An Unexpected Stopover

Wednesday, 9th March -- Our departure from 'Dylisglen' this morning was a little emotional as it will be some time before we see the little lad and his parents again. We seem to be missing so many special moments as our grandchildren grow up. So glad we had this opportunity to share in the celebrations of Master Landon's first birthday.

Now it is time to continue our adventures. From Mackay we are heading north. We have ten days before we must be in Palm Cove for another special celebration, so there is really no rush as it is less than 800kms in a straight line ( for those readers following our travels on the map link we gave in an earlier post, Palm Cove is north of Cairns along the east coast).

Grey Bay Bowen

We finally departed Mackay around 11.45am. With such a late departure we decided to break our journey with an overnight stay at Bowen. It had been easy travelling along the Bruce Highway despite the heavy rain. There was a lot of water alongside the roadway but no flooded sections today thank goodness. At least the Magpie geese were loving this weather!


As it was my birthday the OWO decided it would be appropriate for us to stay in a van park tonight and go somewhere for dinner - I must say here that we are not van park travellers usually and prefer free camping so it was a surprise to hear the OWO making that decision. Oh, but what a great decision it turned out to be.

Looking down on our van park

We chose to stay at the Queens Beach Tourist Park. A really lovely park with spacious, private sites, superb amenities, friendly owners and walking distance to the beach and the pub. After being given a choice of sites we decided to book in for two nights and spend tomorrow exploring Bowen - a place we had bypassed many times when we were posted in Townsville back in the eighties.

Bowen is renowned for its wonderful sweet mangoes. So, of course, we drove past many mango orchards as well as many sugar canefields. The other thing associated with Bowen is the filming of the movie "Australia", directed by Baz Luhrman and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The town of Bowen was transformed into a movie set and the main street was where the cattle droving scene was filmed. There will certainly be a lot to explore in this area in two days. 
But tonight we enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration at a restaurant recommended by the van park manager - The Cove.  Great recommendation - wonderful meal at a wonderful location.

The Cove Restaurant

Near Bowen - Turtles nest here

Croc country near Bowen

View from Lion's Lookout to van park

A Celebration in the Wet Tropics

Wednesday, 2nd March - 'Dylisglen'
Rained overnight and overcast this morning. We had a lazy start, leaving Eungella Dam around 11am. The plan was to stop at Broken River to do some walking, and maybe spot a platypus in the creek, and arrive at 'Dylisglen' around 4pm. Good thing these RRs are flexible with their plans.

Pioneer Valley in fog

After a lunch stop at Broken River Cafe and a short walk along the creek (no platypus sighted by the way!), we were once again rained upon - not just a light shower but a tropical downpour- so our plans for walking changed to driving. However, the rain got heavier and the fog got thicker - pea soup fog at Eungella.

Broken River - Platypus?? Nope

Broken River -- Turtles? Heaps

Down into the Valley we passed by 'Dylisglen' around 1.30pm. Taking a chance that Mrs K might be home, a quick phone call confirmed she was and she would meet us at the gate as we would have to go through the paddock to cross the creek as the grid was broken. That was an interesting little exercise towing 'Ada' through the cow paddock!

The creek was a little high!

And the track a little muddy!

After setting 'Ada' up near the barn out of the wind we spent the rest of the afternoon with Mrs K and the little lad - lots of cuddles and games just as Nanna's should do. By now the rain had really set in but no matter - we happily settled into an evening of fun and laughter as we put the little lad's birthday gifts together - brought back so many memories of when we spent hours putting our kids Xmas toys together so long ago.



So lovely to be able to share these special moments with Mrs K and the little lad. We missed so many of those magic moments with our other children and grandchildren being so far away.

Nanna making party hats

Thursday, 3rd March -- Master Landon's FIRST birthday.

A special morning full of surprises

An early start to share the joy of the little lad unwrapping his birthday gifts - so many things for him to take in but there were two things that held his attention - a wooden music table, and the 'trike' pusher that we had spent hours of laughter putting together the night before. Our main task today was to collect groceries from Mackay for Mrs K. This proved to be quite a challenge in the wet weather. A pretty scarey drive with extremely heavy tropical rain and flooded roads along the way. The scariest part was crossing the causeway and creek into 'Dylisglen' which were flowing quite rapidly. All part of living here I guess.

Party preparations - Nanna made the banner!

Saturday, 5th March -- Party day

A party -- What-oh!

It has rained continuously since our arrival and there was some concern that celebrations would have to be cancelled. Some guests did cancel due to flooded roads but party preparations continued and a lovely group of people joined us in celebrating the little lad's first birthday bash.



Tuesday, 8th March -- and the rains continue!!
Still raining at 'Dylisglen'. So wet that Mrs K bought me a pair of red wellies to wear between our 'Ada' and the shous. Our Driza-bone coats have been well worn this past week!  We had a little reprieve from the rain today though when we drove into Mackay for some items in preparation for our departure tomorrow. The sun actually broke through the cloud for about an hour!

My birthday tomorrow but the OWO bought my presents today whilst in Mackay - fishing tackle and tackle box ( because he packed the rods but forgot to pack our tackle in the van) and new camping chairs. How things change --- it used to be perfume and lingerie!!

Tomorrow we will say farewell to all at 'Dylisglen' and continue our adventure.  We have stayed two days longer than planned due to the wet weather and we don't want to overstay our welcome, so it is time to restart our adventure north. Sad, yet excited by the prospect of exploring 'new' areas of our home State - even in the wet tropics.  Our first planned stopover from Mackay is just north of Townsville at Toomulla Beach for a couple of nights with the lovely Pat. But we'll see how we are travelling as the day progresses.

More water fun with 'Clarrie'

Sunday, 28th February -- Our destination today would be Eungella (pronounced young-gulla) Dam camping area. Awake at 5am after a very, very restless hot and humid night, so a refreshing shower, and light breakfast, meant we were on the road again at 8am.

We travelled the back roads through Abercorn, Mackenzie River, the mining areas of Middlemount, and north into Nebo for a lunch break. All around this area one can see the effects of the mining industry, which is mainly open cut coal mining with some coal seam gas areas.

Leaving Nebo we continued north, once again travelling the back road to the dam. This was our first dirt road with 'Ada' and we were doing great until about 15kms from our destination where we came across a very unwelcome sign on the road ---- "Road CLOSED - Water Over Road" -- Bugger, it was a long way back to the bitumen!

OWO's response -- NO, we are NOT turning around. There was evidence that the track had been used quite recently, so onward we continued, approaching each watercourse and creek crossing with caution. No water to be seen, at least no excess water to be seen. I forgot to mention here that we had actually passed another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction who had obviously been through on this track - but he wasn't towing 'Ada'.

About 7kms from the Dam we found the reason for the road sign. Recent heavy rains had washed away a section of the track taking down a massive river gum which was now blocking the track and the creek crossing completely. So no "Water on the Road" just a huge barrier. However, it appeared that other intrepid travellers had created a detour around the "hazard" so we followed their track and continued through the creek on our way to the Dam.

Two years ago we travelled through this area on our way to Nairana NP from 'Dylisglen' and it was extremely dry and dusty, so Mrs OWO was not really keen to camp at the Dam with that picture in her mind. However, after recent heavy rainfalls the area had been totally transformed into a lush emerald green campground and we found a lovely spot overlooking the dam and surrounding hills. Happy campers keen to stay three nights before descending into the Pioneer Valley to stay at 'Dylisglen' with Mr and Mrs K and Master Landon.

Day temps had once again been around 38 degrees but it was cooler here and as night settled in we were treated to a wonderful light show in the south which delivered an unbelievable thunderstorm. This was the first storm that we had experienced with 'Ada'. The wind got stronger as the storm approached and then heavy rain pounded our little 'Ada' - at least it washed off all that dust from our earlier travels! The storm lasted about an hour and then we settled down to a much cooler night.

Monday, 29th February - Tuesday, 1st March (St David's Day) --  Water activities and birdwatching
Awake at 6am everything looked fresh and even greener after the storm. A gentle breeze invited us onto the water with 'Clarrie' and after an hour on the dam we enjoyed a swim in the warm shallow waters. Throughout the day we witnessed a variety of water birds coming and going. They included a beautiful osprey, several Pelicans, Pygmy geese, great crested grebes, caspian terns, jacanas, and a darter. The day was so relaxing it was a shame when we discovered a problem with our water pump early evening. It took the OWO awhile to work it out and we were beginning to think we would have to go into Mackay for repairs when he discovered the problem was simply -- NO WATER. Oh, and the gas bottle pressure was low. So water topped up and gas bottle changed all was good again.

A little confrontation

Note for RRs:  water tank MUST be topped up whenever we travel through a town with RV facilities!!!!

As it was a much cooler day on our second full day at the dam (30 degrees) we decided to spend some time exploring the area and took a drive out to the dam wall and then up the 4WD track to the lookout. Going a little further afield we explored some of the country inland from the dam, and found some wonderful high points with views out to the west.

Eungella Dam from Lookout

Ada from the Lookout

4WD track to lookout

OWO and Clarrie

On our return to the campsite the OWO decided he needed a little more 'practice' with his friend 'Clarrie' and off they went chasing grebes across the dam.

Our time at the Dam was very relaxing and tomorrow we would descend the mountain into the Pioneer Valley to spend time at 'Dylisglen' for a special celebration at the end of the week.

Bad hair day bird - Great Crested Grebe

Views to west of Eungella Dam

Cotton Pygmy Goose

Eungella Dam wall at sunset

Seeing Eye-to-Eye - Pelican and Little Black Cormorant

Back Roads and an Unexpected Dinner

 
Thursday, 25th February -- our Exploration Adventure began at 8.00 am under clear blue skies and early morning temperature on 26 degrees. Loaded to the rafters again we are Rambling our way north in our beautiful new travelling "home" -- Ada the A-van..

'Ada' - Home away from home

Somehow I managed to have everything packed and ready to go earlier than planned. However, for some reason I felt a little emotional about our departure -- it felt a little unreal that we were leaving our lovely home comforts for the unexpected and unexplored regions of far North Queensland for the next four months!

So we have left our home and worldly possessions in the capable care of our house sitters, Carol and Ross, who I am sure will enjoy our region as much as we shall enjoy our travels.

Our first day on the road proved to be quite a day of exploration before we had even left our own region. We foolishly followed the instructions of the travelling GiPSy, which is very unlike us, and she insisted on sending us west instead of north!!!!

However, we did travel roads and drive through small towns on back roads that we had not travelled through before which was quite interesting, but only to find ourselves arriving in the centre of Dalby. For those not familiar with our area, Dalby is about 45 to 50 minutes drive from our home along the Warrego Highway -- this little trip took us 95 minutes to get somewhere we didn't even want to go!!!!! Not a great start for a four month trip away from home do you think?

After that little unexpected detour we kept an eye on GiPSy, checking that she really did know where Waruma Dam camp area was, which was to be our first stopping point on this adventure. All okay as we arrived at Waruma Dam around 2.15pm - just an hour later than planned but we finally got there.

This first stop proved to be a great choice - a beautiful camp spot right on the waters edge with a lovely afternoon breeze, which was most welcome on a day that reached 38 degrees. Setting up camp was so much easier with "Ada" - I'm lovin' this little marvel!

Camp Waruma

Down amongst the gum trees

Waruma Dam

Friday, 26th February -- We decided to stay two nights at Waruma and our second day gave us the opportunity to "chill out" after all the busy days over the last few weeks. It was also an opportunity to put 'Clarrie' our canoe back in the water. We waited until just before sunset before we launched 'Clarrie' as earlier temperatures were once again in the high thirties and we would have fried out on the water during the day.

Canoeing with "Clarrie"

It was so worth the wait - photos just cannot do justice to the beauty of Mother Nature at sunset over the dam. It gave me goosebumps ( oh, as well as sore arms and shoulders after some heavy paddling action) and it was just an amazing feeling being on the water with the OWO and 'Clarrie'.

The beauty of Mother Nature unsurpassed

Sunset skies

Another unforgettable beginning to our Adventure of Exploration. This is one campground we will definitely return to and will recommend to other travellers.

In flight white faced heron

Egret

Visitors!!

Grey butcher bird in fine voice

More visitors. Ducks in a row

Saturday, 27th February -- packed up and on the road at 8.45am our next stop was Bedford Weir. Again we travelled along back roads we had not been on before (our choice this time not GiPSy) and discovered beautiful areas. Following recent heavy rains the countryside was extremely green and many of the small creeks were flowing and we could see areas of damage left behind after receding floodwaters.

Today was even hotter than the last two days and it was 40degrees when we arrived at Bedford Weir at 2.30pm. We had been given rave reviews for this campsite but I must say we were very disappointed with what we found.

Day area Bedford Weir

Sign said campers to report to caretaker on arrival, but no caretaker in sight, so we just selected a site near the amenities block which had flush toilets and hot showers. However, these amenities looked like they had not been cleaned for months! Undeterred by that it was still nice to have a refreshing shower after the humid and extremely hot day.

In the Line of Duty memorial

Historic marker at Bedford Weir

It was interesting to find an historic marker here, which marked the death of the first policeman in Queensland.

  

There was only one other small group of four campers here. They were from Bundaberg and they were generous enough to offer us a share of their homemade curry for our dinner, which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was very tasty thank you kind travellers, and I didn't have to cook in the heat!

Next stop ..... more water fun!! And a special celebration.

A New Adventure Begins

Yes, ........ The Rambling Retirees (RRs) are off on another Adventure --- an Adventure of Exploration. The intrepid travellers set out from home base on Thursday, 25th February to explore new and unknown (at least to the RRs anyway) regions of their home State, Queensland.

Queensland is the 2nd largest State in Australia (Western Australia being the largest) and the 3rd most populous. So check out the link above that will take you to the Queensland map and see if you can follow the RRs as they travel the east coast and far northern regions of this vast State. What exciting places will the dynamic duo discover on this Adventure?

Hopefully wherever they go you will be able to travel with them and enjoy exploring new areas of this beautiful country through their stories and photos.