Wallaby Wanderers Meet Kangaroo Jack

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DAY 275


We were not really quite sure how today was going to pan out, we found out yesterday that this campsite is fully booked and we would have to move on, after having told Darryl and Sarah that we would be at this particular place, this could mean that we potentially miss each other.

The morning was cool but the sun was coming up, Andy got up for the kettle and I followed shortly after, my tea was made, I jumped out of the tent, took a slurp of tea, grabbed the camera and wandered off to look at the beautiful Lake Tinaroo that we are camped next to and take a photo or two of course.

I knocked up a breakfast of boiled eggs, we were not in any particular hurry to move on, and unlike a Big4 here you don’t really have to vacate your site until 11.00am. We were sat eating when someone walked past and said hello, she said “they sound like British accents” so stopped for a chat. We find out that Julie is also from England, she has been here for a long time but is popping back to England in a few weeks to see her parents, we find out that her parents live in Chandlers Ford, only about a mile or so from where we live, so of course we engage further in conversation.

She asks us where we are going to today, but we explain to Julie our dilemma as we would have loved to have stayed here another night, not just to hopefully meet up with Darryl and Sarah, but this place is so lovely who wouldn’t want to stay here for more than one night. Julie said “oh, that’s Rick, he has it all booked out for his birthday, I will ask him if you can stay, as I am not sure if all the bays will be used, it maybe a bit noisy later though.” It is a great idea but not sure if it is really fair to crash Ricks birthday, but Julie insists on asking for us.

Whilst talking to Julie, about so many different things she asks us if we would be interested in staying in her house for the month, whilst she is back in the UK. She would be happy to accept, a bit of rent as long as we watered the garden and generally looked after the place. We said that we will give it a little thought to make sure it fits with any plans we have at the moment and get back to her early next week. I have to say that it would be a perfect opportunity to base ourselves in Cairns and have a good look around, we all agree on this and Julie wanders off back to the her Birthday party camp.

Andy and I discuss our options, the biggest worry would be that moving from here and not being able to get a message to Darryl and Sarah, we would have to look through every campsite along this stretch in order to find them or at least look for them as we were still not certain that they were on plan to arrive here. We would be both very disappointed to have come this far and not to have met Darryl and Sarah, to be this close and to have virtually driven past each other would be bad news.

We ponder our actions but not long after Julie returns with good news, “Rick says it’s ok for you to stay and you should pop over for a drink later.” This is great news because if Darryl and Sarah appear then we are we said we would be. We thank Julie for her help and say we will pop over to see Rick, we chat for a bit longer when I see some people walking across the grassy slope towards us, the strange thing is that I knew as soon as I saw them, I shouted across “It’s the Wallaby Wanderers!” A voice came back “Is that Kangaroo Jack?”

I don’t believe it; finally we get to meet the Wallaby Wanderers! No introduction was needed; it was as if we had known each other for years we just launched into conversation and lets face it there was a lot to talk about.

Then another problem arose, now that we had been found we needed to make sure Darryl and Sarah could camp too, so Sarah and I wandered over to see Rick and friends a little bit of grovelling was in order.

We are greeted by this huge bunch of friends who were already settled in and enjoying each others company, I thank Rick and friends for letting us stay and we delicately approach if Darryl and Sarah could park their caravan somewhere. Well, Rick and friends could not be more accommodating they agreed, but wait until mid afternoon before picking a camp spot just in case. So we had a back up plan just in case, we were all invited over for a drink this evening.

After a cup of tea we all got ourselves together we hopped into the Patrol and went off to explore the area. We saw a giant Cathedral Fig Tree, went for a walk around the Mobo Creek Crater. The scenery around here is just stunning, the mountains, the lush green landscape, the different plant life are in abundance. We stopped at the Chimneys, two tall chimneys just standing in the middle of nowhere that once belonged to a homestead, the rest of the homestead was nowhere to be seen, then soon back at camp for a cup of tea and get the fire going for dinner. Of course there was never a dull moment, the conversation just carried on going, briefly stopping while Sarah and Darryl went back to their caravan now safely pitched on site 1, to prepare for dinner.

Darryl and Sarah soon came back with the camp oven and everything prepared for a chicken stew, it was all cooking on the fire, I had the chocolate chip damper ready in our camp oven which would go on when the stew comes off. While we were waiting for our stew, Rick and a handful of his chums had wandered over to make sure we were going to come over for a drink, they were all pretty smashed, and were falling over the place. There was plenty of good humoured abuse, about us being Poms invading their Island, oh yes and the cricket!

Darryl cooked up an excellent chicken stew, with plenty of vegetables and the chocolate chip damper for dessert went down a treat.

Popped over to see Rick and friends for a drink, they were all hugely plastered by the time we got over there and Rick had crashed and burned already and had gone to bed. We stayed by the fire for a while and then retired, the night had turned exceptionally cold so we needed to be tucked up in bed and get warm.

We had had an excellent day, meeting Darryl and Sarah and feeling like we had known them forever. We hit the sack as we were so tired and snuggled deep down in to our sleeping bags as it was so cold outside.

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Photos

Bush Turkey
Anyone got any Cranberry Sauce the mere mention would probably have these running.

Cathedral Fig Tree
This monster Tree holds leaves in its branches that can weigh up to the weight of a car.

Chimneys
Not sure what happened to the homestead.

Ricks Party
Steve wanders over for a chat and to remind us to pop round for a drink.

Chicken Stew
Roughing it in the bush!

All Hands...
... to help dish out dinner. Wallaby Wanderers cook dinner

Julie Heskins
Her Mum and Dad live about 2 miles from where m and Caroline Live

Comments

[willemien]

Hello Andy and Caroline, what a beautiful place you staying at, to me it reminds me of Jasper in Canada, dont now why. We went for a 140 miles bike ride yesterday, on the way back, chris brokedown in romsey, i went home while he waited for AA. They got it started, it will need a new bit????. Reading your blog this morning, makes me think it time for a curry. Take care, lots of love, Willemien.