Travelling Around Australia

Monday, September 12, 2011

Queensland Mackay-Kinchant Dam

15^th August 2011 til 12^th September

An update on what we have been doing for the past month or so and what our plans are. We have been in Mackay for almost 5 weeks and will be staying for a little while longer. Greg has obtained a job as a delivery driver for a couple of months. We cancelled our original plans to get to the Cape this year, as it was getting too late and too close to the wet season. We would never have made it up that far and back in the short time that was available to us. Particularly as we like to take it easy and find it hard to move on from the really good spots. Our plans are now to stay in Mackay, while Greg is working to replenish the bank account, until around end November at this stage. After that we will make our way back (we’ll have 4 weeks to do it) to Forster on the Mid North Coast of NSW, 300 kms north of Sydney. My sister Louy, her husband Phil and hopefully my daughter Emma, will be joining us there for 10 days from 31^st December. We are really looking forward to seeing the New Year in with family.

In the New Year we will again be back on the road and explore our way through country NSW, and then inland Queensland with the ultimate aim of being up at the Cape by June 2012. This will give us plenty of time in ideal weather conditions to see our wonderful outback in all its glory. Anyway more of that as the time draws closer.

As I mentioned in my last blog, we planned to go to a beautiful camping spot called Kinchant Dam, which is about 40 kms west of Mackay. We did this on August 22^nd and stayed for a week, before we came back to Mackay so Greg could start his job. Kinchant Dam was built in 1977 to provide irrigation and town water and covers 920 hectares when full. It features a beautiful park area and picnic facilities with a boat ramp for day visitors and the camping area is on the bank of the dam. The site also provides campers with a kiosk, bar and fully licensed restaurant. They have regular entertainment at the bar on Saturday nights, which was a feature the week we were there. It is a lovely spot and extremely popular for boating enthusiasts including fishermen and water skiers. The weather was really warm during our week there and although we had some rainy days, it was extremely muggy.

Tracy and Darren with Barney (their gorgeous puppy) joined us for the weekend and we had a fantastic time. The fleet was in the water the whole time, my kayak, Greg’s boat and Darren’s new inflatable boat. We enjoyed drinks, card games and toasted marshmallows with white chocolate sauce and strawberries by the camp fire and were entertained by a great band at the bar on Saturday night. Darren was particularly keen to try out his boat for the first time and wasn’t disappointed with its performance.

We are still staying on Tracy and Darrens property, they wouldn’t let us go anywhere else. It is very kind of them and has been fantastic for us. Greg only has to travel half an hour to get to work from here. Although I miss him when he’s gone, I have found ways to keep myself busy until the weekends. We will be using the weekends until we leave to explore the area, so hopefully I can post a few more blogs before Christmas about this area. I’m really looking forward to going to Airlie Beach.

I will be coming down to Victoria on 28^th September, hopefully to see my Mighty Cats play in a Grand Final, if they make it to the big one. Their finals campaign has started off really well, so with a bit of luck they can go all the way. Either way, I am really looking forward to catching up with everyone and will enjoy GF day no matter what (I always do), so my week at home won’t be wasted.

Cheers til next time.

Kookaburra on Tracy and Darren's property

Full moon in Mackay

Our camsite at Kinchant Dam. In the upper leff corner
you can see the bar and restuarant area

Sunset at Kinchant Dam

Ducks on the dam doing their thing

More ducks on the dam

Another glorious sunset

Barney in the boat with Trac

Darren, Trac and Barney

Greg and Tracy toasting those marshmallows

Strawberries, white chocolate and toasted marshmallow

Greg eating same

Trac, Ash, Barney and Darren in the new toy

All again coming back from a ride

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Queensland- Capricorn Caves-Hedlow Creek-Carmila Beach-Mackay

28^th July 2011 til 14^th August 2011

While staying at Capricorn Caves, we took the Cathedral Caves tour. This cave is magnificent, even more so, when you hear the history. We now have the benefit of lights and walkways, but the founder of the cave only had a single candle light to find his way through. This was a huge feat back in the day, and would have been particularly scary. The Cathedral cave itself is really stunning and has the most magnificent acoustics. They have regular operetta performances in the cave as well as about 30 weddings a year. It is a really special site for a wedding.

After we left Capricorn Caves and as reported last time, we then we camped on a private property on Hedlow Creek which runs out of Lake Mary, behind Mt Hedlow. This spot is 20 km’s north of Rockhampton and 15 km’s east of Yeppoon. It really was a perfect spot to get away from it all and listen only to the sounds of the great outdoors. Magnificently private, with no power lines, houses, traffic or people in sight, we camped right on the creek. It is hard to explain how beautifully peaceful it was. The creek was perfect for kayaking, which I did every day until I learned there had been crocodile sightings in this creek after the floods. As we had only one more day there, I decided not to tempt fate and so put the kayak away.

We put yabby pots in the creek every day and were rewarded with lots of Red Claw to feast on. Yum, they were delicious, particularly when combined with a roaring open fire, beautiful starry nights and a drink in hand. Our five days here were extremely relaxing, with beautiful weather and a glorious setting. Because we were so far from everything, we were able to run the generator every night and aided by a flood light, we played cards, listened to our music, which we could have as loud as we wanted, while we sat by the fire. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Our intention was then to head for Mackay, but instead we decided on one more stop over at a place called Carmila Beach, which is 100 kms south of Mackay. Here we camped right on the beach which is on the Coral Sea, part of the Great Barrier Reef. This area is really lovely and the waters are very tidal, with the low tide extremely low. So low in fact, that when it is out you can walk out about 1km. We stayed here for 3 nights and spent our time walking along the beach and soaking up the beautiful surrounds and sunshine.

On Friday 5^th August we packed up and finally headed to Mackay. As were driving we realised that it had taken us 2 months to get from the Gold Coast to Mackay. Now that’s taking our time. We are currently still in Mackay and it has been great to catch up with Tracy.

Tracy and her fiancé, Darren have, very hospitably, let us camp on their property which is in Hampden, about 20 kms west of Mackay. They both work in the mines and had this weekend off, so it was great to spend some time with them. On Sunday they took us for a drive to the Dolphin Heads, which will be the venue for their wedding next September; it is truly stunning. They then drove us to a camping area at Kinchant Dam, which is 40 kms west of Mackay. This spot is magnificent, and will be perfect for kayaking and fishing and pretty much just relaxing. So after staying in Mackay for another week, we have booked a campsite at Kinchant Dam for a week from 22^nd August. Tracy and Darren are going to joins us for a few nights when their next weekend off comes around. I won’t tell you more about this spot until after we have been there; except to say we are really looking forward to it.

Cheers til next time.

Hedlow Creek

Our surrounds at Hedlow Creek

Reflections on Hedlow Creek

Sunset at Hedlow Creek

Half an hour after Sunset at Hedlow Creek

Carmila Beach. Our camp taken from the high tide mark.

Carmila beach. Greg walking out during the outgoing tide.
This photos was taken about 800 metres from shore.

Carmila Beach. Our camp from almost the low tide mark.

Carmila Beach. This photo was taken about 800 metres from shore.
Same spot as Greg was in the previous photo, 2 minutes late.r
.That's me and my shadow.

The view from our campsite.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Queensland - Seventeen Seventy

8^th July till 28^th July

After leaving Childers we decided to head to Seventeen Seventy. Unfortunately it was booked out so we stayed in a cheaper camping ground about 6 kilometres to the south called Workmans Beach. It is only 1 kilometre from the township of Agnes Water which is a twin village of Seventeen Seventy. This campground was really nice and we found a great spot, which allowed plenty of sunshine in, but also protected us from the sun with some shady trees. There are two beautiful beaches only a short walk from this site and we took the opportunity to take both tracks and were rewarded with lovely views. It is a very popular spot, because of the cost and each night a lot of campers arrived to spend just one or two nights. Although we really enjoyed our stay here, we were champing at the bit to get to Seventeen Seventy. For two reasons, one, it is a very beautiful spot and two, our friends from Geelong who had been holidaying in Cairns, Shirley and Gary, were going to meet us there and stay for a couple of nights.

As it was only 6 kilometres from Workmans Beach, we arrived nice and early at the Seventeen Seventy campground. This campground has excellent facilities, but is not like a caravan park in that the sites have a bush feel about them and they are on a gorgeous inlet which feeds in from Bustard Bay. Seventeen Seventy was named of course because it was the first landing place of Captain Cook in Queensland. It really is a tranquil seaside retreat and remains mostly unspoilt. It is also extremely popular and most visitors struggle to get a site unless they have prebooked early enough. Fishermen are very attracted to this spot as well because of the abundance of fishing opportunities available.

We arrived to stay 5 nights and ended up staying 15 nights. We did have to change our site twice, but it was well worth it as our third site was on the beachfront. We were lucky enough to have six nights on this site. These are prime positions, as you could imagine, because not only do they give ease of access to the beach, they give you the best position to witness the stunning sunsets and campfires are allowed only on these beachfront sites. Fishing, kayaking and just sitting in the sun were our main activities while here. A place like this really does rejuvenate the soul.

Gary and Shirley arrived on our first Thursday here and it was really great to see some familiar faces from home. We had a fabulous time with them while here and were sad to see them go. We had a lovely meal at “The Tree’, the local pub, which overlooks the bay and from where you have a wonderful view of the gorgeous sunsets.

We met some fantastic people as all our neighbours in each of the three sites we set up were wonderful. There were lots of people from Geelong staying here, some of them very regular visitors. Although we didn’t know each other, after chatting realised we had mutual acquaintances. A couple camped next to us on the beachfront, Hommy and Greg, from Ararat, surprisingly knew another couple we met on our travels in Victoria, who are regular visitors to Seventeen Seventy and also knew friends of friends from Geelong.

We also met Paul from Sydney who had just come back from Cape York, and was kind enough to give us heaps of information on the road conditions and the camping spots to prepare us for that part of our journey. We are really looking forward to going to The Cape via the Old Telegraph Track now.

The wonderful people we met, the fantastic weather we had, the boating, the kayaking, the relaxing and the brilliant sunsets all contributed to a wonderful two weeks in Seventeen Seventy. If we ever again get the opportunity, we will definitely visit this gorgeous spot again.

We are currently staying in a place called The Caves in the Capricorn Caves Tourist Park, about 20 kilometres north of Rockhampton. This wasn’t our original intention, but has worked our really well. Our first night here, we went to the local pub for a meal as we were late setting up and too tired to cook. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision. This pub is your real country pub, no pokies, no keno, no TAB, just a lovely pub with great meals and a wonderful atmosphere. While there we started chatting to a couple of young lads who were in for a counter meal, Mick and Dan. They are brothers who work in the district, and who gave us lots of information about the district and Yeppoon, on the coast nearby where they grew up. When we mentioned that we prefer cheap or free off road camping by lakes or rivers, their eyes lit up and they told us about a private spot near Yeppoon where we could do just that. Not only did they tell us about it, we exchanged phone numbers and the next day they called us and took us to the exact spot. After going into Rockhampton to get plenty of supplies and then visiting The Caves today, tomorrow (Thursday 28^th July) we are going to set up camp at Lake Mary Creek, which is on private property and is very remote and beautiful. This spot is truly away from the madding crowd and we are looking forward to spending a week or so there.

Local information is really invaluable, so it always pays to go into the local pubs and start chatting. Thanks Mick and Dan for not only striking up a conversation with us but for showing us this great camping spot.

After this we are heading to Mackay, finally, to meet up with my old workmate, Tracy who now lives there. We are really looking forward to staying with her for a while and catching up on old times and new times. My next post will most likely come from there.

Cheers til next time.

Lake Monduran

Workmans Beach

Kookaburra at 1770

Greg, Me, Shirley and Gary at The Tree

View of our camp at 1770 from The Tree

View from our campsite at 1770

The following are photos of the magnificent sunsets at 1770. Each was taken on a different night. Of course this is only a small sample. I literally took 100's. ENJOY! My favourites.

That's Greg and Gazza in the boat

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Queensland - Cooloola-Tiaro-Fraser Island

14^th June 2011 to 5^th July 2011

It is very hard to describe how stunning the Cooloola Recreation Area is. We arrived at our campsite on Teewah beach on Tuesday 14^th June around noon, after traversing 16 kms on Freshwater Rd which is a sandy track, with long stretches of deep loose sand suitable only for 4WD vehicles. That part of the journey took 40 minutes. The camper trailer survived the journey in fine style. When we got to the beach we travelled another 8 kms to get to the start of the Teewah beach camping area which stretches for 16 kms. We found our perfect site about 8 kms south, right on the beach and only 6 metres from the high tide mark. The weather was divine and stayed that way for whole week we were there with temperatures around 22 degrees everyday and the sun shining brightly.

Teewah beach is a very popular camping area and of course extremely popular for 4WD enthusiasts and fisherman. We were delighted once again to be able to camp on the beach, next to the Pacific Ocean and to witness some stunning sunrises over the ocean, a beautiful full moon rising over the ocean and some of the most stunning starry nights. We were very lucky to spot a pod of dolphins swimming in the ocean and a pod of whales making their way north for the winter. What an amazing site. We also found a sea turtle peeking at us over the rolling surf as we were taking one of our many walks along the beach.

Rainbow Beach which is 24 kms via the road and 32 kms via the beach north of Teewah is a really beautiful seaside destination. It is home to the amazing Carlo Sandblow, the Coloured Sands and the most amazing beach. The sandblow has been formed over thousands of years, covers fifteen hectares and overlooks the stunning coloured sand cliffs. It is a truly beautiful giant sand dune. The Coloured Sands tower over the beach and are sand cliffs with an array of hues and tones. We felt really fortunate to be able to drive along the beach to be able to view these majestic sand cliffs.

The drive along the beach is in itself fascinating. It can only be tackled 2 hours either side of the low tide and many vehicles have met their demise on this journey. One particularly bad spot is the Mudlo Rocks. Even at low tide it can be difficult to traverse. The waves push in over the rocks and you lose sight of them so quickly. We did it at the lowest point of the tide, so weren’t in any trouble, but the local pub at Rainbow Beach has a Rock Toll. Since 2001 they have kept a toll of all vehicles that have been wasted at this point. They also have a pictorial journal of these accidents. It was interesting to look at and a reminder to always take care.

We took the beach route when we went to Rainbow Beach. It is impossible to get all the way around Double Point Island, so we had to take Leisha Track. This track is only about 1km long and when you get to the end it is truly a beautiful sight. The south end of Rainbow Beach has a stunning natural lagoon, with beautiful blue water and soft white sand. We spent a fantastic day here with a picnic, a wine and the Kayak and the boat. We didn’t want to leave.

Near where we camped was Poona Lake, described in the pamphlets as a tea coloured freshwater lake with a white sandy beach. The walk was a 4 km round trip through natural rainforests which was very beautiful and refreshing. But when we got to the lake, we were very disappointed. There was no access to it except via dense scrub and there was certainly no white sand beach. We felt a bit cheated, but the walk was nice and I did get a couple of reflection shots.

After a divine week in the Cooloola area, it was time to move on. Our next destination was Tiaro. This is a quaint country town with a really lovely free camping spot on the Mary River just 25 kms south of Maryborough. Again this area was severely affected by the floods and has only recently recovered. There is limited space here and we were lucky to find a nice flat spot not far from the river. We could see where the floods had been because of the debris in the trees which would have covered the top of our camper trailer and we were probably 3 metres above the river.

We had some fantastic neighbours at this spot. Particularly the Irish couple Bobby and Mary. You probably don’t need me to tell you that when you start having a drink with an Irishman, don’t expect to stop anytime soon. He really was great company, but my head didn’t thank him the next day. Tiaro hasn’t really got any points of interest except for the Historic Hideaway Hotel, which of course we had to visit.

The point of us being in Tiaro was to get all the information, permits etc, we needed in preparation for our 10 day stay on Fraser Island. We also finally found an old wringer at a second-hand dealer, which we really needed to assist us with our washing. These are very hard to come by and we have been searching for months. Luckily for us we only had to pay $40 instead of the $220 asking price in Geelong and we bought a fantastic little camp washing machine for a bargain price of $80 at the local camping store. Our other purchase from the information centre, was a little fire pot made from an old 4kg gas bottle. It is a little gem and means we can have a fire no matter where we stay, using either firewood or heat beads. Perfect for the camp oven or to keep warm at night.

We stayed for 4 nights in Tiaro because it was an ideal spot, and the weather once again was perfect.

FRASER ISLAND. This island is a must see for anyone travelling around Australia. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and you must have a 4WD to drive on or around it. There are no sealed roads; only deep sandy, boggy broken up tracks and therefore is a top destination for 4WD vehicles. It is 174 kms long and only 24 kms wide at its widest section. Fraser Island has 250kms of sandy beaches with long uninterrupted sweeps of ocean beach and it offers many challenging spots, some extreme soft tracks and tricky rock negotiations along the beach. We had the Cruiser well prepared for this journey and were never troubled on the beach or on any of the tracks. Although we did have to cross a part of the beach as the tide was coming in. Greg handled the situation well and we were able to enjoy this 4WD experience. One of the scenic drives we took, which takes in a lot of the attractions, including the perched lakes and many of the sand blows, was only 28 kms long, but took us 3 ½ hours to negotiate.

A lot of people visit the island via plane or bus tours or with their 4WD. Fraser offers a variety of accommodation including beach resorts, flats, apartments, cabins, private houses, fenced camping areas and camping on the beach (our elective). There are only 90 permanent residents on the island, but around 250 workers who stay on the island but are not classed as residents.

We camped not far from the Maheno Wreck on the seventy five mile beach which is the quickest route for travelling the length of the island and has lots of attractions along the way. The Maheno was built in 1905 and was first used as a luxury passenger liner and also a hospital during WW1. It was sold as scrap metal to Japan, but when it was being towed northwards in 1935 it was struck by a cyclone. It was irrecoverable and was used as bombing practice during WW11. Three storeys of the original structure are buried beneath the sand. It is still sinking and is in a deteriorating condition, but it makes a great photo opportunity.

This stretch of beach on the Eastern side offers a lot of attractions, including a number of coloured sand formations. They have spectacular colours and look really beautiful particularly as the sun is rising. The Pinnacles, Red Canyon and Cathedral Beach all have these beautiful sand formations. Eli Creek is the largest creek on the Eastern side of Fraser and pours millions of litres of clear freshwater into the ocean every hour. It is a really beautiful spot which has a boardwalk following the creek inland. We took the opportunity to give the Cruiser a bath in this freshwater to get all the salt and sand off it. There are 43 sand blows on Fraser Island in different stages of progression. The Hammerstone Sandblow at Lake Wabby is slowly advancing on the lake. Lake Wabby is the islands deepest lake. Lake McKenzie is the most beautiful, with its blue clear water and white sand. The perched lakes on Fraser are all popular tourist destinations.

The part of Seventy Mile Beach where we camped, near the Maheno Wreck provided us with lots of entertainment as visitors made their way to all the attractions along this part of the island. We saw busloads of tourists, 4WD tourists and plenty of sightseeing planes take off and land right in front of our campsite. And as Fraser is home to the purest strain of Dingo in Australia, we also saw a few of those. We elected not to camp in the fenced off camping areas provided, but instead we camped on the beach. They give you lots of warnings and of course worse case scenarios about the dingoes. A few wandered past our tent during our 10 days here, but we were never bothered by them. We made sure all food scraps were put away, didn’t leave any temptation for them. Pretty much they are naturally frightened of human beings; it is only the people who attempt to feed them or attract their attention who get into trouble. We also found that when fishermen were around on the beach, more dingoes wandered around looking for a feed.

Our last morning, we were entertained by 4 whales heading north. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny and calm day. The sight was magnificent.

Our 10 days on Fraser was fantastic, although the weather wasn’t kind at times; we had really strong South Easterly winds pummelling our camper for a few days, the rest of the time it was warm and sunny. This really was a worthwhile place to visit and we would love to come back another time. Due to the vastness of the camping areas on the beach, we really didn’t meet anyone, but as we were waiting for the barge to get off the island, we talked to plenty of people who had been camping and they all enjoyed their experience as much as we did. Some were back for their second or third visit and others were locals from Hervey Bay who just love visiting the island.

For the last couple of nights we have stayed at Childersto restock food, grog etc. and to wash the Cruiser and camper. It is way too expensive to buy supplies on Fraser; $64.99 for a slab of beer and $2.06 a litre for Diesel. Childers is the site of the very tragic Backpackers Hotel fire; the locals still sadly reflect sadly on this event which took the life of so many young people. They have a memorial site which is visited by the families of those taken. They come from all over to have a reunion, to remember and get comfort from their shared grief.

We are not too sure where to after that but will keep you posted.

Hope you enjoy this small selection of photos. It is so hard to choose which ones to post of the hundreds we take

Cheers till next time.

Carlo Sandblow

Our campsite at Teewah looking towards the beach

Carlo Sandlbow

Our Campsite at Teewah looking from the beach

Coloured Sands at Rainbow Beach

Me Kayaking at Rainbow Beach

Greg Kayaking at Rainbow Beach

The Beautiful sunrise at Teewah beach

The beautiful full moon rising on Teewah Beach

Moon rise again

Reflections on Poon Lake

Our first glimpse of Rainbow Beach after coming off Leisha Track

The remains of a 4WD after coming to grief at Mudlo rocks

Mudlo Rocks on Rainbow Beach

The south end of Rainbow Beach

The next three photos ara an amazing example of natural sand art. I took these photos on the beach in front
of our camp, where a little freshwater creek runs out from the rainforests. These patterns are formed when the high tides reach
the creek and then start running back out with the freshwater. I was mesmerised by these patterns. I took too many of
these photos and have chosen 3 for you. The patterns appear raised, but they are in fact indentations.