Southward Bound

As we headed south over the last couple of days the weather got colder with each kilometre of road we clicked off.  We left Gunadah after a pleasant 21' night to get down the road to a free camp and 9' outside and 14' inside - and then the rain started.

In Gulgong, we visited an old Salvation Army Church which is now home to one of the biggest collections of Henry Lawson memorabilia. 

Henry Lawson

 

 After 3 days of no sun, we booked into the caravan park at Mudgee.  Without sun we get no solar power recharge.

We did a drive to the Wallemi State Forrest.  This is where, about 10 years ago one of the worlds rarest and oldest pine trees were discovered. 

 

The Forrest has some amazing rock formations also.  We took a drive into Dunns Swamp and considered coming back to camp for a few nights but were put onto another place in the Capertee Valley. 
 Some free camps are hard to find but really worth it in the end.  A few days ago we tried to find a free camp only about 6 kms out of Mudgee.  We ended up in a winery where we really struggled to get out with 21 ft of van behind us.  And this was following the GPS co-ordinates.  Today we tried again and ended up in someone's back yard and then eventually we nailed it.  Down against a creek with very nosy cattle for friends.  

                  

 

We also had our first camp fire since leaving Ravenshoe as well.

 

When on the road we meet some of the most interesting people.  A couple pulled in and parked about 50 mtrs  away from us in a motor home.  After a while he started throwing something up into a tree.  It turns out he is an amateur radio operator and he was throwing a spanner over a limb about 30 mtrs up to which was attached his antenna.  Tomorrow, being Anzac Day these radio enthusiasts call and talk to each other using morse code in commemoration of the radio operators of the First World War who used mostly morse code for communication.  Apparently there are radio enthusiasts who man decommissioned ships, every lighthouse and anywhere people communicated from during the war.  A large group of them do this every Anzac Day.

For those of us too young to know what this is - it is a Morse Code Machine

 

Tomorrow will be the first Anzac Day March in Mackay that I will miss in about 20 years.  However Mudgee will see us cheering on the March this year.

This morning we attended the Anzac March at Mudgee, a town in Central NSW, just west of the Great Dividing Range.  After the parade we had lunch at a quant café called "The Quick Brown Fox"  and yes it did have a small shelf of books.

 Mudgee has a population of about 11,000 but they put on a lovely March and service following the Dawn Service at 6.00am.

Tomorrow we head for Capertee Valley.

When Henry Lawson wrote his poem, Song of the Old Bullock Driver, in 1891 he became the first notable Australian to put into words the rugged beauty of the Capertee Valley.

The Capertee Valley is said to be longer than US's Grand Canyon by almost a kilometre. Capertee's sandstone escarpments soar to hundreds of metres in height and encircle the valley from south of Mount Marsden near the town of Capertee all the way to the short-lived mining town of Glen Davis, 20 kilometres to the west.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               A lot of photos I know but it was just so rugged and beautiful
                                  Would have been so much nicer had the sun co-operated

 

We arrived at the Capertee Valley about 3.30 pm and the colour on the rocky escarpment on either side of the valley from  the setting sun was a sight to be seen to be believed.  It had the feel of the Grand Canyon though not so high and with the look, smell and sound of the Australian bush.  And certainly hundreds less people than there was the day we visited the Grand Canyon.  We stayed Saturday and Sunday nights and as we were leaving, the sun was bright but for the previous 48 hours it was overcast and even rained a little bit so we were disappointed that we didn't see it in all its glory.  We went for a drive on Sunday afternoon to find that we stayed in the wrong spot to get the great photos.  The spot we should have stayed at was about 5 kilometres further into the valley.  We will certainly be coming back one day to see this beautiful valley in all its glory.

 

 

One last panoramic shot of the Capertee Valley until next time

Our first port of call after arriving in Bathurst was, like all tourists, to drive round the Mount Panorama Track.  Stuart thought if he got started now by the time the race came up he might have a chance at the chequered flag.

 Next day we visited an historical home in the area which was built in the early 1800's called    .  The family still live in it and have a lot of very old furniture as do most of these homes but one thing that I did find was this nail.
The current owners grandfather came from England and was an archaeologist so I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time but what a find.

 

We have arrived in Orange and expect to have a few cold days ahead.

Traveling North

We left Mackay heading North.  Yes we were supposed to be going to Lightning Ridge but the car did a right turn on Highway 1 instead of a left hand turn - what can I say!

Stuart averted a near disaster today, our second day on the road when he spotted hundreds of green ants marching like little green soldiers off the tree we were parked near onto the van and heading towards our windows and doors like kids after the Mr Whippy Van.

Out came the Crawly Cruncher and I have sprayed every inlet with a white milky solution which impressed Stuart no end as he washed the van beautifully 3 days ago.

What is it about us and Green ants?  We had a similar situation parked under trees at Calen just north of Mackay 6 months after we got together.  Not a good finish to a great day

 We left the van at the tourist information centre in Ingham and went to check out Wallaman Falls. 

 First time for Stuart and last time I was there Brett was a baby.  He is now 42.  Wallaman Falls is in the Girringun Natonal Park and has a drop of 268 mitres.  By the time it hits the water it seems to be just a fine mist.

Wallaman Falls

Following that black line, we passed through Tully and into Innisfail where we camped the night On our way we checked out the Big Gum Boot in Tully which represents the mighty annual rainfall they have each year which averages 4490 mm, but the most they have had in one day was 1140 mm, which in the old scale is nearly 4 ft of water. However there will be no records broken this year as they haven't had rain for a while.

Next day we made our way inland towards  the tableland and stopped off at the MaMu tropical sky walk.  That tested our energy levels with a 2 1/2 klm walk with a 100. Step climb to the top of the rainforrest tower. 

As we were leaving we were lucky enough to spot a birdwing butterfly (the largest butterfly in Australia).

The beautiful colours of the fire one night

 

 

An interesting statue at the entrance to Millaa Millaa of a farmer trying to get a stubborn cow into the bales to be milked.
coming off the land my sisters and I all have memories of this happening.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Some lovely little water falls amongst the ferns and bracken

 

The man on the mend climbing over rocks

 

We made a base at Ivanhoe and stayed for 5nights.  A great spot at $15 per night.  From there we explored a great deal of the Atherton Tablelands including a large wind farm just out of Ivanhoe.  I've said it before but even at $1 million to build each one they would have to be cheaper and more sustainable than other forms of power. There were 20 in an area of about 10 acres with cattle grazing  all around.

We still haven't seen a cassowary yet but a fellow at the park had to slow down the other night as one crossed the road with 3 chicks.
In Herberton, we visited an historic village which sat on about 15 acres.  I have never seen so much stuff and so many buildings in one place.  A credit to the owner who spent millions maintaining it.
We decided to have a couple of nights at Lake Tinaroo and apart from a few March Flies it is great.  I put in our Red Claw Trap here to see if I can catch more than some weed.  And I did.  Three attempts and got 5 fish each under 12 cms long.
We went into Mareeba where we did the usual trip to the Tourist Information Centre and incorporated in that for a gold coin donation was an amazing trip down memory lane with a glimpse of the past from Aboriginal times through the 2 wars to the '60's?  I thought it was as good or better than the historical village in Herberton.  We eventually got back to Ravenshoe after getting grocery and fish supplies and joined our new found friends at the caravan park.  Good Friday Dinner consisted of Coconut Rice and Thai seafood Curry which was beautiful.
On our way through to Charters Towers we pulled into the almost deserted town of Greenvale where about 50years ago they mined Nickel.  The mine is now closed down and the railway tracks have all been taken up and sold for scrap.  Now there is still a swimming pool, school, police station, pub and caravan park and a population of about 150.
We came across thousands of termite mounds that were no higher than about 30 cms.  Either they are different to the ones in the Northern Territory which are up to  2 mtrs tall or this is the nursery stage and they all migrate over the border when they outgrow the nursery. Lol

We also passed a herd of about 15 wild camels as well and a couple of emus.

On our way through to Clermont we stopped off at Belyando Crossing.  The servo proprietor said they hadn't had rain for over two years.

We got to Clermont just in time for lunch and had sandwiches down at the lagoon.  This lovely spot just on the entrance to Clermont is a haven for wildlife and the odd photographer.

For those interested in Australian Military facts, there is a lovely memorial in honour of a local man called Billy Sing DCM.  Billy was a sniper in WW1 accounting for over 150 Turkish troops.

 

Annie and Dale put on a lovely barbeque dinner and then bacon and eggs breakfast.  But unfortunately Stuart's oldest granddaughter Deanna has moved to just north of Brisbane so we missed her but did catch up with Thomas and Kimberley and Stuart's son James.

After a few days back in Mackay we headed off, and with a quick stop in Rocky, it was westward ho! for us.

The further away from the coast we travelled the dryer it looks with only the occasional green spot where someone has irrigated.

We are both very excited to be back on the road again.