Lamington National Park

Bellbird Lookout, Laminton National Park

(Incidentally – this park is named after one Queensland Governor Lord Lamington, who was so impressed with the area’s natural beauty after hearing the presentation made to parliament requesting its preservation as a national park, that he promptly visited the proposed park and shot a koala!!!)

Well, after last week’s checkup with Stuart’s hand, we were more than ready to head out of the city for a bit of a change. We’re both getting itchy feet to be back on the road again!

We took the scenic route up to Lamington National Park, which is on the border with NSW. The park actually encompasses an area that is the rim of a massive ancient volcano. Mt Warning just over the border is what’s left of the central plug of the volcano. The park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests (of Australia) World Heritage Area, and quite rightly so!!! It is a spectacularly beautiful area!

We camped at Binna Burra (on the recommendations of Stuart’s hand therapist – a little local knowledge!) and spent several days exploring the trails that led off from the campsite. There is an amazing network of trails, all built by hand during the Great Depression as an employment program.

Even with his hand in a cast, Stuart still can’t sit still, so he headed out on his own one afternoon and walked the Caves Circuit, whilst I spent the afternoon relaxing and sewing! We also spent the whole of the next day walking the Coomera Circuit which is 17+km long! Given the recent rainfall (and some more while we were there!) the waterfalls were all really flowing. The trail returns to the campsite along the Border track, which is part of the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk.

We also walked to the Bellbird Lookout, spotting a huge koala right up in one of the trees. We got a good look at him, as he did of us, but we couldn’t get the camera out quick enough to get a good shot before he wedged himself into a fork and started feasting!

The hand built walking trails were such an enjoyable experience, as they were constructed to contour and switch back across the exceptionally steep country. Apparently the method was used after the engineer observed the way that cows walk on the hillsides all day without getting tired! The small number of steps and retaining walls were also beautifully built from onsite stone; they looked ancient and covered in moss. It was a truly stunning area.

We also did a day trip over to the other camping area in the Green Mountains section of the park. In addition to the camping areas, both areas have historic lodges for more upmarket accommodation, so we sampled the fresh baked scones and tea before wandering out to explore the tree top walk. This one was suspended on cables, with a timber deck – there was quite a bit of movement as we walked along it! But it did get us right up into the tops of the rainforest! Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of it as Stuart managed to accidentally wipe the camera’s memory card. Thankfully we had downloaded the cards the night before, so we only lost the one day!

From there it was back to Brisbane for another x-ray and check-up. Good news – Stuart’s break is now showing signs of healing and we have been given a referral to get another x-ray/check-up in Sydney in four weeks time.

So the time has come for us to say farewell to the “Sunshine State” and head south to New South Wales. First stop – Byron Bay (although we’ll be staying in Lennox Head because the caravan parks in Byron Bay are ridiculously expensive!)

On a footnote, we feel that Queensland needs to rethink the “Sunshine State” tag, as we worked out it has been raining for more than 60% of the time we have spent in the state! Hopefully we can find a bit more sun in NSW!



Brisbane and injury update

Hi everyone!

As I write this update, we are camped in the forest at Binna Burra campground in Lamington National Park (near the NSW border). Stuart went back to see the hand surgeon yesterday after having the cast on for a week now. The x-rays revealed that nothing has changed, which is actually good news, as no surgery is required. But it also means that the bone has not started to heal yet, so the cast must be kept on all the time, including showers, which is a real pain. The bruising and swelling has also not yet improved, but we were told this is also normal.

So, given that we have a week before we need to see the surgeon and hand therapist again, we have headed out to see some more countryside, before returning to Brisbane for the check-ups. Hopefully we’ll then be moving on, with a referral for another check-up in Sydney in about six weeks time.


We are adjusting to the role changes around camp, although sometimes it feels like we are starting out all over again in unfamiliar territory. The role reversal was quite accentuated today when we packed up the camper and I had to drive with the trailer through Brisbane and up into the winding mountain roads – with Stuart now navigating.

Getting into some trailer maintenance

 Brisbane is a beautiful city, with great ‘Green City’ initiatives like the new City Cycle – a coin operated bike hire system with numerous pick up and drop off points throughout the inner city, and Food Connect - check it out at http://www.foodconnect.com.au/. There is also a fantastic farmers market scene that supports a huge number of artisan food producers.

A City Cycle station at West End

 We especially loved the West End markets and the farmers markets that are held every Wednesday right in the City’s main mall. They both had everything from local cheeses, meats, spices, herbs, bakers, hot smoked salmon, handmade cornish pasties, pastries – with each small stallholders specialising in just one or two things! We loved it and have been eating so much fresh food! Yesterday had made asparagus, mushrooms and eggs for breakfast, then pork with mango salsa for dinner!



Stuart amongst the bustling City Farmers Market



 We also caught up with my friend Luke who moved from Perth a few years ago and has a funky Queenslander house full of character on a big block with beautiful big trees, right near the train station and local shops. Great lifestyle. Yes Luke – I’m jealous! Both Stuart and I have fallen in love with the beautiful old Queenslander houses, with all their timber and stained glass windows. Luke was also very generous and let us off-load the kayaks and mountain bikes for this week, since we won’t be using them and it makes setting up the camper easier for me! Thanks Luke!

So here we are, glad to be away from the city for a while and in a national park known for its large number of “walking” tracks. Thankfully, walking is one of the activities we can still do! It’s very beautiful here as we are perched on the top of a mountain and can actually see all the way to the coast.
We also finally managed to get the photos of us surfing at Noosa off the camera! So here are some snaps of me struggling to catch a wave, and Stuart making it look like the most natural thing in the world!

Until next time... we hope everyone is doing well,

Stu and Mish

Stuie's latest escapade...

G’day Stuie here!

Well, I’m afraid to say that our adventurous activities of mountain biking and paddling will need to be put on hold for the next month or two! Bit of a bummer really!

I went out riding and exploring the Mt Coot-tha mountain bike trails here in Brisbane yesterday. The weather here has been exceptionally wet over the last couple of days – really, really, really  wet actually! Unfortunately, the slimy, muddy trails claimed a victim – ME! A little altercation with a deeper than usual muddy creek, hiding an even deeper pothole, saw me taking an unwanted trip over the handlebars of the bike into the opposite bank!



Check out my pinkie!



A quick trip to emergency confirmed the cracking noise I heard (and felt!) was a break! As you can see from the photo, the landing at the end of my short flying lesson, broke the little finger of my left hand! Not just any ordinary break, and a spiral break to boot! I was sent home strapped up and dosed up on Nurofen Plus, with an appointment to see a hand specialist/surgeon for potential surgery to screw it back together!

 

Thankfully, surgery wasn’t required, and I’m now sporting a funky blue cast which I have been strictly told to keep on 24 hours a day given the severity of the break!

Given that I’ve got follow up appointments over the next two weeks, any suggestions for things to do around Brisbane would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Yeah, yeah - I know you're all having a bit of a giggle! Thankfully, it's not too painful (with a few Nurofen of course!)

Hope everyone else is well!!!

Stuart & Michelle

 

Capricorn, Coral & Sunshine Coasts

Hi everyone! We hope you are all well and enjoying the blog. Thank you to those who have emailed and left messages, we love hearing news from home!

We have been on the road almost five months now and we are very much getting used to this ‘not having to work’ business! There are so many breathtaking sights to see around this country, that you could spend a lifetime trying to experience them all. We are getting better at accepting that some destinations you just have to let go off. When we are not exploring, we never seem to run out of enjoyable ways to fill out time, whether it be trying new camp kitchen recipes, sewing, reading, vehicle maintenance or trip planning. In the evenings we get quite strategic trying to beat each other at cards, or watch an episode of something on DVD on the laptop (we have seasons of Grand Designs, Gourmet Farmer and Food Safari) and sometimes its a matter of sitting in the dark with torches and observing any noises or nocturnal animals that pay us a visit!

Our recent travels have taken us through Rockhampton – The Beef Capital of Australia (so we were told 3 or 4 times – in the first 10 minutes of arriving!) So first night we headed out for a 2 for 1 steak dinner at the local pub bistro - $25 for both meals! We also drove out to the coastal town of Yeppoon (shout out to Tarnya’s home town!) where we caught the first AFL Grand Final at a small town local drinking hole.

Our thunder-eggs with the top ones cut open

As we left Rockhampton we decided to do something different and went to Mt Hay Gemstone Tourist Park where you can camp out and fossick for Thunder Eggs! Mt Hay is a quarry full of these 120 million year old ‘volcanic birthstones’ (or rather ugly lumpy rocks embedded in the dirt that when cut in half reveal beautiful patterns of gemstones such as Amethest, Agate, jasper, quartz etc.). The Thunder Eggs started out as gas bubbles in volcanic lava. Minerals surrounding the bubbles sealed them, and when they cooled down they cracked, allowing silica-rich minerals to fill the cavity and form the crystals!



We booked a night at their onsite campground and had an amazing spot right on the edge of an escarpment with endless views, hot showers for only $12 a night! We paid the fossicking fee and were given tools and an explanation on the eggs and what to look for. From there we were left to it – and we spent the day digging around in the dirt, which was actually muddy clay due to recent heavy rains. We even returned the next morning for another quick dig before selecting a few to be cut open. We were pleasantly surprised when our thunder eggs were cut open!

1770

From there it was off to the twin Towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters. They are extremely beautiful coastal towns perched on a headland with great fishing and kayaking – which we did both! This was also our first encounter with Queensland monsoonal rain. As we found out, our site was the un-official drain for the neighbouring sites and the road! We had several centimetres of water flowing freely under the camper! Considering the rain, the actual camper only had a few annoying little drips from a couple of the seams, which as per Murphy’s Law were straight above our pillows! Easy fixed, as we just re-sheeted the bed the other way around and put a towel down to soak up the drips.

It was also great to be able to finally swim at the beach without any fear of crocodiles. The beaches were beautiful and Stuart taught me to body surf. The slow gentle rolling waves were only little, but I managed to catch a couple. The main patrolled beach was full of families enjoying the surf and playing rugby on the compacted sand. An amazing little town with plenty to like!

From 1770, we also did a little day trip down to Bundaberg to go and visit the Bundy Rum Factory. Yes, we had to do it! Were we bundy fans???....no.....Are we now, having toured the factory???....no! It was interesting to see though, especially the enormous quantities involved in the brewing process. Once the rum is actually brewed and distilled, they have to let it mellow for a minimum of 2 years to be able to legally call it rum, resulting in a stock of 22,000,000 litres of rum stored in the wooden vats at any one time! And they are currently building more storage to be able to keep up with demand!

And of course, the free tastings. Stuart tried the Bundy Red and normal Bundy, whilst I tried the new Bundy Stout (on tap in the pubs here in Queensland) and the also new Bundy chocolate/coffee liqueur. Sadly, I couldn't finish either of them. Stuart polished off his, and mine. I’m just not a fan. Fun though.

Fraser Island



The ferry to Fraser Island

 Finally, we were heading to Fraser Island!!! We camped in Rainbow Beach the night before to be on the barge early morning, as we had read that the beach was only drivable 2 hours either side of low tide. It turned out that this wasn’t true, so we could have slept in, but we were grateful for the extra time on the island. A quick stop at the servo to fill up with fuel and buy some bait, and it was off to Inskip Point to meet our ferry!

Just before driving onto the beach to meet the ferry, we let the tyres down on both the car and trailer (20psi) and made it across the sand and onto the barge without any problems. A quick ten minute trip saw us driving straight off at the other end and onto the beach on Fraser Island. Our first impressions of Fraser Island were vast wide beaches with rough rolling seas, and CRAZY drivers! I mean CRAZY.... it didn’t take long for cars to start overtaking us on the beach, flogging up the beach at 80km per hour, splashing through fresh and salt water alike! We ended up pulling over and letting the barge-load of maniacs pass! Our peaceful drive didn’t last long though, as there were four ferry’s working the crossing, which saw another load of vehicles flogging past soon after!!!

Fraser Island is definitely the blokey fishing weekend destination, as we also passed a group of guys that had pulled over their vehicles a couple of kilometres up the beach to break out the eskies for a cold beer! It was only 8:30 in the morning!!

Eventually we came across a track that was signed Central Station where we were booked to camp. An ‘almost’ adventure as we couldn’t get over the dune and trailers are not easy to reverse on sand! A bit more air out of the tyres and we were back on our way!

Fraser Island is amazing with the different vegetation and forest types – there is so much variation as you drive around. We spent the rest of our first day exploring a few of the lakes, some crystal clear, and some tannin stained and the colour of tea! All of them had fine white sandy bottoms which you could clearly see as the water is completely free of silt and any algae!

Parked in front of the Maheno wreck

Our second day was spent with a drive up the beach all the way to Indian Head. We passed the Maheno shipwreck, which was washed up the beach quite a few years ago. It’s slowly rusting away, but it is pretty interesting to drive past. Unfortunately the weather was pretty average, with intermittent rain all the way up the beach. We reached Indian Head, but stopped there as it wasn’t worth going any further. We felt sorry for the people who were camped along the beach given the wind and rain! Our campsite at Central Station in the middle of the island was amongst the rainforest, so we didn’t get any of the wind at all!

I also caught my first fish!!! It’s really easy, you just wait until some guy pulls one in and then bat your eyelids and tell him how big it is – and then he just gives it to you!! I scored a beautiful big tailor, which the guy even bled before handing it to me. Stuart found it amusing that I still looked a little freaked out when it continued to kick whilst I was holding it! He later filleted it and cooked up a beautiful green curry for dinner!

We were given the tip by another camper that if the weather was bad on the eastern side of the island you could drive over the western side and the weather would be completely different. Stuart was really itching to throw a line in by this time so we headed west. To our amazement, we left the wind and rain on the eastern side and drove straight into calm and sunny weather on the western side! Stuart baited up an one inch hood and much to our amusement, managed to catch a two inch fish! With eyes obviously bigger than it’s stomach! So we had steak for dinner!

Our last day saw Stuart fishing on the eastern beach, without luck. The rest of the day was spent exploring some of the other inland areas of the island and having a swim at Lake MacKenzie. It has spectacular crystal clear water over a fine, pure white sandy bottom and definitely one of the many highlights of the island and attracts a daily crowd. We were glad that we had missed out on seeing it during a peak period! It would be crazy, and probably also a bit dangerous with so many 4WD’s on the tracks.

After catching the ferry back to the mainland, we decided we would head down into the Noosa Everglades and camp a couple of nights at a place called Harrys Hut after an old timber cutter’s hut on the side of the river. We spent a beautiful day paddling down the river to an interpretation centre built out over the water.



Graham's kayak



Cute!

At the campground, we made acquaintances with Graham, a retired woodwork teacher who had built his own wooden kayak and quaint little camper! Both were absolutely beautifully crafted.

From there we drove through to Noosa, where we planned to hire a malibu and Stuart was going to teach me to surf. The weather was still pretty average, but the Noosa headland had a beautiful little wave rolling, so we hired a board and hit the waves. It was great fun learning the ropes and I managed to almost stand up – I got up on one foot and one knee!

Stuart was also pretty keen to have a go, as he hadn’t had surfed for years. I think the bug might have bitten again, as he was grinning from ear to ear after catching his first wave and riding it all the way into the beach!

We have some great pictures we took with the camera, but you’ll have to wait as they are saved on the camera’s internal memory instead of the memory card and we can’t get them off at the moment!

Our camper was also put to its biggest test yet! It was raining when we went to bed, but with 230mm of rain falling in 24 hours, the little creek near our campsite in the caravan park got quite a lot bigger overnight! We woke up around midnight to about three inches of water flowing through our campsite. This was a little concerning and Stuart went and woke up the manager who came down and had a look. The water was steadily rising, so we, along with several other camps were put up for the rest of the night in onsite cabins. We moved the car but left the camper trailer where it stood, so Stuart had a bit of a sleepless night regularly checking on the water level, worrying whether it was going to flood the camper or not. Thankfully not though! Sorry, no photographs, we were too busy trying to keep dry!

With continuing severe weather warnings, we have now headed south to Brisbane. We took the scenic drive through the mountains, but given the rain and cloud, we couldn’t see much. We climbed to the top of one of the Glasshouse Mountains and could faintly see some of the surrounding mountain peaks – just! We also stopped in at Australia Zoo for a bit of a gander, but decided not to go in and to spend the $120 saved (sorry Kai & Rui but it was $59 each for adults!) on something else – more surfing!