Tuesday, October 14, 2008

"The Big One - 2004!"

Day 1. 11th June 2004. Hervey Bay to Gladstone.

Depart Hervey Bay at 8.30am.
We’re so excited as we’ve looked forward to this trip for sometime now and over the past weeks it’s all we’ve talked about.

Final packing of the car reveals that all we want to take just wont physically fit, so something must go…sadly it’s the fold up chairs and fishing gear. After some re-arranging we finally hit the road, bound today for Gladstone.

Located 540 km north of Brisbane and 107 km south of Rockhampton, Gladstone is one of the most substantial and commercially successful ports in Australia. In the last three decades this quiet, diminutive port has become a centre with some of the most sophisticated loading facilities in the country.


Gladstone Harbour


Gladstone Harbour

We arrived at Barney Beach Seabreeze Caravan Park around noon and settled into an ensuite cabin, which, as time revealed, had to be the most uncomfortable bed on our entire trip. The bed dipped badly in the middle causing us both to roll to the middle of the bed. Through the night I could stand it no more and opted to sleep in one of the single bunk beds.

After lunch we drove around Gladstone taking in the Harbour, Marina, Industrial Area and the City itself. Whilst Gladstone is a pretty city in places, it’s still an industrial city with a semi-permanent haze and industrial city odour… not a place I could live in.

Day 2. Drove over to Tannum Sands and Boyne Island for a look around.

Tannum Sands is just 9 kilometres from the Bruce Highway and just 20 kilometres from the city of Gladstone. Tannum Sands is renowned for its long white sandy beaches perfect for swimming, sailboarding and surf-skiing. Tannum Sands is home to 4,500 people and is just a stone's throw from Boyne Island.

The twin towns of Tannum Sands and Boyne Island are linked by the John Oxley Bridge over the Boyne River, which is perfect for fishing, boating, outrigging, and water-skiing. The twin towns are also home to Australia's largest Aluminium Smelter, Boyne Smelters Limited. The smelter employs over 1200 people and produces 490, 000 tonnes of metal a year. The Smelter runs tours of the site on Friday mornings.

Beautifully landscaped parklands and recreation facilities were created on this coastal foreshore area named Millennium Esplanade. Millennium Esplanade is on the main beach, where lifesavers patrol during Spring and Summer periods. With only a small variation in seasonal temperatures, the waters of Tannum Sands are perfect for year round swimming.

Whilst they are both pretty spots, the drive took little time, so I hit on the idea of driving to Biloela, as Bev had never been there. The drive was pleasant, the countryside dry and dusty… badly in need of rain.

Biloela is a growing rural town with a very diverse agricultural industry including cotton, sorghum, wheat, herbs and spices. The cattle industry is thriving with the largest number of cattle of any Shire in Queensland.

On the way back to Gladstone we stopped off at the Callide Power Station and Callide Coal mine for a look. I visited these places back in my working days when I worked for Morgan Equipment as Central and North Queensland Service Manager, and seeing them again left me with a feeling of nostalgia.

Day 3. Gladstone to Emerald.
Departed Gladstone at 8.00am and stopped for smoko in a park at Duaringa before continuing on to Emerald, arriving around 12.30pm.

This part of Queensland is so dry and badly needs rain. We soon discovered that this fact was evident right throughout Western Queensland, with many places looking like dust bowls.
Emerald is located on the Nogoa River 263 km west of Rockhampton and 909 km from Brisbane (via Rockhampton).

It is a typical thriving rural centre with a good-sized TAFE college, a rural training college (in very pleasant surroundings), and a large number of farm machinery sales outlets, a cotton gin, a huge irrigation dam and an airport. Established in 1879, it has slowly grown to be the major regional centre of the Central Highlands and the gateway to the Central Western district. The Capricorn hinterland contains the largest sapphire gemfields in the world.

After booking into an ensuite cabin at Emerald Cabin and Caravan Park we drove around Emerald and out to Fairbairn Dam and Lake Maraboon, both of which looked very low, after this we treated ourselves to a counter tea at a local pub.

Day 4. Emerald to Longreach.
Departed Emerald at 7.50am and stopped for smoko at Jericho. Stopped off at Barcaldine to photograph the Tree of Knowledge.


Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine (no longer there)

Barcaldine has the reputation of being the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party and the area, plus the Tree of Knowledge is steeped in Australia folk law.

Located 1080 km north-west Brisbane and 273 m above sea-level, Barcaldine is a sleepy town of 1700 people with a lot of pubs and a wealth of interesting and unusual buildings.

It is hard to imagine that this town was central to one of the more significant events in the political life of Australia: the shearers' strike of 1891, which played an important role in the events, which led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party.

Arrived in Longreach at 12.30pm and booked into very ordinary ensuite cabin at Gunnadoo Caravan Park.

After lunch we visited the Qantas Founders Museum… those early aviators were a courageous lot, the things they did would make your hair stand on end. After this we took in the sights of
Longreach.


Outside the Qantas Museum in Longreach


Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach

Located 1184 km from Brisbane and 676 km west of Rockhampton, Longreach is the largest town in central Queensland. Situated on the Thomson River 191 m above sea level it is the centre of one of Queensland's most prosperous wool and beef areas.

Day 5.
A visit to The Stockman’s Hall of Fame took up most of the day. We’ve both been there before, but it’s still great to re-visit this great tribute to outback Queensland. Longreach is blessed to have both the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum.


Inside the Stockman's Hall of Fame


Outside the Stockman's Hall of Fame

Day 6. Longreach to Winton.
Depart Longreach at 8.07am and arrived Winton at 10am. Just a short drive today as we wanted to visit the Waltzing Matilda Centre… I missed it the last time I was here.
After booking into an ensuite cabin in the Matilda Caravan Park we visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre and must say what a great job the locals have done there. The memorabilia is marvellous, and has been painstakingly collected and displayed.

The Waltzing Matilda Centre.
Completed in 1998 at a cost of $3.1 million the Waltzing Matilda Centre combined Winton's existing Qantilda Museum with an impressive range of new attractions many constructed around the story of the swagman as told in 'Banjo' Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda'. There is a Billabong Courtyard in which lifesize characters (i.e. the troopers and the swaggie) and caught in action under a full-size coolabah tree. The centre also is home to the Outback Regional Art Gallery which concentrates on both historic and contemporary images of Australian outback and rural life.

Days 7 & 8. Winton to Mount Isa.
We arrived in Mount Isa before lunch and booked into Sunset Caravan Park. Our home for the next two days was an Olympic Cabin, that is, a cabin used by the athletes at the Sydney Olympics. While it was a little on the small size it was comfortable and all we needed.

After unpacking we drove up to the Mount Isa lookout and ran into the first problem on our trip, well it really ran into us.
While we were driving into the parking bay a local resident reversed out of another parking bay, without looking, and collided with the left hand rear side of the Sonata causing some damage to the rear bumper bar and left hand tail light. After getting her details, some murmuring under
our breath, and a phone call to our insurers, we continued our sight seeing.


Mount Isa from the Lookout


Signpost at Mount Isa Lookout

Mount Isa is the largest and most impressive township in western Queensland. Unlike Longreach (its only competitor), which has a very rural feel, Mount Isa is a mining town with an air of self-confidence and sophistication which is rare in outback Queensland.

Located 1829 km from Brisbane, 883 km from Townsville and 356 m above sea-level, Mount Isa proudly claims to be the largest city in the world; a fact born out by its accreditation in the Guinness Book of Records. The argument is that the city extends for 40 977 sq. km, and that the road from Mount Isa to Camooweal, a distance of 189 km, is the longest city road in the world.

Day 9. Mount Isa to Tennant Creek.
An early start saw us on the road at 6.50am. Stopped at Camooweal for petrol, $1.229 per litre. Saw a sign at servo advising motorists coming from the Northern Territory that they were now in Queensland and needed to advance their watches five years plus half an hour... someone has a keen sense of humour.

Stopped for petrol again at Barkley Roadhouse. This time we paid $1.339 per litre.
Arrived at Tennant Creek around 1.45pm and booked into Desert Sands self- contained units for the night. Not much to see in Tennant Creek, but we saw it anyway.

Day 10. Tennant Creek to Katherine.
6.55am,another early start.
Stopped at Daly Waters for petrol and smoko. Then went on to the Daly Waters Pub for a look. It’s certainly well worth a visit… very novel and very outback.

Even people who have never been to the Northern Territory know of the legendary Daly Waters Hotel.
Today, with a population of about 23, the town of Daly Waters has little to commend it apart from its historical pub which is like no other pub you've ever seen before.

On the way into town (the actual town of Daly Waters is located 7 km to the west of the Stuart Highway - it was built on the old stock route not the road) is the Stuart Tree. This remarkably dead looking tree has a plaque which reads: 'The explorer John McDouall Stuart is presumed to have carved the initial S on this tree on 23 May 1862 during his successful journey from Adelaide to Darwin 1861-62. Erected by the Northern Territory Forces in 1944.' If you look long and hard you can see a vague S on the eastern side of the tree.

We read in a newspaper some time later that a few days after our visit the Daly Waters Pub caught fire. When they phoned the fire brigade to come and assist, the fireman told them to get stuffed. It appears he didn’t like the operators. Never did find out what happened to the pub or the fireman. To say the people who live out this way are characters would be an understatement.

Lunched at Mataranka, how exciting! Apart from a number of aborigines sleeping it off in the park, we had the place to ourselves.

10 km to the east of the town, which, in fairness, is nothing more than a couple of roadhouses and a pub on the Stuart Highway, there is a small, 4 hectare park with a superb thermal pool and stands of cabbage tree palms and paperbarks.
Owned and operated as the Mataranka Homestead Tourist Resort this is a popular stopover and picnic spot for visitors to the area.
Perhaps even more importantly Mataranka is near the site of Elsey Station, the subject of Jeannie Gunn's enormously popular autobiographical novel We of the Never-Never.

Arrived Katherine at 2.15pm and booked into an ensuite cabin at the Shadylane Caravan Park on Gorge Road.
Katherine, with a population of over 6 000, is the third largest town in the Northern Territory. Located 340 km from Darwin and 1184 km from Alice Springs, the town is situated on the banks of the Katherine River far enough from the coast to avoid the humid excesses of the tropics (it has a annual rainfall of 960 mm nearly all of which falls between November and March) and yet sufficiently far north not to be surrounded by desert.

The most important tourist attraction in the Katherine area is the 180 352 hectare Katherine Gorge National Park located 32 km north east of Katherine. The Gorge actually comprises 13 separate gorges each of which is separated by rocky areas during the dry season. The Park offers swimming, bushwalking and boating as its main activities.

Sadly, because of the walking involved, I was unable to do the gorge boat trip. Bev had done it before, but I’d missed it the last time I was in Katherine. We looked at the possibility of seeing the gorge from the air, but once we saw the helicopter with no doors we soon dropped the idea. There were no fixed wing aircraft flights available at that time.

Days 11 &12.
We did get to see other sights in Katherine though. These included a visit to the School of the Air… well worthwhile and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. They do such great work there.

We visited the hot springs as well as the low-level bridge, Katherine Museum and Springvale Station. The Visitors Centre in Katherine is a credit to the area, and is most helpful. Went to see the Ghan arrive from Adelaide but found it was already in.

The Katherine Museum, which is located 3 km out of town on the Katherine Gorge Road is definitely worth a visit. It is well organised with a good range of interesting displays including a room on the Overland Telegraph Line, another on the Chinese in the Territory, detailed history of the changes of the town from the first settlement at Knots Crossing to the building of 'The Katherine', to the modern settlement.
They also publish and sell an interesting range of publications on aspects of local history including a booklet on the origin of the town's street names and a fascinating account of Russian Peanut Farming at Katherine 1929-1960. In the annals of local history can there ever have been a more exotic topic.

Day 13. Katherine to Darwin.
Depart Katherine at 7.30am and arrived Darwin around 11am.

Booked into an ensuite cabin at Palms Village Resort on the Stuart Highway. The cabin wasn’t ready so we drove into Darwin for a look around the port, city, markets and casino etc.
Booked a flight over Kakadu for Friday.

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory. Located between Beagle Gulf and Port Darwin and situated on Fannie Bay, Darwin is a thriving centre of over 110 000 people.

Day 14.
Had a lazy morning. Visited Mindil Markets in the afternoon. Drove down to Fannie Bay and East Point … made a mental note to return to East Point at sunset.

Day 15. Day Trip to Kakadu.
Drove down to Kakadu and went on a flight over Kakadu… really spectacular and so worth the time, effort and money. After that we visited Jabiru, Cooinda and Pine Creek. We wanted to take the Yellow River Cruise from Cooinda but arrived too late in the day and missed it. We drove back to Darwin in time to see and photograph the sunset at East Point… spectacular. This had been a really memorable day, and proved to be one of the most memorable on our entire trip.

Day 17. Day Trip to Litchfield National Park.
Drove down to Litchfield National Park and spent the day looking at the various sights. I couldn’t access some spots but found much pleasure in the ones I could, such as the termite mounds, Wangi Falls and Wangi Pool, the township of Batchelor.

Kakadu National Park may be world famous, but in the Top End locals often say their favourite park to visit is Litchfield.129 kilometres south of Darwin and 268 kilometres from Katherine the park is full of monsoon rainforest, streams and waterfalls, walking tracks, majestic magnetic termite mounds and wonderful escarpments.

Before leaving Darwin I enquired about a boat cruise on one of the billabongs in Litchfield National Park only to be advised that they did not run anymore. I had done a similar cruise in 1998 and wanted Bev to experience the wild life on the pristine billabongs too. We later found out that the information I’d been given in Darwin was incorrect and at least one cruise was still running. Grrrrrrrrr.

After Litchfield we drove down to Adelaide River and then back to Darwin.

Days 18 & 19.
Both quiet days. Washed the car one day and had it serviced the next. Sat around recharging the body batteries and watched some tennis on TV.

Day 20. Darwin to Katherine.
On our return trip to Katherine we detoured to see the Darwin Dam and the Berry Springs Nature Park. After arriving back in Katherine around lunchtime we booked into the same cabin we’d stayed in on the way to Darwin. After lunch we drove out to see the Ghan arrive from Darwin.

Day 21. Katherine to Kununurra.
Left Katherine at 7.30am and arrived Kununurra at 12.30pm after moving our watches back one and a half hours.

Just before entering Kununurra you pass through a quarantine checkpoint for fruit and vegetables. No fresh fruit or vegetables are allowed into Western Australia as they may carry fruit fly. Kununurra is a major fruit and vegetable growing area, getting its water from the Ord River.

Kununurra is a very long way from just about everywhere. If you take the short route from Perth, via the Great Northern Highway, it is 3184 km and if you take the long route it is 3336 km. It is also 1057 km from Broome (the nearest major town in Western Australia) and 1057 km from Darwin. And if you want to drive from Sydney it is about 4300 km.

We checked out the cabin we’d booked back in Darwin only to find it very unsatisfactory. You need to book ahead out this way as it gets very busy, however, part of the problem booking ahead is that you’re booking something sight unseen. As we intended staying for a week we wanted to be comfortable.

After looking around we were lucky to find a newish cabin at The Hidden Valley Caravan Park for little more per night than the cabin we’d originally booked. The management at Hidden Valley were a helpful lot, and through them we booked a flight over The Bungle Bungles, and a boat cruise on the Lower Ord River.
After this we did some much needed shopping, mainly for fruit and vegies, and looked around Kununurra Township.

Day 22. Boat cruise on the Lower Ord River.
We were picked up from the caravan park at 9.30am in a small bus and our first stop on the way to the boat was the Melon Farm for some melon tasting.

This farm grows a number of different types of melons and transports them to the southern markets.
The Ord River Scheme has enabled farming in what would otherwise be desert. The irrigation system is simple, but effective. It consists of a series of channels or ditches running parallel to each paddock, and the water is pumped from these over the crops, with the excess water draining back into the channel.

Since the building of Lake Argyle, the area has had an abundant supply of water, and a dam on the Lower Ord River ensures that there is little water wastage.

The bus trip was fifty-five kilometres to Carlton Hill Station, where the boat operator has a bush camp with a boat landing, and a shelter with tables and seating.
After a sumptuous barbeque lunch, cooked by the skipper and his helper, we boarded the boat and cruised up river for over an hour and a half before heading back to the landing for smoko.

After smoko we cruised down river as far as possible before heading back to the landing.
On this cruise we saw countless estuarine crocodiles on the riverbank and in the river itself. Cattle graze freely along the riverbank and often fall prey to these crocs.
It was dark when the bus dropped us back at the caravan Park, and like everyone on the cruise, we’d had a wonderful day.

Day 23. Flight over the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park).
Another small bus picked us up from the caravan park at 8.30am and took us out to the Kununurra Airport.
There are two different sized aircraft that do this trip and we’d booked the larger one for an extra $15.00 each. This proved to be well worth the money because as soon as the pilot realised that I walked with the aid of a walking stick he seated us right at the rear of the aircraft. We had lots of legroom as we were sitting in an aisle.

The trip was breathtaking and, upon reflection, we consider that it was the highlight of our entire trip. The scenery was spectacular and nothing like anything we’d ever seen before.
As part of the fight we also flew over Lake Argyle and the township of Kununurra.

After the trip we bought some post cards and a video of a flight over the Bungle Bungles so we can remember this experience for years to come.

The Bungle Bungle Range, in Purnululu National Park, is one of the most fascinating geological landmarks in Western Australia. From an aircraft, the Bungle Bungle Range is an imposing sight. The orange and black stripes across the beehive-like mounds, encased in a skin of silica and algae, are clearly visible as you approach from the south. As you sweep further over the range a hidden world of gorges and pools is revealed, with fan palms clinging precariously to walls and crevices in the rocks.

Sadly, our flight came to an end and we’d been bussed back to the caravan park around 11.30am.

After lunch we drove out to Ivanhoe Crossing and the Zebra Rock Gallery.

Ivanhoe Crossing was once part of the major route to Wyndham; it is now a favourite fishing spot for locals. The road crosses the Ord River but is flooded over. Water pours over the edge which creates the ideal breeding environment for the Barramundi fish, which grows up to a metre long and puts up fierce resistance. The unique flavour makes this fish highly sought after.
The Zebra Rock is coloured white and chocolate brown and generally is layered to form a Zebra like appearance. It is found near Kununurra and is unique, as it is not found anywhere else in the world. Some small polished pieces were purchased, as the larger items were quite expensive.

Day 24.
Drove out to Lake Argyle and had smoko in the lovely park overlooking the lake and the Upper Ord River. We could see fresh water crocodiles on the opposite bank.

Lake Argyle is amazing; it’s huge and a real inland sea in the middle of the Kimberley.
Lake Argyle was built as part of the Ord River scheme. A placard at the lookout explains that stage one of the project involved the building of Kununurra Diversion Dam and the development of 12 000 hectares of irrigable land on Ivanhoe plain and the establishment of Kununurra township. It was officially opened by R. G. Menzies in 1963 and the final allocation of farms was made in 1965.

Day 25.
Drove up to Wyndham, checked out the start of the Gibb River Road, visited the five Rivers Lookout overlooking Wyndham, and lunched on barra at the Wyndham Hotel, Windham Port.
Wyndham, Western Australia's most northerly town, is about as isolated as any town in Australia can be.
It sits on the edge of the Cambridge Gulf slowly boiling under the oppressive tropical sun, surrounded by salt lakes, desert and mudflats, which stretch to the horizon. It is located 3351 km from Perth via the North West Coastal Highway and 930 km from Derby.

It is, like so many of the towns in the Kimberley’s, actually two towns. There is old Wyndham (known as Wyndham Port) sweltering in the heat under that part of the Erskine Range known as 'The Bastion' and, a few kilometres up the Gulf on the road to Kununurra there is Wyndham Three Mile (sometimes known as Wyndham East). At the entrance to Wyndham Three Mile there is a huge 20 metre long concrete crocodile in the middle of the road. It is hard to avoid it.

Days 26 & 27.
Apart from a drive out to the other Zebra Rock Gallery, where Bev bought a really nice pair of Zebra Rock earrings, we had two lazy days re-charging our body batteries, grocery shopping and laundry.

Day 28.
Depart Kununurra for Halls Creek.

Gee, what can I say about Halls Creek?

We arrived there about midday and tried to book into our overnight accommodation, The Kimberly Hotel Motel, only to find that check in time was 2pm. With two hours to kill in Halls Creek we decided to go and visit Old Halls Creek and the China Wall. The road out to Old Halls Creek was just red bull dust and the drive out was punctuated with idiots all wanting to pass us, and each other, on this horror stretch of road.

There’s not too much left of Old Halls Creek, and the drive out was hardly worthwhile, considering how dirty the car now was.

We arrived back at the Kimberly Hotel Motel at 2pm only to be told that our room still wasn’t ready, Grrrrrrrrr, it just got worse from there. Upon finally entering the room it stunk of cigarettes. A phone call to reception did no good when the receptionist said, “It’s the only room we have available. What would you like to do?”

It was Thursday, pay day for the local aborigines, who spent much of the night howling like dogs outside the Kimberly Hotel Motel, and continuing their binge drinking, started earlier that day. Needless to say we were away early the next morning, before dawn in fact, beating a hasty retreat for Broome.

The aborigines both fascinated and intrigued Bev as we travelled throughout the Kimberly and Pilbara areas. She would watch them with mouth wide open as they yelled at each other and staggered about in their drunken state. Many times we saw them just lying on the ground, too drunk to stand. It’s a sad state of affairs just what alcohol has done to them, and how many of the ones we saw no longer had any pride or direction in life.

Day 29. Halls Creek to Broome.
As I just said, we left Halls Creek before dawn as we had a long drive ahead of us. Our first stop was Fitzroy Crossing for breakfast.

Originally we were going to overnight in Fitzroy Crossing and do a boat trip through the Geikie Gorge. However a phone call from Darwin revealed that the only accommodation in Fitzroy Crossing on the night we intended to stay was a motel room for $150.00 per night, at that price it was out of our reach, hence our change in plans. I’d done the Geikie Gorge trip back in ’98, but wanted Bev to see the gorge too.

After breakfast, and a quick drive around Fitzroy Crossing, we were on our way again.

We had also intended staying overnight in Derby on our way to Broome, but like Fitzroy Crossing, a prior phone call revealed that at that time there was no reasonably priced accommodation available. So instead we decided to call in to Derby for an hour or so on our way to Broome, which proved to be a great idea because anyone who has been to Derby can verify that there is not a lot to see.

Like Geikie Gorge, I’d been there before in ’98, but wanted Bev to see it too.

We popped down to the Harbour and I showed Bev just high the tides get, drove around the town, had a counter lunch in a pub, and then drove out to the Prison Boab Tree and cattle trough before continuing on our way to Broome.

We arrived in Broome and booked into the Ocean Lodge Apartments on Cable Beach Road. We’d try to get a cabin in one of the caravan parks but they were booked out due to the school holidays. After unpacking we ventured down to Cable Beach, the port area and China Town for a look around.

While Broome is a pretty place, it’s also very over rated in my opinion. It’s a great place to laze around in for a while, but there’s not really a lot to see.

Days 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34.
Had a pretty lazy time around Broome. We went to Cable Beach a few times to photograph the sunsets, Bev had a good look around China Town while I sat on a seat and watched the world, and all its “ odd people” pass by. As I said before, I think that Broome is over rated and a week in Broome is much too long, unless of course you go fishing. As we’d left our fishing gear at home that was out for us.

One thing we wanted to see was “the staircase to the moon”, a phenomenon seen at certain phases of the moon where the moonlight over the mudflats resembles a staircase. Unfortunately, the moon phases were not favouring us and this phenomenon was not taking place for a month or more.

Day 35. Broome to Port Hedland.
Another long drive, another early start.

Located 1761 km north of Perth via the North West Coastal Highway or 1660 km via the Great Northern Highway, Port Hedland is one of the major iron ore ports in Australia. With a population of over 15 000 it is an industrial centre totally committed to the extraction, processing and exporting of iron ore. Its key symbols are the huge iron ore crushing mill at Nelson Point, the port with its gigantic iron ore carriers and the seemingly endless iron ore trains (as long as three kilometres and with up to 300 wagons) which move backwards and forwards from the mines at Mount Newman.

It is hard for the visitor to get too excited about Port Hedland. The accommodation is overpriced (presumably on the basis that miners and mining company executives can be charged anything), although there is backpacker and budget accommodation around, and the town is covered in a permanent layer of red dust from the Nelson Point crushing works.

Ho hum was Bev’s description in her hand written diary notes, and I guess that really says it all. However, it does offer excellent fishing, whale watching, mangrove crabbing, Harbour tours, bird watching and turtle nesting. It has a new and attractive town park (which sadly is over run with drunken aborigines) and it also makes a convenient base for tours of adjacent towns and national parks.

We booked into an overpriced cabin at the Cooke Point Caravan Park for 3 nights.

Days 36 and 37.
Explored around Port Hedland and South Hedland until we knew the place like the back of our hand. Nothing we saw or did altered our first impression of the place, and we came to the conclusion that Port Hedland could be seen in just one day.

Day 38. Port Hedland to Karratha
Depart Port Hedland for Karratha. On the way we deviated to Port Samson and Cossack for a look. Both were very interesting places, especially after just spending three days in Port Hedland.

Located 12 km from Roebourne and 1480 km north of Perth, Cossack is an historic ghost town at the mouth of the Harding River, although an active revitalisation program is fast turning it into one of the premier tourist attractions in the Pilbara.

After a very pleasant morning, we arrived in Karratha, did some essential grocery and then booked into a cabin in the Pilbara Holiday Park. On this drive we noticed that the famous Western Australian wild flowers were becoming prominent. In fact we saw our fist Sturt’s Desert Peas outside the Tourist information Centre in Karratha.

Price wise, they see you coming in these places. After our Big 4 discount we still paid $109.00 per night. We’ve stayed in brand new cabins on the Gold Coast for $65.00 per night. That aside, we found Karratha to be very interesting, with lots to see and do around the area. It is an 'open town' providing a variety of accommodation (albeit very over-priced) for visitors and purporting to have some attractions which go beyond the mining industry.

After we’d unpacked we drove around the township, and familiarized ourselves with the sights.

Located 1557 km north of Perth, on Nickol Bay, Karratha is a modern town providing accommodation and services for the employees of Hamersley Iron, Robe River Associates, the Dampier Salt Company and the workers on the North West Shelf Gas and Petroleum project.

Days 39 and 40.
Drove over to Dampier and explored around there for the morning before venturing over to the North West Shelf Gas Venture at Burrup Point, very interesting.

North West Shelf Project Visitors Centre.
The main attraction for visitors is the North West Shelf Project Visitors Centre on Burrup Road, which features viewing areas of the plant complete with models and a theatrette where a film of the project is regularly screened.

Day 41.
Depart Karratha for Exmouth. Another long drive (565 K’s).
This trip was relatively boring and we encountered the first rain on our trip so far. I guess we’ve been really lucky to date to have the 40 days of blue skies, lots of sunshine and warmth. This would soon change, but we didn’t know that at this time.

We were booked into a cabin in the Ningaloo Holiday Park, and while we paid $91.70 per night, the cabin was almost new and had everything we needed, even a stereo system.

Days 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46.
We spent time visiting all the sights in and around Exmouth that we could.
The places we visited included, Yardie Creek, North West Cape Light House, Cape Range National Park and Turquoise Bay.

Located on the eastern coast of the North West Cape 1270 km north of Perth and 13 m above sea level, Exmouth was, historically, a naval town serving the US Naval Communication Station, Harold E. Holt, and the Learmonth RAAF Base. The US Navy left in the early 1990s and while part of the old naval base is still used by the Australian Navy (another part has become accommodation for backpackers) today the town is driven primarily by tourism with deep sea fishing, the beautiful Ningaloo Reef and the complex coastal wildlife (whale sharks are prevalent in the area) attracting visitors to this hauntingly beautiful region.

Day 47. Exmouth to Carnarvon.
Depart Exmouth for Carnarvon. It has rained on and off during our stay in Exmouth, and at one stage, we heard that the road to Carnarvon was cut by floodwaters. We noticed deep pools of water alongside the roadway, and on two occasions we had to drive through water covering the road.

On our way to Carnarvon to popped in to Coral Bay for a quick look around. We had intended staying there overnight but a phone call ahead revealed exorbitant for cabins so we decided to just pop in for a visit. There’s not much to Coral Bay, just two caravan parks and some other accommodation, some shops and of course the attraction is Ningaloo Reef.

Located 234 km north of Carnarvon, 154 km south of Exmouth and 1131 km north of Perth, Coral Bay is a small holiday resort for people wishing to avoid the more conventional tourist destinations. It is really nothing more than a couple of caravan parks, holiday homes for fishermen, and a few basic facilities to ensure that visitors do not have to make the 143 km journey to Exmouth every time they want a loaf of bread or a tub of ice cream.

The town's great appeal is its access to the 260 km Ningaloo Reef which lies close to the shore and forms a kind of natural lagoon which is ideal for people wishing to fish (although the waters of Coral Bay itself are a sanctuary area and 'no fishing' regulations apply), snorkel, scuba dive or explore the reef.

Days 48 and 49.
Checked out the sights and visited One Mile Jetty (and were eaten alive by sand flies), Munro’s Banana Plantation, Town Lookout and NASA tracking station.

Day 50. Carnarvon to Denham.
On the trip between Carnarvon to Denham we ran into a number of showers. It looked like the sunny days and blue skies we’d experienced further north we gone, for now anyway. The inclement weather really didn’t hinder us though, and we were still able to get out and see and do things.

On the way we popped into Nanga Bay for a look around. I’d stayed here for a few days back in ’98 and found it to be a beautiful place to relax and do some fishing. In ’98 the caravan park was full, and the fishing huts were full too with fishermen from mainly Perth there to catch the plentiful West Australia Snapper. This time the place was almost deserted… I’m not sure why!

After booking into a chalet at the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park we headed over to Monkey Mia for a look around.

Denham is both the western most town in Australia (at the 113°32" East meridian of longitude) and the gateway to Monkey Mia with its friendly dolphins. Located on the western coast of the Peron Peninsula it is 23 km southwest of the dolphins and 831 km north of Perth.

Days 51 and 52.
Went back to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins being fed, but arrived to late.

Booked a two-hour cruise on the catamaran “Aristocat 2” for 11am. By the time we got under way the sun was shining through the clouds and it looked like being a really nice day. It was beautiful cruising on the Indian Ocean, and we saw lots of dolphins at play. Also we saw flocks of sea birds chasing baitfish, and the dolphins joined in on this too.

The rest of the day, and the following day was spent exploring around Denham and Shark Bay in general… what a beautiful place.

Day 53. Denham to Kalbarri.
Up early and on our way. The wildflowers along the roadside are just spectacular. Closer to Kalbarri they were growing in fields as far as the eye could see. Witnessing this was a real highlight and something we’d both looked forward to.

After arriving in Kalbarri we booked into a nice cabin at the Murchison Caravan Park, and drove around the town, then did some grocery shopping.

Located 586 km north of Perth, Kalbarri is a delightful tourist and fishing village surrounded by one of the most beautiful regions of wildflowers in Australia.

Day 54.
Today was spent exploring the inland gorges in the Kalbarri National Park, and the coastal gorges around Kalbarri. While exploring the coastal gorges we were privileged to see whales breeching in the Indian Ocean. What a day!

Day 55.
Today we visited the Kalbarri Wildflower Centre and some of the souvenir shops, and then lunched at the Black Rock Café.

Day 56.
Lazy day today mainly spent with Bev doing washing and just relaxing.

Day 57. Kalbarri to Geraldton.
The countryside along the way was just magnificent… lush green paddocks filled with fat cattle and sheep. On the way to Geraldton we deviated to Port Gregory for a look. While there’s not much to see at Port Gregory, the Pink Lake is quite spectacular.

The pink colour comes from algae growing in the water.

After arriving in Geraldton we booked into a very new cabin in the Belair Gardens Caravan Park at Point Moore, and then went for a drive around the city.

Day 58.
Today we’re doing a day trip to Mullewa, some 100K’s to the east of Geraldton to see the wild flowers. This area has the reputation of being the wildflower centre of WA. I missed it when I was in Geraldton in ’98, and was thereby determined to see it this time.

Then we stumbled upon the Tourist Information Centre, which as luck would have it, was open.

The lady volunteer on duty was most helpful, plying us with maps and lots of local information. She said that if we wanted to see some spectacular wild flowers we should drive out to Coalseam Conservation Park, and gave us a home made mud map of just how to get there.

From Mullewa this scenic drive passes through some of the finest wheatlands in the district. As mentioned previously, in earlier times this same area saw some of the State’s earliest conflicts between Aboriginals and European settlers, resulting in the spearing of a shepherd, and the hanging of those responsible.
The site of this hanging is on Butterabby Road. The drive then continues to the picturesque Coalseam Conservation Park and the top of Irwin Lookout; a must see for artists and photographers.

At this time of the year (early Spring) the Everlastings carpet the landscape. The total round trip is some 122 K’s.

Everyone who travels through WA in the spring wants to see fields of wildflowers – those featured in advertisements and calendars. Those fields of flowers do exist, although not everywhere, and in some years they are more spectacular than in others.

Days 59 and 60.
Spent these days checking out all the points of interest in and around Geraldton.

Day 61. Geraldton to Perth.
On the way to Perth we detoured toward the coast and popped in to Cervantes for a look at the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. On the way we passed through the seaside township of Jurien.

Located 245 km north of Perth, Cervantes is a pleasant, rather underdeveloped, fishing village and holiday destination with three jetties, a very good motel, a caravan park and a rock lobster processing plant.

There is little doubt that The Pinnacles rate with the dolphins at Shark Bay and the cliffs at Kalbarri as the premier attractions on the coast between Perth and Carnarvon. These strange, much photographed, limestone pillars look like no other landscape in Australia. There is a quality of moonscape or some science fiction movie about the whole area.

We arrived in Karinyup, to the north of Perth, around mid afternoon and booked into a cabin in the Karinyup Waters Resort. It seems now that many caravan parks call themselves resorts; in my opinion this is done to justify the prices they now charge.

Karinyup was to be our base for the next six days. From here we would do day trips in and around the Perth area in order to see the many sights.

Days 62 to 67.
Explored around the area and visited, Kings Park, Perth City, and Fremantle. The weather wasn’t the best; cold and showery, and when we weren’t sight seeing we stayed in the cabin and watched the Olympic Games on TV.

It was whilst we were in the Perth area that we sold our Hyundai Sonata sedan, and made the change up to a small motor home, which I've covered in the post "Our Cars and Caravans".

Day 68. Karinyup to Rockingham.
Drove down to Rockingham, a pretty beachside suburb to the south of Perth. Booked into a caravan park for the night so we could check out the sights.

Days 69 and 70. Rockingham to Mandurah.
We decided to spend two days in Mandurah, as there seemed to be much to see around this area.

Day 71. Mandurah to Margaret River.
We had heard so much about the Margaret River area we decided to go and see it for ourselves. On the way we passed through Bunbury, Busselton and Dunsborough. It was our intention to spend time in both Bunbury and Busselton, but due to the bad weather we experienced, we just kept going.
After stopping for a counter lunch in Dunsborough we continued on to Margaret River, arriving there late afternoon. On our arrival it was still raining, blowing a gale and freezing, so we booked into a caravan park for the night. It’s a very popular area, and accommodation was difficult to find.

One of the great attractions of Margaret River is the vineyards and wineries, which lie between Busselton and Witchcliffe. The climate in the area is perfect for wine growing. It is classically Mediterranean with cool frost-free winters, good soils which retain the moisture, low summer rainfall and a long, slow ripening period.

This is a new industry in the area. The first grape vines were planted as recently as 1967 but already the region is producing Rhine Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. There are now over 40 wineries in the area. People wanting to do a little tasting should contact the Margaret River Tourist Association, which has maps and details of opening times.

Margaret River is also very popular with the surfing fraternity as it boasts some of the best surfing spots in Western Australia, some say in all of Australia.
In my opinion Margaret River is very over rated. If you don’t drink wine or surf there is very little to see or do.

Day 72. Margaret River to Northcliffe.
This proved to be a very interesting day. After departing Margaret River we headed south and drove down to Cape Leeuwin and Augusta. This was a very scenic drive and well worth the effort. After stopping at the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin we doubled back and headed for Pemberton, which was to be our destination today.

The drive to Pemberton was very interesting and we saw a diversity of landscapes, from lush green farming land to huge Karri Forests. Our intention today was to ride the little red tram at Pemberton through the Karri Forest.

I had done the tram trip back in ’98, but wanted Bev to enjoy the experience too. We arrived in Pemberton too early for the tram so popped into a local pub and had a counter lunch. The pub was lovely and warm; they had a fire going, so we hung around until it was time to board the tram chatting to a couple of fellow travellers.

The tram trip was great, the rain held off for most of the journey, and we got to see some wonderful timber country. This particularly interested Bev, as I knew it would, as she spent many years working in the timber industry.

After our tram trip we looked at booking into the local caravan park, but found it to be totally unacceptable. So, not know what lay ahead of us, we set off looking for somewhere else to stop for the night.
It was very dark when we drove into the sleepy little town of Northcliffe, and it had started to rain again. We decided this would have to be our destination tonight and booked into a lovely little motel, as there was no caravan park.

Days 73 and 74. Northcliffe to Albany.
On the way we passed through the sleepy little towns of Walpole and Denmark. I say sleepy because it was Sunday, and nothing or no one stirred as we passed by.

After arriving in Albany we booked into a caravan park for two days.
During our stay we explored the town and all the surrounding areas, including, Whale World, The Wind Farm, Frenchmans Bay, the Blow Hole, Natural Arch, Albany Harbour, Middleton Beach, Princess Royal Fortress, the replica of the brig Amity, Dog Rock, the old post office and other historic buildings and then took the tourist drive to Torndirrup National Park.

What an extraordinary town! A main street, which seems to go straight into the Princess Royal Harbour. Magnificent views across the Harbour from just about every vantage point. Gracious churches, public buildings and historic harbourside stores and wharves. Superb stretches of dramatic coastline weathered by the timeless forces of the Southern Ocean. There is no debate: Albany is one of the truly remarkable places in Western Australia. A beautiful town in a beautiful setting.

Day 75. Albany to Hyden.
In ’98 I missed going to Hyden to see Wave Rock, so we decided that we would go out of our way as we journeyed toward Esperance and go there to witness this strange phenomenon.

On our way we stopped for a counter lunch at the Ravensthorpe Pub.

It was late when we arrived at Wave Rock and we decided that we would come back the next day. We checked out the caravan park close by and gave it a miss. The woman in the caravan park shop was quite rude, and I’m intolerant of rude people. We drove into Hyden and booked into the hotel motel for $107.00 per night, another rip off.

Hyden is a small wheatbelt town, which lies 336 km south east of Perth. It would be a rather unimportant and insignificant town were it not for the remarkable Wave Rock, which lies to the west of the town.
The main reason people visit Hyden is to see the remarkable Wave Rock, which is part of the much larger Hyden Rock. It is located 4 km east of Hyden. Wave Rock is but one of hundreds of granite outcrops which dot the whole of the Central Wheat Belt. They were formed 3000 million years ago.
The main attraction with Wave Rock is its shape, which is like a huge collapsing wave. It is over 100 metres long. It is likely that this remarkable shape was caused by the weathering of the rock below ground before it was exposed. This unusual shape has been greatly highlighted by vertical streaks of algae, which grow on the surface of the 'wave' as dark black stains which change to brown during the dry season.

It was early when we rose and drove back out to Wave Rock. It had rained through the night and Wave Rock looked spectacular in the morning sunlight.

Day 76. Hyden to Esperance.
We retraced our steps back to the Coast Highway, and then continued on our way to Esperance. Upon our arrival we booked into a caravan park, looked around the town and did some necessary grocery shopping.

This is where we traded our newly aquired motor home in, and drove away in a Hyundai Santa Fe 4WD...I've covered this experience in the post titled "Our Cars and Caravans!"

Many people believe that the drive from Esperance west along Twilight Beach Road past West Beach, Chapman's Point, Blue Haven Beach, Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Twilight Beach is the most beautiful stretch of coastline to be seen anywhere in Australia. The impossibly white sands, the gently rounded granite cliffs, and the ocean changing from aquamarine near the shore to a deep blue out near the islands of the Archipelago of the Recherche is a combination of natural beauties which make Esperance one of the true wonders of the Australian coastline.

Days 77 and 78.
After an extremely uncomfortable night (it blew a gale and rained most of the night) we booked out of the caravan park and booked into a lovely holiday apartment nearer the beach for two nights.
Over the next two days we explored all around the Esperance area, taking in as many sights as possible.

Day 79. Esperance to Kalgoorlie.
It was still raining off and on when we left Esperance for Kalgoorlie. On the way we passed through Norseman, which is at the beginning of the Nullarbor crossing. We noticed that we were back in wild flower country again, and enjoyed seeing the spectacular show.

Upon our arrival we looked around for suitable accommodation and finally booked into a nice cabin in a caravan park. After settling in we drove around Kalgoorlie and were impressed with the old buildings.
We visited the Super Pit, the mine site right on the edge of the town. Seeing the machinery I was taken back to my days with Morgan Equipment, and swapped a few yarns with some other tourists looking out over the mine site from the lookout.

Days 80 and 81.
Continued sight seeing around Kalgoorlie.

Day 82. Kalgoorlie to Nundroo, South Australia- Nullarbor Crossing.
Depart Kalgoorlie early for what was to be a long drive, though we didn’t know it at the time.

Our aim was to get as far as the township of Nullarbor, which is some 1085 K’s; however upon our arrival there around nightfall we discovered that there was no accommodation available. We noticed a tour coach parked beside the motel and learned that this was the cause for the lack of accommodation.
We had no option but to press on, and, after consulting our map, set out for the next stop, Yalata. When we arrived there the roadhouse was in darkness so we set off for the next place on the map, Nundroo.

Nundroo is little more than a roadhouse, with a pub and motel attached, but late at night it was a very welcome sight. After a meal in their roadhouse restaurant we booked into a motel room for what was left of the night. Our speedometer indicated that we had covered 1300 K’s that day, and we were both really tired.

Some people enjoy crossing the Nullarbor, I’m not sure why, but I personally detest the boredom and distance involved. In my opinion there is little to see, and the cost of petrol is exorbitant… to each his own.

Day 83. Nundroo to Port Pirie.
Up early and away. Today our destination was Port Augusta, where we intended spending a few days exploring around the area, in particular the Wilpena Pound area. Little did we know we would be faced with lack of accommodation yet again?

We stopped along the way for breakfast, and passed through Ceduna and a number of other small towns on our way to Port Augusta. Upon arrival there we quickly discovered that there was some event on relating to all the schools in the area and there wasn’t a spare bed to be found. We pushed on to Port Pirie, changing our plans regarding our visit to Wilpena Pound, deciding instead to go through the Borossa Valley and on to Renmark, on the mighty Murray River.

We looked around Port Pirie, visited the Tourist Information Centre, booked into a motel, had Chinese for dinner, before getting an early night… we were exhausted.

Days 84 and 85. Port Pirie to Renmark.
Up early again and breakfasted at Mackas. Acting on the advice we’d received at the Tourist Information Centre the day before we had decided to drive through the Clare Valley, passing through Crystal Brook, via Gawler, in order to get to the Borossa Valley. The drive was just spectacular; the countryside was lush and green, everything looked beautiful.

Clare is the major township in the Clare Valley. Located 136 km from Adelaide it is an ideal place to stay if you intend exploring the thirty wineries, which stretch, from Emerald Estate in the north to Grosset Wines south of Auburn in the south.

We passed through many quaint little country towns on the way, and stopped at one, Auburn, just to buy a post card, as the buildings were so impressive.

After the Clare Valley we entered the Borossa Valley via Gawler, and drove through this magnificent part of South Australia. While Bev had visited here before, I hadn’t and appreciated her commentary on the drive through. As neither of us are wine drinkers we didn’t stop to sample the product from the many cellar door outlets, but did appreciate the countryside.

We arrived in Renmark and booked into a cabin at the Riverbend Caravan Park right on the banks of the Murray River… what a magnificent spot!

After we’d settled into the cabin we explored around the township of Renmark.

Renmark is the oldest settlement on the Murray River, and is located 256 km north east of Adelaide, 145 km from Mildura and 20 metres above sea level. Renmark is a large and prosperous town in the heart of an area of an orchard area where limes, olives, apricots, grapes, plums, garlic and a wide range of fruit are all grown.

Like so many of the towns in the area Renmark is characterised by extraordinarily wide streets with virtual parks in the middle of the roads.

Whilst in the area we paid a visit to Angove's Winery, which is located in Bookmark Avenue, Renmark. Our purpose in visiting the winery was to purchase some wine for Kim for looking after our mail while we travelled. We also tried to book a river cruise, but found that the boat would not be operating while we were going to be in Renmark.

Day 86. Renmark to Mildura - Victoria.
The drive between Renmark and Mildura is very pleasant and we were in Mildura before we knew it.
I’d never been to Mildura before and was suitably impressed with the gardens and buildings as we drove into the city… it’s a very clean city with a huge amount of pride.

We booked into a lovely holiday apartment and then went for a drive out to Red Cliffs where we visited Woodsie’s Gem Shop. The weather in Mildura was fantastic, clear blue skies and warm days.

Mildura is a major regional city of some 22 000 people located near the north-western tip of Victoria and at the centre of an area known as 'Sunraysia'.

Mildura is also a riverside resort, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. In this regard it is literally an oasis in the desert and its paddle steamers, lush golf course and other attractions are a welcome site after many kilometres of consistently dry brown terrain and wheat fields.

Days 87 and 88. Continued to explore around Mildura and did a river cruise on the old paddle steamer PS Melbourne. The cruise took us down river through lock 11 and back again. The journey both ways through the lock was a real experience as when you enter it one way the level is low, and the other way it’s high.

We also visited the township of Wentworth, which is not far from Mildura on the way to Broken Hill. This town is on the junction of the Darling River and Murray River and is quite historic.

Day 89. Mildura to Cobar NSW.
Our original destination was to be Broken Hill, where we were going to spend a few days looking around and visiting Silverton, the site used in a number of Australian movies.

On our arrival in Broken Hill we tried to find cabin accommodation in a number of caravan parks, however the standard of the cabins was way below what we would stay in. In a couple of words they were both small and grotty. We then went looking for motel accommodation only to find that there was something on in Broken Hill and all the motels were full. That left us no option but to press on.

We left Broken Hill just after lunch, heading east toward Wilcannia. The drive through the desert was even more boring than the Nullarbor crossing, and we had a howling northerly wind at our side creating a haze of dust as far as the eye could see.

We stopped in Wilcannia just long enough to grab a cold drink, and then kept heading for Cobar, where we would stay tonight. We decided enroute to change our itinerary, and instead of heading north to Bourke we would head south to Sydney and catch up with family.
Bev phoned Mike and told him of our plans, asking him to contact the other family members to arrange a get together at Panthers Rugby League Club.

It was dark when we arrived in Cobar and booked into the first decent looking motel we found, and headed off for a counter meal at a local pub. This proved to be the biggest pub meal we’ve ever had as we left half on our plates. Bev and I are pretty good on the tooth, but this one stopped us.

Cobar is a reasonable sized town and appeared to be well kept.

Day 90. Cobar to Penrith.
Another early start as we had another long drive ahead. We stopped for breakfast at a truck stop in Nyngan, and shared breakfast time with a group of hungry truckies.

On our way to Penrith we passed through many towns such as Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst and Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. The drive was very pleasant as the scenery changed all the time.

While passing through Bathurst Bev was driving and deviated to Mount Panorama to show me the race circuit. We actually drove on the circuit and I had to remind Bev a few times that is wasn’t race day.

At Penrith we booked into a nice villa at Nepean Shores, right on the Nepean River.

Day 91. Visited Kerrie in the morning and found Ella and Cass there too. Kerrie had kept them home from school to catch up with us. That night we all met at Panthers for dinner and a catch up.

Day 92. Penrith to Laurieton (North Haven).
The drive from Penrith to Laurieton was pleasant, apart from the Sydney morning traffic.
We visited Laurieton last year while staying in Port Macquarie and both fell in love with this tranquil little seaside paradise.On arrival we booked in to a cabin in North Haven for two nights, then set off to explore the area.

In the heart of the Camden Haven area, Laurieton offers an extensive range of water related activities, a comprehensive an attractive shopping centre, trade park service area, library, tennis courts, squash courts, sporting facilities, swimming pool, community health centre, hotel and ex-serviceman's club with excellent facilities, a selection of fine restaurants, caravan parks and all the services and amenities expected of a thriving holiday town.

Day 93. Drove up to the lookout at North Brother Mountain and witnessed the most spectacular views. We were fortunate to be there when a group of hang glider pilots arrived and launched themselves right off the edge of the mountain.

After this we continued on our site seeing excursion of the area.

Days 94 and 95. Laurieton to Tweed Heads – Gold Coast.
The drive to Tweed heads was enjoyable as the road has improved and no longer runs through many of the smaller towns. On arrival at Tweed Heads we booked into a nice new cabin at the Pyramid Caravan Village as we’ve stayed there before.

I phoned Kim that night and arranged to meet up with her after she finished work the following day.
The following day Bev and I went to the movies at Tweed Heads and saw Jennifer Garner in Suddenly Thirty. A bit of a chick flick, but not too bad. In the afternoon we headed for Kim’s to catch up with her, Jesse and Cameron. We bought pizza and apple pie for dinner and had a good catch up.

Day 96. Tweed Heads to Hervey Bay.
Homeward bound! We had an uneventful trip home, arriving about lunchtime.

While Bev was glad to be home after being away for three months, I, on the other hand, could have kept going. Perhaps I never know when I’ve had enough?

Funnily, on the way home we were discussing just where we’d go on our next trip… who knows?

"Our 2004 Trip!"

In February 2004 we headed off to Rainbow Beach for some R&R in our caravan…phew it was hot. We did all the touristy things around the area, including a 4WD tour along Rainbow Beach to the wreck of the Cherry Venture and saw the coloured sands. What a great day! I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

I was amazed to see a guy with a 4WD set up at the Cherry Venture wreck selling ice creams…talk about not wasting an opportunity. He would have done a roaring trade with all the 4WD tourist buses passing by.

The caravan park at Rainbow Beach was right on the water facing Tin Can Bay, and we fished nearly every day. Sadly, the fish were not at home and we never caught anything worth keeping. The sand flies however, made a meal of us most days.

After a week at Rainbow Beach we headed for Noosa, and booked into the Munna Point Caravan Park right on the banks of the Noosa River… what a top spot. We planned on staying there for one month but the heat drove us home after only about two weeks.

In that time we decided to put the house on the market, so we drove home without the van, listed the house, and drove back again to enjoy the rest of our holiday.

During our stay in Noosa we witnessed some spectacular storms, in fact we were on a boat cruise of the Noosa River when we were caught in a doozy. You could see it coming for ages, the sky was almost black, then it hit… we all ended up like drowned rats.
The skipper tried to shelter under a bridge, but to no avail as the storm was so ferocious the rain belted down from every angle.

By the time we’d returned from Noosa we’d decided that once the house sold we would like to buy a smaller home in an over 55’s village. This way we would have no home maintenance, and we’d be able to travel without asking friends and neighbours to water and mow while we were away enjoying ourselves.

Over the next couple of months we looked at many places between Hervey Bay and the Sunshine Coast…even as far south as Coffs Harbour, but always came back to the fact that we enjoyed living in Hervey Bay. There were a number of options in Hervey Bay, but, after considering them all, we were both keen on Torquay Waters Village at Torquay, a suburb of Hervey Bay, very small, not far from the beach, and very private.

There were new homes being built there and we decided that when we did sell we’d seriously look at buying there…the rest is history, as that’s where we now live.

"Our 2003 Trip!"

Apart from a few weekends spent at Shoal Haven Heads, south of Wollongong, whilst living in Penrith, and after our move to Hervey Bay, a few weeks here and there spent at Woodgate, Elliott Heads, Baffle Creek, Gympie, Boonooroo and Mundubbera, our next major trip was 12th February 2003, when we hit the road with our caravan in tow to head south.

This trip was to take us three months, and we’d engaged house sitters for that time…never again would we do this, but that’s another story for another time perhaps.

We’d planned on traveling slowly down the Pacific Highway to Sydney before heading inland to Canberra, down the Great Ocean Road, to Mt. Gambier, ending up in Adelaide. Our return trip was planned to take us slowly along the Murray, then onto Canberra, Sydney and inland to home via Warwick, Toowoomba and Crows Nest.

Our first stop was Alexander Headland on the Sunshine Coast for a few days, then on to The Gold Coast for a few more days, catching up with family at the same time.

Our next stop was Kempsey overnight, then on to Forster for a week. What a week that was too… it rained for the entire week. Fortunately the caravan park had Austar cabled to each site, so we watched movies most of the time. Then it was on to Sydney to again catch up with family and friends.

Sydney was not kind to us. The night before we were to leave for Canberra, Bev suffered a heart attack in the middle of the night and ended up in the cardiac ward at Nepean Hospital in Penrith. Ironically she was in the same bed that I’d occupied some eighteen months before.
An angiogram revealed that she had a blocked artery and required an angioplasty and stent. She was transferred to Westmead Hospital for this, and spent a total of ten days in hospitals.

Leaving Sydney behind us, we headed for Canberra to again catch up with family. Whilst in Canberra Bev again suffered some heart related problems and spent four days in Calvary Hospital.
By this time I was thinking that we were going to do a tour of every major hospital we came to along our planned route. I was searching for the title of the book we would write about the inside of every hospital between Sydney and Adelaide.

Her doctors were not keen on us continuing our planned trip, so instead we stopped in Canberra for a month, where Bev could recuperate and be spoiled by her baby sister and family, before slowly heading north again.

This time we bypassed Sydney and stopped off at Anna Bay, Port Stephens for five days before heading to Port Macquarie for seventeen days, and Yamba for another five days.

By this time the dreaded rain had found us again, and after leaving Yamba we were going to spend a few days on the coast south of Tweed Heads. We arrived in Tweed Heads dragging the rain along with us. A quick phone call confirmed that it wasn’t raining in Crows Nest, so that’s where we headed for a pleasant few days before arriving back in Hervey Bay on 12th May.

We both vowed and declared that one day we’d complete the trip we’d started, and had to abandon.

"Tassie, Four Steps Back In Time!"

The following trip to Tasmania was our first major trip together.

It was Friday 25th January 2002, and we were about to leave for Tassie.

This trip was planned last year, and we were booked to depart Melbourne for Tasmania onboard the “Spirit” on 11th February. Then I found out that I could have my knee replacement on 18th January, and we cancelled our trip. Then, two days before the operation, I suffered two angina attacks, (probably brought on by high blood pressure through pain, and nerves) and the operation was cancelled.

We were both a little down and deflated by the turn of events when Bev said, “Look, I’ve got the time off work for your recovery period after the operation. Why don’t we use that time and still go to Tassie?” We did just that, and rushed around to organise the trip in under a week. Phew!

After checking out prices on the “Spirit”, we decided not to take our caravan. We weighed up the cost of taking the caravan against not taking it, and staying in cabins in caravan parks. The latter seemed the best option to us. We also had to consider that this was going to be a shortish trip, and towing the caravan would certainly slow us down. I’d checked out the caravan/cabin situation on the Internet, and there seemed to be an abundance of places offering reasonable rates.

Day 1. Friday 25th January 2002.
Now we were on our way. We left Glenmore Park at 2.40pm, after Bev got home from work, and travelled down the Hume Highway and made Gundagai before dark, where we stayed the night.

Day 2. Saturday 26th January 2002.
Up early the next morning and headed for Melbourne, after the mandatory breakfast stop at McDonalds. We arrived in Melbourne around 1.30pm and found Ashley Gardens Caravan Park, (Big 4) where we’d booked a cabin for the night. Then it was off to find Station Pier, where the Spirit departed from at Port Phillip, as Sunday would be an early start. I can certainly recommend Ashley Gardens Caravan Park to anyone wishing to base themselves close to Melbourne’s CBD. Melbourne’s Ring Road system make getting around relatively easy, providing you have a good navigator…I do.

Day 3. Sunday 27th January 2002.
It was still dark when we rose on Sunday and we were in the queue to board the Spirit around 6.30am. The trip to Devonport took thirteen hours and, apart from Bev getting a little seasick after lunch, was uneventful. We’d both taken seasick tablets too. The Spirit was very comfortable, though the cabins are smallish, and the food, service and shopping was all excellent. On arrival dockside at Devonport around 9.40 pm, we were greeted by rain. We were booked into the Edgewater Motel, right next door to the dock, and found it without any trouble. Even though we’d just sat around the entire trip we were both tired and crashed quickly.

Day 4. Monday 28th January 2002.
It was wakey, wakey early and into the shower. We were both very excited; this was the first day of our Tassie adventure. We were on the road at 7.30am, heading west toward Burnie, where we ran into this humongous thunderstorm. Not a good start to the adventure, but it didn’t last long. We were amazed that there was hardly a soul around as we travelled west. It appears that Tasmanians are late risers. We were to find this everywhere we went, even on workdays nothing much happened until around mid morning. We refuelled in Burnie and heard the entire history of Tasmania from the service station proprietor. He even had the solution to all their shipping and political problems. He continued his running commentary as he followed us back to the car, and then walked beside us as we drove down the driveway, making our escape…friendly guy.

Continuing west, we stopped off along the way to sight see, and called in at Wynyard, and some of the other small seaside towns, stopping off for morning tea. We arrived in the historic township of Stanley and booked a cabin in the Big 4 Caravan Park, right on the seashore, for two nights as we decided to base ourselves in Stanley… there appeared so much to see and do. The drive into Stanley is just amazing. We came around a bend in the road, and there in the distance was Stanley, with this huge piece of rock called The Nut towering over the township and guarding the Harbour. We later found out it was a piece left over from an ancient volcano…the core so to speak, and it was given the name The Nut.

After settling into our cabin, and then doing some grocery shopping, we took a look around. There was a chair lift operating right up to the top of The Nut…not for us though, we both hate heights and it was very windy. We decided to go on a seal cruise and arranged that. We met the skipper and wife at the Harbour and were joined by two other tourists, and a professional photographer. It was still very blowy and the skipper said that it might be too rough to get out to the seal colony, some half-hour or so away. He was so right and we came about and headed back to the Harbour within fifteen minutes. It was then onto historic Highfield House, circa 1832-1835, for a very informative two hours or so. The old house is undergoing restoration work and is just steeped in local history. Hats off to some of the locals who have worked hard to get it to where it is today, and run tours of the home and surrounding outbuildings, as well as a night time ghost tour. The history of the house and its owners was both interesting and a little sad.

Day 5. Tuesday 29th January 2002.
We were up early again and off on a 1-1/2 hour drive to the Arthur River on the West Coast for a cruise we booked the day before. The Arthur River is pristine, with rain forest and lots of bird life. There are two cruises operating out of the Arthur River Township and we’d chosen the newer of the two. For half the journey we travelled a reasonable gravel road, and arrived at the office around 9.00am to meet our hosts, Rob and Kaye Chandler, who also operate a small motel and caravan park there.

The cruise boat, named Reflections, was an ex fishing boat that Rob had gutted and completely refitted in their back yard, much to Kaye’s disgust. He did a great job on it; it’s a real credit to him and was obviously a labour of love.

The cruise was just fantastic… a true wilderness cruise, and Rob took us, and the other nine guests, up as far as his own landing at Warra Creek, some two hours up river. Along the way we say a number of White Breasted Sea Eagles that have lived and bred in the area for years. These birds are quite rare apparently. Both he and Kaye have done an incredible job of the landing and have made it very comfortable, without being conspicuous… it just blends into the surrounding rain forest.

We had morning tea there and then Rob took us for a guided walk through the rain forest. He certainly knows his stuff and told us all bout the exotic native flora and fauna. He’s made little trails through the rain forest, but again has left it pretty much as he found it. He’s very careful just where he walks and touches nothing. He was telling us that some species of flora are so delicate that to touch them would kill them.

Back on board, and heading back to base, Rob treated us to more running commentary and his quick wit. On our return around 2.00 pm, Kaye had prepared a delicious barbeque, which was enjoyed by all. They’re a lovely couple and really enjoy their little part of Tassie and their casual life style. We then headed back to our base at Stanley, full of food and wonderful memories of a terrific day out after witnessing, first hand, some of “the real Tasmania”.

Day 6. Wednesday 30th January 2002.
At 7.45am we left Stanley behind and headed east, back toward Wynyard, to link up with the main road south to Strahan, our destination today. The drive was very scenic, with plenty of twists and turns after we left the coast and began to head south. We stopped off in the small lakeside township of Tullah for morning tea. We then continued on and between Rosebury and Zeehan saw our first Tassie Devil in the wild. He ran across the road ahead of us, and then ran parallel to the car before disappearing into the bush. This was a memorable experience as the only other “Devils” we saw were either in captivity, or lying dead on the road.

We stopped off in the historic mining town ship of Zeehan and visited the Mining and Railway Museum. Again, like most of Tasmania, this place was steeped in local history and was a credit to the locals who’ve painstakingly done so much restoration works. I thought of the “Train Buffs” at The Sydney Society of Model Engineers, and thought how envious they’d all be.

After a pleasant tour of the museum we continued on to Strahan and booked a cabin in yet another caravan park after arranging a cruise of the Gordon River for the following morning. The afternoon was spent looking around Strahan and visiting some of the local craft places and the boat harbour. A visit to Tutt’s Whittle Wonders saw the purchase of an unusual walking stick whittled from a piece of a young Blackwood Tree. This guy had collected unusual pieces of timber over the years and whittled them into some fantastic pieces. His sense of humour was as good as his woodwork.

Strahan has it’s own sawmill where you can buy most types of Tassie timbers. There is also a retail shop at the front selling some wonderful pieces of timber ware, all made from Tassie timbers. The prices reflected the quality, leaving us to purchase some of the less expensive stuff as mementos.

Strahan reminded me a little of what Airlie Beach in Queensland was like about twenty years ago. During our travels we often saw the old flat roofed houses so popular in the 1950’s…these were quite commonplace all throughout Tassie; hence part of the reason I’ve titled this “Tassie, Four Steps Back In Time.”

Day 7. Thursday 31st January 2002
Another early start sees us down at the boat harbour by 8.30am ready for our cruise of the Gordon River. This cruise was nothing like the one we’d done on the Arthur River. This was a much bigger boat, and much, much more touristy, enjoyable and informative nevertheless. The boat firstly headed out to a narrow opening at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour…a landmark known as “Hell’s Gates”. Sarah Island, in the middle of the harbour, was used as a penal colony in the early days, and as the convicts came through the heads into Macquarie Harbour they believed they were on their way to Hell. Like most of Tasmania, the Strahan area has many gruesome tales about the early convict day’s… tales of cruelty and misery.

The cruise boat passed by many salmon farms in the harbour on it’s way to the Gordon River. The cruise up the river was most pleasant, though this area is not as pristine as the Arthur River and the absence of any bird life was noticeable. We disembarked at Heritage Landing for a walk through the rain forest on a raised walkway. On the return leg of the journey the boat stopped off at Sarah Island for a guided tour, conducted by a local theatre group. The island had an air of sadness about it, and no wonder, considering the acts of cruelty that were experienced there. I was to later experience a much stronger feeling of sadness and grief when we visited Port Arthur, but more about that later.

Day 8. Friday 1st February 2002.
We were leaving the West Coast behind us today and heading for Hobart to the south.

7.30am we were on the road again, this time heading east for Queenstown before turning south. The early morning views after climbing up from Strahan were breathtaking. That is until we got to Queenstown. What a boring desolate hole! In my opinion, if they were going to give the world an enema, then they’d insert it into Queenstown.

The mining there has stripped the surrounding countryside bare… it’s devoid of all vegetation and resembles a moonscape. We had intended riding the AB train up through some of the spectacular countryside to the west of Queenstown, but it had derailed the day before and wasn’t operating. We stopped in Queenstown only long enough to refuel, and then we were off again.

Our drive down to Hobart took us near a small township called Tarraleagh. Situated nearby was a huge hydro electricity power station. We decided to stop in Tarraleagh for a cuppa only to find the streets deserted. It looked like a ghost town… very spooky.

Further along we passed through some wonderful countryside, including Hamilton and New Norfolk. Arriving in Hobart early afternoon, we booked into the Mornington Cabin Park for four nights, that is after getting lost in Bellerive. At least we saw the Tasmanian home of cricket, even if it was by accident. We decided to base ourselves in Hobart for a while and do a trip each day.

Day 9. Saturday 2nd February 2002.
Today is Port Arthur day. The sky looked very overcast, rain wasn’t far away. The trip to Port Arthur was a pleasant one passing through Sorell, Copping, Dunalley and Eagle Neck. Reaching Port Arthur I was pleased that I’d bought that walking stick back in Strahan, as there was some walking involved. We were lucky as it was a relatively quiet day and one of the staff operating a little courtesy buggy ferried us about. The feeling in the air was so depressing and cheerless. No wonder, considering the acts of cruelty that had taken place there while it served as a penal settlement. Such a beautiful outlook, view wise, but such a horrendous place.

We visited as many sites as we could manage and then took the boat trip out onto the harbour. The trip was relatively short, but the commentary was great, even though the young lady rushed it a bit. We passed by the Isle of the Dead, Port Arthur’s own burial ground. Convicts, military and civilians alike were all buried on that tiny island. The convicts occupied the low side, while the military and civilians occupied the more prestigious sites. The skipper of the boat had written a little book on The Isle of the Dead so we bought a copy, which he kindly signed for us.

Right near the main building is the now infamous remains of the Broad Arrow Café, the site of the most recent Port Arthur tragedies. When, on Sunday 28th April 1996, Martyn Bryant ran amok, killing thirty-five innocent people on his murderous rampage. A memorial has been erected there as well as a pool of remembrance.

In the downstairs foyer of the main building is a small memorial to the three staff members included in the thirty-five that Bryant murdered on that day. As I read the verse on that memorial I wept and asked Bev to write it down for me. It goes like this:

Do not stand at our graves and weep,
We are not there,
We do not sleep.
We are a thousand winds that blow,
We are the diamond glint on the snow,
We are the sunlight on ripened grain,
We are the gentle autumn’s rain,
When you awake on the morning’s hush,
We are the swift uplifting rush of birds circling in flight,
We are the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at our graves and weep,
We are not there,
We do not sleep.

Those words, together with the heaviness of grief and pain in the air, made me think of the stupidity and waste of human life, then and centuries ago. Animals kill only for self-preservation, or food. Man kills out of hatred, to me that makes us lower than most animals. And we’re supposed to be the bright ones!

As we completed our tour of Port Arthur it rained, and that seemed appropriate to me as it matched my melancholy mood.

Our spirits lifted on our trip back to Hobart and we popped in to see the Tasman Arch, Devil’s Kitchen and a quaint little seaside village called Doo Town. The houses in Doo Town all had names. There was This’ll Doo, Gunnadoo, Kakadoo, Xanadoo. We Doo, Doo Us, Doo Write, Doo Me, and many more. It appears that the inhabitants of Doo Town all had a sense of humour.

Day 10. Sunday 3rd February 2002.
This morning we set off for the top of Mt. Wellington. You could see it from the cabin park, way off in the distance. It stands like a silent sentinel, overlooking Hobart, the Derwent River, and the surrounding district. It took quite a while to reach the very summit…the road is narrow in places and is full of twists and turns. I opened the car door to get out to take some photographs and was hit by a freezing, howling wind.

It was so cold up there. I scurried inside the glass walled observatory and took my photographs in relative comfort. It took a little talking to convince Bev to get out of the car and join me. On the road up there are five gates and, depending on the current weather and road conditions, these gates can be opened or closed to allow, or prohibit, public access to the summit. In bad weather it would be absolute stupidity to try and access the summit. On the way up we noticed many walking tracks leading off the main road. You’d need to be really fit to even try some of those walks.

From Mt. Wellington we ventured south and began making our way down to visit Southport, at the lower end of Tassie, and the towns and villages in between.

This is apple country and some of the scenery was quite breathtaking. To do this we pass through the Huon Valley, renowned for its tree top board walk through the forest. On our way down it rained and we were told the tree top walk would be closed.

We stopped of in Dover for morning tea at a bakery café, and then it was on to Southport. This area is quite pretty and unspoiled. The main road was more or less equivalent to one of our little country lanes, for while it was sealed it was very, very narrow. After lunch we leisurely began to wind our way back to Hobart.

We arrived back in Hobart around mid afternoon and decided to check out Constitution Dock, the City Centre, Salamanca Markets, Battery Point, and anything else of interest. While we enjoyed the atmosphere of Constitution Dock, we were disappointed as we expected something to match Darling Harbour. I have no idea how they get the Sydney to Hobart fleet in there, as it’s really tiny. The City Centre itself is quite small and easy to find your way around. You just need to remember which streets are one way only.

The charm of the old buildings is wonderful, and it’s easy to imagine the hustle and bustle many years ago when all this was new. The entire area is well preserved, and is just like stepping back in time. We spent a leisurely couple of hour’s sight seeing before heading back to the cabin park.

Day 11. Monday 4th February 2002.
Today we visited the historic Georgian township of Richmond, situated about a twenty-five minute drive north east of Hobart. What a quaint and well-preserved village!

When we saw the famous Richmond Bridge I recognised it from an oil painting I once had hanging on the wall. It’s reputed to be the oldest, still in use, bridge in Australia. It’s also probably the second most photographed and painted bridge in Australia, second only to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The towns folk are really friendly and obviously realise they owe their existence to the thousands upon thousands of tourists who flock there each year.

We did the tour of the miniature Old Hobart Town…it was like taking a step back in time as the miniature presented Hobart in the early days. We also did the old goal tour…another place of pain, cruelty, suffering and desperation. Tasmania must be filled with ghosts? We also enjoyed a traditional Devonshire tea at this lovely old English teahouse. The owner was telling us that she worked there as a young girl and dreamt it would be hers one day. Well, some twenty years on, it is hers now. We checked out all the little souvenir shops and bought a little wooden plaque made of all the different Tassie timbers, with a picture of the old Richmond Bridge on it.

Day 12. Tuesday 5th February 2002.
Up and packed, ready to leave Hobart by 8.15am. Today’s destination was to be Swansea on the east coast.
We travelled through Sorell, Orford, Triabunna and then on to Swansea. To our surprise this only took us til mid morning, as there was little to stop and look at along the way. We looked around Swansea, had morning tea, and decided to travel on to St. Helens, which was to be our destination the following day.

We called in for a toilet stop at Coles Bay, and then it was on to Bicheno, and our first glimpse of the ocean in a while. Bicheno was a beautiful spot with magnificent water and coastline to surpass anything we’d seen so far.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay and had the best fish and chips in years. What cost us $8-95 in Bicheno would have cost $30-00 in a similar situation in Sydney. The view from our table was just breathtaking.

On our way back to the car we stopped and talked to a couple around our age, travelling on two Harley’s with Queensland registration.
We’d seen the same couple the day before in Richmond. They were in Tassie for a HOG rally and were travelling through to St. Helens as well. We arrived in St. Helens late afternoon and booked into a cabin for the night. To our surprise the bikie couple booked into the same caravan park.
We decided to go and see the Bay of Fires that afternoon and asked the bikie couple if they’d like to come with us, as it was mainly dirt road. What a disappointment, there was very little to see that was worthy of the drive down the gravel road.

We were a little disappointed in what we’d seen on the east coast, especially as we were told before leaving for our trip how beautiful the east coast was. We really enjoyed the ruggedness of the west coast much more. I guess we’re spoiled as we’ve both seen prettier places in northern New South Wales and Queensland.

Day 13. Wednesday 6th February 2002.
We left St. Helens at 7.20am for the two hour trip to Launceston. On the way we passed through many little sleepy villages. As I’ve said before, life in Tassie doesn’t seem to start until around mid morning. We arrived at our caravan park in Legana to be told we were too early to book in to the cabin we’d arranged there, so we went off to explore Launceston.
We eventually found the Cataract Gorge, situated not far from the hub of Launceston, but decided not to explore there as it was steep and involved a lot of walking.

After a look around we went to Penny Royal World but couldn’t handle all the steps and stairs involved in looking around this quaint place.

We read about the auto museum and decided to visit there. It was certainly worthwhile as there was a great display of vintage cars and motorbikes, very reminiscent of Gilltraps on the Gold Coast.

In the afternoon we drove up to Beauty Point, then across the Batman Bridge and on to George Town.

Launceston is a lovely spot, situated right on the Tamar River, very easy to drive in and has a lot going for it. We booked a river cruise with Tamar Cruises for the following day.

Day 14. Thursday 7th February 2002.
Time for our Tamar River cruise! We spent a fabulous day aboard the Tamar Odyssey. Tasmanians claim that the Tamar River, at 76km, is Australia’s longest navigable tidal estuary. Tasmanians are funny in that they love laying claim to such facts… I guess this could be pride too, as they’re certainly proud of their state.

The cruise actually started in the Cataract Gorge. So we got to see it after all, and without walking. It’s quite spectacular and breathtaking. From there we continued up the Tamar, taking in the many spectacular sights along the way, including passing under the unusual Batman Bridge.

This cruise is certainly worth doing, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Seeing the sights from the river, as opposed to seeing them while driving, puts a different perspective on things, and allows the normal driver the opportunity to sit back, relax, and let someone do the “driving”.

Day 15. Friday 8th February 2002.
It’s time to leave Tassie and head back to the mainland…our holiday was nearing its end. We arrived in George Town early and had a look around before heading down to the Devil Cat departure point to wait to board the Devil Cat for our homeward journey.
We’d heard so many tales about how rough the trip on the Devil Cat could be. Bev was quite nervous, as we’d heard it referred to as “The Vomit Comet” and the “Spew Cat”. Anyway, our fears were unfounded as the trip back to Port Phillip Bay went quickly and was uneventful.

We stayed the night at Ashley Gardens Caravan Park again.

Day 16. Saturday 9th February 2002.
We left Melbourne early to head for home in one hop, arriving home late in the afternoon, tired but really pleased with our trip.

Summary:
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Tassie. There were times however that we were somewhat disappointed. I guess this comes from listening to other people’s opinions prior to the trip, then finding that the places they described don’t live up to our expectations. Lets face it, we’re all different, and see different things in different places.
In our opinion, the west coast is by far the most interesting…the people seem friendlier, and the countryside is what we expected to find in Tasmania. If you want beautiful beaches then visit northern New South Wales, Queensland or even Western Australia.

Although we took lots of photos, we also bought lots of post cards, particularly of the real Tasmanian attractions. I figure those post card photographers only take the best views on the best days, and are much more accomplished photographers than I’ll ever be.

Sometimes while touring Tassie it’s difficult to realise that you’re still in Australia… it’s just so different to anything on the mainland.

The historical side of Tasmania is a real eye opener, and quite sad. The fact that it was first settled as a penal colony is quite obvious when looking at all the preserved penal institutions on display. The feeling of despair, human suffering and sadness still hang in the air today. The cruelty that took place in those institutions is almost beyond belief.

The preservation of the original buildings is to be admired. No huge high-rise buildings here. The old certainly hasn’t been sacrificed to make way for the new either. No, Tassie’s still in its original state…in fact visiting Tassie is like taking "four steps back in time."