Darwin

We’ve been in Darwin for a few days now. Trevor has spent a lot of tie on the phone to different caravan people. At this point we are going to wait until Monday, when our Coromal service man is getting in touch with a winch mob up here who might be able to fix our van.


So we’ll wait to see what Monday brings!


We’ve been staying with my school friend Dee and her family in Darwin. Their home is beautiful, and having the chance to shower and get really clean in our own new bathroom has been heavenly. Max and Harry are getting along well with 4 year old Riley who has reignited their interest in Lego. The three of them have been very busy creating!!


Trevor and I have been a bit stunned by this change in our plans – I think having the caravan break, followed by a wonderful but hurried drive across a long distance, followed then by the long drawn out negotiations as to what is happening with our van has drained us both. Trevor has, as always, been fantastically methodical when solving this problem. I am so lucky to have him! But even his usually unshakeable self has found this hard.
Yesterday we got out of the house and went exploring. First we went to the World War II oil tunnels that were made by lots of hard work with picks and shovels during 1942. We followed up with a wander around the new waterfront development. We went to the convention centre and found the wharf.

View across to the Darwin Wharf

Max and Harry at the Waterfront

Harry and Max hanging around outside Darwin Convention Centre

We talked to Max and Harry about Cyclone Tracey that had ravaged Darwin in December 1974. It meant a lot more old we found the old Town Hall ruins. The building was completed in the 1880s and survived so much, including the 1942 bombings of Darwin, but was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey. The ruins still show how solid the rock walls were, so the boys could get a more tangible idea of how strong the cyclone was.

Trevor and Harry at the Town Hall Ruins

Max showing how wide the stone walls are

We drove out to the Museum which was tucked away about 5km out of town. Max was fascinated by the ‘Cyclone Tracey’ exhibition, while Harry enjoyed some of the Aboriginal Art and then loved the ‘Kids’ Discovery Centre’ where he and I drew, examined bones, used a microscope, made “ancient buildings" with foam blocks and finally curled up with a book. It was a lovely way to finish our afternoon.


Last night we attended ‘Marrara on Show’ where Riley’s school (which is also where Dee used to teach before having Riley) had an open night. We met Riley’s lovely teacher, and Riley showed us the important parts of his classroom (including where he hangs his bag, his tray and the mat where he makes cardboard box constructions!). We also watched a year 8 drama performance and had a delicious dinner!


Today the boys have gone to a water park with Trevor while I stay home and wash and bake. This was my choice – I am enjoying some peace in Dee’s beautiful home that overlooks a lake and golf course…


We hope to see Trevor’s cousin Tamara this afternoon and on Sunday, head to the famous Darwin Markets.

Georgetown, Croyden, Normanton and then almost to Karumba

We left the unique O’Brien’s Campground this morning and we have reached our 16 000 kilometre mark. All of this has been done in the car, and most of it with the van but we’ve been unhooking it a fair bit so we can explore unencumbered. Max and Harry cheered loudly at Trevor’s “sixteen thousand k’s” announcement.

We saw lots of wallabies when leaving O’Brien’s this morning – something pretty unusual.

We had lunch in Georgetown which has a great set up. The town has built a gorgeous pool which is fully landscaped and fenced. They don’t have anyone working there, but instead ask people to pick up a key from the servo or shire offices and they can use in during long opening times. There is an automatic pool cleaner and also a lush park to have picnics. It’s a beautiful area and was being used while we were there.

Something we thought funny was encountering cattle grids on the highway! We expect we’ll see a lot more of these.

When we drove through the town of Croyden we saw what they claimed was ‘Australia’s Oldest General Store’.

It took a long drive to get to Normanton, but then we decided to go to a free camp that is almost at Carumba. We wanted to go to Carumba tomorrow as it is famous for its prawns, caught in the Gulf of Carpenteria.

But we didn’t get there.

We arrived at the free camp and as always the kids started bike riding, I started chatting to the other campers and Trevor started setting up the caravan. But the caravan didn’t go up on two corners. A few old guys from around came to help, and Trevor tried to get it up in every way possible. The caravan lid is really, really heavy and took four men straining to raise it just a little.

After a while we decided to pack up what we already had out and drive back to Normanton to find somewhere to stay.

The lovely Foodworks lady said that our only choices were one of the two pubs or the caravan park, so we chose the park. We drove it around 7pm and booked into a bungalow for the night. For $90 we got a longish room with a bunk bed, a single bed, a double bed and some basic kitchen facilities. Toilet facilities were outside and it all is pretty grotty. $90!! It is a big ripoff! The people staying here are lovely but it hasn’t been a brilliant night.

There’s nothing we can do until we ring Coromal the caravan people tomorrow, so we all had 5 minute noodles for tea and will be in bed soon.

Fossicking for topaz!

Last night we drove to O’Brien’s Campsite, about 30km from the highway. This was different to any place we’d been before. We drove and drove along a gravel road through cattle grazing areas – we were going pretty slowly to avoid the biggest rutts – and then suddenly found a campsite with around 40 rigs. This was a paid site with a $25 charge for our family, and provided us with a picturesque spot by ‘Elizabeth Creek’, hot showers and clean toilets. They also provided Max and Trevor with a range of fossicking gear so they could try their hand at fossicking for topaz. The advice was included too!

Harry and I had a total day off today where I read a thick book from the campsite library. Harry did some beading, had a few cuddles and watched some movies. We both really needed a break. There was no internet connection so I wasn’t tempted by that so actually sat down and did nothing. It was great!!

Max and Trevor spent their day fossicking. They found lots of stones – white quartz, smoky quartz and even a bit of topaz. They had a ball, though Max was unimpressed by how much work it took.

They had a brilliant ‘boys day’ and Max has lots of rocks to show off!

We’re well on ‘The Savannah Way’ now!

We feel as though we’ve left the “standard” East coast cities and now making our way into the Outback. The route we’re taking from Cairns to Broome is known as ‘The Savannah Way’ as it is covered by savannah like grasses.


The Savannah Way follows this route from Cairns:





Today we visited the Undara Lava Tubes which is just WSW of Normanton where the white spot is.


“The Undara Lava Tubes were formed some 190,000 years ago when a major volcano in the McBride volcanic province erupted, its molten lava flowing down a dry river bed. As the top layer quickly cooled and crusted, the fiery magma below continued to flow through the tubes taking it further and further from the volcano.  As the eruption slowed and then stopped, the lava drained out of the tubes leaving a series of long, hollow tunnels.
Ancient roof collapses created deep, dark and moist depressions where fertile pockets of rainforest can now be seen.
Rainforest plants and animals thrive in this environment; each tube offers a rare insight into this unusual geological wonder.
The word Undara means ‘a long way’ in Aboriginal language. One of the lava flows from Undara extends over 160 kilometres (or 100 miles). This makes it one of the longest lava flows from a single volcano on our planet in modern geological time. The original tube formed by the flow extended for approximately 100 kilometres, and several sections are accessible.
It has been estimated that during the eruption, the Undara volcano spewed forth 23 cubic kilometres of lava covering 1,550 square kilometres. So far, 68 separate sections of cave have been identified from over 300 lava tube roof collapses.”  copied from http://undara.com.au/lava-tubes/

We went on a half day tunnel tour and what we saw was simply incredible.


Once again, Mother Nature has shown us how incredible she can be.


Stay tuned for the photos…

Atherton

Years and years ago I visited Queensland for a 2 week Contiki tour, and one of my favourite places was the Atherton Tablelands. Revisiting it now, albeit in the dry season, I remember why. It is a simply beautiful area.

Last night we stayed in the town of Ravenshoe in a free camp area with a large number of other people. Our neighbours included a family of four from Busselton and an older couple from Denmark which we all found to be quite bizarre! We packed up the van early and left it at the campsite. We drove just the Pathfinder north up to Atherton.

Our first stop was at the Hippipamee National Park.

 

This photo shows a crater that was formed millions of years ago. Volcanic activity caused gases to rise to the Earth’s surface, where they expanded and caused rock to explode forming a large crater. The pale green “water” at the crater’s base is actually a thick layer of duckweed. Lots of creatures live under this.

Further along were more waterfalls. These were much calmer than other falls we have recently seen, but still demonstrated how powerful water can be when the rocks beneath slope a certain way. There were a number of other people exploring the area.

After a good walk we left the National Park for Atherton’s town centre. Here we spent several hours in the excellent “Crystal Caves”. A man has been collecting gems for over 40 years and has made the collection open to the public. We could touch and photograph virtually everything which made it a fantastic place to take the kids.

In the main cave (it is amazing what you can create with foam, fabric, spraypaint and glue!) samples are stuck and numbered within and we all enjoyed searching for the next sample and finding out what it was and where it was from. As well as the thousands of gems and other rocks in the cave there is an excellent gift shop where we were able to see further examples.

A new exhibit is the ‘Magic Spheres’ which we weren’t able to photograph. These rock spheres were set up like a solar system of planets and lit up using ultraviolet light which meant the fluorescent minerals hidden in “normal” rock was illuminated. It looked incredible!!

I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Atherton as it gives such a good opportunity to see some of the miracles of our planet.

See www.crystalcaves.com.au for further details.

 

Max, Harry and Trevor walked to see the incredible ‘Curtain Fig Tree’. We have seen examples of the Strangler Fig at work many times on this trip but this tree was something else. The Strangler Fig seed is carried onto the top leaves of a rainforest tree host where it uses the light to germinate. The roots grow furiously downward and eventually take over the host tree. In this example, the host tree has died and the Fig has completely taken over.

The last stop on this busy day was to the ‘Windy Hill Wind Farm’. We always look out for wind turbines, but this time we were able to see them up close. They are really incredible structures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got back to Ravenshoe in the afternoon and found the local ‘Foodworks’ to pick up some groceries. I noticed a big jump in prices, and I expect this will only get worse as we get further west to more isolated communities.

As we drove to ‘Forty Mile Scrub’ where we were able to free camp we noticed a big difference in the landscape. Lush rainforests were soon replaced with sparse, sandy bush and we saw heaps of termite mounds. We expect we’ll see many more of these!

leaving Cairns…

It is with mixed feelings that we left Cairns this morning. I know we need to move on as we only have so much time before it is October and we need to be back in Bunbury, and also we have the exciting Savannah Way journey ahead of us, but we all have enjoyed staying with Robyn so very much. 


She has spent lots of time teaching the boys how to make jewellery (which they loved) and has introduced us to her lovely friends and family. She has made endless cups of tea and enjoyed chatting to us all about everything and nothing – she is brilliant company. And we will miss Bandit the dog!


This photo shows us with Robyn (left) and her lovely friend Barbara (right) with Max, Harry and Trevor. Robyn’s dog Bandit is in the middle and Barb’s dogs Clancy and Pepe are either side of him.

Harry with Pepe. We keep getting dog-fixes as we miss Molly and Bella.

The photos are taken on Robyn’s back deck where she understandably spends most of her time. The garden is full of beautiful tropical plants, some with lush coloured foliage like the plant behind Harry with pink leaves. Her passionfruit vines have abundant fruit and Max in particular took great delight in “accidentally” bumping his head on passionfruit as he walked past.


Today Robyn found a sick green tree frog in her garden which was expertly taken by Barb back to her house down the road where she has a mini frog hospital set up. Barb took Max and Harry with her, and they came back enthusiastically telling us “you should see how many frogs are there!!”.


We’re going to miss Robyn and Bandit lots!!


Last night we went for dinner to Rob and Tania Rutten’s place. I was in year 11 and 12 with Rob, and we hadn’t seen each other since first year uni. My last memory of Rob was borrowing army clothes from him for me to dress up for U.W.A.’s annual PROSH fundraiser in 1992. We had been in contact on Facebook and so made the most of this opportunity to catch up as it has been a long time since then.


Rob and Tania have been in Cairns for around 10 years and Rob now operates ‘Rutten Tech’ where he and his team design and manage websites.  It was just great to see Rob and his family – especially the gorgeous 12 month old Chad! Over a few beers we talked of the past, present and future and solved a few of the world’s problems to boot. Rob and Tania’s home is a ridgy-didge Queenslander and it felt just like home with wooden steps up to a large deck with tin verandahs …


Thank you Rob, Tania and Chad for such a relaxed and wonderful evening! I’m only sorry I left my camera in the car!

The (great) Great Barrier Reef

We were up and out the door before 7am this morning to go on an all day cruise around the 2300km Great Barrier Reef. Trevor’s cousin James is a skipper on the ‘Ocean Freedom’ catamaran and treated us to the most wonderful day. Our friend Robyn who we're staying with, came out with us too which was great!


We left the Cairns Harbour at 8am and sailed until we made it to a part of the reef that James’ cat has access to. It was pretty choppy for snorkling but we still went in and saw a huge variety of corals and reef fish.

In Cairns harbour

Some hours later we ate a delicious buffet lunch with lots of smoked salmon, prawns, cold continental meats, bread and salad. After totally filling ourselves we were taken to ‘Upolo Bay’, named after the German trading boat that was wrecked when it ran into the reef and forty people died and only seven people survived. The bay has a flat patch of sand in the middle where people were sunbaking, swimming and snorkling. 


The crew were incredibly helpful and would work to meet every request.


Max and Harry got to sit in the skippers chairs and found out about how to operate a large catamaran which they thought was pretty good! They were both asleep very early tonight!!


We really enjoyed our day – thanks James!!