Queensland Trip July 2023

The weather in Yamba having been unseasonably cool this year, we decided to head north for a short camping trip. Our start in late June was not auspicious. We headed north to Maroochydore, but we had been having trouble with the van battery, and spent half a day running around to auto repair shops before we could check into our caravan park. We stayed for about 5 days at Rivershore Resort in Diddillibah. We relaxed, took a free two our cruise on Petrie Creek and the mouth of the Maroochy River, courtesy of the caravan park. the cruise was pleasant, but the only wildlife we saw were some Brahminy Kites. The mate on the cruise got talking to us and he used to live in Yamba and was involved in the Yacht Club in its early days. Talk about a small world. The next day we took a long bike ride down the river to Maroochydore and on past Cotton Tree and Alexandra Headland to where the Mooloola River runs out to the sea at Point Cartwright. I had a beautiful swim near Cotton Tree. the water was clear, flat and about 22 degrees. I later managed a swim in the campground pool and another beautiful swim at Mooloolabah, while Bill went to a YES rally. 

 We headed north to Tin Can Bay, which is a pretty little town, popular with fishermen, but not so good for swimming as there are a lot of mangroves and beaches that have big tides and are shallow for a long way out. We did the town circuit walk and checked out the bakery for coffee. Checking out the local bakery became a feature of our trip. Our next stop was Burrum Point Campground in Burrum Coast National Park. The road in was a deeply rutted sand road, at one point partially blocked by a fallen tree which we partially cleared with the help of some other campers behind us on the road. The campground itself was lovely and quiet, with big, treed sites near the beach. We did a pleasant circuit track of about 8 km to a bird hide, and saw an Australasian figbird, a new one to me. 

 We left Burrum Point by driving out the beach at low tide to the little town of Woodgate. Much the better way to reach the campsite, flat easy driving along mostly hard sand. In the centre of town, we found the shopping area -- the caravan park that had petrol pumps, accommodation, a cafe and a restaurant. They practically own the town, I guess. Very pretty place and we had a good coffee and sat and watched the dolphins jump and display. 

 We headed further north to Bundaberg, where we had lunch at the Baldwin Swamp Environmental Park. It was a lovely urban reserve with many ponds and Ibis, Dusky Moorhens, and a pair of stately black swans with an impossible fluffy grey cygnet almost half their size. That evening we stayed at a permaculture farm, camped in a field near the sheep, goats, donkey and geese, and a friendly enough Maremma Dog, but he never stopped barking. It was an interesting stop, but I think the farm and "glamping" facilities need a bit more development. We kept going north and tried to meet up with friends Jan and Helmut at Kurrimine Beach, but just missed them. We keep heading north as the nights have been very cold; we have the heater on at times. Not quite what I was expecting in tropical Queensland.

We camped at a council campsite in Ball Bay, as we could not get a spot in Cape Hillsborough National Park which is close by. The Ball Bay site was small and nearly full, but it was only $15 a night and good value. The curlews or Murdering birds as some people call them, kept us awake part of the night with their eerie calls. We went hiking over some beautiful rocky headlands in the national park, and along the beaches. A few of the trails were partially closed due to damage from heavy rain earlier this year, but we got good views from the lookouts. 

 As we headed north of Proserpine, we drove deeper into the sugar cane area. The here are huge fields of cane, with small-scale railways running along the fields, taking the cane directly to local sugar mill. In many of the fields, the cane was topped with large "blooms" like pampas grass, something I have not noticed in the cane fields near us. We also saw huge mango orchards. 

 We stopped in Townsville for a couple of nights and noticed the military camps and presence in the area. There is a large base at Townsville, and we also saw tanks being moved up the highway on transport trucks. We spent an afternoon walking along The Strand, which is a waterfront walkway in town, with many interesting sculptures along the path. There is also a huge Tobruk Memorial Simming Pool complex. Unfortunately, I did not have my swimsuit with me. 

 We did spend one night at Kurrimine Beach, and ran into rain and cloudy weather. One woman staying there said they had 16 days in a row with rain, and she was thinking of head back to NSW. on the way into Kurrimine Beach we stopped at the Murdering Point Tropical Fruit Winery and did a tasting. It has some of them more unusual wines that we have tasted, although I did buy a (dry) passionfruit wine and Bill bought a Black Sapote Port. I will leave you to speculate on these interesting vintages. The beaches in this area were all unappealing to me. They were choppy, rough and frequently very windy. The shoreline was usually churned up and muddy looking, and there were usually signs warning of possible crocodiles and stingers, even though this is not the season for stingers. Kurrimine Beach seemed to be popular for fishing, with big houses, and very large tractors to move fishing boats on and off the beach.

North of Townsville we ran into frequent stretches of roadwork on the Bruce Highway. I heard a radio commentator say that the housing shortage in Australia is partly due to all of the major infrastructure works tying up construction workers, and seeing the amount of roadwork in Queensland I think he may be right. 

We moved on to Port Douglas, where we stayed for a few days. The road from Cairns to Port Douglas is spectacular; a twisty, hilly snake that runs along the sea cliffs for about 20 kilometres. We explored the town with all the expensive dress shops and had dinner at a tasty Tapas Bar Called Sea Bean. We also booked a "sunset sail" on a huge catamaran, but the sea was very rough and there was a lot of cloud and squally rain about. An exciting sail but not much sunset. 

We Left Port Douglas and drove back to Palm Cove, where we caught up with friends Gaynor and Ashley who used to live in Sydney. We had a beautiful lunch at Vivo, a large restaurant on the beachfront with high ceilings and wide verandas. The food was excellent, and we retired back to Gaynor and Ashleys for coffee and cheese. So much fun to catch up with friends you have not seen in probably 10 years.

End of Year Report 2024 from Yamba

Hawaii Kauai & Oahu (Honolulu)

Kauai is the most varied natural environment in the Hawaiian isles. We went out on the ocean here to see the Nã Pali coast.

Spectacular cliffs on the ocean edge with volcanic caves and numerous water falls due to the high annual rainfall these peaks experience. Despite the rough seas we enjoyed the 6-hour voyage.  We also saw dolphins and Humpback whales with a calf.

The following day we drove around the island to Anini Beach, where we snorkelled with turtles, then on to Hanalei Bay and watched people leaning to surf.

The next day was hiking along the ocean edge seeing more turtles as well as a large golf course and rocky beaches. 

We also got some good photos of Nene, the native Hawaiian goose that is closely related to the Canada Goose.

Monk Seals in swim area (note Rescue Board!)

In Kauai we also enjoyed snorkelling at nearby Poipu Beach where a monk seal took up residence in the human swimming area and some turtles also decided that that it was a good place to sleep. This was the best beach we found on Kauai for seeing fish while snorkelling.

Another highlight of the trip to Kauai and indeed all of the Hawaiian Islands was the enjoyment of Shave Ice. This comes with options: choice of flavoured syrups over the ice (i.e. Root Beer and Mango), a scoop of ice cream in the middle, sweet azuki beans underneath, condensed milk or coconut milk drizzled on top. My favourite!

We also visited a craft market on Kauai which had some very good prices compared to the tourist shops.  Bobbie was very impressed with the quality of many of the craftspeople and the professionalism of their presentation.  She bought some carved bone jewellery, and Bill bought her a dichroic glass pendant.  Naomi and Tash also succumbed to the lure of the crafts.

With Naomi and Tash returning home to Canada we decided to go to Oahu - Honolulu where we stayed at Waikiki Beach

Here Bobbie enjoyed her usual daily swim. 

During the stay we climbed Diamond Head, visited a WW2 submarine at Pearl Harbor 
and went to the Hawaiian Art Museum
as well as the Aquarium.

 

Finally, we took a bus tour around the complete island seeing the northern surfing beaches and again the volcanic cliffs.

Honolulu was also where we enjoyed all of the US Shops and spent some of our last US dollars before coming home.

Feeling very fortunate to spend 5 weeks touring and simply enjoying ourselves. We hope our friends also have the strength and resources to do the same.

Regards, Bobbie and Bill

Hawaii 2023 - Islands of Hawaii & Maui

We started out our trip to Hawaii by flying from Ballina to Sydney then from Sydney to Honolulu then to Hawaii (Big Island) arriving before we left. We stayed the first 4 nights in a little place north of the airport up the coast at Kameula in a new tiny house - wonderful . The next day we drove up the coast to a Lapakahi Historical National park and saw the remains of an early Hawaiian fishing village. We drove on through Hawi town and hiked down a volcanic canyon to the Polulu Valley and the ocean. Very scenic. 

The second day we drove across the island and visited the highlands of Hawaii and explored the high country a bit and visited the scenic Akaka Falls.  The following day we  visited a petroglyph reserve and saw ancient rock carvings, and then had our first swim and snorkel at Puako Beach. We also sampled malasadas, deep fried filled donuts fresh out of the fryer, yummy and fattening.

Thursday we drove across the island to visit  the beautiful Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Gardens, north of Hilo on the west side of the island.

We continued on to to a little village called Volcano which was on the edge of the active volcanic areas in Hawaii.  There were eruptions only 6 months ago but they ceased before we arrived. We hiked around the Kilauea Iki  crater in Volcano National Park, down into the crater itself, and also walked through a lava tube which was formed during an earlier eruption. We did see some evidence of volcanic activity, which was steam and sulfur gas being released through cracks in the ground.

 The next day in the area we attended a lecture at the Kahuku area of Volcano National Park on the 'Ohi'a tree - a native Hawaiian tree that lives up to 1000 years and hence has cultural significance. We also took a short hike through this new National Park area, assumed from a large ranch where they are renaturalizing (word?) the land.

It was then time to move on to Bobbie's week long Swim Faster camp activity and moved into the main  town called Kona. Here we planned to use the public transport (a free trolley bus that ran the length of the town) but found that it did not stick to its hourly schedule and was either a half an hour behind schedule or 15 minutes ahead of schedule and very difficult to meet unless you had a lot of patience. We broke down and rented a car so that we could get around Kona and visit the many beautiful snorkeling beaches and meet the swim camp schedule. This also allowed Bill to visit his friends Walter and Suzanne who he hadn't seen for almost 35 years.

The swim camp exceeded expectations, and Bill even managed to tag along to a couple of very nice ocean swimming and coral and fish viewing experiences. 

It was then time to move on to Maui after a short one hour flight and spend some time with Bobbie's sister Naomi and her daughter Tash. This involved swimming and touring the sights of Maui.

This island is very much a tourist Island and we managed to go snorkeling in a different spot almost every day. The beaches were always quiet and calm in the morning but in the afternoon tended to cloud over and the chop and waves at the beaches quite rough. 

Here we also managed to visit the volcanic highlands. Bobbie and Bill participated in an organized cycle down Haleakala Mountain. Needless to say, the bicycles had very good disc brakes but only one gear because you never had to pedal!

 Another day we drove up above the clouds to the top of the volcano and did some hiking on the Volcano's slope. Swimming with turtles was another highlight on Maui. 

Next, we move on to Kuwai Island continuing our visit with Naomi and Tash. 

 

End of On the Road Again 2022

We spent over a week at Lucky Bay, with intermittent showers but lots of sunny days too. We climbed Frenchman Peak again and did numerous walks and swims along the coast of the Cape Le Grand National Park. The turquoise water and white sand beaches are stunning everywhere you look. They are shallow so swimming is easy, if cool. Between Lucky Bay and Esperance we saw many intensely green pastures full of black cattle. I guess Aberdeen Angus is popular here.

Lucky Bay

Frenchman Peak

View from the cave at summit of peak

Cows near Esperance

We stayed a couple of days in Esperance, and then moved on to Fitzgerald River National Park. This park has the largest species biodiversity of anywhere in the world and has particularly interesting flowers. Even though we were there in the autumn and not the height of spring, there were plenty of unusual flowers to see. Like the Royal Hakea, a plant named in honour of Queen Victoria. Some say this is because it is like her – upright and prickly.

Royal Hakea and other wild flowers

The weather was squally here with huge seas and high winds the first day, but we did some exploring and hiking the next day. Climbing over huge rocks at the edge of the ocean, we came on the Western Australian solution to rock fishermen not being washing into the sea. They have imbedded large rings in the rocks and fishermen are instructed to tether themselves to the rings.

Anchor ring for fishermen

Safe rock fishing in WA

We passed through Hopetoun, where a coffee shop/grocery store owner explained that the hundreds of 10 kilo boxes of rice he had stockpiled were insurance against the next 6 months when aircraft fuel is going to run out and we will face famine. I wonder if he knows something we don’t. The soothing sign “Remember that Jesus loves you” was visible as we left the shop.

On our way north to Hyden, the home of “Wave Rock”, we passed miles and miles of broadacre farms that stretched to the horizon. Every little town had huge grain storages, both permanent silos and temporary plastic covered hills. Between this and the Eyre peninsula area of SA, the grain exports from Australia must be mammoth. I guess the problems in Ukraine will be good for Australian farmers.

Wave Rock is what is known as an inselberg, a large lump of rock sticking out of a plain. This one has eroded so that the one face looks like a breaking wave. It is very unusual and beautiful. A local high school teacher who was a hobby photographer entered a photo of Wave Rock in a National Geographic competition in the 1950’s. The photo won first prize and started a wave of tourists who wanted to see this natural phenomenon. The economy of Hyden is now split between agriculture and tourism.

Wave Rock

From Hyden we took the 300 km Granite Woodlands Discovery Trail, a gravel road, back to Norseman. This road passes through various changes in landscape, and has lots of wildflowers, more inselbergs, some stunningly eroded cliffs or “breakaways”, and free campsites along the way. Apart from the dust and a fine coating of mud on the car from a few rain showers, it was a good shortcut.

The Breakaways

The Breakaways

We took 3 days to recross the Nullarbor, nothing much new or exciting to describe except for a stop at Head of the Bight where there is a big whale watching area. The Southern Right Whales come here at this time of year to calve off the cliffs just east of Nullarbor Road House. We were lucky enough to see a couple of whales and a calf, although they did not get too close. Out photos look like floating logs, but they were fun to watch swimming and spouting.

Southern Right Whale off Head of the Bight

We took the ferry back across the Spencer Gulf, spending the night before at Cowell. Cowell is the source of much very good quality Australian jade, and I bought a couple of carved jade whale tales to make into necklaces. Cowell also has many beautiful old stone buildings, a feature that we noticed throughout South Australia. Even many old barns are carefully constructed of stone and still in use today.

Our next stop was West Beach in Adelaide, where we spent a week exploring the city. We rode bike paths along the coast and the River Torrens; got free seniors transit passes and used them to visit the centre of the city. We walked around the Botanic Gardens which contains 3 spectacular glass houses and the Santos Museum of Economic Botany. This is a restored 19th century museum devoted to plants that are of economic use, the last of its kind in the world. The antique display cases were almost as beautiful as the contents.

We also visited the Art Gallery of South Australia which had 2 modern Japanese art installations. One was a room size web of red wool by Chiharu Shiota called “Absence Embodied” and the other was a mirrored room of reflections by Yayoi Kusama called “The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended Into The Heavens”. As well, there was a beautiful gallery of 19th and 20th century Japanese pottery. Next door was the South Australian Museum, with a magnificent 3 story display of ocean flora and fauna from the surface to the deepest depths. The giant squid was a favourite among the children visiting there. Not to short change the preforming arts, we got tickets to a bluegrass evening which was part of the Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival, and very good it was too. We also visited the Jam Factory Craft Centre which houses a shop, hot glass studios, jewellery workshops and wood workshops.

Absence Embodied 

The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended Into the Heavens 

Moving along we stopped in Handorf in the Adelaide Hills. It is an arts and craft town, similar to Tilba Tilba NSW or Montville QLD. Lots of lovely little shops and galleries, although the weather was foul; it poured rain most of the morning and discouraged strolling around the pretty streets. We drove on to Nuriootpa, where we camped for a couple of nights to sample some Barossa wine. Once again our trusty bikes carried us around Nuriootpa to wineries, a brew pub, a bush botanic garden and the labyrinth. A labyrinth is not a maze, but a mediation path somewhat like a mandela where you walk and contemplate.

Labyrinth at Nuriootpa

We also booked ourselves into Penfolds winery to do a wine blending afternoon, where we were instructed in how to make a Grenache/Shiraz/Malbec blend. It was lots of fun and we got a small bottle of our own personal blend to take home, as well as a free cellar door tasting afterwards.

From the Barossa we travelled to Peterborough SA which used to be a large rail centre in the days of steam. It is a town where all three gauges of track met and locomotives were maintained and repaired. In the early 1970’s, at the end of the steam era, the centre was closed. It has been reopened as Steam Town (museum), and they have ongoing projects to preserve the buildings, roundhouse, turntable and old rolling stock. Very good tour, and a “sound and light” presentation that was a glorified movie but told the history of rail in the area very well.

Turntable at Steam Town, Peterborough

Engine at  Steam Town, Peterborough

From Peterborough we came back into NSW at Broken Hill and travelled on to Orange. Here we found an odd city that has few bike lanes or facilites for bikes in the downtown, but 10-15 bike trails in the areas around Orange. We did the one urban trail that started from downtown and went south through a number of parks to a beautiful old site called The Springs. This was an important water source and camping spot for aboriginal people as late as the 1930’s. Right next to The Springs was Philip Shaw Wines, where we had a lovely wine tasting and cheese plate in the middle of our ride. Needless to say, the ride home was somewhat slower than the ride out.

We camped one night in the Warrumbungles and made a brief visit to Siding Spring Observatory, planning to return later in the year and spend more time there and in the Piliga forest. We went on to Moree and spent a couple of days trying out the hot springs. We wanted to see a few galleries, but 4 of the 6 on the gallery trail were closed. Ditto the Artesian Aquatic Centre. The 50 metre pool has been torn up as it was leaking and cracking. No one seems to know if or when it will be rebuilt. We did mange to find a few of the lovely art deco buildings that haver been preserved in Moree, but Moree on a winter Saturday is one of the quietest places we visited. Heading home tomorrow. 

Bank Art Museum, Moree

TAFE, Moree

That's all til next time, folks.

On the road again 2022 Across the Nullarbor

We are now in Cape le Grand National Park, Western Australia at Lucky Bay campground. The reason for this trip. 

We left Victoria and headed for Langhorn Creek wine district. Visited Bleasdale winery and the Wine Centre there. Interesting wine varietals. Purchased a Montipulciano, and a Legrein, Italian varieties. 

Moved on to the Yorke Peninsula, and stayed down at the tip at Pondalowie Bay Bush Camp in Dhilba Guuranda-(Innes) National Park. Rode the bicycles to West Head Lighthouse, and visited a 2005 shipwreck ‘O U Dog’.

 We then explored more of the Yorke Peninsula and camped  at Wauraltee Beach. We stayed one night, and the mice took a bite out of every plastic food item we had. However it was a very pretty campsite- see photo.

 

 To avoid driving around the Eyre Gulf, we took the car ferry across to the Eyre Peninsula from Wallaroo to Lucky Bay South Australia. We drove south to stay at Yangie Bay Campground in Coffin Bay National Park. 

As we entered the park we were greeted by a mob of Emus obstructing the road. 

 While in Coffin Bay we took the Oyster HQ tour consisted of wading (wearing the supplied waders) out to an oyster bar in the middle of the bay and being instructed how to open (and consume) the 4 oysters provided with the tour. Of course, a little bubbly doesn’t go astray while shucking. 

 From there it was north to a beautiful ocean front camp site at Streaky Bay, and provisioning for 4 planned nights camping off grid as we crossed the Nullarbor plain to get to Western Australia.

 First stop on the Nullarbor was in a conservation area near Fowlers Bay at Scotts Beach campground. Bobbie went swimming after the 4 fishermen left, not wanting to be hooked or scare the fish.

 Second night at Bunda Cliffs #1 campsite, right on the edge of the Australian Bight. 

 Third night at Caguna Blow Hole, a hole from which air is blown from the caves under the Nullarbor. (No photo of this as a hole in the ground isn’t too exciting) Once in Western Australia (WA) we spent 2 nights in Norseman, where we reprovisioned, showered, and voted in the Election. Norseman is a mining town which makes the best of its attractions. We drove out of Norseman on the Heritage Coach Road that is a historic trail with stops at old settlements and former mine sites. Bite size bits of very digestible history of the mining industry which still drives a large part of the Australian economy. 

On to Esperance and finally we arrived at Lucky Bay. Staying here for 7 nights, doing all the trails, and already have climb Frenchman’s Peak for the 3rd time. Bobbie is swimming daily in the chilly water. No power but flush toilets, warm (sun dependent) showers, and rubbish collection. Not to mention beautiful sparkling white sand beaches, clear turquoise water and small waves. Perfect!

 

Until next time. Bill & Bobbie