Our Australia trip

The first time that I made a panorama photo shot, not bad hey? Axel showed me how to do it.
Cradle mountain looks like a cradle, wieg for the dutchies, around the back it is very visible too, but that was a long long walk.
You can do lots of walking there, from ten minutes to 28 days even, the famous overland track is the longest one I think. You will find huts along the way to rest your wary bones, and register at the start and again when you are back safe and sound, yes they keep an eye on you!
The lake in front of the mountain is called dove lake, very cold and pristine water, like a mirror.
Thanks Axel for your patience, I had a great time, we were lucky they had a shuttle bus!

Cheers from a happy camper!

I had to go to the vet, to get some medicine for Dotti, while standing at the counter I noticed a lady looking at my feet.
She proceeded to whisper to her husband, I had to wait a bit longer, so had the time to ponder a bit.
That brought me to connect the dots, I walked in the muddy creek that morning, with mud squishing between my toes, in my slippers, and on the way back to the bus it all dried up and did not look any different than other days.
All of a sudden I became conscious of my dirty feet, my beach hair, my un ironed clothes, my brown tan, no make up, time for a leg shave, etc.
And with the “connecting the dots” I mean, we meet a lot of people, lots of travelers and locals from little towns, who to us often look just one shade of colour.
Like they put the whole person with clothes and all in the washing machine a few times, I now understand how that can happen, there is nothing to it, we are only seven months on the road and in the bush, I can see how quickly one can slide :). The washing machines at the campings that we sometimes go to are not the ones you have at home, a black item comes out with polka dots, or slightly less black, hang it on the line in the sun (that is where the line is) and it is even less black, let alone when you wear it for the next four days!
We took along a minimum amount of clothes, so you can change all you want, but eventually you come around to the first one again, so wear and tear I guess.

Axel does not have a problem with beach hair, scoops his hand under the tap or the bush shower, wipes it over his head, and done!
I on the other hand need at least some pressure behind the water to rinse my locks, worse with shampoo in it, knots together for dear life! I might need a haircut!
If you live predominantly outdoors, you can not stop a tan from taking over your body on all exposed parts.

And the shaving, well Axel again has it easy, just grows a beard and sexy leg hair.
I on the other hand have to shave here and there when I wear my glasses, without glasses it is not so bad 🙂 And yes I could decide to just let it all grow, but that is not how I grew up.
And to be honest, Axel has to shave every now and then, because of the model/shape of his beard.
I think they call it ring beard? It suits him though!

So back to the dots, it now makes sense, those one shaded people.

Don’t worry, we are still multi coloured!

Marjo

Standley chasm, what a beautiful place!

I told Axel I could stay there for a day and not be bored!

We stopped there because we could drive to the parking lot with the dogs. Axel and the dogs stayed in the car and I did the tour/walk.

Every step you take there was something new, a beautiful bird, a nice white gumtree, a little stream with pebbles, giant orange rocks glowing in the sun and more! And that was only the path towards the chasm!

The path was adventures, and strewn with beautiful scenery , but the chasm was breath taking!

I had to wait a bit till some people left, so I could take some nice pictures (without people in it) and also the sun was just coming over the top, so one of the walls was a vibrant orange.

The walk back was just as beautiful, and I had to be careful not to hang around too long, as Axel and the dogs were waiting for me!

Just an amazing place, a Marjo place haha, go figure who was a happy girl for the rest of the day!

Marjo.

From Lync haven camping, Berna Jos and I left to go on a snorkeling tour, while Axel stayed behind with the dogs and a few blogposts to write.

My snorkeling tour is a present from Axels mum for my birthday, I am very much looking forward to exploring the underwater world.
We only had to drive for 25 minutes to the cape tribulation cafe, where ocean safaris is based.
There we were fitted with wet suits, we were going to be in the water for 2 hours, so yes to not get too cold everyone got a wet suit.

The ocean safari boat fits 25people, and we had a full house!
We were going to undine reef and Mackay reef, which is half an hour by boat.
A very tiny sand island with a few birds popped up out of the ocean and around that we where going to snorkel.

I have my own snorkel and fins, and Berna and Jos got them on the boat.
Our captain Mac stayed on board to watch out over everyone and Brin the young guy jumped in the water to do snorkel introductions. He even showed Berna a blue sea star which he took above the water for a few seconds, she touched it and it felt very rough she said.

As I snorkeled before, I left to go exploring the coral Bommies and giant clams, while Brim gave the introduction.
Wow how beautiful !! I am glad that there is still some very healthy coral along the reef.
A few times, on other occasions, I noticed the decline in some areas after visiting them years later.
After one hour in the water, we were moved with the boat to the other location, with deeper water. At the first location the low tide set in and one could try to keep ones belly sucked in and whole body flat adrift, but no we do not want to damage the beautiful coral.
At the second location we also stayed in the water for an hour, a bit more waves over there but no worries, by this time we where all pro’s !

On the way back Berna and others were on the lookout for whales, the morning tour saw some Mac and Brin told us. We encountered 3 whales, captain Mac stopped the boat and we sat still for 20 minutes. How special is that, icing on the cake (my birthday cake) !

Back on dry land (for most of us, one lady fell flat on her back in the water) we ordered coffee and were surprised that we got served by Brin the tour guide, yes he must be Jack of all trades!
The resident rooster named Black cock and sometimes Obama came to Berna for some food, he was very tame as you can see in the picture.

Very very satisfied we drove back to Lync haven to brief Axel of our day out.
And sweet dreams followed! THANK YOU ANJA! (for my early present)

Marjo

Posted from Diwan, Queensland, Australia.

Day two at Workmans Beach

Take two! Yes take two, because I wrote a whole lot of stuff, and even saying I hope I can save it before Axel is back, because the save button was gone (misteriously) and replaced by a edit button.
Axel came back and said>; yes you press the keyboard symbol so the keyboard goes away and whalah there is the save button! Mister Axel than updated the post and LOST it!

Ok, day two, Axel just left on his bike to go to a kite surf lesson, one kilometer away from the camping. He is wearing a helmet and a backpack and looks the part!

Nos, Dotti and I are going to the beach, first for walk around the rocks to find some nice puddles to play in, later on for a rest in the dunes with a very nice view.

Back to the bus for lunch, sandwich with strawberries.
We left Dotti in the bus for a nap and Nos and I went to the beach again, this time for a swim.
Lucky the sun was out, because it was still chilly when you came out of the water.

In the afternoon I rearranged our closets, got rid of most of the winter clothes, and in with the summer clothes. A body warmer and sweater is enough for the colder nights and mornings.

Axel came back at 4.30 and was cold, yes he has a wet suit, but one with short sleeves and short legs. So I think we are going to buy him a new one, a full one.
After a rinse we had coffee(so he could hold a nice warm mug) and chat about his lesson
He liked everything apart from the waves pounding on his face every time he had to look up at the kite( he did not have glasses on), his eyes were quite red I must admit.
We had a nice dinner with rice and veg, chocolate and coffee and fruit for desert.
We made it an early night, after your fifties you feel it when you do some extreme sports!

Day three at workmans beach

Axel was being picked up by the kite surf instructor, they planned to go to some lagoon which was about one hour drive away.
A lagoon has still water and is better for learning the on and in the water stuff, and much nicer for the learner in regards waves pounding on faces etc.

Nos, Dotti and I did pretty much the same thing as the day before, apart from rearranging the closet.
I did artwork instead, and found that very relaxing .

On the beach we met up with the people at the back of us, they have a nice dog friend for Nossi and I chatted for about an hour with them.
They live in Blackwater, a mining town four hours from here,and they camp often and shoot pigs for a hobby. They also move every couple of years to an other town, at the camping they sleep in a swag next to the car (like Niki sometimes does except she sleeps with the swag IN the car) and have the dog on a piece of rope tied to the car.

I had a chat with a nice old couple who travel in an egg, at least it looks like an egg, it is called a teardrop campervan. It only contains a bed, the kitchen is in the booth which you can lift up.
They wear beanies and walk hand in hand, so sweet!

Axel was home late, he bought a real kite! Yes a big ass kite (I think) twelve meter wide.
I guess he is a tall man and needs a large kite to lift him out of the water.
So yes he liked it very much those lessons and was hooked!
He came home even colder, so I prepared a big bowl of hot water for him to wash himself instead of the icy cold surf shower.
Coffee and port to warm the bones and story telling was the start of the evening.

Day four Workmans beach

This morning we all went to the beach and had a nice sun-bake and walk and a chat to a Italian boy.

Back at the bus we tried ways to crack macadamia nuts, some people say put them first in the freezer the shell becomes more brittle, but Axel found it works with a self grip wrench! At a camping a while ago, I bought a kilo bag of walnuts from a Dutch guy and Axel is now cracking them too with help from Dotti. We put them all in a large pot to go with our breakfast.

Axel left on the bike again to go to town to the surf instructors place where he left the glasses the instructor gave him (no red eyes anymore)
I started to write take one of this post!

Just some nitty gritty here, I have a few more toilet names for you: blokes and Sheila’s, the old fella and the missus, remember before you had mangoes and nomangoes.

Some day to day stuff:

It is so nice to wake up when you wake up instead of by the alarm lock, yes I rub it in!
Axel makes breakfast and hops back in bed, yes we eat in bed! I then go outside for a smoke and feed the dogs, feeding the dogs happens at the back of the trailer. The metal food bin stands in the front of the trailer, and next to it a workbench where you can put the bowls, that is handy because Dotti needs some pills and medicine put in her food. The dogs eat and go walkabout for a bit, I put the kettle on for a second coffee, and Axel makes himself ready for the day. We have our coffee and chat about our day plans, we fill the day with stuff you read about already.

The evenings starts off with a nice stiff drink and some nibbles and a phone call to the kids or some emails. Axel starts writing the blog, and I start cooking the evening meal, Axel feeds the dogs and we have our meal. Most of the time Axel does the dishes while he makes the coffee after dinner, I bring out the yummies for desert and have a walk with the dogs.

This camping has a no fire policy so the evenings are different than at the campings where we can have a fire which is most of them. With a fire the nice thing is, you have to put wood on it, you can poke in it, you have silence, darkness, moonlight sometimes, starry skies and stories. When there is no fire to do all those things with, you sit in your chair with a candle and chat and sometimes go to bed early because of the cold. That will change when we get more north I hope, we long for nice warm weather all around, but hey it is still winter.

For now we would like you to know that we are very happy campers! X

Waking up I was nice and warm (smart girl with extra shawl under my blanky) Axel still feeling the remnants of his water escapade, was not warm at all, and tried to warm his hands on me!
Well, I got breakfast in bed out of it.
The morning sun was lovely, it was warming our faces, but not the washing, ah well put it in a bag for the next opportunity to dry.

We set of with loads of firewood and a few specks of gold, on the way to a bush camping near a large dam near Inverell.

This must be fox country, we saw about five dead foxes along the road but no kangaroos whatsoever.
Corrugated dirt road here and there, but all in all not to bad, and the navigator was better at predicting driving time than Axels thumb was lol!
At the entrance of the gate of the camping area there was a sign saying” no dogs allowed” what the..? We found it in a book “bush camping with dogs”!
We rang the owner, no problem, just keep the dog with you so it does not roam around the camping. Phew!
We found out the reason why there are no dogs allowed. We also know now where all the kangaroos of mid north west NSW have gone. Near a kangaroo sanctuary close to Copeton dam! The dam, by the way, is said to be three times the size of Sydney Harbour.

We found a perfect spot, with lake view, fireplace, fish smoking area (as if) and a short walk to hot showers!
AND a washing machine, very ancient, but hey, it worked.
Dotti did an Axel and went involuntary for a swim, Nos spotted a kangaroo and was gone with the wind, luckily he came back when I put my stern “I am the boss” voice on to call him back (he was very timid the rest of the evening).

Axel went for a mountain bike ride, and came back with the washing on his back.

I made dinner while Axel played guitar next to a small fire..yes small..he had his heart set on the heater in the bus, because we, for the first time, have a powered site this night.

Even the washing is standing in the bus near the heater, and the bed is cosy to crawl in to, unlike the night before.
See what the morning will bring.