Mt Isa to.... Bundaberg!

Blog from the Mt Isa to Bundaberg
Leaving Mt Isa into the wilderness once more, we headed into the outback towards the Fossil road, where, as the name suggests, the road passes through an area of fossil rich base rocks. The entire area before the coastal hills used to be a massive inland sea apparently, sometime around the era of Gondwanaland. The lake is now ideal grazing land and as you dive through the grassland and savannah landscapes, it changes little from grass to light savannah and back again. The towns are all one road in and out, each with a butcher, a bottle shop, a police station and signs for an upcoming rodeo, which we kept missing sadly! The area was underwater for much of the flooding in January and February so as we found when we camp site *not intended as it cost something… in Julia Creek and stopped for the night. We were then warned about snakes galore, but all we managed to see were green frogs in toilets, and posters for the Dirt Festival which is a mix of Rodeo, mud snorkeling and various other fun stuff. Shame we missed it!
Driving on the next day our leisurely pace of 90-110kms drove us through the fairly damaged road alongside a railway track until we reached Richmond where we had to stop at the Kronosorous Korner the fossil museum. The kronosorous was quite the beast apparently and managed to eat pretty much everything else, but the fossils in the museums were from the juveniles which were less than half the size. I reckon that was hearsay and it just wasn’t as big as the Ozzies would have liked it to be J..
From there we headed east as one of two options to Hughenden where we pulled into a petrol station next to a road train. As I got out to fill up the van it occurred to me that they truck was a cow carrier and the cows on the second level were happily shitting all over our van, so before we were further decorated, we jumped into the van and headed to the next petrol station to wash off the offending muck and refuel. Having looked at the map we decided to drive up to Port Douglas without having to double up on our road coverage. The road north was from Hughenden via Porcupine gorge national park where there was camping. The road is termed developmental road on the map… and turned from a double road into a single track then dirt track. Occasionally it would turn back into a tarmac track and road and then back into dust. We had a great time, driving at around 90kms for the most part seemed to be the best speed for the road, and made it possible in sandier areas to drift nicely around corners without any coaxing of the van… rear wheel drive, what fun!
The Porcupine gorge was lovely and we had a nice little walk down to the river than had cut its way through some very beautiful landscapes and created a steep sided valley with sand and rock bottom- we should have gone for a swim really, but hadn’t taken our stuff with us. The walk up and down was only around 4km and enroute we saw nothing more than a few vicious looking spiders (which weren’t as we checked out later on- in Picasa they are the ones with red and white legs and narrow red and white bodies). The place is so off the beaten track that we had a 20 place campsite (free and provided by the state national park service) for ourselves until around 7pm when a Landcruiser joined us.
The next day we carried on up the road and enjoyed the dusty trail driving past a number of ranchers droving their cattle through the country side (yes on horseback and with the assistance of helicopters) until we were just south of Blackbraes national park. There, to our surprise, the road had been blocked as it was flooded! Driving cautiously past the sign we managed to get stuck in the very sandy conditions. Thankfully the signs for the road block are metal and roughly the same width as the average tires…
Thankfully a 4x4 rocked up and checked the road for us, he then attached a rope to our van and we followed through without a problem. Following us for the next 100km until we were in higher ground he then took off at some speed. His turning up was an utter stroke of luck for us as we only had enough fuel for the road ahead into The Lynd junction. We thought might be a small town, but only turned out to be a petrol station. On the road to the Lynd Junction we were passed by a number of huge trucks and heavy plant who were renovating the ruined roads, which were possibly the reason for a vast amount of dust that settled on Jen, myself and everything else in our Van. We looked great, with flaming red hair and a reddish looking tan that would easily pass for fake tan…. When we reached the Lynd Junction we took some time cleaning our stuff and ourselves – incidentally our first real shower in 36 hours or so.
The route onwards headed into the Table lands, and we passed through some of the breadbasket lands of Australia, in any direction there was coffee, tea, peanuts, avocadoes, potatoes, mangos and more growing in rich red soils where not; the landscape was covered in dense rainforest steep hills and extinct volcano remains, lakes and amazing waterfalls. We carried on up the hills on graduated roads climbing gently to around 1200 metres above sea level where we found a campsite on the location of a historic railway that was lovingly tended by the Ravenshoe community; apparently Australia’s highest town. Asked to donate a small fee of 3 dollars to the attendant, we found ourselves talking to an 80 year old German with a very strange accent. We would have loved to talk more to him and he was more than happy to speak to us about his experience in the second world war as Hitler youth and of where he lived, watching the v1 and V2 rockets being tested, moving through his life to his days mining in Australia and his experience across the country at various mines – it was late though and he intended to get up and get himself a dog the next day so we left him in peace!
We had a beautifully cool night, respite from the insects of Oz and headed to see the basin of the Tully River early. A quick walk around the top of the falls later and we headed onwards into the national park to a Dam where water sports and camping was allowed. The water was fresh and clear, we had to have a swim which was possibly better than any shower we’d had.
Back along another dusty trail we hit the road north east to the coast and after driving down some very steep roads hit the coast. The surrounding fields changed from lush rainforests and rolling hills to flat landscapes growing sugar canes and narrow gauge railway tracks. We headed straight to Port Douglas where we found a place to stay for the night across from the Marina and then headed into town. The town is tiny, serving a fairly well to do yachtie class who mix with people on the move heading north to see Cape Tribulation and the wilderness north of that. The mixture of nice restaurants and large bars, and yachts were somewhat conducive to staying another night, but only really using it as a base from which we took a day trip north to Cape Tribulation.
Cape Tribulation was a great drive, heading into the national park landscapes once more, back into the rainforest, it is a very accessible Rainforest to Ocean landscape, with white picture postcard sand covered by Jungle- and very dense jungle at that. Sadly we could not venture to Cook town on the coast road so gave that a miss and decided to go riding instead. Jen had really wanted to go riding along the beach there and we found a reasonable option for a 4 hour trek which took us through the jungle and onto the beach. (MT)
HORSERIDING – Cape Tribulation
Having spent most of my child and teenage years charging around the Norfolk countryside on a number of trusty steeds, I was very excited about getting on a horse for the first time in 9 years (if you do not count a mule in Morocco). I was given River, a 16’2 ex-racehorse thoroughbred and Mark was given the ‘Hangover horse’ i.e. a nice comfortable and easy ride. It was fantastic riding through the rainforest and then down to the beach, passing a tributary on the way where our guide informed us a crocodile had been sitting on the bank the day before. It was just Mark and I so we had more riding time, which was good. The highlight as always with horses was going fast, i.e. the canter on the beach. We were told the horses preferred the formation of guide, me, Mark as mine tended to go into racehorse mode if at the back. Only a few seconds into the canter, and saw Mark’s horse’s nose by my foot, past me, and off it went into the lead with Mark adopting a brilliantly comedy pose and legs flapping either side – it seemed that the hangover horse had the hair of the dog! Although you should never laugh at beginners who are giving something a try, I have an evil streak that finds people on out of control horses hilarious!!
The guide could not believe this behaviour from a normally gentle horse and nor could I until Mark confided in me that he had grabbed the reins and slapped the beast’s neck hard on either side a few times like they did in cowboy films to make the thing move – hehe! Brilliant. We went for a dip in the billabong to cool off afterwards so all in all a perfect day.
We drove back to Port Douglas to find a gypsy spot to sleep, then on to Cairns the next day. One quick thing – we were cooking dinner at a view point in the dark – quite randomly had bought a joint of beef as it was super cheap and I was chopping it up with a little knife into pieces, so my hands were covered in blood. People kept coming up in their cars, obviously for a bit of Friday night romance at the view point and took one look at me and turned straight back round without even getting out of their cars – this happened 3 times – goodness knows what they thought was going on... It was lucky that they did not see me about 20 mins later when on opening the back door, a huge hairy black hand sized spider fell onto my thigh making me scream so loudly and it gave me the shakes for about 30mins. I think I had even said to Mark earlier that day about how used I had become to spiders here!! Right! I draw the line at skin contact but anything else is fine – wall, floor, etc, etc. Urghh.
Cairns has a reputation for being a city solely driven by tourism, which is true to a certain extent, however, it has a very local feel as well. The public amenities are amazing – a huge sea front with an great free public swimming pool, kids areas, picnic and BBQ facilities, etc – all very immaculate and outdoor-friendly. We met up with the other boys, and had a very fun night at the Woolshed which involved a lot of beer. It was great to hear their stories and adventures! The next day Mark and I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which did not disappoint. Totally different to Borneo – more dramatic with big underwater cliff drops and amazing visibility – around 30m. Highlights were seeing the first shark and for me, an Eagle Ray which gracefully floated off into the deep blue.
Next stop – Townsville. Again, a great promenade with free swimming pools and BBQ areas. Very quiet town and just stopped over night. Next day, pushed onwards down the coast, which is a beautiful drive. We stopped at Alva Beach, which reminded me of Holkham Beach in Norfolk – wild, rugged and empty, so in my view, absolutely beautiful. Mark and I decided to camp next to the beach as it was so gorgeous. The moon was so bright so we went for a walk after supper and saw some folks out for the traditional ‘Good Friday’ night fishing trip. They were super friendly and shared some of their beer with us/offered us some of their catch. It was interesting watching them wading into the water with their nets up to their necks in the dark – they were joking that one of them was on shark watch, although I am not sure how much he was joking!
The next day we stopped in Bowen for lunch and it had some beautiful beaches – Mark and I spent some fun time clambering over the rocks. We arrived in Airlie Beach that evening all ready for our Whitsunday trip the next day. JG
Whitsunday sailing (10th Apr)
After drooling over some beautiful sailing boats in the Marina, we boarded an equally gorgeous one called Siska, which has won some races in its time. About 80ft and sleeps 22 (a racing crew) it’s designed for speed. The boat was full with some interesting characters from 18 year backpackers to a couple in their 50s. We spent the day cruising around the gorgeous islands and stopping at Whitehaven beach, where the sand is so fine it squeaks as you walk on it. I have been sailing in the Whitsundays before and the weather was spectacular – blazing sunshine. This time we had rain, wind and sun, but it actually made the sailing so much more fun, so it was a good thing! We all got to help sail too, which was fun and on the last day, we raced another similar yacht back to the harbour which got a great bit of competition going and the boat at a 45 degree angle. In the evening, we all drank ‘goon’ very cheap Australian wine and Mark and I proved that we could still have as much fun as the 18 year olds – hehe! JG
Town of 1770/Agnes Water (13th Apr)
This is a tiny friendly place where the big attraction is the beach and the ‘scooteroo tour.’ Unfortunately the latter was a little out of budget; however, we managed to get the cheapest surfing lessons in Australia – only 22 bucks for 2.5 hours and all equipment. That was this morning and it was amazing fun! Managed to catch a few waves to the beach in between the face plants in the water and now I just want to go back in the water and do it all over again. Lucky we are heading towards the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise…JG
Bundaberg (15th Apr)
Just arrived here and heading for a tour of the rum distillery in the morning. May sample a few of the local tipples tonight too… JG