Arriving in Australia felt like a bit of normality back in our life. A language and culture that we sort of understand. After our early start in Bougainville and two flights we finally arrived and booked in at the YHA in Cairns.
The luxury of hot showers! The plan for the next day picking up the campervan, a food shop, planning our meals, amazing.
However, first on the agenda I needed medication for the bites on my leg. So after a luxury night with all the mod cons, I set off to find a doctors. Surprisingly easy as there was a clinic in the shopping mall opposite. I signed in and got an appointment about 10 minutes later and had a prescription, leg dressing, tetanus in no time flat. I then noticed flu and covid jabs going at the pharmacy so got them as well.
I then went back for Ashley to do the same and that was most of the morning gone. Our planned 9am pick up for the van was rather later than planned and the day was definitely getting on by the time we’d rushed around for a quick supermarket and clothes shop.
At the campsite we’d barely got to sit down before the sudden realisation it would be dark soon and we had a lot of working out and sorting out to do before then.
Finally we got the bed in place and could relax ready for our first night in our van.
The next day, making the most of our location, we did a rainforest tour in the Daintree rainforest. This started with a pick up from our site and a drive into to the forest along the beautiful coastline.
Inside the national park we had a welcome ceremony from one of the people who owns the land. He explained about some of the trees and how their bark and leaves are used. He crushed mosquitoe repellent leaves and put them in the fire as part of the smoking ceremony.
He then showed us the natural colouring locally and how this was used for body painting to show your tribe.
Here we could get a closer look at the rain forest and my first animal sighting, a bush turkey. Not popular with gardeners apparently.
We then went down and across a river on a short cruise to get our first sighting of crocs. The bottom one is a baby one hiding out trying not to get eaten.
We went out to see a lovely pristine white beach, deserted. We had to keep our distance from the sea due to salt water crocs. Our guide told us the story of a lady walking along the beach there slightly in the sea. Her last words were “It’s got me”. So that’s why the beach is empty.
Worryingly we saw a cycle and a pair of shoes by themselves…. no owner.
The patterns in the sand are made by a crab swallowing sand and spitting it out.
Warning signs
A short walk in the woods showed us plant and animal life. Strangling figs that grow from seeds lodged high on the tree and grow roots down that eventually kill the tree. Green stick insects. Green bottom ant, important in Aboriginal culture as medicine and to taste. The green apparently has a lime taste. It is also available in Green Ant Gin. Lastly bread fruit, I finally know what one looks like.
We were all charged with looking for a Cassowary the local big bird with a population of only 4,000. They are best kept at a distance as they have a sharp claw combined with a vicious kick. We did get to see one. However, as my picture is so bad I’ve added one show what they look like.
We ended with an ice cream from a shop specialising in ice creams made from local exotic fruits from their orchard such as black sapote, wattle seed. I tried their signature cup mixture of 4 different flavours, Ashley had chocolate 🤣
For our last morning in Cairns we had to go to the Great Barrier Reef. A blissful hot and sunny winters day. Thankfully the nurse had oked it if I wore a wet suit, do I used a compression tube instead and ut seemed to fo the job.
I couldn’t take my own photos but the company posted up pictures from the trip of the corals we saw, also the sea turtle there. It was a short but wonderful experience. I somehow expected the reef to be one continuous mass. However it was lots of separate cluster albeit very close together with sandy patches in-between.
After the reef trip we had to head off to get to our next stop before dusk. Lots of animals on the road then. We drove through lots of sugar cane plantations. It was because of these that the Cane Toad was imported, with the idea thst it would get rid of sugar cane pests. Unfortunately it wasn’t effective at that, but it was effective at poisoning the local wildlife that tried eating it. It is now a problem because of this. Some animals have found ways of dealing with the poison such as flipping it over to eat the stomach and avoid the poison glands in the back legs, or bashing it and washing it to get all the poison out.
Our next stop was Undara, now in the outback. Home to exotic birds, wallabies, possums and much more.
On the way I noticed a tree with enormous white blossoms on top. On closer inspection these were white cockatoos. The campsite had flocks of black cockatoos.
We saw a wallaby both on the way in and out. It was here tgst I really noticed how alien the night sounded are. I’m used to knowing what they all are and they are no different here.
We had also started noticing termite mounds something that we would see for some time to come.
Below is a boab tree one of nature’s water stores.
We had gone to Undara to see the lava tubes. A rare phenomenon of volcanos when the conditions are right. The top of the lava sets and the lava below keeps running and draining down so a tube forms.
Unusually the tubes hadn’t drained out totally from the last wet season, so we had to go wading in to the tubes for the full experience. To see the different colours from the make up of the rock and see mini bats.
Where the ceiling had come down we saw a brief match of rain forest. We also saw the ferns that could survive there.
There was a walkway through the tube for us to stay on so we could keep our footing. Here is the possum we saw up a tree..
By this point we’d realised that our van is a tiddler compared to most of the set ups. Monster caravans extra rugged and Monster cars or trucks to pull them. I guess that’s what you buy to travel six months a year.
Our next stop was Cobbold Gorge. Probably one we shouldn’t have gone too, but we’ll plead ignorance being stupid Brits. We turned off the main highway towards Forsythe and shortly afterwards the road turned to gravel. Against our hire agreement! We stopped then hesitantly went forward after all we had a plan and were sure this was meant to be sealed. It was, off and on, so we kept going and got to Forsythe which had a hotel, shop,restaurant and petrol station all in one.
We were told we were lucky as they’d just had a delivery. I felt very sorry for the locals. With a couple of items stocked up we headed off for the final approach to Cobbold Gorge. Accessible for all vehicles we were assured. The first 8km of the 42km road were great then it became gravel. OK we thought we’ve just done this alternate sealed and unsealed bit. But no, that was it, 36km more of corrugated gravel road at around 20km/hr. We arrived to the sight of an infinity pool and bar! A quick check to find we could do alcohol on the antibiotics and we were in. The perfect antidote to that horrible road.
The next day saw us on a trip out to see the gorge and the crocs. These being “Freshies” not “Salties” were a lot safer. These don’t eat people. They just want to be left alone. Mum here has her eggs nearby.
We got our first viewing of a Data bird as well. These birds have less oil in their feathers enabling them to dive for fish, which they spear with their beak.
This gorge was only discovered relatively recently as on a cattle station there was no reason to go where cattle didn’t go. However, now found it is being put to use as a tourist attraction. The water level rises considerably in the wet season and with the first rain of the season there is a water bore that runs through the gorge. Not a safe place to be then.
We were introduced to the St Andrew’s spider and the Archer fish. The fish can spit a spider down from up to 3m away. However, the spiders need to be close to the water to drink. So the spiders make their website look like the quartz in the rock to hide.
In the picture of me the glass bridge over the gorge is just about seeable in the background.
And here is the glass bridge. Helicoptered in for the main parts.
After a bone shuddering drive back out from Cobbold, plates carefully packed with paper between to reduce the clattering we headed for Leichhardt Lagoon as a stop over. It had many dire warning notices about crocs and snakes in the water. However, the caretaker told me when he comes to open up for the season all the Freshies are out basking by the lagoon. As soon as people arrive they leave for quieter pastures.
Below is part of the No 1 highway, note one lane shared for both directions. Thankfully not too much traffic, but you have to slow right down to go off the edge as there can be a slight difference in level.
The distances between places here are enormous between one town and the next can necessitate a couple of stops along the way. We try and limit a day’s drive to 3 to 4 hrs if possible to give us a leisurely start and time to set up.and cook before dark. Sunrise around 6.30 am sunset around 6.30 pm.
Next day we stopped at Normanton nearby for petrol and supplies. We hit the major supermarket about the size of Sainsbury’s in Cheddar. That was an exciting moment as our last major shop was Cairns abd we haven’t got much storage space. We also tried to find a bottle shop. In Australia you can’t buy alcohol in the supermarket. A major failing of the Australians. A bottle from the nearest thing to a bottle shop here, the Purple Pub was $24 around £12. I was shocked and horrified. I got told this was outback prices.
It was a long drive to our next major stop so needs must and we left for the Burke and Wills Roadhouse our next nights accommodation.
Burke and Wills are worth reading about, the expedition that went wrong. They set off from Melbourne in 1860 to cross Australia south to north. However, Burke had no experience and they set off as a grand parade with everything including the kitchen sink. Apparently it took several hours for the whole caboodle to process out from the park where they had their grand send off. Not far from town they ended up ditching most of their expensive and unnecessary equipment.
The rest of his party got left barely 100 miles further and Burke and Wills with two companions set off for the remaining 1,800 miles. They made to in sight of the sea but couldn’t get through the mangrove swamp to the actual shore.
They returned (one short due to illness and death) to Cooper creek the day their party gave up and left. The fire ashes were still warm. Burke and Wills both died there. The last of the group, King survived after being cared for by Aboriginies.
We left the Roadhouse and set off for our next stop Mount Isa a mining town, and because we could, a late celebration of my birthday. The local Irish club ran a free taxi service so we took advantage of this. The town is is incredibly spread out as are all the places we have been to so far in the outback, so there is no cluster around a pub and a free taxi and stay over accommodation is how they survive.
That first night i was convinced I’d left the outside light on and kept the birds in the nearby tree awake. They were loudly gossiping all night. Afterwards we found, no, the light was off, they were little red flying foxes (bats ) in the tree. A local nuisance because of the noise they make.
We caught up with food shopping here and finally found a bottle shop. Here I bought a box of wine, 4L as that’s the only size they had. To my surprise I needed ID so had to dash back to the van for my passport. Apparently Ashley’s beer was OK but a cask needed ID. At least it’ll last a while!
Chatting to fellow travellers (grey nomads, who travel for several months of the year missing the southern winter by travelling north)we decided to visit the underground hospital. A temporary hospital built during the war after the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese.
This hospital was dug into the hillside by miners as voluntary work in three weeks to provide treatment in case of bombing. It took another couple of months to complete.
We met the “ghost ” a projection of a nurse telling us the story.
On the same site was a “tent hut” the last one if hundreds erected for miners to live in with their families. They were provided to try and keep a more stable workforce and the dolce between the roof and the top of the tent worked to keep the accommodation cooler. This one had a lean-to with a kichen and bathroom. All the mod cons
This was also the site of the maternity hospital preserved from it’s original. Very small and it used to have fly screens around the veranda as beds were there. Pioneer work for women out from town was carried out from here for women’s medical issues. The distance from medical facilities being a real issue
We also heard about the Australian Country Women’s Association, a bit like the Women’s institute I assume. They provide support to each other and social settings, they are also I understand very competitive with each other over cooking etc.
While in Mout Isa we also visited the Hard times mine. Apparently the tours used to be around a working mine. However, after being sued for someone fslling over they stopped visits. So once again the miners volunteered and built a show mine. It was designed in the mayor’s (ex miner) kitchen table and has donated equipment inside. While ut was being dug, apparently the mayor would go every evening to clear out the rubble from that day’s blasting ready for the next day. One evening he was met by the police who said maybe he’d better have a rest. No he just wanted to do a bit more. It was put to him that everyone else would like a rest as it was 1.30 in the morning.
Our tour was carried out by a volunteer in his 80s who had worked in the mine his whole life, from doing everything by hand with a high chance of injury or death, to sitting in an air-conditioned machine with a very low chance of death or injury.
We discovered a lot if the language of mining comes from Cornwall. A lot of Cornish miners were imported here as they had the experience, and they brought their mining language with them.
At the end in the crib room (rest area) we were treated to a cup of tea and a Cornish pasty.
We also found that we were in the rodeo centre of the southern hemisphere, with a video show to prove it.
As we leave Mount Isa a few notes on the road. Here is the general landscape, savannah, grass and small trees. There are constant road signs about road trains up to 54.5m long. Motorway service stations are a bit basic. This was a posh one as it had toilets.
At very regular intervals we see flood way signs followed by a sign with indicators to show depth. I assume many of the roads are impassable for periods in the wet season.
Our last night in Queensland was at Camooweal, a pub and petrol station in the middle of nowhere. Going into the pub after a hot drive was just too tempting so we forced ourselves to indulge in lovely cold amber nectar.
