MOSSMAN to HUGHENDEN

Sandra next to a large Termite nest at Mareeba.
31/07/ 2007. We are now up on the Tableland's and staying at the Walkamin Caravan Park which is near Mareeba. The rain has stopped and the sun is shining, it is just fantastic to be up here.
We were a little apprehensive about the long climb over the mountains but the Commodore made short work of it and did it easily.
This park has only been open for 2 years and is different from other parks in as much as there is no set pattern to the way you can site your van on your allotted block, we have gone side on and we are avoiding most of the winds, the Camp Kitchen is just great there is everything that you need to make your stay very pleasant. The owners have an old 1929 Whippet Ute parked in the camp kitchen, they use it to collect the rubbish.

John the Garbo.
Camp Kitchen at Walkamin Caravan Park.

Yesterday (Tues). We drove into Atherton for a look around and to do some shopping, on the way in we drove through Rainforest, Sugar Cane and Banana Plantations.
By coming up here on the Atherton Tablelands we have escaped the humidity of the coast down at Mossman.
There is a big Avocado, Peanuts, Mango's, Maize, Potatoes, Macadamia Nut, Beef and Cattle industry up here.
The Tableland was the staging post for the 2nd world war in the Pacific, and over 100,000 Troops were camped around the area, it is a very relaxed town now.
Wednesday, 1st of August. Sandra and I drove out to Tinaroo Dam for a Bo Peep. The Dam was constructed in 1959 to create a water reservoir for irrigation. There is a caravan park here and boating and fishing is allowed on the lake, where some very Big Barramundi and Redclaw have been caught. The largest Barra caught was just over 39 Kilograms and the Redclaw record length was a whopping 46 centimeters long (Wow).

A good size Redclaw
Thursday saw us drive to Yungaburra, it is a very old town with a large pub and a lot of art & craft shops, there is a good chance of seeing a Platypus in the Peterson Creek right here in town, but we were not lucky enough and did not see any. After an hour or two we left Yungaburra and set of for the Lake Eacham National Park about 10km away, Lake Eacham is a 10,000 year old Volcanic Crater and it has a depth of about 65 metres, we caught a glimpse of some Archer Fish and Saw Shelled Turtles the turtles are very strange in that they Breathe through their backside.
Friday 3rd of August. Today was an Awesome day we traveled on the Sky Rail over the canopy of the rainforest's from Kuranda to Cairns. This was truly fantastic to be looking down on the tree tops from such a height, as you would probably know Sandra is terrified of heights, but she took it well although at one point I thought that she may Faint as the Gondola came to a halt an it started to sway a little, the colour drained out of her face but as it started to move again she was alright.


After the Sky Rail we then took a tour of Kuranda, this is such a nice part of the world to be in, it is more like a giant market place, with every thing to buy such as some very good Tropical Fruit Wine that even Sandra liked we will buy some bottles to take back home, you can even buy all sorts of Crocodile Leather goods, a Ladies Croc Handbag sold for close to $800. There was a guy throwing a Boomerang at the side of the road and it clipped the electric wires almost hitting a couple of N.Z. Tourist's. he apologised and when he spoke he was not Aboriginal but Cuban and as Black as the Ace of Spades.



Doongal Local Aboriginal Art. Kuranda
20/08/2007. After almost 3 weeks without Internet connections we are now back in range. Sandra and I are staying at the Charters Towers Tourist Park.
We had spent 3 days at Kurramine Beach south of Innisfail, the drive down the mountain from the Tablelands was a bit hairy as it was raining, at times it was hard to see the road ahead, some Idiot had changed the sign post to Innisfail and we were off to Ravenshoe over a high Mountain and a very narrow road, after about 20 km we realised we going in the wrong direction, with a lot of difficulty we managed to turn around and find the right way down to Innisfail.
Whilst staying at Kurramine Beach (packed in like Sardines Again), we had made some day trips to such places as Mission Beach and Bingle Bay they are close by, we were not to impressed with either and would probably not come back here or to kurramine Beach, the only thing going for this park is the huge swimming pool which made the stay a little more pleasant.
Leaving Kurramine Beach we drove down to Bluewater Rest Area, we have stayed here before and met so many people, and this time is no different, we have palled up with John and his wife Lexie from Weston in N.S.W. they are doing Aus in there car and a trailer and enjoying it the same as we are, they are very good company.


Lexie & John at Bluewater Rest Area
Time to move on again after three very good days at Bluewater. This time to Alligator Creek Truck Stop south of Townsville. John and Lexie are already there, we will only stay for 1 night and then move further on.
18/08/2007. We camped for 3 days at Giru Historical and Information Centre with J & L. This rest stop looked good but we are right in the middle of the Sugar Cane Processing and the Mill is going 24/7 the smell of Molasses is quiet strong and to make matters worse we are only 30 metres from train tracks and they pass by every 1/2 hour or so and are very noisy.
0n Sunday arvo we had lunch in the Local Pub, beer good and only $2.50 for a Steak Sanga, Lexie was lucky in a Raffle and won a 6 pack of XXXX.
Said goodbye to Lexie and John they are off to Rockhampton and we to Charters Towers.
Two days in Charters Towers was all we needed to charge our deep cycle battery's and to replenish our water tanks, then move further out west.
We pulled into the Campaspe River Rest Area to spend the night, it is about 90km from the Towers and it looks good. Although we are alongside the rail tracks and close to the highway I don`t think we will have any problems with passing traffic?. We had an enjoyable happy hour or two with neighbours who were parked at the back of our van, Ruth & George from Boolaroo - Lake Macquarie, they know our good friends Helen and Col from the same suburb and also know's Bro Daz.
At about 3-30am as we were sleeping a Freight Train passed by an tooted his horn, he just about scared the C--- out of us, the do it all the time we were told, they must be envious of our lifestyle?.

Campaspe River Rest Area.
24/08/2007. Moving on to the Dinosaur Capital of Australia - Hughenden we drove through a little Town Called Prairie. It was so Amazing with a great Outback Pub the likes that we have never seen before. There were 2 hitching posts out the front complete with old Saddles but unfortunately for me there were no horses to ride and the pub was shut, you can`t help bad luck?. As we were at the front of the pub we heard the sound of a motor start up, went to investigate and was surprised to see a Quad Bike with a fellow driving with a small girl on the back, they were followed by a llama as they drove down the street, if I was drunk I could believe what my eyes were seeing. At the other side of the pub there was an enormous Water Buffalo in a paddock - unreal - can't wait to get to Hughenden and have a couple of beers it is so bloody hot.

Sandra & I had one week in Hughenden three days would of been enough but as we were waiting on mail we made the stay as enjoyable as we could, it is a small country town in the Outback and so much different than a lot of others, for instance San went to get a Prescription made up at the Chemist Shop - come General store but they were were closed for lunch, can ya believe that!

Hughenden is the start of the Dinosaur Trail, there is a Replica of a Muttaburrasaurus at the roundabout in the centre of town. (Below)

About half the shops here have closed down, and the ones that are open, sell almost every thing, the Post Office is also the Electrical Retravision retail outlet, the Woman's Clothing shop also sold Men's and Kids wear as well as Ornaments, Fishing Gear as well as a lot of Bric a Brac.

At one of the happy hours we met an old drover who was on his way back from a Drovers Reunion held in Camoeal which is close to the Northern Territory & Queensland Border, and boy did he have some tales to tell. One was a classic about "Jimmy Jam Tin" a Buffalo Calf that he had bought back from the Top End in his Falcon Ute. After about 12 months back home in Charters Towers the Beast had outgrown its pen and would go through the fence to get to Grass on the other side of the road, the Mothers of the local school kids were getting a tad nervous and asked him if he could move it to his brothers property out side of town, one day it escaped and was trotting along side of the rail tracks where it was bowled over by a passing train and was Killed - so sad.