Yes we are home. We didn't have time to publish as went along for the rest of the trip, plus we got to the stage that we got tired and just needed a break and to get home.
When we arrived home we realised just how tired we were and needed to settle back into everyday life again. Then we got a good dose of a cold and sinus which knocked Michelle around a bit which set us back.
Now we have decided to finish the blog about our trip to make it complete, and accept that our wonderful trip is over.
Michelle is now starting to put the blog together into a photo book with the diary so it won't be lost and we can see the images more clearly - and possibly put an exhibit together.
This is a long post, so we hope you enjoy our "Gorges and Dinosaurs, and Home Visits".
Part 1 Gorges and Dinosaurs
Cobbold Gorge (Forsayth), Queensland
Weather - 14℃ to 30℃, blue skies
Total Distance Travelled - 19,600 km
Staying 3 Nights, Cobbold Gorge Village
This part of the country we are travelling through is
all large cattle stations, where they raise Brahman cattle for export mainly (I think). The country is dry for 9 months of the year, but the cattle can find enough to eat to survive.
On the drive to Cobbold Gorge, we stopped at Georgetown to refuel & re-supply ourselves. The road into Cobbold was gravel, about 45km from the small town of Forsayth. There were a lot of roadworks going on, the council seemed to be duplicating the gravel road, as we drove alongside roadworks for a fair few kilometres. Overall it was a fairly tough drive.
Cobbold Gorge is on a privately-owned cattle station, and was only discovered in 1992, when the owner Simon had a visit from 2 boarding-school friends, who were towing a tinnie up to North Queensland. They somehow got the boat down to a creek, which they then followed around the corner to discover the gorge. From a few visitors in 1994, they had about 22,000 visitors last year.
The gorge itself is only about 10,000 years old, and was formed due to some seismic activity at the time. This is a very young gorge compared to those we visited in the Kimberley. In some places, the gorge is only about 1.5 metres wide, due to its young age.
After we had set up on Wednesday afternoon, we had a quiet evening. We walked up to the waterhole, and watched as a wallaby waded into the water to eat the water-lily leaves - amazing to see. A couple of other wallabies were also at the waterhole, drinking & digging in to get the roots of the grasses. There were a flock of red-tailed black cockatoos down the other end, but they did not venture close enough for us to get any photos. An old pelican looks to have made the waterhole its home.
Whilst we were getting dinner ready that night a kaleidoscope (that's what a group of butterflies are called) of butterflies were flying around and landing on a tree near by. It was totally capturing watching them.
We had booked a couple of tours on the Cobbold Gorge property, and we were up early Thursday to do some Stand-Up Paddle-boarding in the gorge. There were 6 of us on the water, plus 1 guide, and it was amazing to be out on the water so early. Very quiet and peaceful, and our guide kept his talk to a minimum. We both managed to stay up for the hour or so that we were out there.
After the SUP tour, we decided to go for a drive out to Einasleigh, about 115km (2 hours) east of Cobbold Village. We arrived at about 12 noon, just in time for a nice steak sandwich & beer lunch at the pub, before we headed down into Copperfield Gorge, just across the road. This gorge was different to all the others we had seen, as it seemed to be grey volcanic rock (lava) that the water was flowing through. We looked around for a while, before we watched the weekly train service, the Savannahlander cross the gorge on a bridge, before stopping at Einasleigh. This train delivers a weekly service from Cairns, via Einasleigh, terminating at Forsayth (close to Cobbold Gorge) every Thursday. It returns to Cairns on Saturday.
Whilst we were sitting around the camper trailer that night, Michelle heard a strange sound in the bushes. It was an Echidna digging around for food. He was a busy Echidna and not bothered by us taking photos of him and trying to keep him away from the road.
On Friday morning we were booked to do the main Cobbold Gorge tour, departing 10am. We were picked up in 4wd buses, and made our way across the Robertson River to the gorge. From there, we split into groups of 12. Our guide Grant initially took us on a short 1.5km walk up the escarpment, explaining the medicinal & bush-tucker uses of the plants as we went along. We got to the top of the gorge, where we walked over the glass bridge (the only one in Australia) which spans the gorge. The glass is 4cm thick, and the bridge can hold 14,000 kg at a time, but there were some nervous nellies up there.
We made our way back down, on the other side of the gorge, spotting a 2 metre freshwater croc in the water below (we didn’t see that when we were paddle-boarding yesterday!). Back to the bottom of the gorge, and we boarded a 12-man tinny, especially designed for Cobbold Gorge. The propellers were powered by electric motor, so the boat was almost silent as we made our way up the gorge. The boat needed twin props, as manoeuvring the narrow gorge took some skill. We spotted two fully grown & 1 baby freshwater croc (about 30cm long) as we meandered up the gorge. One of the larger crocs decided to climb onto a rock mid-gorge to sun itself, and it stayed there even as we passed a couple of metres away. It was a totally different experience on the boat compared to the SUP, but both tours were definitely worthwhile.
We arrived back at camp around lunchtime, made a bit of an antipasto plate, before relaxing for the afternoon (there was no internet and not much else to do). We went for a walk when it cooled a bit, about 2km down the Dell track, but there wasn’t a lot to see apart from a lot of Brahman cattle.
Mount Surprise, Queensland
Weather - 17℃ to 31℃, Cloudy and some light rain
Total Distance Travelled - 20,000 km
Staying 2 Nights, Bedrock Village
Our next must-see attraction was the Undara Lave Caves, located east of Mount Surprise, just off the Gulf Development road. We couldn't get a powered site at Undara itself, so we stayed in Mount Surprise.
On Sunday we were booked on an “Undara Experience” tour, so we drove ourselves the 45 minutes or so to Undara for the 10:30 Archway Explorer 2-hour tour. We were driven into the national park, and we then descended about 300 stairs into a sunken dry rainforest, where we came to the Archway lava tube. Basically, after a volcanic eruption approximately 190,000 years ago, the lava found the river beds and flowed down them. Once the outer lava had cooled and solidified, there was still a tunnel or tube inside where the lava flowed. This is how the lava tubes were formed.
We descended into the Archway and the Stephenson’s lava tubes. In the latter, we saw the tiny bats that have made the cave home. Altogether an interesting tour. On the return bus trip, we spotted a male emu looking after at least 3 small striped chicks (no photos unfortunately).
Back to Bedrock at Mt Surprise for pizza night (they had a great pizza oven).
Hughenden, Queensland
Weather - 13℃ to 26℃, Cloudy and Rain
Total Distance Travelled - 20,550 km
Staying 1 Night, Allan Terry Caravan Park
On Monday we left Mt Surprise, heading south via Lynd Junction (there’s nothing else there apart from the intersection), before continuing on to Hughenden, located on the Flinders Highway. We had a brief look around the town, which is on the start of the dinosaur trail which also includes Richmond & Winton.
The info centre houses the Flinders Discovery Centre, which contains a full-size replica of the skeleton of Hughie the Muttaburrasaurus, plus a lot of fossils from around the world. We spent an hour or so looking around the display, then found a good pie for lunch. We then booked in to Allan Terry Caravan Park for the night, and set up the camper, under cloudy skies. The heavens opened around 11pm, and we slept under wet canvas, before packing up a wet camper whilst it was still raining and fairly cold.
We had decided to try to follow the Dinosaur trail, visiting Richmond before heading to Winton. So on Tuesday morning, we drove the hour or so west to Richmond, where we visited Kronosaurus Korner, billed as the premier marine fossil display in Australia. There was an impressive introductory video, with lots of visual effects displaying how the dinosaurs would have lived. After that, we spent some time looking at all the marine dinosaur skeletons - there were many there including the Kronosaurus, Plesiosaurs, primitive sharks and turtles, and much more.
We left Richmond, and were intending to drive south to Winton. We started down the road, but it was very wet, so we turned around. It turns our that the road was closed, but the council hadn’t put the road closure signs up yet. Our only choice was to return to Hughenden, and attempt to drive south from there. Unfortunately, that road was also closed, so in a change of plans, we continued east towards the coast. Turns out the whole trip home changed after that!
We spotted beautiful native flowers on the road trip home - spring had come early.
We drove as far as Charters Towers, where we found a motel room for the night.
Part 2 Home Visits
It was actually nice to end the trip visiting family and friends. We were going to go inland but with the weather / flooding of roads, we decided that we would head for the coast and see a few family members and a very dear friend on the way home.
Townsville, Queensland
Weather - 27℃ to 20℃, Cloudy
Total Distance Travelled - 21,600 km
Staying 1 Night, Caravan Park
First stop was Townsville, where we booked into a caravan park, and partially set up the camper, before visiting Michelle’s Aunty June & Uncle Aldo for lunch. It was great to see them. We were spoilt with a lovely lunch and lots of catching on what's been happening with the family.
Aunty June & Uncle Aldo live in Townsville for at least 6 months of the year - they love the warm weather and water.
Townsville is a lovely area - unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see much.
We headed back to the camper after lunch, finishing the setup to try to dry it out, before we headed out for a late walk along the promenade.
Magnetic Island, Queensland
Weather - 27℃ to 19℃, Cloudy
Total Distance Travelled - 21,200 km
Staying 1 Night, Jacqui's Place
On Thursday morning, we packed up, dropped the car & camper into a car park, and caught the ferry across to Magnetic Island to visit Mike’s sister, Jacqui. It was really good to see her, and her new place, and we spent the day driving around the island taking in the sights, with Jacqui as our tour guide. Jacqui took us up to a lookout to view the island - it was hard to keep up with her as she was almost running up that hill. It was a lovely day, finished off with fish & chips at Horseshoe Bay. We will definitely be returning to send more time on the island.
Mackay, Queensland
Weather - 24℃ to 16℃, Cloudy/Rain
Total Distance Travelled - 21,600 km
Staying 1 Night, Chris's Place
Next morning, and we were back on the ferry to Townsville. We then began our journey south, stopping first just inland from Mackay to visit Chris & her mum Molly. Chris had been like an Aunty to Michelle & her friends when they were barely in their twenties. The trips to the farm near Singleton were very memorable, and it was great to see her again.
Unfortunately her son Kieran was away at work in the mines - 7 days on, 7 days off - so we didn’t see him (can’t believe the little boy we first met when he was about 8 is 42 now). We hadn’t seen Chris for ages, so we reminisced about old times over a drink or 2. Chris insisted that we stay the night, which was very much appreciated.
Yeppoon, Queensland
Weather - 21℃ to 16℃, Cloudy
Total Distance Travelled - 22,000 km
Staying 1 Night, Capricorn CP
We had previously booked a caravan park in Yeppoon, so we rearranged the booking and headed there on Saturday. It was about a 4 hr trip, not too bad. We set up the camper for the last time on this trip (woohoo). We then decided to empty the car & re-pack it for the trip home, as there was stuff everywhere. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of Yeppoon, but it does look like a lovely place, definitely worth a re-visit for longer.
By this stage, we had decided to dash back to Sydney, as our daughter Genevieve was going to be the support act to a band performing in Marrickville. We had to be back by Thursday to see that (the gig was ultimately postponed, but we were not to know that at he time).
Noosa, Queensland
Weather - 21℃ to 16℃, Cloudy -
Total Distance Travelled - 22,650 km
Staying 2 Night, Debbie's Place
So Sunday morning, we headed down the coast, destination Noosa, where Michelle’s cousin Debbie was staying (and other cousin Sonia was visiting). It was a long trip, about 7.5 hours on the road, and we were thankful when we spied the turnoff to the Sunshine Coast.
Debbie had insisted we stay with them for a couple of nights, which gave us all time to catch-up, eat at some nice restaurants and go for some nice walks around the beach and shops.
Macksville, New South Wales
Weather - 18℃ to 7℃, Cloudy
Total Distance Travelled - 23,200 km
Staying 1 Night, Mid Coast Motor Inn
Tuesday morning and we said our goodbyes again, continuing south. Given the amount of driving we were doing, we were quite tired by this stage. Our last stop on the trip home was in Macksville - another long trip of almost 600km. We checked into a motel & caught up with Michelle’s sister Johanne for a lovely pub dinner.
Part 3 Home
Total Distance travelled - 23,800 km
On Wednesday we completed the journey home, dropping the camper off at its storage place near Arcadia, before getting back home. It was a great feeling to be home after over 3 months away, but at the same time, a bit sad that our amazing trip was finally over.
Also sad that this is our last blog about our trip. Michelle is now starting to put the blog together into a photo book. We will put the diary in, a few interesting facts about the trip and Michelle wants to reedit some of the photos that were rushed.
We hope you all enjoyed our adventure - we enjoyed putting it together for you.
Cheers,
Mike & Michelle