Where the Rainforest meets the Reef

We saw little fellows like this lurking in the Daintree River on the cruise that we did.

Cape tribulation at the end of the bitumen on the coast....a nice place to visit but a long and windy road to get there as well as a ferry ride. There is no shortage of water in the Daintree. Last year they had 8 and half metres, yes metres, of rain. This year they have already had 3 and half metres. They do love a blue sky!!

Happy Birthday Keith

Today is his birthday. He started the day off with some fun in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed it.

FNQ

We left Palm Cove today after having a very nice few days there. We are travelling to Cape Tribulation and on the way stopped at the Mossman Gorge pictured above.
It is a strange feeling travelling north as you feel like you are going into the wild blue yonder. Cape Tribulation is actually only about 50klms from where we are staying tonight at Wonga Beach so we are not going very far north at all before we turn back to go to Cairns.

The Wedding Party

Kayla, Nikki, John, Michael

The Wedding

Nikki and John with Russell and Sharyn and the rest of their clan after the wedding. The wedding was lovely and everything went off without a hitch except for the wind upsetting some of the plans. A good time was had by all

Nice Day for a White Wedding

It is a beautiful day here today in Palm Cove although quite windy which is upsetting to the bride. It is a lovely place for a wedding. We are staying at the not so well maintained camping ground which is right on the waterfront and we have water views so we can't ask for too much more. The rest of the family is staying at a lovely resort.

State of Origin in Mareeba

We thought what better place than the Leagues Club to watch the State of Origin last night. We called up the trusty Courtesy Bus and off we went hoping we would get a seat on such a popular night.
Not a problem.....the crowd of 50 went wild when Queensland won. At least we got to see it on the big screen.
Back home (we are staying at the rodeo grounds out of town) we came on the Courtesy Bus with the best entertainment of all from some of the local yokels on the bus.
A big night out for us with a good result and as the bus driver said "Never a dull moment".

A Whole lot of Bull

Here is Keith practising for the Mareebo Rodeo. It was almost as hard for Keith to climb the bull as it was for him to climb Ayres Rock!

A Free Car Wash

We took advantage of the free car wash in the middle of nowhere near Mt Surprise. It is really used to wash the weed seed off your vehicle.

Sounds of Silence

We do experience it in the bus at times, ha, ha......... but I think you were meaning the flash Sounds of Silence dinner at Ayres Rock, Brian.........unfortunately it was not in our budget but we did go to the Memo Club in Alice Springs. Caught the courtesy bus and had a bonza night! The Task Force was even in town to control the bad behaviour and we saw nothing.

Joke of the Week

An older aboriginal lady was sitting on the seat outside the shopping centre in Mt Isa. She said to a younger aboriginal lady walking past "Don't work too hard" and they roared with laughter.
We did too.

Three Weeks Down

but who is counting...........not Keith!
I am looking forward to the next leg of our journey from Palm Cove when we catch up with Keith's family for Nikki's wedding, my friend Jan in Cairns, our friends George and Jean in Townsville, Matt, Tracey, Nick and Sheridan near Mackay, Barb and Ian in Moranbah, Josh in Emerald and Rachel and Travis in Blackwater. I can hardly wait!!

The Shitbox Rally

We saw a number of these cars stopped in Cloncurry and didn't know what it was all about. Most of the cars then passed us on the way and then when we stopped at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse were able to ask some questions. There are about 110 cars travelling from Brisbane to Darwin and they are raising money for the Cancer Council. The cars were all from the 80's (so we could actually qualify).
We thought this car was pretty cool with the occupants in matching outfits.......even though it was a Ford!

Retracing our Steps

We are currently in Cloncurry where we have been a couple of times before..........not a lot has changed. We stopped briefly in Mt Isa this morning and now on to Normanton as we travel across to reach Palm Cove by Thursday or Friday. We are going this way to save 150klms. Yes...I like the sound of that. There is not a lot to see out this way.

Just a few photos......

(1) Keith playing shadows at the Devils Marbles

(2) Can you see the chain up Ayres Rock

(3) The sheer cliffs of Kings Canyon

(4) You can camp underground here in Coober Pedy

(5) Keith next to the Canberra he has worked on

(6) Just me at Woomera

(7) Saying farewell to Wayne & Katrina at Orange

Back in Queensland

It has been a pretty quick trip through the Centre as we only left home 3 weeks ago on Tuesday. We have covered almost 6000 klms and seen a lot in that time. There is also a lot of nothing to see along the way. I have spent a lot of time looking at the backs of my eyelids!
The strangest sight we have seen was the NT police standing at the T junction where you turn right to head to Qld or keep going to Darwin. We were pulled up and Keith was given the breathalyser. Luckily it was in the morning and I hadn't driven him to drink at that stage!
The next strange sight we saw was three backpackers in a van arrive where we were staying at a free camp, they pulled the futon out from the back and that is where a couple of them slept under the stars. They also had a not so comfy lounge to sit on. Ingenious!
We are stopped in Camooweal, which is 13 klms from the border, for lunch before heading on to another lovely free camp before we get into Mt Isa tomorrow.


Oh the joys!!

Farewell Cee and Terry

We spent a week with Cee and Terry when they decided to head for Darwin instead of making the trek to Cairns. They were in a camper trailer and Terry had not long had his knees operated on so it was all a bit much for them. We enjoyed their company while they were with us.

So it is on on by ourselves.....

The Devils Marbles - More Rocks

I think we have seen just about all the rocks that the NT can offer.
The Devils Marbles though were marblous! ha! ha!
We camped right beside them for $6.60 a night and then had a walk all through them this morning. Quite interesting.
We are now in Tenant Creek where we have phone reception but not sure what else there is to see here. I guess we will have a look.
This afternoon we turn right to head across the top towards the Qld border...yay.

The Not so Red Centre

The Red Centre is actually very green at the moment......even water lying in some places so it has been a good time to visit.
We still see very little wildlife and apparently that is because there is so much food out there. The only road kill we have seen is a few cows! Poor things!

I am hooked..........not really but I have just learnt to crochet and am passing away the time...... it could end up to be a knee rug.

Oh what a beautiful morning

Oh what a beautiful day............a few words from Oklahoma for you oldies out there!!

And so it is here in downtown Alice Springs where .........
They speak a different language
The caravan park we are in is very safe, it has a security gate and barbed wire along the fence
Fencing contractors would do well here
There are hardly any flies
There are a couple of nice shopping centres
You apparently have to wear shoes to enter one
You don't have to wear a bike helmet

A view from above.

A Town Like Alice

We haven't seen too much of the town yet as we only arrived this afternoon, did some grocery shopping and drove to the caravan park. I reckon we have a pretty good picture of what Alice Springs is like......much like all the other towns in the NT.
I actually had to pay 50 cents to go to the toilet in the shopping centre but felt that was the safe way to go!!
Tomorrow Keith has a fan belt to replace after it broke a few days ago. I have bags of washing to do so we will be here for two nights.

Kings Canyon

Yesterday we made the trek into Kings Canyon.
I decided that I would prove the doubters wrong and tackle the 6 klms rim walk. 6 klms.... I can walk that no worries. I am sure I walk that far on a Sunday morning with the girls.
The first 500 metres was easy, a stroll in the park, the rest of the 5.5 klms was very different. I almost turned back after the first 100 stairs but I battled on.
It was the longest 6 klms I have ever walked, took 3 hours, with a few stops along the way. It was rugged terrain with lots of steps but I did it.
It was well worth the walk and the only way to see it.
I am such a hero!!

Wildlife of the Red Centre

We are very surprised by the lack of wildlife out there.
So far we have seen:
2 herds of camels
1 snake
2 eagles
1 kangaroo
thousands of flies
hundreds of mice
1 pet emu

And now for some bush poetry as requested by Brenda!!

AYRES ROCK (ULURU)

It stands alone

In all it's glory

Every picture

Tells a story

An awesome sight

To behold

Nothing can compare

So big and bold

A huge, red, rock

So foliage free

A sandstone wonder

A must to see

Uluru

It may be

But Ayres Rock

It is to me

Awesome Ayres Rock

We drove into Yulara which is the resort about 20klms from Ayres Rock and straight to the rock but it was closed due to high winds. Keith was very disappointed and ended up doing the 10 klms walk around the base.....as Tania has already mentioned. I walked for a few klms but decided that was enough.

I had already decided to respect the wishes of the local folk and pass on the climb...........you should see how steep it is!

Ayres Rock was not disappointing..........it was an amazing sight. Just as I imagined and as all the photos depict.

We also went to The Olgas and they were spectacular too but my favourite was definitely Ayres Rock.

We spent one night at Yulara and at about 3pm decided to ask one more time before we left if the rock was open to climb. When she said yes, Keith raced off to do it and did it in record time. He is very happy to be able to cross that one off his bucket list.

I am back

Hopefully I will have no more problems.

Thanks to Tania for filling in for me. Unfortunately I haven't mastered photos since the 2011 crash but will keep working on them.

Up the Centre

Tonight we are in Coober Pedy..........we have done a tour of an underground house and also a tour of the opal mine at the caravan park we were are staying. We also watched little mice running around the camp kitchen. Lovely!

Coober Pedy is in vast contrast to Woomera where we visited this morning. Woomera is a very neat, clean and tidy town. Woomera is a Defence town as I was told and virtually not to ask any more questions. It has a population of about 250 with all the facilities inclcuding a 3 lane Ten Pin Bowling Alley which is a legacy of the "yanks" when they were based there. There are also a number of static areoplane displays and Keith was very happy to see a couple that he had worked on.

Coober Pedy on the other hand looks to be a very dusty, untidy town and we plan on having more of a look around tomorrow. It has some very intersting characters hanging around the streets!

Fun at the Rock

As you might have guessed Gail is still having trouble with her blog.

So, I'm just letting you know they have arrived and are doing their best to have a great time. Keith hiked around the base of the rock, Gail sat the 10kms out, surprise, surprise!

Hopefully tomorrow the rock will be open so Keith can upset our indigenous cousins and climb the monster.

Pic via flickr

Testing, testing 123

Just trying to post a test blog for Gail, bear with us!!!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Yes it is a touch cold down here in the south.
We saw a lovely white frost in Orange which brought back memories of living in Warwick.
We are now in SA ................yes we are moving very quickly, doing a drive through tour of the towns along the way, although we did stop today in Morgan and Renmark and marvelled over the mighty Murray.
We are camped in Burra, another cold SA town. We were surprised by our friends Cee and Terry who were waiting for us here when we were only expecting to meet up with them tomorrow.
We are moving on tomorrow, not wanting to stay long in one place, and heading towards the centre staying at Woomera tomorrow night. A trip down memory lane for Keith who did a stint in Woomera back in the RAAF days.

DISASTER STRIKES

The worst thing that could possibly happen to a computer, happened to my computer......my life line.
It had an irrepairable problem that could only be fixed by starting over again which meant losing everything.
I now have no email addresses so if you are reading this please send me your email address.

Happy Birthday Bernadette

Happy Birthday to Bernadette who celebrates her birthday today.

Also, Happy Mothers Day to Mum and all mothers for tomorrow. Hope you all have a lovely day.

Today's Journey

Today we have travelled through Dubbo and on to Orange where we are staying with Wayne and Katrina in luxury. I won't want to leave this lovely warm house again. Yes, it is quite chilly here......a bit of a shock to the system.
We are here until Sunday.

It's All About Football

Yes, Brian you will be pleased to know that we are in Orange for the Test tonight so Keith can watch it with Wayne. I know we will be in Emerald with Josh for the second one, not sure about the first one but am sure we will be somewhere with power.

Horsing Around in Gundy

We stopped and had lunch with Gunsynd in Goondiwindi. Have travelled on to Narrabri where we are staying at the showgrounds for the night. Unfortunately the show is not on!!

It is starting to get cooler.

On the road again.......

Well, we left Hervey Bay for Toowoomba at 10.30am not 9am as planned but not as bad as last time.....
Toowoomba was mainly catching up with family and a little bit of shopping....never a bad thing.

Test Run

Just a test run to make sure I know what I am doing again..........
Looking forward to the next leg of our journey, leaving here for Toowoomba on Tuesday, staying there for two nights.
We are heading south first so may need our winter woollies before we head north again.
A lot of packing yet to be done.