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Published: November 17th 2005
We could not make Friday night
Disappointingly 'pokies' is Oz slang for one-armed bandits or fruit machines. I never found out what Jelly Wrestling was.Tuesday 8th November To Uranda
Author Steve.
Set off south from Mareeba following the Atherton road, continuing to Ravenshoe (highest town in QLD 920m) where we stopped to eat and nothing happened. Continued south, dropping down into scrubland. Road alternated between two-lane single-carriageway, and single-lane single-carriageway. If I saw a road train coming I simply stopped off-road while it thundered past. (Deb: And I just shut my eyes for all 50 metres of each one)
We arrived at Undara late afternoon. The pitches had once had some rough grass but now were more or less rough packed sand. We pitched without pegging as we could not. Given the heat and the lack of neighbours we left the top sheet off the tent, with the top being just the fly-proof layer.
A fair number of roos and wallabies around the site.
Delicious tea of instant noodles, baked beans and bread. Deb Rory and Owen stayed by the tent while I went to the evening campfire talk on termites. Apparently most of them are welcome, the mounds good for making fertiliser and a kind of tough flooring material. They also make didgeridoos.
(Deb: Steve seems to have forgotten
Bareback Camping
Our faithful tent without cover for the hot night to come. I woke up and saw the Southern Cross in the middle of the night. Magic ! to mention that he woke me at 4 am to point out the Southern Cross star system visible as we had no roof.)
Wednesday 9th November Lava Tubes
Up early to catch the 0800 tour of the Lava Tubes. At 140 km the ones in QLD are the longest in the world.
First a short bus ride from the campsite to the national park. As we got off the bus I pointed out a brown snake about a metre long sitting on an earth mound very close to us. Strangely it did not rush off despite 16 people clumping about.
Our Savannah Guide advised us to stand still so of course a couple of people walked closer to take photos. We then slowly backed off and still it did not move away. It was only when we were well away from it that it scarpered into the bush.
The tour. We walked down a boardwalk through semi-evergreen thicket, apparently a type of rainforest surviving in the areas of tube where the roof has caved in completely.
We walked into a couple of areas where the roof is still intact. Some is relatively unchanged,
Venomous Brown Snake
I spotted this monster before anyone else, including our guide, while on the Lava Tubes tour. other parts are discoloured by water and traces of iron, manganese etc The floor is generally silted to varying levels and shows traces of drips and tree roots running a long way from the nearest open collapsed section.
Two hours was long enough.
Back to the car and head south again, along more single-track roads until we reach Greenvale and stop for a break. Greenvale has a fish and chip shop, and a cafe selling sarnies but both are closed down. There is a campsite with groceries but we already had emergency rations. We stopped for only 20 mins and saw no-one except the crew of a helicopter which seemed to land so that they could use the public toilet.
We pushed on to Charters Towers, a heritage town, hoping to camp further south. The next campsite was 200km away and it was almost 4pm so we stayed in CT at the Mexican Tourist Campsite.
The bats came along at approx 6:30pm but were no problem. The boys watched TV in the old-fashioned but comfy TV room.
Thursday 10th November Further south
Up early I went for a walk and took some photos
of the heritage town of Charters Towers. Along with the City Hall and Post Office/Telegraph Station I snapped the pub with 'Ladies Nite' and 'Jelly Wrestling'.
Breakfast then on the road by 0840. Coffee at Belyando Crossing by 11. Dinner in Coles car park in Emerald at 1330. Roads improving as we reached further south.
Leaving Emerald the sky darkened and we saw lightning in the distance. We caught the edge of the rainstorm but reached Biloela around 1815. Due to the following storm we invested in a cabin for the night, only 50 dollars.
Unfortunately the cooker was the 'metal sheet over electric element' type. We have had difficulty with this beast before, it becomes warm but not particularly hot, so we had to slow-cook our pasta. Not recommended.
The storm returned later in the evening with spectacular sheet lightning. It did not interfere with the TV reception so the boys were quite happy watching this week's cheap TV show 'Top 21 Oz Icons'. In reverse order, number 4 Skippy, number 3 the barbie, number 2 Vegemite, number 1 thongs.
Friday 11th November Towards the coast
Before leaving Biloela we
visited 'The Silo', a large silo-shaped exhibition/museum. Some of it was rather dated but the boys had fun with the interactive electrical items. Deb and I were both struck by the image of a camel carrying fridges and a solar panel to power them. Lots more stuff outside, pioneer buildings and artefacts etc but too warm to do it justice. Took away lots of leaflets for Rory's school exercises.
Passing through Calliope stopped on seeing a take-away chips sign. We took our chips to Lake Awoonga and had our first chip butties in ages. The lake was impressive but had blue-green algae warnings in massive letters.
Carried on south, side-tracking to the town of 1770 (yes that is its' name), claimed to be the first place Capn Cook set foot. Very pretty but campsite cramped, and the landing site unreachable due to road works.
(Deb: I wanted to stay at 1770 because I think it is neat to have a number as the name of a town)
Dashed down to Bundaberg, arriving just after five pm. The TIC closes at 5pm. Elected to stay in a cheapo site (20 dollars total) nearby. Not one of our
best but adequate for the night.
Went to do some grocery shopping and the area was ill-lit, though we had no real problems. Early to bed.
Bundy just did not click with us.
Saturday 12th Hervey Bay
lalalalaalalallalalalallalalallalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal said Owen
Determined to find a more comfortable site for a couple of days we headed through Childers (very heritage) towards Hervey Bay. Stopped off at Burrum Heads for a stroll on the beach. Watched pelicans almost herding fish in the shallows. Disturbed thousands of tiny blue crabs with spindly legs. Very quiet but attractive community.
Carried on to Hervey Bay, surprised by the amount of new development along the first mile or so. Loads of shops, service stations etc. Picked up a local map and established that Hervey Bay was once 4 sleepy coastal settlements, now merged into one strip several miles long. Tried Fraser Lodge campsite first. Rory had been pushing for this for two days - they have a games room with Nintendo and Playstation.
Not cheap but well laid out with two super camp kitchens, and loads of room in the fridges, a real benefit for us.
PM boys
swam in sea.
Found turtles, eels and tadpoles in camp ponds.
Rained heavily overnight but no probs in tent.
Sunday 13th November
To the beach early, watched whole family leaping off Torquay pier into the ocean, swiming back to shore and repeating.
Most of rest of day reading, swimming, eating. Late pm went out to take photos of harbour but approaching storm meant it was too dark at 17:15
Pizza for tea. Lots more rain.
Monday 14th
Packed up and left site. Dumped empty cans in recycling bin on seafront. Oz seems inconsistent in its' recycling approach. Sometimes it is so easy, other times you need to search.
Drove through green and prosperous lands to Maryborough, birthplace of the author of Mary Poppins, Pamela L Travers. Traded in some books, bought a haircut for Rory, more sunblock and stuff for a picnic. Could not find anywhere to picnic. Set off south on the Bruce Highway, passed a sign 'Next picnic place 50km'. After 50km we stopped in a shady area overlooking a fertile vale. We shared the spot with a man and a horse, a man and a dog,
and two couples.
Carrying on we reached Gympie and on impulse decided to stay the night. Gympie is very hilly, perhaps a very small San Francisco. Its' one shopping street is a little unusual for a small Oz town in that it is not straight; it goes round a corner and uphill. Lots of shady trees, nothing particularly special but it felt more natural after the modern developments of Hervey Bay.
Only found one cockroach in our caravan and swept it swiftly out of the door. Several giant frogs (or were they cane toads ?) guarding the way to the amenities block.
Tuesday 15th Sunshine Coast
Left Gympie and made our way to Noosa, or was it Noosa Heads or Noosaville ? I am still not sure as we do not have a good map. We reached the Noosa National Park and set off on a short walk looking for Koalas. It was beter than I expected. Although we saw not one koala we did reach a lovely beach in Tea Tree Bay. First surf for ages. Stayed around an hour then continued down to Mooloolaba.
This was more of a long oceanfront beach.
We would have stayed longer but had nothing to eat. All the nearby premises wanted to sell meals, chips, burgers, coffee etc We wanted to use the seafront barbie.
Instead we set off for Caloundra, picking up snags (sausages), bread and iced coffee en route. Caloundra was confusing, mainly because we did not have a map. First we found Dicky Beach. It was very attractive but had no barbies ! We carried on and almost at random found King's Beach where we used one of the very modern and fairly clean barbies. Unfortunately the weather changed and a heavy thunderstorm ended our stay early. It was then that we drove around the corner and found the main area of Caloundra, reminiscent of Gympie but much bigger and in a straight line.
Our objective now was to find somewhere to stay. We wanted to find somewhere in the hinterland and headed for Glasshouse Mountains. The rain was very heavy now and evrywhere there were long queues of traffic. It seemed that in Oz a drop of rain brings traffic to a halt just as snow does in England.
First place we tried wanted 85 dollars for one night.
A few km further and we found a very comfortable ensuite 'unit' at 65 dollars. Then the lightning and rain resumed so we did not try the pool.
Wednesday 16th Glasshouse Mountains and Kondalilla Falls
Sitting on the verandah with my early morning cuppa, I had a chat with the neighbour opposite. Gunthe von Rathke was born in 1922 in far North Norway of a Prussian father. First job was on Icelandic fishing boats, then spent 1938 to 1945 on German subs. After the war he went to Argentina and Chile where he worked on whalers. Later came to Oz, working always on ships. While living in Oz he had contracts in the UK, working on oil rig ships out of Gt Yarmouth. Since then he's been a pilot on Very Large Crude Containers, particularly in the Torres Straits. He's also found time to buy a share in an old sailboat ('Golden Plover') currently moored in Cairns and used by sea scouts. He now lives 6 months in Bundaberg and 6 months near Glasshouse Mountains.
After brekkers we stopped briefly at a lookout point from which we could see all of the Glasshouse Mountains. The name
Raindrops in Biloela storm
It was so heavy I could not easily show the drops falling was given by Capt Cook as they reminded him of glasshouse furnaces back home. They are actually volcanic cores which have remained while the surrounding softer rock has eroded.
Next we head north to Maleny and Montville en route for the Kondalilla NP. Maleny is very busy but appears normal while Montville is tourist and nothing but. Kondalilla has two trails, one short, one longer. We reach the mid-point of the shorter one at a waterfall and pool partway down the hillside. The pool is brown and murky, maybe because we have had tons of rain overnight.
We spot a Lace Monitor on the path, it scurries underneath the fence down the dropoff, daring us to follow. I take photos instead. Rory watches it unearth and eat a beetle, awesome.
Owen and I continue on the longer walk. This takes us down one side of the gorge to the bottom of the further waterfall through lots of palms, epiphytes and a few figs. Very squidgy underfoot. I am glad I have my boots on. Owen as usual wears sandals. At the bottom Owen has fun barefoot scrambling on the massive boulders in the riverbed. We continue up
Business Outback style
There were numerous people making a living taking their business from one settlement to the next, often camping overnight. the other side of the gorge, hearing lots of birds but never seeing them. Some people we
met tell us they are 'Witt Birds' but I do not know if that is the correct spelling.
Back up the hillside to Deb and Rory where Rory has been swimming in the murk. He's had enough so I do not need to go in. We have brought a picnic and carried with us but it seems the only picnic area is by the car park at the beginning.
Back in the car and we set off for the final leg to Brisbane, through incredibly lush and green surroundings. Then we reach the Bruce Highway, the traffic increases and soon we are on the Gateway Motorway and we could be anywhere.
Arrive in Rochedale ( that's Roachdale not Rochdale) and move into our home for the next week, a 1-bedroom 'villa' in a holiday park. It's luxury compared to what we have been used to; a real cooker, crockery, cutlery, a fridge that works properly, free tennis court.
(Deb: The free tennis court swung me....Ha Ha!)
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