Flights Home - Apr 15

Heading Home

Even before we started we knew this is going to be a long day. We fly to Los Angeles, then to Seattle then to Calgary with a couple hour wait at each airport. We cabed it over to the airport and caught the first flight at 10:30. This first leg was 14 hours long. Fortunately they had a selection of about 100 movies, great meals and snacks and free drinks. The time actually went by fairly quickly. We were delayed getting out of L.A. by around 45 minutes but, since we had plenty of time in Seattle before our next flight, it just shortened our wait there.

Last View of Australia

 

There were no real incidents on to return flights and Harold was there at the Calgery airport to pick us up. Still, by the time we got there we had been up for 29 hours so we were pretty bushed. Harold dropped us off at home where we ordered a pizza, had a hot shower, and were in bed by 9:30.

 

Lower Kananaskis Lake, hwy 40 and Smith-Dorien

 

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Last Day in "Stralia" - Apr 14

Woke up to a perfectly sunny day this morning. Good thing too because we still had a lot of stuff to sort out as we cleaned out the van. Check out time at the Caravan park was 10:00 but we took till almost 11:00 cleaning the van and throwing out stuff. We headed over to Andrew and Jadines place where we left them with the lawn chairs, sleeping bags, foamies, food and everything else that we could not take home with us. We had done a pretty good job of cleaning the van so decided we probably did not have to go to a carwash before returning it. Jadine followed us to the Wicked camper office, which was aboout 15 km north, towards the downtown area. At Wicked they did not even open the doors but just did a quick walk around before giving us the OK on the return. When we got the van it was really dirty and now I can understand why. The only issue they had was the big crack in the front windshield from a rock we picked up about 4 days ago. Dang, we almost made it! I just cannot seem to have any luck with windshields on any continent! I gave them feed back on all of the issues we had with the van like leaky roof, windows that did not roll up properly, o that did not work well, air conditioner leaks etc. They agreed to give us a break on the windshield replacement so we were pleased with that.

 

After dropping off the van Jadine drove us over to the Prince of Wales hotel that we had booked near the airport. We spent the afternoon doing our final repacking and sorting through our receipts for stuff we would have to claim. Around 6:00 Di and I walked down the street for some pizza then met Jadine and Andrew back at our hotel for a couple drinks and a final farewell visit. The kids headed home around 10:30 and we hit the hay. The hotel is an economy class establishment just a couple of minutes from the airport, small rooms with a shared bathroom down the hall. No complaints from us, it is an upgrade from having to walk across the campground every night!

 

 

 

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Back to Brissie - Apr 13

Heading the last 300 km into Brisbane today. This was an easy, short drive compared to some of the days we have put in. We took it slow, stopping at around 10:30 at a nice road side picinic spot for a snack and rest. We pulled into the Brisbane Holiday Park at around 12:30 and immediately began to pull stuff out of the van to begin the big sort. It took us several hours to decide on what gets packed where and what has to be left behind. We are fortunate to be able to leave stuff for Andrew and Jadine. A lot of folks we have met, doing similar camping trips, have picked up extra equipment but will have to give it to the Wicked camper guys (a lousy option of you ask me), or find some other campers in the last days to donate the stuff to. There were a couple from Scotland wanting to give us stuff when we were camping in Cairns! We had to say no thanks, we already have enough crap to deal with.

 

Andrew came over after school and picked us up. We picked up some Thai food and enjoyed a relaxed supper with him and Jadine at their place. We were back at the camp, site relatively early since Andrew had a mid term to prepare for and we knew we were going to spend time with them tomorrow.

 

 

Last night in the camper! On the one hand, the time has gone by quickly, or at least it seemed to be running down faster as we approached the end of the trip. On the other hand it seems like we have been on vacation forever. The van has just become a way of life for us, it has been great but I am really looking forward to my own bed and not having to drive anywhere for a while!

 

 

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Apr 10 and 11 and 12

Aahhh! We are headed back to Brisbane now, having fallen in love with the whole area of northern Queensland. You could easily spent a month up here and still not see all that there is to see! We left the Atherton Tablelands heading towards Innisfail, we have to get in about 500 kilometers the first two days and A Iittle less the third day, getting us into Brisbane on Monday April 13 at a decent time. That way we should have some time Monday to start sorting out our stuff and cleaning out the van. The van needs to be handed back on Tuesday around 4:00 pm.

Notice the Similar Smiles?

 

On the 10th we covered km arriving at Home Hill around 4:30. Home Hill is a free camping area in the heart of the town, next to the old railway station. The station is no longer used and is a sort of museum, but, there are plenty of trains that go by during the evening and night. This is still a nice spot because they have picinic tables, a nice lawn and great toilet facilities with showers, and it is right down town incase you need anything. Of course we were to bed early and up by 06:00 on the 11th.

View From the Top of the Van

On the 11 th we drove to Clareview, about 450 km for the day. Clareview is a pay site on the shores of the Coral Sea. We got a great spot to ourselves on about 10 hectare of land, right next to the ocean. We set up and walked out onto a sandy spit for a couple of pictures. The tide was coming in and Di got her feet wet as the sandy spit she was standing on for a picture became surrounded by water. The. Ight looked very clear and warm so we decided to sleep on the top of the van tonight. This is just about the only chance we have had due to all the rain. There were no lights of about a quarter mile and no real community for much farther. The stars were just incredible as we lay ther atop the van.. I had set up a wind screne so it was comfortable all night up there.

 

In the morning we were off by 07:30 and managed to cover 542 km for the day, arriving just north of Childers around 2:30. We had picked up some food at a small community called Gin Gin, west of Bundeburg so we settled in for some rum rum and wine wine at the campsite. It will be an easy drive into Brisbane tomorrow were we will set up at the Brisbane Caravan Park again and start to sort out all the crap we have in the van.

 

 

 

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Great Barrier Reef - Apr 7

Due to technical difficulties the Apr 7 stuff did not upload so, here it is now for all you fans.

It was a hot night in Port Douglas. We woke up to 28 C and really humid. No matter, we are off on a snorkelling trip to the outer reef today. We booked in with a company called Quicksilver and chose a trip to the outer edge of Agincourt reef. We caught the boat at 08:30. The ride out should have taken about 90 minutes but we spotted some dolphins and turned around to play with them. The boat turned a series of large circles and the dolphins jumped and played in the wake or along side the boat. Really cool!

 

The day was perfect, hardly a breath of wind. Sunny and 32C. First stop was Just Majic, a beautiful swim over a reef that was a relative constant depth of 3 to 6 metres. The water clarity was amazing and we could see over 100 feet through the water. They issued everyone mask, fin and snorkel as well as a lycra suit. The lycra suit is to protect against stingers as well as protection from the sun. They do not want anyone to wear sun block because it is bad for the coral!

Next stop was Izz's Wake (Pavone) followed by Turtle Bay. Both of these were on the same reef structure but at opposite ends. Pavone had a different kind of coral and was on the edge so the water dropped off to an unseen depth rather quickly. Turtle was the best spot yet, the coral was beautiful and full of fish. We also saw a large green turtle just off of the boat. You could swim between the coral flats, in deeper channel or, along the edge of the drop off. Again, fish of every colour and size. We spent the whole time just floating around in the warm water following fish, or whatever took our notice.

 

The drive back to port was pleasant, everyone was tired and we just enjoyed the beautiful sunny day, a real change for Diane and I after the amount of rain we have seen.

 

Back on land we hopped in the van and headed back to our campsite in Cairns. We have it booked for the next two nights to facilitate our snorkel trip that leaves from Cairns tomorrow. We also managed to get hold of the Bat Hospital in the Atherton Tablelands. We have an appointment to get a tour there on Thursday at 4:30. Should be pretty interesting

 

 

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Kurunda and Bat Hospital - Apr 9

Crepes and Coffee at Kuranda Market

With only a short trip planned for the day we started rather slowly. Of course it rained over night and for the first 2 hours after we got up. Looks like we picked the good days to be out on the reef because today lloks sketchy! Around 10:00 we headed out to Kurunda. This is an old mining town up in the mountains about 40 kilometers from Cairns. Since the 60's it has been a kind of hippy hang out with lots iof craft and local stuff. The town was small and very welcoming. We had crepes and coffe un the local market then spent time looking at the crafts and gift shops. Great stuff here and weicked some neat stuff.

We then drove on to Atherton, a larger community down the road, to get informstionon how to get the the Tolga Bat Hospital. This is a spot suggested by Andrew and Jadine. Coming out od the information centre we discovered that the Front of the van was crawling with little green ants. We must have squashed about 50 of the thingsright there and then. I then went into the info centre and got the name of a local pest control company. We gave them a couple calls but could only leave a message. Findign no more ants for themoment we drove up to the local lookout for a view of the table Land area. Very pretty. We then headed over to the Bat Hospital about 30 minutes away. We were a bit early for our appointment but they made us at home on the back patio till 4:30. Jenny, the owner thentook us around the facilities, introducing us to their current residents. There were abot 100 bats in residence. Duing peak season from Nov to Jan they ccan get as many as 100 bats in at a time suffering from bits from psralsis ticks! The tour was great, we got to go into all. Of the various bat enclosures and see the bats up close. What a great experience!

Green Tree Ants, Tiny but Tasty

Incidentally, i mentioned out ant isue to rhe technician working there. She recognized the ants as green tree ants, really quite harmless. I was worried that they could be some type of fire or electric ants and did not want to transport them around the country. She also told me that they have a nice "sweet tart" taste to them! This sounded suspiciously like the wombat petting incident from a month back. Nevertheless, I took her up on the idea and tasted a couple. Sure enough, very appealing!

 

After the tour we crove the 30 minutes back north to. Free campground we had spotted onth way down. Rocky Creek Memorial Campground turned out to be a very nice spot.

 

P.s. I got a call back from the pest conrtol guy while we were eating supper. From our description he agreed that they were harmless green tree ant that probably fell from the trees above us during the rain storm in Cairns. Yes they taste tart, no he has not eaten any lately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Inner Reef - Apr 8

Another day on the reef today. We figured that, since we were unlikely to ever get back to the Great Barrier Reef, we should do it up right the first time. This second trip was on the Ocean Freedom out of Cairns. Our trip was to an area much closer to shore this time. Although yesterdays and todays trips are both considered technically on the "Outer Reef" todays was on the inland side compared to yesterday's which was on ocean side, if that makes any sense. The two locations on the reef were Upolu Cay and Wonder Wall. Wonder Wall was first. A sand bottom at about 50 feet and a vertical wall of coral rising straight up to about 15 feet. The reef then continueed to slant up until the water was only 4 or 5 feet deep. Though not as clear as yesterday, there was plenty of coral to see and plenty of colourful fish. Unfortunately the wind was a little higher today and the waves and swell meant we were getting pushed around a bit. Di did a quick swim around but found it tiring and had trouble with the seal on her mask. I stayed in the water for an hour before a quick break then back in for 45 minutes. The water here seemed warmer when you went deep so it was more comfortable all in all than yesterdays diving.

The best part of this site was the stuff I saw. Right off the start there was a big Barracuda hanging around the back of the boat. I swam over to the wall and dove around checking out everything. For the first hour it was all just cool fish. On the second swim there were a lot fewer people in the water. I was lucky enough to spot a black tip reef shark (video to follow at a later time) and a green sea turtle. I spent about 10 minutes swimming around with the turtle, very cool!

After a lunch we headed on to Upolu Cay. Here there are a series of bouys set-up. They drop everyone off at the first bouy, along with a bunch if interpretive guides, and you drift back to the boat that is now moored at the last bouy. Di came along and we had a nice float as we let the current take us along. It still required a forceful swim to avoid being carried past the boat. The depth was a constant 12 feet or so and we manged to spot several blue spotted reef rays. Is was a shorter stop and by 3:00 we were steaming back to shore. The trip back took about an hour but the waves and swell were way bigger once we left the reef area. I was feeling a little green by the time we reached calmer waters. Another 10 minutes and I would have been leaning over the side, feeding the fish!

 

 

 

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The Daintree -Apr 6

 

 

Waluwururigga lookout

April 5 was a down day for us, the first in a long time. We got up late, did the laundry drove into town for lunch at the RsSL and came back to the campsite. We managed to dither the day away with no effort at all. We should be well rested for tomorrow when we tackle the Daintree Rain Forest followed by a couple of days of snorkelling.

Today (Apr 6) we headed up to the Daintree. This is an area of old growth rain forest about 80 km north of Cairns. You have to take a ferry over the Daintree river then drive north. The end of pavemnrt is at Cape Tribulation. We left camp in Cairns at 07:40 and arrived at the Ferry 09:30. The plan was to drive all the way to Cape Tribulation then, once we knew the stops on the road we could hit the spots we wanted on the way back and still stewart to a 3:30 ferry departure, before the line-ups got too long. We stopped at the WaluwurUrigga lookout point for a couple of pictures then at the Daintree Discovery/Information centre just north of the river. Unfortunately, but they had little info we did not already possess. Next we stopped at Masons cafe for a tea, just before reaching Cape Tribulation. They had a nice swimming hole out back in the forest that anyone could enjoy for a $1.00 donation.

Bill hanging out at the beach, Cape Tribulation

 

At the cape we had a picinic lunch then took the boardwalk to the beach and on to the look out. This is the furthest north we will get in Queensland so Bill hung out at the beach for a while! On the way back south we stopped at Masons again so Bill could go for a dip in the swimming hole, it was very refreshing in the 32 degree heat.

Masons swimming hole

 

They have a real issue with speeding the Daintree area due to wildlife encounters, mostly with cassowayies.. The speed bumps are even marked on the maps, and for good reason. These things are huge! And on many the top of the bumps are imbedded with large stones to make you slow down further. They are definitely 2nd gear requirements.

 

Diane in the ocean where Captain Cook ran aground

A stop at the Daintree Icecream company for a further cool down then we did a great walk on the Jindalba Trail. This is a superb walk through dense mature rain forest, a must do if anyone comes up this way.

We hit the ferry at just the right time, no lneup at all. We crossed the river and drove into the tiny village of Daintree, just off the main road. Not much there to see but it was a pretty little place.

 

Typical rain forest

A quick stop in Mossman for supplies then we headed the 80 km south to Port Douglas. We have the snorkelling trip book from Port Douglas to the outer reef tomorrow so are staying in town tonight. We drove straight to the marine port, so we would know where to go in the morning, before getting a campsite at......

 

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Arrival in Cairns - Apr 4

Up this morning just after 06:00. It looks like it will be a nice day. We had breakfast and packed up, hitting the road by 07:40. We did not see Lawrence or Zorrie this morning so we left an envelope on the counter of the hut with $30.00. They had insisted yesterday that we could stay for free but we felt that their incredible hospitality, along with showers, electricity, a nice veranda to site on deserved some show of appreciation. The drive today seemd easier than yesterday. That, despite the fact that Bill's gas peddle foot has swollen up like a mellon! It is either an age thing, too much rum and coke, or 1700 km in three days. Which ever it has Bill limping a bit and feeling old(ish).

Yet another Cane Toad

 

It rained for part of the morning but cleared up to a beautiful day, sunny and 33C. We paused in Home Hill to check out the campground there for the return journey. More than one porson we had met recommended it as a great free site. We will probably hit it on the way back. We then drove into townsville and got coffee and hot cross buns. Lunch was salami and cheese with crackers as we drove. Today we wanted to get into a campsite earlier so we could relax a bit before dark. A final Iced Coffee at the McDonald's in Innisfail carried us into Cairns Caravan park by 4:00. I talked to the nice french girl at the check-in and got a bunch of recommendations from her on the best snorkelling options out of Cairns and Port Douglas. Diane and I settled on the Ocean Freedom Cruise out of Cairns for Monday. $195.00 per person for an all day inclusive to Michaelmas and Arlington reefs, 6 full hours on the reef. I will report asap on how that goes.

Low tide at Cairns Esplanade

 

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Calliope to Prosperpine - Apr 3

We in for another long day today, leaving Calliope early and driving all day. There is not much to say about the long road trip days so I will point out a couple of Aussie oddities. They call potato chips crisps down here while chips are the french fries you get at McDonald's. The Aussies also really like chicken flavoured chips. Don't laugh they are great and I thing we are addicted to them now.

 

I have said it before and I will say it again, I like their trucks here. They are virtually all small, like my Nissan but much better outfitted for camping. Though most have snorkels I have talked to a bunch of locals with their trucks and many of the snorkels are just for show (fakes!). All of these camping Utes also have antenna on their bumpers. They are really big into CB radios for chatting with each other while tooling around in the outback.

 

CB radios may seem retro to us but the music down here is also retro. As Andrew puts it, "These guys are still stuck in the 90's". I have to agree and maybe say "Stuck in the 80's". Another thing that has struck me is the number of girls wearing high waisted cut-off jean shorts al.la. Daisy Duke. They are everywhere. If that is not retro I do not know what is!

 

One fact Harold willk find interesting is the number of Nissan X-Trails down here. They are everywhere, and new ones too boot. They are still selling down here and are obviously very popular!

 

One thing they do have over us is their school busses. All of the school busses are up scale diversified style busses. No old yellow school busses for these kids. They all ride around in air conditioned comfort!

 

Ok, enough Aussie observations for now. Mear the end of our day today were were trying to navigate to a supposed good site. The GPS took us off the highway onto a dirt road. Immeduately we passed over a small creek with an concrete base the water is designed to flow over when flooding. The road was rough, the road sketchy and we jscrapped going over. Immediately we stopped, said "What the heck!!" and turned around to go back to the highway. Just then a guy came riding by on a dirt bike and asked if we were lost. We explained that were were sort of lost and looking for this campground. The guy advised us that there actually was a campground but it was 4km further down the rough road and not the best place. He was heading down the road to check one of his dams and, if we would wait a couple of minutes he would lead us back to his place were we could stay. Well, wondering if we were going to be chopped up and boiled in his billy, we followed him about a km into his farm. Turns out he rents out some little self contained units to migrant workers during harvest seasons (vegetable farming is big around here). The farmer, whose name was Lawrence, set us up next to a unit, made sure we had electricity, hot and cold running water, shower access etc., then we all went over to his house to meet his wife Zorrie, and the dog Nancy. We spent an hour visiting and taking politics and farming issue before we retired to our place for supper. What great luck and a wonderful place to stay!

 

 

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