Final Reflections - Australia 2015

Like the egret pictured above we now have some reflections on our 2015 journey in Australia. This is our 2nd (Doug’s 3^rd) trip to Oz.

We are very surprised at the high costs of travel and wonder how families can manage. Although fuel costs were comparable, food costs were higher possibly as much as a third. From previous trips we remember great buys (e.g. cheese) that no longer seem around. Campground costs are also a third higher. One of the biggest surprises was the cost to enter a museum or exhibit (usually around $30 each) and then finding it was not what we would have expected for that amount. There was a senior’s rate but only if you could produce an Australian seniors card. We offer these in Canada to all people, no matter where they come from. We even found seniors rates were offered to us in South Africa. We wonder if the government here needs a few comments on how seniors spend thousands to visit their country and would be nice to have this perk reciprocated.

The roads in some places were bordering on unsafe: very narrow with no shoulders. We are not sure if it is due to government mismanagement or the economy of Queensland. This is something we don’t remember from our previous trips to other Australian states. As a comparison, with the exception of the South African state of Limpopo, their roads were probably at least as good if not better than here. U.S. and Canadian roads are far better. Also truck drivers are less courteous than their North American equivalents and exhibit an “I am bigger than you so get out of the way” attitude. We are nonplussed as to what can be done about the unsettling kangaroo carnage on certain roadways. The distances are too great to fence the road (and who knows how high the fences would have to be?). It is upsetting the Australians as well.

With the world plea to be ecofriendly we are surprised at how few places took part in some sort of recycling program.  Aluminum cans have a deposit here, too. Most places that did recycle (especially in the north) had a cause, RAFD (Royal Aussie Flying Doctors), cancer research or some such thing.

As usual, the Australian people are very friendly and helpful. We found at every campsite someone would want to have a chat with us. We also have felt very safe here (as we had expected).

Would we come back? Yes, without a doubt, as Australia is almost like an adopted home. Perhaps to Melbourne and on to New South Wales and then to Tasmania again?

Having the opportunity to hike out to the most northerly tip of the continent was very rewarding. We enjoyed visiting numerous interesting towns such as Weipa, Winton, Lockhart River, Croydon and Cooktown along the way. Meeting the locals was great and watching their genuinely pleased reactions when we presented them with a Canadian flag lapel pin.

We have stayed at a wide variety of campgrounds, from being cramped in beside our neighbours with no breathing room to the best of all – Alpha, a little, out-of-the-way town,  where we had all the space you could ask for, grassy, shady, clean and free internet right in our motorhome,

It is always sad to have our adventures end but then also exciting to know we will soon be home to see how things have fared. We understand our garden is growing leaps and bounds and we both look forward to enjoying our own fruit and veggies – our labour of love.

The rainforests of Northern QLD are spectacular and deserving of their World Heritage status. We leave you with an example of such a rainforest plant, appropriately called the traveler’s palm and thank you for following our travel blog!

 

Green Island - 2 hours return by ferry

The last day of our Australian vacation has been a great day, as if we would have doubted that. Two weeks ago we had booked an excursion to Green Island on the inner Great Barrier Reef and started our day off with a pleasant 30 minute walk to the esplanade, which runs along the ocean by the wharf. We were able to watch a colony/flock or whatever you call them, of pelicans sun bathing, preening, stretching and sleeping and not being the least bit bothered by everyone on the walkway watching and photographing them.

The 50 minute fast catamaran trip over to Green Island was a bit rough as we got closer to the reef. We had an option of taking a glass bottom boat excursion or going snorkelling so we chose the glass bottom boat and after seeing where people were snorkelling (the water doesn’t get deep) we were happy with our choice. The boat driver was very informative and did his best to find us a real variety of things to see, while being careful not to run into the reef, a real feat in some places. We saw many varieties of coral, sea cucumbers, large turtles, 100 lb clams, zebra fish, bat fish, sting rays, and many other reef fish. What an amazing ecosystem.

Green Island

 

 

The reef is like an aquarium

Huge clams

A turtle swimming nearby

After we got off the boat we had lunch and were joined by red banded rails, real pesky birds who we watched swoop down and actually steal chips off peoples plates! One young boy made the mistake of holding his burger to the side and one of the birds landed on it! One little fellow landed on our table and was desperate for a handout but we didn’t oblige. There were several places to get lunch as well as shops, parasailing, scuba diving, sea walking (they put an air dome over your head),scuba doo (an underwater seadoo (that you again wear a water helmet for),  helicopter rides and many other activities you could take part in.

Finishing lunch it was time to walk some more. They have a boardwalk through the rainforest with interpretive signs so off we went. There were many beach areas with people trying to swim and snorkel but the tide was going out when we got there and continued to do so making the water shallow and the reef parts harder to get to again reinforcing our decision to not snorkel. In some ways we think this may have been what Disney’s Castaway Cay would have been like.

The wind picked up as the afternoon progressed so the catamaran trip back was rougher. At times there was only sea out of the side window and at times only sky. One poor Japanese lady was on the floor and having a really hard time with it. Norma had a little nap! There were actually lots of people sleeping after their busy day on the island.

There is a night market on the esplanade every evening so we had decided to stay in that area and see what it was all about. It was a bit early for opening so we went to the pokies again. Not many people there and you can see why as they pay so poorly. They still have the old fashioned way of paying you in coins! It sounds good when you cash out but then you have to find a bin to take all these coins to the cashier where she puts them in a plastic measuring jug and weighs them. We did buy a few things in the market but will do the rest of our shopping in the duty free tomorrow.

Cairns – 35 km

The last day of motorhome rental is always the same. You don’t want to stay too close to the final destination but you also don’t want to stay too far away to avoid the anxiety of getting back in time, rush hour traffic and everyone else doing the same thing. What to do, what to do. And then if you are close as we were this morning you want to find something to do for part of the day so you don’t waste the days rental, but you have also had enough of driving for a while! The last two weeks 4034 km to be exact. The grand total for the 4 weeks was 7652 km.

We had already done pretty much all we wanted to do in touristy Kuranda during our long walk yesterday but did want to go back there to use the internet from the information center. It wasn’t open and didn’t open until 10 am but Norma had copied down the access info so we were able to sit outside and do an entry to the blog. Before we left the campground we finally remembered to take a picture of a brush turkey. These are the ubiquitous rainforest birds who are mound builders: they scrape together a big pile of vegetation, lay their eggs and depend upon the composting action for incubation warmth. This bit of ingenuity saves sitting on them!

Norma's ant - note the huge butt end!

We had heard how spectacular the Barron Falls were so decided to take a drive out and see. It was a lovely rainforest walk on a very well made wooden path into the rainforest, keeping you high in the canopy at times. They had metal sculptures of insects and a snake to give you a visual of what you could expect (luckily the sculptures were not to scale or it could be pretty scary – Jurassic park kind of stuff). There was even one of the ”lovely” tree ant that Norma has painfully encountered twice now. The falls are extremely high and are used to generate power for Cairns. At this time of year there isn’t that much water coming over but you can imagine how impressive it must be in the wet season.

Wooden walkway

Rainforest flower

Barron Falls

There are several ways to get to Kuranda from Cairns. They run a shuttle bus, you can take the train or you can take the SkyRail or drive. The road isn’t long but is very steep and windy. We had experienced it coming back from the north so knew what to expect.

We can’t believe it but it is warm, DRY and sunny in Cairns. Our past two stays here were so very wet. The taxi driver told us it had been raining for the past two days but is due to be dry for a while now so we sure hope so as we have a day excursion planned for tomorrow.

To kill some time this afternoon we headed to the mall which is only a few blocks from here. We even found a Pandora shop so Norma now has a kangaroo and joey for her bracelet, a nice memento – thanks Doug. Tomorrow is our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Tonight and last night we had a glass of mango wine with dinner. It is made in Mareeba which we went through about 60 km from Cairns. It is sort of mangoey, I guess. . .

 

Kuranda – 163 km

The fog rolled in some time during the night so we know we are close to the rainforest. You could hear the water dripping from the trees! Again there are signs in the bathrooms so couldn’t resist another picture. There even were several cats roaming around the campgrounds and two of them were pretty game for a few pets.

We stopped at the Ravenshoe Information center as from our stop two weeks ago we knew they had internet. It is run by elderly very pleasant and helpful volunteers. We were able to post the blog edition there.

The rest was a short, interesting drive through the Atherton Tablelands (mostly farmland) and into the rainforest. We were a bit concerned about getting a place to camp at very touristy Kuranda but as we were here pretty early we lucked out, or should that be lucked in? People access the town from Cairns via a 30 km railway trip (coming here to escape the city for the day) and have been doing this since the 1930s.

There is a walking path from the campground, through the rainforest (be careful you don’t trip on the many roots), along the railway tracks (the campground lady assured us the trains no longer use it but didn’t warn us about the hobo camped on the tracks under the bridge), up some stairs and into the village. It was just like a taste of home with all the old hippie types wandering around. Numerous stands selling any number of things. Numerous entertainment options for pretty high entrance fees – butterfly garden, pet a koala, Reptile Park and the list goes on. You could take a railway trip, river cruise or the sky rail ($150 return trip for 45 minutes).

There were three aboriginal boys busking, dancing and banging sticks, playing a digeridoo. Their younger brother was in the bushed throwing rocks at them and Doug couldn’t resist taking his picture. Caught in the act! The shops all close up at 3 pm as that is when the last train back to Cairns leaves.

 

 

One of the items on display was an old plane wreck. More accurately a plane from the wreckers! Originally a US WW2 transport plane called Geronimo, it was left for the Australians after the war.  It was pressed into various service capacities over the decades and finally was junked until it was rescued and placed on display in Kuranda.

There is a river walk to get part way back from the town so we took it. The humidity is high so we were pretty wet by the time we got back to the campgrounds. We did find a swimming hole along with a rope hanging from the tree along the Barron River walkway. Neither of us wanted to give it a try though in spite of how hot we were. The water is pretty muddy and you never know, there may be crocodiles in it!

Mt. Garnet – 424 km

Last night the overflow fairground campgrounds had 21 campers. This seems to be the usual for Charters Towers but we found it very comfortable with great showers, power and we were one of the lucky ones to even find a bit of shade.

Maccas (MacDonald’s in Australian) was our first stop of the morning. They seem to have the most reliable internet signal and today we were able to just sit outside and post the blog, check emails and news from home. No need to purchase a $4.80 small cup of latte this time.

The drive today was more of the scrub, cattle ranches, numerous creeks, all named and most without water. Wonder who took the time to go around naming creeks. Must have done it during the wet season so they could actually see they were creeks. The various Aussies we talk to all comment on how dry it is inland and how much they need a good rain. We will be back in Cairns in another day so can guarantee the rain will fall. At least it has happened with our last two trips there. Maybe third time lucky!

We did see lots of live kangaroos by the roadside chowing down on the green grass and sitting in the shade. Of course if you tried to stop to get a picture they just bounded away as fast as they could go. More road kill today than we have seen for a few days as well.

Today’s post is going to be mostly birds as that seems to be all we took pictures of. The magpies were hanging around the campsite begging for scraps and actually came very close to get some cracker pieces. The crested pigeons we seem to see everywhere and we love the “dove” noise they make as they talk and fly.

Magpie

Currawong

Crested Pigeon

Tonight we are in a small town at what will probably be a very quiet campground. Right beside the motorhome is a rock garden and a lovely lemon tree with fruit at all stages. Of course the ripest ones are at the very top! Our next door neighbours are from the Melbourne area, going to visit friends in Cairns. The ones down the road are from Tasmania.

 

                                            Lemon

We also saw this weird pod tree a few days ago. Not sure what it is but the pods are like big (foot long) beans.

Charters Towers – 282 km

Before there was much life in the campground Doug got up to see the sunrise. It wasn’t as spectacular as we have seen in the past but still a nice start to the day.

The morning’s entertainment was watching our neighbours fold up their Kimberley Kamper. These are very popular, well constructed tent trailer with a great fold out kitchen, solid floor and are expensive (30 grand plus). This one looked new so assume this was possibly only their first or second time putting it away. What a production and then to end it all they left behind one of the poles for the awning. We handed it in to the reception and they were going to try and contact the campers on their mobile (talking Aussie now!)

As there was no internet at the campground we headed to the two places we have been having luck in other communities, Target and MacDonald’s. The Target in Bowen has stopped providing the internet as all the backpackers were clogging the doorway and no one could get in to shop so off to MacDonald’s for a morning latte!

Our drive today was again through agricultural area and mainly cane fields with refineries and that nice sweet smell in the air. We saw many more full cane trains as well. Having had enough of the busy semi coastal road we headed inland on a secondary road through some very nice rural areas. The traffic was much less at least for that part.

Cane Train

We finally saw another emu and this guy was just walking along the road. He was a bit intimidated by us and kept trying to duck under the wire fence, finally giving up and sort of jumping over it.

When we got to Charters Towers we discovered the campgrounds were all full. As Doug was about to walk away and see where else we could go the lady said “but we do have powered sites at the showgrounds” so here we are in our nice shaded spot (we are luckily low enough to fit under the trees). Apparently this overflow situation is normal even though there isn’t any events happening in town this weekend. As well as power there are showers, and it is grassed so very pleasant. Apparently there were 23 rigs in here last night. We expect it may be more with it being a Friday night. It is also the last weekend of the school break but what we are seeing here are grey nomads (retirees).

It was a short walk to town so off we went to Ghosts of Gold trail, this having been an old gold town. Many of the old buildings are still standing and are being put into use for other businesses. We did find free internet in Target again as well as the library so will post in the morning. On our walk we have decided you really take your life in your hands here in Australia. We don’t remember this from before but pedestrians have no rights and the cars come screaming past with no regard for your safety!

We even spent a bit of time at the pokies. Now don’t get excited. This is a totally different meaning in Australia than at home. No we were not in jail, we were in a casino at the slots. As per usual Doug was up and Norma was down but what else is new. We thought we needed to at least give it a try to say we played the slots in Oz. One of the major differences is the payout came out of the machine in one dollar coins – could be a heavy win.

Parked here in the fairgrounds there was a semi loaded with monster trucks. It is their yearly event in a few weekends though we can’t figure out why he is here now – maybe advertising?

 

Bowen – 316 km

Last night there was a lot of cheering, yelling, and general noise from packed crowd at the bar/restaurant/TV room near the office of the caravan park. It seems the annual rugby (we think) match between Queensland and New South Wales was taking place and all the Queenslanders were in fine form cheering for their team – who, by the way, won (having been informed of this by a gleeful lady at an info center). We had been seeing the maroon flags all over and now know why. Once the game finished all the noise also ended as all the happy fans sauntered back to their trailers to continue celebrating their victory.

As the tide was out when we got up we decided to have another walk along the beach and see if there was much in the tide pools. We did see a recent shark sighting sign but no sharks or crocodiles or anything else exciting like that!

The theme of today was sugar cane. We drove for the entire day through huge cane fields, some seeding out, some just cut or needing cut. Many of the fields have a “cane train” system where these little basket like cars are pulled by a small engine on narrow gauge tracks. There were machines harvesting the cane and dumping it into these baskets. Three of the towns we went through have cane refineries. The aroma is a very pleasant sweet smell that I assume you would get used to if you lived there. We are not sure what all this sugar cane is used for but assume a pretty big percentage is for hard liquor.

 

The town of Sarina even had a cane toad model at the start of the town as their mascot. Someone had draped the Queensland team scarf around its neck to celebrate last night’s victory.

One of the rests stops was right beside a cane field so we went over the wire fence and had a closer look. You could get lost in there if you weren’t carful, never mind the snakes that might be lurking there (Norma’s not sure about that part, Doug was disappointed there weren’t any). We decided to sample a piece and it was pleasantly sweet.

We have continued to follow the Bruce Highway to the Diamond Coast here at Bowen. We opted for another campsite on the ocean as it will probably be our last. We went for a walk along the beach and came across two fellows pulling their golf clubs with a bit of difficulty, across the sand. They had been at the local golf course, which we walked on the beach to check out. There was a different kind of hazard on the greens, the masked lapwings busy picking something off the grass, we assumed it was bugs.

 

Clairview – 330km

The Queensland weatherman has predicted a high pressure system for the next few days bringing sunny warm weather and he was right as this morning there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. In fact it was such a lovely morning we decided it called for another walk on the beach before we made our way north. It is really amazing the millions of shells covering the sand. It makes a definite crunching sound as you walk.

After our walk we made a driving side trip to Byfield National Park. As we were driving along we thought we were going through a logged clear cut area but it was kind of unusual as all the tree roots had been pulled up as well. As we got closer to Byfield we started to see large areas of blowdown, then it clicked. Nature is amazing as the palm trees tended to be standing tall, straight and firm but the pines, eucalypts, etc. were either uprooted, snapped off or bent over. When we stopped in Byfield for diesel the lady working there told us they had been hit by typhoon Marcia in March and what we were seeing was the cleanup efforts. She had been in the area during the storm and told us it was terrifying! Apparently the wind speeds reached 225 kph.

At the general store in Byfield they had these huge (at least a foot long) pineapples for sale for $3 so we decided to sample one. We will be eating it for days!

We did drive further into the park and found a fish ladder system on the road where they have built on one of the cement creek crossings. We are back into the croc warning signs, by the way, and as usual no sign of beady eyes staring at us from the water.

Fish Ladder

Our drive into Emu Park, and Yeepoon was along the Capricorn Coast Tourist Drive, a very scenic drive along the coast. We spent the better part of the morning moseying along so again needed to adjust our plans for destination from last evening. On coming out of this area we joined the Bruce Highway and carried on along the coast. The road ended up inland a ways and it was getting pretty boring and flat. They have pegged this as a high crash area so have sign posts suggesting things to help you keep alert, like highway trivial pursuit with a question then the answer a km or so further along the way. We sucked at these Australian-based questions.

Around two pm we decided we had had enough driving (besides Norma kept falling asleep) and came across a road sign for the Barracrab campground at Clairview so in we came. We have a great spot on the ocean as you can see from the view from our rig. There were lots of people fishing though we only saw one man pull in a few. Not sure what they were but the gulls were sure interested and when he came to his camp spot to rinse one of his fish off they were onto his stuff in a jiffy! Speaking of birds we did see a white faced heron fishing. We are wondering if the crashing of the waves is going to lull us to sleep or keep us awake tonight.

Campsite

 

 

The Australians love their camping. We are seeing all kinds of rigs, big trailers, small trailers, pop up lid trailers and campers, tent trailers, motorhomes of all sizes and even the occasional fifth wheel. We are continually amazed with the lack of a sewer systems like we have at home. All the rigs with toilets have a porta-a-potty that needs to be taken out, carried to the dump site and manually lifted to pour out the contents. We see all these older gentlemen struggling with the weight of their container taking it for disposal. We have one in our unit and it has been and will remain unused. Why can’t someone get with the program and incorporate a holding tank system like we have at home. They have trailer dump sites at most campgrounds so all that is needed is the systems built into the trailers.

Kinka Beach – 488 km

It was cool last night. The heater was on all night and the external temperature was 7.5 degrees when we got going. It quickly warmed up and ended up being a very nice warm and sunny day. We did see the first clouds we have seen in days as we got closer to the coast.

Our first significant road scenery was the Drummond Mountains, a whopping 535 metres above sea level. In this fairly flat state that is high.

In all the driving we did on the corrugated, rocky, dirt roads we did not have a single encounter with a rock and the windshield. On these paved (sealed, bitumen) roads we now have three or four chips to show for our week plus travels.

Our travels today started in the wooded/grassland terrain, through cattle ranges and eventually to a coal mining area. We saw many long electric coal trains that required an engine in the middle as well as at the back. At one point we saw what looked like a nuclear power plant. I guess with all the electricity needs for all the coal trains they need to produce the power somehow. Although the irony is definitely there.

We had set our sights on coastal Yepoon for tonight which required us to drive through our first city in a while: Rockhampton. Doug plaintively suggested he wanted to go back to Alpha, the small town we spent last night in. We were anxiously driving hoping we were early enough to get a site. We did manage to get the last site at the Island View Caravan Park in Kinka Beach. The young girl working reception initially said they were fully booked but called her father and they got us in. It is a nicely grassed site with lots of trees and a close walk to the beach. Having said that we are still finding the campgrounds in the smaller, out of the way places are the nicest and the quietest.

We went for a walk along the beach and again are struck with how no one is in the water, perhaps due to the presence of venomous jellyfish (although they are out of season). We have continued to be amazed with how people are so concerned with going into the woods in our country where all you have to worry about is the bears, while here if it isn’t crocodiles or sharks it is stinging jellyfish, venomous cone shells and poisonous snakes (we did see a road killed snake today, by the way). Guess it is all what you get used to. 

Walk to the beach

 

 

Anyway we enjoyed a pleasant walk on the beach, avoiding picking up shells or going into the water. There are some very interesting designs on the sand, we think made by mini-crabs digging their way in, throwing the sand out in a circular fashion as they bury themselves until the tide comes in.

The wild fire reports from home seem a little more under control so hopefully we will both sleep better tonight. It is pretty unsettling being so far away and completely helpless, though who knows what we would have been able to do if we were at home anyway. Thankfully we have some very dear friends who are looking out for our place and have removed a few valuables just in case. It is hard to even think of what should be put into safekeeping.

Alpha – 255 km

Last evening we did some calculating and decided we needed to revamp our plan to head south to the Brisbane area as it would entail driving and more driving, not really what we want to do. We also decided we wanted to get out of the dry, flat and sparsely populated outback so have headed east toward the coast. We may regret it if we start running into traffic and rain. So far it is still sunny and warm (24C) with cooler nights.

We seem to be finding free internet at the bakeries and on the main streets in many of these small towns. This morning we actually got reception in front of “Target”, yes they still have “Target” in Australia, so were able to do a post and check emails. We had one from a friend of Doug’s telling us there is a 300 hectare forest fire right behind our house and they have issued an evacuation alert. Nothing we can do about it from here but hope for the best. The rural fire hall is just down the hill from us so we think they will do all they can to protect it which means us too, or at least that is our hope.

While sitting in the downtown core of Longreach two stage coaches full of tourists went by. We can only assume they offer tours via coach. They were really clipping along so you had to watch you weren’t run over.

We started our day with an interesting visit to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

Stockman's Hall of Fame

They have numerous antiques on display as well as a fellow demonstrating how to make kangaroo leather whips (finally a use for all the kangaroo), an excellent display about the RAFD (Royal Australian Flying Doctors) including a cut-away air ambulance and commemorative pages regarding unsung heroes.

Air Ambulence

They let you sit in the cockpit on display and take your picture then email it to yourself.  But that part wasn’t working so we took our own.

As part of the museum there is an educational film on the stockmen, women and children and how they muster sheep and cows, in the past and now. We were amazed to learn they now often will use a small helicopter as it can cover the vast areas. They included a piece with the fellow herding the cows by dipping and swaying with the copter, very interesting how it is done. There is also some pretty fabulous artwork.

Our plan to get out of the dry outback worked and by mid-morning we had entered the Central Highlands of Queensland Outback where things are much greener and there were even regular trees. No sign of the kangaroo carnage we had been seeing (that was getting depressing) so must assume the theory that they head to the roadside for the greener grass after rain has some merit. There is lush green grass for as far as you can see.

Now that we have our revamped plan we are just going to wander and stop as we please. We still have lots of days left and will make a leisurely time of it. Tonight we are in Alpha, a very pleasant little outback town. The caravan park even has a wireless signal.