Back in New South Wales

View of coastline at South West Rocks

Ever since arriving on the East Coast the weather has become an issue I did not even have to consider travelling across Western Australia, the Northern Territory and of course, Western Queensland.  Its important to remember that on the whole I have been very fortunate, most rain when I did encounter it has been overnight. 

Sunset at Lake Keepit

For the last 4 days I have been staying on the shores of Lake Burrendong, not far from the towns of Wellington and Orange.  Great to see all the lakes in the area full, as locals tell me, many of them have been down to a capacity of only around 10%.

Looking across Lake Burrendong from Beer O'Clock seat

Naturally, on weekends these lakes become very attractive from people in nearby towns to bring their families and friends, towing motorboats for a few days water skiing or Jetboating or simply some fishing for Yellow Belly or Red Fin.  On some of the smaller lakes I have camped at, it can be quite an intrusion into the stillness of the land, to have powerful motor boats with water skiers going around in near endless circles.  Thankfully, by Sunday night all the “Razzamataz” comes to a stop, as everyone returns to their homes, having to go back to work on Monday morning.  PEACE!

A not-so-welcome visitor sitting on my blind

My neighbours, Allan and Ann, both passionate anglers, have caught quite a few fish during their stay at this lake, so I feel very lucky to get “donated” some fresh fish which I greatly enjoyed.  There is also a bit of wildlife, as each afternoon lots of Kangaroos come out of the bush for a feed of cut grass on all the lawns while we look on after beer o’clock, sitting in the shade and enjoying the view across the lake. 

Yes, I know that I am so good looking...

I feel very lucky to be where I am, to do what I do !!

On a Zig Zag tour across south eastern Queensland

 From the town of Esk I drive on to Toowoomba for a re-fuel, then on toward Ipswich and south to Lake Moogerah for a quiet night in a green landscape that looks like its been covered in the dropped blossoms from the Jacaranda trees, reminding me of a likeness to the flower girls dropping rose petals at a wedding.  Very pretty.  The lake I am told is now about 70% full, very nice when you need to remember that just a few months earlier it had been down to about 6% according to a local.  Yes, the whole countryside is green with abundant grass wherever I look, the rivers, the dams, the creeks, all flowing with plenty of water.

A regular carpet of blue

A look across the lake to the campground

A Kookaburra looking for a free feed

Naturally, the weather has been a bit of a mixed bag, heavy overcast skies one day, some quite heavy rain as well, but then this is just as often followed by a bright blue and sunny sky the next day.

Looking across Lake Moogerah from my campground

I leave the lake behind to drive on toward Darlington for a 3-day rest.  Darlington is really not much more than a dot on the map or, as we say in Australia, "..you will miss it if you blink.."  Dave the Ranger does a magnificent job looking after the grounds and I am glad to see him again after a bit more than a year since my last visit.

The bridge into Darlington Park

When I leave Darlington, its back to Beaudesert, some shopping, then on to the cute historic town of Canungra, where I spend one night at the Recreation Ground by the river, in the company of an Iranian family by a nice campfire.  I really enjoyed their company.  They leave the following morning and I decide to drive to O'Reilly's Plateau high in the Green Mountains with the intention to spend the night there - unfortunately, being Sunday it's full of holiday makers and also rather cold at the much higher altitude.

A great view from 1000m toward the Eastcoast

I find another nice campground by the river for a few more days, with daly excursions up th e steep and very wing roads to Springbrook with lots of fabulous lookouts.  Again, quite cool up there and I drive back to the coast and spend a night at Burleigh Heads, a very busy coastal town, with Surfing a major attraction.  Yes, its nice and warm but also quite hectic, lots of people.

A quick trip takes me across the border into NSW to Murwillumbah and from there back across the mountains to my campspot by the river.  Two days later I am at the door of my newly found family, John and Michelle.  I am made very welcome as I feel very much at home on their beautiful property.

Prenzlau, Minden, Marburg...

Well, you might think I am back in Germany, not so, instead I find myself southwest of Brisbane, in beautiful rolling hill country that has been settled by Germans, back in the 1870s.  These are all small townships with populations of a few hundred each, a highway passing through some of them.
Map in Marburg area....

Des, the man that comes around in the afternoon to collect the site fees at Marburg Sportsground, tells me that he is 100% of German heritage, both his parents, grand parents etc. are all of German descent and Des, with his bright blue eyes does look very German even though he is a dinky-dye Aussie. 

I had a great drive yesterday from the town of Esk, about 130km west of Brisbane, through the city of Toowoomba, finally arriving at Marburg.  Esk is a quaint small town to the west of Lake Wivenhoe which is hidden behind a range of mountains.  I did like the setting there, the weather sunny, a few small shops selling Antiques, others selling Motorbike gear and one shop with what I call Hippiegear, the smell of incence aesily identifyable a few shops away.  There were also, what must have been well over a hundred Bikies with their heavy motorbikes rolling into the parking lot of the local Pub and I am told, its a popular stop for the biking community.  I stayed for 2 nights.

Note that the State of Queensland has buit a whole lot of artificial lakes to provide water for the various communities.  They can be found to the West of the Eastcoast from about Bundaberg all the way to the border to New Sout Wales.  Many provide great locations and facilities for people in Caravans etc.

Since my last blog entry I have been travelling to yet another lake, Lake Monduran, just to the West of Bundaberg, through Biggenden, then on to the really beautiful area around Maleny, located in the Highlands, west of Noosa Heads.  The countryside a bright green after all the rain in previous days.  I really enjoyed being there, also catching up with 'old' friends, Babs and Klaus who have been running a great Bavarian Restaurant at Maleny for many years, called "King Ludwigs" .  I very much enjoyed their company and hospitality, allowing me to camp at their hillside property.

View from the Bunya Mountains

From Maleny I travelled a little further west to check out the Bunya Mountains which rise to about 1000m above sea level.  I did not put into practice my original intention to stay up there as I found it too cold, so, instead I stopped at Kumbia.  The next day I travelled back to the coast, spending the night at Tewantin, just to the north of Noosa Heads.

Chilling out at Lake Lenthall

Built in 1984, Lenthalls Dam was named after the pioneering family in the district, the waters created by the dam are called Lake Lenthall.  The lake has a relatively small surface area of 400ha, an average depth of 3.9 meters and holds some 28 000 ML of water at full supply level.
It's main purpose is for town water supply for Hervey Bay City Council.
Lake Lenthall is situated approximately half way between Maryborough and Torbanlea along the Bruce highway. A further 7 km off the highway along a gravel road will find you at the lake.

View across the lake from my spot

Map of Lake Lenthall 

 I kind of discovered this place by accident, having checked my maps and then following my GPS at first, down some rather ordinary tracks which turned out to become undriveable for my Motorhome, endig in a rather boggy creek crossing I decided not to drive through, turning around instead.

They have RED dragon flies here

I finally did find a dirt road that led to the lake.  What a lovely and peaceful spot!  Apart from myself, there is only one caravan on this site, no generators anywhere and my Solar System is now working perfectly to supply power for all my appliances without any fuss.  What is even more surprising is that I can receive a whole lot of TV channels, both analog and digital, not that I watch a lot of TV, but this morning it was nice to listen to the news of Deutsche Welle, transmitted by SBS.


It is wonderful to spend my day surrounded by nature, sitting in the shade listening to the sound of birds all around me.  I feel very relaxed....

Trying to escape a very wet South East Coast

Sapphire, a town where people are still searching for (and finding) Sapphires in a whole range of colours, yellows and pinks as well as the traditional deep blues.  Eck and Suki have set out to do a bit of fossicking around, so now I am happy to report that they have found a number of stones that look absolutely fabulous cut and polished.  Congratulations!!

I must admit that this kind of activity is not really my personal preference, so I am happy to leave that to those that do enjoy it.  From Sapphire its back to Emerald for some shopping and then a drive on to Duaringa, on the road to the east coast, where I spend the night at the town’s lovely rest area.  In the morning I continue to Rockhampton and on to Yeppoon to put up camp at a nice park right on the beach.  Great to feel a cool breeze coming off the ocean while I spend time chatting with my neighbors.

Back on the road through Rockhampton where I remember their perfectly timed traffic lights all the way through town.  After waiting at a traffic light to change to GREEN I get to the next light to turn RED right in front of me, every time.  Great for traffic flow, if start / stop is what you are after, but then, why would you hurry ?  Queenslanders are so lay-back.

A great camp spot on the Caliope River

There have been extensive rainfalls in the area, so the landscape is green, a sight I have not seen a lot of during my travels across Australia.  My next stop is right by the Caliope River, about 15km west of Gladstone, a great spot, where I intend to spend at least 2 nights.  The weather report advises rain all along the east coast to my south, with some heavy falls north of Brisbane in excess of 200mm in just a few hours.  I best wait that one out!

 I am also enjoying my stay at Caliope River

Just a bit more beach, then heading back in-land for less humidity

From Mission Beach I drive back into the foothills of the Tableland, threading my way along backroads, fields of sugar cane and the many narrow gauge railtracks used by cane trains for the transport of the harvested cane to one of the many sugar mills.  Eck had recommended to come see Paronella Park, a private property that has been developed by a well to do man from Spain.

 José Paronella’s dream was to build a castle.  He chose a special part of Australia and created Paronella Park.  On 5 Hectares beside Mena Creek Falls he built his castle, picnic area by the falls, tennis courts, bridges, a tunnel, and wrapped it up in an amazing range of 7,500 tropical plants and trees (now a lush rainforest!).  It opened to the public in 1935.

Various cyclones and floods have done major damage to a large part of the property, being in the Wet Tropics obviously adds its own measure of destruction as most of what is left standing is covered in green moss and lichen, also adding to a sense of eeriness.

I have spent the night at their Caravan Park but leave the following morning to head once again closer to the ocean, to the town of Ingham. While I am at Ingham I drive back into the hills to take another look at Wallerman Falls as it is more than 2 years since my last visit there.  Its a steep and windy road that takes me to the top of the Falls and I am rewarded with a much larger amount of water rushing to drop about 270 metres into the valley.

 Wallerman Falls

I stop at Balgal Beach, about 45km north of Townsville, staying for two nights.  During the day, a Minibus arrived with about a dozen geriatrics, probably from a home for the elderly. They were accompanied by two ladies who worked with them, throwing a ball to one at a time and them having to do simple arithmetic calculations, like adding 10 to the previously called number.  Obviously there were a number of variations to that game and it looked as if most of the oldies seemed to enjoy it.  Eck and Suki had also arrived and we all had a good laugh with the players.

 "Oldies" having a bit of fun with a ball

I have had some difficulties with my house batteries not holding proper charge, so the first thing I do when I get into Townsville, is to drive to Battery World the same company I had bought two new batteries from back in Sydney last December.  Turns out that one of the two was not holding charge and they replaced it under warranty.  It also turned out that the 240V power unit supplied with the Motorhome only has an output voltage of 12V, not nearly enough to properly recharge my house batteries which require about 14.2V.  I invested in a new power supply to take care of that part into the future.

 

The battery on the left is new

This is my wonderful new power unit

The following morning I drive by the Post Office to collect my forwarded mail and leave Townsville for Lake Carlyle a fairly large lake, about 120km south off the main highway to Charters Towers.  Two lazy days above Burdekin Dam in a near empty Caravan Park provide a good opportunity to give my Motorhome a good wash on the outside, finally getting rid of a lot of dust and grime.  Being Friday, by late that day quite a few new neighbours arrive, all of them with large powerboats in tow and all of them setting up large tents for their families.  All of them are really looking forward, to a day of water skiing on the lake. 

 Damm wall at Lake Carlyle

A very colourful character strolling around the park

The drive to and from the lake crosses several cattle properties, as I count 22 cattle grids which separate different property pastures.  There is lots of green grass after the recent rains and also many stray cattle all over the road at various places.  I keep an eye on my speed as I do not want to end up with a dead Bull across the front of my vehicle.

The "Tablelands - Wet Tropics Beaches - Tablelands" Yoyo

The locals tell us that it seems as if the wet season has arrived a bit early, after returning to Cairns to have my vehicle serviced, re-fill my German Beer supply and also having the other front wheel bearing replaced, I again head for higher ground, meaning, to drive buck up into the Tablelands as Cairns is very hot and very humid, even though the sun seems to be mostly hiding behind heavy clouds.  This time I drive to the other, the northern shore of Tinneroo Lake and stop at a Scout Camp, right at the shore of the lake.  The sky is blue once more so the decision to drive back up here seems to have been a good one!?

A great spot right on the lake front

Beautiful local tree blossoms

By the following morning the rain has started up here as well and after another night, I decide to drive back to the coast, this time a little south of Innisfail, a place called Mission Beach.  A wonderful spot I remember well from my visit there last year.  Beautiful sweeping views along a palm line beach front, looking out to Dunk Island, just off shore.

 Dunk Island as seen from Mission Beach

 Works of Art formed by the thousands of small 

Sand Crabs when they clean out their burrows before the next tide.
The small hole in the centre is where one of them lives.

It does rain overnight again but stays nice during the day.  It is still warm and humid but there is a lovely cool breeze coming from the ocean front that makes for a much more pleasant experience than the hot-and-sticky ambience at Cairns.  Well, I stay for 4 nights, sharing two in the company of my friends Eck and Suki who have also arrived.
more about Mission Beach..
We are definitely in the Wet Tropics, as a reminder, the towns of Babinda and Tully along the coast record an annual rainfall of about 4200mm.  Water certainly is not in any shortage in this part of Australia, naturally a great part of the county to grow Sugar Cane, most of the land seems to be covered with it, apart from many Banana and Papaya plantations.

Is this really the "Dry Season"?

The sunny weather at Etty Bay did not last, quite wet with a lot of drizzle overnight, the Flying Foxes in the tree above my Motorhome did not improve the quality of my sleep either. They were at it for most of my last night, eating the plum-sized purple fruits, then dropping the walnut sized kernel on my roof with quite a bang.  In the morning I have to climb onto my roof with a garden hose to remove a heap of leaves, fruit kernels and bat shit from the roof and the top of my awning.

Clouds rolling in at Etty Bay

Lots of heavy tropical rain clouds are moving in from the ocean with plenty more rain.  When I drive out I 
head for the Tablelands again as the low clouds probably get stuck against the mountain range.  By the time I get to Yungaburra, about 720m above sea level, the sky has turned blue once again and I can see heavy clouds hanging all around the mountaintops.  Looks like my plan has worked for me.

View from my backwindow

Morning light at Yungaburra campground

It is a lot less humid up here with rather pleasant temperatures that come with the altitude.  I make my campsite close to the side of Lake Tinnaroo, just beautiful!

From the Tablelands back to the coast

After a lazy week at Mareeba Rodeo Grounds its time to get back on the road.  My Laptop had died on me some weeks ago, leaving me with only my small screen stand-by machine.  One of the big suppliers had been advertising a new machine for a quite reasonable price, so I had driven down from Mareeba to Cairns to buy one of these Laptops.  Naturally, a new Operating System (Windows 7) as against the old and trusted "Windows XP" I have been using for several years now.  As a consequence of the new OP System my broadband unit does not work on the new machine (yet) so for my Internet work I am still relying on my little toy machine until the problem has been solved.

When we leave Mareeba, Eck and Suki have decided to drive north again to Cooktown, while I want to head south toward the coast.  Mareeba was about 420m above sea level and I am surprised to see that when I arrive at Atherton, about 45km away, I am at an altitude of 750m even though I did not realise that I must have been going steadily uphill.  From Atherton I drive through Yungaburra, close to Lake Tinaroo.  It is a truly wonderful landscape along the lakeshores.  Too bad the weather is still on the wet side and due to the altitude I find myself near the prevailing cloudbase, accompanied by light drizzle of rain.

 Skydivers landing at Etty Bay

The road that takes me through Gordonvale onto the Captain Cook Highway which connects the towns along the eastcoast.  I had planned to stop at a rest area at Babinda but find the place after all the rain during the previous week, wet and soggy, drive a little further to Bramston Beach where I stop for the night at the beach.

 A big Goanna roaming the campground at Etty Bay

The sky looks as if it will be clearing during the day so I look forward to stopping at a place I remember from my last visit, last October, Etty Bay, another small campground, right on the beach, a little south of Innisfail.  I am allocated site no.6, directly opposite where I stopped last year.  It is still agreat spot, the Cassowaries and a couple of large Goannas still roaming around the campground, just like last year.

North toward Cape Tribulation

 Car Ferry into Cape Tribulation

This is my third visit to this tropical Paradise that always reminds me of places like the Hawaiian Islands, or Bali with its mountain range on my left and the ocean on my right on my way north th Cape Tribulation.  On both of my previous visits I have been blessed with sunshine, something I have mostly taken for granted, so this time around the road to the lovely campground is not dusty as I remember, but wet with some muddy puddles in places.  Never the less, its a good spot, just a few metres from the beach, separated from the water only by a fringe of tropical rain forest.

About Cape Tribulation... 

The weatherman had forecast rain for the Cape York Peninsula (but having come now for thousands of kilometres from the more central parts of the continent, the last rain I had experienced has been on the drive toward Tom Price near Karijini National Park, many weeks ago), rain is not an important consideration.

 Road into the Rain Forest

This morning I awake with rain drumming onto my roof, a nice feeling being in a dry and warm place while listening to the sounds of heavy tropical rain outside.  When I get up and look outside I can see that we are surrounded by water all around us, water standing on the lawn, our floor mats outside afloat.  More rain on the way, according to the radio.  Now we all know why this area is also referred to as The Wet Tropics.

 In the Wet Tropics all plants flourish

We decide to leave the area and head for the hills of the Tablelands where we hopefully meet blue skies yet again.  The rainforest is lush and wet, the river crossing on the returntrip to the ferry now carries about 30-40cm of water across the road after last night's rain.  The road back toward Cairns is mostly wet too, even though the sky looks as if it wants to clear for a little while.  When I stop at a shopping centre I get drenched just walking about 20 m before I get under cover again.  I head back to Mareeba where I am to meet Eck and Suki again.

Life (they say) Goes On.

Karumba is a small coastal town, primarily geared to the sports fishermen that come into town to cast their lines into the local waterways, usually from small Aluminium boats with outboards mounted at this stern, commonly referred to by Australians, a Tinnie.  Nice and relaxed atmosphere with a cooling breeze near the ocean, so I stay for 3 nights.

 The beach at Karumba with a large sandbar a little way out

Lots of birdlife in the shallow ponds by the road.  A big Brolga on the left.

My journey east takes me back from Karumba to Normanton and from there to the town of Croydon, yet another Gold mining town of yesteryear.  The area I am travelling in is called The Goldfields and most of the townships here have their origins from the Gold Mining days back in the 1880s so there is also a bit of history on display from those days.  I stop again at Croydon for 2 days before driving on to Georgetown both Gold mining towns.

more...

Back to warmer climate again at Normanton and Karumba

After all that broken glass, our next stop was Barkly Homestead, our last stop for now, as I am driving west to Camooweal, just inside the Queensland border.  I am looking forward to having my windows replaced at the mining town of Mount Isa, but put in a stop by the river at Camooweal.  It turns out another rather cool night requiring that extra blanket to keep me warm during the night.

The following morning I am on the road again heading for Mount Isa.  Naturally, my first stop is at a company that can replace my windscreen, unfortunately they are unable to replace my rear window (1650 x 800mm) which is quite large.  After calling the company in Sydney, that manufactures my Motorhome, I am advised that this glass panel would have to be brought in from New Zealand!!  That certainly is not a workable option.

I am advised though that another company nearby could replace it with a plastic alternative, all work to be done in the morning.
 More about Mount Isa...

I leave Mount Isa around 12.00 noon after I pickup my vehicle and re-fuel at a more 'civilised' price ot $1.29 per litre of Diesel.  I am always amazed at the often huge differences in price here; yes, I am driving in some pretty out-of-the-way places, but still can't see that on a main highway the price of fuel can be $1.99 per litre, particularly when you note that the road trains carrying the fuel go right by their front door every day anyway...

I briefly stop at Cloncurry, the old Gold Mining Town to top up my fuel tank before continuing to Normanton.  I must say that every person I met at Mount Isa was friendly and courteous, lots of smiles from everyone.  Cloncurry seemed to have the exact opposite: grumpy and unfriendly the lot, obviously not a great encouragement to wanting to stay.
More on Cloncurry...

I have planned to stop somewhere by the roadside but its difficult to find an area that is not right along the highway, so I keep going on to Normanton and from there, after 2 nights rest to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.  Its nice and warm again, which I really love.
more about Normanton...

Scherben bringen Glueck!! (I hope)

If you can't read German, the heading above means that broken glass will bring Good Luck.  The last 300 km or so have been on one-lane highway (the Tableland Highway) that goes south from Heartbreak Hotel to the Barkly Homestead on the east/west Barkly Highway.

Very little traffic on that road (just as well) because you need to make way for oncoming as well as passing traffic to avoid collisions.  I was just settling into my driving routine, about 50km south of Heartbreak when I saw two  4-wheel drives come up in the distance behind me.  As they were going a bit faster than I was, I moved over to the left onto the dirt to let them pass, which they did at quite a pace.  They had also moved onto the dirt on the right, throwing lots of rocks sideways.  I did hear the click in the back and another pang as a stone hit my windscreen, resulting in a crack running up from the bottom centre about 20cm long.  When I looked into my rearvision mirror before going back onto the centre lane of highway, I discovered that my large rear window had totally disintegrated, smashed into thousands of little pieces.  Nothing I can do about it now, hundreds of miles from any township, so I keep going and pull out at the next rest area, about 70km down the road where I wait for Eck and Suki.

 Just after the smash...

The temporary fix until the window gets replaced

...and Thank you Eckhard for being there!!

Lucky for me, he has a large tarpauline which we cut and glue it over the hole with packaging tape where once glass had filled in the window.  Also, Lucky its not raining!!

I intend to be at Mount Isa in a few days and hope that everything can be repaired there

Toward Borroloola

We leave Pussycat Flats on Tuesday morning driving south to Katherine once more to collect mail and to re-stock the fridge.  As it turns out, the mail was not there but shopping was successful with enough cold beer back in the fridge, vegetables, meat etc. all done.  Monday has been apublic holiday in the Northern Territory (Darwin Cup Day), therefore slow mail delivery.  We are staying at the "Red Gum Caravan Park" again before going to the local RSL for dinner, a reward from Eckhard to me for having done a lot of cooking for all of us.  Thank you Eck, it was an excellent Barramundi dinner!!!

 About Borroloola...

The following morning when I go to the Post Office again, I have resolved to have my mail forwarded to Mount Isa, surely plenty of time until I get there in a few weeks.  As it turns out, my mail has arrived, all is sweet.

The sky is overcast this morning as I drive south west toward Daly Waters where we are planning to spend the night.  It is also much cooler than the last few weeks, a perfect day for a comfortable drive although some drizzle rain at various spots but not lasting.  There is blue sky again on the southern horizon and by the time I get to Daly Waters Pub the sun is back.

 Little River campsite

After a nice and cool night I leave the Stuart Highway and turn eastward on the Carpentaria Highway toward Borroloola.  About half way, this Highway is single lane, which means, only one vehicle can drive on the bitumen going either direction.  When I encounter oncoming traffic, I have to move over onto the dirt with my two left wheels, the oncoming vehicle doing the same, so there is plenty of space to pass.  Because you are both on the shoulder of the road, there are usually lots of rocks in your path, so its important to slow right down as you pass to avoid windscreen damage.  I pass about a dozen 4-wheel drive vehicles coming the other way as well as 3 Road Trains which have to stay on the bitumen.  Naturally you get right off the road to let them pass.

 The road to Borroloola and 'Backburning' by the roadside

Roadtrain approaching I am waiting by the side of the road

There has also been quite a lot of backburning done with plenty of black, often still smoldering tree trunks by the roadside.  I must say, I quite enjoyed today's drive, away from all the traffic on the main highway.  By early afternoon I pull out at "Little River Rest Area" about 10km west of the "Heartbreak Hotel" at Cape Crawford.  The Rest Area is by the side of a Billabong, really peaceful, perfect to sit and read after a more difficult Sudoku.

The Top End

Four days around Darwin is enough!  A city that spreads to similar dimensions as Sydney, right across flat landscape.  I found the downtown area with its strip of park land very clean, green and well looked after.  There is also a swimming pool near the wharf with a wave making machine that seems to be very popular with Darwin kids riding their boogie boards in this make-believe surf.

The Deckchair movie theatre where you can watch a movie under the stars, right outside in a garden environment.  Even though we are now in the "Dry Season" the temperatures are always in the mid thirties, the humidity fairly high, both contributing to a rather uncomfortable way to spend your day.  Air conditioning a definite must-have if you want to have some comfort, particularly at night for sleeping comfort.

Sunrise at Pussycat Flats

While staying at Darwin there was also a training exercise going on with the Australian Air force, constant take-offs and landings of Fighter aircraft that do not need to adhere to any noise restrictions applying to all commercial aircraft.  As a result, the stay at Darwin was most unpleasant, glad to get out of town again, south toward more appealing surrounds.

I have ordered some more ink cartridges for my printer, to be forwarded to Katherine, so for now I am taking a rest at Pussycat Flats, still about 90km north of Katherine, among some peace and quiet once again, to wait until Monday to collect my mail at Katherine.  Eckhard and Suki are also waiting for some mail so we decided to stay up here for a few more days.

More info on Pine Creek, near Pussycat Flats


In case you are interested, I have also just setup a photo album about my trip that you can view under the following link: Some stunning images I have photograped, view them in full screen view.

A very funny story...

A young family from France has setup next to me at Katherine, Mum, Dad and a little boy about 4 and his older sister, about 7 years old.  Nice and friendly family, the kids well behaved, playing with simple toys on the breakfast table.

My French language skills (if you can call it that) do need some practice, so this should be an interesting way to do just that.  As it turns out, I find that I understand quite a lot of what he tells me, apart from his name which is Christian.  They are in Australia for about 8 weeks to explore the north and west.  They have two foam rubber mattresses from their van outside in the sun and I ask if they got wet.

It turns out that the sleeping arrangements are that both kids sleep in the bunk above the parents' bed.  He tells me that he has been awakened this morning by something warm running onto his face, well, the little boy had decided to wet himself and as a result, his dad got pissed on by his son.

This explained why the foam rubber mattrasses had to be washed and dried in the sun.

So, there you have it.  I think its very funny indeed.

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Katherine, delayed mail delivery, catching up with friends, Katherine Gorge

They say, time flies when you are having fun!  Well, I would not exactly call it "fun" having to wait for a week to collect my forwarded mail which was supposed to be sent to Katherine Post Office.  After several visits to the Post Office and a few calls to the Service Centre, I finally established that my mail had been redirected to Darwin, simply because my Post Office in Sydney had not addressed it correctly.

We also drove around to the Railway Station as the "Ghan" trained had just stopped on the way back to Alice Springs from Darwin.  The train is about 700m long, pulled by a large Diesel / Electric Engine.  Not a bad way to travel.

The Ghan at Katherine

 Kayaks for rent if you want to find your own way up the gorge.

I had been waiting for Eckhard and Suki to catch up with me anyway so I had some easy days, relaxing, some bike riding, shopping etc.  After they arrived we did the breakfast cruise through Katherine Gorge, a very nice experience yet again drifting up the gorge as the day begins....

 What a way to start the day, gliding up the gorge

After picking up my mail (finally) on Monday morning, I am on the road again toward Litchfield National Park again, having discovered that a new area had just been opened there which we all want to take a look at.  We stop on the way at Pine Creek again because its such a relaxing place to be