10 August - Day 10
Charters Towers - Atherton Tableland

We have travelled quite a few miles since the last post. We are constantly amazed at how the countryside changes. The outback was very green - due to the recent rain, but the coast is sooo green! It is almost lime green in places.

We called into Mission Beach on our way to Atherton Tableland. Very picturesque.  While we were there, everyone was looking at the sky. Just standing there looking. We looked - and couldn't see anything. People at the shops were standing outside looking at the sky. We walked down to the beach - and everyone was just standing looking at the sky. So we joined them and looked at the sky. It was like peer pressure - one person does something and everyone else joins in. We could not see anything in the sky - it was blue (beautiful! ) and clouds. So we continued walking... and they continued staring. As we returned, we finally saw what they were looking at - tandem parachutists, coming in right at the spot where we were standing. No wonder they were staring - it wasn't some weird experiment to see how many people you could get to stand and look up in the sky after all!

Hang gliders at Mission Beach.

Beautiful Mission Beach

Cassowaries apparently live in the forest around Mission Beach - and we loved the signage. They claim the sign of the week.

Sign of the week at Mission Beach.

While up at Atherton Tablelands we have stayed at a lovely park at Walkamin which was recommended by Jenny, Paul and Alison on their recent trip. (Thanks for the recommendation!)  It is an extreme contrast to the last few campsites we have stayed at! There is even a herb garden that can be used by campers!

We spent a lovely day today touring around Tinaroo Dam. Again a very beautiful area. They were releasing water from the dam which was very spectacular.

Water being released at Tinaroo Dam.

Malanda Falls
(Darryl was in photography heaven - and Merril crocheted another square for her granny blanket!)

Curtain Tree Fig - 500 years old

It had started raining at lunch so we decided to stop at Yungaburra Hotel "The Finest Place in Town Since 1910". Darryl loved the architecture - inside it was like stepping back in time. (Darryl's comment - "They did a great steak burger. It had three pieces of steak!")

Yngaburra Hotel

We loved Yungaburra. It was very quaint and beautifully presented. A town with a lovely atmosphere.

Sunday 7 August - Day 7
Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp

Before we left Emerald, we searched on the web for somewhere to camp at Emerald. The camps in town received very poor reviews and were very expensive. So we found this one, Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp, just 20 kms outside of Charters Towers, and it sounded excellent.

Part of the web site

Sounded pretty good.
The ad says .. "....enjoy the comfort of one of our grassy, shady powered sites..."

Hmm ... grassy sites? Now I wonder where they are? There is a blade of grass that can be seen way over there in the corner of the paddock ... but the rest is red dust. Grassy, shady sites .. I think that is a bit of creative writing.

It is certainly spacious, and quiet. (Although during the week I think it would be noisy as the quarry seems to be just next door.) We got a shock - after driving in through a bumpy dirty lane onto the allotment, when we drove onto the property and saw the office and then the toilets!
Darryl's photos will explain what we meant much better than words!

The office

The toilet block - ramshackle but does the job.

Suffice to say ... midnight walks to the loos are something Merril is trying desperately to avoid.
Although, admittedly - the showers are hot, but you have to dance around to try and get the water as it sprays everywhere but down, and try not to touch the dubious shower curtain!

Camp swimming pool - looks ok in the photo ... but in real life? Let's say we don't want to try it out!

Camp kitchen

The chicken coup is an old caravan.

For all it's quirkiness, we have actually enjoyed our stay here.

This morning we wandered around Charters Towers. It was very quiet - everyone seemed to be tourists! All with maps in their hands and walking shoes on. Darryl had a wonderful time photographing the old buildings!

Tomorrow we head north towards Cairns / Atherton. Not sure how far we will get tomorrow as we have to stop at Townsville and get some supplies.

Flood indicator on the Burdekin River.

Stock Exchange arcade

Saturday 6 August - Day 6
Emerald - Charters Towers

We spent an enjoyable two days at Lake Maraboon near Emerald. Although the campsite was on the Fairairn Dam, unfortunately there was no dam view from our campsite (or any of the campsites really.) Nevertheless it was a quiet location well away from any traffic noise.

Emerald railway station

Great sculpture at Emerald - made from machinery components.

The giant Van Goph's Sunflower painting in Emerald.

We cannot believe how many grey nomads there are! Our neighbour at Lake Maraboon was a lovely lady who became our "best friend" and told us her life story. A lovely lady ... but is this what we are going to become? Scary thought!

Fairbairn Dam

We drove out to the gemfields at Sapphire and Rubyvale. Much more civilised than when we went there in the 70's! However there were still sites that looked like what Merril remembers when they went fossicking back then - the old shanty's and creative house building. It was interesting to look around but we weren't tempted to do any digging and sieving - so no sapphires discovered.

Rubyvale shopping centre ... who would have guessed a cafe at the gemfields!

An interesting "hippie" home at Sapphire. (All the trees were wrapped in crochet and knitting.)

Today we drove north to Charters Towers through countryside which reminded Merril of her time at MiddleMount. (Not surprising seeing as it is close by.) Darryl was very impressed with the flowering wattles which put on a stunning show.

Machinery at the entry of Charters Towers

We have stayed tonight just outside of Charters Towers at Bivouac Junction. Now this campsite needs an entry all by itself! It is quite unique. Imagine a very old country campsite that probably hasn't had any money spent on it since establishment, run by two very friendly staff who are the extreme caricature of country folk! We will take some photos tomorrow and show you what we mean. Let us say - it is not Merril's ideal camping site - but Darryl is grinning from ear to ear!

Tuesday 3 August - Day 3
Kingaroy - Emerald

The weather was beautiful when we arrived in Kingaroy on Monday night and we thought we might actually enjoy a sunny holiday. We should have known better. The weather forecast for Kingaroy was 4% chance of rain ... and predictably, we woke to rain on the roof! Not heavy - but the sun had certainly decided to hide. All yesterday was bleak, wet and windy (but fine and sunny today.) We spent last night at the Roma Gun Club (lovely large spacious sites) and drove today to Lake Maraboon, outside Emerald.



The road from Roma to Emerald was long, straight and mostly flat but very few pull-off areas to have a break. When we finally came across one we stopped for morning tea (and enjoyed Mum's beautiful homemade biscuits) ... along with what looked like the whole caravan park! We definitely felt like the poor cousins next to all the other huge rigs. 

Merril loved this sign which was on the playground at Rolleston and had to snap it! It is her sign of the day! There were even a couple of big Tonka trucks in the playground for the kids. You would never find that in Brisbane!
     

We will stay here at Lake Maraboon for a few days. Darryl (note Darryl - not Merril ... she has been there done that) wants to go to the gemfields, and we need to go into Emerald for some supplies.

Monday 1 August - Day 1
Brisbane - Kingaroy

Finally our holidays have commenced, although we were off to a very late start. Someone (who will remain nameless) decided that the gardens had to be weeded and mulched before we left ... and the house had to be clean ... and ... and... and. Anyway, we managed to be ready to leave about 2pm.

Earlier in the day our friendly neighbour came over and recommended that we turn off the water to the house while we were away, in case of burst tap plumbing (tails) which have been known to go without warning and cause a lot of damage. Unfortunately that meant that all Merril's watering system setup was now wasted. (Sigh ... thanks Sharon for agreeing to water my pots.) So as we were about to leave, we went to turn off the water at the main, only to find that the tap was jammed.
Back inside we went, turned on the computer, modem etc to phone Urban Utilities. Our late start was now even later after listening to their wonderful hold music!

When we got to just north of Caboolture, we stopped at a servo and noticed that one of the small roof domes had popped open! Thank goodness we had some wonderful duct tape handy in the boot. It is now taped up until we can get it repaired along the way.

Our original plan was to stay in Roma for the first night, but instead we are in a lovely campsite at Kingaroy Showgrounds.

Early start tomorrow and we should be able to make it easily to Roma.
Unbelievably for us, the weather is beautiful and sunny - there is just a lot of smoke haze from burnoffs.