Carnarvon Gorge - the unexpected detour

Starting to tire of the crowded coast, we struck out west for an unplanned visit to Carnarvon Gorge.  The landscape flattened out, the roads narrowed, the trucks got bigger and mines were everywhere. 


Wide load - Leighton mining trucks (minus wheels) on the move



For hundreds of kilometres we tracked alongside and crossed over a massive LNG pipeline that is under construction.  Stopped at a small town that was almost entirely populated by men (with the exception of some well dressed young women tending the bar and playing pool at the pub - will leave you to ponder the possibilities...!).  Spotted this wonderfully cheesy ‘big’ offering along the way.

Went through a town called Banana, named after a yellow bullock.  Had a fun time explaining what a bullock was to the kids and confirmed for Dylan that, yes, he too could have that operation if he didn't want to have children, preferring to stay a "flatmate", ha ha ha!

Aimed for a dot on the map called Moura with a free camp at Dawson River 7km out of town.  About 1km out, Kel starts to get anxious about isolation.  No need...we rounded the corner to be greeted with a caravanopolis - even here!!!!  Educational fact for the day - courtesy of Dawson River and Greening Australia - some turtles can breathe out of their bums!

Arriving at Carnarvon National Park next day, stayed at a great camp called Takarakka, our first dirt road + caravan adventure.  Nothing broken!  The camp was next to a rocky bottomed creek that apparently is home to platypus.  It is certainly home to lots of kangaroos and bettongs.  Chilled out by the river in the arvo, a taste of what was to come. 

Carnarvon Gorge is an absolute gem.  We walked for 14kms (good job kids!) crossing the river many times on stepping stones (Ariel loved it so much she asked for stepping stones for her birthday...hmmm tricky...).  Visited an amazing rock art site and some smaller caverns and gorges.  It was full of hidden treasures and glorious to explore.  Hopefuly the pictures will speak for themselves.  Well worth the effort!







Set off back toward the coast next day, with a stop-over at Theresa Creek Dam.  Wow, this one truly was a city of caravans.  Turns out it is dinner and a show night.  Kids got excited when they saw the movie screen - sorry guys not for you.  Best Exotic Marigold Hotel showed after 30 excrutiating minutes of Roy Orbison, ha ha ha!

Chilling out in 1770

Set off from Hervey Bay, next stop 1770.  En route passed through Childers – a beautiful town lined with heritage buildings - crowned by a brand new McDonalds at the northern gateway to the town  :(  Made a lunch stop at Bundaberg but were devastated to miss the Bundy distillery (Rich for the rum, Kel because she was sure there would have been a big Bundy bear there!)  Playgrounds are becoming a bit of a theme now...

Have started booking ahead now, the camp sites are so busy.  Lucky we did.  This campsite makes no apologies for targeting the nomad market - it's on their brochure!  1770 is one of the most peaceful places we have ever been to.  Pretty much everyone there was on holiday, enjoying doing nothing.  Everyone was friendly and I think we all new how lucky we were to be there.  Come sunset, chairs were lined up on the beach to enjoy the spectacle over a beverage.  The kids, who formed a bit of a tribe, played on the sand and roamed to the park.  Decided to stay an extra night to soak up the vibe.

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

Struck out for Hervey Bay...and what do you know a big Ned Kelly in Maryborough - nowhere near the Ned Kelly action! Not sure what the connection is.

Anyway, found a rare spot at a beach side caravan park (which also happened to be roadside, but can’t be too fussy!). Watched a fab sunset over the big and virtually empty beach.

Set off in the morning for the Fraser Island ferry – which we watched pull away from the dock on time.  Fortunately another one went half an hour later.  Fraser was amazing, we absolutely loved it.  The forests, beaches and unlikley freshwater lakes were beautiful and we got to enjoy many of the tracks without other vehicles.

 

Lake MacKenzie



The signs about Dingos were a bit alarming.  They warn you to keep children within arms length with a special mention that this includes small teenagers.  We wondered whether a Dingo can tell the difference between a small teenager and a short adult!  We were lucky enough to see several Dingos Apparently it is mating season so the boys are out on the prowl.

 



The kids loved Eli Creek, floating down on the current on their body boards.

And this is where the adventure really started...Heading towards the return ferry on the sand tracks, cutting it fine but we think we will be on time for the 5:30pm ferry.  Rich tempts fate by saying aloud  “we will s#@t this in” just as we round a corner and run straight into a traffic jam.  A bus is stuck – but not in the normal way that vehicles get stuck on 4WD drive sand tracks.  This truck has thrown its wheel.

The time for ferry departure comes and goes as daylight ebbs away.  The bus driver decides to abandon the bus and that we should all reverse out to take the long way around to the wharf.  The ferry operators have been informed.  Being last in line, we set off, backwards, looking for the turn off to the lake.  By now it is dark and we bounce our way back around to the wharf arriving about 1hr after the scheduled departure.  It was pitch black and completely deserted.  After some fairly panicked phone calls we discover that the boat left without us.  Everyone else got there about 20 minutes before us.  Only on the return journey (in the dark) did we discover that they had decided to go the wrong way down a one-way track.  So much for crime doesn’t pay.  Anyways, then we had to make our way over to the other ferry terminal, about 45minutes of night time off road driving away.  Our perseverance was rewarded with an excellent pizza and a spot on the 8:30pm ferry.  We saw more of Fraser Island than we ever expected!

Spent the next day recovering.  Parted with money to visit this fellow's museum.  Has some interesting theories on sharks.  Not a fan of government and conservationists and counts asylum seeker tragedies amongst his tally of shark incidents...

Can I at least count it as a big thing???

Catching up with excellent friends

Leaving NSW behind us, our first stop was with Rod, Leonie, Ellie and Caitlin on Friday night in Brisbane. As always, the kids had a great time playing together and the adults had a great time catching up over a few drinks. Rich and Rod took turns unleashing the force and sleeping on the couch until the Empire was defeated at 1:30am. Not sure that the achievement still felt worthwhile when Rod had to leave the house at 6:30am for work the next morning!

The rain followed us on Saturday out to Kingaroy to the beautiful home of Tim, Michelle, Oliver, Lily and Elliot. As usual, we kept them waiting. Spent many hours of great conversation over great food and got to take in some of the local sights on Sunday. Kingaroy is famous for peanuts, Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson and Jesus (it’s true!). We didn’t get to see any of its stars - disappointing!






Kingaroy

  

Rainforest fungi - Bunya Mountains

  



Bunya Mountains

 The hospitality was so great we decided to stay another night.  We gave in to the kid's nagging and took them to Australia Zoo...

where we mostly amused ourselves taking stupid photos...

  

 





Australia doesn’t disappoint when it comes to cheesy ‘big’ things.  The Big Mower at Beerwah – tick.





 





Byron Bay

The ‘big things’ quest (conceived in a quiet moment at work with Mish) commenced today with an obligatory visit to the Big Banana as our journey continued north. (I don’t think this photo fulfils all the requirements of the challenge!!!).

Rain followed up the highway and into Byron Bay which was a bit of a downer. We set up camp at a nice but squishy caravan park at Clarke’s Beach. Rich scored a 10 & 9.5 from one couple for his reversing efforts under challenging conditions.

After eating out in town, took a night drive to the lighthouse. Then Rich got set to watch State of Origin. Rich again got up early to take advantage of the surf. Apparently, he caught several 200m 3ft right-handers. Kel and the kids walked up the beach (actually, the kids ran the entire length of the beach leaving Kel in their wake to follow in her pyjamas). Climbed to the lookout at “The Pass” and while they saw a guy crash his surf ski into the rocks, no evidence of legendary surf rides was seen.

Set up school in possibly the best classroom ever – in a guest lounge with a veranda and amazing views on the edge of the beach.

Spent the rest of the day mooching around. After one false start (rain drove us away) we went up to the lighthouse. Whales!! Heaps of them cavorting off in the distance. We also got to see some surfing dolphins. How exciting !

Crescent Head

Having discovered Crescent Head over Christmas we headed back there to start our adventure proper.  We arrived late again - the "are we there yet" tally standing at eight.  The first site we were directed to was on a slope under a pine tree, next to the amenities block.  We looked around with dismay at the empty flat green fields around us.  Kelly went off to request something better.  Having secured our piece of flat, green grass we drove around the block to park.  After many forward and backward moves, always communicated between driver and director in a friendly and polite manner ;), we detached the car.  Then we looked around.  Wait a minute, if someone parks behind us, how are we going to get the car to hitch up to the van to get out of here?  Drove in the wrong way :{  We are sure we provided great entertainment for the - shall we say - ''more experienced'' fellow campers around us.   We also noticed that the cover over the van's power inlet had ripped off.  Not so good when it is raining!  Chalk that one down to experience.  At least we didn't smash up the boom gate like the guy that came in after us...

Next morning we remembered why we were doing this when we woke to the sound of crashing surf and glorious sunshine.
 

Rich went out for a surf and was very pleased with several 150m long 2-3 ft right-handers.  Kel and the kids had breakfast at the picnic chairs next to the beach.  We saw dolphins in the distance and watched an Osprey catch a fish for breakfast.

School went down like a tonne of lead bricks.  After battling through some stuff, books were exchanged for skateboards, the park and walks up the headland.  We loved it so much we stayed an extra night.

 

And we're off...to Narrabeen

After a mammoth effort to clean and pack up the house (thanks Sandra :)), we pulled in to the caravan park in the dark.  Love an extra layer of challenge when reversing the van!  The kids hadn't been fed for ages so we conceded defeat and went to Maccas.  Setting up in the dark for the first time was not part of the plan.  Richard's level of stress increased as the temperature of his Big Mac decreased.  But ho!  The caravan has a microwave - our first!  Then came the need for coffee which could not be brewed on an electric hot plate, nor could it be cheated with boiled water.  But how do we get the gas on?  Two nozzles, a tricky two-handed clicking manouevre and 30 minutes later, the coffee was on the brew. 

After a visit to the Opera House on Sunday, we spent the rest of the day repacking what had been chucked in various vehicles when leaving the house.  Not too many packing fails yet, but a mini vacuum charger with no vacuum was not going to be much use!  Celebrated Kobi's birthday with a family BBQ and farewelled Rich's fam and Mr & Mrs Donn.

To everyone's surprise, including ours, we managed to pull it together and drive out on Monday morning as scheduled.  We were on our way...