Blackwater to Wonga

During our stay in Blackwater Jeremy was able to arrange and we were privileged to have a guided tour by Jeremy through the Yarrabee open cast mine site where he works...

This is but one mine of the six or so that surround Blackwater.

The scale of the operation is huge!...

This is the digger Jeremy currently operates...

The mines operate 24/7

A Coal Seam

Another digger....That's Rachel standing next to the tracks of the wheel! (sorry don't know the technical lingo!)

We had to wear safety glasses and a helmet together with the safety vests at all times when out of the vehicle that we toured the mine site in...

Thank You Jeremy for another amazing experience to enrich the magic of this journey :)

Left Blackwater with the intention of taking our time and slowly make our way north.

Inland was very uncomfortable due to temperatures in the late thirties..even with the air conditioning going through the day....the tar on some of the roads was melting!!!

So we changed our plans and headed toward the coast.

At one stage we got 'stuck' behind a very wide load...it took up the whole two lanes so there was no opportunity to pass.This is the load just clearing a bridge as it travelled...

Mind you it was a road sign-posted as a wide load route...so I guess we should've expected it!

Picked beautiful fresh Frangipanis for the dash...the fragrance in the car heavenly!

Coming over the Cardwell ranges we already had the feeling of being 'home'..The humidity increases and the vegetation changes subtly from sub tropical to tropical rainforest..

Cardwell Range Lookout.

Arrived in Wonga from whence the journey on this blog began...Our dear friend Robyn kindly invited us to camp on her property, which we accepted gratefully...

Camp at Robyn's Roost!

Less than a week after we left Blackwater, the town was hit by a major storm.

News reports stated hailstones the size of cricket balls!

The room where we stayed in the house where Rachel and Jeremy live, flooded, windows were broken through horizontal hailstones, the huge Poinseana tree in the front yard split, their flourishing vegetable garden flattened and they lost power for a couple of days...Rachel said they had only minor damage compared to others in the town...

Then a few days later...the Weir collapsed and six people who were below it were missing for awhile...some were found but tragically, several died.We stood on that Weir wall when we stopped for a break after leaving Blackwater a week previous!

The time spent camping at Robyn's gave us the opportunity to consider our options...

We had extricated ourselves from society...we roamed...now it's time to integrate again...

But it is by no means the end of the journey...it's just another chapter in the book of the journey...

Almost as a sort of compromise we have bought a caravan...So basically we are still 'camping'!

We are now residing in a lovely Van Park at Wonga Beach....We have an 'Ocean Views'..the beach being just 10 metres away from our site...

Our caravan as seen from the water!

The people who share this camp are beautiful ...they love life and laugh lots...

Hans has already been taken fishing by the boys in one of their boats...

They have Happy hour each night in the Happy Shack!

We've started a garden in containers...we have seedlings planted which are already sprouting...tomatoes, capsicums, petunia's, marigolds...

Once properly settled we will have time to process the 5000+ photos we've taken along the way..

This is a beautiful and richly diverse land...and we have had a wonderful time photographing it.

Hans intends, when he has more than a moment to spare, to revamp our website http://www.c3d.net.au/ and you will be able to view some of our 'best of photos' there.

Meanwhile you may to check it out anyway and add it to your favourites!

Suzy our Suzuki has done us proud...Over 30,000kms we have done together on this trip and through some very rugged terrain at times!..She is sporting a few 'battle scars' but that just adds to her character..

Newsflash!...Joanne and Brian Bell, whom we stayed with in Geraldton, yesterday became 1st time grandparents!...Their son Chris and partner Jess had a baby boy Harley James...

Congratulations to all!

At this stage I would like to take the opportunity to again thank all those who opened their hearts and homes to us as we journeyed...Your love and generosity enriched our lives.

Kathy and children Mikka and Lee...Marshmellows on the Marsh..Yum!

Joanne and Brian, Rhiannon and Dayna..Frosty evenings on the patio to 'enjoy' that quick smoke, then racing inside to sit by the roaring fire!! Taking us to our 1st rugby league game!

Tanya and Vaughnan.... Cheers guys! Still reckon you brew the best beer!

Claire, Elle, Hannah and Jack...Reminiscing over a wine or 4 (ssssh) and solving the worlds 'problems'...

Hans's parents Bert and Bertha...Dancing round the kitchen table and gezellige coffee in the dutch shop!

Martin and Sandy,Joel and Kady...Dodging Hailstones and sparking guitars!

Ben, Toni and Ron...Wedding Bell plans, Love and laughter!

John the Baptist...Motor bikes and camping in the big shed!

My parents...nightly walks with my mum and untold games of scrabble!

Jodi and Noel...Disgusting oysters! (my opinion still) and many laughs!

Rachel and Jeremy...Welcome to my family Jeremy...the scrabble game competition aint over yet!

Robyn...fish and chips at Newell Beach the day before we left and the day after we returned. Thank you for collecting and forwarding our mail :) x

These are but a few treasured moments I connect with you all...THANK YOU ALL

We went out in search of the Spirit of the Place...We found it everywhere...The people, the land, the forests, the sea, the animals... Its alive and kicking...Look around You

:) :) :)

Brisbane to Blackwater

Stayed a few great days with my dear friend of 21 years Jodi and her partner Noel...needless to say there were many drinks,late nights and lots of laughs!

They both work in the catering department at Qantas...
I bought raw oysters for dinner one night (I myself do not like em) and Noel said I should at least try an Oyster shot...me being one to try anything once duly downed the disgusting thing thankfully without tasting it...kinda felt it was a waste of a good oyster but still I did it!..

Left Brisbane 'early' November 7th and before we even left Sandgate trying to navigate ourselves west, we got 'lost', but eventually made it out of the mayhem of the city!
Drove along a 'tourist route' through the Great Dividing Range.Our curiousity lead us into Mt Mee National Park and there we came upon a small 4wd track that took us through beautiful rainforest to Kilcoy.
More beautiful native flowers...

Native Hibiscus

Wild Bush Flowers

Naturalised Canna

Wild Raspberries

King Parrot

Lace Monitor

Rock Hole

Further west again we drove through the Bunya Mountains National Park an unsealed road...and as the name suggests this is where you find large pockets of Bunya Pines...similar in shape and size to the Hoop Pine...
Came out of there literally with a 'bang' as our back tyre went down almost instantly!!

Travelling these 4wd tracks and unsealed roads requires our 'load' to be firmly secure...so that it does'nt shift or objects become airborne projectiles as we lurch,bump and jump over sometimes very uneven tracks....inside Suzy everything has it's place and everything is tied down in one way or another...
We have packing and unpacking her down to a fine art ...guess you could say we are 'Packed to the Rafters!!'

Drove to Kingaroy the next morning in the hope of being able to acquire a replacement tyre....none of the 3 tyre centres there stocked our type of tyre....so onto Dalby....arrived there just as the were closing...they graciously helped us out with our dilema...
Onwards to Chinchilla, Miles and then northward to Taroom..the plan was to go west via a 4wd track to the Carnavon Development Road..but the locals advised us not to take the track due to recent rain...apparently the track is challenging even when dry...Even as we stood there discussing the situation a storm was looming and heading our way!
Plan B...Stay in Taroom overnight ...head north to Blackwater to my daughter Rachel and her partners place and travel to Carnarvon Gorge from there....
It was a fabulous night in Taroom with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightening...exciting stuff!...it was so cosy in the cabin/donger we stayed in...

These dongers have a history...They were used to house Olympic athletes in Homebush Sydney...they were sold off, someone in Taroom bought them and transported them up to the area to build a cabin park.
Who knows we may have slept in the cabin Thorpee or Perkins may have stayed in!

Heading further north the 'pest plant' Prickly Pear was flowering...

Wild Flowers again carpeted the sides of the roads...

Blackwater...Soooo good to see my daughter Rachel again and meet her partner Jeremy for the first time! Rachel and Jeremy.

Blackwater is a coal mining town...surrounded by many different coal mining sites...Most of the population here is directly or indirectly employed by one or other mine...Population is about 15,000...
Seen in and around Blackwater is an abundance of White Mine vehicles with flags and aerials, people both men and women in orange shirts and jackets adorned with reflector strips either going or coming off shift,no hills and streets with houses that don't vary much in 'architecture' and climatewise its HOT!

Approximately 40kms from Blackwater is Blackdown National park....it stands tall and is easily seen for miles as the surrounding landscape is flat..
We visited it and took in the awesome views from different aspects of the park...

The 4wd loop track allows you to see different species of plants and even butterflies specific to this area...eg this grevillia we noted to 'support' 4 different types of insects and the Swallowtail butterfly seen in this photo...

I jumped at the chance to do a bit more 4wdriving!

Took the trip out to Carnarvon National Park and more interesting features to be experienced...

Ancient Plant species....The magnificent Cycad

Terestial Orchids

Livistona Palm Forests

Aboriginal Stencil Rock Art at Baloon Cave

This is a weed but a beautiful one I reckon!

:) :) :)

Coffs to 'The Goldie'

From Coffs we went inland again and took a 4wd track through the beautiful Richmond Range National Park....Staghorns grow in huge numbers here...on one tree we counted 11!

This took us through to Kyogle for the night.

Next day we took the tourist drive through the Border Ranges National Park...and then a 4wd track through to Queen Mary Falls just east of Warwick.This route crosses the border twice! Strange... one minute we were in NSW and crossing into Qld,then an hour or so later we were back in NSW and again later crossed back into QLD!

Queen Mary Falls.

It was amazingly apparent that there was almost an 'instant' change in the scenery, just over the border...going from lush green pastures, to farms and surrounding countryside looking decidedly drier and almost parched! Female Satin BowerBird
After boiling the billy and having a bit of lunch at Queen Mary Falls we took yet another 4wd track as we wove our way north...This track zig zagged across the Condamine River, so I had great fun 4wdriving through 14 river crossings en route!

A bit of 'red' in the green surroundings!

QUEENSLAND...

A bearded lizard sunning himself on the road!

Coming into Boonah...Jacaranda's are in flower...

And back to the Gold Coast "my old home town"...

Here Hans and I separated...I went and stayed a few days with my parents and he caught up with his mate affectionately named 'John the Baptist'

My Mum and Dad trying out the exercise machines on our walk at Paradise Point!!

Hans's bed and Suzy's park for that time was in a huge new shed!!!

'John the Baptist' and his twin brother Lindsay Donnai are motorbike enthusiasts...in fact they are both motorcycle mechanics and earn their livelihood through servicing and fixing motorbikes...

Hans went with them to a motorbike 'meet' in Warwick...Did you know, they have electric blankets for their tyres with thermometers that warm the tyres before they race!!!!..Check the picture below!

Then it was on to stay at my son Ben and his fiance Toni's house in Helensvale....Date of wedding 21st March 2009!..

Ben is currently employed working on the construction of the Brisbane tunnel and Toni is a assistant accounts manager.

The happy couple!

So Ben has had a few days off during our stay...Great opportunity to take the boat out!

Had a fantastic day 'cruising'...out to the jumping pins,South Strabroke Island...popped into Paradise Point and picked up a bit of sustenance,did a bit of long line trawling from the back of the boat...we caught something Big alright...a bloody speedboat!...He crossed one of the lines and took off with it!....the fishing line was spinning flat out...would've lost the rod if we had'nt quickly cut the line...so that was a bit of excitment!

Went out to the Southport seaway and cruised around the Broadwater...

Fishing was a bit of a lost cause out there...

Even tried a bit of reverse psycology...Thought if we bought the chips then we'd have to catch a fish to go with it!...but alas the only fish we saw that day was the bait...

Then Fishing Fatigue set in.....

Caught up with my dear friend Chris and a had alot of laughs!!!

And so the fun continues.... :) :) :)