The rest of our journey north.......

Sorry it has taken so long to update. We are staying in Rick's late mother's cottage on his sister's 5 acre property up the hill from Cairns. This area is in a mobile phone and internet black spot, so we get very unreliable reception on our laptop and phone. At least Rick's sister has a land line and broadband, so we can come to her house to log onto the internet.

Last post we were camped at a place called Rockpool, 10km from Charleville, Queensland. We left there on 26th July heading still northward, through Augathella to Tambo, where we camped at Stubby Bend beside the Barcoo River. Our convoy has now grown to 3 vehicles as we met another couple, B & J, heading the same direction.

Next morning we drove 100km north west to Blackall where we all stopped for coffee, then another 107km north to Barcaldine where we camped at a roadside rest stop.

Wed. 28th July, pushing on through the outback, this route we followed is referred to as the Matilda Way, a great drive. 100km west along the Capricorn Highway we arrived at Longreach and found a large dry campsite beside the Thompson River; lots of travellers here. We met yet another couple who joined our little convoy.
We stayed a couple of nights here so we could check out the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum. Very interesting.
The weather really started warming up by this time, so out with the shorts and tank tops.

Fri. 30th July we left Longreach, 180km north west to Winton. The "Highway" is rough out here; floods in the wet season. We camped a couple of kms out of town at Long Waterhole for 3 nights. There are some interesting places to visit here: Australian Age of Dinosaurs fossil preparation centre, Walzing Matilda Centre, Arno's wall, the musical fence.

Mon.2nd August. The others in our convoy left early, planning a detour through Boulia. We were to catch up along the road. When Rick tried to start the engine...............................................................................nothing!
Luckily there was a couple still camped who had a generator thingy and jump-started our Winny.
Into Winton to the laundromat, then we headed west towards Boulia. This is the long way around to Cloncurry, over 700km I think. The road is single lane most of the way to Mt. Isa, so care must be taken. When the big triple cattle trucks approach, get off the road!
We camped at a remote roadside rest area with B & J, who were waiting for us. The other 2 couples had gone on to another camp site.
This was a beautiful location; magic sunset, very peaceful.

Tues. 3rd August. Up early to watch the sunrise, it was very cold, around 5C and clear. The country around this area is quite speccy and well worth the detour along the not so good road. We stopped for a break at the quaint little Middleton Pub, the only building for miles. This is really the back of beyond.
Another 200km (approx) to Boulia; along the way even more scenic. Stopped at Cawnpore Lookout for wonderful views of the Jumpups (mesas?)

We caught up with the rest of our little convoy at Boulia, home of the mysterious Min Min light. At the Information Centre we viewed the "Min Min Experience", a sort of show relating people's experiences with the Light. Unfortunately none of our group saw the light that night, but we did look for it. Maybe next time we head out that way..................
We camped that night at a rest stop at Peak Creek, around 64km north of Boulia.

Wed. 4th August and Rick's 60th birthday!!!
Didn't start out the best though. Winny wouldn't start again. Good thing B & J waited for us as they jump started us.
Around 80km to Dajarra, we caught up with the other 2 vehicles again. We all decided to stay the night at the town's rest area, and because it was Rick's birthday we hoped to all have dinner at the pub. We went to ask, but alas, they don't serve meals; try the roadhouse we were told. So the 8 of us toddled off to the other end of town, about 100 metres LOL, and yes, we could have our celebratory dinner at the roadhouse. 3 small tables and 12 chairs, so there was room for our group and a few extra.
A pleasant evening was had by all.  :)

Thurs. 5th August Winny started ok and we all headed to Mount Isa, 152km. More scenic rocky hills interspersed with wide grassy plains.
Arrived Mount Isa at midday, finally back to 2 lane roads!
We camped in a big dusty paddock at the front of the R.S.L club; free camping here only because the big rodeo was on.

Fri. 6th August and Winny wouldn't start, again. B charged the battery for us with his generator, then Rick and I drove into town in search of a new battery. No luck. Amazing, a big town, several places that supply batteries, lots of trucks etc, and nobody had a battery to fit our vehicle.
To cut a long story short, we were stuck in Mount Isa for a week before we got the (sort of) right type of battery. Hooray, we are mobile again!

Wed. 11th August we have ignition and head east 120km to Cloncurry, then around 80km north to Terry Smith Lookout to camp. Very popular spot. We are back to 2 vehicles as the others went west then south to Alice Springs on their way home to Tasmania.

Thurs. 12th August another 110km northward to Burke and Wills Roadhouse, out in the middle of nowhere and very busy. We stopped for coffee before heading further north around 300km to Normanton on the bank of the croc infested Norman River. Definitely NO swimming around here!
Approx. 20km east we stopped at a campsite called Leichhardt Lagoon for 3 nights; beautiful camp, $14 per couple per night. A lot of people camp here for weeks to catch Barramundi in the Norman River. We were lucky that a fisherman gave us some nice fresh Barra and we didn't have to risk being croc bait ourselves.  LOL

Fri. 13th August the four of us drove into Normanton to look at the historic railway station, then 74km on to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Major fishing here, all the caravan parks were full. We bought prawns and Moreton Bay bugs, yummy.
Back to Leichhardt Lagoon for the night.

Next day we all drove back into Normanton for a ride on the famous Gulflander train. The track is bumpy and the train is quite a rattler; this area is under water in the wet season. I am surprised the train track doesn't wash away.

Sun. 15th August and up early, ready to go at 8.30am. We headed east around 145km to Croydon, then towards Georgetown, another 150km east. Rick and I stopped 20km short of Georgetown at Cumberland Mine Historic Site where we camped beside a pretty waterlily covered lagoon. D & K continued on to Mount Surprise as D wanted TV and internet access.

Mon. 16th August drove to Georgetown and filled Winny with diesel, then 90km east to Mount Surprise where we met up with D & K again.
Rick was hoping to go out gem fossicking, but his sister phoned and said his mum didn't look too well so we had better try and see her soon.
D & K stayed another night at Mount Surprise while Rick and I drove to his sister's home, around 320km, arriving about 6pm.

Tues. 17th August we went to the nursing home to visit Rick's mum; she was not good. On morphine and unresponsive. We think she knew we were there though because she appeared to try and open her eyes.
She passed away peacefully on Sat. 21st August, no longer in pain.
So, we have been here since then.

A Few photos............click to enlarge

Inside the Wellshot Hotel, on the way to Longreach. Travellers leave hats and money which are pinned to the ceiling and walls.

At the Qantas Founders Museum, Longreach

A section of Arno's wall, Winton. Arno built the wall around his property using every imaginable piece of junk he could find. Quite a work of art!

On the Jumpup at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs fossil preparation centre, near Winton

Our Winny at sunset between Winton and Middleton.

The quaint Middleton Pub, between Winton and Boulia, the only building for miles.

View from Cawnpore Lookout, between Middleton and Boulia.

Another view from Cawnpore Lookout

View of road towards Boulia, this was a good section

Normanton Railway Station

The Gulflander train

A section of the track the Gulflander travels on.

Camped beside lagoon at Cumberland Mine Historic Site

On the road again

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. After spending 3 months in Tasmania we arrived back in Adelaide on 12th June for family reasons, and stayed a month.

Thursday 15th July: We left Adelaide and headed north through Burra then north-east on the Barrier Highway and camped the night in the small town Yunta, between the highway and railway line. Ahhhhhhh, feels like home! LOL

Friday 16th July: Still heading north-east we drove across the border into NSW to Broken Hill where we stopped in a caravan park for the night.

Saturday 17th July: From Broken Hill we visited Silverton, 24km west, the site where the Mad Max movies plus many other movies were filmed. Another few kms to a lookout to see the Mundi Mundi plains; what a big view!
Back to Broken Hill, then 112km south east to the Menindee Lakes, where we camped beside Lake Pamamaroo. Very peaceful spot.

Sunday 18th July: Down the dirt road beside the lake to see the Main Wier, then we had a look at the small town of Menindee. We were thinking of driving to Wilcannia on the 150km dirt road, but it was closed due to recent heavy rains, so we back-tracked to Broken Hill.
Continuing east towards Wilcannia we camped at Spring Hills rest stop; good toilets and even a playground for the kids, beside the highway.

Monday 19th July: We left Spring Hills at 9am and drove 74km to Wilcannia where we filled up with fuel. Very expensive here!
We had 260km to Cobar, so stopped for a break at a lonely looking roadhouse at Emmdale, in the middle of nowhere. Rats, the fuel was a lot cheaper here.
Road signs showed kangaroos all the way To Cobar, but we only saw one; thousands of feral goats though.
We camped at Cornish Rest Stop near the Cobar information centre; not pretty, but the toilets were clean. Busy place with trucks in and out all night.

Tuesday 20th July: Woke to cold and fog this morning, brrrrrrrrrr. We decided to take a bus tour of the gold mines near town, very interesting.
We met up with friends from Tasmania travelling north in their motorhome, so we are following along; they are a very nice couple.
We camped beside a lake called Old Reservoir just 3km out of town. Lovely! No facilities though.

Wednesday 21st July: For the first time in a long time I was up and out at 7am to watch the sun rise over the lake, it was beautiful, and COLD! Rick had put his nets into the water overnight and found 4 yabbies in one of them this morning. Yabby snack for happy hour this evening.
We left camp at 8.30am and drove the 160km to Bourke for our lunch stop. Now we have been to Back'O'Bourke!
About another 130km north to the Queensland border, then another 30 or so km looking for somewhere to camp before dusk. It is dangerous to drive when the sun gets low as that is when the wildlife tend to be near the road, and it would not be good to hit a big roo or emu.
Lucky our friend knows about the Stock Route; he spied a small sign pointing into the paddock, walked down the track for a look, so in we drove. Top spot beside Tuen Creek. We built a nice camp fire and had happy hour as the setting sun lit up the Outback sky. This is what we love about travelling like this.

Thursday 22nd July: Woke this morning to FROST! Boy it was cold! Brrrrrrrrrr. The coldest morning we have experienced for a long time. I thought Qld was warmer than this. LOL
Still heading north, to Cunnamulla. Nice friendly town. Starting to get a bit warmer now, around 17 C today.
35km north of Cunnamulla we stopped at Nardoo, a bush camping park with all facilities. They have hot tubs using the underground Artesian water so we had to have a soak. They also build a big camp fire each evening and all the travellers sit around and have a good yarn.

Friday 23rd July: Another cold morning but no frost. Temperature rose to 19 C this afternoon. Soon we can get out the shorts and t-shirts!
160km north to Charleville, lunch stop, a bit of a look around town, booked the Cosmos Centre for tomorrow night. Hopefully the sky will be clear for looking at stars and planets through the big telescopes.
We are camped in the bush 10km east of town, very quiet spot called Rock Pool. No facilities here.

Some photos. Click to enlarge.

In Tasmania, camped beside the ocean at Swimcart Beach, near St Helens

Still in Tasmania, in the mountains between St Helens and Scottsdale, a tree blocking the road. So we had coffee and bikkies while we waited for the tree to be moved.

Silverton, near Broken Hill

Looking out over the Mundi Mundi Plains, near Silverton

Lake Menindee

Sunrise over Old Reservoir, Cobar

Reflection in Old Reservoir, Cobar

The yabbies

Back 'o' Bourke

Sunset at Tuen Creek stock camp

Still in Tasmania

It is 1 year today since we drove our Winny out of the dealership in Melbourne!!! Happy roaming anniversary to us!

We should have booked our ferry return to the mainland at the same time we booked to come over here. As it turns out, the ship is heavily booked, so we can't get back to the Big Island until 10th June. Not a problem though, this is a beautiful place to linger; we have camped beside rivers, the ocean, lagoons, in the mountains, in nice small towns. We have had good weather most of the time, a few days of rain here and there, and a couple of VERY windy days.
The roads scare me a bit as most of them are narrow and winding, up and down the mountains. I won't drive Winny here, but when we get back to the mainland I will drive a bit. 
At the moment we are camped beside the ocean on the north east coast at Lagoons Beach, around 45kms south of St Helens.

I have lots of photos, so I hope this page doesn't take too long to load. Click on photos for a larger view.

This is a view of some of the 950 motorhomes at the rally.

Parked beside the sea on the north coast at Sulphur Creek.

Big penguin at Penguin, north coast.

Sisters Beach, north coast.

The road from the top of Table Cape down towards Wynyard, north coast.

Two views over Stanley from the top of The Nut, north coast.

Marrawah, north west coast.

Edge of the World, Arthur River, north west coast.

Leven Canyon, northern Tassie.

 There were several hundred steps down the mountainside at Leven Canyon; then a steep path back up to the parking area. A beautiful place.

Parking area, Leven Canyon.

Alpaca man at Sheffield, town of murals, northern midlands.

Signpost at Sheffield. Yes, those a real names of nearby places.  :)

Low cloud shrouds Mount Roland, Sheffield.

Tazmazia and the village of Lower Crackpot. This is a fun place.

Pied Piper Rick with his following of ducks at Richmond, south east Tassie.

St Helens waterfront, north east coast.

Near Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires area, north east coast.

Great Oyster Bay, near Swansea, east coast.

Somewhere, under the rainbow............ near Swansea.

Near Coles Bay, east coast.

To Tassie, a cruise across the creek.

Our 2 week course on Milkwood Farm has ended, we say goodbye to our hosts and depart at 9.30am Sunday 7th March, hoping to get back to bitumen roads before the rain sets in.
We need to get to Melbourne to catch the early morning ferry, Spirit of Tasmania, on Thursday 11th March.
It rained all day, heavily at times, as we drove first north, then west to Wellington from where we headed south through Canowindra and Cowra. We found a rest stop beside the Olympic Highway to camp the night, and the rain kept falling.

Monday morning, and everthing around is very wet. We stopped in Young for supplies; should have been through here early summer as this is the cherry capital of Australia.
Through Cootamundra to Junee, where we stopped at the licorice factory. Yum! As well as organic licorice, they make chocolate coated cherries, ginger, almonds, coffee beans and other goodies. The free samples were most welcome, and we left there with several bags of treats we purchased.

We located the rest stop in Wagga Wagga, by the Murrumbidgee River, which was flowing much higher than we saw it 10 months ago at Narrandera.
Speaking to a local, rains such as recently haven't been seen in these parts for 30 years!

Tuesday 9th March we headed off at 10am, planning to follow the Olympic Highway to Albury. The Highway was closed, perhaps due to flooding, and traffic was diverted to Holbrook, which was a nice drive.
We were now on the Hume Highway, the main route between Sydney and Melbourne, heading south west. The highway bypassed the towns enroute to Melbourne, which made the drive quicker.
We did stop at one small town however; Glenrowan is famous for Ned Kelly, an Aussie bushranger.

Next stop Seymour, where we stayed the night at the same caravan park we stopped at 10 months ago after leaving Melbourne in our brand new Winny.

Wednesday 10th March, cold and cloudy this morning for the 90km drive to Melbourne. As there are no rest stops or freedom camping areas in the city area, we decided to stop at a caravan park in suburban Coburg so we could make a very early start to the port. The ferry leaves at 9am, all travellers are asked to be dockside by 8.15am.

Thursday 11th March we woke at 5am, quick coffee, then off just after 5.30am to navigate our way through the city to Station Pier at Port Melbourne. Fortunately the traffic was light at that early hour, and we found our way relatively easily.
Then we wait, and wait............
I was amazed at the amount of vehicles they squeeze onto Spirit Of Tasmania!

We pulled away from the wharf half an hour late; docked in Devonport, Tasmania at 7pm. Bass Strait was calm; it was sunny but cold out on deck. It wasn't like a normal cruise ship; there was one deck dedicated to passenger services with bars, restaurants, shop, small cinema. Another 2 decks had cabins, the rest of the decks take vehicles.

Halfway across "The Creek" we passed the other ferry.

As we slowed down into Devonport, we were told to go to our vehicles, so we missed seeing the docking procedure. This photo is just as we entered the river.

So, here we are, across the creek in Tassie. We are camped behind a shopping centre in a small town, Latrobe. There are quite a few travellers parked here; some are attending the large Motorhome Rally next week, as we are.

When the rally is over, Rick and I plan to tour around Tasmania for a few weeks.

Cheers.  :D