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Published: August 10th 2009
Darryl Howells
Lifting from a standing startDAY 276
We woke up this morning in a place that can only be described as paradise, from my sleeping bag we can look over lake Tineroo and it is beautiful, the birds are chatting, the Kookaburra’s a laughing and all seems well with the world
The day is started with a morning cup of tea with Darryl and Sarah in the day picnic area overlooking a different part of the lake; the mist was just rising off the water, Sarah and I discussed photography technical stuff and took photos, Andy managed to type some of the blog as it was starting to get a bit behind, it is such a hard job catching up, as the days just seem to blend in to one.
We wandered back to our site and started to rustle up a communal breakfast, Darryl and Sarah provided eggs and bacon, and we provided eggs and pancakes, soon we were sitting down to a good hearty breakfast.
As an interesting note Darryl and Sarah both drive Nostalgic front engined slingshot methanol injected Dragsters which they own they are both V8 powered which propel the cars from a standing start to 100
Sarah Howells
In charge of a v8 Methanol Dragster Miles per hour in about 6 seconds
We had purchased a 25 KG bag of fire wood as the National Park people do not allow you to gather fire wood as it is habitat for the wildlife. As we were waiting for the Wallaby Wanderers to grab their stuff and walk over, a huge, and I mean huge branch cracked then snapped off a tree about 20 ft up and fell to earth, with the thud, this tree branch was about 10” across and about 16 ft long if it had fallen and hit you on the noggin then you probably would not have lived. This branch fell less than 20ft from our trailer. Excellent we thought fire wood, the branch had already snapped in to about 4 pieces as it was rotten, so we felt if we burnt it then we would not be doing the National Parks people too much of injustice.
When we were all ready we jumped in the Patrol and all drove off around the camp to go and see how the Party boys and Girls had got on. Rick was looking sort of chippa, but had said he was not a pretty
Aisling Grace
On top of Darryls Car, "Chemical Reaction" site a 6.00am this morning, but now he was starting to defiantly fell better.
Strangely enough earlier this morning a Police 4x4 cruised around the camp site, which we all thought was strange so far from any town, we puzzled why they came out this far, maybe because it was strange that one guy had booked the whole camping spot for a party. Still we can only guess, they sort of waved as they went passed so that was ok. We said our goodbyes to Rick and friends and thanked Rick again for his hospitality in letting us stay on this campsite and gatecrash his birthday party.
At the top of the road where we got some brief internet access I logged onto the Queensland National Parks Camping page to rebook the sites we are on, however ours is booked out so I rebook us onto a different site, hoping that we would not have to move and bargain with whoever was to take our spot, as luck would have it they arrived when we went back down to camp to change reference numbers on the tags, however they were staying 2 nights and thought that the site
that we booked for tonight was also booked out tomorrow night, so it just made it easier for us to move to pitch number 4, so with Darryl and Sarah’s help we were soon set up on the next pitch.
Whilst I am sure Queensland Parks have done this system for a reason, it is a little awkward as you have to book specific sites and really on internet or phone access in order to do this but it does not really help those of us that try to take each day as it comes, i.e. when you decide to stay in the same place for a little longer, just because you can or enjoy it so much that you want to stay. This is a popular spot and we are told that during the summer specifically around Christmas time this place is booked out.
We drive along the road that takes you out of the camp site which is about 25k’s long, we stop with the intention of going for a walk but when we got to the track we wanted to walk, there were warning signs up, warning you a of the fact that heavy rains
had brought tree’s down and they had not been cleared as yet and the walking tracks were dangerous, so we thought better of it and moved on.
Driving on to another camp area Platypus Point, we parked in the day area and walked up to the lookout, and then went down to the water and sat at a picnic table and set up for a bit of lunch.
A family were just leaving and threw a couple of Sausages on the ground, a Kookaburra spied the Sausage, swooped down and picked a sausage up, it sat in the tree trying to kill the sausage by banging it on the branches to make sure it was dead, it was hysterically funny as it looked like Winston Churchill smoking on his big stogie.
It was just fantastic sitting by the water having a bit of lunch, amazingly we had 5 bars on the next G service so we even managed to download a couple of blogs. It must have been a picture for everyone else to see two people with laptops frantically typing and glued to the Internet.
We sat in the shaded thoroughly enjoying our beautiful surroundings, but
decided we must go and see the dam, so jumped in the truck and off we go. It was cold, an Australian Lady nearby commented that she could not believe British people complaining about the cold weather (she clearly has not been to England), she saw me glance over and said you must be from Darwin, I laughed and said “Actually yes we did come via Darwin,” where it is exceptionally hot.
Its sort of a funny day weather wise, one minute its hot and clear and the next its cloudy and dull, we jump in the truck and head back to camp.
When we get back we pull in to our new camping bay and park the truck. We see two little kids running over the grass from campsite No 3 that we had had for the last couple of nights. We start unloading the wood that we collected and started to prepare the fire. The two children appear at our camp site and say hello, they ask us our names and we tell them, we ask them there’s and they say their names of Charlie, the Little Girl, and Kelvin the little lad, they were very
chatty but as soon as their Mum turned up on the scene they seemed to lose their voices and go all shy.
The Children’s Mum, Jodie, introduced herself and we sat and chatted for a while, she said that they had just brought a Kimberly camper and have used it for 6 weekends out of the 8 weeks they have had it, they all love it, especially coming up to Danbulla.
Jodie had said the children had been waiting all day to come down and meet their new neighbours and had been down 4 times today just on the off chance we may be there, when finally we appeared.
Andy cooks our dinner tonight a mean feast of tortellini and chorizo. Sarah has made some cheese and cranberry bread sticks that we hold over the fire to cook, they are delicious. We do comment that all we seem to have done is eat since yesterday morning when we first met, because a little later on Sarah put dessert on, which consisted of banana and Tim Tams (just in case we have not mentioned before for those of you in England Tim Tams are the equivalent of our
Penguin Bars.
The camp is quieter tonight as there is only one other family here and they were in bed by 9.00. Kangaroo Jack and the Wallaby Wanderers were sitting by the camp fire enjoying the environment around them, as we are on a better pitch tonight we have a clearer view of Lake Tinaroo, as the darkness is giving way to the light of the full moon creeping up from the East behind the mountains we can see the mist rising from the lake, the stars are glowing in the sky so we go to the edge of the lake and pick out the stars and the constellations that we know, which isn’t many but standing here looking at the night sky is truly amazing.
While Darryl and Andy resume sitting by the camp fire, Sarah and I wander back to the lake with a camera and tripod to see if we could get a photo of this magnificent night scene, all experimental, we did manage something half reasonable but a little more practice and we may get the picture that we want.
It is soon bedtime, the night air is cooler and the sleeping bag
is beckoning to keep us warm. Sarah and Darryl wander back up the grassy slope to their caravan and Andy and I slip into the tent and up the stepladder and so to bed.
As we slip into bed the eerie sound of the Bush Stone Curlews (Thick Knee’s) screams pierce the clear night air.
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Jan Kettle
non-member comment
DASH Racing
Hi, we've just been reading your last couple of blogs - fantastic that you and Sarah and Darryl were able to meet up. They've mentioned you both quite a lot over the last few months. We've also checked out some of your previous blogs and they brought back some great memories of our trip round Aus which was six years ago. We'll try to keep up with your travel blogs as they are really interesting. Carry on having fun! Best wishes, Jan and Graham (Sarah's Mum and Dad)