase. We are aware of being on the lookout for snakes, but we see none, yet when we get to 100 mile swamp we see a kangaroo, we watch it through the binoculars, but when you become accustomed to the landscape if you look carefully you can see lots of Kangaroos, in fact there are dozens of them.

We see a couple of them engage in a bit of boxing, but they are just a little bit too far away for a decent photo, we move a little bit closer, but they are soon aware of our presence, some of them look directly at us and then carry on eating, others just stand and stare, we move away and they get back to eating again. We see Mums with their little Joeys hopping as fast as they can to keep up with their Mums, we see an abundance of Mums with Joeys in their pouches, if you look carefully you can just make out some little noses poking out of the pouches.

Now, when I tell you they are Kangaroo’s, although they look like Kangaroo’s but they could be one of many different types, such as the Antilopine We head back before it gets too dark.

We get changed into something more comfortable for dinner, well I do, I put on a pair of jeans as the evenings here can be quite cool, but Andy stays dressed in his shorts and t-shirt.

We head back to the Bistro and find a table inside one of the railway carriages, it should be a little bit warmer in one of those, we go off and get the menu, then head to the service area to order, we find Amanda who is usually behind reception.

Amanda tells us the specials, but I ask what the Roast of the day is, she says “Beef”. Oh joy Roast Beef, so my order is placed. We are given our pager, when it goes off we will return to pick up our meal, so we go and grab our starter, vegetable soup and Andy has the Beef Curry.

We just finish our starters when our pager goes off, we head down to the chefs station and I ask which one is ours thinking that I can see a piece of beef, he then clarifies what we ordered and then realises that someone else has gone off with our food, so he resets our pager and off we go to wait, this time via the bar.

At the bar we find a chap that I was talking to yesterday, many years ago he came from Ireland and spent years working for P&O and has lived in Australia for some time, he is retired and is treating himself to a fishing trip while his wife is at home. We chat for a while and then our pager goes off to indicate that dinner is now ready so we put our drinks on our table then go find our dinner, I see a plate with two rather large slices of Beef on it, this must be chefs way of apologising for our dinner going missing the first time round.

I stock up on vegetables and gravy then with Andy we go and sit back in the carriage. The only disappointing thing is that it would be better with roast potatoes but they do jacket potatoes, I mustn’t grumble you do get a great meal here.

We finish our main course, I just about manage to get through the huge slices of beef, I cannot face dessert yet, but I am sure it will not be far away.

Out come the playing cards so we sit quietly in the carriage and play, I started off really well, I was winning every hand, then all of a sudden Andy almost wiped me out with one hand, I had a score of 71, he then had a good run of cards so I was hanging in the game by my fingernails. It took a while but he eventually won the whole game.

While we played cards we see Jodie the Office Manager, she is helping out clearing tables this evening.

By 9.00 we headed back to our room, to make the most of having our own comfortable living space, our last night of luxury before hitting the road again, well until we get into Cairns.

I pop out to get some things from the Patrol, but as I leave the room I seem to startle a kangaroo who just leapt into the bushes, I shone my torch on him and I can see two eyes peering back at me.

Soon it is bedtime, the lights are out and sleep takes over.

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Photos

Bloodwood Bark
This tree's defense against fire is under harsh burning it will shed its scaley bark

Comments

[Helen Sheridan]

Anniversay
A little belated but hope you had a wonderful day. Have sent some photos via email to Andy's email address. Home that you get them. I'm a bit technologically challenged when it comes to those sorts of things. Keep enjoying, Love Helen