Mount Isa - the mining city

 
 
 
 

The drive to Mt Isa on Monday was another 400km event – we arrived at about 2:30pm and had things set-up quite quickly (we are getting pretty organised with that). First, we went to the shops to restock on the vitals (mince meat for nachos and white chocolate for Mum) and then the kids were determined to go in the pool (it was 28-30 deg in the shade) so, despite our discouragement, they went in. So we were swimming in a swimming pool in June – that’s an achievement !!!

Today we had a leisurely start, and then off to the underground hospital which was built in 1942 when the Japanese were bombing Darwin and Townsville and there was a concern that Mt Isa’s mines would be another target – thankfully this was not realised and the hospital was never used except for emergency drills. It has been restored to its original 1942 condition by volunteers with much period medical instruments.

Next, we took a short 15km drive out to Lake Moondarra and had a lovely, relaxing picnic lunch, by which time it was a very tolerable 32 deg C. We are fairly sure that this lake was man made, but it stands out as a little oasis in the middle of a very arid and dry landscape. There was a wonderful park where we stopped for lunch – lush green grass, trees everywhere, playground equipment, BBQs, and abundant bird life (peacocks, kookaburras, eagles, parrots and cockatiels). James (and Dad) have become taken particularly with the eagles and found an eagle’s nest in one of the eucalyptus trees. We think it was a family (mainly the chicks) that kept soaring and returning to the tree – in any case, it was spectacular to see these birds so close in the wild. The eagles in this area are by far the most common bird, about as frequently seen as a magpie back home.

Lastly we dropped into the city lookout and it is blatantly clear that the city has been built around the mine.

That pretty much rounds out Mt Isa and we will be off to the Northern Territory (Tennant Creek) tomorrow, after an obligatory stop at a great coffee shop we found this morning (best nectar we have found for 3,200km) !!!

Winton

 
 
 

Well we are now in Mt Isa (with broadband coverage) having come from wonderful Winton. There isn’t much at Winton on first appearances, but we loved the character of the place which really hit home to us in the evenings when the caravan park owners put on live country music, dinner and a real Aussie Bush Poet – Melanie Hall. We had such a fantastic night on Saturday, that we came back for a second hit on Sunday. It is really hard to explain why we enjoyed our stay at Winton so much, but it just encapsulated the whole Australian Outback / Country way of having fun together by sharing a yarn (everyone is very chatty and accepting of each other) and having a good laugh. Melanie Hall is a fantastic entertainer with her story telling and poetry – even the kids fell in love with her and Aussie Bush Poetry and we spent our drive to Mt Isa listening to her on CD !!!

I guess one of the reasons the owners of caravan park put on bush poetry each evening is that Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda here, so there is a lot of history that they are preserving, but it is also because it is great fun – we are sold on it !!

Our full day activity on Sunday was a drive out to Lark Quarry, the site of the only preserved footprints of a dinosaur stampede. It was interesting to have the encounter of an Aussie T-Rex ambushing about a hundred small dinosaurs (think emu size) at the edge of a lake explained by a Palaeontologist. The footprints showed where the little fellas ran in confusion as the T-Rex tried to stalk them and go for the kill.

There were a few other “tourist attractions” like Arno’s Wall and the Musical Fence, and while they were ok, it is a bit of a stretch listing them as highlights.

The Outback Museum

 
 

We had a quiet morning around the caravan park, washing clothes and general jobs. Weather closed in a bit (some spits but not enough to register on the rain gauge), but it was still lovely and warm - 30 deg C. Mid morning we headed off to the Stockman's Hall of Fame to continue our education on outback Australia and how this country was built. Overall it is very impressive and you come away with an appreciation of our country's heritage and the hard work that has happened out in what we consider to be the middle of nowhere. The Museum was full of genuine period articles and video presentations which bring the past to life.

Tomorrow we are off down the road 200km to Winton. This is the place where Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda so we hope to get some further inspiration from the surrounds.

We have gone through some petrol (travelled 2341kms which used 545L of unleaded - you do the math !!!) Highest price we have paid is $1.31/L, but we were thankful to fill-up today for only $1.21/L so in the bigger towns, prices are still good. Also QLD seems to have cheaper prices than NSW as well as the State of Origin trophy - again !!!


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Longreach day 1

 
 
 
A quick journey of 2 hours today (and much road kill later), we arrived at Longreach. It is the biggest town we have seen so far on our travel inland. Discovery Caravan Park is huge and it has its own restaurant – which we will be visiting for dinner tonight! (Yeh, a night off cooking)

Our afternoon visit was to the QANTAS Founders Museum. We were able to go aboard a 747 ‘City of Bunbury’ and see the black box (orange in actual colour), hear information about its history as well as the founding of QANTAS by Hudson Fysh. The 747 arrived here in Longreach on 16th November 2002 – its last tour of duty was bringing home the survivors from the Bali Bombings.

The weather here at Longreach is fantastic – 30 degrees during the day without any breeze. A lot of the grey nomads definitely travel up here to get away from the winter and we now understand why. In fact, we have not seen any other family with children travelling like we are…only grey nomads (or recycled teenagers, as they like to be called).

Tomorrow we are planning a quiet morning and a trip to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame. It should continue to deepen our appreciation for the heritage of the way our country became what it is today. We have already seen how important the agricultural industry has been in this large region.

Blackall

 
 
 
We left Mitchell at about 8 a.m. and headed further west to Blackall. The roads are consistently straight but bumpy! So much road kill on the way – in particular Kangaroos. Other animals we saw included Eagles (more and more numerous as we travelled), Emus, Stockman and their bulls crossing the road (we had to stop for them), Sheep, Horses and a snake.

About 300 kms down the road we stopped at Tambo for a quick play and a look in the Tambo Teddy Shop. Lauren (a big fan of teddies and anything cuddly) bought a cute mouse called Mousey (original hey!)

We arrived at Blackall at 1 p.m. It is definitely bigger than Mitchell and much more lively! We spent the afternoon doing the tourist thing. First, we went to the Wool Scour – a heritage listed steam-powered, wool washing operation that was closed in 1978. It really was an engineering marvel. They ran the 1904 steam engine which powered up the entire complex, including the wool washers and lots of other machinery.

We then headed off to the “Black Stump”. Apparently we are now ‘beyond the Black Stump’!

Another Artesian Spa to be dipped in… this time with a 50 metre pool attached. The Spa was 38 degrees but that was the cooled temperature. The water actually comes up from the Artesian Basin at 58 degrees!

By the way, we forgot to tell you, that until our journey to Mitchell, we had been travelling without a GPS – it was not registering where we were. Ben spent some time trying to fix it, but to no avail.

When we got in the car to go to Mitchell, suddenly the GPS began to work! Thanks be to God as this was just the time we needed specific directions.

Mitchell Day 2

 
Day 2 was fairly relaxed – it started with a walk down the main street, with a quick stop into the local bakery for a coffee (not great but satisfied the caffeine fix), drinks for the kids and a biscuit.

After returning from our walk the boys threw the vortex and kicked the footy, while the girls played a game of Scrabble. Later, inside the caravan, the children did some craft which kept them amused for an hour or so.

In the afternoon, we once again ventured to the Artesian Spa for a bit of relaxation and chatting to the recycled teenagers.

After dinner we spent some time lying on our backs and looking at the multitude of stars. We sat around the campfire, lit our sparklers, placed marshmallows on the end of a long stick and cooked them over the glowing coals (Mum was in her element – fire and Mum go hand in hand). We were in awe of God’s marvellous creation and reminded ourselves of how blessed we are that we know the God who flung these stars into space.

Tomorrow we are off to Blackall with a quick stop in Tambo to see the Tambo Teddies.

Off to Mitchell

Monday morning we got up and managed to be on the road by 7:20 – it actually wasn’t too difficult, but we knew we needed to start early as we had 600km drive that day. It went fairly well actually and we got there @ 3:15 (less than 8 hours !!!) with a brief stop at Darby and Miles. Kids have been really good, they only watched 1 DVD and the rest of the time was spent drawing / colouring or listening to an Audio book (thanks Hannah). As we drove, there is an obvious change in the landscape – very green on the coast, and drying up and brown the further we went. As we got out over the Great Dividing Range, we travelled through what is the Darling Downs where much of Australia’s produce comes from. Some vast fields which were in various stages in the cultivation cycle (most harvested and awaiting ploughing for next crop).

After we got our site set-up we headed for a quiet stroll over the river to the artesian spa (hot spa fed directly from the Great Artesian Basin). The water is naturally heated and 38 deg C – beautiful way to relax and loosen up after being in the car for 8 hours. In the evening we headed over to the campfire and chatted with a few recycled teenagers and then cooked dinner on the BBQ. We all basically went straight to bed, kids asleep by 7:45, Ben by 8:30 and Estelle 10:30 (some noisy neighbours).

One thing that really strikes you out here is how quiet and still it is. Lovely and warm, but hardly a breath of a breeze. You can hear small noises from a long way away – very peaceful.


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Rest day at Dicky

Sunday was a quite rainy day – our last on the coast before we headed west and said goodbye to the sea. We spent the morning in the van playing games (our new card game has become quite popular) and we also played scrabble (just for Aunt Cherie). After lunch we headed out to the Big Pineapple for a look at how a pineapple farm works. Did you know that it takes a pineapple 2 years to grow once the “head” has been planted ? Also, each “head” is only used for two crops, so there is a fair amount of work is required for us to get a can of pineapple to our pantry.

A simple dinner that night at the local surf club (50m from van) saw us end our time on the coast. We packed most things ready for a bit of a drive the next day !!!

Steve Irwin

We have had a few days off-line (and laziness) and will catch-up on what we’ve been up to.

On 20/6 we went to Australia Zoo. This is a great place which Steve Irwin and his family have clearly set up in a fairly distinctive way. Aust Zoo is a big place which appears to have originally been his own place where he keeps his animals which he loves. He has had a philosophy that the animals needed to be interacted with and that is why he appears to most of us completely crazy when he jumps on them etc… His philosophy has continued to be passed on to the keepers of the animals who continue to care for these animals in a very “hands on” way. They interact with the crocodiles and use these skills in their show as they get the croc to behave in certain ways to demonstrate their awesome characteristics. They play with the tigers in similar ways to keep them “interested” and happy. They allowed all of us to feed the elephants (the only place in Australia where you can do that). If you pay more money, then you also can have these experiences with these animals (maybe not the crocs) and they really want us all to appreciate the animals and ensure we look after them and their habitat to ensure they do not get wiped out.

Steve has had a huge impact up here – they have changed the name of streets in the area of the zoo. It appeared to us that he was a man of great passion for his cause and was completely genuine in the manner he went about campaigning to preserve this world. He believed that is why he was put on the planet.

A great day was had by all and we slept well that night !!!

Sunshine Coast - Dicky Beach

We have left the Gold Coast now and moved further north to the Sunny Sunshine Coast. Again, we have had fantastic weather which saw us don the swimmers and head for the beach at 1pm. Another great afternoon was had playing in the sand and just relaxing in the idealic setting. This is another stunning location and we guess there are countless similar spots up the coast.
The shipwreck on the beach is the S.S Dicky, from which the beach was named. After we got the sand out of our crevices we took a leisurely stroll up the coastline from the caravan site (poll position if you look at the photo from our door below !!!) and just enjoyed the chatting and observing how great the facilities are here that make it so easy to put you in amongst the flora and fauna. The well constructed pathway and boardwalk goes for a few kilometres in each direction from the caravan site (Ben plans to run it in the morning).

James is learning to play Black Jack (not sure who taught him at school - it's amazing what you can learn while you're away at Year 3 camp sharing a room with 4 other boys!) - I think the attraction is adding up the numbers on the cards. He is still a long way off card counting to make him a chance in the casino.

We're off to Australia Zoo in the morning to wrestle with a croc - crickey !!!

Last Day on Gold Coast

Well this is our last day here before we move on up a short distance to the Sunshine Coast (Caloundra). After yesterdays tiring adventure at Sea World we thought the best thing for today was a slower pace and more relaxing play. Well that was our idea, but the kids certainly ran hard again on the play equipment on the shore, opposite Australia Fair. Great playground here which kept us going for a few hours. The Queensland Government have certainly done a good job at providing good facilities in this area.

There were swings, monorail pedal cars, flying foxes (at least 3 within 2km), bike tracks, see saws of many varieties .... Children's delight. Needless to say, they are now snoring their heads off as we type this post.

The afternoon was spent learning a new card game (to them) Strip Jack Naked, but it does not require layers of clothing to be removed.

Another great day.

Lets see what tomorrow holds for us as we travel again. Forecast has rain on the way, but hopefully we can still get our planned trip to Australia Zoo in.

'Till next time .... thanks for all your comments, we look forward to reading them each day.

Sea World

You may have already read about our day at Sea World on our Children's blogs - we are slack and are still trying to catch up on ours which is lower on the priority list (sorry about that). In short, we had another great day. Sea World is only 1km from Broadwater Caravan Park, so it was a very quick trip across town. Easy parking blah, blah, blah and we were there as the gates were opening at 10am. We ran around some of the exhibits for a while before the seal show started at 11am. The seal show was entertaining with a dramatic story being played out with the seals - OK, but not what we expected in terms of information about seals.


Again we ran around more of the exhibits with the Polar Bears being our favourite. They were two orphaned brother bears who were extremely animated as the played and wrestled each other in and out of the water - very cute for 2 huge animals.The best show of the day was without doubt the dolphin show. It showcased the trained aspect of these amazing creatures with many tricks, but also communicated lots about them and we all left with a deep appreciatation for them and now unique they are. We also felt like retraining as a dolphin trainer as their job looked like a good option (not saying engineering or schooling is bad !!!).
We jumped on a number of rides which were a bit of fun too.

Overall we have had a great time so far. We have all enjoyed being together, experiencing new things and just relaxing. The weather has been perfect as well which is just another added blessing.

Changing States

Another few hundred kilometres saw us change states today as we entered Queensland. The skies were clear as we left Nambucca at 8:30 a.m. and headed for Southport. As we travelled we went past the Big Banana, Big Prawn, Big Knight (outside the Macadamia farm), past fields of sugar cane and even past a coffee plantation (and no, we did not take our coffee machine away :0 (amazing, I hear you say)!





We also passed many properties which have felt the efftects of the recent floods in Grafton. Many fences were underwater, dirt, grass and mud everywhere. Roads were damaged and traffic was slow as we drove past fallen trees.


Our rest stop today was at Ballina where we stopped for a picnic lunch and a throw of the Vortex. The kids are travelling well and are playing lots of games in the back seats as well as pausing now and then to watch a DVD.


We arrived at Southport at around 2:30p.m. whereupon we all pitched in to set up the van again. After a quick trip to the toilets (where an access code is required) the kids had a great time playing on the "Jumping Pillow". After wearing themselves out, we took a brief walk along the beachfront, came back to the van to write up the children's blogs and then headed off to get take away fish and chips. The kids then enjoyed playing on the equipment at a place called 'Labrodor' - it even had a flying fox next to the beach.

Tomorrow we are off to Sea World, which should be great for all.

The gold at the end of the Rainbow

Well, we are happy to report that we got off okay and reached our day one destination of Nambucca Heads at about 1:30pm. It is a wonderful place and once we got everything set-up (30mins), we headed off down the river's boardwalk to have a quick fish. We were briefly interupted by a short sun shower, but it provided us with a fantastic rainbow right across the mouth of the river. It was very close to us and you can make out from the photo that it was actually in front of the hill on the northern side of the river. If you look closer you will also see that there is a second rainbow just above the main one (much more impressive in real life).

It was the end of long day with a long drive, but we all had fun and the kids were not wanting to leave.The weather was great, warm and pleasant (shorts T-shirt) and we looked forward to another day of travel with a few days rest when we got there.

Day One - almost

 

Well you may have noticed that the countdown has reached zero !!! Unfortunately, this has happened in theory only and we won't be driving off today :-( Here is the story

Yesterday we got everything packed in the caravan and car and were feeling good, although tired. I then thought I'd look around the car one last time just to be sure all was right and I saw what you can see in the photo !!! This is the lower shock absorber / strut bush of the front right wheel. If you look closely you will see some shredded rubber coming out the back of the bushing and that the bolt going through is not in the centre. The shredded rubber is the bush and should stay where it was put !!!

About a month ago we had the springs and shocks changed on the car so I quickly rang our friend Paul who fitted them and he kindly offered to have a look at it last night just to see how bad it was. I also was immensely fortunate (blessed)then to call the supplier of the shocks, who had his factory phone number diverted to his mobile. He has agreed to meet me this morning at 9am and give me the replacement bushes. This was a huge breakthrough !!!

Paul, in his grace, has offered to meet me at his workshop and fit them today - huge thank you mate.

So - if all goes well today, we'll be back on the road tomorrow morning.

Lots to be thankful for :

1) We found the problem before we left
2) Supplier agreed to get the parts for me on Sunday morning
3) Paul offered to fit them on Sunday

We'll see how plan B comes together.