NT - Uluru

All the pictures that you see of this incredible Australian icon do not do its size and rock structure justice.
As you are drive or walk around the base the colours of the rock are constantly changing depending on where the sun is striking it.
Uluru is one of the great natural wonders of the world. This sandstone monolith stands 348 metres above ground and has a much larger mass hidden beneath the surface. Uluru is also considered by many to be the spiritual heart of Australia.
On our second day, we drove out to the rock at about 6:30a.m, and watched the sun move onto, and then up the rock. It is as if you are watching the rock wake up, the colour goes from brown to brilliant red in a matter of minutes and is spell binding.
We then decided to walk around the base. It is a 9.4klm walk and took us about three hours. There are times when you are walking beside the rock and other times, because of sacred aboriginal sites you are walking quite a distance away from it. There are many caves with aboriginal drawings, water holes and as it had rained recently, there was still a little bit of water running off the rock.
We enjoyed being out by the rock so we came back every day we were there to either do short walks, watch the sunset or just sit beside it. I felt like the rock was a friend and I couldn’t wait to get back out to be beside it. The drive from the camp area out to the rock is about 21 klms so you always get a good view each time you drive out there and back.
The Aboriginals ask they that you do not climb the rock as it is a sacred site and while you are in this amazing part of Australia you certainly want to respect the wishes of this incredible race of people.
I spent about an hour at the Cultural Centre watching three aboriginal ladies painting which was fascinating. I could have sat and watched them all day. One of the women has an exhibition coming up in Melbourne so she was busy finishing off a couple of her latest works.
Uluru is one of those special places that touches your heart.

NT - East Macdonnell Ranges

We spent three days in the East Macdonnell ranges and were fascinated with the many different geological formations. We were driving around spellbound, appreciating the upheaval that had occurred in the earths crust eons ago to create these mountain ranges.

We drove on a 4 Wheel drive track to N’Dhala Gorge Nature Park which has over 6,000 aboriginal carvings. This park is unique in the fact that much of the art is not sign posted so when you find something yourself it is very exciting. It is hard to believe that some of the carvings are as much as 10,000 years old. While walking these mountain tracks Mike and I have seen many beautiful birds, try to photograph and then identify them in our now much used bird book. Many of them are very small and so colourful.

Another afternoon was spent at Trephina Gorge which has spectacular walking and hiking trails along the top of the Quartzite cliffs. After you are totally exhausted from walking up and down the cliff tops, you descend into the dry sandy river bed which you then have to walk along to get back to the car park. Along the way there are huge river red gums which give you shade from time to time. Needless to say, this was another 35 degree day so we were looking forward to getting back to the caravan and cooling off. (A beer is always very welcoming at the end of these hot energetic days).

Further into the ranges we drove to Artlunga Historical Reserve which was the site of an old gold mining town. We climbed down into an abandoned gold mine which makes you appreciate how hard these men worked. The gold from this area was attached to the quartz deposits so they had to grind the quartz down first and then extract the gold.

Qld - South from Mt Isa

We had a wonderful trip south from Mt Isa with varying landscapes and many places of interest along the way.
One of the most fascinating was Devils Marbles. Out of the blue, these huge granite boulders appear and look as though they have been strategically placed there by super human strength. The balance of some of them is remarkable.
We walked along the many trails around the rocks knowing that for thousands of years this has been a very special area for the Aborigines. You can definitely feel that there is something magical about the area.
We camped about 20klms south of here and drove back the next night to watch the sunset from these rocks. Magical!

Further south we travelled to Gemtree, which is a camping area about the 140 klms NE of Alice Springs. We stayed here for two nights and had a delightful time. One of the major attractions of Gemtree is the Tag- a- long garnet fossicking tours. We spent six hours out in the heat with the flies and the wind to find some garnets. My fingers were nearly rubbed raw, I broke two finger nails, my hair was tinged red from the dust, our backs were aching from the pick and shoveling and of course that good old red dust covered our clothes and was in our shoes and socks. How much are these garnets worth? We had loads of fun, lots of laughter and we’ll eventually have some jewelry made so its’ all good.

Gemtree has a golf course which we perused but decided not to play. We thought that our golf balls and clubs would never be the same again.

Qld - Mt Isa

Mt Isa is one of the largest cities in the world with an area of 41,000 square kilometres and a population of around 20,000.
The Mt Isa mine stacks are the first things that you see as you arrive. The mine is huge and the city is built on part of its’ eastern boundary. These massive open cut and underground mines obtain zinc, lead, copper, silver. The land lease takes in an area of approximately 55klms x 5 klms.
We went on a guided tour of the open cut mine and into some of the processing area and found it fascinating.
Lake Moondarra is a huge man- made lake about 15 klms out of town which caters for all the local water sports- skiing, kayaking, jet skis and fishing. They have done a beautiful job creating picnic areas with many shelters, barbeques and grass. Grass out here is rare, so when we see it we get rather excited.
During WW2 they built an underground hospital here in case of attack from the Japanese. The miners drilled out an area that could fit about 30 patient beds, a delivery corner, nursery and a small operating area. Volunteers over the last 15 years have restored the previously abandoned tunnels and re constructed the hospital to its former glory.
This tour was very interesting and lovely and cool compared to the 35 degrees outside. We decided to stay at Mt Isa for three nights as the swimming pool at the caravan park was heaven in this heat and we needed power to run the air conditioner.
We have found the roads in general very good. Sometimes when there is only a single lane, and a road train over fifty metres long is coming towards you, your heart jumps. We pull right off onto the shoulder and give them the entire road. At least by doing that we don’t get showered with red dust and rocks.
The area around Mt Isa has some intriguing rock formations which always keeps the drive interesting.

Qld - Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park

We have been recommended not to miss Lawn Hill by several people on our travels and we are so glad that we made the effort to go. We re- packed our car with our camping gear and kayak and travelled the 100klms of very average unsealed road from Gregory Downs to our camp area. Thank goodness that we had decided to leave our van in storage. I think we would have shaken everything out of the cupboards with all the corrugations on the road.
The drive to the park is very dry but once you set up camp and head for the water the scenery is breathtaking. The first day we took the kayak on a 6 klm round trip to the top of the gorge and back. We stopped three times along the way to swim in the emerald coloured tepid water. We were so glad that we had our own Kayak as the rental ones are $20.00 per hour. Over the four days we spent hours going up and down the waterways.The bird life is so colourfull, the pandanus and coconut palms that line the water make you feel like you are in a heavenly oasis.
The four days that we camped here the temperature reached 35 to 37 degrees each day so no sooner had we got out of the water we would be dry within a few minutes and then jump right back in. The camp ground was very barren with few trees but with our quick- shade and tent we made ourselves very comfortable in no time at all. Our camp site was only a stones throw from the water so it made our frequent trips down there very convenient. There are several wonderful bush walks around the area so we did those in the early morning and late afternoon.
The waters here are rich in lime and when the water evaporates porus rocks are formed, these are composed mainly of calcium carbonate and are called tufas. They look like they are huge solidifed bubbles and they can be seen mainly around the waterfalls and dried creek beds.
We also drove out to Riversleigh where the fossil deposits are among the richest and most extensive in the world. We went to D-site which is the only area open to the public and could see some of these fossils. Some dating back 15-25 million years ago. Fascinating.
Lawn Hill-a little bit of heaven!

Qld - Cairns to Normanton

The drive up to the Atherton tablelands west of Cairns was very picturesque with farms along the way growing everything imaginable. Many had road side stalls selling some of their produce.
When we arrived at Ravenshoe, Queensland’s highest town, we were greeted by about 12 wind generators producing electricity with no negative effect on the environment. You have to ask why there aren’t more out there in the Australian countryside.
As we continued heading west the land became much dryer and flatter and the farms quickly became stations, some thousands of acres. We spent a wonderful morning at Undara Volcanic National Park where there is over sixty extinct volcanoes. We walked around the rim of one of these, Kalkani crater, which is about 1.5 klms around the rim. From here we could see many of the volcanic cones in the area.
The Undara lava tubes were created about 190,000 years ago. These tubes were formed when the outside of the crust of a lava flow cools very quickly due to a rapid drop in outside temperature as the core of the flow keeps moving. The inside of some of these tubes were used by the aborigines for hundreds of years as eating places.
We spent a couple of memorable nights on the way to Normanton at camp areas where we sat around the camp fire with a guitarist, having sing a-longs with people we had never met. There is something magical about the outback.
Normanton is about 75 klms from the Gulf of Carpentaria. The main street of town has a replica of Krys, the 8.63metre long crocodile who was shot by a woman Krystina Powlowski in 1957. He is so massive that it is hard to believe that he was real.
While in Normanton we took a three hour trip on the Gulflander, the local famous old train which took us on a twenty mile trip where they stopped for us to disembark and have morning tea by a pond with water lilies and bird life. We have become quite the bird watches and have our book out all the time identifying the bird life. We have found lots of Brolgas, cranes and kites here are being challenged trying to take photos of them.
We now head further west to the Lawn Hill National Park where we will put our van in storage and camp for four days.

Qld - Port Douglas and The Daintree

While based at Cairns we spent some time up at Port Douglas and the Daintree. The drive along the coast to Port Douglas has to be one of the most picturesque I have driven. You wind your way north hugging the coast most of the way and pass along miles of palm lined beaches and hidden resorts.

Port Douglas is the home of many exclusive resorts, fabulous restaurants, day spas, art galleries and shopping. The area is unique in that it has two World Heritage listed natural attractions at its doorstep, the Reef and the Daintree.

Every Sunday morning, markets are held in Market Park which is at the inlet end of Macrossan St. The market has everything from fruit and vegs, arts, craft, pottery, clothing, lots of great jewelery, Australian souvenirs and loads more. The quality of everything is very high. My favourite stall was a man on a push bike squeezing the juice from the sugar cane. They added ice and a little fresh lime. It was delicious. It is probably just as well that we are short on space in the van because I could have done some serious damage to my credit card between the markets and the great shops in town.

North of here the Mossman river tumbles its way over the huge granite boulders that line the Mossman Gorge. There is a walking track that takes you through the Daintree stopping along the way to view the water and the swimming holes. We also spent two nights in the Daintree near Cape Tribulation. We even saw a cassowary as we were driving through the area. While we were at the Daintree it rained on and off for two days so we really felt part of the rain forest experience. We went on a crocodile cruise on Coopers Creek and saw four crocodiles on the shore relaxing and swimming.

The wind finally died down and we headed out to the reef on Shaolin which is a Chinese Junk. It was a very relaxing day and we got to swim with the turtles which was the trip highlight. Just to watch them glide through the water beside you is a surreal experience. They then rest at the turtle cleaning stations where the rass go to work getting unwanted creatures from underneath their shells. Fascinating.

All in all, our time here in Northern Queensland has been a magical experience.
We now head west to Normanton and Karumba and are looking forward to seeing what that area has to share with us.