August to December 2012

27/08/1212. We are out of the Caboolture Showgrounds and going to Standown Park, east of  Gympie, to have a week there and catch up with Marg and Ed.
Bloody GPS turned us in the wrong direction and on to a dirt road for 15km into a Pine plantation, and then further on for about another 8km, by this time I did not have a clue where we were, Sandra said I think we could be Lost, so I back tracked to where we started from, to Tin Can Bay road, and the Frigging park was just 1.4km from the wrong turn.

Set up camp and waited for our friends to front up.
Memorial to Vietnam Vets at Standown Caravan Park.

  Standown caravan park was built by an ex Vietnam Veteran for the use of ex vets to have a reasonable and cheap holiday.
Next Morning drove down to Tin Can Bay, where once again Sandra fed the Dolphins.
Back at camp for the rest of the week where we had happy hours, drinks and Marg and Eddie sang and played there Guitars, not much else to do but just relax and have a good time. 

2012

2012 will be a different year for us as Sandra will be flying out to Seattle at the end of June with Joanne. We may do some short trips this time until San gets back from the States then we may head North?.
15/01/2012. Our 46th Wedding Anniversary today - many wishes from everyone 46 in all, had lunch out with all the family about 20 of us there, Shane Bower will be 40 on the 17th of January.

Shane.

Sandra is as busy as a blue arsed fly, what with getting a passport converting money over to the U.S. dollars, she wont get to much rest when she finally gets over there.



19/01/2012
. Our first Great Grand Son was born today to parents Amie and Ted, the little bloke will also be named Edward,
 the 4th generation of Teds,

 12/02/2012

 Nicole Farmer is 14 today. Nicole is our 2nd youngest Granddaughter (No 4)

04/03/2012

 Bruno Ippolito is 47 today. 

08/03/2012 
                              Madison Bower is 11 today.

                 Madison is our youngest Granddaughter (No5)
10/03/12. Went out fishing today for a good catch, 3Flathead - 5 Bream and 1 Trevally. Plus another 4 Bream on 13.3/12 . and 
 2 Blackfish on 23/03/12.
08/04/12.                    Kayla is 14 years old today.

Kayla is No 3 Granddaughter.

13/05/12. Mothers Day, went to Swansea Workers Club for lunch with our whole Family, and what a surprise, our very good friends from West Nowra, Helen and Terry came as a surprise for Sandra she was completely blown away as we had not seen them for a few years.

 
Mothers Day Sandra with Joanne, Helen and Kylie.
28/06/12. Up early this morning Bruno is driving Sandra and Joanne to Mascot for there flight to the United States.

 28/07/12. Sandra and Joanne are now in San Francisco, and having a 3 day stopover.
day1. They have had a cruise around Alcatraz then under the Golden Gate Bridge, she has taken heaps of photos. Then later on, went on open Double Decker bus touring the City, and then even later on saw Ripley's and the Wax Museum, What a day, now 10pm and going back to Hotel after wearing Joanne to almost exhaustion. 
Day2. We took a cable car in San Fran and stopped of in China Town, did some shopping etc. Our stay in S/F was very Memorable.
1/07/12. Up early and caught a shuttle bus to the airport and flew on to Seattle, unreal sight out of window, Clouds, Snow capped mountains and a Volcano.
What an unbelievable reception we got, everyone waiting at top of escalator, hugs, tears and cameras and videos flashing, more tears flowing. What a day!!!
16/07/12. Now back in Sydney after a Trip of a Lifetime, Thanks so Very much Joanne. Will miss Bonnie, Linda, Scott, Dawn, Nate Dogg and all the friends we met over there.
30/07/12. Left kanwal this morn and drove to South West Rocks and staying in the Big4 Eco Tourist Park and a special deal and only $20.00 a night, very good value. 
had a surprise visit - Shirley and Ken friends from our Swansea stays, they are also staying in this park.
We are having some good beach walks, town walks, warm water spa's at camp in a cave, all this and plenty of Roo's and Kookaburras and a lot of wildlife for us to sit back and enjoy and also a visit from Good Friend's John and Lexie who are on the Wallaby as well.

Old Trial Bay Goal.

6/8/2012. Another early move this morning, we are going to Red Rock about 20km north of Woolgoolga.

Sacred Aboriginal Site

We are going for a walk up the hill at red rock to a memorial site. (The bloodshed of Aboriginals) in the early part of last century, from here is a very fine view over the Pacific Ocean. As this is a Sacred site only males can venture up the hill to see it, Sandra will have to remain down the bottom of hill until I return.

A great view of the pacific Ocean

 10/8/2012. Moving on to our 53rd stop so far this time to Evans Head to catch up with our good friends Margaret and Eddie.

                                                       Margaret and Eddies motorhome.
17/8/2012. Now in Chinderah close to Tweed Heads, and staying for about a week. We wished that we had not booked in here as this a Very Feral Park, oh well we will make the best of our stay ?
Went for a swim in the park pool, it had not been cleaned for some time, and was very Filthy.

24/8/2012. On the move again and crossing the NSW/QLD border and now camped in the Caboolture  Showgrounds.
It is packed with the Queensland Branch of the Miniature Horse Association of Australia.

 Sandy with a Miniature Horse named Sandy

   

Tin Can Bay - Wyralla

8/7/11. Rung Joanne she is 45 years old today, we miss her on her Birthday as Jo and San share the same day.
Packed up and moved onto Tin Can Bay for a week, today is sunny and cool.
Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove are the gateway to the great sandy straight and Fraser Island (largest sand island in the world). You can hand feed the Dolphins at Norman Point - Tin Can Bay which is east of Gympie, the bay is built on a peninsula and close to world heritage listed Fraser Island.
There are a lot of good walks here, a good one San and I enjoy is the walk to Crab Creek.

15/07/11. We are leaving today and driving to Imbil, south of Gympie.  We are staying on a Deer Farm (should be different )
It's cold and raining,  this area was first discovered in 1850 by loggers, and a Township was began in 1914, there is lots of Forestry work still going on plus trucking.
After a week here we then drove to Kenilworth and camping in the showgrounds and only $14 bucks a night +$1 for a shower.
 San rung Steve and Fiona, San is Fiona's God Mother, Fe is the Daughter of Margaret and Eddie from Wyralla in the Lismore area. 
The town of Kenilworth was named after a lady who was reading a book called Kenilworth her name was Mrs Smith, and so the name of Kenilworth was named after the book, the aboriginal name for this place is Hinka Booma meaning the bush behind the beach as it is not that far from the Sunshine Coast.  
Today we have met Fiona and going to Tibetan a Buddhist vegetarian Restaurant called Chenrezig, good meal but very plain.

 

23/07/11. headed out and drove to Redland Bay which is Close to Brisbane, only 4 Caravan sites here, the rest are taken by permanent residents. We are camped next to an Aquatic ski lodge, so there is a lot of activity going on in the water. 

25/07/11.  Packed up for another move this morning and drove over the Gateway Bridge and heading over the border

into N.S.W.  and going to stay at Hastings Point caravan park.

 Sandra is terrified of heights and this Bridge puts the wind up her, she unbuckles her seat belt and slides down her seat until we are on the down side of bridge.
The Gateway Bridge cost $140,000,000 to build - has 6 lanes each way and is 78.75 Meters tall and 850 ft in length.
Hastings Point  is close to the Tweed Heads area, with good shopping, fishing, whale watching and surfing. 
1/08/11. Drove into Lennox head caravan park for a stay but at $192 a week, a bit steep, we like the area and a bonus is the weather is warm and sunny. Fishing is also good with a few Dart, Whiting and some nice Bream.
8.08/11. Going to Wyralla today to house sit for our good friends Marg and Eddy as the are flying over to Denver for 5 weeks. 
                                         Will be having a lot of happy hours with Ed, Greg and Terry (beach ball), all good mates. I don't know how I will cope with the weather as it is now the middle of winter. 
Even tho its raining Greg and Terry came over for a game of darts and a couple of beers. Margaret rang to say the are having a ball in the States and have camping up in the Rockies, called Ed and told him that a Calf was born yesterday.
Greg and Sharon came over too nut the bull calf,  the little bugger kicked Sandra in the shin.   
Last night the Koalas were mating all bloody night, they sure make a racket and a frigging Peacock squawking during the night, we did not get much sleep.  
19/09/11. Left wyralla and homeward bound, calling into see rello's and friends on the way back.
21/09/11. Back in Budgewoi and staying in the local van park. 
Visited Amie today so preggi now, she looks good 

The rest of 2011 was spent doing the usual things, like catching up with friends,family,happy hours and moving around caravan parks - Budgewoi, The Entrance, Swansea and Belmont Pines.
See ya Back in 2012. 

Hebel to ?

19/05/2011. After a good week at the Ridge we have moved on to our 18th stop so far for 2011,  Hebel is our home for a few days, Hebel is on the NSW/QLD border.

A great little pub here which was originally opened in 1894 as a Cobb and Co changing way station, it still has the original hitching posts out the front,

 as a lot of old towns in the Outback have, you feel like you are in a time warp.
Legend has it that members of the Kelly gang drank in this watering hole?, to me I think it is a long way from their home ground of NSW/VIC.
Whilst having a beer here the post man made a delivery of beer on his round, never seen that before.

The general store was once the old dance hall, built in the 1890s and is full of character, the original dance floor is still there, with plenty of noises and groans as you walk on the floor, the Woolpack dinning room is still as it was way back in the later parts of the 18th century, the caravan park is behind the store and is only $15.00 a night and no charge to use the washing machine.

25th May. Now back at the Nindigully Pub free camping area, when in this area we always stay here, it is one of our Favourites. Just in time for happy hour (4pm) with beer and wine only $2 a glass the place is packed to the rafters with a lot of grey nomads enjoying the cheap grog, and there was also entertainment, this young guy had a great voice and sung a lot of good country and western songs.

 We have stayed here about 5 or 6 times, and this is the second time that I have got the rig bogged, well not so much bogged but just slipping and sliding in the mud.
We were not the only ones to get stuck as another camper got his van wedged between 2 trees and he had to cut one down with a chainsaw.

24th May. Well after a busy night with road trains coming and going, and mice running over the van, (a mice plague out here) we packed up, Sandra was in for a shock, when she found her sneakers, she discovered that mice had been in them overnight.
Stayed for a rest last night at Wesmar, then drove on to Moonie for fuel an some Tucker, inside the roadhouse was a display of feral pigs, the largest in Australia, heaviest weighed in at 37 kilo's. Moonie was the first place in Australia where oil was found, in 1961 wells were drilled to a depth of 2 thousand metres and produced on average 1500 barrels of oil a day.

After the break it was a short drive to Dalby then onto the small town of Bell, and camped at the Bells and Whistles C/V/Park.

Sandra Made friends with a 12 day old Angus Bull Calf, which was been cared for by the park manager's, as its mother had died, I hope that the little bugger survives 
25th Tonight and State of Origin on TV, we will watch it in the camp kitchen manager is cooking a Pizza for us to enjoy.
Will N.S.W. ever win a Series of Origin?, I do not know, Cane Toads have to much Pride and Passion to lose, good on them they never give up.
Well the cane Toads have one again no surprise here.
26th. Stopped at Goomeri on our way to Bauple, Goomeri has a Pumpkin Festival each year but not this time of year, only a small town so we move on.
Bauple is only 169km from Hervey Bay, we will free camp here tonight. Bauple is the Indigenous name for the Macadamia Nut.
We are camping at the free camp here in Bauple, a nice spot. Walked downtown to the Museum had a look, San bought some Rosella jam, then went to the cafe for a taste test of the Macadamia products, love Macadamia nuts, had Tea and Coffee, Nut Tart and Sour Cream, Yummo said San, the young waitress was very informative its a family affair in business, they have planted over 40000 nut trees, all are doing well.

The first nut tree was found on Bauple Mountain back in the 1800s. 
After Bauple we have moved on to Hervey Bay for a week or two. 
 Catching up with old Friends and making new one's

10/06/2011. Packed up once again and drove to Baffle Bobs caravan Park at Baffle Creek, which is south of Miriam vale, no phone or TV reception also no Internet, its nice and quiet with plenty of green grass, hot showers, a full size bowling green, 12 hole golf course, large swimming pool and a boat jetty, with a large number of Roo's roaming around.

A couple of days after arriving, San and I were walking around the property taking photos, when Bob from the office was driving straight at us in his car, when San moved he would move the car toward her, he yelled out telling us we were trespassing, get back on the other side of the fence or he would call the Police.
 I said to him there was no fence just a hedge with openings that you could walk through.
He is just an arrogant idiot, he has had a couple of strokes but no excuse for the way he speaks to people, his wife Nola is a very nice person we get on well with her.
 next morning Bob drove past and said good morning, what a Prick we ignored him. 
15/6th. Tonight is state of Origin Bob and Nola are putting on a Sausage Sizzle tonight up in the camp kitchen with the game on Telly also betting on the game and I won $20 for picking the score, the Blues won the game and Bob had to pay up.  
Morning walks again with the Roo,s, also saw Red Tailed Cockatoos and some Burdikin Ducks.

Had happy hour later that evening, with some Nomads that we have got to know over the last week here.

Gulargambone to Lightning Ridge

5/5/2011. After a really cold night (2deg) with fog everywhere. we are now heading to gulargambone on a WARM and SUNNY DAY.

We are staying at Gulargambone caravan park ( 6 Galah rating. The park is owned and run BY Pam and graham.

Gulargambone is aboriginal for plenty galah birds. There are about 40 corrugated galah bird sculptures in and around town. 

Every new arrival to the park has a special treat, graham makes a damper to share with the other guests, Graham is a chef, the food that he cooks in a camp oven  most nights is just great, the night that we arrived he made a char grilled zucchini, garlic and olive oil damper, we shared with the other campers and took the left over back to our van, about half a damper, they are that big.

They sell a bottle of red or white wine, with their own label on it and is named galah piss.
Tonight graham cooked up a tuna damper, with a side dressing of mayo, lime, wasabi, chopped capers and gherkins, plus he entertained us with a very good comedy act and he sang waltzing Matilda with a Japanese accent, just great stuff.

8^Th May. Mothers day, our host cooked a special breakfast for all the  mothers in the park, for a small donation that goes to the royal flying doctor service, breakfast consisted of bacon, eggs, rump steak,tomatoes,Lambs fry and onions.
We were supposed to move next morning, but graham and Pam informed us that he was cooking a camp oven meal next evening, of roast pork, roast goat and roast kangaroo. Well these two happy campers were not about to leave just yet and only $15 each with half the proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctor ( r.f.d.)

10/May. moving on this time to Coonamble. Stayed here for a couple of days then left for Walget. We saw a bit of wildlife driving here, a lot of Emu's, Roo's and a Fox stalking a lizard. We had to fill up with autogas in town, .90 cent's a litre but when Sandra went in to pay the mongrels  had Jacked up the price on the bowser to 99.9 cents per Litre, only autogas in town we did not pay another cent in walget drove straight to Lightning Ridge. 
Friday the 13Th, we had a look in Sandy's opal shop here in the ridge, where they made an opal necklace for Oprah Winfrey, valued at over 20,000 bucks.
so much to see and do here, the artesian bore baths are great after a long day fossiking and sight seeing, john Murray's art gallery is amazing,
the black opal tour  is well worth the money, lightning ridge is famous for the black opal.
 went to a garage sale an bought a toaster as our old one has carked it. 
I just can not help myself, got bogged at the back of caravan park., (looking for opals,) had to get a tractor to pull me out of the mud.



I

 

On the road again for 2011

31st Dec 2010. We are now back at 12 Mile Creek near Karuah.
Manager Lorraine H, has put on a great New Year's Eve party for all 40 + Nomads in the park.
It was a top night, one of the best we have had in the last few years, it went off really well, plenty of Dancing and Grog, Sandra had a few dances with an English jive dancer who told San he was a Jive Champion back in England. We finally called a stop to all the Dancing and Drinking at about 2.30 AM.Today is New Years Day 2011.
Sandra is aching all over, from the dancing last night.
A very hot day already and Lorraine has organised a hectic day with duck racing across the lake, the go here is to attache a plastic duck to a fishing rod and reel as fast as you can, how exciting?, also played Boccie, Darts, Disk bowls (phew), don't tell anyone, they will think I have gone bonkers or crazy in the mid day heat.
This Arvo the owner of the park let his hair down and invited all of us to have a beer and prawns with him, his Shout bought an 18 pack of VB and the prawns were off, tight arse.

 

The rest of January was busy until the 15th our 45th Wedding Anniversary, took her out to a Classy Chinese restaurant, Maccas was packed.

From the 15 - 28 of January was very busy for us,as there was a lot going on in the park, our host Lorraine has organised a Karaoke night, I tell ya, I would have to be Bloody Blotto to get up and sing in front of this mob. Sandra and good friend's Rosemary and Louise decided that they would sing as a trio, and called themselves the 3 Degrees, and sung the song, Stop in the name of love, it went of very well, although Sandra freaked me out, she looked like her sister Margaret. Our good mate Neil sung a Johnny Cash song A boy named Sue, it was a good night with heaps of fun,grog and laughter.

9/3/2011. Today is so sad for Myself and Sandra as my Uncle, Ross Farmer has passad away, he is allways in my mind, I will miss Him, R.I.P.

15/03/2011. Today I have turned 68 and my Grand Daughter Alyssa Jade is 21 today also, Happy Birthday Lis.

10/04/2011. San and I, are now back travelling after 6 months at home base.
We are currently at this time staying in the showground at the lovely little town of Taralga.
We left Swansea last Tuesday, our first night stop was at Myuna Bay on Lake Macquarie, a great stay but it can get very windy. We had a visit this arvo from our good Friends John and  Lexie, from Wangi Wangi, John is doing up an old bus and hopes to take off about September, we will catch up with them somewhere?
Moving on we have spent the next night at the Pheasants Nest road house, a good rest last night and not at all noisy from trucks coming and going,
we will not fuel up here, we will get auto gas at Nowra.
Drove down to Moss Vale in the Southern Highland's, and set up camp in the local van park,
after setting up we then drove down through the Kangaroo Valley to Culburra Beach to see my Aunt Frances, who has now moved into low care in there Community Retirement Village, she shared a self care unit with my Uncle Ross who sadly passed away on the 9th of March, I will miss him so much.

The weather is getting colder now. Kayla's birthday today, Love ya babe.
Alyssa and Tim flew out on Friday for three weeks holiday in Italy & France, enjoy yourselves Kids.
We left Moss Vale today (Friday) after an overnight low of 5deg & travelling through Goulburn to Taralga to spend about 3 days of just resting.
Sunday today, and it is Raining ( bugger). Just Sandy and I and about 200 Sheep, and not a Kiwi in sight. ( my words not San's).
Taralga is a small town founded in the 1820s. The sons of John MacArthur received grants for land, convict labour was used to Shepherd sheep on there properties.
The oldest existing house in Taralga , was the first pound keepers residence it was built in the 1840s and is still here today.
We are camping at the local showground on power with hot showers, only $15.00 a night.
Rain gone for now we have packed up and travelling to another town - Crookwell also an old town, we will rest awhile after a look around town.
Crookwell is nestled on the top of the Great Dividing Range, about 1000 metres above sea level, the area often in winter, is blanketed in snow, it's a photographers Paradise with spectacular granite rocks and a lovely river - The Wollindilly- also it's Australia's first grid connected wind farm. Crookwell was previously named Kiama.
The first mainland Rainbow and Brown trout where released here in the Wollindilly River in 1888.
From Crookwell we drove to a very small town named Rugby, with only 60 people living here, it's known for some of the finest Merino sheep.
12/04. We are in Boorowa for a coupla days,the town is known for it's Irish connections dating back to the early 1830s.
Moved onto Forbes a fairly big town, only staying for 2 days, we have stayed here before with our good mates Joan and Stan, will catch up on the things we did not see last time.
We are now in Shanon Noll country !Condobolin!. To our bad luck there is a mouse plague out this way, last night we could here them crawling over the van, plus its wet raining and cold.
Caught up with Neil and Loraine in the local caravan park, had a good happy hour with them,and met some new friends.
19/4/11. Packed up and cruised out to Parkes and set up camp in the showground, Lofty the caretaker greeted us as we drove in he is a very strange dude.
2 days later we drove through Dubbo on our way to Lehays Creek which is near Gulgong. We are staying with John, Michelle and Jeff for the Easter break.
Camping in the paddock we have magic sunrises, with all kinds of bird life, cows and a few roo's hopping a few feet from our van. Joanne, Bruno, Ben, Kayla, Bruno's sister Maria her hubby Steve, Natalina and Andrew are staying over the road on Joe Ippas property (600 acres) for Easter as well.
Over the coming days we had a great time with the kids, plenty of relaxing and the consumption of a few beers, made for a most enjoyable break.

Townsville to Armstrong Beach

28/09. After a hot and noisy night at Bilyanda we took off for Bushy Parker about 25km North of Townsville. Set up our camp quickly, and headed for the Bilabong for a refreshing swim. Last night was warm plus we had rain to cool things off. Walked up the road to the little town for a look and collected Mango's on the way back, cooled off again in the water. A big storm this arvo to cool us even more.                                                                      2/10. A bad night last night as campers nearby were partying, drinking and fighting. We moved on early and only traveled to Bluewater camp. hopefully we will have a better night tonight. No such luck there was a wedding on in the hall across road and the band played until the early hours next morning. 4/10. This is our 43rd stop so far on this trip. We are now in the Coral Coast Van Park at Townsville beside the Air force Base & not noisy at all, a good place to be as it is now very hot and we have a good pool to swim in, we are making the most of it at least 3/4 swims a day. haven't seen any yet but this park has a lot of Tree Snakes, as well as sightings of  Pythons, Yellow and Red Belly Black's also Taipans, BLOODY HELL, San is not  one bit impressed. Outta bed early to drive into Townsville to have a look at the Living Coral Reef Aquarium which holds 2.5 million litres of salt water, it amazing to see the colour and and the many fish types, its the world largest living coral reef. We now know what to expect to see when we travel to the Great Barrier Reef. 8/10. Today is our Danny's Birthday, happy birthday Dan. Neil and Lorraine rang to say they are catching Barra and Redclaw. Our Waeco Fridge is now repaired and we are on the move again this time to the Gunna Go C/V/P near Proserpine. Very clean amenities but old, good pool, the cater for back packers as well as the general public. Sugar Cane farms surround the park, and more bloody snakes as well, Browns, Taipans and Pythons we will have to be Very vigilant. We were told at night to take a torch when we go to the toilets just in case there is a brown snake behind the toilet bowl, we are almost Freaking out now. A good thing there is a licenced bar here, might as well get pissed and not worry to much.This park was caught in a cyclone earlier this year, there were 200km winds a lot of damage it even took paint of one of the Walls. 10/10/10. Temperature so cool now about 10deg cooler. Left this morning and going to Armstrong Beach via Sarina, almost there when the A frame on both sides snapped and bought our Ute to a sudden stop, a bit scary as we were on a bend in the road, the road condition is very bad we were lucky that we were only traveling about 70km/h, it could have been a lot worse, back on the highway out of Sarina we were driving to the speed limit 100km/h, a middle aged couple stopped to lend a hand, they stayed for 2 hours to direct traffic. It is just a waiting game now, insurance company and assessors have been contacted.

Showers on and off overnight, Sandflies and Mozzies are very bad, have to light coils and put on insect spray, that is before we even go outside.

Three days after accident a tow truck has arrived to load the caravan and take it to Eaton about 80km from Armstrong Beach.

We are now back in Lake Macquarie and all is O.K. I had a Major Computer Crash and lost all information from Armstrong Beach to Home Base.

See Ya, back in 2011?

Sandy & John

Leaving Cooktown going to Townsville





View from our van - Riverside caravan park Innisfail



 20/09. Left Cooktown this morning bright and early, to catch up with Neil and Lorraine who left a day before us. Caught up with them back at the Palmer river roadhouse. had lunch then traveled down to Mt Molloy rest area where we will spend the night before moving to Mareeba.

Poor cattle on the way down, not much feed they look like Skeletons.



 21/09. After a lousy night with mozzies all about, we packed up moved to Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands. We collected mail then went on a tour of the Coffee Works a tourist attraction just out of town. They say they sell the best coffee and chocolate in the world, it was very good , we sampled a lot of chocolate which was too expensive to buy, but I bought a packet of dark coffee, hope it tastes as good as it smelt?. After that we then drove out to Rocky Creek war Memorial Park which is also a rest stop, we will stay here tonight before going down to Millaa Millaa. We will part ways with our friends as they have not seen this area before, and meet up later on the coast.



Me and my Gal at Townsville Reef Aquarium.

22/09. This is our 37th stop of the trip so far. We are now in Milla Milla, Aboriginal word meaning plenty water,. What a drive to get here, rain, heaps of fog, it is so Green and lush. Millaa Millaa is the Gateway to the Atherton Tablelands, with 6 Waterfalls in 15kms of the township. There is the rare Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo in this area but these days it is so hard to find.

Tobin's supermarket in town has been operating since 1937, it is only a small town with 3 shops, a Museum, an Opal shop, newsagent,and post office. We drove out to look at Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls and Elenjoa Falls and all looked great.



You have to shut the door to the amenities at night and make sure you turn lights off as they attract bugs and frogs, frogs love bugs and snakes eat frogs.

24/09. Not raining this morning only heavy fog as we drive down the mountain to Innisfail 60 km away. we have booked ahead and will be staying at Riverside caravan Park.

We have a great site overlooking the Johnston River, and so quiet and peaceful.

26/09.  Happy Birthday Kylie 36 today Love you Baby, where have all the years gone?, only seem.s like yesterday that you were born.

Went to see the fish weigh inn at the wharf in town, it was a 10 kg line comp with a 35.5 Spanish Mackerel caught, A World Record going to a Lady competitor. Most of the fish caught were Spanish Mackerel, a few Giant Travelly and assorted reef fish.

27/09. Left Innisfail today and stopped at Tully for lunch, 31deg in the shade. Before stopping here we called into Cowley Beach to see what it is like for a future stay, it is a magic spot, great sandy beach lined with coconut trees, but a fisherman told us that there were sharks close in and croc's in the river only 150 metres along the beach !! Bugger !!,  there were a few people in the water swimming, don't know if we will go in, maybe do some Sun Baking??.

Left Tully and continued driving down to the Bilyanda rest area, we have spent the night here before.