Some Final Aussie Pics.....

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 07:52:54 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Final Australia times.................
The Lake Mouduran Holiday Park at Gin Gin and the Recreation Ground at Canungra gave Ben a huge area to practice with his boomerang! We all nursed our mosquito and sand fly bites – especially the girls who must be sweeter! At the Southport Olympic Swimming Pool, near Surfers Paradise-Jemma and Ben were very pleased to swim their furthest distances ever. Considering Ben was only just allowed to join us on Macswayround – by managing to swim his 50 metres, only weeks before we left......we are proud to say that Ben achieved his 1000 metres and Jemma achieved her 1500 metres! (not to be outdone – Mum & Dad did 1000 metres each too!) After a night at Brunswick Heads Terrace Reserve, we continued travelling down the East coast to Nambucca Heads. The weather was still rather wet along here, after having suffered terrible flooding a few weeks ago. One more extra long hit and we made it back to Sydney Tourist Park. We went along to Caringbah and met up with Phyllis again – this time at her son and daughter –in –law’s house. We met Jim, Sally and family and their decorator friend – Alan. We went to Cronulla and around the local area and we saw the place where Captain Cook first stepped foot on Australian soil. There was an information centre in the Botany Bay National Park. We came back and had a lovely BBQ and we would like to thank everyone for finding room for us- amongst all of the decorating work that was taking place. We said more goodbyes and travelled back to Lane Cove National Park (where Ben had his 7th birthday back in February!) Our final Australian Possum search was very fruitful that night and Jemma got the close- up encounter that she had been hoping for! We returned Aussie to the Sydney Depot and were then kindly dropped off by them at the nearby railway station, with all our bags. This is where the trouble started as we had rather a lot of bags. We have accumulated a lot of extra baggage along our way. As we would have a change over train journey to get us to the airport we practised loading ourselves up. After we all had armfuls, back-full’s and pull along luggage attached to ourselves, we were not actually able to move very far at all. Which -ever way we tried- it was to no avail. We had to resort to a maxi-cab with a big enough boot for all our luggage! – woops! As our time in Australia has come to an end, we would like to record how much we have enjoyed this extreme and diverse country. Our highlights have been the wildlife, the views, the most amazing colours that we have ever seen, and many friendly people along the way - to name but a few! Many people have commented to us about the deceptive size of Australia and have said- ‘it is SO big – people don’t realise’ and YES – it is BIG! However, we have managed to cover enough miles in our 3 months to travel from Sydney to Perth and back again –twice! This doesn’t mean that we won’t be back to explore some more......Because we will!! During our travels we have been surprised by the number of fellow travellers who have either burnt all of their ties and bridges or kept some link to home – but have set out for a lifetime of timeless travel. At that point, we think that this becomes more than a journey and is eventually a way of life.............until next time – HOOROO!!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 07:46:56 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

OUR LAST AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE HITS
• Red – Tailed Black Cockatoos (male & female) • Grey- Crowned Babbler • Diamond Dove • Butcher Bird • Fig Bird • Great Egret • Apostle Bird • Cane Toads • Orange-Eyed Tree Frog • Geckos • Goanna
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 07:43:45 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

AUSTRALIA!

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 07:05:17 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Tennant Creek to the Great Barrier Reef....
We stayed at Tennant Creek and saw some interesting and original Aborigine paintings. As we were now further north it was decision time....At Three-Ways, travellers decide whether to continue north towards Katherine and Darwin or to turn right and head east. As time was no longer on our side, we decided that our best option would be to turn right and leave the north of the Northern Territory until next time! We would not have time to explore the area and give it full justice so we would prefer to wait a while. On our next stretch of road, we came our closest ever to running out of fuel. Phil knew that Aussie would usually have done 550 kms to a tank, but terrific head- on winds increased our fuel consumption dramatically (down to 450 kms!) and we must have been travelling on fumes as we glided down towards the town of Mount Isa. We thanked more of our lucky stars for the fuel station ahead (and for selling diesel too!). When we stayed at the Sunset Top Tourist Park we met up with Rob and Janice and compared local lingos and phrases. We would like to thank them for their words of encouragement- ‘fair dinkum!’ On Good Friday we made it to McKinley and to the infamous Walkabout Creek Hotel. This was not the best day to visit a pub in Australia, as we soon found out. They are not permitted to open at all on Good Friday – so we camped at the site behind the pub and waited until morning. We stayed inside Aussie as the little black flies were very persistent again! We watched the Crocodile Dundee films and it was very strange to be watching them, on the premises where it all originated from. The next morning we had to have a pint inside the very traditional setting, with lots of photos and memorabilia on display. Unfortunately the ‘Never- Never Safari’s’ were no longer available! At Winton, the home of ‘Waltzing Matilda’, we found out more about the song which is now often referred to as Australia’s un-official National Anthem. It was written by A. B Banjo Paterson in 1895. There are now three different versions of the original song. Next we motored to Ilfracombe (near Longreach in outback Queensland) and pitched up at the caravan park. This campsite actually advertises that they hold happy hours most nights! This town is so called, as the architect came from Ilfracombe in Devon, UK. Phil was routinely stopped for a breath test on the way into Longreach, which took us all by surprise. This was for his first time ever – so he blew into the box and then we were able to continue along our way! Ilfracombe has one of the ‘oldest’ pubs in the area, which seemed strange to us -as it was only about 100 years old! At Emerald we found a place to camp right under a railway track, which was fine until the middle of the night when a 101 trailer coal train passed through on its way to the Capricorn coast! We also went on a night walk with our mag-light to do some animal spotting. We had to dodge the toads all over the tracks and only later found out that these were Cane toads. Phil, Jemma & Ben grabbed the chance to do a spot of fishing here too and Jemma caught two fish this time (a fork -tailed catfish and a perch). Next stop was Gracemere Caravan Park, along the Old Capricorn Highway, which was only five minutes away from Rockhampton. Here we met up with some more friendly neighbours- Dave, Yvonne and family. Their children were almost identical ages to Jemma and Ben and they all got along very well! We got talking about more recommendations to see and do and as the family come from Townsville, maybe we shall catch up again one day! The Great Barrier Reef was our next mission and so we moved to the Causeway Caravan Park to get more information. There were giant mosquitoes around this area, all who thought we were very tasty. They were even swarming around on the outside of our fly nets! We went down to the Causeway to find out some more and decided to take a ‘tinny’ motor boat out for an adventure! It was good fun but as a speed boat was zooming around there was little chance of us catching any fish! When we got back the children jumped ship and went for a swim along the shore. As we watched them, we had a dodgy encounter with a black and hairy spider that actually reared himself up at us (in anger?) We are still not sure what he was- but we weren’t sticking around to take any chances about how friendly he may or may not have been! We made some telephone calls to finalise the arrangements for our campervan hire in New Zealand and went along to Keppel Sands. The Bill Kingel Caravan Park and folk were very welcoming and we even joined the local gang for a scrummy pizza and a beer at the local pub! The Koorana Crocodile farm on the Capricorn Coast in Queensland was a very interesting and ‘safe’ place to find out more about these amazing creatures. John Lever and his family have been developing their thriving business for more than 25 years. There was a wealth of knowledge and information to be shared on a real life Crocodile Dundee guided tour! The many rescue and crocodile capture stories told were all very different and intriguing. We were very lucky to be able to watch a croc hatch from his egg – right in front of us! What a shock for him to come out and see all of us looking at him! Jemma and Ben got to hold another croc too – with his mouth taped up just in case! Afterwards, our sample of crocodile pie was delicious and we would all have liked some more! It was difficult to compare the flavour to any other meat in our experience- but it was really tasty! Honest! We took a fantastic trip on the Freedom Flyer, out from Rosslyn Bay to the Keppel Islands. The two largest of these islands are Great Keppel (1454 ha) and North Keppel (627 ha), and they are surrounded by 16 smaller islands. We took a full day cruise including morning tea and cakes upon arrival to the Keppel’s! The Glass Bottom Boat was next on the agenda with a very informative commentary on a wide variety of sea life that we saw along the way. After a delicious BBQ lunch Phil, Jemma and Ben enjoyed snorkelling over the Plate, Tabletop and Stag horn Corals on the fringing Great Barrier Reefs. They saw fantastic colours and over 80 different varieties of fish and sea-life, including a sea snake - in less than 2 hours in the water! I enjoyed a beautiful walk along the shore, in the bright sunshine and waited for their return! We hope that the underwater camera will have captured some of those amazing moments – but we shall have to wait and see about that! On the way back, Jemma and Ben had more great fun Boom-netting (or in the Ocean Spa for the more refined!) They laid back and held tight onto a net that was attached to the back of our boat – and were pulled along through the waves! At any time they got tired or got left behind, a speed boat member of the crew would come along to the rescue! Phil refers to this as ‘live bait trawling’!! Everyone was exhausted after an amazing day – another highlight on Macswayround!
Monday, 11 May 2009 12:15:26 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Tennant Creek to the Great Barrier Reef....
FACTIODS: • With the discovery of gold in 1932, Tennant Creek celebrates humble beginnings as Australia’s last ‘gold rush’ town. • Mount Isa is famous for having the ‘biggest Irish club ‘in the World! • In 1923, John Campbell Miles sampled rocky outcrops and realised that it was heavily mineralised. He had stumbled on to one of the world’s richest copper, silver, lead and zinc ore bodies. He decided to call his discovery – ‘Mount Isa’. • 86 years later, the Mount Isa mine is still one of Australia’s largest producers of copper ore and is Australia’s deepest underground mine. • Mount Isa has a great climate with an average of 9.5 hours of sunshine per day and only 50 wet days per year. • There are two distinct seasons –the ‘Wet Season’ which is from November to March and the ‘Dry Season’ centred on June, July and August. • McKinley is a classic outback town with a Bush Nursing Clinic and Queensland smallest library. • Winton holds the Guinness book of Records title for the longest road train- with 34 trailers- each with 20 wheels per trailer. • Longreach is known as the birth place of QUANTAS airlines (Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service), with its first flight taking place from Charleville to Clocurry, and touching down in Longreach and Winton en route in 1922. • Emerald is surrounded by cotton farms and grain fields and the area also produces cattle, oil seeds, soybeans and citrus. • The Gem fields around Emerald are the largest Sapphire producing fields in the southern Hemisphere. Keen fossikers can also find topaz, amethyst, jasper, chalcedony, tourmaline and diamond. • Just west of Rockhampton, the town of Gracemere is home to the largest livestock sale yards in the Southern Hemisphere. • Rockhampton is known as the ‘Beef Capital of the world’. • Built on the back of gold and cattle, Rockhampton’s true blue heart is lovingly maintained in the heritage architecture, grand old pubs and the best steaks anywhere!! • In 1858, gold was discovered at Canoona, approximately 50kms north of Rockhampton. 15,000 people arrived in the area in search of gold. • 101 wagon coal trains regularly travel along the Capricorn Highway. The Bowen Basin extracts over 100 million tonnes of coal annually, making it Australia’s most important export commodity. • It is possible to determine the outcome of the sex of a baby crocodile by adjusting the temperature of the incubator. • When a crocodile first hatches – it has 63 teeth – this includes an odd tooth right on the end of his nose! This tooth has the sole purpose of helping the babe to break out of his egg shell and then the tooth is lost within his first 24 hours of life. • There are two species of Crocodile – the Fresh Water and the Salt Water. It is the Salt Water variety that have eaten three people (that we know about), within the time we have been in Australia! • The Great Barrier Reef stretches for approximately 2,000 kms and is visible from the moon. It is approximately 12,000 years old and is the largest natural feature on earth and the largest structure made by living organisms. • The Great Barrier Reef comprises of approximately 2,900 individual coral reefs, covering an area of 348,000 square kilometres and is an established National Marine Park protecting about 400 species of hard and soft corals. • The Great Barrier Reef is home to approximately 1,500 types of fish, 4,000 kinds of mollusc, 350 echinoderms and countless species of sponge, crustaceans and sea grasses. • The Great Barrier Reef is one of the richest, most complex and diverse ecosystems in the world. • The Great Barrier Reef is greater in area than the entire UK. • At its widest the reef is 80kms wide, at its furthest out, it is 300 kms from the mainland coast, and at its tallest it is more than 500 metres thick. • In 1770 Captain James Cook sailed Endeavour through Keppel Bay and was the first European to see the islands. He named the bay and the Islands after Rear Admiral Keppel. • Male Seahorses give birth! They have a pouch on their belly which holds the eggs until they hatch. Seahorses are the world’s slowest fish!
Monday, 11 May 2009 12:05:45 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Tennant Creek to the Great Barrier Reef....
WILDLIFE HITS: • Cane Toads • Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos • Osprey – dive and catching fish in front of us. • Funnel-web spider?? • Bourke’s – ad Parrot • Starlings • White Plumed Honey –Eater • Blue-Winged Kookaburra • Black –Faced Cormorant • Blue – Faced Myna • Black Kite • Brolga Crane • Eurasian Coot • Purple Swamp hen • Pale-Headed Rosella • Spotted Turtle Doves • Forest Kingfisher • Black Shouldered Kite • Brahminy Kite • Tropical Form Goshawk • Goanna • Geckos • Orange-eyed Tree Frog • A great variety of fish, sea life, corals and reefs. • Sea Snake
Monday, 11 May 2009 12:02:48 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

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Monday, 11 May 2009 11:47:17 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Tennant Creek to the Great Barrier Reef....
We stayed at Tennant Creek ....coming up soon.....
Friday, 08 May 2009 09:43:14 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia

Melbourne to Uluru pics.......

      A Melbourne Sunrise......

 

          The Melbourne Skyline......

 

 

     We were at Arthur's Seat!

 

       Jack and Kath at Safety Beach.

 

        Koala Alert!

 

        Panning for Gold!

 

The shop keeper lady at the Ballarat Store.

 

       The Geelong Gang!

 

   Our long lost cousins - Neil and Lou!

 

     More of the Geelong Gang!

 

       Echidna Alert!

         THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD!

 

 

      A Big Boy!

 

 

          Adelaide........

 

 

     Some of the 12 Apostles......

 

             another view..........

 

       London Bridge is falling down!!

 

          A view of Boat Bay................

 

        Ben and a possum!

 

              PANIC STATIONS!!

 

 

     A tree full of Correllas!

 

      A Salt Flat..........

 

            A Wedge Tailed Eagle.......

 

 

       A Road Train.......

 

             A Mining Field in Coober Pedy....

 

       The Dingo Fence........

 

       An Underground Church in Coober Pedy.....

 

 

        The Mining Experience.........

 

          The World's Largest Didgeridoo.......

 

 

           We were there!!

 

           We were there!!

 

 

      Rough and Ready.......

 

             Dingo Alert...........

 

                      ULURU.....

 

                 'Look how tall I am now!'

 

       A friendly local.......

 

         The Road and the Rock........

 

        Us at Uluru........

 

         The Ulgas.........

 

          Most Amazing Skies...........

 

         A Beautiful Sunset......

 

             and another view ..........

 

Wednesday, 29 April 2009 11:27:04 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Australia