Qld - Scarbourough

We have met several people on the road who had told us about the Redcliffe Penninsula just north of Brisbane, so we decided to stay a few days and check it out.
We stayed in a caravan park at Scarborough by the harbour. Unfortunately, while we were here the Queensland weather once again was storming and wet, but on the last day it was sunny so we checked out the area.
The bike and walking tracks are fantastic, running along the entire coastal areas with rest stops, work out areas, barbeques and parks. It was a Saturday morning and Redcliffe was humming with a market on the foreshore which was a “must do” for us, where we picked up some wonderful fresh fruit and produce. The restaurants were packed with people which is always good to see.
We spent a couple of hours watching the local kite surfing. As there are no surf beaches in the bay to jump the waves, they had built ramps, similar to skate board ramps, close to shore, where they would fly up to them and “sail” along them and jump off the end. Incredibly skillful and very entertaining to watch.

Qld - Noosa

We stayed at Tewantin which is a five minute drive from the main tourist strip at Hastings St in Noosa. Last time we were here, about 18 months ago, the beach at Noosa had been totally washed away by storms but it is now beautiful again. Amazing! It must have taken thousands of tons of sand to build it back up.
We had a delightful trip on the Noosa ferry cruise which takes you on a round trip from Tewantin boat Harbour to Noosa. The captain is very informative and gives a running commentary on the history of the area as well as a view of some of the beautiful homes and units on the waterways.
Staying at Tewantin was very relaxing and out of the hustle and bustle of Noosa. I guess because we have been on the road for so long now, we really enjoy the quieter places.
We stayed here for three days and then we parked our van in the driveway of friends in Mooloolaba for four days. We were hoping to take the kayak out on the waterways here but it stormed for the entire time which put an end to that idea.
Since being in Queensland the last three weeks, we have had rain, rain and more rain. So much for the slogan ‘ Beautiful one day, perfect the next!”

Qld - Hervey Bay

When you think of Hervey Bay, the first thing that comes to mind is whales, and we were not disappointed. We decided on a morning boat trip out on the bay, as the weather had been deteriorating in the afternoons.
We were picked up by the bus at 7:00a.m in the caravan park and the boat left the dock at 7:30. On the way to the northern tip of Fraser Isalnd we were served a hot breakfast and coffee which is my sort of trip. (Not having to think about cooking!) We had only been out for about ten minutes when we saw our first few whales. During the early part of October the majority of the whales are mothers with their babies. Most of the males and teenagers have already left for their long journey back to the southern oceans. We were entertained all morning by the young whales jumping in the air with Mum close by. The mums were spending a lot of time on their sides or backs slapping the water with one of their massive pectoral fins. There were also quiet times while the babies were feeding which was beautiful to watch.
The beaches on Fraser Island have very white sand which was a beautiful contrast to the deep turquoise blue water in the bay. They looked very inviting and we were watching many campers fishing and swimming as we hugged the shore line on our trip home.
Hervey Bay is a growing area with new resorts being built along the foreshore and noticed that many of the older homes have been torn down and grand new ones built.
The harbour area is worth a visit with restaurants, the fishing fleet, whale tour boats, rental boats and pleasure craft.

Qld - Bundaberg

This was our first trip to Bundaberg and we were very impressed with the beautiful old buildings especially in the main downtown area.
Sugar cane fields dominate the local landscape with most of this being used for the making of Bundaberg rum and ginger beer.
We went on a tour of the Bundaberg rum factory and at the end of the tour we were each given two sample drinks. I must say after Mike and I had our two drinks (It was 11:00 in the morning), I was ready for a nap.


The “Barrel”, another tourist stop, is the home of Bundaberg’s renowned ginger beer and several other flavours.







While in the area, we stayed at Bargara, which is on the coast, about a 10 minute drive from Bundaberg. We fell in love with this delightful beachside town where we found great coffee shops, beaches, a golf course and walking tracks along the coast line. Mon Repos, a Turtle Rookery, is about 5 klms from Bargara. The nesting season is from November to early March. We were a little early to see any turtles, but during the season you can purchase tickets to watch them laying which I think would be fantastic.

Qld - Gladstone

Gladstone, a city of 33,000 people has managed to balance a huge amount of industry with beautiful waterways and has one of the highest boat ownerships in Australia. This area lays claim to being the gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef with Lady Musgrove , Heron and Wilson Islands only a couple of hours boat trip from shore.

Gladstone is the world’s fifth largest coal exporting port and has the world’s largest Alumina refinery. While in Weipa, on the west coast of Cape York, last year, we watched ships being loaded with bauxite and it was fascinating to see where the journey ends here at the refinery. The final step is the making of aluminium at Boyne Smelters, near Gladstone, which is Australia’s largest smelter.

We stayed at Tannum Sands, a quiet town 20 klms south of Gladstone on the coast. Each morning we would take advantage of the fantastic trails, Mike on his bike and I would walk. Turtleway Bikeway, a 18klm trail hugs the coast and the river, which has great picnic areas along the way. Queensland really knows how to make the most of these areas - here the barbeques, picnic tables, covered areas, play grounds for the kids and toilets facilities are second to none and encourage the outdoor lifestyle.

We loved our stay here but we were glad to say goodbye to the sand flies which made sitting outside at our caravan park impossible.

Qld - Airlie Beach

Well, here we are back on the east coast at Airlie Beach after traveling the longest distance we have covered over a few days on our entire trip. In the past eight days from Darwin to Mackay, we have travelled 2,350 kilometres with a fuel bill of $847.00, our most expensive week of fuel so far.
We stayed at Sapphire for two days on the way and spent the time fossicking for gems and found a few sapphires and zircons, only small ones but it is a lot of fun.

Our weather for the past few months has been sunny with barely a cloud in the sky. We spent two days enjoying the stunning Airlie Beach area and visiting with my cousin Jeff and his family. Then the weather changed. We had 300cm of rain in a few hours, cutting the roads north and south from Airlie Beach. The caravan park roads became water ways with kids floating down them on their boogie boards. The washers and dryers were running overtime as people were trying to dry their soaked clothes and bedding. Some of the families in tents were flooded out and moved into cabins, others just went home. Water was lying in the fields and the sugar cane farmers that were in the middle of harvesting will now have to wait for them to dry out.
Day four after the storm and still no blue sky.

So much for the Queensland slogan - “beautiful one day, perfect the next!”

Qld - Longreach

The two major attractions in Longreach is the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders museum. The Stockman’s Hall of Fame is a very modern building containing every thing related to the cattlemen and farmers in the area, past and present. They also have many “horsey” and cattle events on the grounds throughout the year.






Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service) began in this area in the 1920’s as a way of tying the outback together. If you are entering Longreach from the south, you see the tail section of a jumbo jet at the Qantas museum, which is something that you certainly don’t expect to see at a small country airport. The many planes and memorabilia here makes you appreciate how Qantas has grown so much over the years.

The area had flooding rains this past summer and the fields were green and lush with healthy sheep and cattle everywhere. Years ago this area was sheep country but now beef is predominant.


We spent a couple of hours at the Longreach school of the air. Children on cattle stations and remote communities no longer have to use the two-way transceivers. It is now done over the phone with computer support. Most children now have access to satellite internet. We watched a typical “classroom” in progress with a teacher in the glass walled studio and were fascinated with the interaction between the teacher and students over the phone and on the computer.

Qld - Winton

Winton is a very typical western Queensland town with lots of pubs, beautiful old buildings, wide streets, the main one divided by a treed and grassed strip. The country side is very barren and I always wonder what the cattle eat. They all look very healthy so there is good “tucker” somewhere.

Winton is famous for being the town where Banjo Patterson’s “Waltzing Matilda” was written and first performed. In the main street is a “jolly swagman” statue and dinosaur footprint rubbish bins as Winton is part of the "dinosaur trail."

110 klm out of town at Lark Quarry is the world’s only record of a dinosaur stampede. Apparently a huge carnivorous dinosaur ran into a herd of smaller ones causing the panicked rush. In town there is a life-size diorama of these foot prints and many bones which was fascinating to view.

NT - Daly Waters

We began our trip south from Darwin heading to Mackay on the Queensland coast. From there we would begin the final leg towards home in Newcastle. Weather in Darwin had been around 35 degrees each day and very humid so we were hoping to be in cooler weather soon. No such luck!
Each day south of Darwin the weather was between 35 and 40 degrees. As soon as we had settled into our campsites we turned on the air conditioning. We were planning on doing a few free camps by the side of the road on this leg but due to the heat we opted for caravan parks and a powered site.


We stopped at Mataranka and had a swim in the beautiful clear thermal pools. The air temperature was 40 and the water temperature was 34. Normally it would have been very pleasant but in 40 degrees the water needed to be a little cooler to make it more refreshing. I can imagine that in cooler weather traveling to each of the many springs would be a wonderful trip in itself.






Daly Waters was our second overnight stop after Darwin, and very entertaining. We stayed in the camping area at the back of the pub, had the renowned Barra and Beef barbeque dinner and enjoyed looking at all the memorabilia in the pub. This pub is 3 kilometres off the Stuart Hwy and well worth the stop. During the cooler months, there is live entertainment but we were a couple of weeks too late for this. Watching the locals was entertainment enough!

NT - Darwin

Darwin, the multi cultural capital of the Northern Territory, is Australias’ most modern city due to the flattening by cyclone Tracy in 1974 and the subsequent rebuild. There are now many multi story buildings, mostly apartment blocks over- looking the beautiful blue waters of the harbour and local bays. Parliament House and adjoining library is an impressive pillared building which is down town and easily accessible to everybody. Inside the building is very open with wonderful local indigenous art gracing the walls.

Darwin, being close to Asia has a multi cultural feeling with every type of restaurant here to enjoy. Darwin is a city of markets, with six held over the weekends and during the week. They all have delicious foods, clothing, handmade crafts, jewellery, massages, and everything else imaginable.

Darwin was bombed by the Japanese in WW2. In 1942, 115 tonnes of bombs were dropped, more than at Pearl Harbour by the same Japanese planes just 10 weeks before. Over 250 people were killed and many more wounded. There are still many visible reminders and tours to see first hand how close we came to having the Japanese invade.

Darwin has something for everybody: crocodile and wildlife parks, fishing, shopping, dinning, fabulous museums and art galleries, bike and walking tracks, wonderful parks and great sunsets. There is no excuse to be board in this city.

NT - Litchfield National Park

The beauty about this park is that it is small with most of the natural features easily accessible with a 2WD vehicle and it is only 129 klms south of Darwin.

The area is dominated by a huge sandstone plateau with numerous cascading waterfalls,
plunge pools, pockets of dense monsoon rainforest, termite mounds and interesting eroded outcrops.


We stayed here for three days. Each morning we would drive, and/ or walk to one of the many waterfalls, have a swim and then back to the caravan for lunch. After lunch we would spend the afternoon relaxing at Wangi Falls which has two spectacular waterfalls and a massive swimming hole ( crocodile free!) and only a five minute drive from our campsite. (We just found out that Wangi Falls has been closed for three days. . . . .they found a crocodile!!!)


Upon entering the park there is a valley with many gigantic termite mounds that stand up to two metres in height. The mounds’ thin edges point north-south, minimising their exposure to the sun and keeping the mounds cool for the termites. Fascinating! The area looks like a grave yard of large grey tomb stones.



I never get tired of seeing waterfalls. We saw six while we here and each has its own special beauty. We went on a couple of 4WD tracks and we crossed one stream that was about half a metre deep so that kept Mike happy as he drove us from waterfall to waterfall.

NT-Cahills Crossing

The East Alligator River forms the north eastern boundary between Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land. The river is very dirty and full of crocodiles, barramundi and catfish.
Cahill’s Crossing is the only way to drive into Arnhem land from Kakadu and watching people crossing this river can be entertaining, especially at high tide when the water is running very quickly.



On the incoming tide the salt water and the barramundihead upstream. Towards the top of the tide the water rushes across the crossing and the crocodiles patrol the waters with their mouths open waiting for the unsuspecting barra. Occasionally cars and crocodiles are trying to cross and the same time. The crocodiles usually turn around and wait for the cars to pass.
Mike fished here once but was so concerned with the prowling crocs that he couldn't relax enough to enjoy the fishing.

NT-Arnhem land

Arnhem Land has restricted entry and the only two ways to get there is with a tour or by obtaining a permit. Its population is predominantly Aboriginal people, whose traditional culture remains largely intact. We spent one day on a guided tour and had a local take us to rock art sites and explain the paintings which were incredibly detailed, some dating back many thousands of years. We viewed a burial site which still had the bones intact but were not allowed to take photos in this sacred area.






Our guide Thomo is a lovely gentle man, as most of the Aborigines here seem to be. They are very shy and will only speak to you if you start the conversation. Thomo is also an artist and we were fortunate to be able to buy one of his paintings.



We enjoyed this visit to Arnhem land so much that we purchased a permit and drove in ourselves for a second visit. The permits are very strict, you must drive straight to your destination with no stopping on the way. We visited the art centre and watched some of the men painting, most of them sitting on the ground. In this region the men paint and each art work is a cultural story. The women weave baskets from grasses that they collect and colour with local dyes. They are so patient and their work is so detailed.

During the dry season the locals are busy burning off the scrub so the sky is usually a little hazy from the smoke. Arnhem land is a wonderful place, you can feel something special when you drive across the river and enter this area of wetlands, escarpments, lush green grasses and wildlife everywhere. The Aboriginees here still hunt and gather and are working at keeping their culture alive. The entire area is alcohol free as they know how destructive it is for their people. The closest place for them to buy alcohol is over two hundred kilometres away. We would love to visit more of Arnhem Land, maybe next time.

NT - Kakadu

Kakadu covers an area of 20,000 very diverse square kilometres. Rainforests, wetlands, tidal flats, plunging waterfalls, huge tidal rivers, and massive vertical cliffs are all part of the magic of Kakadu.



Billabongs and wetlands at this time of year are full of bird life, water lilies and crocodiles. One morning we went on a boat tour to the Yellow Water Wetlands where we saw about ten crocodiles cruising the waterways for their favourite food, barramundi.



The Aboriginal culture here at Kakadu is very strong and many of the tours are with Aboriginal guides. Some of the rock art is dated at over 20,000 years old, is incredibly well preserved and very detailed. We climbed Ubirr rock, where much of this art work is painted.. From here you can see the huge escarpments in the distance which border Arnhem Land.

While staying in the National Park there is always something to do and see. Our car has been on many four wheel drive tracks while here and once again for Mike’s enjoyment, lots of water crossings. Our deepest one this time was 60cm which had me very nervous.

The weather has been hot every day between 30 and 35 degrees so we get our walks in early. Most of the walks into the gorges, waterfalls and swimming holes are only about 2 kilometres but clambering over huge boulders in the heat can really zap your energy. The camp grounds we stayed at had resort style swimming pools so we spent the afternoons lazing around them.





The two Uranium mines, Ranger and Jabiluka are located near the main township of Jabiru. We drove out to the Ranger mine one day and typical of all mines has huge trucks, piles of slag, and a deep hole. The only thing that we didn’t see is how they take the uranium out of here. There are no train lines so it must be moved by truck. Beside the mine is a beautiful billabong where we saw our first close up of a Jabiru. It is interesting that with all the ugliness of the mine, beauty is right next door.

NT-Katherine

We spent three days in Katherine visiting local sites including the beautiful Edith Falls and swimming holes. We then moved out to the National Park camping area beside Nitmiluk Gorge (formerly Katherine Gorge) and spent four wonderful nights there.

Nitmiluk Gorge is a maze of waterways sculptured from the sandstone over countless millennia by the Katherine River. There is 13 gorges making up this stretch and we took a boat tour on three of them and swam in one of the pools between gorges one and two. As fresh water crocodiles are in the area you never feel relaxed while swimming.




There are many walks throughout the park so you can keep yourself very busy and fit during your stay.

WA-Lake Argyle

This man made lake is Australia’s largest body of freshwater and is 91 times larger than Sydney Harbour. This inland sea was created by damming the Ord River, forming a storage reservoir to supply the huge irrigation schemes in the Kununurra area. The power produced by this dam supplies electricity to much of the Kimberley region.

What was once “Argyle Downs”, a million acre cattle station, originally owned by the famous Durak family, now lies at the bottom of this lake. The Durak family homestead, built by the family in 1895, was dismantled stone by stone, rebuilt and is now a museum not far from Lake Argyle Village.

Lake Argyle Village is the only place to stay on the lake. There are camping sites, cabins and a restaurant. The infinity swimming pool set on the cliff has a breathtaking view of the lake and the cliffs.

This area is a man made marvel. The lake is roughly 75klms x 45 klms and is home to almost 1/3 of Australia’s bird species and has a wetland area. We spent an afternoon cruising the lake seeing many of these birds and crocodiles. A very relaxing and beautiful place to stay only 70klm east of Kununurra and 7klm from the WA and NT border.

WA-Kununurra

Kununurra was established as a town in 1960 to service the Ord River Scheme. The Ord River was dammed in 1971 to form a storage reservoir supplying water to the many farms by gravity fed irrigation channels. This area is now very lush with mangoes, sandalwood forests, cotton, sugar cane, melons and countless other fruits and vegetables.

Ivanhoe crossing is a delightful picnic and fishing spot on the Ord River. We watched people drive their vehicles back and forth just to see if they could manage the low lying crossing. The most entertaining was a ute with children in the back, watching the crocodile lying on the rocks in the middle of the river. This is apparently a good spot to catch barramundi but nobody had any luck the two days that we were here.

Another attraction is the local Argyle Diamond mine which produces approx. 38 million carots of diamonds a year - one third of the world’s production, making Argyle the largest diamond mine in the world. The diamonds are stunning with clear, champagne and pinks. I found one that I liked but we would have had to sell the car- not a good move! The mine will run out of diamonds in the near future so now would be a good time to buy one.

WA-El Questro

While staying at Wyndham we decided to spend a couple of days exploring the eastern end of the Gibb River Road. We re packed the four wheel drive with all our camping gear ready for another adventure.
The road is gravel but was recently graded so the traveling was easy. We stayed at El Questo which is a one million acre Wilderness Park. Within the park there are numerous gorges, rivers to cross, challenging four wheel drive tracks and some fantastic watering holes to swim in. Our favourite was Zebedee Springs which is a permanent thermal spring surrounded by palms and sheer cliff faces. The temperature is 28-32 degrees celsius all year round. The walk in is an easy 750metres one way, crossing the creek several times. We would get up in the mornings, come here for a dip and then spend the rest of the days exploring the area. Mike was in his element with many water crossings, the largest being the Pentecost River which was about 50 metres. During one of the crossings I couldn’t see the running boards so I was a little scared to say the least but the car just keeps chugging over the river stones to the other side. What a gem.





We camped at our own private camping site called Willy Wagtail.
Along the Pentecost River are 25 private camp spots and we were lucky enough to get one. Mike would collect wood in the afternoons and each night we sat around the camp fire with a glass of wine. It is during moments like this that we talk about what a wonderful life we have, the incredible sites that we have seen and the experiences that we have had. The only thing missing on this trip is our family.

















As Tom Hanks said in one of his movies “Thank you for my life, I forgot how BIG.”