Our Australia trip

We left Bedrock at around 10 am but not until we returned the silver bracelet that Marjo found in the ladies bathrooms. We topped up the fuel tank and Marjo visited the local gemstone store annex miniature horse show (couple of ponies) and a bird park.

I meanwhile arranged the final affairs for the settlement of our house (today is final settlement) and emptied our toilet cassette at the dump point.

Then onto the next stop along the Savannah way. The road changes now and has identity issues. Sometimes a perfect two lane highway, then a meager single bitumen strip with red dirt shoulders. This is where we meet our first real road train. A burst of dust and 50 meters of thundering steel. Good we read that it is best to stop on the side of the road so that the road train can benefit of the solid bitumen as we saw the last carriage sway quite a bit.

Somehow the road trains know perfectly well to pass us when the road is narrow and dusty. You get used to it. Not Nossi, who is more nervous than ever and can’t find a good spot to lie down. Until he found that there’s a perfectly soft raised bed; heaven’s in the backseat of a Cadillac. Dotti doesn’t mind and is quick in taking Nossi’s old spot at Marjo’s feet.

We pass changing landscapes and even the road kill changes from the ever present kangaroo to more variety of black pigs and white cows.

There are also giant living cows here, right on the side of the road.

We pass some beautiful rivers.

Then Marjo is practicing on Nossi how she can make a convincing statement to bring more rocks along; they could contain precious gems.

Then we finally make our stop at the rest patch of dust on the westside of the Gilbert River. At first just us and another caravan. Later on several others joined. We walked along and in the very low river and saw snake tracks in the sand. Along the banks we see many wallabies and can barely control Nossi from chasing them for dinner.

That evening the temperature is still nice enough to sit in shorts and dress. The day temperature here is 31 degrees and at evening it is still 24. Another beautiful day.

Posted from Gilbert River, Queensland, Australia.

It is now time to get serious. Our up and down and again along the Wet Tropics of North Queensland was beautiful and enjoyable and it’s now time to move on. We want to see so much more in the north and need to be gone at around early October to escape the heat and wet. Two more months to go for about 8,000 kilometers. We’ll see.

First destination is Mount Surprise along the Savannah way (Gulf Developmental Road). The first part is great, lots of roadwork to put another 25 cm on top of an already perfectly good road. They say that road trains frequent this area but apart from some regular size trucks to carry the bitumen for the road we only see local and caravanning traffic.

We pass the first ever wind park we have seen on our trip. Australia seems to be more into solar and hydro energy than in wind energy.

As soon as we climbed over the great dividing range the weather changed, from the drizzle in the morning to perfect blue skies and the accompanying dry landscape. The difference is massive. The green rolling hills and lush grass, trees and shrubs have been exchanged by dry grass, plenty of termite mounds and endless gum trees. The only continuum is the dead kangaroos on the side of the road.

Then we come into dinosaur world. Past Undura where lava tubes have been formed many years ago, the hot springs of Innot and into Bedrock, the town of the Flintstones. This is a beautiful rugged country. Unfortunately we cannot visit the amazing places of Cobbold Gorge, Undura Lava Tubes and Gemstone fields because of our loving dogs. We get a lot in return but perhaps another trip without pets and a 4 wheel drive would open up other opportunities.

We settled for the night at Bedrock Camping in Mount Surprise where Marjo found silver while naked visiting Wilma and I visited Fred.

To all good things comes an end, so also our joint-to-the-hip trip with Berna and Jos. Our last stop together is Granite Gorge, where we camped before. In addition to showing the beautiful environment and friendly camping, we will take the bus for a service.

Funny enough today the bus finally got us over the 300,000 mark. Saves me trying to sort that problem.

We went past known territory and almost feel like locals; it is clearly time to move on. We passed Mossman, Julatten, the Mango winery and Mareeba on our way to Granite Gorge.

We stopped in the middle of nowhere to have some lunch, did some shopping and calling around to find out about a new battery for the bus as it still has some strange power problem. The online forum experts think it’s a grounding problem and so did the auto electrical expert in Mossman so we’ve asked the mechanic to have a look into that as well. Would be good to get that sorted before we venture in the more deserted Northern Territory.

Then we set up camp close to where we camped the last time we were here in Granite Gorge. Berna and Jos moved into a cabin overlooking the beautiful landscape.

When we can we light a camp fire to have nibbles, drinks, dinner and more drinks. Always fun, and this time especially with Berna and Jos.

The second day I went into town, dropped the bus off for service and bought some Dotti medicines, some essentials and Marjo birthday presents: a {*+\&$#% and a }*~and a #}|[<

Marjo, Berna and Jos went for a walk around the amazing gorge.

That evening we did more smoke, uhm, fire and felt a bit down as it was the last evening with Berna and Jos.

The morning after it was cold and rain hung in the air. We drove together past Atherton towards where our paths would part, east towards Innisfail for Berna and Jos and west towards Mount Surprise for the rest. The bus went slower and slower and I was afraid it was a consequence of the car service until I found out that we gradually had inclined from the 350 metres of Mareeba to the 1100 metres where we stopped. By now it was drizzly. Weather for a goodbye on a grassy patch at the side of the road near Evelyn. We had a great time with Berna and Jos and will cherish the moments together of combing the Kuranda markets, viewing the Barron falls, exploring the crocs on the Daintree river, snorkeling the Mackay reef and walking and getting smoked at Granite Gorge. Thanks for the enjoyable week!

Posted from Chewko, Queensland, Australia.

I was suddenly awakened this morning when Marjo got all excited about the prospect of snorkeling the reef. We are going to cross the croc invested river today to enter the Daintree area north of the Dantree river towards Cape Tribulation. After handing over the majority of our life savings we got ferried across.

First we thought it was unfair that we got on first and had to leave last but the ferry master must have had a look at the bus and thought “they’ll never make it up the hill”. We did but at snails pace. Berna and Jos were the only ones patient enough to follow our trail.
A very nice road though, winding roads, steep hills through the rain forest. It is remarkable to see the striking difference between south (farmland) and north (rainforest) of the river.

Soon we came to the Lync Haven retreat and it is very nice. We are promised to see a live Cassowary (first time I saw Marjo drool with anticipation), feed a crocodile (first time I understand you’re not supposed to hunt, kill and eat them), pet kangaroos (that made Jos excited) and see two large snakes (that made Berna all giggly). Only the dogs lose out on this visit as there are very strict rules, under no circumstances without leash and we’re in the middle of a National Park, so no go anywhere really.
Our campsite is nice though, I took the dogs on a walk and gave them a treat so they don’t complain.

Marjo, Jos and Berna have gone on their snorkeling trip, leaving from Cape Tribulation by boat to go to Green Island for two hours snorkeling and I’m sure the pictures and stories will follow soon.

There must be something Dutch about this camping as there were three other campers with Dutch tourists on the site. Most flew to Brisbane and made the trip up north to fly out from Cairns.

That evening, tired from the trip we had an early night.

The next morning we met Doris (once Boris) the croc. Scott, the Lynchaven proprietor, took us to the enclosure where she lives for feed-and-tell. It seems Doris is a reluctant eater but we got a nice shot. Doris was once bred and sold as a male croc called Boris to an Adelaide pet shop. Wen he grew too tall he needed a new, more natural, environment and landed in Lynchaven. When, one year after arriving, he laid a bunch of unfertilised eggs they started to call her Doris.

While Marjo kept the dogs company, Jos and Berna fed the wallabies and I searched for the resident cassowary but she was not to be seen (by any of the camp visitors). I think they are extinct and no one dares to fess up. The whole Careful for Cassowaries signage shebang is a conspiracy to keep it under wraps. The walk was nice though.

Then we drove again to the ferry and on the way stopped to enjoy the view. We live in a gorgeous country.

Posted from Diwan, Queensland, Australia.

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.

Because we will leave the coast soon, some of us wanted to visit 4 mile beach for kite surfing. We were early at the beach and apart from someone having lessons with a 17 meter kite and a high buoyancy board there were no other kiters. I know now why. After struggling to even get the kite of the ground, it kept coming back to earth (beach and ocean) and after 30 minutes of not showing off my kite skills we packed up, had a swim and left for Newell Beach.

Leaving the Cairns region, we don’t know if we did the right thing as some of the signs along the road are kinda mysterious.

For safety we checked all power points and couldn’t see any ants hiding.

The bus reached 299,999.9 km but decided that it was too hard to give up the the good 2xx,xxx live. It got stuck and stayed at 299,999.9. Something to look at later.

We followed the scenic coastal road back north (see also Bramston Beach).

And arrived at the small camping of Newell Beach, just 5 km from the “lovely” camping of Mosman Riverside. The camping is run by John and Jenny (it must be their Australian names as they are very Singaporean and only arrived here 3 years ago. You must know that foreigners get names allocated when they migrate to Australia but Marjo (Princess) and I (Stud) are a bit too modest to use them). Well, Jenny did a great job to make everyone feel at ease with “oh pay whenever you like” to “it doesn’t matter that our neighbour ran over the power pole” and “please join us for the free dinner on Saturday”. We were not surprised that people come back to this place every year and stay for months.

On the second day at Newell Beach we decided to go crocodile hunting. So Jos and I hired the local hunter expert, Bruce and went in his canoe in the jungle.

Jos and I canvassed the territory first to explore a safe journey for the less adventurous of our party. Berna and Marjo will say that they had to watch the dogs while we did our trip, that it had nothing to do with hunting and that they made exactly the same trip later and that the photos are a mix from their and our trip, but we can’t remember it that way. Certainly not after the couple of beers after the trip.

Jos first action was to take possession of the throne of the local bushman.

For the more sensitive readers, please note the following before continuing.

From there the story tells itself, where we encountered several dangerous crocs (apparently the Indo-Asian crocs are the worlds biggest (could also be second, bit who’s counting) species that live solitary and attack for no reason), vicious snakes and cadaver eating birds.

We made it out alive.

Marjo and Berna also encountered a dangerous animal lurking outside Berna and Jos’ cabin at the campsite.

That evening we enjoyed Jenny’s great Aussie dinner of snags and salads and played some silly card game called skippy-doo or something. Some say I think it’s silly because I couldn’t win, but that’s just nonsense.

Posted from Diwan, Queensland, Australia.

If you’re a regular blog reader then you should be aware that Berna, Marjo’s friend from primary school, and her friend Jos started their Australia holiday in Cairns to coincide with our trip. On 1 August they woke us up in Kuranda where we planned to meet first. We programmed the alarm and promptly slept through it. Some might say that I didn’t program the alarm correctly but that’s just nonsense.
Marjo just prompts me what to write and I’m surprised that after 30 years she still doesn’t realize that this means that I will do the opposite. Or…..did she just say that because she knows how I will react and she wants me to write the opposite of what she suggested. Hmmm, food for thought.

When Berna reads this, I can predict her first reaction “Berna and Jos? Why not just a post about Berna?”. I know that she would warrant a whole dedicated post but that would just put her on a pedestal and we still have to travel a bit together. Dangerous to put people on pedestals certainly at the start of a holiday. Enough rambling for now.

They arrived early bearing gifts: Marjo her favorite licorice and smokes, Axel Donald Ducks and groentjes (apologies for the English speaking readers but there’s just no word for this kind of lolly, even in Holland it’s hard to get them so I was very pleased to find that Berna and Jos were able to find and export them). And no, for those in Turramurra, groentjes is not some kind of (everywhere but in Holland) controlled substance. Also for al of us they brought some booze to come through the cold evenings. Or just because it’s nice to drink ;). As you can guess we were happy to see Jos and Berna.

Marjo and Berna went to explore the Kuranda markets and Jos dropped them off in the village. One of the added benefits of Jos and Berna is that we suddenly have an extra vehicle – that is not our home – to go beyond where we can walk or get by bicycle, kayak or kite. Jos and I walked the dogs and found out that walking from the camping along the river the Kuranda markets are only 300 meters away. So the ladies could have walked as well. But that would be unladylike.
Marjo was so hyper from seeing her friend Berna in Australia that she couldn’t eat her breakfast and forgot to take a single photo. So you’ll have to imagine this day for yourself 😉

That evening Marjo cooked a fabulous meal and we talked over coffee and later some liqueur.

The day after Jos, Berna and Marjo wanted to have a look at the Barron falls and took the car and had various walks. They had a good time.

I meanwhile spent the day in, under and between various bus parts to try and resolve our power problem described in an earlier post. Joran had been so kind to send a new regulator to this camping and I had to see if it solved the problem. Many hours, sore fingers, and swear words later I replaced the part but the problem remains. Don’t you hate that? Time for the expert…..

That evening we ordered takeaway from the camping restaurant; a real Indian restaurant manned by an Indian couple, he in the kitchen and she serving. It reminded me a bit of Fawlty Towers. He dropped the plate with Marjo’s dinner and she left people wait for a very long time. Then we all had lukewarm dinners as he had to remake Marjo’s garlic prawns. And the people kept waiting…….
The taste of the Indian food though was superb and the best part was that it was Berna’s treat! That made me forget my fruitless Car Mechanical day. At least for a while.

Posted from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.

With sadness we left Bramston beach. Apart from the French teenagers who arrived late at night, made noise for ten and left early morning (I’m still wondering if it was just a bad dream) the camping was very nice.

After all my kite stories it is time for some Marjo adventures. The area south of Cairns lends itself for kayak tours and we go on a trip to get Marjo on the water.
The first stop is at Josephine falls, Marjo is in love with the place but decides that the kayak wouldn’t survive the drop of the falls, so we move on.

Then she’s exited when we stop at the Babinda Boulders but also there is a bit of disappointment; the signs warn of people’s death after getting sucked by the water under the rocks.

There’s also some evil spirit hanging around the place.

Then after asking for directions from locals….

We arrive at a spot where we can kayak only to find out that the current is so fast that Marjo’s rib pain from the Granite Gorge bolder hopping is still too strong for such an exercise. So we decide to look for calmer waters, wait in a railway traffic jam and pencil in kayaking for another day.

Then we take a few more pictures of beautiful spots.

We stop at Cairns to get a real mattress for Axel’s sore back and kite-ridden behind and arrive after a solid climb for the bus at 340 meters above sea level at Kuranda Rainforest camping.

At the site allocated for the first night we try to ignore our too close neighbours and even Nossi is supportive and ignores the advances of the eager neighbour dog.

Posted from Kuranda, Queensland, Australia.

The Riverside camping is not what we are made for. Busy, noisy, dogs nervous and closely on the lead all the facilities but too many people.
We were on the road before 9 am, fed (world class breakfast), washed, and packed. We decided to just suck it up and drive the 170 km (it was actually close to 200 but don’t tell Marjo as she found it already silly to drive past Cairns where we will stay close to on the 31st to meet Jos and Berna for a camping south of Cairns). Funnily enough we came past 4 mile beach and it would just be criminal to not have a look if the wind was right for kitesurfing. You can imagine my surprise that it was.

So we unpacked the kite; Port Douglas people seem to like to sleep in on Sunday and even after a walk we were the first people on the beach with a kite.

Soon though others joined. The tide was going out which meant less waves and now closer to the reef the water was very calm. It also meant that the water was retreating and it got very shallow, even so that a step-up launch works fine but my skills only allow a sit-down-plunge-in launch and descent.
The pictures are just compliments to the photograph-her as my sore bum attests to the not so elegant landings. At some point I was quite a bit offshore and when the kite also landed in the water, I had swallowed a couple of gallons on seawater and the board had followed the tide, I noticed I couldn’t stand anymore. Then it was time to stop.

We took the very scenic route from Port Douglas to Cairns and arrived at Bramston beach with the ocean as our backyard.

The camping has a nice short beach which we walked with the dogs, surprisingly no shells, so time to relax.

That means the hammock out between the trees and the seats on the beach for a nap, reading, watching the ocean and solving the worlds problems.

Posted from Bramston Beach, Queensland, Australia.

Around Port Douglas things become more difficult. The number of campings between Cairns and Port Douglas is low (anyone with some entrepreneurial inkling, this is an opportunity) and the ones close to the beach that allow dogs are non existent. The Port Douglas campings are booked out and the beaches there (in the winter) are perfect for kite surfing.
Mmmmm, idea, what if we lived the months March till October in North Queensland, I teach kite surfing and Marjo runs the camping. Not sure yet how to sell this idea to her. Perhaps we can get the kids interested and they run the camping and Marjo organises snorkeling tours on the reef. Mmmm.

After Dotti attached and devoured another sheep, she had a well earned nap and we were ready to leave the Julatten camping and descended from the tablelands.

We had some nice views coming down the mountain with some fierce clouds.

Then we did a weave from the highway to each village and see if they perhaps had hidden a camping spot somewhere that was not listed in our plethora of books and websites. Not so much luck. At several beaches they even didn’t allow dogs on the beach. Some say it’s to prevent them turning into croc food as the croc signs are everywhere.

Suddenly we came into Port Douglas. A tourist town like we have not seen before with many many shops, cafe’s, restaurants and one resort after the other competing on plush. Not our cup of tea. When on the way out we saw a small council sign “beach access” we went in and turned in some dead end street to arrive at the Port Douglas Sailing club with the beach called 4 mile beach. And what a beach! Kiteboarder’s heaven. I’m making progress although all the art is Marjo’s finger work on the camera’s trigger so that you don’t see the spectacular landings in the water. Someone asked if its hard to learn and I can confirm. While lying on your back in shallow water you try with one hand to steer a 12 meter kite whilst with the other you try and shove your feet in the braces on the board. Meanwhile you try and keep the water from entering all orifices every time a wave comes over. Then you try with two hands first counter steer the kite and then, while knees bent (forward leg a little less) steer the kite hard towards the ocean to generate enough power to lift you up. Meanwhile you look for other kiters, swimmers, dolphins and crocs, steer in the right direction and not pull your hands close when you get out of the water as this stalls the kite. Get it? I don’t. As yet. But soon…….

Then it was time to find a place for the night. Many websites and phone calls later we are now at a reasonable camping called Mossman Riverside Camping with Olympic size pool! We spot here TwoDutchies, a couple that travel countries by shipping their car and staying for a couple of months (or years) to explore, clean the kite gear, connect back on the Internet and decide where to go next. Hopefully I can steer it so we come past 4 mile beach again 😉

Posted from Mossman, Queensland, Australia.