Grease Monkey

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DAY 363



For some reason this morning I was up and out of bed at 6.15, I suppose I could have slept on if I wanted to, but the daylight was up and I wanted to see the beach in the earliest light possible. So I jumped out of bed, Andy was already up and finishing the blog for yesterday.

Once I put my contact lens in, I grabbed my camera and wandered down to the beach, I wondered where the sea had gone, it was way out in the distance beyond the point leaving a large expanse of volcanic rock exposed, I suppose pretty much the same as last night when I looked, but the light was better this morning.

I took a few shots, sadly no kangaroos on the beach, as I had been told would happen up here, but I guess we cannot have everything. I bet if you went around the top of the point and on the other side there will be loads of them basking in the early morning sun and surf.

Back at camp Andy has brewed my morning cuppa, great so I sit down to drink it, but as it is still a little too hot, I get back in the tent to get it ready for folding, but we decide to shake out the sleeping bags and blankets etc. I have recently been bitten to pieces and we think that some of them have remained inside the bed linen. So after a good shake out I remake the bed, spray some mortein to kill anything with more than two legs, the inner flaps are closed the tent is empty and swept, so it is now zipped up.

We have breakfast, Pam next door pops over with yesterdays paper for us, she tells us a little bit about the area and where we can swim, we tell Pam that we are headed to Eungella so she tells us a bit about that area too. We are hopeful to see Platypus, although we have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one previously when we were in Tasmania, it was not long enough to enjoy its presence.

We get packed up, chat some more to Pam and Dennis, who have very kindly offered for us to pitch up on their land if we are passing through Cardwell again, sadly for us it may be a while as we are heading South, however we thank them for their help yesterday, they gave us good peace of mind while we headed into MacKay to get the wheel bearings, otherwise we would have worried about leaving the trailer on its own.

Andy sees Darryl on the beach fishing, we wander down to have a chat with him and thank him for his help last night with getting our trailer mobile again. We are grateful for his help, which means we can at least get back on the road today and continue our plans to head to Eungella.

Time ticks on, yet the funny thing is despite us both being out of bed early and relatively organised this morning it is still 9.30 before we are ready to pull out, all that talking again!

Gingerly Andy drives off site, I am sure that it will all be ok, but when we get to the end of the dirt track we stop just so that Andy can check that everything is tight and as it should be, he promises to check the bearings on the nearside later to make sure that they are alright.

An uneventful journey, back out on the bitumen, a short hop up the Bruce Highway we find our turning and then head inland for 80 or so kilometres. We are still in sugar cane country and today have a sighting of that coveted Cane Train.

I am itching like mad still from the abundance of bites, I have taken more allergy tablets and am covered in Calamine but it is driving me crazy, it feels like I want to crawl out of my skin to get away from it. Amazing really but I have tried everything, sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t, Bushman, Aeroguard, even the recommended potion of dettol and baby oil has not deterred these little blighters.

We find ourselves in Finch Hatton (it sounds like a place in London but I am not sure), there is a grocery store, I pop in to buy some milk, I also sneak two small bars of chocolate into the fridge without Andy noticing, just a little treat for later. However we decide to stay a short while longer and have a cup of coffee.

I go back in the shop and order two coffees, we sit outside and watch the small world of Finch Hatton go by, then a short while later we continue on.

I forgot to mention that on the way up here, I check the Wallaby Wanderers blog just to see where they stayed up here and where they actually saw the Platypus, as we only had one night planned here we wanted to maximise our options.

So the straight road ends and we are suddenly faced with a huge steep windy climb up mountain roads, a sign tells us that it is not suitable for vehicles longer than 11 metres, we are fine as we are only 9 metres. Eventually we drive through Eungella and find a place called Sky Window where we stop for a look, the view is absolutely amazing, you can see all the way down to a very small MacKay in the distance.

We carry on to Broken River, now this is where there is a viewing platform for Platypus, so we chat to the lady in the kiosk and she very kindly gives us a little more information on camping in the area. The National Parks information was not hugely clear on some points and again one of the campsites we wanted is actually one that you walk to, so no good for a camper trailer.

We decide to check out Crediton Hall, a bush camp about 9.3 kilometres from here so not far to come back to look at Platypus later on. Our other option is to camp at the Eungella Dam, but that is much further on and apparently there is not much shade there.

So once again on dirt track, we wind our way through rain forest and some splendid undulating countryside that is all quite green. The amazing thing I notice here is the number of property that is actually for sale, I wonder if they all know something? Perhaps this land is good for development or mining and they all want to cash in, who knows?

We find Crediton Hall, a place that seems to have an odd name for its location, but there is in fact a Crediton Hall here, an old school building/village hall is on a road junction here, it is in its own fairly well kept grounds belonging to Queensland National Parks, there is one camper van here, we drive in and scope out the site. It looks pretty good so we decide that this one will be good to stay.

We find a nice shady spot, so we set up and have a cup of tea and some lunch, however Andy decides its time to check on that other wheel bearing, so the jack is out, under the trailer and before I know it the wheel is off, Andy is covered in grease, again.

The good news is that he is able to clean up the bearings, showing some small signs of wear but clearly not as bad as the one that collapsed yesterday, so he is able to clean it up properly, re grease it, re fit it and before I knew it the wheel was back on and working again.

Andy has decided to buy another set of bearings when we are back in MacKay as it would be handy to keep a spare set.

We rest for a while in the afternoon, do some reading etc. A couple of other people pull in and set up camp, one of the campers uses a nearby tree with a good solid branch to do some pull ups. I guess that is one good way to keep fit while on the road.

About 4.00 we decide to head out and go back to Broken River for the Platypus viewing, fingers crossed. We walk along the path under the road that takes you up to the platform and we see loads of turtles just bobbing around in the water.

At the platform there is already a group of people gathered, we creep up and find a spot to squeeze into, wow, there is our coveted Platypus, completely unperterbed by all of these people silently watching.

We must have been watching for over an hour, the display was magnificent to watch this fabulous monotreme go about its daily business, sometimes it would disappear for a while, but with some difficulty you could just make out the air bubbles and keep track of it before it would pop out on the surface again, only once it came close to us, photographing it was not easy, but we got the evidence.

We were also lucky enough to spy an Azure Kingfisher, this strikingly blue bird gave us a great display of fishing as it would suddenly fly off its branch, hit the water fast and then land on another branch with its prey.

On the opposite bank a large lizard crashed its way through the undergrowth and appeared, albeit well camouflaged it stayed there for ages while we watched. Of course I think everyone was more interested in the Platypus. There was only one, I am not sure why I expected to see more, wishful thinking perhaps, but we are both happy with this one little critter sighting.

Time is ticking on, we are both hungry and need to upload the blog, so we drive back a short way into Eungella as soon as we have some network connection, the blog is uploaded.

Andy fancies some chips tonight, I wondered if there would be anywhere up here that would do chips, there are some tourist establishments with restaurants, but a chip shop would be handy, well blow me, across the road we see a take away.

I pop in and check it out, the menu looks good, the chips look reasonably priced so we both order our tea, one large portion of chips and a piece of fish for Andy. While we wait I read one of the gossip magazines on the stand, I am really going to have to get out of this habit.

Andy chats to the guy that owns the shop, he is a nice chap and is enjoying passing the time of day, he tells us that he is probably from England but 3 generations ago.

With our chips nicely wrapped we set off back to camp through the same magnificent countryside that we saw earlier yet it is now steeped in the evening sun, it just looks glorious.

We get back to camp and find that four other campers have joined the happy throng, so there are 9 of us camping in this lovely bush camp tonight, and I thought we were going to be lonely!!

We tucked into our feast washed down with some of Australia’s finest lemonade.

It has been a long day, well maybe no longer for Andy than usual, but we are both tired, it is now pitch black apart from our 12v light, I am sat typing up the blog using the Power Gorilla to power the laptop.

However we are both satisfied with todays events, not only has Andy done a bit of trailer maintenance, we are thrilled to bits to see this elusive and yet unique creature that evaded us so well in Tasmania, we think we can tick that box properly now.

Until tomorrow folks.

KJ
xx

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Photos

Platypus
This little fella would not come in close enough for a good shot, even with 300mm lens.

Darryl
Fishing in th esurf

Wheel Off
Checking the other Bearing

Giving you the Finger
Full of Grease

Platypus This Way
Hopefully

An Azure Kingfisher
A mere blip of Colour

Platypus
Our coveted sighting t Broken River

Azure Kingfisher
Best I could get even with 300mm lens.

Comments

[kazwelch]

Platypus
How lovely for you to see platypus - they look so extraordinary yet cute at the same time. There is a lovely little video from the BBC - I remember watching it. I was surprised that the male was venomous. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Platypus Wow nearly away a whole year now - you'll have to mark that in some special way. Love Karenx

[kangaroojack]

Platypus
Hi Karen, thanks for your lovely message, we were surprised too when we first heard about the male being venemous. I will check out the bbc web address that you note. A whole year, amazing really, I wonder where the time has gone, yet some days we were out there travelling alone time went so slowly. Miss you very much, take care Caroline x