Travellin Oz! but off to NZ and USA SOON!

House sitting Ocean Shores

2011-05-03T15:03:00.001+10:00

Via friends of ours who house-sit on a regular basis, we were contacted by a couple, Russell and Brenda, who needed their house and 2 dogs, Harry and Penny, cared for. We spent most of an afternoon with Russell and Brenda, mainly getting to know Harry and Penny. Harry is a mixture of Corgi and 4 or 5 other breeds; Penny seems to have some Labrador, bit of Alsatian and maybe even a touch of Dingo.
They both are real characters and tend to get a bit worried if they are not quite sure where you are. They sleep outside the bedroom and are just so excited to see you in the morning. When we returned after being shopping for a short while they nearly knocked us over when we opened the door.

We are going to miss them when our 6 week stint is over - but not enough to be tied down by a pet!

Harry's pensive look!

Harry's favourite spot - by the fridge!!!!!

Afternoon view from the back yard.

Just a couple of winged visitors

Angel's Trumpet flower

Surf beach is not far from the house

Penny had just woken up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dogs examining their territory

Feed me...FEED ME!! I'm fading away.....

Harry very relaxed

Harry - very relaxed

Minyon Falls in a downpour!!!!!

Penny - just waiting patiently

There was a storm brewing and Penny gets a bit nervous....a cuddle for her helps though.

Beach flower

Red Riding Hood

Morning smoochy time!!!!

Water lily flower

Just Terry's choice of photos from Vegas

2011-04-18T21:18:00.000+10:00

Renewing vows video

2011-04-18T20:04:00.000+10:00

Las Vegas trip 4 - 11th April 2011

2011-04-18T18:01:00.000+10:00

First day and we had to go to the camera shop for a memory

stick for the new camera - just in case we took toooooomany photos.

This is our digs - the Excalibur Hotel and Casino

The Bellagio Hotel was having a flower extravaganza - just beautiful!!

These are handblown glass.

The Flamingo Hotel - with of course .................

Then there were the street performers

Inside the Excalibur - pokies forever, even old hand pull operated ones.

The Luxor Hotel - our neighbour

The Palazzo

Yay!!!!!

Margaritaville - couldn't get in, it's so popular

MGM Grand - grand hotel

REAL LION INSIDE.

The well known Mirage

Caesars Palace (where daughter Glynda is wardrobe mistress)

Some tower

Fountain show at the Bellagio

The Lady herself at New York New York Hotel

The amazing Venitian Hotel - canals, gondelas and gondeliers

but the ceilings inside were out of this world!!!

And for all you rockers

And drinks came in all sorts of containers - yard

glasses, guitars and measuring jugs

BUT

The two highlights and the main reasons for our trip -

catching up with daughter Glyn and Steve

and meeting our two Grandchildren, Krystal and Maddison

AND ALSO

Renewing our wedding wows on our 10th anniversary

with Ted as page boy, groomsman and witness.

and now for Las Vegas.

2011-04-17T13:21:00.002+10:00

!! Bitterly disappointed we returned the van and caught the shuttle bus to the airport where we wasted time waiting for our flight.

Now this is where the time really gets mucked up.

We flew out of NZ on 4th April on a new Air New Zealand aircraft – 777 300. looks lovely from the outside but inside, unless you are able to afford 1st class, it is still squishy and we had second last row seats. Flight was 12 hours something and of course it’s almost impossible to sleep on a plane!! Anyway eventually we landed in Los Angeles, cleared Customs and Security and found the terminal for our LV leg. Would you believe that although this was only a domestic flight we had to strip off belts and shoes as well. Must have thought we were Maxwell Smart (shoe phone) and 99. Caught the shuttle to Excalibur Hotel and it was still 4th April and just dropped into bed. The next week was taken up with all new sights, smells and sounds. Let the photos tell some of the story. In Vegas one can walk around inside buildings and even down the streets with alcoholic drinks in your hand. Try that in Brissy or Surfers!! The main reasons for coming to LV were to see our daughter Glynda and her family and to renew our wedding vows, we’ve been married 10 years to the day. The ceremony was short and the costumes, while fun, were as heavy as anything and really hot. Photos were taken by the Chapel photographer and here are a few. We met Glynda and family for what ended being an all too short time. It was our first meeting with the girls and they are quite delightful with many searching questions. It all went well and they loved the Aussie souvenirs we had taken for them. The rest of our time in LV was spent walking, shopping, walking, taking photos, eating new and unfamiliar food, walking and trying to understand what was being said to us. And of course sleeping. The days just went passed in a blur and so many times we had no idea of how late it was after downloading the photos to the computer, a few drinks in the room and surfing the TV. Most of the workers seemed to be either Mexican or of Mexican descent-----Australians working in the service industry could and should take a lesson from them. Service was so good that we happily gave tips. Even Americans serving were absolutely fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble – I think the ones we see in Australia are the ‘wackos’. Ha ha ha.

Every morning when we awoke and dared to look in a mirror…………………what a sight!!!!!!!We both has trouble sleeping due to sinus problems. We should have taken photos of each other…….puffy eyes, suitcases under the eyes; not a pretty sight.

Photos to follow in next blog..............

Ummm. Today is the day after the last day. Saturday 2nd!!!!!!

2011-04-17T13:19:00.001+10:00

Saturday 2nd
Drove to the city centre and sought some gifts and looked for a Duty Free shop. None there. The whole place was almost deserted!

Sunday 3rd
From Rotorua to Auckland today staying at a privately owned “caravan park” – I use this term very loosely. It was built on the side of a steep hill with smallish sites that were quite hard to get any van into. We watched an elderly gent and his wife manoeuvre their small van and car in and out a few times before finally parking not too straight, but they’d had enough - and they did all this for only one night! Time for drinkies, dinner and early night as we were flying out the next evening and had loads to do and see before then.

A nice stretch of road - somewhere! When is somebody going to invent a camera so you can add a

caption straight away? Oh! they have already......

Monday 4th
Our plans for today are quite simple:

1. Visit Auckland Zoo until about 2pm

2. Have a drink at the minus 5 degrees Ice Bar then head to the van drop off and airport.

Sounds all so simple until your Garmin leads the way. I swear it was set on “avoid any easy route, main road” or “take as many turns and steep roads”. Eventually we found the Zoo and lucky us, it was kids day, yep Monday is kids day.

Trundlers! Cos that's what you do when you shop!!!

ZOOTIME

Ted escaped!!!!!!!!!!

HMMMM..who is the fattest

Dancing Ostrich - needed a video

These are what happens when a government designs an animal

(stuffed) Kiwi

We were so happy to meet Christine - we have been watching her on TV for ages.

As soon as Val pulled out the camera Janey posed. She loves contact and the keepers sit and read to her. She loves to watch TV and her favourite toy is a pretend mobile phone.

These are Siamangs - Christine reared Iwani from a few weeks old till he was about 1 year.

Lion Headed Golden Tamarin

Meerkat on watch

Annd she woke up and peed and peed and peed ad infinitum

What a poser! Knows how good he looks!

These are brothers.

On behalf of our grand and great grandchildren (using money that we would normally spend on X-Mas gifts), we donated money to the Auckland Zoo's Orang Utan fund.

In 8 days this was all the distance we covered!

Oh - why no photos of the -5 Ice bar - there was nowhere to park the campervan!!!!!!!

NZ The day after the previous day!

2011-04-17T11:49:00.000+10:00

For some reason, unknown to this man and woman, we had trouble with this blog page and could not get the captions and photos in the correct order. Guess that is why most computers are called 'FRED'.

One of the amazing facts about this village is that there is a part of the settlement called the hidden village. Apparently 100 or so years ago there was an eruption and nearly all of the village was covered, some parts actually sunk, by volcanic ash. Only a small %age survived but rebuilt the village in the same area.

Modern village house

Meeting house circa 1940

The young warrior has no tattoos as he is 'smart'!

This Maori was hilarious, pulled funny faces all the time.

The your girl and the young warrior (in a previous photo) sung a traditional Maori love song. Beautiful voices.

This is called 'Blue Pool'

Yes, it means something!

Yellow, oozing sulphur, but pools were incredibly clear.

As you can see, sulphurous clouds are everywhere.

The water in this pool is actually boiling.

This geyser erupts at regular intervals

Same geyser.

We found a stand of Californian Redwoods

Tree in autumn colours.

On to Rotorua for the night. We pulled into Holdens Bay Park, the very one Brendan and I had visited in 1993, though some changes had been made.

And true to form, Terry (overweight!) broke a chair!

Tiki with tougue straight out is a threatning posture

The odour of sulphur permeates the whole town; this is in the centre of the village

Depicture of an original Maori 'sleeping' hut

These wooden sides constructions are dotted throughout the whole village. The steam is at a constant temperature and they know exactly how long it takes to cook food.

The water in this pool is absolutely crystal clear, but is always just below boiling point. The villagers use this pool to cook/boil their vegies.

The water from this pool slowly overflows - the villagers have built little channels that direct the water to bathing areas.The families/whole village bathe en-mass; but with discretion. The females go to the bathing area wearing a towel - they entering the bathing pools backwards, slowly lifting the towel until they are completely immersed. The males do it in a similar manner but they enter the water forwards. The village was going to host an Australian Junior Rugby team and teach them how to bathe, minus females. Apparently the best experience is to bathe when it is pouring rain.

Once more I apologise to all of our faithfull readers for getting all of this page out of order!!!!!!!!!!!

But I end this page on a happier note

NZ Day something!!!!!!!!!It's getting all a blur.............

2011-04-15T15:28:00.000+10:00

Friday 1st April
Headed into Napier for a “look see” and drove along the Esplanade – what cute houses we found – then up Bluff Hill to the lookout.This was a road made by a mad council worker on drugs. The houses literally cling to the hill with no two on a level site. One house even had a beautiful pool though I bet the builders weren’t amused. Walked around the lookout for a while then had to leave and head for Taupo.

Taupo is a very picturesque city with the lake as the main feature.

Can't quite remember where these falls were......but they looked spectacular anyway>

NZ Day 3 & 4

2011-04-15T13:56:00.000+10:00

Wednesday 30th March.

What can I say; more windy roads and beautiful country, saw more cows and even some Banded Galloways!!!!!! They MUST be cold country beefers as the only other place we have seen them is Tasmania. More pretty coastline. Stopped at a place called Waihi Beach and had lunch with the seagulls. Couple of NZers said Hi and told us that the distance we had covered in 2 days had taken them 14. I guess that’s like us in Aus. We stopped at Thornton Holiday Park overnight. The beach is just a hop away and the photo opportunities lend themselves to the professional photographer – unlucky for us, we’re not. Drinkies, dinner, books and goodnight. Thornton Beach is just before Whakatane.

Thursday 31st March

Left Thornton Beach to head to Napier – used the Garmin to navigate our way ‘cos some people said go this way and others said no go this way as the roads are not as windy….all the bl**dy roads are windy. Anyway headed off on a windy road; after a little way came upon a sign that advised us that the next 90 klms would be dirt road!!! As well as windy of course. We later calculated our staggering average speed of less than 40kph. Some of the scenery was awe inspiring – only problem was that for the most part the road was not only windy and very uppy and downy, there was nowhere to stop to take many photos. We were a little bit worried as the vehicle rental agreement stated that we were not to drive on dirt roads – never mind the fact that half the ‘normal’ roads were under repair and were dirt. Found a Top 10 Park and stayed the night. The sand of Hawkes Bay was really black and the weather a bit blowy. The park had its own rabbits running around with a night cage near the office.

NZ Day 2.

2011-04-15T13:47:00.000+10:00

Tuesday 29th March.

This morning back to the rental depot and spoke to Tania about the tyre problems. She got top marks for customer service and we were soon on our way after they had replaced the whucked tyre . We were heading for the Coromandel area. Rolling green hills, lots of very fat cattle, dairy herds, and very, very green grass. Most of the places we passed through have names that are almost unprounceable to us….we also found out that it is perfectly acceptable to pronounce ‘wh’ as ‘wh’ and not ‘f’.

The road follows the coastline most of the way making the drive very picturesque…..for the passenger anyway. The road/highway is incredibly windy and the ocean was a most beautiful shade of cerulean……I call it blue though! At one stage we saw a huge pod of dolphins feeding – some of them were jumping right out of the water. As we had a rather late start we only covered a short distance and stayed the night at Harbour Side Park, Whitianga, which was not actually harbour side…..young chap in the office quoted us $28 per person per night. As we were tired and there was no other park available we decided we had no choice but to pay this exorbitant fee. Val asked if it was their high season and was told yes – until after Easter…….very strange, park was virtually empty - wonder what it’s like in the low season. Anyway, Val tendered $100 and received $60 in change - we just walked out, parked the van -still trying to understand New Zealand maths. $40 was still excessive as you then had to pay for a shower. Fortunately the van is equipped with a shower and toilet so we saved the massive amount of $1 in not having to pay for a shower.
As we were wandering through the park, post drinkies, we saw our very first (for both of us) apple tree. I was able to reach one small apple and it was most tasty. And so, after a few more sundowners, Val cooked a nice meal and then it was beddi bies for us.

N.Z. North Island Day 1.

2011-04-15T13:39:00.000+10:00

NZ – USA Trip - Monday 28th March 2011

Well, today was the start of our NZ and USA tour. Up at just after 4:30, as a friend, thanks John W, kindly offered in a moment of red wine madness to drive us to the airport. Beautiful run to the airport – for the first 15 minutes anyway – then chaos; someone had run out of fuel on the Gateway Arterial Motorway. !@#$%^%$’ers who don’t check their fuel gauges.

Anyway we still got to the airport in lots of time for us to be able to buy some duty free (booze………….)

Nice flight in a one class NZ flight – no cattle class – we were all sheep class……

Free booze with a pretty good breakfast. We watched a movie and were very soon in Auckland. Caught a shuttle bus to pick up the camper van, paper work was virtually all done – watched a video about the van and then we were off………….almost.

The Garmin decided there were no satellites to be found and so we had to take some directions from the van hire place………..and then the fun began……..Had driven for a few hundred metres and Garmin kicked in telling us we were going the wrong way!

Trusting souls that we are we followed the Garmin’s advice; especially as I has just updated maps. What a useless piece of cr*p. Told us to turn down a road that did not exist, go via roundabouts that hadn’t been there for years and soon desperation set in-------especially as a fellow motorist informed us we had a flat tyre! @#$%$#@!

Found a servo, pumped up the tyre that immediately went down of again. Drove round in circles on an ever-deflating tyre, which we found later had steel showing through it. We found a panel beater who let me use his phone but the emergency number didn’t answer. And it’s getting very late in the arvo by now. He directed us to a friend of his who had a tyre shop – he took the old tyre off and put on the spare and would not accept any $$$$ ….. HE EVEN FOLLOWED US TO A SERVO SO HE COULD PUMP THE TYRE UP!!!!!!! Such a nice guy – we eventually forced some $ on him. THE GARMIN WAS GETTING US LOST, again.

Drove southeast then to a van park – damn it was full. Directed to another park – OK. Of course we hadn’t been to buy any food – went to a local dairy and paid a fortune for a few items!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a very restless night – ‘twas a bit coolish and we planned how we were going to ‘front’ the campervan hire people.

It was such a hard first day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travelling NEW ZEALAND. North Island 8 days.

2011-03-09T13:07:00.000+10:00

NEW ZEALAND PLANS.

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 732 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 28 MAR 11 BRISBANE 8.30AM

ARRIVE MON 28 MAR 11 AUCKLAND 2.40PM

TOTAL TIME BRISBANE TO AUCKLAND 03.10

BACKPACKER CAMPERVANS - WANDERER 2 BERTH SHOWER & TOILET - manual

PICK UP: 28 MARCH 3.40PM AUCKLAND AIRPORT DEPOT (off Airport)

DROP OFF: 04 APRIL 4.00PM AUCKLAND AIRPORT DEPOT (off Airport)

After collecting Campervan – STAY FIRST NIGHT at AUCKLAND NORTHSHORE HOLIDAY PARK. 52 NORTHCOTE RD. NORTHCOTE.

We had planned to map out exactly whee we wanted to go etc. NOW we have decided that we shall simply point the campervan north first and just follow the road/map and simply see the sights. We will probably only see about half of the North Island – that gives us a reason to return another time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travelling USA - Las Vegas, Nevada

2011-02-19T09:28:00.000+10:00

Travelling NEW ZEALAND

2011-02-18T18:08:00.000+10:00

We shall be departing Brisbane to fly to New Zealand on 28th March. We will be hiring a campervan and plan on visiting Auckland, Bay of Islands,then to the very top of the island, Cape Reinga, back down the island, across to the Coromandel Peninsular, along the east coast to Gisbourne, then to Napier, then to Taupo, Rotorua then back to Auckland via Hamilton. After 8 days in NZ we then go to USA........

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 732 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 28 MAR 11 BRISBANE 8.30AM

ARRIVE MON 28 MAR 11 AUCKLAND 2.40PM

TOTAL TIME BRISBANE TO AUCKLAND 03.10

BACKPACKER CAMPERVANS - WANDERER 2 BERTH SHOWER & TOILET - manual

PICK UP: 28 MARCH 3.40PM AUCKLAND AIRPORT DEPOT (off Airport)

DROP OFF: 04 APRIL 4.00PM AUCKLAND AIRPORT DEPOT (off Airport)

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 2 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 04 APR 11 AUCKLAND 9.30PM

ARRIVE MON 04 APR 11 LOS ANGELES 2.45PM

TOTAL TIME AUCKLAND TO LOS ANGELES 12.15

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 3780 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 04 APR 11 LOS ANGELES 5.30PM

ARRIVE MON 04 APR 11 LAS VEGAS 6.34PM

TOTAL TIME LOS ANGELES TO LAS VEGAS 01.04

* FLIGHT OPERATED BY US AIRWAYS STAR ALLIANCE MEMBER *

ACCOMMODATION IS CONFIRMED

EXCALIBAR HOTEL & CASINO

LAS VEGAS

IN: MONDAY 04 APRIL

OUT: MONDAY 11 APRIL

TOWER ROOM

UNITED AIRLINES UA 6518 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 11 APR 11 LAS VEGAS 1.56PM

ARRIVE MON 11 APR 11 LOS ANGELES 3.10PM

TOTAL TIME LAS VEGAS TO LOS ANGELES 01.14

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 1 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART MON 11 APR 11 LOS ANGELES 9.30PM

ARRIVE WED 13 APR 11 AUCKLAND 5.30AM

TOTAL TIME LOS ANGELES TO AUCKLAND 13.00

AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 731 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED

DEPART WED 13 APR 11 AUCKLAND 6.40AM

ARRIVE WED 13 APR 11 BRISBANE 8.30AM

TOTAL TIME AUCKLAND TO BRISBANE 03.50

Hopefully I will be to add photos to our blog as we take them..........

stay tuned.

January 2011

2011-01-19T20:28:00.000+10:00

Well, we have been very slack about updating our blog since returning to Brisbane for a while. Ever since our return it has done nothing but rain and flood - but at least we have caught up with (most) of our kids, their kids and their kids kids!!!!!!!! So seeing as I am so slack - I have just added photos......

Bedford Weir - near Blackwater Friday 5th November

2010-11-05T17:25:00.001+10:00

I might try this a different way. Actually, I started this blog and suddenly it flew off into cyberspace of its own accord - so if you happen to be sitting in front of your computer and you see it whiz by - please grab it and send the f$%ker to me!

Thought I would try an 'artistic' shot - won't bother again.

Except for this one

Bedford Weir, notice the level of the road at its high point - in flood it's over the road.

This is our camp at Bedford Weir.

Very quiet here, very little to do if you do not have a boat. Consequently, as we relaexed for 7 days at Theresa Creek dam, we are only staying here a few days. just long enough for me to distill some strong water!

Talking of water; our van tanks were almost empty, and as there is no drinking water at Bedford Weir (camp is free and so are hot showers - using dam water - just shower with your mouth closed) and so we filled the tanks - 120 litres- from a tap in a park near a school in Blackwater. I had a mouthful first - yep, tasted fine. Filled tanks, drove the 26 klms to Bedford Weir, started setting up camp - I had to make a dash to the loos - yep, you guessed it; nothing that had passed my lips that day wanted to stay inside me. SO---later on, back into Blackwater to buy some drinking water.

At least the 'tap' water has not gone to waste - Val has done a couple of loads of washing.

And so, tomorrow, Saturday, we are going to go to Awoonga Dam (near Gladstone), stay for 2/3 days and I might even flick a few lures around and try to catch a barra.

Val - can't wait for the barra in the pan or on the BBQ. Hope we catch two so one can be smoked on Gunnar's smoker in Hervey Bay - yummmmmm!

Stay tuned..........and a special note to Pat.......you may go on 5 star cruises............we stay in million star camps - ha ha ha and we hope the novelty takes years to wear off!

Sapphire & Theresa Creek Dam

2010-11-03T19:01:00.000+10:00

Our travels so far.

We are a little bit late in posting this blog – been having so much fun. We left Barcaldine and travelled through the small town of Alpha – called the town of murals. Admittedly there are quite a few murals; only trouble is that only a few of them are worth taking photos of – so we didn’t bother – except for one of Lorikeets.

It is amazing the types of wildlife we have seen in our travels so far – we have been going to places where there is little vehicle traffic and so we have seen:- wild pigs when we were looking for dinosaur fossils, mobs of curious kangaroos when we were gemstone fossicking, herds of wild goats, a few bustards (we interrupted one during his courtship), and so many different types of birds – glad we bought a book of Australian birds. One thing we did find out about birds – the black noisy bird we commonly call a crow is actually an Australian Raven. That’s the one that calls ‘faaaark’

Australian Bustard – in courting stance

And on the gem field – just waiting for us………Errrrr, no, we didn’t buy it!

Welcome to Sapphire Van Park

Anyway, we arrived at the Central Queensland area for gemstones – mainly revolves round the towns of Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie. We had been told of a caravan park in Sapphire WITH A SWIMMING POOL !Very important as the weather is quite warm. The park is in a bushland setting and is possibly one of the very best we have stayed in. Late in the afternoon the owners put out feed for wildlife – they only put out carrots, oats and other seeds. A male magpie has adopted us, as soon as he sees us up and around, he flies to just outside the van door. We give him some natural oats and water and he stays for quite a long time – warbling the whole time. When we go outside he follows us around. When the wildlife was being fed he kept running back to us (for protection) as he was being chased by Apostle Birds.

Feeding time.

Our friendly magpie

Sapphire Van Park Pool

We set out one day, full of high hopes, naturally, of finding some nice sapphires. The fossicking area we went to is called Graves Hill! We found a likely area to dig - layer of ‘gravelly dirt’ sitting on top of clay. The theory being that as sapphires are heavy, over time sapphires will gravitate to the bottom level of the gravel, but cannot go trough the clay. We dug and we dug and we dug. Gathered buckets of ‘wash’, filled a rubbish bin with water (we had to transport our own water) and began the process of looking for sapphires. Several hours later, with sore back, sore hands, and incredibly dispirited we called it quits – and to think that some people do this full time – as a living!!!!!!!!!!

'Rough' Camp

Typical (up-market) miners accommodation. Some are not this flash!

So, we decided to fossick the ‘easy’ way. We had been told of professional miners who provided ‘possible’ gem bearing wash. A bucket (normal size house bucket) was $20 and they also provided a Willoughby and a sorting table – as well as a cuppa and bikkies – and you did it in the hot sun. AND THIS IS CALLED FUN! It does get you in though – especially when you see the first flash of colour in the sieve as you are working the wash.

Using a Willoughby at Armfest

In total we ‘found’ in excess of 50 sapphires and zircons. 4 of these are being/have been faceted in Rubyvale. The rest we are sending to Thailand as they have the ability to facet smaller stones. We also found 1 ‘bomb’ (only partially formed sapphire) about 2cm square. This sapphire is completely dark but we are going to have it ‘skin polished’ – this will bring out some of its colours. One of the gem cutters on the field told us that he believes these will become somewhat valuable in times to come – especially the larger ones as they are quite rare. The owners of Armfest have just opened a new mine and are very happy with the first ‘colour’ – we think we will return in a couple of years to try our luck again. We have sapphires that are dark blue, light blue and green and (so far) a zircon that is the brightest yellow/orange. This stone is so bright – and it is Terry’s favourite – Val said it should be made into an earring for Terry to wear! While we were examining the stones we dropped the zircon in the grass – spent time scrabbling in the dirt and grass till we found it-----phew.

Before

After----.8 carat.

Sapphire on left, Zircon on right

When this creek floods, it rises 8 metres.

Camp kitchen - van park

Terry wanted to go there!

Here as well!

This bottle shop is in the middle of the bush

Gunna live in this street

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from the gem fields and move onto our next stop. – Theresa Creek Dam – a dam built by Blair Athol Coal – near Clermont. This is an (almost free) camp. $10 per day. There is no fresh water available (doesn’t worry us as we have 164 litres in our tanks) but there are hot showers and flushing toilets. At the moment it is lovely and peaceful but we have been warned that on the weekend it comes alive with water skiers. No worry, we can just sit back and watch them.We have also been intrigued watching pelicans fishing and yesterday saw a couple of whistling kites dive down and catch fish that ventured too near the surface. Apostle birds visit us every day (noisy buggers) and we have one bloody peewee (magpie lark) that is making a mess of the car mirrors.

Pelican at dusk

I spied upon a lily pad

A little bird, looking glad

Upon another pad

Sat another, but looking glum

For a snake had just bitten its bum......................

Next stop - Bedford Weir, near Blackwater.

Barcaldine - home of the trade union movement

2010-10-24T13:37:00.000+10:00

We spent a little while in Barcaldine - very clean and tidy town. The Top Tourist park was really nice, only slight problem is that the park is right on the main road from Barcaldine to Blackall. They put on a billy tea and damper several afternoons a week - it's actually put on we found out by a chap (Tom Lockie) who runs a tourist trip round the surrounds; so he uses it to advertise his tours. Interesting bloke as he knows all about the area.
A few years ago the "Tree of Knowledge" was poisoned - money was raised to commemorate the tree and what is means to unionists.

This is the 'sculpture'

A photo of a photo of the old tree.

The remains of the tree were saved and the 'sculpture' was built around it.

Viewed from below

Night shot

Tree with the old railway station in the background.

Below tells the story of the shearers strike.

Relief spot!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice the little blue cart in front of the fire engine - it was designed to be pulled by goats - and was used to deliver water.

Bicycle built for 2.........

No - I haven't got religion.

The interior of the church has not changed.

The windmill in the main street still works - it activates a fountain.

This is where we had lunch one day. the garden has 800 roses.

Next stop for us will be the gemfields to do some fossicking.

Longreach - yesterday and today...and maybe the day before

2010-10-21T20:48:00.000+10:00

Well, time sure flies when we are having fun - but thanks to Australia post we got to spend a few more hours in Winton and see the Waltzing Matilda Centre and other stuff. So, without all my usual preamble I will let our most excellent photography speak for itself!

This is a scene from a Waltzing Matilda display

Oh look - Terry found ANOTHER old truck!

Both stuffed. Maybe not the soldier.

This is one of the swagman's sheep.

and the troopers

and of course the obligatory dinosaurs

a hunk of boulder opal

Winton's open air theatre - and the world's largest deck chair

a couple of loo paintings

Pelican's Rest in the main street of Winton

We were all Waltzing Matilda - ered out. Still can't quite understand the attraction of a swaggie jumping into a billabong!!!!!!

And that afternoon we left Winton and made our way to Longreach and the next day...............

we went on a sunset paddle wheeler cruise down/up/along the Thomson River. The river is very 'muddy' but,apparently,one of the cleanest in Australia. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Longreach area received 100 ml of rain and that resulted in the river rising 3-4 metres and cause minor flooding.

"Artistic" photo.

Thomson River sunset.

The river is reputed to be good for fishing. Yellowbelly are prevalent and are supposed to be good eating (as long as you like the muddy taste)

Notice the bridge in the distance - a couple of weeks ago it was under water. The Thomson River flood plains are incredibly expansive - one downside of this are the sandflies. Even though we covered ourselves liberally in insect repellent we are both suffering from bites - Val has had a bad reaction to one bite and has a large rash on her leg.

After the cruise a 'bushies' dinner was organised. It was simple fare but absolutely delicious. Stew followed by desserts and then billy tea and damper (covered in Golden Syrup). Terry had 2 serves of the stew and couldn't fit the damper in!

The 'camp' is set up at the start of every tourist season and has to be pulled down at season's end due to the floods.

Post Cruise Entertainment by Scottie....

Scottie is a bush poet. Apparently very rarely wears shoes. He has lived in the 'bush' all his life and can neither read nor write. He has an incredible memory though and recited bush poetry for at least 1/2 hour. Some were sad, some were funny but all related to tales of the bush. Quite a character.

The next day we went to the Qantas Founder museum. When we were last in Longreach we didn't have time to visit this museum so we made sure we didn't miss this time. There is an indoor museum telling of the early history of Qantas and Longreach. Some interesting photos and a video story of the restoration of one of the planes on display. A young guy conducted the tour of the outdoor display and he was full of facts and figures of the planes.

Can you guess what this is a photo of?

JUMBO......

I had to coerce Val into being in this photo - all I wanted was something with which to compare the size of the Jumbo's tyres.

Inside the cockpit of an old Jumbo. They no longer have all the switches and don't have a flight engineer either. Computerisation has taken over a high percentage of the work. When on a long haul, the pilot & co-pilot sleep and when awake play computer games. Wonder when the the time will come that pilots are no longer used at all?

You all know how svelte I am....this gives you some idea of the size of the engine. The Jumbo on display had been de-commissioned but is still worth $6,000,000 in parts. Qantas donated it to the museum.

One of the first planes owned by Qantas - an Avro.

This engine weighs a little over 6 tonnes, is held onto the planes wing by only 4 bolts. Cost of the engine when new...about $5,000,000 approx.

The museum has lots of models of different planes - the stories are fascinating.

This plane - a 707 - has had a most interesting life. When it had ended it's useful life for Qantas, it was put up for general sale. That's when it's 'real' life began. If it could only talk- it was used to transport 'celebrities' to their various functions around the world. It brought The Beatles from England, took Madonna to her tours, flew Michael Jackson to his concerts etc. Eventually it was purchased by a Sheik as his private plane. He had it fitted out to his likings - he later put it up for sale as he had upgraded to a Jumbo. The plane was featured on TV - telling the story of its restoration. Qantas again came to the fore and gave the restorers (all Aussies) an open cheque. Due to contractual obligations, no photos of the insides are permitted. There is an abundance of Teak and Walnut, Hollywood Lighting round the mirrors, padded toilet seats - and strangely enough - alcohol dispensers - must have been for the sheik's guests?

Can't remember what this photo was all about (!)

A Ford - Model T see the story below. This actual Model T replicated the trip as described below. Pity we didn't have Holdens back then - it would have done it faster etc.............

Another Ford....they didn't build them for comfort (and still don't - ha ha ha )

This is probably a Ford as well - the extra blokes are to push it when required (ha ha ha ha )

This is a Douglas something or other - used in WW11 to transport gear to PNG.

This is a 1927 Willys Overlander 'Whippet' - exactly the same model as my parents bought as their first car when we came to Australia in 1952.

After we left the Qantas Museum, we ventured to 'The Outback Store'. An amazing store filled with all manners of 'stuff'. Everything from your normal souveneirs to Western gear. Too much to mention. It would be very easy to spend an hour just looking...........and out the back of the store they have an' outback cafe'.

They have cows....

and more cows......

as opposed to "new" cows????????????

and Val wanted this.....cheap to feed and very quiet.

Old shed..............

and they hook up 4-6 horses to this and take tourists for a ride...in more ways than one.

and what was the photo of you saw earlier.............

It is the spiral staircase that used to exist in Jumbos. I/we were mistaken in thinking that First class passengers only could get a seat up there.............no - economy pasengers only.

Next blog will be from Barcaldine....stay tuned for the continuing adventures of "The Gypsies"

Photography by 'Bubbles & Tez'

Directions by Hema Maps Australia

Script by Tez

Catering by 'the cheapest pub'

Transportation by Nissan

Accomodation by Jayco

Winton Truck Museum - Sunday 17/10/2010 - WASN'T IT?

2010-10-18T20:28:00.000+10:00

THIS ONE IS MAINLY OR THE BOYS! I went (Val stayed in the ute), to the (National) Truck Museum in Winton. Interesting museum - apparently it is very well funded by the government. Without further ado - here are the photos I took.

This is a truck....

Another truck

look another truck

well now - another truck

and thats ya lot fellas.................

STILL in Winton - Sunday 17/10/2010

2010-10-17T22:18:00.000+10:00

We thought we were going to be marooned in Winton for longer than we wanted to be - we still will be in a way. This morning the whole of Winton was without power - no big deal for us really, we just put the fridge onto gas and used the water in the van tanks (the park had no water as they have water stored in tanks and then have pumps to pressurise it). Of course we couldn't go anywhere as we were almost out of fuel and no power = no fuel from servos. We are staying longer than expected anyway - thanks to Aus Post. Daughter Jacki is forwarding our mail to Post Offices we nominate as we travel. J forwarded mail to Winton last Monday from Ipswich - 5 days later has not arrived!!!!!!!!Talk about snail mail.
Just an interesting fact about Winton - the water comes from the Great Artesian Basin - comes out of the ground at 80 degrees C. It then goes into cooling tanks before being supplied to housed - at about 30 degreesC. Different parts of the G.A.B have different temperature water. The water is very high in 'sulphur' smell that fortunately tastes OK.
Yesterday we went to a place called Pelicans Waterhole - the original site of Winton;- the township was later moved to its present site as the original was prone to flooding. The drive to the old site was a bit of fun - muddy road = slip sliding = underneath of ute caked in mud. Bugga - was fun though.
And now, as per usual, here are a few photos. We hope you have as much fun looking at the photos we take as we do taking them.

This is how some Wintonites decorate their front yard.

This old ute was just discarded when it had outgrown its usefulness.

This was the only pelican we saw at Pelicans Waterhole.

And this is how some other people decorate their fron yard - but wait, there's more...

pictures following are from the (famous) Arno's Wall. He collected junk from the tip and other places and made a wall......

Some call this 'art'.

This is more of Arno's 'art'.

More excellent 'art'

Oh look! Even more 'art'. This just goes to show - what is one man's junk......is still 'junk'...not bloody art!

Must be something about Winton - sort of a bit like parts of ......er.....a tip?

I was washing the car and this little bloke just had to watch. It's an Apostle Bird.

These two were most interested in leaves caught under the wipers.

This bird was most indignant that I was in his territory.

This Apostle bird at one stage had a grub in its beak and was trying to feed the 'bird' in the mirror.

Flowering River Gum

Picnic area on the banks of Western River

Really old River Gum - seen on the drive called 'Route of the River Gums' - can only be done in the dry.

Stay tuned for the next blog...........for the 'boys' really. I(Terry) went to the National Truck Museum at Winton.

Winton - Friday 15/10/2010

2010-10-15T15:52:00.000+10:00

We decided not to stop at Kynuna - it's only a whistle stop anyway. The main reason we wanted to stop was to see the Combo Waterhole - reportedly to be the site that Banjo Patterson used for the writing of 'Waltzing Matilda'. He was staying at Dagworth Station (near Winton) when he wrote the poem. Aussies really are a strange mob - we sing a song with pride about a bloke that steals sheep and one of Australia's greatest criminals of a bygone era, spoken about with reverence is Ned Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we think the yanks are weird?

Anyway, here in Winton, not only did it blow a gale last night - when the wind stopped - it poured with rain. It is needed in the area though. All the locals are predicting an early and long wet. Tell Brisbaneites that..ha ha ha.

We are off soon, as soon as it stops precipitating for a while, to do downtown.

we stopped at the WALKABOUT CREEK HOTEL - some of the scenes for Crocodile Dundee movie were shot here. The pub is for sale. $1.2 million.The publican is possibly the most un-interesting person we have ever met....has the personality of a pile of dog doo doo.It was the middle of the day and we were the only customers. Val asked if he served meals-nope. Do you have bottles of bubbly - nope. We had 1 beer, 1 Vodka Cruiser = $14.

This is about the extent of his decorations. Nothing signed by stars of the movie, a couple of very bad photos and that's it.

Walkabout Creek Hotel

Different stuff at Walkabout Creek Hotel

Just the sort of sign all workplaces should have!

Very poignant................

And hang this sign up as well..........

Something for free...................

Just had to take a photo of this sign.

And then we moved on to Kynuna, famous for not only the Combo Waterhole but also the.....

Blue Heeler Hotel. The walls are absolutely covered with 'graffiti'.

And Val celebrated her birthday with a pub lunch.

Old photo - this pub has so much more going for it than the Walkabout. The staff was especially friendly as well.

Just have a look at all the signings.........

And they have old hats (donations) everywhere.

This is on the ceiling - the loos are also 'graffitised'

Lots of people have also donated T shirts.All signed of course.

Note the 'life-savers' old watch tower - and the watch cat. The pub raises money for the Life Savers Assn.

Bit of history.

OOOPS....have to turn your head on the side...graffiti corner.

Amusing.................

Hmmmmmmmm.

Blue Heeler to be. Only about 8 weeks old - someone dumped it at the pub and it(she) adopted the cook - good choice.

Hand made stools and table

Most of western qld looks like this....

Our site at Winton and.......

the next morning.

And last and definitely not least..............

wouldn't that take a lot of filling..............

Cloncurry - Wed 13/10/2010 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONI MICHELE

2010-10-13T19:44:00.000+10:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TONI TODAY---
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW TO MY GYPSY ROSE

Another hot day in Cloncurry - and very dry. Has been over 37 degrees everywhere we have been for quite a while now.
Val lost part of a filling a few days ago - she was able to get an appointment with a dentist in Cloncurry - he is the ONLY one - in a Qld Health Dept building. She loves dentist visits about as much as I do....and she was even less pleased when she saw his name on the door...........Dr. T. BLOOD......I kid you not. All went OK though - temporary filling till we return to civilisation. Should not say that - Cloncurry is very civilised.

Without further ado - here are some photos.

Our trip so far, tomorrow we head for Kynuna - famous for Combo Waterhole - 'Once a jolly swagman...'

and this friendly
little lady just wanders through the park occasionally.

This is a better sunset.

and check your spot before you squat. There are heaps of green frogs here-all are call Graham apparently-don't know why.

Today we spent time seeing the sights of Cloncurry. Tried to find the Old Chinese Cemetery but apparently the graves are unmarked. Went to the Afghan Cemetery---there were no puppies buried there at all - just people called Abdullah etc.

First placed visited was the Mary Kathleen museum - quite interesting - if you didn't know Mary Kathleen is now a ghost town- I believe it was Australia's first uranium mine.

The museum in Cloncurry is incredibly eclectic - as most country town museums are - this possibly makes them even more interesting.

This fossil is of an Ammonite - approximately 3/4 metre across.

Just one section of about 10 of mineral and gem specimens.

Read this first-the photos of

the shell is next.

How about this for lucky - the wearer of the helmet was uninjured. Note the Coca Cola can - look at the measurements. (Click on photo and then click again)

This plaque was attached to one of the trees blazed by explorers.

This is the actual water bottle of Robert O'Hara Bourke. (Mums and Dads - tell your kids who he was 'cos they will not be taught that in school)

Yep, bet they were Irish..........

This is one of the blazed trees, unfortunately the blaze grew over and is unable to be read.

I could not find any info on this at all.

The tree was 'sacrificed' so the blaze could be saved. Try telling your kids why messages were left on trees instead of using the internet or mobile phones!

Younguns - you know that ripply iron you see on rooves - this is how it used to be made, by hand. Flat sheet of metal goes in - ripply piece of metal comes out. Same principle used today

Surely everybody had heard of 'FURPHY'?

looks like a toy - wasn't if you had to use it, but easier than walking. This was only for the rail bosses though.

Circa 1900 - steam engine.

This is a 'mine-head'. Bucket was filled by the miners underground, hauled to the top - all done by hand.

Another steam engine - not self propelled. Note the big wheel on the other side - horses hauled the engine to where power was required - the big wheel on the other side carried a belt that was attached to a smaller wheel. Big wheel turned slowly, small wheel turned considerably faster.

This is a stationary steam boiler - it was used until recent times in a Cloncurry Dry Cleaners to provide the steam for pressing.

Coal fired hauler.

A couple of really early iron ploughs. These are NOT stump jump ploughs. If you hit anything solid - you stopped.

This is a hand operated crane - strong buggas in those days!

And then the next visit was to the Flynn Museum.

This is the camera that Flynn used at his 'moving picture shows'.

Shame I had nothing to compare this organ with - it is about 1 metre long, not much taller.

This seat is carved out of one piece of tree.

Yummy - a display of dentists equipment.

How tough were they - the bloke sitting on the running board of the car is having a tooth pulled. The bloke looking on appears most interested!

Double click on this - makes interesting reading.

Yes kiddies, THIS is the fore-runner of the internet.......you actually had to pedal to get power to talk to the flying doctor.

This museum alone was worth the trip to Cloncurry

The view to Cloncurry facing North

and the view facing West.

Australia sure is a big country!

and just for Val - your dentist had slightly more modern stuff than this.......

Cloncurry - Sunday 10/10/2010

2010-10-11T17:45:00.000+10:00

Yesterday we went 'investigating' different parts of Cloncurry. (After Bathurst 1000 of course--GO HOLDEN).
Went for a quick drive through 'town' just to see what was what......and.......we found a WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKET..........we were having withdrawal symptoms.

Nothing was open of course - except for 1 pub - took note of that so we could return later for dinner - pantry is bare, fridge holds cool air, have no beer, dear oh dear.............

Drove a couple of klms out of town to Chinaman's Creek Dam. Made our way to the dam wall and what did we see before us, fishing...........wait for it..........A CHINAMAN! We didn't ask him if it was his dam though. Quite a nice dam, pity local vandals have had to make a mess of the facilities though. The dam is a little bit low so we were able to drive quite a way round the dam.....saw a track and 'cos we have a 4wd we took it....and ended up on the main road where we entered the dam area. Took a few pics and then twas time to go back to the pub (Leichhardt Hotel) for a feed. Roast lamb for dinner was really yum yum.
All the other pubs were closed; they mustn't have heard the 'early closing' had finished.........or maybe that's the rules? we were also asked to leave a pub in Cooktown at 8:00 pm on a Sunday night.

This lizard was trying on Val's 'crocs' - maybe he thought he was related -
to a croc - get it??????

Two 'friends' Terry made - he tried to play fetch - threw a stick for them, they chased after it - didn't bring it back.

Our camp spot, Caravan park Cloncurry...they have a really nice pool.

Mount Leviathin - Chinaman Creek Dam.

Some sort of waterbird - had just finished diving for its supper

Mt Leviathin

Another water bird

Sunset over Chinaman Creek dam

and again

and yet again

and yet again again

and yet again again again

finally, the end...of today anyway.

ps...we only do sunsets cos we are not up early enough to do sunrises!

Julia Creek to Cloncurry today 09/10/2010

2010-10-09T17:02:00.000+10:00

I suppose some of our followers are wondering what has happened to our blog. No report from Julia Creek!!!! Why not you ask.............have you ever been to Julia Creek? We were only there for 2 nights.....Terry was a bit off colour....diabetes were out of whack a bit........either not enough or too much rum! It rained the first night we were there and almost blew a gale the second night. There was nothing of any interest to take photos of actually. There were waterholes listed as being of interest, but the round trip was about 100klms so we didn't feel like using the fuel to see them. There will also be a "lay day" tomorrow, Sunday 10th, as it is one of the most important days of the year. Oh no! Don't tell me, you didn't know it was Bathurst 1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday we will be out and about to see the sights of Cloncurry..

Richmond - Monday 04/10/2010

2010-10-04T19:55:00.000+10:00

We had a fascinating day today - after our rest day yesterday! We decided to get ourselves out of bed early for a change - early for us anyway!
We arose 6:30 to go fossil fossicking. The fossicking field is only a few kilometres out of town - in an area especially prepared for fossickers by the Richmond Council. Just a couple of interesting things we found out ....
Several millions years ago, Australia (then part of Gondwanaland) was flooded several times. An inland sea stretched from what is now the Gulf of Carpentaria through the centre of Qld to and through South Australia. In the Richmond area the sea was 60 metres deep. When the last flooding receded it left behind the sea life that could not escape. These fossils are encased in sediment that in places is only a few centimetres deep.
We did not realise how fascinating this fossil jazz could be - take that funny look off your face, you lot. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. While we were fossicking we also found some timber for me to use for woodturning at a later date - stay tuned for that.

The area in Richmond where the fossils are is called "Todebuc formation - Richmond Qld.,late Albion stage - Cretaceous Period - age of fossils 80 - 110 million years old". So there ya go.....a heap of old bones.
And now for some photos........

This is part of the fossicking site - most of the area has been pre-fossicked (?) and the council is now using it for road base. There is still a lot of fossils in the mounds - but it is mainly small shells - interesting but not important to palaeontologists. And now for some of our finds-----

This is 'disarticularted bone, scales and some vertebrae' - to you non-scientific types (and us) are bits of fossilised fish!

and so is this....

This is part of a bi-valve shell....

and this is an Inoceramus Shell....

and the dark bit is a piece of fish scale.....as well as moccella shell...

this a piece of fish jaw...

and this is our best bit - a piece of fossilised tree.

those dinosaurs will eat anything!

Val, Val, VAL, where are you........

yep you are correct this is a 'iamstuckhereasorus'

and these are some old bones.......

this is what it looked like with its skin on.

and the yanks stole this from Oz - found at Richmond.

This thing had a neck 8 metres long. little head, lots of little sharp teeth

fish tooth.....

Fore runner to our crocs - about the same size.

Squids millions of years ago were HUGE

"Stone" fish - ha ha ha . Not really - just a fossilised fish.

Almost complete......if you didn't know and you saw it in pieces it just looks like rocks.

Moon rocks

sort of like a nautilus shell.

The fossil museum is regarded as the best of its type in Australia and among the best in the world.

and to finish for today......we made another friend....Murphy......

part Wolfhound part Mastiff. Has huge feet - he is knee high and is only 16 weeks old!

Fossil Capital of Australia (Richmond) Friday 01/10/2010

2010-10-01T19:54:00.000+10:00

We are still enjoying having a break in Richmond. You might look at it on a map and dismiss the thought of stopping for a while. Richmond may be small but it is so relaxing - and there are things to do that kids would love. Fossicking for old bones is one that springs to the fore - the other HUGE attraction has to be the man made lake. It is stocked with fish - including Barra and also has a water 'umbrella'.
Richmond is literally an oasis in the desert that is the dry season in Queensland's outback.
We did very little today - was a 'catch-up' day for reading! A must for travellers - take a good supply of reading material with you. The internet is a boon as well. Terry spent almost 3 hours on the computer while Val made some greeting cards.

and as usual, Terry made a friend, Ralph. Everybody else in the park also found a friend in Ralph.

This is a Moonrock. It is not worn smooth by water - this is its normal formation. They can be found in sizes ranging from golf ball size to HUGE. This one pictured is 1 metre plus in length/diameter.

This is a man made lake. Fred Tritton had the vision and the council followed through with it. You can water ski, canoe, fish, swim in/on it. Absolutely fantastic. A lot of councils could follow what Richmond has done.

This is the water umbrella next to the lake.......kids love it. Was a bit cool for us though.

and the photographer (Val) shone through in this shot!

In the middle of the lake is a pile of rocks called 'Dead Man's Island'. We were told that years ago a man fell from his horse and died. He was buried where he fell - unmarked grave apparently. Do not know if there is any truth to the tale - sounds good though! There is a target there where, on selected occasions, you can hit a golf ball and try for a hole-in-one.

Lake Fred Tritton sunset

The lake changes as the light changes.........

Not much day left..............

An 'artistic' shot by Terry...."Man and Nature"....

and a lonely little birdie saying goodbye to the day....................

Richmond 30/09/2010 --it must be Thursday

2010-09-30T21:10:00.000+10:00

We arrived in Richmond this morning and are at Lakeside Caravan Park. Excellent park - good facilities and right next to a beautiful man made lake.

The road from Hughenden is MOST interesting - signs warn you - Rough Road for 'X' kilometres. Not so much rough as more roller coaster ride-ish!

Anyway I am getting ahead of myself - have to finish off what we saw and did in Hughenden.

We decided we would drive to Porcupine Gorge and along the way we spotted this wild flower - Flinders Poppy.

We took a very quick detour first and drove up Mount Walker - just 10 klms from Hughenden. 360 degree views and you can almost see the curvature of the earth! We will return one evening to catch a sunset.

Back on the road to Porcupine Gorge (Australia's answer to the Grand Canyon!). We were asked if we had a 4WD - this photo is of the better sections of the dirt road - it had rained the night before and a number of road trains had used the road. It was not too bad as long as you drove to the conditions. We passed a couple of road trains; they slowed as much as they could and also moved to the side of the road - as we did. A big plus is having a UHF radio; you can see the road trains coming and ask them what they want you to do.

Val spotted this wild flower - we believe it is a native hibiscus. Pretty flower on a very innocuous bush.

And this is Australia's answer to the Grand Canyon - not quite - but spectacular in its own right. Terry tried his hand at cooee-ing - the echo was amazing. Too amazing - he wouldn't stop. Luckily more people arrived - then he stopped!

The road takes you to within a very easy walk to viewing points of the gorge. Would love to see it in flood.

Such a beautiful day - at one stage this was the only cloud.

In the centre the photo is a rock formation known as The Pyramid.

The flow of the river has really smoothed some of the rocks.

Australian Outback Art - we called this "Happy Rock" - Terry wanted to call it "Glad Stone"!

We saw this Wedge Tailed eagle on the road on the way to the gorge - it was in the same area when we returned. Just after this photo was taken it took flight - magnificent.

We decided we did not want to have a game of bowls - it was 37 degrees - and that was in the shade! Trouble was - there was no shade.

Perhaps these fish are 'Steely Eyed Cod'?

Mount Walker sunset. We were the only ones there. It was so quiet and serene - only us and a few birds - plus a couple of wallabies.

Going, going,

gone.......

the perfect end (nearly) to a beautiful day. We are going back to the van to have a huge salad and a glass of wine -or maybe two...............

And back to where I started - we are in Richmond..........fossil capital of Australia...

Public toilet - someone has a sense of humour.....the Gents was named..preHIStoric!

and this little fellow decided to pay us a visit - don't know what it's called - a local called it a "Ta Ta Lizard" - it will run for a few metres, on its hind legs, then, when it stops it "waves" one of its front legs.

This is our spot in the Lakeside Caravan Park, Richmond. Highly recommended.

We treated ourselves to dinner

here tonight - Thursday. Very quiet - everybody must have been late-night shopping.....that's a joke ya know - there aren't many shops in Richmond!

The original Mud Hut Hotel was built in the 1890s using mud bricks - we took this photo of a photo in the pub.

Tomorrow we are going to go looking at/for fossils - hope we don't get mistaken for some.....

Charters Towers/Hughenden 27/09/2010----28/09/2010

2010-09-28T15:10:00.000+10:00

Ok, it’s my turn to wax lyrical – Val

Today we were planning on driving not too far, just to Campaspe River free camp for one night. What started out as a normal day soon turned into a circus chain of events that one could do without. The night before I had dropped a grape down the small kitchen sink hole, but believed I had cut it into pieces with a long sharp knife so THEREFORE it should wash away. Well, having washed up the breakfast things and pulled the plug, imagine my surprise when the water sat and stared at me. So you do the suction thing with your hand over the drain hole a few times and hope it works. No way!!! Terry was outside the van doing the “moving on” things when I confessed so he inserted the hose up the outside plumbing to see if it would move. Only problem – it was the wrong aperture. This caused water to blast up through the shower and basin holes. That took a bit of mopping up but soon we were on our way with a small amount of water still in the kitchen sink, he had bailed out most of it with a plastic bowl. So we drove along thinking that either the stinking grape would move and fall out or we would evacuate it somehow when we stopped at Campaspe. Well we drove in there and the choice was either train lines or main road noise, or both. On a vote we decided to go on to Hughenden, where we are now in a Caravan Park between train tracks and the road to Winton that the road trains and long-haulers use. CAN’T WIN. Anyhow the rolling circus was still in action. Upon opening the ‘van door I could smell booze very strongly. Great, the almost full wine cask had leaked over and under all our mats. They are now very wet (hosed down) and thrown over a grassy area in disgust, hopefully drying. And the grape you ask. Lost it somewhere, the drain now works perfectly. Moral of the story to all you caravanners out there, drink grapes, DO NOT WASH AND EAT THEM.

In Hughenden tonight there is a huge electrical storm brewing............later the same night.........storm was a bit of a fizzer. Not much lightning and even less rain.

28/09/2010...VERY steamy morning.........9:00 a.m. and it's 30 degrees already and very high humidity.
Hughenden has a population of about 1500 - and very few of them were visible today. Just went for a drive into town, 1 klm, and then we walked to see what exciting stuff they have for tourists...........and here is our Qld trip so far....

follow the red line..................................

Right in the middle of this Coolibah tree is where explorers/surveyors blazed their marks...the blaze has almost grown over................

One of the marks

and another

what they are hoping to do.

don't know exactly how old the tree is.

hey - look - a couple of old fossils!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flinders River - longest in Qld.

Yep - you saw it here.

see next picture.........

we saw this wandering down the street

this is really huge

wonder if they ate the fossils that were in front of them before?

this one needs a feed - look you can see its ribs!

Say how do you do and shake hands shake hands shake hands......

hmmmm, don't know if this colour is correct

look out! is it a bird, is it a plane? I haven't got a clue what it is. Maybe it's a idontthinkitsawusrex?

this one needs a feed too.

and we just HAD to have a feed here! The owner's name actually is F.J. Holden - how cool were his parents.

rotunda

inside rotunda

next few photos are inside FJ Cafe

and that's ya lot for today............maybe

If it doesn't rain this arvo, we are going to drive up some lookout and take some sunset pics.

Charters Towers Sunday 26/09/2010

2010-09-26T20:12:00.000+10:00

Well, aerial ping pong finished in a draw - so why can't they be joint premiers? Anyway, last day in Charters Towers - heading west in the morning. Will be glad to leave this van park - nice pool and that's all I can say!

Anyhow - here are more photos.

No explanation required!

THIS is the famous Charters Towers stock exchange - if you don't know the importance of this building and why it's in Charters Towers - do some research!

This is inside a bank building - now a cinema....

This vault is in the foyer - the bank liked to show off how safe your money was.....

Inside the stock exchange building.

You are so right - it's an ambulance building!

Details of their first motorised ambulance - surprise surprise it still runs and it's a FORD!!!!!!!

Their day to day working uniform circa 1940s.

Still registered - look at the original plate.

Charters Towers first ambulance - given after Clifton got a new one.

The treatment room

Hmmmm- looks real inviting!

Instrument/medicines cupboard.

Incident book. They have every book of records from day 1 of operations.

I suppose this was a welcome sight if you were sick or injured.

Inside the Ford ambulance

Pretty basic controls.

Just slightly different from a modern ambulance.

Charters Towers very first ambulance. People power was used even before horse power. Ambulance centres could not afford to buy a horse, let alone the upkeep.

Things don't seem to have changed much in that regard.

If you ever feel inclined to make a donation to a worthy cause, how about the Ambos????

Charters Towers Saturday 25/09/2010

2010-09-25T17:46:00.000+10:00

So, Titans lost last night so i don't have to watch any more footy this year! St Kilda v Collingwood - who cares!!!!!

Anyway, we have seen lots of stuff in C.T and Ravenswood. Incredibly historic towns. Shame more Aussies don't get to see it. Even bigger shame that kids are not taught Australia's history and development. They know more about bloody usa than they do their own country.

Don't know why I took this - it's the ladies loo in an Irish Pub

Old Irish saying

Another old Irish saying

Aha - a sign!

Yep, this Irish bloke got on the Guiness

Inside the 'posh'dining room - we didn't eat here....

and THAT'S why I don't drink Guiness.

That's the extent of the bar

Poetry!!!!!!!!!

NO this is NOT us .....yet.

anybody remember these?

Table inside Molly's (Irish) Pub

There were scrawlings all over the walls in the pub - we selected only a few!

funny sign...

and another

must be a queenslander?

Old newspaper building - paper still exists

errrr - another old building?

Inside an old miner's cottage....the cottage is old...the miner is dead...

more junk er collectibles

and even more

gawd blimey - more stuff............

sexy ? advertising

and doesn't this one turn you onto having a wash.....

yep, it's another old building - of course it's covered in real estate crap!

Why can't they be a little bit more subtle? Oh sorry, we are talking about real estate agents...

ho hum I hear you say - hey it IS an historic town - that's all there is to take photos of.

woo hooo----scattered showers for C.T. View from the top of Tower Hill.

That's right - segregation even AFTER you are dead and buried. Religion sure is a funny thing.

Pretty old cemetary isn't it...and they didn't close it cos they ran out of bodies either.

Notice all the piles of stones - they mark graves, but no records were kept of who was buried there. Only the wealthy whose relatives could afford a headstone were recorded. Spoke to a young girl whose great great great great or something grandmother is buried there. Grave is marked by a cross made from tree branches. It was interesting to note the ages of the dead - some as young as a few hours - many in their twenties, few in their forties etc and very very few above sixties. From Charters Towers to Townsville - the nearest 'town' took 3 days, weather permitting, in a horse and cart - if you got sick you either got better or you didn't. Impossible ti imagine how hard life could have been - especially as most of the settlers were from Europe and not accustomed to the harsh Aussie conditions.

This is the Macrossan River. Photo taken from the bridge which is 13 metres above the river bed. Bridge was built in 1970 - in 1971 there was a flood with a height of more than 14 metres......oops!

See the flood marker 2nd from the top - that marks 29 metres----the river reached that in 2009.

Stoopid Australian Bustard - get off the bluddy road.

We just stopped to get on somebody's goat. Terry found out he could converse in goatese!!!!!

Old (miners' hut) circa 1900. It's about the size of a double car garage. Was lived in by a couple and 21 kids. The house was inhabitated by 3 brothers until the 1980's. Just galvanised iron, few support posts and with a dirt floor. It was ruined in a cyclone and rebuilt exactly as it was pre-cyclone.

This gold wash 'shaker'. A piece of ingenious engineering. Gold bearing ore was placed in the top, water was added and the 'machine' was wheeled along. The wheels turned, turned a pulley that was attached to another pulley and this in turn 'shook' the wash to a seperator below!!!!!!!!

Put gold wash in top - add water - heavy stuff - gold - ends up at the bottom. EASY!

Master bedroom in the hut.

Dining room/kitchen/lounge....

all the mod cons - stove and a water container

bedroom #2

all the comforts

Ravenswood railway station

Railway Hotel - had the same owner for many many years

Ravenswood Post Office

Don't think it's used any more

Old mine site. The whole place is full of old mine shafts.

The town is heritage listed

Another pub.

Open cut - no longer used. All mining is now underground - 300 employees.

White Blow - a hill of quartz.

Railway Hotel bar.

Original Dining Room

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are just going to do/see a couple of things round town. Give the van and especially sthe car a clean and then Monday we head for a free camp between Charters Towers and Julia Creek. We have to admit, as dood a time as we are having, we do miss our family and friends.

Charters Towers Thursday 23/09/2010

2010-09-23T20:49:00.000+10:00

We didn't stop at The Lynd - did take a couple of photos though. There are a lot of roadworks and the van park we were going to stay in was right next door to the roadworks camp. We appreciate a good nights sleep so we went onto a free camp at Fletchers Creek. Had a really weird happening with the Navara though. Filled up at The Lynd roadhouse - pretty busy place - and on the road again. After we had been driving for about 1 hour or so - suddenly Navara lost power!!!!! Would not rev at all. Uh OH! Maybe we have blown a turbo....maybe the fuel was dirty........all sorts of things going through my mind !@#$#@%&^$. Next thing I know - Road train is behind me. Val got on the UHF quick smart to tell the truckie we had problems. He was really nice about it.....then another truckie got on the UHF...asking questions -- giving advice....couple of really great blokes. Eventually we pulled over to let the road train past - he wished us luck and told us where we could stop to phone Nissan ---- of course there was no mobile phone coverage at this point - what do you expect - we were really in the boonies.

We eventually limped into a tiny little whistle stop, Bluewater Springs Roadhouse and had to use their phone - there was a public phone, but it only took cards - the whistle stop didn't sell the cards of course. Another big tick for Telstra! Anyway, eventually got onto Nissan Roadside Service......ha ha ha. They could not find details of the breakdown card so they asked for our name.....nope we don't own a Nissan. Try the rego......nope no Nissan reg at all. Try the Vin No.------NOPE NO NAVARA WITH THAT NUMBER. HA HA FKN HA.

Of course, using my mildest manner, I explained very nicely that they shouldn't bother - I would ring RACQ.
That was EXCACTLY the right thing to say. Suddenly we - should I say Val as she had the phone by then....were given some instructions..........wait for it. Lock the car, using the remote, unlock the car using the remote ---- do this a couple of times............AHA......the Navara is fixed. What a wonderful car - all you have to do to fix it if anything goes wrong is to open the doors a couple of times. I love this car more and more each day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is - Guiness Record Holder - the smallest bar in the world. The Lynd.

Yep, that's right - only 1 customer at a time!

Servo, Van Park, Bar - that's The Lynd.

Except for road works - this is about it for the road between Atherton and Charters Towers.

Sign at free camp Fletcher Creek. Very popular 'free camp' - when we were there it was overgrown and toilets were very stinky - lucky we have our own! Hope you can read the sign - it's a bit of interesting Aussie history.

More history!!!!!

Fletcher Creek - the next day it was flowing really fast.

Clear spot at Fletcher Creek.

Val putting the finishing touches to what was almost a really nice platter - later on as she was putting the glaze on it shattered. Val said "Oh Dear!"

Yep - that's a map!

Bit more history.....

and some more

hope this isn't boring.....only bit more to go.....

the end of this bit of history.

ours is the dirty one on the right - both are towed by Navaras.

and that's it for today.

Mount Surprise Monday 20th September 2010

2010-09-20T20:44:00.000+10:00

At this stage I must admit it is incredibly remiss of me for me to have not put a couple of VERY important photos in this blog. Our connection to the internet has been erratic so I am going to use that as an excuse.
Anyway - HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Sammy and Chris - very proud parents - and to Toni - very proud Nana, and we (Terry & Val) are so pleased to welcome our first great grandchild. That means my Mum is a great great grandmother!!!!!!!!

Mum Sammy, Dad Chris, Baby Jye.

What a great looking kid, handsome like his great grand dad!!!!!

Well today is our last day in Mount Surprise. It is quite incredible that even though Australia is a huge country - it can also be very small.
When we were in Cooktown Van Park (very nice place to stay) we met up with friends from Hervey Bay (Murray and Debbie) . When we were in Atherton we met a couple and he knew several people I knew about 40 years ago.
Yesterday, at the Bedrock Van Park (also a very nice place to stay) a van pulled in next to our site - friends from Browns Plains (John & Julie)!!!!!!!!

Pool at Bedrock Park

If you make the pic larger you might be able to read the sign - the stump contains an urn!

Guess what it is. Will tell you soon......

The park is full of these birds. Apparently the are called Apostle Birds, They spend most of the day on the ground and are really noisy.

Storm brewing to the East of Mount Surprise.

Same storm - little bit later. Mount Surprise received nothing. Too early for rain apparently

And what is the photo of - it looks like piece of soft coral waving in the current in real life. It is a blossom from some sort of bush. Most of the blooms had fallen to the ground.

LATE BREAKING NEWS..........our sore bodies would not allow us to go fossicking today so we went to a local gem shop instead - he conducts fossicking tours and brings back to his shop wash from the diggings. We purchased a bucket of wash and SURPRISE SURPRISE we found one piece of Topaz that we are getting facetted and Val will have it set into a ring, flanked by some of the sapphires we have found previously. We also found a piece of Topaz about 2.5 cms long - eventually I will try to work it so that it can be used as a 'natural' Topaz pendant.

Our next stop will be "The Lynd" Oasis Roadhouse - it's about halfway from Mount Surprise to Charters Towers. Stay tuned..............