Troopy Travels

On The Road Again

Anneliese had her teeth checked and the Dentist has highly recommended we do surgery and put an implant in. The other option is for Anneliese to wear a plate (no, not a dinner plate, sheesh) but we dont consider that an option.

Consideration was given to staying in Brisbane for 6 months and working here while its all being done. We have good friends here with Steve and Allison who have taken good care of us over the past week. Thanks so much guys. But in the end the rain won out and so we have decided to follow the warm weather to Adelaide (hehehe).

Today we are leaving and heading to Birdsville, we plan to do the Birdsville track and visit Haddon Corner (the corner of Queensland and SA) on the way. We are hoping to make it to Birdsville in two days and Adelaide in 8 days. But we have 10 days to get there so will see how we go.

Ill update a few pictures and give more information on the route we are taken as we are on the road..so bear with us please.

It looks like Anneliese has already got work lined up in Adelaide, so fingers crossed that that all works out. I dont think Ill have any problems going by the job sites in the area. We plan to rent accomodation and Anneliese has been referred to an excellent dentist in Adelaide that will sort her teeth out.

See you all soon! :)

Thanks again to Steve and Allison. Once again we had a wonderful time with you guys and cant wait to get back to brisbane and see you both again very soon.

Back On Track - Booyar State Forest

Sorry for the interlude with Charters Towers, hope you enjoyed it.

After the Blackdown Tablelands National Park we headed south and a little east for Gympie and the Booyar State Forest.

This is a tiny little forest only a few kms by a few kms in size. But its a pretty nice little spot. Very nice grassy campsites that are in the middle of a very nice forest area, the stuff that fables are made of.

We spent a couple of nights here also. Still wet and still very very cold. But again, we could have a fire here and so it helped keep us warm and comfortable. We spent one night watching a movie…we had been going to bed pretty early lately because of the wet and cold and so while the rain kept away we decided to sit by the fire and watch an old classic “its a wonderful life” just what we needed…hehe

Here is a pic I took, if you look closely you can make out the fire, Anneliese, the laptop playing the movie and our camp (oh and the Troopy of course - we love our Troopy).

We spent a day in Gympie. Not a bad little town, but we drove mostly just to keep warm. We also bought some firewood, so that we had some good burning wood for the fire.

Before leaving Booyar we went for a walk through the forest. It was like walking through a fairystory. With very close trees all covered in vines that spread throughout the forest floor. We walked along a very small windy path through this forest, half expecting to see some pixies or elves at any moment… it was a magical place and we very much enjoyed that walk.

Onto Brisbane…

Charters Towers…OOPS!

In all the confusion and running around of late, I completely forgot to write about our trip to Charters Towers.

This is an old mining town that in its heyday boasted 30,000 people, many more head of cattle, gazillions of gold and its very own stock market. It has a whole tunnel system running underneath the town and at one point it was possible to walk from one side of the town to the other in the underground mines…and it is a fairly substantial town.

Charters Towers has a pretty extravagant history which the average tourist wont find out about. We were lucky and we stumbled onto a history buff while we were wandering around and he took the time out to have a good chat with us. We were pretty impressed, not only with his knowledge, but also with the history of Charters Towers.

If you head there, take a look at the shop with the only rounded plate glass windows in Australia. If you knock on the glass to test it (as I did) the gentleman inside may well open up his shop to you also and teach you a bit about his town. For instance, each of those plate glass windows were shipped from England in the late 1800’s and are currently valued (to replace) at $20,000AUD each. Incredible.

Anyway, we really recommend a visit to Charters Towers and try to spend at least a full day there, two would be better, its well worth it. We wanted to have a look around the WWII bunkers and old mines, but just didnt have the time.

Here is a pic…of course, hehe

Blackdown Tablelands

We decided to head inland a little bit on our way back to Brissy. Just so that we could see a bit of different country as we travel, no point taking the same path. So we headed South and a little bit west to the Blackdown Tablelands National Park.

The route to get there took us past a mining town called Middlemount. A mere speck on the map, but quite a substantial town, we needed to fuel up there and grab a bite to eat, so did get a very quick look in at the town. Those mining towns are bigger than you would think.

The road we were on was as straight as a ruler it barely a kink or ditch in site. But thanks to the Troopy’s cruise control it was pretty easy going. After Middlemount and on the way to Dingo the going did change slightly, but not a lot. We could see a huge flat mountain in the distance, which funnily enough did turn out to be the National Park we were headed for.

Dingo, home of the famous Dingo Trap throwing contest (apparently) was a huge town that would escape notice if not for the roadhouse there that is probably as big as the town itself. The road to the National Park is about 15kms outside of town and then you take a tar/dirt road for another 20kms or so.

Getting into the park you go up a very very steep climb. They dont recommend caravans here and I can see why. While they are newly tarring the road in, it is very very steep and I personally wouldnt take a caravan up there.

The campground is beautiful. Very well kept and is currently undergoing upgrades to increase the site from 9 campsites to 28. All pretty well cared for and such nice bushlands surrounding it all (in stark contrast to the countryside at the base of the mountain).

There were only one other couple camping when we got there, the weather was wet and cold (something that has followed us much of our way so far) but it did give the place a nice atmosphere. The rocks and bush had a very ancient feel about it. Which turned to numbness as the sun went down…damn it was cold. I reckon that night it got close to 0 celcius.

The next day we decided to follow the 4wd track around. YAY we actually got to do some more 4wding. Nothing very tough along that route, but it was a nice drive nonetheless. We saw some more beautiful bushland and rocks and took plenty of pictures before coming upon a very steep grade decline, which looked a little slippery from the recent rain. I had a look, chose my path and drove down it with no worries at all. Then decided that it was so much fun I had to try going up it, which the wonderful Troopy made an easy job of as well…then I handed the reigns over to Anneliese for her to have a go at, while I jumped out and took pictures.

The one thing we did notice about this place, was the lack of animals. We didnt see one animal around, besides birds. There were a few different types of birds around, including one very cute grey bird that seemed to be a baby, but we couldnt quite place its origins as it seemed quite different from any of the other birds in the area.

Luckily that night a nice fire and lack of rain kept us a little warmer and we woke up with pretty dry weather the next day and was able to pack up and move on without any problems.

Down South we go again!!

Wow, its been 6 days since last we posted. Amazing how time flies when you’re having fun, and even when your not. Well I (Anneliese) saw the dentist on the 13th and she wasnt keen on treating me any further, i think she felt the repair job was out of her league, so has referred me on to an Orthodontists. The one in Townsville is booked out until October and there isnt one in Cairns, so guess where they have sent me, yes you guessed right “Brisbane!” So instead of heading north we have turned tail and are going back down south. Its almost like something is pulling us back. BAH!!

So here we are back in Mackay, imposing ourselves again on our family. YAY for families… hehe We have to be in Brisbane by the 22nd so are slowly making our way down there. This whole ordeal is causing us a bit of stress, let alone the up and coming cost of it all. We definitely will need to seriously look for work soon, either in Bisbane or back here in Mackay. I guess these things are sent to test us, and test us it will.

Tomorrow we will move on to Blackdown Tablelands National Park, about 350 kms from Mackay, spend a couple of nights there, then move on to Carnarvon National Park, well thats the plan for now, might change tomorrow.. hehe

Talk to you all again soon, treat your bodies well, specially your teeth :-)

More on Bowling Green National Park

Well, it finally stopped raining …. in fact today is our third day of sunshine. Its been bloody cold at night though, down to 9 degrees at one point (brrrrrrrrrr).

We met some interesting people. A gentleman called Cliff Guy and his partner Sandy. Cliff has been in the media for quite some time. Originally a musician and moving onto Television and nowadays in film. He spends his days making TV shows and documentaries of the outback and even has a CD of music that he has written and produced to go along with the shows. They are a marvellous couple and we had a couple of great conversations with them before they left to do some editing in Townsville. We promised them we will look them up next time we are in Coffs Harbour.

Here is a link to Cliff’s website http://www.cgpmedia.com/

The most noteable thing about this couple, though, was thier Troopcarrier… I mean how good is that! These people drive all over the country, in some of the roughest terrain you can drive and they have a Troopy…and they LOVE IT!!! What a wonderful car.

Yesterday we decided to take the 17km round trip walk to what is apparently some fantastic waterfalls. We prepared very well for the trip, carrying about 1.5 ltrs of water, some fruit cake and a bit of Salami, bathers and a towel. We were set for a days hiking alright.

My first indication that this may not be as it seemed, was when the beautiful bushland path we were taking suddenly diverged out of the forest, into grasslands and followed a well worn 4wd / fire trail up the mountain….hmmmm, should we head back and get the car?

Suddenly we came upon a river crossing. Deep, almost up to my waist (remember, its been bloody cold here so we were in jeans and shoes - for hiking). So we sat to take  our shoes off and almost immediately started to get attacked by mozzies. Hurry hurry across the river, jeans dripping wet we didnt hang around to dry off, put our shoes on and get going again.

We came to 3 other river crossings, but decided there is no way we are stripping off again, the mozzies have been following us all this way and we are not stuffing about. So we hippedy hopped over rocks and trees and managed to stay relatively dry throughout these crossings (all of them, by the way, were still on the 4wd track, hmmmm).

This whole way we were just waiting to get to the carpark at the falls, with a kiosk serving ice cream and some nice 4wd’er offering us a lift back to camp.

We did manage to keep following the path, though signs were very rare along this route. Lucky we had the 4wd track. Suddenly up ahead we see a green sign..we got all excited, must be close. It read “Alligator falls -> 2kms”…YAYAYAYAY!!

So we trudge off again, full of hope and energy…just so excited to be getting near the waterfalls so we can relax and have a nice swim in the river, we were hot.

This track finally diverged off the 4wd track and lead up into a rainforest, a bout 5oo mtrs up the track we suddenly started finding it very hard to see where any track was at all. We noticed a pink ribbon here and there and managed to keep going by using them as markers…but it was getting dense and hard to see. It was getting very rocky and steep as well. Finally, about 1 km in I looked down at my arms and saw them covered in mozzies. I looked at Anneliese and saw literally hundreds of mozzies buzzing around her…..

That was it for me, with less than 1km to go I told Anneliese that I had had enough. We couldnt see the track at all, we were guessing our way through quite dense scrubland and we were being completely swarmed by mozzies. It really wasnt pretty so we practically ran back to the entrance to the forest. We sat down to have a rest, but had barely got off our feet before we got swamped again, so we kept going.

We did actually see the falls, glimpsed through the trees not too far away. But that was one nightmare walk that we were glad to be done with.

Other than that we are really enjoying our stay. We and the Bush Turkeys are becoming mortal enemies, they look at me sideways whenever they get close to camp and I keep dreaming of Bush Turkey stew…soon my ugly friends.

Its a long weekend here now, so the local yokels have swamped the campground. They arent too bad, but bad enough. Hopefully they will keep the turkeys busy for me for a couple of days.

See you later, I need a rest.

Moving On…up up and awaaayyyyy

So….monday we left Airlie Beach and drove up the coast to sunny Townsville. It hasnt stopped raining here since we got here and the weather is cool..whats going on!!!!

On the way we stopped in at Home Hill (yeah, thats a town, hehehehehe) to look at a gem shop that Anneliese’s father recommended to us. Wow! What a marvellous place. It has more rocks and gems and bright things in it than you can shake a stick at. We got some souveniers to send to the kids, they like shiny things.

This is one of the gem exhibitions with some hot chick checking out the rocks

The same hot chick again (I think she liked me)

We have set up camp at the Bowling Green. No, not the local bowls club, hehe, you silly reader. Its actually the Bowling Green Bay National Park just about 30kms south of Townsville. Its a nice spot for camping and is right next to Mt Elliot and on the banks of Alligator Creek. Luckily the name isnt true to its nature as we havent spotted one alligator yet (I even had my wrestling gloves on ready).

Did I mention its rained a lot in Townsville? It has, heaps….lots and lots…bloody raining like a wet bloody rainy thing…cats and dogs and stuff…get the idea? I put a bucket out last night just for kicks and collected an inch of water just overnight.

On the positive side, we arent thirsty.

But it has given us an opportunity to really set things up and see what all our gear can do. No picture as yet but Ill promise to add one very soon. We have a full on Taj Mahal setup with ropes and pegs and Gyropes, poles and catches all over the place…its an architectural marvel…another wonder of the world.

Hopefully it will stay dry. just dont try walking anywhere around our camp, so long as you sit in one spot you are dandy.

Anneliese decided the other night that she didnt need one of her front teeth. We were happily eating dinner when she spat it out at me…just about took my eye out. We quickly had to run to the local mechanics place to get help (actually she didnt need a mechanic, he just happened to be the closest local with a phone). After calling up a dentist he told us that we should call him in the morning…fair enough. Should have stuck with the mechanic I reckon.

In the morning we called a few dentists up and eventually found one that would happily accept a bazillion dollars in exchange for a fix for Anneliese. Her tooth had broken off just below the gum line (result of an war wound, guess who wins a fight with a washing machine? - her mum would remember this one Im sure). Anyway, it seems the fix is to either drill a hole in her gum and screw in a false tooth (costing a mere gazillion dollars) OR to glue an artificial tooth in and then put in a crown (costing a mere half a gazillion dollars, but perhaps not as long lasting). One will take many many weeks, the crown will take a fortnight, so for convenience sake we went for the crown now with the intention of having an implant later if needed.

Id tell you more about townsville…but I cant see much through the fog just yet, gimme a couple of days.

We have been learning lots about camping and sorting things out.

1. In the drawers, we initially had a whole heap of boxes keeping things clean and tidy. We found this wasted a huge amount of space and instead are using drawer dividers and keeping things loose in the drawers, heaps better.

2. We had trouble working out what to freeze, what to keep cool, where to keep various foods etc. In the end we have found that getting meat cryovacced and keeping the fridge at just a cool temperature is best, we can keep milk and veges in the fridge with the meat and we keep fruit in the car with us. Butter, eggs and stuff like that seem happy in the drawers where its slightly cooler than the inside of the car.

3. planning meals helps a LOT. We realised that we were wasting salads and veges because we werent eating them before they went off. What seems to work is working out a 5 day plan. We eat salads within the first 2 days. Veges in the next couple of days, then things like spaghetti after that. That way the veges and all lasts quite well and its all relatively fresh. Fruit lasts pretty well in the car with us and we get about 5 days out of apples and bananas, so thats fine.

4. Rope is very handy, take lots of rope (pictures will follow soon, hehehe).

Thats it for now, Ill come up with more tips later.

We have to stay in the Townsville area (give or take 100kms or so) for the next two weeks while Anneliese’s tooth is sorted out. So we will give more details of this area and some photos in the next few days.

Hope everyone is well and remember to keep smiling…even if it is a toothless one…even if it does make the water run down your face at funny angles…just keep smiling.

Departing

It appears that Airlie Beach is sorry to see us go. We woke up this morning to rain, tears of sorry from Airlie. Luckily it didnt last long and by the time we had had a shower most of the gear was fairly dry. We cleared the spiders and cane toads out of their little hidey holes and loaded up the truck.

So, we have packed up and are heading to Townsville today. Planning on stopping at the National Park just south of Townsville for a couple of days.

Here is a picture of a wonderful little restaurant / cafe we found in Airlie Beach. This place has so much character, good food and many many lovely cocktails. They also have little parties and music days/nights on occaison. We loved coming here so much that when Anneliese’s brother and family came to visit yesterday we insisted on going there for lunch.

This is looking out into the courtyard

This is looking into the inside at a band that was playing at the time for sunday lunch. The other side of the restaurant has a balcony that overlooks the Airlie Beach Lagoon and the ocean

Ok, so we may see you in a few days in Townsville. Till then have fun :)