Rainy days can’t spoil this trip.

Today was good day.  We travelled far and saw heaps of things today.

We left Cardwell after having our cereal in our coffee mugs and sharing spoons.  We travelled up through Tully which is the wettest place in Australia with 4000mm of rain per year and today was no exception.  The Tully River was flowing well.

We noticed that the white water rafters were still preparing for their ride down the river, so we kept on going.  I spotted this waterfall across the river on our way back down.

 

 

 

There’s a lot of God’s little creatures in these rain forests.  I nearly stepped on a tiny frog and the mozzies were hanging around my umbrella, but this little guy caught my attention.

 

We stopped in at Parranella Castle.  It’s one of my favourite places.  It’s like a fairytale.  Because the rains have continued for so long, the creek was flowing strongly.

 

Everything had moss and ferns growing on it.  The picnic tables were green with moss and ferns as well.  As we entered this fairytale, we were given some fish food to feed the Black Grunters and eels.

These eels were trying to get their fair share too.

 

 

 

 

This area boasted fountains and ponds along with a park like area that used to be a tennis court for guests.

 

 

The humidity sent us back to the car and heading north to Atherton Tablelands.  The temperature dropped to a comfortable 24 degs as we climbed up into the mountains.  We headed out to see some falls and came across ….

The Millaa Millaa Falls.  With the rains we’ve had, the falls were in full force.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first time that Chris and I have travelled the far north during the wet season.  But after living in a rainforest we knew what to expect.

Well, we’re almost to Cairns.  Only an hours drive away now.  And during the first half of this trip, we have had three sick people.  “Typhoid” Pam brought the virus this time, not me. (hahaha)  What with the air conditioner going and all the windows rolled up, it was bound to happen that the virus would spread.  Pam is now on the mend, Chris is almost on the mend, and Ron is down.  We’re off to get some better medicine for him tomorrow.  I think I’d better start taking some extra Vit. C as well.  But for the most part, we’ll have a leisurely start to the morning so everyone can get some rest.  We head in to Cairns tomorrow, only 3 days to go now before Rob n Casey get hitched.

A half day of touring in the rain….

With all the rain we’ve had up here in Queensland, we decided that Paluma Falls was out.  So we headed over to see Wallaman Falls instead.

 

 

You can tell you’re in the bush when there’s cows warming themselves on road and there’s cow pats everywhere.

 

 

 

We made it to Wallaman Falls, but with the rain and fog so thick, we couldn’t actually SEE the falls.

 

 

 

Even some tourists found their way under the umbrellas as we waited for the fog to clear.

 

 

 

We headed over to the top of the falls and realized that the fog was clearing, so we headed back to the falls and this is what I was able to take.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve settled in for the night at Cardwell.  Tomorrow we’re off to Tully and Paranella Castle.

Three days in Townsville….

We’ve spent the last three days in Townsville.  We’ve seen the street that the kids lived on, the barracks that Chris lived in when he was in the Army, had fish and chips on the Strand, and we even “oohed” and “aahed” over the city lights from Castle Hill.

Below are some pictures of our three days in the Townsville area.

View of Castle Hill from our unit.  It was a great unit as it was close to everything.

 

 

 

We drove the following day out to Charters Towers to do some exploring.

 

The old part of Charter’s Towers.  Gold was discovered here and a town popped up along the miner’s trail from the fields to the ……

 

 

 

 

Gold Exchange, which is now the stock exchange.

 

 

 

 

Inside the foyer of the Royal Private Hotel.  It was like stepping back in time.

 

 

The outside of the Royal Hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch at this little place at the front of the Stock Exchange.  We had genuine Australian Hamburgers complete with beetroot and Chocolate Malted Shakes.

 

 

 

 

Here we are at the Miner’s Cottage.  You could pan for gold, read some old books and magazines, check out the cottage itself, with all of the old pictures of Charter’s Towers.  I even regaled everyone with a rusty rendition of a bush poem, The Man from Ironbark by Banjo Patterson.

And here’s Ron and Pam enjoying their bus ride to Picnic Bay on Magnetic Island.  We’re off on a fishing adventure.

 

 

 

You will notice that there’s no pictures of the guys here.  We GIRLS, are the only ones who caught fish for the day.  Unfortunately, Pam’s Sweetlip was too small and mine was a  Remorra,  which couldn’t be eaten from what I was told.  It’s the sucker fish that hang around sharks.  And Yes!!  that’s what I was thinking….”So DOES this mean there’s sharks nearby?”

Coming back up from the jetty to have lunch at the local pub.

 

 

 

Well, this was the end of the day as we waited for the bus to arrive to take us back to the ferry and home.

 

 

Tonight, we’re eating in.  Chicken Spaghetti and garlic bread.  We had Mexican last night and we tried to explain that while it IS Mexican food, it’s AUSTRALIA’S version of Mexican food.  It was tasty and filled our tummies, but when you’ve had the real stuff, this can be an eye-opener. Tomorrow we head north stopping in to see Paluma Falls.  Time to get the walking shoes on.  Oh!  that reminds me that Chris and I need to practice our dance lessons too….One, two, three, four,….one two three, four,  stay in the box Chris and I’ll stop trying to lead.

From Airlie Beach to Townsville, the big smoke.

Any body after a cheap sailing boat?  There were several boats that were damaged at Airlie Beach, from the cyclone Ului.

 

 

Yesterday, we headed out to the reef.  Now, I promised no pictures of anybody in stinger suits, so I’m holding up to the promise, so this is the only pictures you’ll see.  I do have previous pictures on the slideshow, but they ARE early pictures, so you’ll have to dig through them.

 

This morning we headed to Townsville.

Here’s Bowen, affectionately known as “Bowenwood” after the movie “Australia” was made on site.  It was also Ron’s birthday and by pure chance, he received a phone call from his son in America.

It was by pure chance that when I headed back to the car, the phone rang and it was their son, Mark, wanting to wish his dad Happy Birthday.  It was great to hear his voice.

This is the lighthouse at Bowen.  There was a beautiful scent coming from some native trees.  I then found out that it’s the Caster Bean tree which can irritate the eyes. (HUH??..oops)  well it SMELLED nice.

View from a lookout.  We had 360 degree views and this is one part of it.

 

 

 

The ”kids” having a cuddle.

 

 

 

 

As we came down the mountain and turned back on to the highway, we saw this, a Toyota Landcruiser  coming up the train tracks heading to Home Hill.  Once he found out we were taking his photo, we got a honk.

 

And THIS sight brought excitement from me.  This is the Burdekin River.  I have never seen water in this river.  And with all the rain we’ve had it was full and flowing.  There was still room for more, but it was a spectacular sight watching this.

Well, we made it in to Townsville this afternoon.  We stopped to have some Crumbed Coral Trout and chips.  It was very nice and all agreed it was much better than the last lot we had.

We finished the day out on Castle Hill to “ooh” and “aah” over the city lights.  And because everybody was up so early, we’re all in bed early.  So with that,..I say Adieu…or Goodnite.

“Please explain”…….

One thing about driving about with old people is that the conversation is very creative.  My in-laws are starting to lose their hearing, so between Chris’s deafness, their deafness, and my lack of concentration, we sometimes have four different conversations going.

Example: Chris explaining a story  about Castle Hill

Chris: “When I was here in my younger days, this use to be the necking spot”.

Pam:  “Huh?…what do you mean the Mexican Bar?”

to which we all busted up laughing.

From Agnes Waters to Airlie Beach.

After a rough night’s sleep on the hardest beds in Australia,  here we are getting ready for a long trip north.  We piled all the suitcases around Chris who packed the back of the cruiser.

 

We stopped in at 1770 and had a look where Lt. Cook (aka Capt. Cook) landed.  We were chased off the beach by midges and in urgent need of coffee and breakfast.

 

A little while later with our bellies full, we landed in Rockhampton and had a quick tour around the heart of the city.

 

 

 

Here we took a detour off the highway at Clairview.  The driver thought we could get to the top of a mountain for views, but this is the only view we had apart from a brahma or two.

 

We stopped in at Clairview.  This is one of our favourite spots to stay overnight.  There’s only a small handful of houses along this road and it’s miles from Rockhampton and miles from Mackay.

We landed at Hillsborough National Park. Our beds were MUCH nicer than last night and with the direct sea breeze, the night was cool as well.

 

 

As we headed further north, the effects of Cyclone Ului (pronounced oo-loo-ee)became evident.  Trees were stripped of their leaves, branches were broken everywhere and even a tree or two was down.  We had to ring ahead to make sure that there was electricity available.  Most didn’t have power and were using generators.

 

 

Here we are at Airlie Beach where trees were down, boats were washed ashore, and the power was only just restored to the town.

We had a little drive around and stopped for a late lunch/early dinner.

Fish n Chips were the order of the day.  Tempura Spanish Mackerel, which was voted “ok” by those who ordered it.  I prefer crumbed fish, so I ordered Ratatouille.

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we continued having a look around the town.

 

 

 

 

Well, we finished the day off with Sarsaparilla floats and peanut brittle.  I’m off now to get some sleep as we have an early morning out to the reef to do some snorkelling.  I’m just hoping that we’ll have a sunny day.  Either way, it will still be warm.  Good Night!