2020 Travels

Bundaberg

Great to catch up with friends Jamie and Jan again in the lovely city of Bundaberg, famous in Australia for what else but Bundy RUM – Australia’s favourite spirit! So off we went on a visit to the distillery that was set up to use the molasses left over after sugar was refined. They certainly faced hardships over the years with two enormous fires – in 1936, the rum escaped into the adjoining Burnett River, and the local paper noted:
‘Strong men stood with bowed heads and a suspicion of a tear in their eyes as they watched the bubbling toddy just stream past them.’
True tragedy Australian style!!! Tasting the array of rums and liqueurs was fun even for non-rum drinkers like us. Unfortunately no photographs could be taken on the tour and Ian had to take out his hearing aids as well (supposedly the batteries could cause an explosion) so as far as he was concerned it was pretty underwhelming…

The Botanic Gardens were pleasant to walk through although the main draw-card for us was the amazing bird life (apparently 100+ species) concentrated on a large island in the middle of the lake. Ian took some great photos….

The magpie geese were just so funny – these big birds land on the most tiny little tree branches creating a constant seesaw motion for them all.

The Hinkler Museum is also located in these gardens. Bert Hinkler was born here in 1892 and was a famous pioneer aviator throughout the early 1900s. The Bundaberg community is justifiably very proud of him. For example, the home he built in Southampton while he was designing and flying experimental aircraft in England has been dismantled and rebuilt alongside the museum. It now overlooks the lagoons where as a boy he sat and studied the ibis in flight – probably dreaming about the famous Ibis aircraft he would later build and fly!

Next stop – Hervey Bay and Fraser Island…

Tracking South – leaving the tropical wet rainforest

We are finally moving south – but slowly so that the cooler temperatures don’t shock us too much!
First top was Cardwell. Our memories of lunching on beautiful fresh mud crab sandwiches in a local cafe were dashed as they had closed down. We did try the new outfit (complete with a large crab on their roof) but they were just not up to scratch – watery with free pieces of shell! Fortunately the Cardwell Beachcomber caravan park where we stayed saved the day with yummy mud crab spring rolls at their restaurant.

The lovely boardwalk along the beach made for a pleasant walk into town. Walking in the other direction took us to the Battle of the Coral Sea memorial, commemorating the huge loss of lives in the air and sea battle between the allied Australian/US forces and the Japanese forces in May 1942. It’s easy to forget how close WW2 came to Northern Australia after Singapore and New Guinea were invaded. One special quote about this tragedy was “This was the first naval battle, in history, in which the opposing ships never came within sight of one another. The entire action was fought by carrier borne aircraft.”

Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort was our next stop 30 minutes north of Townsville.

Our beachfront site was delightful (although the wind was so strong that at times we wished we had a more sheltered site) Local farmers bring in pineapples and pawpaws each day – hog heaven. Speaking of which, 3 little pigs (just spit size!) literally strolled out of the bush in front of us one day to forage in the garden round the park office! The people were aware of them and had caught one, but the remainder have learned to be a little more cautious… They are working on other strategies to get them. There were several birds attracted to the Grevillea planted round the park.

The track from Bluewater up into the Paluma National Park was a fab half day drive – the first time we’ve had our FJ Cruiser in 4WD for months and we needed it in a few spots! This is the southern most area of tropical forest, very lovely and would give you outstanding photos out to the coast on a sunnier day.

Our stay in Airlie Beach was also wet and windy. We found this tourist spot similar to Port Douglas – in fact you can stand anywhere and turn 360 degrees and see every type of accommodation from highrise apartments, resorts, hotels, backpackers etc…. but how much of it is full is the interesting question. The marinas full of yachts plus all the boats plying their trade to the Whitsundays are amazing as well. The neighbouring suburb of Cannonvale doesn’t seem to feature on tourist brochures but is where many locals live, and has lovely beaches and cafes.

Our research into long lost Italian relatives in this region also took us to the lovely country town of Proserpine. Key industries here are sugar and cattle, and the locals at the museum, library and nursing home were outstandingly friendly and helpful. That’s a topic for another day.

The Rollingstone caravan park had a resident Bower Bird that was stealing anything silver to impress his girlfriends – including tow hitch clips! A sign warning of his cleptomania was prominent in the office. We didn’t spot him in action whilst we were there, but it would have meant a trip into Townsville to replace this very necessary item if it had been knocked off… Have you ever seen a bower bird nest, or had something bright and shiny stolen?!

Wildlife Photography Workshop – Malanda FNQ

I recently saw a pamphlet at the Malanda Dairy café and gallery advertising a weekend wild life photography workshop with Steve Parish and Martin Willis. I have admired Steve’s work over a number of years – I’ve always thought of him as the ‘calendar bloke’. Martin’s work is on display in the gallery and I was very impressed. I decided to enrol and take the course.

It was a revelation – I learned a great deal from these people. These blokes are top notch photographers, extremely passionate about their subject and photography. They had arranged for people from the wildlife centre at Kuranda to bring some animals for us to photograph and the 13 of us on the course had a lot of fun getting images of them.

It was a privilege to spend some time with Steve and Martin – not mention Martin’s partner Samantha who looked after us very well. Here’s some happy snaps taken at the workshop – I hope you enjoy these couple of photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Western Australians may be interested in several workshops Steve is holding in WA in the future.

Watch this space as I start to offer photographs for sale later in the year.

Good food, pigs, boulders and dreams…

Mission Beach seems to be a generic term used for the region that also includes 3 other very pretty beaches of Wongaling, Bingil Bay and South Mission Beach (fab views out to Dunk Island). Each place has a different mojo whether that be water sports, fishing, art galleries, music, drinking at a beachfront bar or eating good food!
On our first visit to the Shanti Cafe at Mission Beach Village we were in a hurry so grabbed a couple of toasted sandwiches.

Wow. A taste sensation – homemade ciabatta toasted till golden, with top quality ingredients.
So we had to go back as it had such an interesting breakfast and lunch menu. Ginny had mushrooms on ciabatta, Parmesan and fresh rocket, with truffle oil all the way from Manjimup in WA.

She didn’t lift her head from the plate once! Ian couldn’t go past a second bacon and egg toasted sandwich, and the coffee was good too. Great spot, especially as they have only been in business for 3-4 months.

There are many experimental tropical fruit crops being grown in this area so there is a huge variety available to try, but how do you know if they are ripe or past their best? And how to prepare them?

We found the tropical fruit safari ($9) run by the volunteer “Fruit Bat” ladies at the Visitor’s Centre at Mission Beach very helpful in answering these questions!

Some are very pretty but taste like lolly water, while others are ugly and/or smelly but yummy… our fav by far was the jackfruit.
We also came across the tiny town of El Arish with a big tavern and a huge RSL – all of which made sense when we realised that it was founded as a soldier settlement area in 1921. El Arish was an Egyptian town where the Australian Light Horse saw action in 1916, and the streets are named after WW1 officers including Ian’s hero General John Monash.

While partaking of refreshments at the tavern, we viewed some amazing pig hunting photos. Feral pigs are a BIG problem here, and this has spawned an ‘extreme hunting’ industry complete with 4 wheeler bikes, specially trained dogs and lots of guns and 4WDs.
Check out these guys stocking up prior to heading out for a few days hunting…

A complete contrast to the beaches is the Babinda Boulders, set in tropical jungle half way between Cairns and Innisfail. This area has an average rainfall of 4.6 metres during the wet season which falls on these beautiful boulders (whacking great pieces of granite that would look lovely on your kitchen bench) and it is easy to see why this is a very special place for local Aboriginal people. We applaud the infrastructure developed by Queenslanders to help tourists like us to access the history and culture of these regions.

Paronella Park was a special spot recommended to us by many people on our journey, and we enjoyed visiting this relic of history with our friends Jan and Jamie. We decided that this place is really a monument to ‘survival in a strange land’ as outlined in their promotions:
Everyone has a dream but not everyone’s dreams are fulfilled. José Paronella’s dream was to build a castle.

He chose a special part of Australia and created Paronella Park. On 5 Hectares beside Mena Creek Falls he built his castle, picnic area by the falls, tennis courts, bridges, a tunnel, and wrapped it up in an amazing range of 7,500 tropical plants and trees (now a lush rainforest!). It opened to the public in 1935. Paronella Park has received multiple Queensland tourism awards, is State and National Heritage listed and is a National Trust listed property. It is privately owned and operated and Eco accredited. Paronella Park is the site of Queensland’s 1st privately owned hydro electric plant.

Local people seem to have varied views on the current owners’ dedication to developing this park as opposed to buying and leasing other local tourist sites. Interesting. If you have been to Paronella Park, what did you think?

Innisfail

We moved 84 kms south from Cairns to Innisfail as this is a good central location to explore interesting local spots. Our last visit here was shortly after Cyclone Larry in 2006, which had a devastating impact on the town and the the many crops grown in this region – you may remember when bananas surged to $9 a kilo! Our other memory is of our (now) Governor-General Peter Cosgrove getting the Australian Defence Force right behind the local people to help rebuild their lives after the cyclone.

Now in every direction are rows of sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, papayas – plus there is now a tea plantation and a pepper farm (the only one in Australia apparently). It is a lovely town to stay in with several Art Deco buildings and a diverse mix of cultures resulting from immigrant cane cutters settling here many years ago.

Our van site overlooking the South Johnstone River in the River Drive Van Park is beautiful… although you always have to beware of crocs. It’s kind of sad that you are unable to swim at local beaches due to crocs, stingers or sharks – or a combination of all three. Some beaches have nets or lines, but we heard that a croc got inside one of the stinger nets … now THAT is perseverance!

There are many small towns dotted along this coast, all with a mix of posh and/or beach homes, a school, and a few resident characters (human or animal). First stop was Flying Fish Point to join the merry throng in the queue for fish and chips at the beachfront cafe – hard to beat on a sunny day overlooking the Coral Sea!

Another interesting stop was Etty Beach, a small settlement that bans dogs completely in order to protect a small group of cassowaries living there. These tall birds have several similarities to emus including Dad being the responsible parent. However they don’t sit on their eggs but add vegetation to the nest to maintain a constant warm temperature until the chicks hatch. This Southern Cassowary started with 3 – one was run over by a car, and one has ‘disappeared’. This left this big brown chick who will soon develop the beautiful adult blue throat colouring and red wattles. It was rather lovely to see them wandering up and down the beach, quite oblivious to all us silly humans trying to take photos of them.

Our favourite haunt here is Oliveri’s continental deli which would put many big city shops to shame. The shop started in the 1930s, selling all those homesick European migrant workers their favourite foods in this tiny narrow building. Now it has huge long counters and cabinets of beautiful Italian meats, a wonderful range of cheeses and their own marinated olives – plus they also make delicious lunch rolls and coffee…. and they are starting to treat us like locals!

Whyanbeel Valley and Cairns

Another beautiful day trip in this region is the Whyanbeel Valley, about 40 kms north of Port Douglas on the Daintree Valley Road. This is a farming valley, mainly sugarcane and cattle, banked right up against thick rainforest and waterfalls visible high above in the range.

We first visited Hogland Art Glass in 2006 when Ola and Marie had just opened this gallery to the public, and we were blown away by their exquisite glass. They also work in Nelson, NZ and create special pieces – e.g. for the Americas Cup and Olympics, and sell to glass collectors as different as Bill Clinton and Elton John! Ola is however so welcoming to all people and was happy for Ian to take photos of the studio. We spent ages ogling the displays, when a beautiful piece leapt out at us and said “Pick me, pick me!” So we did, and it is a perfect size to sit on our caravan table and catch the sun’s reflections for us each day.

Nearby is High Falls Riverside Restaurant, located right alongside the Whyanbeel River which is more of a gentle, babbling brook in this ‘drier’ season. It was a lovely accompaniment for a perfectly presented, tasty and very reasonably priced seafood lunch. Their speciality is exotic tropical fruit grown on their farm so we were able to walk off lunch and finally match the trees with their fruit. So… it was all so good that we had to return a second time so we could have a smaller first course and still fit in the plaintain banana fritters. Absolutely to die for!

We have enjoyed Cairns previously; Ian in 1995 for radar training when he worked for Coastwatch, then both of us attended a 3rd Cavalry army reunion in 2006, and again briefly in 2013 to attend a wedding in Port Douglas. We also have several friends here, so it is always a pleasure to return to this friendly city.

Earlier stays have been in hotels, so our week at the Coconut Holiday Resort was quite a different – but amazing – experience. This is a huge park, with condos, villas, cabins in addition to caravan and camping sites. Fortunately the layout is so well designed that it was a pleasure to stay here, even in Week 2 of Queensland’s school holidays! There is a beautiful garden pool, plus a lagoon pool (including a hot and a cold spa) and a waterpark which mainly attracts the older children. The range of family activities is incredible, with organised activities every day and evening, and it was great to see so many mums and dads and their children having the best time with each other! The range of cool gear to rent was just brilliant too – check out this ‘wagon’…

A trip to the Great Barrier Reef is pretty much mandatory in this region. We chose a full day Reef Magic cruise, travelling 1.5 hours each way on a catamaran out to their Marine World activity platform out at Moore Reef. Heaps of activities to please everyone from 2 to 92, including helicopter scenic flights, snorkelling, diving, helmet diving for non-swimmers (yes, it looked VERY weird), fish feeding, a safety enclosure for the babies and toddlers, and – hit of the year for Ginny – a masseuse on board!

After her massage and lunch, she barely managed to lever herself on to the glass bottom boat but was soon going ooh and aah at the beauty of the coral reef and the variety of fish. There were many “pan sized” ones according to Ian which caused a few gasps of “But they are protected!” among the assembly. We also went in a semi-submersible contraption which was great for seeing the fish glide past you rather than looking down at them.

Sadly no turtles, but we did see whales breaching on our way home which was very special. Another day in paradise!

More FNQ…

In our last post, the peacocks and bats in the tree above our caravan were making life difficult. All was resolved when a large goanna (aka barnie or perentie) took up residence in the tree, and apparently under our van when we were out. All arguments ceased – the male peacock still slept there each night but was well-behaved without the peahens, and the bats disappeared!

We were happy campers again, and have even had mostly sunny weather the last couple of weeks. The wind however has not let up except for the occasional day. Eastern States people reckon that the WA coast and Perth are windy, but up this way it is a lot worse.

These photos were taken on the Daintree River Wild Watch with Ian (Sauce) Worcester who really knows his stuff and has been doing tours for about 18 years.

These little yellow sunbirds were checking out our awning for a nest site. They evidently have realised that if they build near people they are pretty safe as we scare off any predators. Our neighbours who stay here for 4 months every year often have to remove their pendulous nests before they can move out.

We are now at Ellis Beach until 7 July when we head into Cairns for the van to be serviced (done 10000 k’s!) Here is the view through our caravan door – a lovely beachfront spot as we got a last minute cancellation (it’s the caravanner’s version of winning Lotto as people book for 2-3 years ahead for this slice of paradise). Within walking distance there is good food at the local bar and grill ($1 oysters on Sundays so Ginny is in hog heaven) and great beach walks…

Ian is booked in to a nature photo workshop over two days with Steve Parish and another pro Martin Willis on 2-3 August, so we will be spending more time around this area and the Atherton Tablelands until then. We are really enjoying our time in FNQ – still find the wet tropical rainforest a bit overpowering and claustrophobic, but it is interesting and the wildlife is prolific. Keeps Ian and his camera on the go!

Far North Queensland

Is anyone actually living in Victoria this winter?! Judging by the car licence plates in all the caravan parks, most Victorians are here in Far North Queensland enjoying the warm weather with us!

Port Douglas has changed little since our last visit in May 2012 when we attended the wedding of Ginny’s niece, Stephanie and her partner Jose. It’s still a touristy town, bustling on the main street but many vacant shops on the side streets and in the marina resorts.

We stayed 7 kms out at the Big 4 Glengarry park; a lovely tropical setting, and a good walk down across the Mowbray River where we also found several McMansions like this…

Ride-on mowers are a necessity for gardeners in this climate as the grass is just so lush and there is SO much of it!

After crossing the Daintree River on the ferry with Jan & Jamie, we stopped at Cape Tribulation – named by Captain Cook when things turned awfully pear-shaped on the HMB Endeavour. Loved the gnarled trees and plants, the Australian brush turkeys and curlews.

The curlews take you by surprise as they stand very still and look like a garden sculpture. They will be forever known as the screaming boy birds to us now – a friend had a 3 year old staying, and in the morning he asked his mum what those boys were screaming about all night! Very accurate as that is exactly what they sound like.

The Marrdja boardwalk through mangroves and rain forest was somewhat sinister for us Westies who are used to wide open beaches with no vegetation!

Lunch at the Lync-Haven Retreat was great. In fact we have found that the quality of meals in Qld is very high quality and VERY reasonably priced. Maybe we are just have to pay way too much in WA, but even very small, remote places provide beautiful meals, and an accompanying glass of wine is always a good brand at a reasonable cost.

A highlight has been catching up with Liz, a friend for 30 years. Ginny and Liz worked together at the child care centre in Kununurra in the mid 80’s, then we all got married in 1987 and had children in 1988. We’ve touched base a few times since, but it was good to get together and fill in some gaps! Liz has built a lovely home at Jullaten, high up above Mossman.

We are now at Pinnacle Village north of Wonga Beach; great park, lots of room and beautiful trees and birds. Unfortunately tho’ they have a bluddy peacock family that wants to roost in the tree immediately over our caravan… Did you know they honk LOUDLY on awakening?!

Last night we had messy fruit bats knocking the nuts off the tree and crapping all over the ‘van! Hmmm. Ian is missing his shanghai, but our neighbour has a high pressure hose on standby so will keep you posted.

Cooktown

We took off from Atherton for Cooktown where we hoped to have warmer, drier weather and return to the the coast. That was a mistake! The drive up was very pleasant as the scenery is lovely tropical green and the road was excellent (for Queensland, as we have experienced some shockers) and the burgers at Lakeland Roadhouse were A1.

Evidence of the ferocity of Cyclone Ita which came ashore on Friday 11 April this year is evident from about 45km south of Cooktown. Huge trees uprooted and snapped off, but the vegetation is regenerating quickly – typical of the tropics and fertile soil.

We pulled up at park number 12 in the Big4 ‘van park beside a creek with lovely foliage right at the rear of our caravan. Bliss. As we set up camp it was blowing a gale, 30-40kts and started to drizzle. And overcast. Got the picture? Well, hold that vision for a week with some intermittent heavy rain and you have our experience… Even the locals were whinging! Today is Saturday the 14th and we have been here exactly two weeks – 3 days of that time have been reasonably fine including today, which dawned in glorious sunshine. OK, now we have had our whinge about the weather, the positive things here are many. Once again we have friends Jan & Jamie in town, though they have set up their caravan at their friend Nicko’s place on the outskirts of town – a beautiful home with views to the coast. True tropical surroundings with all it entails including very beautiful butterflies, Australian Brush turkeys (haven’t managed to get a photo yet) and the odd ‘roo. We immersed ourselves in the history of Cooktown. Lieutenant Cook and his crew beached HMB Endeavour in the river mouth in 1770 to repair its hull after running on to the Great Barrier Reef. Guns and anchors have been recovered from the site and are on display at the James Cook Museum, a lovely former RC Convent school dating from the 19th century. As well there are displays of equipment and artifacts from the days when gold was discovered inland at the Palmer River. There is a further museum in the main street (Charlotte St) about the town and its later history which is also interesting. We were here for the reenactment of Cook’s landing, but unfortunately it was pretty well rained out. An abreviated version was run at the ‘boat house’, but everyone got soaked to the skin and the wind was very strong and quite cold. The wet shirt and jocks at the ‘Top Pub’ was also subject to the same or worse conditions so after getting thoroughly wet and cold we pulled the pin before the 10:30pm kick off… The fireworks were also called off. Very sad for the locals who work so hard to pull together this festival each year.

A highlight was going for a joy flight in a Robinson R44 helicopter on one of the clear days and it is to be recommended – you get to see the area the town is located in and the rivers draining the hinterland. Spotted a croc trying to warm up on a sandbar. A low level zip round the coast and we approached Cooktown from the sea. Great views. Nicko took us for a run in his boat up the Endeavour River for some kilometres. Amazing country – very tropical and lush and spotted some more crocs and wildlife. A great experience. Thank you Nicko! Another fun day was a trip out to the Trevathan waterfall – Jamie even went swimming – and then on to the Lion’s Den Hotel. This old pub has at Helenvale has an entertaining history, and the lunch was yummy as well. In fact we have had some excellent food here. Nicko is the local seafood purveyor and we have had some very nice Coral Trout and Red Emperor – we also have some prawns packed in the freezer for further down the track. We seem to be spending a lot of time at the Sovereign hotel – great beer, scotch, Sauv Blanc and meals. We are off tonight for a final posh noshup in their a la carte restaurant… Had a damned fine meal at the River of Gold restaurant as well.

Our little caravan was our water and wind proof home and it did a great job of keeping us comfortable, even on the two days it did not stop raining… In spite of the inclement weather experience we have found Cooktown to be a fun and interesting spot to spend time. Friendly people and beautiful surrounding country. We will be back!

The Atherton Tableland

Getting to this region inevitably involved climbing as we travelled from the drier ‘flat-lands’ up to the Atherton Tableland. The contrast between the dry country and the wet tropics is amazing over such a short distance (around 300km). There are so many interesting places and small towns to visit that we stayed for a week at the Big4 in Atherton, using this as a central base to explore from. It is a beautiful park filled with lush tropical gardens and the brush turkeys, wallabies and many bird species like this red-browed finch also wander freely among the caravans.

The higher altitude meant a big change in climate – as one of the locals stated it is ‘always overcast’ and light rain occurs almost every day. Combined with the fertile volcanic soils, almost anything grows here.

It was great to meet up again with our friends Jan and Jamie. We all feasted on the fantastic local produce, especially the fresh fruit and vegetables. Ginny ate the best papaya she’s ever tasted, combined with local yoghurt …

Two other foodie highlights:

1. Gallo Dairyland successfully combined two favourite foods – cheese and chocolate – OMG!
2. We were a bit ho hum about the coffee at the Coffee Works at Mareeba – that happens with a group of tea drinkers – but we LOVED the chocolates and liqueurs, and the museum’s collection of coffee paraphernalia

The restored heritage village of Herberton is outstanding – in fact it has spoilt us for all future museums etc as we often say ‘it’s not as good as Herberton’! Initially built to service a tin mining boom, the village is now home to many local buildings that have been relocated to this site rather than being demolished. For example, an old school.

Clearly some women migrants brought totally unsuitable clothes – think fox furs, and posh hats and gloves.

The pharmacy made you glad to be living today – some of the equipment and proposed ‘cures’ were enough to shock you into good health or kill you!

Several printing presses have been restored….

The Hou Wang Temple and museum tells the history of Atherton’s Chinese community, and clearly these migrants copped a hard time from the locals. They ended up with their own Chinatown area segregated from the rest of the town – except for gambling nights maybe!

Some were able to buy farm land only to have it confiscated in the 1920s for the Soldier Resettlement Scheme. They had to move away to find work so Chinatown was deserted, looted and in a really bad state. The National Trust has now restored the temple, many local people have returned the historic art pieces and the volunteers do a great job in keeping this history alive.

The Avenue of Honour is a community project to pay tribute to our soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. It is located beside beautiful Lake Tinaroo with a backdrop of water and mountains, and the avenue is lined by native flame trees which flower in November around Remembrance Day. Total tear jerker for us both.

A question for you:

The last tobacco crop to be grown in Australia was here in the Atherton Tablelands – but what year was that? (Hint – it was in this century…)