Day 65 - 16th June

Wallaman Falls to Digger Creek Rest Stop

Distance Travelled - 185 km

After waking to a very cloudy and slightly drizzly morning I got organised and was at the falls by 7 am. Unfortunately the falls were completely enveloped in cloud, so much so that you could not see the waterfall from the lookout as I had done yesterday.

I went for a quick walk and then settled back into the car to read and listen to music while I was waiting for the cloud to clear. Got out several times to go and check the viewing of the falls only to find each time it was still covered by cloud. I spoke to a ranger on one of these occasions and he was not hopeful that the cloud would clear at all today given the forecast wind direction.

About lunchtime there had been a wind change and the view to the falls from the lookout was clear so I grabbed my camera and water bottle and began the trek down to the base of the falls. It was a steep but relatively easy path to follow on the way down and gave way eventually to a quite spectacular view of the water coming off the fall and crashing into the pool below.

The climb back quite was significantly more strenuous and I between a few brief showers, the humidity and my sweating from being so unfit, I was thoroughly soaked by the time I reached the top. I dried off as best I could, changed shirts and went up the road to the National Park campsite that I was unable to camp in last night as I hadn't booked or paid. There was no one there at all when I got there so I sneaked in and made use of the cold shower to freshen up and de-smell from the sweaty walk up from the falls.

By the time I had finished it was nearly half two so I headed out of the park. On the way down through the very winding road (makes the road to Aunty Jan and Uncle John's look almost straight) I spotted one of the elusive Cassowary birds. It had just finished crossing the road when I came around the corner and it was standing just inside the line of bush. I stopped and tried to take a photo without getting out of the car or disturbing it and managed to get one, not very clear shot, on the Olympus camera before it disappeared into the bush.

Continued down and into Ingham where I was able to post the blog before heading off towards Innisfail. Got as far as Digger Creek, maybe 35 km from Innisfail, before the feeling of tiredness dictated that I pull over for the night, about 5.30 pm.  Found a spot to park in the already near full rest area and got things ready for a night in the car probably, given the look of heavy clouds and a light but steady rain falling already.

Tomorrow I will continue through to Innisfail and then head off towards the Millia Millia Falls along with a few others and then head round on the Kennedy Highway towards Cairns and Mossman.

                           The cloud filled view of Wallaman Falls from the lookout

                                                   The same falls after the cloud has gone

                                                        Wallaman Falls from the base

                                        Wallaman Falls view part way back up from the base

                                                              The elusive cassowary

                                                    The occasional road hazard to avoid

Day 64 - 15th June

Townsville to Wallaman Falls

Distance Travelled - 229.8 km

Woke up at about 6.30 am this morning but was able to stay in 'bed' until about 7.30 am. Got up and slowly started to pack up as things dried out from condensation. Listened to bit of music over coffee as all my books are finished at the moment, I will have to visit some op shops on the way today and see if I can find anything.

After packing away I went and fueled up and then headed off to Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park on the outskirts of Townsville. In the park is the old quarantine station and fortifications from WW2.
The quarantine station had some interesting history written up and displayed in what I assume was the initial quarantine section itself - rooms / areas for showering and fumigating and rail tracks for bringing luggage from the jetty. There are about 15 or so buildings there which included the hospital, dorms for various passengers (separated out as 1st class, 2nd class and cattle class basically), administration etc but unfortunately, whilst numbered, there is nothing that I could see that actually tells you what buildings were used for what. Some are presently being used for Conservation work offices but a simple sign on the building would suffice and give people a lot better idea of what happened there. The Albany based Quaranup quarantine station we have used over the last 5 years or so for the HAY camp in Southern Cross has that set up. Whilst the area is a Department of Sport and Recreation camp, all the buildings are labelled with their initial use when it was a Quarantine Station.

Further up from the station is a series of gun embankments and searchlight towers. Searchlights here were used to scan the ocean rather than the sky as their was fear of a boat invasion by the Japanese during the war. The ruins are substantial and one can definitely get the feel of what it might have been like being stationed there during the war.

Leaving the fortifications walk I also did the graves walk which meanders about 2 km through the bush to the cemetery associated with the quarantine station. There are 13 graves in the cemetery - all Vietnamese off the same boat in 1920 - who died of meningitis. These are apparently the only people who died at the quarantine station during it's service.

After leaving  Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park I continued on towards Ingham and then out to Wallaman Falls, about 51 km SW of Ingham. Wallaman Falls is the largest single drop water fall in Australia with the water falling 268 metres. The pool depth (although not really shown in the photos below) is 20 m and the falls are 540 m above sea level. There was an exceptional amount of mist being generated by the falling water and made the falls look somewhat eerie in the late afternoon light.

Tonight I am camped about 15 km from the main falls. Tomorrow I will head back and do the 2 km walk that takes you towards the base of the falls and see what the photography is like there before heading on towards Innisfail and some more waterfalls in that direction.

A few little stats for the trip so far up until last night:
Distance travelled - 15,420 km (approx)
Number of litres of diesel used - 1,112 (approx)
Money spent on fuel - $1,598 (approx)
Cheapest fuel - $1.259 / L at Littlehampton SA (not far Aunty Jan and Uncle John's house)
Dearest fuel ( I have paid for)  - $1.993 at Uluru (another tourist rip off)

                                                              Qld Quarantine Station

                                                Fortifications near the quarantine station

                                                 Fortifications near the quarantine station

                                                          Quarantine station cemetery

 

                                                                      Wallaman Falls

Day 61 - 12th June

Townsville

Distance Travelled - 65.5 km

After waking up to a cloudy and slightly misty / drizzly morning I quickly packed to try and get things away before they got too wet. Once everything was packed away I headed into town to get the car serviced. After dropping it off they said they would possibly need it until 4.30 pm and they would ring me when it was done.

Thinking I could possibly have a very long day ahead of me, I wandered down to the nearby Maccas and posted my blog and then went off to the big shopping centre in search of the camera shop the guys from Kart Tyre and Auto thought was there. Couldn't find it in the shopping directory but a shop assistant told me where she thought it was located. Not finding it there, I went to the Information booth to be told they had closed and moved to another shopping centre some distance away that they thought would not be within walking distance but by using public transport I could get there relatively easily. I decided to wait until the car was done and then go in search of the camera shop.
Spent some time wandering around the shopping centre looking in a variety of shops including a book shop that had every Bourne book except the one I am missing. Spent a fair bit of time in  the food court reading and waiting for a call to say the car was ready. I wandered back to where I had left the car after about 4 hours to see it on the hoist so went back and looked at a few more shops and then went back just as they were getting ready to call me.

Having picked up the car I went in search of the camera shop and found it easily enough. Talking to the people there they thought it might not be an expensive problem as it was just the mirror that had come away from it's mount. They made a phone call to their service agent and had some good and bad news when they had finished. Apparently this model camera is known for this problem and is essentially a design flaw and Canon have put out an advisory note about it some time ago. According to the service agent the whole assembly needs to be replaced, not just the mirror. It seems that in the past Canon have replaced the assembly box and fixed it for free so they are hopeful this will still happen. If not then it will cost me around $1000 to get it fixed. I will wait until I get home to get it sorted with paperwork etc and go from there. I am quite happy to continue with just the 7D camera I have plus the Olympus point and shoot I have with me. The biggest drawback will be changing lenses whenever I want to go from wide angle to telephoto but that is not insurmountable.

Got back to camp and relaxed, reading and listening to music and a bit later on spent time talking to the couple here about teaching, answering some of their questions in relation to the work they were doing with the kids - they were somewhat confused with the definitions and differences between nouns, verbs and adjectives and how to complete some of the work given to them by the distance education branch they were going through.

Had tea and settled down for the night having decided to stay here for a day or 2 more and have a bit of a break from the near constant daily routine of packing, driving and unpacking again.  Once I am ready to go I will head to Innisfail, towards Cairns, and look at several waterfalls I had noted down before I left and then probably mosey up to Cairns seeing as I will already be more than halfway there. After that, maybe as far as the Daintree rainforest and then back down the coast towards Brisbane.

                                                             Drizzly morning outlook

Day 62 - 13th June

Townsville

Distance Travelled - 0 km

Had a very lazy day today. After waking at about 6.30 am I lay in bed until about 7.30 am before succumbing to the needs of my back to not be laying down anymore. Got up and made a coffee and read for a while.

Just up the road from where I am camping the local Lions group was running a car boot sale so wandered over about 10 am when it started to peruse the stalls. Not much really worth getting although I did a see a cool fire engine pedal car that a lady was using as a prop for portrait photography of little kids.

Had a bacon, onion and sausage sandwich from the sausage sizzle store for lunch and spent the rest of the day either listening to music, reading or going for a half hour walk just to stretch the legs for a while.

The day has been a mixture of cloudy and sunny with misty rain coming through which at one stage provided a small part of a rainbow. Other than that there was no photography today.

I think I will chill here again tomorrow and then head off on Monday up towards Innisfail.

                                    It's a bit hard to see but I promise there is a rainbow in there

Day 63 - 14th June

Townsville

Distance Travelled - 0 km

After staying in bed for a while after waking I has a day even lazier than yesterday. I spent the day reading or listening to music or sleeping, all on multiple occasions.

Around lunchtime I was invited over to the 6th birthday celebrations for the middle of the three children staying here with their parents. Some other friends of theirs from nearby turned up and a pleasant few hours was spent chatting and eating sausage sizzles and cake.

After lunch it was more reading, listening to music and sleeping before making a few phone calls and heading to bed. No photography at all today.

Tomorrow I will head off towards Innisfail, looking at a few National Parks on the way that have some interesting things to look at according to the brochures I was reading today.

Day 60 - 11th June

Ayr to Townsville to Alligator Creek

Distance Travelled - 142.8 km

After a somewhat interrupted sleep I woke at 6.45 am and started to sort things for the day.I was hoping to see some sugar cane harvesting before I met with Aunty Jan and Uncle John. Had to wait for the dew to dry off a bit and then packed and headed off in the direction suggested to me by one of the men I spoke to last night. Couldn't find them there so went off to the meeting place Aunty Jan and I had decided on.

Chatted with Aunty Jan and Uncle John for about 45 minutes before they were wanting to head off on their travels for the day. I went in search of harvesting and managed to get a couple of photos. Then I headed back into Townsville to hunt out a place to get the car serviced and to check some stuff at the Telstra shop.

Managed to organise a service for Friday but they were unable to tell me when it was likely to be ready, only that if I could leave it with them all day they would let me know as soon as it is done. I guess I will spend most of the day at the nearby shopping centre, hopefully where a camera shop is so I can talk to them about my broken camera.

After posting my blog at Maccas (thank goodness for their free wi-fi, regardless of purchase)   I set about finding a spot to pull up for the day. Found a spot about 30 km back towards Ayr for free camping. Pulled in and met a couple with a young family who have been on the road for 2 years with their 3 children aged 2, 4 and 8. Spent the rest of the day reading, listening to music, writing my blog and relaxing.

Got my first teaching gig today. The family that is here are home schooling their kids and when we got to talking they found out I was a teacher, most recently in grade 3/4 and what a coincidence - their eldest is in year 3. Would I do them a favour and listen to her read and see how she ws going and in return they offered me the use of their 12 volt shower so I could have a hot shower - a fair trade I think. Listened to the young girl read who did quite a good job. Talked to the parents about a few hints and strategies about schooling on the road and everyone seemed happy.

Tomorrow I will get the car serviced and then depending on when I get it back decide where I will go then. I guess today I need to decide whether to go to Cairns or not. Now that Mickey and Lani are not there anymore it takes a lot of the appeal away but being not sure whether I will get this far up here again sort of seems silly not to go the extra bit further.

                                                                         Cane fields

                                                               Sugar cane harvesting

                                                                  Sugar cane harvesting

                                                               Sugar cane harvesting

Day 59 - 10th June

Praire to Ayr

Distance Travelled - 493.2 km

What started out as going to be short day turned out longer than expected. The sun greeted me by rising as I rose from my tent and blessed me with soft warming light to read a few pages of my book from. When it got to be about 7.30 am I went to the pub to get a long awaited for hot shower, the last hot shower being 6th June. Sat and chatted with the owner for a while after my shower then set off to pack.

Read for a while as I waited for the tent to dry a little then stowed everything away and left by just before 9 a.m. Drove to Charters Towers and spent a little bit of time wandering the shops, stretching my legs and looking at antiques and second hand treasures.

Left there, having posted my blog at Maccas and continued on into Townsville, stopping to take a photo here or there. Saw three echidnas today, all dead unfortunately on the side of the road but a first for me anyway. Lots of roadkill in the last few days including kangaroos, wild pigs, kites, eagles, crows, cats, cows, bulls, echidnas and rabbits.

Just out of Charters Towers is the Burdekin River which runs under the Macrossan Bridge (sometimes). There is a pole erected near the bridge with markers indicating the depth of flood waters over the years. It is hard to see on the photo but the top point is 21.79 m in 1946, very impressive indeed considering how much river width is needed to carry that volume of water.

Got into Townsville and went to the Visitor Information Centre to get info on National Parks and lighthouse locations. Sounds like the Bay Rock one isn't there any more and the one at Cape Cleaveland is only accessible by boat apparently which leaves the one at Cape Bowling Green.

As I was chatting to the people at the Info Centre Aunty Jan messaged to see where I was. Told her and she rang back to sort things out. As it happens the lighthouse I am trying to get to tonight is not far from where they are staying overnight so we will meet tomorrow morning in Ayr and find where things go from there.

Drove out to Ayr and then to Alva beach only to find that the lighthouse out here is only accessible by quad bike and boat not easily done at this time of year so that put paid to those plans. No camping allowed on or near the beach according to the signs.

Went back towards Ayr where lots of sugar cane fields are planted and saw some burning going on. Finally tracked one down in an attempt to do some photography but was not very successful. Chatted to a few of the people involved and learnt a bit about sugar cane farming.

Left the fields and found a patch of land on the side of the road that looks suitable for camping tonight so set up here. After writing the blog (about 7.30 pm) I will have a bit of tea and then listen to music for awhile before heading to bed, somewhat disappointed with the photographic efforts of today - or lack of opportunity.

Tomorrow I will meet Aunty Jan and Uncle John in the morning and make some decisions after that as to what I will do. The car is due for a service (about 2000 km past) so will need to get that done sooner than later. Other than that not too many constraints at the moment.

                                                 Flood water marker near Charters Towers

                                                                     Dead echidna

                                             Old house on the drive through to Townsville

                                                Carriages of cane ready to go to the mill

Day 58 - 9th June

Avon Downs Campsite to Prarie

Distance Travelled - 838.2 km

Saw another sunrise today. It is a scary thought to think that I have probably seen more sunrises in the last 8 weeks than in the last 8 years. Whilst it was not spectacular it was still nice to watch. Packed and left before 8 am and headed towards the Qld border.

Drove to Mt Isa and looked through a few shops, went to the bank and the Info Centre before heading off again. Most of the drive was through cattle grazing country, not particularly exciting but pleasant enough to watch as I drove past. Not much else really to look at.

Got to Prarie (about 40 km past Hughenden) about 7 pm and called in at the pub for tea. No menu, but was offered curried sausages with rice and beans - a nice enough tea for my birthday. Ate tea, spent some time on the phone to various people and then wrote my blog and got ready for bed feeling rather weary. Tomorrow I will head into Townsville and meet Aunty Jan and Uncle John either tomorrow or Thursday and will make decisions about which direction to go then.

                      Queensland Border Sign (not as nice as the one going from S.A. into N.T.)

                                                    Apparently Qld cattle have attitude!

                         Cloud shot driving between towns, something to relieve the boredom.

Day 56 - 7th June

Katherine to Elliot (50 km north of)

Distance Travelled - 505.8 km

Went to sleep last night listening to the howl of dingoes in the distance and awoke this morning to moonlight flooding through the front entrance to the tent. Realising it was only 4.10 am I went back to sleep and awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and calling, this time at a much more respectable 6.30 am. Got up and read for a while, watching a lack lustre sun almost struggle to rise before packing and heading off about 8.30 am.

Drove the 18 or so km into Katherine to fue lup and then received a text from Aunty Jan. They are going to be in Qld, up near Cairns mid this week so we will maybe see if we can catch up somehow. After replying, I decided to head out to Katherine Gorge to have a look. My right knee was particularly sore this morning so I didn't feel in the mood for much climbing or walking. Got to the Gorge and had a quick look round but the walk to the lookout said to allow an hour for the 1 km return trip as the start is very steep and requires some scrambling over rocks so I decided to give it a miss on account of my knee.

Left the Gorge and called into Maccas to use their wi-fi to post my blog and after a few phone-calls I was ready to head off. Called in to the Katherine Fire Station on the way past to have a chat and see if I could score something for the station back in SX but could not find anyone. The place was unlocked but even wandering in and calling out I could not raise anyone so left and headed on my way. By this time it was nearly 12.30 pm.

Took my time wandering down the highway, looking at a few old WW2 historic sites, namely the Gorrie airstrip, and seems to have been in use primarily from May 1943. It was a drive of about 2 km in off the road and was in essence a big strip of gravel, about 1.8 km long and 100 m wide. There was no visible infrastructure left to see.

 I also looked at the site of the Birdum Hospital -established in 1942 and one of 7 field hospitals set up along the Stuart Highway. It was a quite a large palce in it's heyday comprising an operating theatre, two large wards, mess, powerhouse and kitchen with accommodation for staff in a tented camp. Now all that remains are the concrete floors of the buildings, with one fireplace still intact. Apparently the buildings were auctioned off and bought by the Publican at Daly Waters in the early post war period.

Stopped at The Hi-Way Inn Motel for a drink and could not believe my luck. As I was waiting to pay for my drink at the bar, the man being served was telling the barmaid that he works for a company that does the maintenance and servicing of all the lighthouses around Australia. I had a chat with him which proved somewhat fruitless as he has only been with the company for 2 weeks and this is his first trip but his colleague has been in the job for 10 years. He came in a bit later and was able to give me a bit of info on a couple of lighthouses that may give me the shot I am looking for. At this the one at Byron sounds the most promising so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Drove for about an hour or so after that to camp, getting in just after dark. Saw lots of kangaroos on the road, 3 or 4 cows, a couple of eagles and a few other birds. One kangaroo decided to go under my back wheel but no apparent damage to the car at this stage. At this stage I think there is about 200 km to the Barkley Highway turnoff so I will do that tomorrow and go part way along and make camp and then decide about getting to Qld then over the nexr day or 2.

                                                   Dead tree on way to Katherine Gorge

                                                                     Gorrie Airstrip

                                                      Birdum WW2 Hospital Ruins

Day 57 - 8th June

Elliot - Avon Downs Campsite  (68 km to Qld border)

Distance Travelled - 636.7 km

Campers driving in to the camp site at 3.30 am this morning woke me and I took the chance to gaze at an amazing set of stars but not worth getting up and sorting cameras for. Drifted off to sleep again about 5 am and tossed and turned for a while, not really sleeping properly until I got up at 7.15 an just in time to see the last of the sunrise.

Packed fairly quickly, read for a short while and was on the road before 8.15 am. Spent most of the day driving, stopping at Threeways for fuel before heading onto the Barkly Highway. At the Threeways roadhouse they have an interesting mural of a truck painted on the wall outside and they have then put a bullbar onto the wall to give it a 3D effect. It actually looks quite good.

 Initially I had thought I would only do a short bit of driving today and spend time resting and relaxing at one of the early campsites on the highway but got to the first one just after 12 and after a quick squiz decided to keep driving. Felt surprisingly un-tired so kept going until about 4 pm, pulling into the last campsite in the N.T.

Got set up and read for a while before I was treated to a very nice sunset. Cooked and ate tea before it was time to write the blog, listen to some music and go to bed. Tomorrow I hope to get to Hughenden, a decent drive, about the same as today from what I hear. Then Wednesday I will continue into Townsville and make decisions then as to whether I go up to Cairns or do something else.

                                                                    Sunrise day 57

                                                            Threeways truck mural

                                                      Windmill on the Barkly Highway

                                                       Sunset at Avon Downs Campsite