On the road to Silverton

After living on the road for twelve months back in 2014, some people would think our travelling would be done.  Others, perhaps wiser, would know that it has barely begun.  For the past few months we have been planning a trip to the Simpson Desert, and on Saturday 6th August 2016, we set off.  Looking back on that 2014 trip, it is easy to see how much these beautiful boys have grown.

This was to be a trip without our camper trailer 'Matilda'.  We were not sure how going with just swags (and an emergency tent) would go.  We figured we would be alright, unless it rained... and in a few short weeks we would test the limits of our wet weather capability.  We were also travelling with friends Kylie, Jim and their boy, The Little Fossicker.

Our first night was on the banks of the Murray River at Euston.  Jo had made special onesy outfits for the cold nights - and the kids loved them.  There was no complaints from any of the swag dwellers, so we pressed on.

We traced the Murrumbidgee River from home, and later followed the Murray stopping at Wentworth to see the confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers.  We would be crossing the Darling River again in a few weeks some 1,970 kilometres by river north at Bourke.

Siding Springs and the Warrumbungles Grand High Tops Walk

The Warrumbungle Range rises from the surrounding plains with an unmistakable silhouette.  On the peak of one of the mountains is the unmistakable dome of the Siding Springs Observatory.  This 3.9m mirror telescope is one of several observatories on the peak of the mountain, and has contributed to some startling discoveries since it was opened in 1974.  It is open during the day, and we all learnt just a little into the amazing world of space, black holes, nebulas and dark matter. 

 

A couple of nights later we enjoyed a stargazing tour down the road at the Warrumbungle Observatory.  With our host named Peter Starr, we knew we were in good hands, and we spent an hour and a half observing Saturn, distant nebulas (star factories), other galaxies and even more.  Peter used to work at Siding Springs Observatory, and explained that the site was chosen for a number of reasons. 

• The high elevation reduced the amount of atmosphere thereby increasing clarity
• The mid latitude location allows the full southern sky to be observed
• The area has few cloudy nights

The Pilliga Forest took us all by surprise.

From Lightning Ridge, we headed south, looking forward to spending four nights in the Warrumbungles... but like all good plans, it changed for the better with a diversion to the Pilliga Forest.

We drove south through Walgett and Coonamble - all productive country, with crops of wheat ready for harvest.  The ominous storm clouds brewing explained the urgency in the movement of harvesting machinery on the highways.  There was rain forecast - plenty of it - and the farmers were desperate to get their crops off the paddocks before it hit.

At Coonabarabran we restocked, and were just about to head down the back road to the Warrumbungles, when I suggested we head to the Pilliga Forest Discovery Centre at Barandine.  Our last house was made of Cypress Pine from the Pilliga, and we had always wanted to see the country where the timber had come from.  It was a great decision.

Mount Kosciuszko with kids - back on the road again

Little more than two months after coming home, unpacking everything and getting back into the swing of life - our feet started getting itchy again.  Now don't get me wrong, it is great being home, and we are right back into the swing of school, work and renovations (yes - we find plenty of ways to keep busy).  But we had one major challenge we wanted to complete. 

On our 12 month journey around Australia, we saw many Australian icons, swam under some fabulous waterfalls, and climbed some picturesque mountains.  There was one mountain that we didn't conquer on our trip, and it was nagging us.

It was time to head to the High Country and the Australian mainland's highest peak - Mount Kosciuszko.  (Australia's highest peak is actually Mawson Peak, part of active volcano Big Ben on Heard Island way south west of the continent)

Fraser Island - Part One - The Rugged East Coast

Fraser Island, or K'gari as it was known long before time began by the Butchulla people, is a magnificent sandy island that is nearly all world heritage listed National Park.  There are almost no sealed roads on the island, meaning the only way to get around it is by boat, or four wheel drive.  Half of the adventure is in getting here - with soft sand on the beach landing the first hurdle.  Rocky pulled us through the soft sand to the firmer stuff closer to the waters edge, and before we knew it, we were on the ferry heading on our way across to K'gari.

On the Manta Ray ferry

The easiest 'road' to drive on the island is the eastern beach.  Whilst you can drive it at high tide, the soft sand makes it heavy going.  We elected to wait until a couple of hours before low water, meaning we would easily clear Hook Point and then be able to drive up to our camp at Dundaburra, about three quarters of the way up the eastern beach towards Indian Head.  Our spirits were high as we rounded the point and started making our way north.  The sand was hard, and we cruised up comfortably at around 60km/hr, well under the signposted 80km/hr.  This is a gazetted road, and normal road rules apply, despite the challenges of surf, fishermen, creeks, washouts and swales in the sand.

The famous 75 mile beach - all hooked up and looking forward to our next few days

Due to the tides, we arrived in camp reasonably late and set up quickly.  The beautiful shaded camp-site was fenced, meaning we wouldn't have to worry about Dingos around camp.  Goannas were another story, meaning we still had to follow our usual food and rubbish pack away routine.

Kroombit Tops and Beautiful Betsy

After being told that Kroombit Tops had received 750mm of rain over the past three days, I must admit to feeling that we would not be able to visit the tableland on this trip.  That said, it did seem like an unbelievable figure - after all it is more than our annual average rainfall at home, and there was no evidence of widespread flooding.

Our camp hosts suggested we drop in on the National Parks base nearby and ask them directly.  We did, and were told that a crew had been up in the park the previous day, and all tracks were definitely open!  There was no mention of biblical downpours, and I believe that our information source may have made a error involving the placement of a decimal point.

So we went.

If you haven't heard of Kroombit Tops, we hadn't either until we were talking with a couple from Gladstone a two of weeks earlier.  Of similar geological formation to Blackdown Tableland, it too was opened up for logging from the 1960's until 1995. Its cool tableland provides the northernmost range for many southern dwelling plants and animals, as well as the southernmost range for many northern dwelling plants and animals.  It really is a unique place to visit, and we were looking forward to heading up there ourselves.

Getting there was half the fun.  We wound north from Cania Gorge, on a dirt road that at times resembled a farm track.  There were numerous creek crossings, farm gates and cattle as we traversed this isolated part of the country. 

The drive in had plenty of gates

Agnes Waters, Deepwater National Park and Cania Gorge

We thoroughly enjoyed our four nights at Agnes Waters.  It was supposed to be a quiet rest time savouring the cool of the coast.  After the weekend passed, we had the campsite in Deepwater National Park to ourselves and things were becoming really peaceful.  

Of course the beach was glorious, but we decided to spend a couple of mornings in town visiting the library and getting our tyre repaired.  

In-between catching up on school at the library, we manged to try out a few new moves down at the beach.  We have lugged these boards since home, but they hadn't been used for a long time.  After taking about a hundred photos on the GoPro camera, I settled on these couple as the best shots of a couple of glorious days in the sun and the surf.

 

Surfs up!

The Queensland Gemfields nearly gain four residents!

We left Longreach early in the morning and started heading east.  We were basically following the Tropic of Capricorn towards the coast, but there are some interesting things to see on the way.

We stopped at Barcarldine at the famous 'Tree of Knowledge'.  Under the branches of this tree in the 1890's, shearers gathered to protest the poor pay and conditions offered pastoralists.  There were many shearers camps in this area from the Great Shearers Strikes, however it is believed that it was here that the genesis for what was to become the Australian Labor Party was formed.

Move forward a hundred years and it is rumoured that in 2006 someone poisoned the tree - and the resultant sculpture around the dead tree trunk (opened in 2008) is stunning.  Regardless of your political pursuasion, this is an interesting place.

Tree of Knowledge at Barcarldine

We continued on our way east and made our way to a small community called Sapphire.  In the heart of the Queensland Gemfields, this area is famous for its sapphires funnily enough.  To be honest we weren't sure what you could fossick here, as down the road is Rubyvale and Emerald is about 50km further east. 

Longreach - the heart of the Outback

We pulled into Longreach Tourist Park rather exhausted after the previous two days of travelling.  Not only had we driven nearly 900km, but we had also visited all of the main attractions on the Dinosaur Trail from Hughenden to Richmond and Winton.  So why had we driven like madmen?  It was all to do with another part of Australia's history, but this time much more modern than our hundred million year old dinosaur friends.  We were moving forward into the 19th century at a gallop.

Friends had recommended to us a ride on a Cobb & Co Coach - and we had found out that the last run of the season was on Friday - hence our haste to get here.  We had booked on the last coach of the season - and considered ourselves extremely fortunate to gain a seat.  The coaches are run by Kinnon and Co, a family run business that diversified into tourism after a drought in around 2006 nearly sent them to the wall.  Richard Kinnon has expanded the business into so much more than a Coach Ride.  Part history lesson, part adrenaline ride, we signed up for the full deal.

The Cobb and Co coaching empire at its peak had a network of runs across the eastern part of Australia, from Normanton in the gulf to Victoria.  With some 60 000 horses travelling some 45 000km per week, it was an incredible network, that was started by a young man (he was 19) who came to the Goldfields to make his fortune and realised that digging for gold was a pretty hit and miss way to achieve it.  He did recognise however that there was a desperate need for transportation.  His business model is now called franchising, and it made young Mr Cobb extremely rich, however he lost all his money gambling on river boats in the United States - and the business slowly folded in the early 20th century due in no small part to another enterprise that started just down the road - as we shall come to later.

The boys check out our fine steeds for the morning's ride.

Australia's own amazing Dinosaur Trail

We left Charters Towers behind us and started heading west.  We knew we were heading the right direction as the roads were straight, and the soil dry and dusty.  We were planning to spend the next week or so touring Australia's very own Dinosaur Trail, encompassing the towns of Hughenden, Richmond and Winton.  Little did we know we would be journeying back in time to different landscapes, from ancient sea beds, to rainforests and muddy shorelines, and we would be meeting some of the creatures that ruled these environments.

We had been denied our Australian Arms lunch with Mash Potato (Kangaroo and Emu) at the Prairie Hotel Parachilna as it was closed when we passed through the Flinders Ranges, so we couldn't pass the Prairie Hotel Prairie without passing in.  We had a good poke around the old memorabilia in the pub, and the publican (not a backpacker!) on hearing we were off on the Dinosaur Trail, showed the boys some fossils and coprolite (dinosaur poo) from his own collection.  We enjoyed our paddle pops in the 42 degree heat, and continued on.

Prairie Hotel - Prairie!

Long straight to Hughenden

Airlie Beach and the magical Whitsunday Islands

After arriving late the previous day, we were up early and keen to check out Airlie Beach.  Once a sleepy town you passed through on your way to the Whitsunday Islands, it has grown into a destination in its own right.

We enjoyed a relaxing morning around camp, catching up on school work. After lunch we headed into town to check out the Main Street and the Lagoon.  The Main Street is full of the usual tourist shops, aimed squarely at the backpacker market.  There is also a good selection of pubs claiming to be the number one party place in town.  In a way nothing much has changed here since my first visit here back in 1999 - except this time we fit into a very different demographic!  

Main St, Backpacker Central

The most significant change, the Lagoon has turned the waterfront area from a quiet grassy park and uninviting beach into a delightful safe swimming area.  Unlike the Cairns Lagoon, this one has deep water (2.0 metres at its deepest).  Just like Cairns, this one is often surrounded by young people worshiping the sun.

Enjoying the Lagoon!

Wallaman Falls and the first time the boys refuse to get in the car!

From Mount Surprise we took a scenic cross country route to Ingham via Valley of the Lagoons.  Crossing through dusty cattle stations, before passing Mount Fox Volcano and descending down the range to Ingham, we took great pleasure in traversing the road less travelled.

Lunch Stop - Valley of the Lagoons

The Pelican Lakes in the Valley of the Lagoons was a completely unexpected change in scenery from the dry savannah woodland.  The headwaters of the Burdekin River, this area was explored by Leichardt in 1845.

Pelican Lakes

On the road again, Undarra and Mount Surprise

With Rocky passing its first test, the Kuranda Range, with flying colours, I felt confident in hooking up Matilda and resuming our great adventure.  It took us a little time to reorganise ourselves so that everything was back in its proper place, but it was all part of a process to ensure we had everything we needed.

We bade farewell to Mama, Pa and Chris and Shelly and headed into Atherton to refill the fridges and pantry.  The IGA had one of the best selections of fresh food we had ever seen - and the large carpark meant even we could get an undercover park, keeping everything nice and cool. 

Store ship!

Full of food, fuel and water, it was time to head west.  With every passing kilometre the landscape became browner and dryer as we moved from rich dairy farms to open savannah woodland.   We pulled off the road to check out Millstream Falls, reputedly the widest single span falls in Australia.  During World War II, nearly 100 000 troops were camped in the vicinity, and some of the evidence of their traning camps could also be seen in the surrounding countryside.

A relaxing break with family, then Rocky returns

After being completely surprised by Jo's parents at Chris and Shelly's block, we enjoyed a wonderful few days catching up on family news and enjoying the serenity of their piece of paradise.  It was truly wonderful to relax and enjoy time together.   It was also a good time to take stock of all our gear and make sure we were ready for the imminent return of Rocky...

A wonderful picnic at the future house site

Making new friends - the adorable Millie enjoys a bonus cuddle from The Little Fisherman and Mum

Kuranda Sky Rail, Port Douglas, Low Isles and a wonderful surprise

Whilst Rocky was still in at the Dealer's, we were still in a holding pattern within a short radius of Cairns.  Thankfully this didn't affect us too much as we had a rendezvous with some friends from Sydney that had been put in place months before.  

In fact Nic and Dave, along with their beautiful two year old daughter had shared the start of our adventure in Tassie, and we were very much looking forward to catching up with them.  This time though they would not be hiring a camper trailer.  Instead of sleeping under the stars, they had chosen their Port Douglas Resort by the stars - and whilst we were camped down the road at one of the local caravan parks, we might have snuck in to enjoy some of the good life for a couple of days.

With a relaxing catch up being the main priority, we still managed to visit a couple of the most popular tourist attractions in the Cairns region.  In fact we had been looking forward to visiting these attractions for quite a while now, and I am pleased to say they did not disappoint.

Kuranda Scenic Railway and Sky Rail

We booked in for a train ride up the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Freshwater Station to Kuranda, with a return trip on the Sky Rail cable car.  This railway opened up Cairns to the tablelands when it was commissioned in 1891 - invigorating the small town of Cairns and allowing it to grow into a major centre.

The rail line was a major engineering challenge, its climb to Kuranda comprising of 37 bridges and 15 hard carved tunnels up the Barron Valley.  Some five thousand workers toiled to build the railway at its peak, but today we enjoyed riding in tastefully restored carriages past abandoned sidings that in their day had not just tent cities, but in some cases hotels and even breweries!

All aboard the Kuranda Railway... 

Some highlights of the Atherton Tablelands

We returned south after our adventures at Cooktown and Laura at a relaxed pace.  It was time to check out some of the things to see and do in the Atherton Tablelands, and (re)discover why this area is so popular with tourists and locals alike.

We saw some magnificent timber work at the Tolga Woodwork Gallery.  These places always showcase incredible craftsmanship - and the gallery here was no exception. Beautiful timber had been turned into exquisite furniture - and we all enjoyed walking through the gallery.

Tolga Woodwork Gallery - I had hidden Jo's credit card just in case...

Our next stop was Crystal Cave in Atherton.  Rene Boissevain has put together an amazing collection of crystals - and displayed them in a unique quirky cave.  It was fascinating walking through the crystals - many of them able to be held and touched.  

Inside the Crystal Cave

One of the most amazing specimens is a huge Amethyst Geode, standing over 3.5 metres tall. It is simply spectacular and takes your breath away when you walk into the room.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time checking out all the crystals here - even more impressive was that the vast majority are able to be held or touched.  Some of the specimens are extremely rare, others are simply beautiful. This was a fantastic place to visit.    

  

North to ancient lands and where it all changed..

With Rocky still laid up at the dealership waiting for a new cylinder head, Volkswagen had agreed to upgrade our rental car to one with a tow bar.  We swapped the Kluger for a Pajero, and started getting ready to hit the road again.  The only problem was that the new car didn't have electric trailer brakes fitted, so the solution was to fit a brake controller to the trailer.  It took a couple of hours to fit, the extra time being due to the fact I wanted to make sure we could unplug it quickly when we get Rocky back.

Installing brake controller

The following morning, we hitched up the Pajero and started making tracks north.  It was a great feeling to be on our way again, but we missed the comfort of Rocky, and our extra creature comforts that having a massive storage area also brings.  The Pajero towed Matilda easily - but the rear door was difficult to open with the trailer hitched on - and despite our best efforts, the rear of the car soon became a jumble of camping gear and food.

Woo Hoo - outta here 

Still in Cairns, but the end is in sight.

With Rocky laid up at the dealers awaiting a full diagnosis, we got stuck into rediscovering Cairns.  Cairns is a tropical city that relies heavily on the tourist dollar.  That also means that for people like us, there is plenty to see and do.  

We were also extremely fortunate to be holed up in my brother's house - so we were also rediscovering the joys of living in a house. The simple things like running hot water, a full kitchen and comfortable couches were certainly appreciated.  That said we also were doing chores like sweeping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms that we hadn't done for a long time...  there are two sides to every coin.

The boy's continued their routine of cooking dinner for us on Saturday night - necessitating a visit to the famous Rusty's Markets for the fresh food supplies.  The boys did a pretty good job, not just with the shopping, but also the cooking too!

Rusty's Markets

Tourists in Cairns - well sort of...

With Rocky broken down and there being absolutely nothing I could do about it, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted and slept soundly for the first time in ages.  Keeping the show on the road, trying to stay a day or three ahead was obviously more stressful than I realised.  It was time to take a holiday from our holiday!

We treated ourselves to dinner at the Bamaga Resort - and were pleasantly surprised with a delicious meal and great service.  The following day we caught up on some school-work and kicked around the pool before taking an evening flight to Cairns.  We had been hoping to catch the full moon from the some outback camping area, but as it was we saw a magnificent sunset and moon rise from 21 000 feet!  As glorious as it was, even the iPhone couldn't capture an image through the pexi-glass windows!

Not quite our planned form of transportation

We had planned on taking two weeks to rattle our way back to Cairns.  It felt like we were cheating a bit by taking a two hour flight - but there really wasn't anything we could do about it - and so we sat back and relaxed.

Volkswagen continued to look after us with a hire car waiting for us at the airport.  The rows of dazzling cars in the car park reminded us we have been 'out bush' for a long time indeed.  In no time at all we dumped our bags at he hotel and headed to the Night Markets for a leg stretch and bit of supper.  The city was busy - which was great to see - and seems to be shaking off its downturn of the last few years.

The following morning we found ourselves in the unusual position of having nothing planned - so we walked around town like real tourists.  Both Jo and I have lived in Cairns previously, and it was wonderful to introduce our boys to some of our fond memories of the city.  

Cairns Waterfront, delightful, when the tide is in!

Returning south was not so easy - our first major breakdown

After fuelling up an Bamaga we had a little family discussion.  Rocky had a problem.  Admittedly it was a slight problem - the tensioner pully on the serpentine belt looked slightly out of alignment.  

Is that pulley out of alignment?

It didn't look right - and I rang VW Assist to seek their advice.  Their google map based software had no trouble finding us - but finding someone who could help was another story.  As we were still technically mobile (i.e. hadn't broken down yet) they were really unable to do any more for us, other than recommend we take it to the nearest dealer (some 1000km of mostly corrugated dirt road away in Cairns).   Their other recommendation was to turn off the air conditioner to reduce the load on the serpentine belt.    I also isolated the camper's batteries so that they weren't charging off the alternator either.

We had planned to stay nearby at Umagico - but I was worried about the car - and we decided we were better off commencing our journey south... now.  We had two options - 400km to Weipa where we had friends who could help us out, or 1000km to Cairns where we would be able to lean on family as well as friends if we needed.

We held our little discussion - and put the options to the kids.  Bless their little hearts but they agreed to commence a long drive without a moments notice.

So we left.  Air Conditioning off.  Music and any other electrical decvices we could find also off (to reduce electrical load).  Windows down.  Old school road trip.  Only 970km to go!

We arrived at the Jardine Ferry just in time for their lunch break - so after a nervous look after the bonnet, we relaxed by having our lunch and kicking a ball around.  I sat down and wrote out on a piece of paper all our NRMA and VW Assist details, just to make sure we had them handy - a sound piece of planning as it turned out.

All seemed well - or rather no worse - under the bonnet - so we continued.

We made it just 10km when the car stalled, Check Engine Light came on and everything just stopped.  We coasted to a stop on the side of the road.  The inevitable had happened - the belt had shredded itself.