Tag Archives: Travels

Far North Queensland

A Coastal Snippet In A Great Bushland

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Finding ourselves crawling out along the 4WD track from where we had once been, we all had a chuckle while crossing a rut.  Both Buzz and Woody’s wheels became airborne!  After emerging from the bush we were greeted once again by our good friend corrugations.  Reading about and creating much hype, the ‘famous’ Archer River Roadhouse burger was on the menu for lunch.  Probably being so long since a decent burger it was rather delicious, unfortunately nothing compared to the Buxton Burger. 

We travelled along the Developmental Track taking us further north until reaching an unmarked road.  WikiCamps had shown us this was a 4WD trail to an old abandoned gold mine.  Cruising along a path of moderate difficulty, a small descent appeared in front of us.  Dropping into low range we took it slowly.  An ever so small ditch at the bottom and both Buzz and Woody went ‘bang!’.  Woody hit his undercarraige and recieved no damage but after a further inspection on Buzz, a rear box had 4 out of 6 of it’s bolts sheered off and was hanging by a thread!  A quick strap to hold it place for the time being and we were off again. 

The gold mine itself was very fascinating as much of the machinery was still intact although heavily rusted.  Amazing at how it was all just left in the bush as the cost of removing and selling it must of been more expensive.  It would of been great if it had some info boards describing some machinery but we couldn’t expect it all!  

Back on the main drag we were heading toward the very popular Chili Beach.  Along the way was a 70m walk to a lookout of Mt Tozer, this gave a beautiful sight of the heathlands surrounding us.  Making it to our destination late arvo we were greeted with a stunning view of a pristine beach!  It wasn’t until we disembarked from the car that a pungent smell of rotting fish hit our noses.  Having already booked the camp we sucked it up not letting it ruin our time here.  Mark took this opportunity before dark to screw Buzz’s underside box back on, with the hope it wouldn’t happen again!

That night a few quiet beverages turned into several and before we knew it the smell had vanished!  Mucking around the fire with the music cranking we ended up drinking a fair amount of the traditional Fruity Lexia.  With the sun’s rays baking on our tent, the terrible odour of dead fish returning, we were over the moon when Stu volunteered to cook bacon and scrambled eggs on the hotplate!  What a great way to recover!  

Close by we visited an airstrip built in WW2 that was still used to this current day.  It was very interesting with an abundance of information.  One info board depicted how a nuclear bomb being detonated in a rainforest environment would compare to a standard situation.  Using enough TNT on a stragically built tower, the test was conducted and the bombs were detonated.  Scientists scrumaged through the aftermath and recorded their results, discovering such a blast would have positive results if needed in the war.  Just before leaving, the old grounds keeper had a serious go at us all for parking on the grass in some shade.  Apologising as there were no signs he was relentless to let us know we were in the wrong!

Leaving Iron Range National Park we set up next to Browns Creek.  Not being 100% sure if there were crocs or not, swims were kept short in this freshwater creek, there were plenty of bait fish though!  Trying our luck again with the net, we jagged about 8 small ones to use as bait!  Going for a wood run after such success we stumbled across a large redgum trunk on the ground.  Cutting a few decent logs from it, we unknowingly at the time gave birth to Big Red (one hell of a travelling companion).

After having leftover stew in the jaffle iron on glowing coals, meant bedtime for some and a night expidition for others.  During their walk along the creek, Mark and Stu discovered the nocturnal wildlife!  Spotting a couple of turtles Mark quickly delved into the water and caught one.  Showing Nay his find in the tent he gave it a little kiss before releasing again.  Seeing some interesting frogs and other types of small fish we talked about having to do more Nocturnal Marine Biology Wildlife Excursions (NMBWE) in days to come.

The following day we were up early and quick to get on the road.  Our next big goal in the 4WD catagory was just ahead of us.  A famous trail by the name of The Frenchman’s Track was only 2km down the road, it was on our to do list…

23/08/2016 – 25/08/2016

Queensland

A hidden tableland leading to an unexpected destination

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The morning after our massive hike at Carnarvon was fairly painful to say the least.  Sitting up in bed the muscles were aching and the legs weren’t too keen to carry us.  This didn’t stop us from looking over some pamphlets to discover the Blackdown Tablelands weren’t too far away and had already been recommended.  Arriving into the National Park early afternoon and bodies still very weary, we decided to have a lazy afternoon and take on the two short walks we had lined up the next day.  Having to pre-book our campsite at the Munall Campground, we decided number 9 looked good.  Upon arrival we discovered that someone had taken our spot, so instead we moved onto 13 as there were plenty of free sites.  Having fully set up and just starting a fire, we noticed a couple of vehicles slowing as they were approaching us.  Murphy’s law, with soooo many free campsites still unoccupied, we had unknowingly relocated into this groups pre-booked site.  Old mate grumpy pants was quick to have a go at us and threatened to call the ranger to have us moved.  It wasn’t until his wife calmly said “Lets just go to another site, there’s plenty around”.  The rest of the night was peaceful.

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The next day lead to a quiet, simple 2km walk with more Aboriginal heritage.  Information boards were scattered with knowledge of how they used the land and various plants in day to day life, such as grinding seads off wattle flowers to create flour for cooking.  We even came across a fence from old stock yards that were ingeniously crafted into the tree.  After this leisurely walk we headed south in the Tablelands to the Gudda Gumoo track for a lookout.  A short 1.9km to the lookout and we had breathtaking views over the national park.  From this point there was another section with 240 steps that lead to the Rainbow Falls.  Still a little sore from the other day, we clumbered down to see how magnificant they were.  We both agreed afterwards that these were by far the most stunning waterfalls we’d ever come across.  Crisp, fresh water cascading down numorous cliff edges into a pool of clear water, plus it had a sandy river bed!  Not knowing we were able to swim, we hadn’t brought bathers.  As we couldn’t miss this opportunity we stripped down into our jocks and went for a dip!  Having had a blast, the consequences of a commando walk back to the carpark, was well worth it.  We would definitely recommend the Blackdown Tablelands to anyone whe finds themselves in the area.

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Unfortunately, we had to keep moving on from here as we had found ourselves on a rather tight schedule.  A few days earlier, we had decided we’d reached a stage where we were ready for a short working gig.  Nay trawling over Gumtree, had stumbled across an ad for a “Home help and Gardener” position on The Brook station 2 hrs from Charters Towers.  Knowing this could be an in for some cattle work with a little cleaning on the side, we applied.  Less than two days later, we’d recieved a call from the station owner who said “You fellas sound great!”.  After working out the minor details, he was keen to take us on for 3-4 weeks.  The commencement date needed to be within 5 days as he was about to muster his 4000+ cattle. 

We were now having to make some distance back and bunkered down at Bedford Wier (45 mins north of Blackwater).  Luckily we only stayed here for a night, as our running theme of unwanted neighbours continued.  While enjoying the sunset at the wier with a delicious goon cab sav, a group of 3 men set up camp only 5m from us in a spacious paddock. Waking up this next morning, we had one of the laborious days of driving ahead of us.  Squeezing in the Tablelands meant a solid 6 hours of road trip classics. Nay occasionally napped, many licorice allsorts and party mix lollies consumed, before finally finding ourselves in Charter’s Towers.  A phone call to the station lead to the owner suggesting a night in town to arrive at his station with fresh faces the next morning.  We both had a restless sleep from excitement and nerves, for the next day we were to wake as farm hands and work at a station in Central Queenland!!

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Northern Territory

Exploration of a King!

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As the adventure continued from Uluru, we once again made it back on the highway up north to our next destination, Kings Canyon. We camped in another excellent bushcamp rest area (starting to realise NT dominate in this market) where once again had unwanted neighbours drop in on us. All set up facing what we thought was the bush, a family decided to roll up late and camp about 5m right in front of us on the side of a track and ruined our privacy. While we were trying to eat our romantic dinner for two, one of the kids decided to shine his torch right in our faces which obviously the parents thought was fine! On a good note, we were able to use our shower tent and had the first battery powered shower for the trip!

The next day brought the exploration of Kings Canyon. In the morning, after ducking into Kathleen Springs for a stroll down the beautiful and historically rich valley to see the old stockade, we made a late arrival at Kings Canyon. Full spirited we began the 6.7km walk (not reccommended at this stage of the day!) up and along the rim of the Canyon. Absolutely spectacular. The walk took us up and along cliffs, down the valley, into the peaceful Garden of Eden (rainforest like waterhole), and back along the opposing side until we were lead back to the carpark. I don’t think we could of finished the last of the trip quick enough. As we were approaching 3:00pm we were buggered, smashing through the kms, guzzling as much water as we could and wiping the sweat off our brows. Even with a difficult conclusion, we conquered it with smiles and could only laugh at the end with recommendations to never start a walk that large, that late in the day.

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Interesting Historic Fact..

The palm in this below picture is somewhere between 350-400 years old!! These Cycads were scientifically proven to be around back in the dinosaur age!

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Once we had a few lolly snakes and recovered, we jumped in the car and made it to the servo before the Mereenie Loop (an unsealed road joining Kings Canyon, Hermannsburg and the MacDonnell Ranges). This is unfortunately a permit road as it is on Aboriginal Country. We decided the $5.50 for the permit was a lot cheaper than a $1000 fine if caught without one!! We ended up camping at Morris Pass Lookout which is situated on the Aboriginal section of the loop. As we arrived we were welcomed by a couple of friendly dingoes which happily wandered around the camp, sussing our kettle out during the night (see paw print on the table) and giving us the occasional howl. Now, the land here was phenomenal, so untouched as we sat with a 1.25L bottle of coke, some Bacardi and Jim Beam. Tough as it sounds we sat on a cliff, drinks in hand, and watched the sun set, with the all mighty Kings Canyon off in the distance..

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South Australia

We’ve finally left!

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On the Road!!

So after abit of delay with a weeks worth of setting up we finally hit the road on Friday and have cruised along into South Australia where we found a beautiful spot beside a lake.  We had acouple of short stay overs along the way at Koorooya State Park and the Murray at Buxton’s Bend.  Keep posted for our updates along the way and see what adventures we come accross as we continue along the road to the Northern Territory!!