The Billabong we camped next to in the morning sunshine.

We woke up this morning to clear blue skies and warm sunshine so we took our time setting off, making the most of sitting out in the sun having breakfast. Last night we’d been surrounded by a species of Flying Fox (a large bat), not sure what they were as most of the time we just saw them flying over our heads between the trees. They were very noisy though, constantly calling to each other as they moved around and occasionally breaking off bits of tree.
The dawn chorus this morning was very loud around the billabong, it sounded as if every parrot, magpie, miner bird etc… had decided to sit in the trees around us and make as much noise as possible. It was nice in a way but bad news when you’ve only been asleep for 6 hours !
We took the scenic route this morning, taking our time and using the opportunity to explore the area a bit as we travelled. In the morning we were skirting along the sides of a mountain range to get to Imbil. Imbil is one of those towns we really like, clean, green open areas and a cafe that serves good coffee and muffins 🙂 We took a quick diversion from Imbil to the Borimba Dam before second breakfast.

One of the views across to the coast from the road

From Imba we headed to Kenilworth, and then onto Mapleton, a route that included some steep mountain climbs. Taking the road south from Mapleton you run along the edge of a mountain range high above the land to the east. You can easily see the 25km or so from the road to the coast including the tall tower block developments along the Sunshine Coast. There are few places to stop and admire the view along the road but as you drive through a succession of small towns with houses hanging off the cliff edges you keep getting glimpses of it.

A fall into a rock pool at Kondalilla NP

At Flaxton we diverted again and took a walk into the Kondalilla National Park to see the Kondalilla Falls. We didn’t get to see the falls as there didn’t seem to be a route to the bottom of them but we had a nice walk through the rain forest anyway and the smaller falls and rock pools were very picturesque.
Landsborough is more of a convenience stop than anything although there just happens to be a pub within walking distance so we’re eating out tonight. The camp site is only a few km down the road from Australia Zoo so our plan for tomorrow is to get going early, spend a few hours at the zoo and then find somewhere to stop for tomorrow night a bit further south.

Set up next to the Billabong, fire well under way and enough wood for 3 nights !

We’ve had a bit of a rest for the last couple of days while we waited out the bank holiday weekend and chilled out. On Sunday I replaced the pinion oil seal on the front diff and as far as I can see all looks fine with no play in the pinion bearing. The seal was a bit worn, not sure why it would be after only about 14000 miles but we’ll see how the new one stands up to the job.
We packed up and headed south and slightly inland this morning. As Pam described it, the weather is looking a bit British at the moment – overcast and windy, threatening rain. On the plus side it’s still warm and despite the grey skies we’ve not actually had any rain. Temperatures are in the low 20s during the day, dropping to a low of around 14C at night.
We covered around 230km today, most of it down the Bruce Highway that, once again, was a pain to drive on with constantly varying speed limits and roadworks dotted all over the place. As a result we only managed an average speed today of 68km per hour, still better than UK roads but not what we’ve been used to here ! The good news is that the front diff is no longer leaking oil so the new seal has worked for now.

We managed to put a reasonable dent in the wood store by the end of the night 🙂

Arriving at Cobb & Co. Nine Mile we booked in for the night and also bought some wood so we could have a camp fire. The wood was delivered to our spot once we’d chosen where we were going to camp and there was plenty of it ! As a result we’ve had a long evening sat around the fire, something we’ve not done as often as we would have liked to on this trip. I got the fire going using my trusty Swedish Firesteel in true Ray Meers fashion. Previously when I’ve done this I’ve used bunched up loo roll (unused !) to get the flame going with the steel but this time I used a cotton wool ball, another Ray Meers tip. A LOT simpler and quicker than using paper, 1 or 2 strikes of the steel and the cotton was burning with a good flame.
Anyway, Cobb & Co. Nine Mile gets it’s name from it’s historic location as the site of the old Cobb & Co Horse Change Stables. It was the first stop on the stage coach run from Gympie to Noosa (9 miles from Gympie) which ran from 1878. The 50 acre camp site is excellent, very laid back and having arrived just after most people had left, we had our choice of quiet isolated spots. We chose to set up next to the billabong. They had over 500 people staying here over the weekend so glad we arrived when we did.
Tomorrow we have a slight change of plan in that we’re heading to a site very close to Australia Zoo. It’s not that far from here but we’ll be taking the.more interesting back roads and avoiding the Bruce Highway as it’s doing my head in. It might also give us a chance to spot some Koalas in the wild. That will mean a very relaxed day tomorrow and we can get into Australia Zoo nice and early on Wednesday.

The beach next to the surf club at Elliott Heads

Another small step southward today as we moved to Elliott Heads and a camp site just off the beach.
I’ve got a few things to look at on the Land Rover and we’ve not had a rest day since Birdsville. It’s a holiday weekend here as Monday is a bank holiday for the queen’s birthday and we’re expecting many of the coastal sites to be busy so it seemed simplest to book a few nights here and ride out the holiday period. We’ve booked in for 3 nights so will move on on Monday morning.
We had a quick stroll along the closest beach when we arrived, about 50 yards from our camp site, and if the weather holds I suspect we’ll end up going for a few walks along the beaches and along the cliff paths.
The front diff on the Land Rover hasn’t got any noisier but there was a serious amount of oil across the underside when we arrived at Seventeen Seventy that is coming from the pinion oil seal. I have a couple of spare seals with me in the spares kit so I’ll try changing the seal and see if that fixes it. There’s no obvious play in the pinion so not sure why it should suddenly start leaking.
There’s a Land Rover specialist just north of Brisbane that seem to know what they are doing so we’ll see how it goes with a new seal and if needs be take it in and get the diff out and see what the underlying problem is. Hopefully it won’t come to that though !

Inside the lagoon at Lady Musgrave Island, approaching the pontoon. The dark patches in the water are the shallow reefs inside the lagoon.

Up bright and early this morning to get picked up by the bus to the marina. We’d blown some of our “organised trips” fund on a day cruise to Lady Musgrave Island, part of the Great Barrier Reef. The island is 60km out to sea from Seventeen Seventy and the day cruise uses a fairly large catamaran that acts as transport and is also a base for the day. The weather looked a bit ominous to start with, big dark clouds seemed to lay in our path.
The trip out to the island was pretty rough with a decent chop and with no stabilisation the catamaran made for an uncomfortable ride during the 1.5 hour trip to the island. Not sure exactly how many sick bags they had on board but a number of passengers put a decent sized dent in their stock levels during the journey ! Even Pam succumbed and she’s not normally effected by sea sickness.
Lady Musgrave Island is composed of a reef that encloses a lagoon in the centre of it. At the westerly end of the reef is the island itself which stands at about 2 metres above sea level at it’s highest point. The beaches and the island itself is formed from the remains of coral from the reef. There is a small navigable passage into the lagoon at the easterly end of the reef and this allows the catamaran to enter the lagoon and moor up alongside a pontoon there.

An Egret on the island, a smaller species than those on the mainland.

After mooring up at the pontoon and with the sun finally making an impression we were ferried to the island for a guided walk. The island’s beaches are littered with shells and pieces of coral of numerous varieties. You’re allowed to pick them up and look at them but none of the coral or shells can be removed from the island. Inland the island is covered in trees, many of which are of a species not found in mainland Australia as the seeds have been transported there by migrating birds.
After the guided walk we were picked up from the beach by the glass bottomed boat for a tour around the corals. This was similar to the tour of the Ningaloo reef we’d had in WA. I’m far from being an expert but I thought the corals here didn’t look as vibrant or healthy as the Ningaloo reef corals. Perhaps they just have different species or the light is different or something, it was just an impression I got.

Stood on the pontoon, the island in the background.

Following the coral tour we returned to the pontoon and catamaran for lunch after which we had the option to try out or snorkelling gear again from the pontoon. We opted to hire wetsuits as they were cheap enough and it would make staying in the water for longer a bit more comfortable.
Once again we enjoyed the freedom and sights you get from snorkelling over the reef. It really is like floating on the surface of a large aquarium and if you just float with the current over the reef the activity going on all the time is engrossing.
There was a bit of a growing swell as well as the current and it was starting to get quite tiring moving into a new position against the current and trying to maintain a “head first” position into the swell so your snorkel didn’t get swamped. A lot rougher than Ningaloo had been so in the end we spent less time snorkelling here but still enjoyed the time we did spend. (I have no idea how long we spent snorkelling by the way !) By the time we’d finished

Returning to Seventeen Seventy at sunset, I couldn’t resist this shot of a random yacht with the sunset behind it 🙂

snorkelling the sun was beating down and the skies had cleared.
After changing and drying ourselves off, a quick snack of scones, jam and cream and we set off back to the mainland. The trip back was a lot smoother than the trip there, thankfully. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any whales (a bit early in the year for them) so we still have that particular box to tick if we can. We arrived back at Seventeen Seventy just as the sun was setting making for a very atmospheric return.
Returning to the camp site we decided to give the bistro at the site a try and a very good steak it was too !
Tomorrow we’re going to head south again, probably not very far. We’re looking for a good spot for a rest day or two and as this weekend is a holiday long weekend (Queen’s Birthday) we might be best booking for 3 nights if we find somewhere as it’s likely to be busy at many of the camp sites.

The camp site at Tannum Sands this morning

We found a car wash this morning and managed to get rid of most of the cow manure ! The Land Rover is looking more blue than it has for a while now.
From the car wash a quick visit to the supermarket to restock on food, a quick visit to the bottle shop to stock up on beer and we hit the road again.
Pam phoned the “day cruise” people at Seventeen Seventy (that’s the name of the town) to see if there was any space on tomorrow’s trip to Lady Musgrove Island Reef which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. There is space available so, as we’d kind of planned, we headed down the Bruce Highway to Seventeen Seventy.
Seventeen Seventy gets it’s name because it was the second landing point for Captain Cook and the first landing in what would become Queensland. He landed in May 1770 and the town was named Seventeen Seventy as part of the bicentennial celebration of the visit in 1970. Many of the streets have Captain Cook and Endeavour related names as well.
In all the miles we’ve done around Australia we’ve not encountered as many roadworks as there are on the Bruce Highway. More annoying was that part of the roadworks forced us to drive through a few large pools of muddy water – so much for the clean Land Rover, still at least it doesn’t smell… We did get the chance to have a very quick chat with a guy in a classic Range Rover in front of us in the queue though so that was a plus.

A view from the lookout at Seventeen Seventy

There are two camp sites at Seventeen Seventy and we looked at both before picking the one not on the beach as it seemed a bit quieter. We’re booked on the cruise tomorrow and will be picked up from the camp site early in the morning. I’ll leave a description of the cruise and the island until tomorrow when hopefully I’ll have billions of glorious photos to choose from 🙂
We’ll stay at this site tomorrow night too and then look to move a bit further south. We’re both feeling a bit of a rest day coming on so we’ll try and find a site suitable for chilling out for a day.

One of a pair of Pale-headed Rosellas in the Eucalypt woods.

We’ve had a nice gentle day today. We spent the morning doing a couple of the walks in Cania Gorge. The first walk was at the north end of the National Park where, once again, gold mining had been taking place in the early 20th century. There isn’t much left on the surface but it was a nice walk anyway, taking us along the creek and then through a eucalypt forest.
Lots of bird life in the forest including a pair of Pale-headed Rosella which is a species we’ve not come across before. We were hoping to sight a Koala but no such luck unfortunately.

Not sure what these little lizards living on the sandstone rocks are. They are about 3 inches long and beautifully coloured.

The second walk we took was up to the Two Storey Cave. The walk to and from the cave was interesting with lots of lizards and a particularly nasty looking spider. There were some red ochre paintings on the way there and in the cave itself. Not sure if they’re old or modern in origin. The ones on the outside were very faint and the ones in the cave looked too fresh but who knows…
Having walked off breakfast we set off back to Monto to get some fuel before heading cross country to the coast. We also decided that second breakfast, or lunch, was something we couldn’t resist in Monto.
The cross country route from Monto to Gladstone is a really nice road to drive. Lots of tight twisty sections and climbs/descents along with rail crossings with no lights where you have to “Give Way” to trains. We soon realised that the train track wasn’t in use anymore as in some places the fence cut across it and in one place a load of tyres were piled on the track.
We crossed numerous rivers and creeks along the way, many of the crossings have been upgraded to have concrete flood ways but a good number sported old wooden bridges that have had a layer of Tarmac on top with little or no parapet.

One of the many old wooden bridges on our route today.

You know you’re following the “road less travelled” when you come across a sign on the road that says “Unsuitable for Trucks, Buses, Caravans, Trailers.”. This was on the surfaced part of the road where there was a long descent down a single track section of road with hairpin bends around blind corners. I think the sign makers were just covering their bets though as there were also signs on the way down reminding buses and trucks to stay in low gear !
As we skirted the northern part of the Many Peaks Range we followed the edge of the Awoonga Reservoir which caused us to stop and take in the sight. There seemed to be a forest of trees that have been flooded by the reservoir creating a really strange sight. Not sure how long the reservoir has been at that level but all the trees look dead.

An underwater forest on the reservoir’s edge.

We eventually joined the highway again at Calliope where we headed east again to the coast and to our chosen site for the night at Tannum Sands. From this point on we’ll mostly be heading south give or take the odd inland excursion.
Tomorrow we need to stock up at the supermarket and find somewhere to wash the Land Rover. It’s a bit smelly at the moment courtesy of the cows that hang around the road in Cania Gorge and liberally cover the road with manure. I managed to drive through one of the larger, fresher ones yesterday and, frankly, it went everywhere and stinks !
We’ll probably take a wander to the beach and maybe have a swim before heading down the coast to our next stop, wherever that may be…

Another day on the road, no rain yet but the clouds are lingering

A long day today as our anticipated transit day turned into a 496km journey, mostly in a northerly direction. We tried to stay off the highways as much as we could as it’s a lot easier to set your own pace that way and you get to see places a bit off the beaten track.
We nearly had a stop in Oakey this morning as there are signs for an Army Flying Museum which we thought sounded interesting. After a bit of a trek off the main road following the sparse signs to the museum we finally got to the gate to find it closed – it’s only open for part of the week and they haven’t considered adding that information to the big advertising signs on the highway !
Anyway, other than that diversion we made pretty good time and finally got off the main highway at Dalby, finding the driving on empty roads very relaxing after the traffic on the highway. There’s nothing more off putting than a road train sitting on your rear cross member for mile after mile. Our average of 90km per hour is good for fuel consumption but at least 20k slower than the road trains.
On arriving at Mundubbera we stopped and had to make a decision on how much further we wanted to travel today and where we’d stop for the night. In the end we decided to push on a bit and stop at Cania Gorge as both camp sites here get good reviews. We chose the one with Telstra reception in the end, a nice quiet spot with a few walks we can look at tomorrow morning.

Feeding the local parrot species. The Lorikeets are pretty fearless, the Cockatoos wait until you move your hand to them.

On arriving and checking in at the site we were told about their bird feeding regime where the local parrot species are fed daily. Huge numbers of Lorikeets, Cockatoos and Galahs descend on the feeding area and will perch on anyone with bird seed in their hands. I’m not overly keen on this type of feeding that encourages contact with humans in this way but I admit, I couldn’t resist ! Just like the birds on our feeders at home, most of the seed was discarded as they searched out the sunflower seeds.
We’re almost at the most northerly part of our trip into Queensland now so I expect that tomorrow, after a walk in the gorge, we’ll start heading to the coast somewhere near Gladstone. We can then commence the much slower return leg down the coast to Sydney. We’ve booked into Lane Cove caravan park (where we stayed for our first couple of nights of the trip) for the last 2 nights of the trip. That means we have just under 4 weeks to get there.

Rolling hills, trees, mountains, all typical of this area

As planned, today turned into a “transit day” more about making progress on our journey than sight seeing along the way. That’s not to say we don’t get the chance to take in the sights along the way, just that there are no specific points of interest.
That said we did actually stop in a couple of places along the way, the first one being a stop for breakfast in the first town we came across – Inverell. A nice Italian coffee shop provided both a mug of decent proper coffee and, for breakfast, we also had a slice of warm apple pie with cream… maybe not what you’d want for breakfast every day but very decadent and a great way to start the day 🙂
From Inverell we headed east to Glen Inness where we joined the New England Highway heading north. At Tenterfield we crossed the border into Queensland again for the first time since Cameron’s Corner. We stopped for a spot of lunch (coleslaw and cheese sandwiches, using up the last of the coleslaw) before continuing on to Warwick.
Most of the roads and landscape around here remind us of driving through the dales or the Lake District apart from the lack of dry stone walls. Lots of rolling hills and steep mountains and all very green. It seems like a really nice place to live.

A free camp site within 50 paces of a good pub that serves excellent food and beer – ’nuff said really.

Looking for a suitable spot to camp for the night we both started searching on WikiCamps and came up with the same spot independently – the free camp site at Nobby. This is a facility provided by the town and the only charge is for electric hookup if you want it. It is also within very easy walking distance of the Rudd’s Pub which is a bit of a bonus ! There’s an old public weigh bridge next to where we are camped, if I can figure out how to use it I’ll try and weigh the Land Rover tomorrow morning and probably scare myself silly with exactly how much it weighs with all the gear aboard…
The food at the pub is good quality, lots of it and not badly priced, they also serve Toohey’s New on draught which is one of our favourite Australian beers. There was some confusion over measure sizes of the beer again, another state, another way of measuring beer. In most states a schooner is the larger glass, just smaller than an imperial pint. A midi is about half a schooner so is just under half a pint. In SA though we came across a schooner that was the same size as a midi, a pint that was the same size as a schooner and an imperial pint that was the same size as, well, an imperial pint. In WA we found some pubs served pints, some schooners but all serves midis as the smaller measure. Anyway, it turns out that here they don’t have a midi, it’s called a pot. So now we have to add yet another possible way of measuring beer to the list. It’s a bit like Russian roulette ordering beer here, you never really know what size glass to expect and just hope it’s a big one ! On the plus side the cost of beer here is about the cheapest we’ve found at around $5 for a schooner of draft Toohey’s.
We have a very rough plan drawn up for the next couple of days and I think we’ve decided that Gladstone will be our most northerly destination in Queensland. Rockhampton is still a possible alternative but we don’t want to leave ourselves short of time for the journey down the coast and every extra day north effectively means at least 2 days by the time we come south again. Tomorrow we’ll head north on another transit day and see where we end up !