With the fast pace of the big city behind us, we travelled south to Lane Pool Conservation Park. Once again a good campsite is all about timing. Stopping at the pay station entering the park the Ranger asked “had we been here before”, answering “no” he explained that the camp area was busy with private and school camps this weekend. So he directed us to brand new van sites not yet opened.

Our own open space, set in a forest of tall trees. This area has a history of milling tall timbers, there are remnants of an old mill and rail line from years gone by. A couple of days rest and we were on the move again.

A couple of hours away and we were in the town of Bunbury. We walked the streets, viewed the town from Marlston Hill Lookout and then walked down to the marina area to sample handmade toffees and chocolates at Taffys, we all left with a goodies bag.

Traveling on we made Busselton our stop for the next couple of days, right on the beach and a few kms out of town.

Next day we did some sightseeing of the area. We skirted Geographe Bay that took us up to Cape Naturaliste, a great piece of coastline. The vegetation had now change to coastal plants, therefore different wildflowers. There were viewing platforms to stop and rest at or if lucky enough, watch for whales.

South down Caves Rd and we stopped in a Cape Leeuwin. We went through one of the old lighthouse cottages, read the history and marveled at the endurance of the lighthouse keeper and his family. The coastline was rough, the seas were wild and the winds roared.

We had a day touring the Margaret River region, it’s a tourist drive, wineries, cheese factories, art galleries, chocolate factories and nut farms, we stopped at most of them.

Busselton is a coastal town that relies heavily on holiday times and tourists.

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Only 120km away was the big city of Perth. We are having a few days here to sightsee, restock and do some van maintenance. At this point in time we have been away 6 months and done over 22,000 km.

We are staying in the suburb of Karringup, a huge van park with “wow” all the mod, cons. It is about 10 km from the city which is not a worry, the public transport in Perth is excellent for the over 60’s, an all-day rider ticket will cost you $4.80, bus, train and ferry great for visitors.

We explored the streets of this mixed City, old architecture preserved for history, yet still in use today, alongside modern slimline towers that are today’s offices buildings.

We went to the WA Mint, did a tour to hear the history of gold, saw a demonstration on the high temperatures needed to melt gold down, held a gold bar in one hand and got weighted in the price of gold on the day. “Now that was a talking point”.

We caught a free inner city bus to the famous Kings Park, where you could see the City landscape from high on the hill. The gardens were set out in different regions of the state and showed their flora, it was excellent, wildflowers at their best. The park paid tribute to our fallen soliders, to today’s artists, indigenous women groups and the Founders of Perth City. To really appreciate the acres of land here you would need days to see it all. There was just not enough time.

Another free inner city bus and we were down to the wharfs, past the old Supreme Court building and Parliament House to another modern structure, the Bell Tower.

Next day we were on public transport again with the day rider ticket, taking us to Fremantle. This day trip is like taking the train from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast in Qld. The old stone buildings that have been renovated to be today’s coffee shops, art galleries and museums. The walk around took us to the Port area, through the old port warehouses, that are now today’s e-markets and the brand new Maritime Museum.

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From Kalgoorlie we were starting to slowly travel back to the coast. We passed through some small towns with funny names, Bullfinch, Mukinbudin, Wialki and Beringbooding Hill, once again the area surprised us with its ability to be so versatile in the early        19 hundreds.

We stayed at Beringbooding water tank, an engineering feat in 1935. Farmers needed water and the only catchment they had was solid rock so they contained the water by constructing small walls around the edges of the rock catchment. Diverting the water by gravity into the 2.5 million gallon tank that was also constructed at the same time, just amazing to think that farmers in the area are still using the water collection system today. We had a couple of days in the area to explore, Bonnie Rock and Elachbutting Hill, some great landscapes, hours of wildflower searching and some unusual rock formations.

Through Bencubbin, Koorda and into Wyalkatchem, easy to spell but hard to say. We were working our way to New Norcia, Australia’s only monastic town.

The very old town is run entirely by Benedictine monks. Established in 1846 the town was setup to integrate, educate, house and create employment for the Aboriginal community that lived in the area.

“Doing the town tour introduced us into the life of the monk’s. The architecture of the impressive buildings, the history of shaping people’s lives and a diverse range of local products and produce that sustain the monk’s existence.

Bread from the bakery, all ingredients sourced from the farm, olive oil pressed from olive picked from the original trees planted in 1847 and honey that comes from the large bee colony housed in the old Apiary building and of course tourism plays a big part in their income source.

We strolled up the hill to the grand hotel and felt like Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” as we entered the huge foyer with a grand staircase. We had a delicious meal and of course the men had to try a couple of glasses of premier Abbey Ale, once again made from the old Benedictine community recipe.

Moving right along and heading west once again, we made it to Nambung a farm stay at the back of Cervantes on the coast. We were staying for a few days as it was the weekend and Bathurst racing was on and there were things to see in the area. Stockyard Caves, Lesueur NP where the wildflowers were in abundance, Jurien Bay and Cervantes.

Then onto the Pinnacles, an ancient land that has stood the test of time for thousands of years.

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After a few days in Geraldton for sightseeing, restocking, car servicing and even a cinema visit (Last Cab to Darwin). We packed ourselves up and moved east to Mullewa a area renowned for its wildflowers.  We hit wildflower country about an hour’s drive from Geraldton. Broad acre farming, cleared land, crop growing, sheep grazing, a train line that parrelled the highway and of course colour, colour, colour by the side of the bitumen.  We found a free camp at “The Waterfall” (dry of course) on the Northern Loop drive about 8kms out of Mullewa Township.

A look at the town map showed us where the wildflower walks were so off we went. It was a hot 2km walk for not much to see, a little disappointing.

Next day we went a little north to Pindar, renowned for the special wreath flower and we were not disappointed.

Then onto the Southern Loop, drive through old abandoned towns with stories to tell of days gone by and then back to camp. Mullewa is a great tidy, friendly town doing it tough.

Saturday we moved on to Yalgoo, Mt Magnet and a free camp with a difference at Windsor. It was just like setting up camp in someone’s garden, wildflowers everywhere. But you couldn’t sit outside because of flies, we had to light the campfire to make smoke to drive the flies away for happy hour. It was one of those places in time, after dark there was a perfect mild night, great campfire and great night sky.

Sandstone was our next stop, what a great, tidy town. Great pride by the Shire and residents in displaying their history through the town. The loop drive around town took us to an old Brewery, an escapement called London Bridge and an old crushing Battery.

This area is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, but is known as the Goldfields Region of the State. It has great displays along the way of goldfields history, Agnew, Leinster and Leonora. About 2km through Leonora we stayed at the “Sons of Gwalia Mine Museum” perched high on a hill that overlooked the open cut mine and the now abandoned township of Gwalia. We stayed a couple of nights, there was just so much to see and all for free.

We came east to get away from the coast for the WA school holidays and have been pleasantly surprised at the history and culture out here.

From Gwalia we went south to Menzies, once again a gold mining town. It has Lake Ballard within its Shire, a salt lake that has the “Inside Australia” display on it. Well know artist Antony Gormley recreated 51 sculptures of Menzies inhabitants as a 50^th Anniversary of the Arts WA in 2003. The figures are strategically placed through this striking landscape. We camped here for two nights and it was different.   The striking white of the salt lake, small islands with low vegetation dotted through the lake and the prominent silhouettes of the sculptures at sunrise, sunset were stunning.

Kalgoorlie Boulder

WA has such a great outlook on travellers, there always seems to be a free camp in the middle of town even if only for 24 hrs. Great for restocking, laundry and general sightseeing. We wanted to stay a couple of extra days so moved 10 kms out of town to Lake Douglas. A few days R-N-R, the men were booked in for a super pit mine tour in a couple of days and the ladies were going to walk through the shops.                  Shopping, we found the old town struggling, as we walked the wide streets with some special old buildings, there was not a lot of people walking or shopping in the main street area.

The men were very impressed with their tour of the mine. They went deep down in the pit, saw big boy’s toys and came home with a list of statistics. The KCGM Gold Mine is the main employer in town.

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Leaving Carnarvon for a second time, we headed south to Shark Bay. We were staying at Hamelin Station Stay for 4 nights. The property is a reclaimed sheep station that has been purchased by the Bush Heritage Group, they buy up parcels of land and re-establish them back to bush sanctuaries.   Hamelin is a perfect example of the groups work 5 star. We arrived around lunchtime, so set up camp and then drove to the historic Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, the 3 billion year old Stromatolites and to see the Shell Block Quarry.

We got back around 4pm, had a stroll around the property, walked to see a spring fed lake with a variety of birdlife on it. We past the old farm machinery scattered around the impressive property. Then went into the old shearing shed, the display here was great explaining the history of the shed and property on a self-guided tour.

Next day we headed to Francois Peron NP at the tip of Peron Peninsula on World Heritage Drive. We stopped at Shell Beach where trillions of tiny cockle shells maybe 10 meters deep make up the beach. Then on to Eagle Bluff which was just striking the red edge of the cliffs just fall straight down 30 meters into the Indian Ocean. Then on into the town of Denham, what a nice beachside town. The old fibro shacks lined the main street, that now maybe worth a million dollars right on the beachfront next door to brand new two story brick houses. Where if you own a tinnie or any sort of small watercraft it just lies on the foreshore for when you may need it.  From here we got onto the 4WD section of the park so the tyres were deflated “Cape Peron here we come”. The track was sandy, vegetation coastal and wildflowers in abundance. On the way back we stopped in at the old Peron Homestead Precinct inflated the tyres and headed for home.

Next day Friday and we were off to Steep Point. It is a 350km day, so an early start was required, some black top and some serious 4WDing. The bitumen takes you around the edges of the Shark Bay Marine Park and on to the start of the Useless Loop track to Steep Point. With tyres deflated we entered the Edel Land National Park. The track was sandy, corrugated and narrow, the colours of the wildflowers and sand dunes were now becoming an everyday occurrence, “just spectacular”. Yellow buttons, purple daisies, silver grey foliage, beautiful pigface that spread over the sandy track.

We got to Thunder Bay blowholes on the rugged Zuytdorp Cliff track, crashing waves, howling wind and a 20+ meter sheer drop all added to the scenery.  We past Nor 6 an historical site where as early as 1695 ships had been wrecked on this jagged coastline, “well before Captain Cook’s arrival, as we had been taught at school”.

We got to our destination around 1.00pm.

We found the sign that said “STEEP POINT WESTERN MOST POINT OF MAINLAND AUSTRALIA”, which meant that our compass was now complete. It only took 44 years so this was a milestone for us.

We found a sheltered spot for lunch and of course the men could not miss an opportunity to through the lines in and would you believe, they both got something.

We left around 2.30pm on the inland track, it was a rough sandy track with lots of 4WDing.  Stopped to look at more scenery along the way and got back to the start of the track around 5.30pm.

We saw sunset on our way back to camp, it had been a long day nearly 8hrs of driving but it was the adventure we had come for.

Over our many campfires we had discussions with others about good places to see wildflowers and good places for pub lunches.  One place that came up was “Butchers Track” that went through to Murchison, so next day we planned to take the men out for lunch to celebrate Father’s Day 2015, but first they had to drive 156km, through a track lined with wildflowers, “it was unbelievable”.

“Oops” no pub in this town, only a café at the Caravan Park, but we managed to have hamburgers, fish and chips with salad it was all nice.  After a look around town it was back to Hamelin Station once more.

Next morning was Fathers Day and all the men wanted to do was relax so we headed for the bush for a couple of days.

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After a couple of nights free camping in the bush it was a move south to Kalbarri for the next few nights. Once again it was a homestead stay, Murchison House about 10 km out of town and 20km from the main attraction, Kalbarri National Park.

We went to Hawks Head, Ross Graham Lookout, Z Bend Lookout, West Loop Lookout and best of all Natures Window.  This is where we were gob smacked at all the different species of wildflowers.

The next couple of days in the town were for restocking, refuelling and once again looking around the old homestead. Kalbarri is a great beachside town that you could image being crowded out at holiday times.

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From Exmouth we moved down to Carnarvon for a few nights to get ready to move from van to tent once again. This time we were going east to Gascoyne Junction, Kennedy Range NP and Mt Augustus NP.

Having a few days to look around Carnarvon was great. We went to the one mile jetty, the old railway museum, pelican point, small boat harbour and the men went fishing.

We had a great visit to the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum, where we rode the space capsule, listen to the trackers explain their roles back in 1969 and read old newspaper clippings.

We put the vans in storage at the caravan park and headed off. Through Gascoyne Junction then into Kennedy Range NP by mid-afternoon, giving us a chance to setup camp and do a little exploring. The camp host briefed us on the environment in the park. He explained that this area is one of only three places in Western Australia that has the Dawson Burrowing Bee. “A burrowing bee, never heard of such a thing”. It just shows you are never too old to learn!

That afternoon we headed for Honeycomb Gorge and stumbled on the bees, incredible!!! A large bee that does not produce honey, their sole purpose in life is to pollinate flowers and reproduce. Once the male has mated he dies, and the females keep laying larvae.

Please take the time to look this one up on the www. Dawson Burrowing Bee “fascinating”.

We explored:

Our couple of nights at Kennedy Range NP went fast, the days were warm, nights cool, saw some interesting rock formations, great displays of wildflowers and meet some interesting people at the communal campfires.

This area is where the fringe of the magic floral carpet starts.

On the road to Mt Augustus, mustering was going on. There was a helicopter in the air, stockmen and women with big hats on tin horses,” it just didn’t seemed right”. Then further down the road, a yard of over 200 cattle waiting to board road train transport.

There were flocks of green budgies in the air and white, pink and yellow patches of colour on the ground. Down the road we got a glimpse of the largest rock in the world, Mt Augustus.

We had only planned to stay a couple of nights, so it was setup camp and hit the trails.It is a 49km drive around the rock, with trails, tracks and gorges along the way, so a strategy was put in place, as we wanted to do a 6km walk the next day to the top of Edney’s Lookout.

We visited Cattle Pool, Petroglyph Trail, The Pound, Saddle Trail and Flintstone Rock.

Up for sunrise 6.30am, the colour of the rock was spectacular, just like Uluru, purple, orange, pink and then settles into its daytime colour, sandstone.

We had great fun walking that day, it wasn’t a hard walk, just a constant incline. Wildflowers, birdlife, different rock formations, twisted gidgee timber and the 360 panoramic view were all worth the walk.

We past some Dawson Burrowing Bees, on the way back to camp, this time in the middle of the main road.

Another great campfire and colour changing rock sunset.

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We had a booking at Osprey campground Cape Range NP for a week. The NP borders the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage area, a coral reef extents along the many bays that are in the park.

So we got the canoe off the cruiser, snorkel gear out, swimmers on and fishing rods rigged.

“Wow we had the best week”

The campground had just been refurbished after cyclone damage in March, spotless toilets but nothing else there, lucky we were in the van. The men fished to their hearts content, but nothing. We snorkelled or swam most days in the many bays, fish were just there, all shapes, sizes, colours and patterns. From the rocks you could see fair size manta rays and sharks. Nature just walking the beaches was at it’s best.  This area is where the wildflowers are starting to appear, flowers that are unique to WA.

At the bottom end of the NP is Yardie Creek, a large creek that runs into the ocean. It has sheer cliff faces that drop straight into the water. The water was crystal clear and calm so in we went with the canoe. The scenery was red cliff faces with fig trees hanging on for life by the whitest of roots. Wildlife that was on the move all the time looking for food or just looking for the morning sun rays.

It was a great stay and we all left vowing to return again.

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From Marble Bar we moved on to Port Hedland arrived around morning tea time on a Sunday of a long weekend and everything was closed, so all very quite in the centre of town. We did the port area walk, a hive of activity, several large tankers were in and loading iron ore. Salt is another industry here and the piles of dried salt ready for export on the outskirts of town are very impressive.

From here we took the turnoff to Karijini NP, but first we had a homestead stay at Indee Station. “What a great place, the owners could not have been more welcoming”. “Just park the van and happy hour is in the Homestead at 5.30 just BYO drinks nibbles supplied”.   Betty and Colin were only too happy to share their station, the history, the animals and allowed us to explore the property unrestricted. This was the start of the wildflowers, Stuart Desert Peas covered the paddocks around the homestead.

After a couple of days we moved on to Karijini NP. I was not going to say how amazing things were this blog, so I am just going to say that this place was spectacular. We walked cliff tops, down into gorges, walked around waterfalls and traversed gorge walls like monkeys, it was ALL spectacular. Circular Pool, Fortescue Falls, Wenoa Gorge, Handrail Gorge and Joffee Gorge.

Wildflowers once again covered the cliff tops, this time in an array of colours.

From the park we drove to Tom Price, one of the biggest iron ore mines in Australia.  We did a mine tour, all the equipment is big boys stuff.

We drove the 4WD track up Mt Nameless and took 180 degree panorama photos, drove the Rio Tinto rail access road (permit required) and paralleled 4 huge iron ore trains in just 25 kms.

We crossed over the rail line and then into Hamersley Gorge, not amazing just unbelievable. It was just like someone had thrown a colourful tablecloth over the hill, then crushed it up into folds. The earth was certainly angry the day this gorge was formed. Four days in this area was not enough.

Sunday we were off to Dampier. Pam and Garry had travelled here a couple of days earlier with car issues. We had a stop at the Whim Creek Pub that had been recommended to us as a lunch stop it was one of those moments. A pub in the middle of nowhere, but there were 30 cars and 20 car/caravans in the car park. We travelled through Roebourne, Karratha and on to Dampier. The van park was right on the port, huge ships filling with iron ore, tankers, tugs and fishing boats. Then sailing craft and tourist boats moored in the bay. Over the next couple of days we did sightseeing in the area, iron ore, salt and the North West Shelf Gas processing plant all exporting from the town. We went down to Millstream NP and saw the homestead with the same name, an oasis in an arid area.

Back on the North West Coastal Hwy again and we are heading for Exmouth.

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“Wow” these last 3 weeks have been from beach to bush. We left Broom and headed south to Barn Hill at the top of eighty mile beach. It is a cattle station that has one property boundary on the Indian Ocean. “It was just amazing camping on a red cliff, walking down to a white sandy beach, to the bluest of blue water. Stayed a week, but no fish.

We then moved a little further south to Cape Keraudren at the bottom of eighty mile beach, another beachfront camp. An open beach that you can walk for miles and when the tide is in you can fish for whiting and “yes, yes, yes”. The fishing was good so we decided to stay a couple of extra days. Whiting, bream and shark were consumed.

Another couple of hundred km south on the Great Northern Hwy and we were at Coongan Pool. Good timing once again, got us a riverside bush camp for a couple of nights. Next day we unhitched the vans and went into Marble Bar. This town holds the record for the hottest town in Australia. “160 consecutive days over 38.7c or 100f”. There was a lot to see in this small town, the Comet Gold Mine and Museum, Chinaman’s Pool, the Marble Bar that crosses the Coongan River “a must see” and the SECRET Air Base WW2. We finished the day with a cold drink at the Iron Clad Hotel.

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(Just a casual drive around the big block)

We left home April 20 so have now been on the road for 14 weeks. Travelling with my sister Pam and brother-in-law Garry, ”It has been great”!

Starting in April we paid our respects to the diggers on Anzac Day and the 25^th anniversary of the floods that devastated Charleville. We had a great informative night watching the stars at the Cosmos Centre.

We’ve climbed in a Qantas jet’s motor, paid tribute to the stockman of the outback and camped at the back of some famous iconic outback pubs. We’ve walked where dinosaurs walked 19 million years ago, been through some great named Queensland towns, Augathella, Longreach, Winton, Mt Isa and camped in some amazing bush camps.

We’ve had some great lunches in some out of the way places (Daly Water’s pub) and bathed in the natural thermal pools of Mataranka. Ahead of schedule we decided to go to Darwin for a week and it was great. The famous Mindal Markets, sunsets over the water, the old building in the middle of a modern city and of course the warm weather around 34c each day. “It was all very relaxing”!

But travelling into WA is really where our adventure started. We got ready in Kununurra to get out of the caravan and into a tent for 5 weeks to travel the Gibb River Road. “Wow” the Kimberley has lived up to all that we had expected.

We’ve been to Wyndham, stood at the 5 rivers lookout to see the mighty Ord, Pentecost, Durack, King and Forrest rivers that create the Cambridge Gulf. We’ve driven the King River – Karunjie 4WD track, crossed the Pentecost River, walked the gorges of El Questatro, camped a Drysdale Station and been to the iconic Mitchell Falls. We ‘ve done Manning Gorge, Bell Gorge, Windjarna Gorge, Tunnel Creek and been into Derby.

We flew out to the Horizontal Falls and stayed overnight, what can we say “it was amazing”. We’ve been to Beagle Bay, Middle Lagoon and Cape Leveque, then into the reality of Broome. We went to Fitzroy Crossing, into Wolfe Creek Crater, Halls Creek and then into the Bungle Bungles. This was truly amazing, the colours of the gorges, the formations of the domes and amphitheatres, was nature at its best.

Back to the caravan, then back to Broome on the bitumen to explore the area in a bit more detail. We went to the famous Cable beach for sunset, Chinatown for shopping then we were out of town it was too busy for us.

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Week 15  Aug 19^th – 25^th

“Perfect timing”. Emma had not been well over the last two weeks now needed to see a surgeon. So I needed to go to Brisbane to look after my baby and her babies. It was perfect timing as we were at Lake Elfinstone, 130km west of Mackay and an hour’s flight to Brisbane. And perfect timing for John, to sit with the van and hopefully do some fishing, reading and snoozing in the hammock.

Week 16  Aug 26^th – Sept 1^st

All back on track.  While I was in Brisbane I was lucky enough to spend Max’s birthday with him.  “Happy Birthday Max”.

John had no luck with the fish, made a few friends and got lots of reading done without interruptions.  We had planned to stay a couple more days to sit in the warmth of the sun. I was surprised at the amount of birdlife on the Lake, Pelicans, Black Swans, domestic Ducks and a new species for us the Black-winged Stilt.

Thursday came and we were on the move to our next dam.  Bundoora Dam or you may know it as German Creek.  It is about 330km west of Rockhampton in the central coalfields.

It was a bit of a challenge to find, but we did and were glad.  We camped right on the water’s edge it was great.  Got the canoe off the car, traps out and we were set for the next 5 days.  Once again birdlife on the water was prolific, great sunsets over the water, but it was the moon that intrigued at night.  As the moon moved down to the horizon at night it created a light on the water that we could have walked on.

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Week 14  Aug 12^th – 18^th

We were not sure where we were going to end up today finding  free camps along the coast road is hit and miss all very busy.

From Mena Creek we past Kurrimine Beach, Mission Beach, Tully and Cadwell.  Twenty kms off the main hwy is Lucinda and of course we had to go in.  Lucinda is a major sugar mill processing and exporting town.  It has one of the longest pier in Australia, but somehow retains a little beachside town atmosphere. One caravan park that was full, lots of holiday units and houses for rent and of course that little general store that sold it all.

From there we drove down the hwy, checking out camps for the night. Free camps along the coast hwy have been very busy and full.  Through Ingham, Balgal Beach, Toomulla and finally into Bluewater Park, about 30kms north of Townsville. This will do for a few days while we look around the Townsville area.

Thursday and Friday saw the rain come in, so there was not much sight seeing done.  Friday night (date night) saw us walking across the oval at camp to the Community Hall to support the local bingo night.  “It was fun”.  Families, locals and grey nomands all chatting and playing for sheep stations.

Saturday we were on the move again, looking for some sunshine.  From Townsville we headed to Ayr along the Bruce Hwy to Home Hill and then into Bowen.  We had booked 2 nights at a homestay called Glen Erin, about 20kms out of Bowen.  Wow huge, green grassed sites and a host that paid attention to her customer’s needs.  “It was great”.  There was a campfire with damper each night and all the campers attended to talk about their travels.

Monday we moved to Lake Elphinstone, just outside of Glenden in the Central Highlands, once again mining all around. The Lake is a large body of water that hopefully will produce some good fishing for John.

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Week 13  Aug 4^th – 11^th

We had a couple of days seeing the sights of Cairns. It is a huge city now, but when you have been in the bush for a while it can be very over whelming.  Same shops as home, the attractions are still the same, the only thing that was different was “The Esplanade”. The foreshore has been opened up to cater for family picnic and swimming areas. The marina is a large part of the complex and blends the tourist sailing craft, commercial fishing and recreational boats all within the Eastern end of the precinct. The Western end has open wide footpaths that cater for walkers, joggers and bikers.

From Cairns we moved about 50kms south to Babinda. We have meet people along the way that had spoken highly of this free camp. But when we got there it had been raining there for the last 2 days and everything was soaked.  We had to park on the high side with about 20 other van, very cosy.  It was only when we went to the information centre that we were welcomed to the wettest town in Qld.

The rain persisted for a couple more days and we were caravanned out, so went to see the sights regardless of the weather.  The Boulders were not far away so donned the coats and umbrellas.  Huge granite boulders dictate the flow of water down the Babinda Creek. “Nature at its best”, this was a great chance to try out the new camera.  From here we went to Josephine Falls, Brampton Beach and saw Qld’s tallest mountain, Bartle Frere in the clouds.

Monday came with the sun out.  We were excited about our day, we had booked into Paronella Park Qld’s #1 tourist attraction at Mena Creek.  So it was down the road for another 100kms with a great welcome.  We got there around 10.30am with a staff member on the side of the road waving us down and directing us to our campsite and then booking us in.  When you book in you get a card that allows free entry over the next 2 years.  “Wow something for nothing”.

The park is amazing, a group of buildings, a ballroom, teahouse, reception house, walkways, waterfalls and grand staircase, all built by Jose Paronella in the 1930’s and 40’s.  We were able to stroll through the park until 11.00pm at night. Guided tours are every half hour during the day, where you can hear the full history of the park from an expert. Night tours are offered and recommended as different buildings are flood light, as are the waterfalls.  The story of the park is all about one man’s dream for his wife and family.

We thoroughly endorse this attraction as being, value for money, helpful, friendly staff, tour guides that are passionate about their environment, spotless café and a place where the owners are there all hours of the day and  have contact with visitors.

Definitely # 1

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Week 12 July 29^th – Aug 4^th

Still at Captain Billy Landing, we woke to the day being Harry’s 12^th birthday. We were well out of phone range so wished Harry happy birthday in the sand. The wind was still up but the day was perfect, we strolled the beach, then I sat under the shade of the Pandanus palms while John did a bit of fishing. The wind blew all day and night.

Wednesday we packed up and headed for Coen River, where we had camped on the way up. Today would be tough all those corrugations that we passed over on the way up would all now have to be repeated. We past Bramwell Station, Moreton Station and got into Archer River Roadhouse around 11.30am which was perfect timing for one of their famous Archer River Hamburgers. Twelve dollars for a burger with the lot and that takes two to consume for lunch. We got into Coen River around 2.00pm and “would you believe the same camp spot as last time it was great”.

Thursday was going to be a bit of an unknown day. “Do we bite the bullet and do 500km back to the van in one day, or do we break the trip up and have one more night in the tent”. We were unsure of where we were heading, at 100kms down we past Musgrave Station, another 60kms down and we were at Hann River Roadhouse. We stopped for coffee and fuel. Another 200kms on and we decided to have one more night in the tent.

We had found Archer Point on our trip to Cooktown late last month and remembered a perfect paradise setting, crossed our fingers that the place would not be crowded and headed in. “It was great there was only one other camp”. We picked a site between the palm trees right on the beach, just a special spot and all for free. With the tide out once again we strolled the beach, watched the sun go down behind the islands that were just in front of the camp allowing the palm trees to silhouette. As the sunset a small dingo came around to see what she may be able to get for dinner.

So Friday saw us roll onto our knees, grab the tent pole and pull ourselves up just as we had started 20 days earlier. It was a little sad, our old setup had worked well. We turned into Mt Carbine CP around 11.am to see our van just as we had left it. We booked in, moved the van to a site and then the fun began. It took the next few days to clean the car out and repack the car for the canoe and trip home.

Monday we moved on to Cairns, we had booked into the Cool Waters CP. It was about 30 years since we were in Cairns so it will be interesting to see the changes.

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