WA - The Horizontal Waterfalls and the drive home

With or Kimberley camping adventure over (sigh) we then moved on to the next stage of the trip.

We stayed in Derby (back at the Kimberley Entrance van park where we had stored the van) and did something that we had wanted to do for years - we went out to see the Horizontal Waterfalls.

The tides in this part of the world are huge with ten to fourteen metres being the regular big ones. Out at the Horries the ocean has broken through a couple of ranges of hills and the narrow breakthrough points form a "tidal pinch" where as the tide piles up on one side or another the water rushes through the gap like a waterfall but it's a horizontal one and not vertical!

There is a company that organises trips out to this place and we booked a flight out and to spend the night on their floating hotel.  Sound like fun? Well it damned well is!

We were picked up by the float lane just outside Derby and headed north west to the harbour and the hotel. The flight took us over the tidal mud flats that surround much of Derby. Looks interesting from the air, but I'd hate to be walking there.

As we got closer to the harbour the country changed to be rugged hills and inlets.

And then we got our first view of the Horries - you can see the water rushing through the pinch. 

The plane banked low over the area and we got a great look at it.

This is Karen with the plane we flew in on. Gorgeous place and a fantastic way to travel. 

Almost as soon as we landed we were off in the power boats to run through the waterfalls.

It was a little disappointing really - they won't go through them when the wall of water trying to get through is too tall and they wait until it settles down to something resembling a NZ river in flood spate. Still, it was pretty exciting anyway.

The helicopter pilot was trying to drum up some business and did some trick flying.

Somebody was enjoying it was't she? 

After the thrills of running those waterfalls a few times we went for a gentle cruise to check out the country. Pretty place but rough and rugged too. 

We went back to the floating hotel and were straight away able to jump in the shark cage (the sharks are on the outside) and check out the sharks as they buzzed the cage and were fed by the crew. 

Fascinating stuff to be able to be so close to big beasties like that.

Then it was dinner time and we were fed fresh grilled barra and salads and able to tuck into the BYO grog. The crew left us to chat and we met a few great people over the cold beer and wine.  However, that ran out and we headed off to a great night's sleep in a beaut cabin.

Next morning we had a splendid breakfast before jumping back in the boats to buzz the waterfalls again.

Then we flew back to Derby, via a scenic look along the coast, to rest our heads and take stock of where we are and to get our minds around what a fantastic time we have been having. 

It was time to go so we left Derby and headed around the bitumen on the way to Kununurra, but before we left we called into the prison boab. The police used this a an overnight stop when they were marching a chain gang of aboriginals off to the courts. It seems they'd fit up to 20 people inside this tree. These days it is not recommended to climb into the tree because it is often home to a snake or two.

And so we travelled, overnighting at Mary Pool which is a beaut free camp along the bank of the river and under shady trees. The toilets have improved immensely since the last time we were here and are now actually usable without holding your breath and dashing in and out quickly. We weren't in a hurry so we stopped at another roadside stop for a night before reaching Kununurra .

We stocked up with food and grog and headed into the nearby Lake Argyle for a few nights.

This is a van park, but I have to say that it is the best van park we have come across. The infinity pool that overlooks the lake is stunning as is their kitchen and bars. 

We took a sunset cruise over the lake and had a ball. 

Crocodiles were abundant.

The views were wonderful.

The wildlife on the islands was tame.

And the sunset was breaktaking - just check out these shots.

Before we saw the sunset we stopped mid lake and dived in for a swim. The crew threw us cans of beer as we floated around (they also gave us pool noodles to make the floating easier) and floated out lifebelts with trays of wineglasses on top.

Bloody magic.

But, we had to keep going and we headed across the border and back into the NT and stopped off in the Keep River NP.

There had been a bush fire recently and the place was blackened but fresh green growth was coming through.

Keep River was notable both for its beauty and the fact that while we shared the camp area with two or three other travellers, they were all people who kept to themselves - no happy hour drinkies and story swapping there.

And so we travelled on and stopped at a free camp near Timber Creek.

The pic below, taken in the National Park on one of our drive/walk explorations, shows a rock "flow"  that is quite amazing when seen live.

The Nat Park was fairly dry, but still pretty spectacular and we explored around most of the northern half. The southern half is more remote and the tracks into it are rocky and uncomfortable to drive so we left that area.

For much of the drive along we were alongside the Victoria River and it's a cracker!

Insert stuff about the trip here

Getting close to home we met up with our friends Joan and Rob who were in their catamaran in Hervey Bay.

We were invited on board and we all sailed around Fraser Island for a few days and just lived the life of a sailor.

As you can see, Karen was finding it particularly gruelling.  

Karen and Joan hard at work reefing the mainsail or something.

Twin tracks from the twin hulls as we speed along.

Moored off Fraser Island - after living in the Territory we find even these mild temperatures a little cool. Wonderful days though.

Sunset - always special

We couldn't miss the opportunity of stepping on shore on Fraser of course and the boat allows us to get to places that you'd find it hard to get to in a 4WD including this old jetty and the half buried tractor left over from WWII operations.

The view of the catamaran from the island. Lovely eh?

More WWII relics from the Z-Force training camp

And another magical sunset.

Sadly, our cruise had to finish and we headed back to Hervey Bay to climb back into the Pajero and caravan and head further south towards home.

We didn't want our trip to end so we thought we'd break the journey out the back of the Sunshine Coast at Maleny and spend a few days there.

We checked into the Showgrounds (cheap, good facilities and just a ten minute walk away from the town) and relaxed for the rest of the day.

We went to sleep that night in a peaceful place with good weather and slept the sleep of the just.

ntil we were woken the next morning by the sound of V8 engines rumbling around - the Showgrounds were being used for a car show and people were moving their exhibits into place. For a vehicle lover (like me!) it was just wonderful being able to wake up and walk around the show and check out the engineering.

This is what it looked like:

Some people went to extreme lengths with their car builds - this boot in a Commodore has a racing fiel tank and a high pressure fuel system - lovely!

The front of the same beast had some cool custom work done too - and I bet this thing can just fly.

It wasn't all car shows though - we took a drive through the ranges and watched the weather deteriorate over the Glasshouse Mountains - time for a beer in our favourite pub in the area.

ANZAC Day Long Weekend 2016

ANZAC Day long weekend looked like a great opportunity to grab the van and toddle down into the beautiful countryside in the NSW Northern Rivers area.

We chose a van park in South Ballina because we still have Bruce the Dog (our daughter's dog) and national parks and many other places are out of bounds.

Besides, national parks would be full and finding a good spot would be difficult.

So, on Friday arvo we headed south. Karen had an RDO and I had one lecture at unit in the morning and was able to defer my afternoon studies - nice to be so flexible. :)

We missed the worst of the traffic and arrived at the van park after less than two hours - this included the ferry ride that was necessary to get to South Ballina. Always a fun exercise.

The van park was expecting us and we had a decent sized spot available for us and set up quickly. Yep, we were enjoying a little drinkie as we watched all the other people arrive and set up.

I rigged up a bit of a run for BtD with his bed at one end of it - park rules (and don't you always have rules in NSW?) dictate that he be chained up at all times so this was the easiest way out of it.

Saturday was a fun day. We weren't able to take Bruce the Dog to the beach as the van park as it is park of a reserve area and pets are banned, but we were able to take a drive down to another beach (Patches Beach) and take BtD out for a run along a near deserted beach.

Yep, that one tired but very happy dog.

We followed the exercise up with a good brekky and then headed off to a small township called Wardell which is on the Richmond River and repaired to the pub there to look at the magnificent fig trees and the pub's view of the river.

It's a hard life eh?

Sunday and we went for a drive into Ballina as walking the dog around the van park on a leash was not deemed to be much fun. Still, the dive into town was pleasant and we picked up some veggies and free range eggs from a farm gate so we were happy about that.

Ballina itself is a pleasant town and a bit bigger than I expected. The boardwalk along the river is very nice indeed and it takes you straight to the RSL which we couldn't go into because we had the dog. so we settled for a coffee and tide Bruce to the winch hook on the 'jero.

I knew it would come in useful for something some day!

We headed home and went through a place called Empire Vale which had the smallest post office I have ever seen. Gorgeous sin't it?



As we drove home we headed on past the van park and out to the mouth of the Richmond River. A spectacular place, but the rain was heading our way as you can see from this photo.

Feeling lazy we had dinner at the van park restaurant where we were entertained by a couple of Golden Guitar winners. It was a very pleasant end to a fun day.

Monday we just took our time to pack up and go home. As you can see, BtD was looking happy about it.

The NSW Northern Rivers

August 2015 - Some friends of ours were on a bit of a trip down from Innisfail, through the western backblocks of QLD before crossing the border into no-mans land (also known as NSW) and continuing south along the coast.

We decided to catch up with them along the way and to spend a week or so recovering from the shock of returning to our home on the Gold Coast.

So, while Liz and Neil were eating bulldust and dodging 'roos out west we hooked up the 'van and headed south to Brunswick Heads where we stayed for a couple of nights.

Brunswick Heads is a beautiful place, just a few klms north of the much better known (but much more crowded and "managed" Byron Bay) and we found a spot in a local caravan park.

The whole of this Northern Rivers area in NSW is simply gorgeous, but like the rest of NSW it has rules and conditions and much of the freedoms you find in the western half of Australia is banned in this, the convict state. So almost no free camps to use aside from the odd overnight stop and van parks are the way to go.

It's not such a bad thing though as we found ourselves sitting in the local pub overlooking the river and enjoying a drink.

A short walk from the pub across the old footbridge (there is an even rickettier old road bridge) takes you to the beach where the Pacific wets the sands and the air is clean and clear.

This pic is of some gorgeous young thing that I found myself chatting to that day. Lucky bloke eh?

Of course, a trip to this area would never be complete without paying a visit to Byron Bay, so off we drove for the 20 minute cruise to Byron and found a spot in a crowded car park and paid our fees. It still comes as a nasty shock to have to pay for parking you know, and to have to find a spot in a car park and walk the rest of the way into town is just rude.

However, the Bay is simply breathtaking.

Yeah - that gorgeous young thing had to take a photo of this old fart, but at least he looks happy at the prospect of a beer in Strop's old pub overlooking the beach.

And here is the table we got to sit our beer and wine on while we enjoyed the atmosphere.

However, after two or three nights in Brunswick Heads it was time to cruise on further south. We were meeting Liz and Neil in Grafton so we headed on down to Brooms Head for another few nights.

This is a really quiet little place most of the time and the council run van park is right on the beach and only a short walk to the bar and restaurant in the bowls club.  We have been here a number of times before and always loved it and this time was no exception.

This is the view from under the van awning - we were perched right on top of the dunes at the back of the beach.

And this is the early morning view from our bed at the sun just risen over the ocean. Simply gorgeous.

But eventually we hooked up again and caught up with Liz and Neil. We were going to meet them in Grafton, but they were running late (some Toyota issue I suppose :) ) so we toddled off to Minnie Water and Wooli to check out the van parks and surrounds.

We decided that one of the van parks just outside Wooli (but with its own pub and restaurant - very important points!) was the best with its views out over the river and peaceful atmosphere.

We met up with the Wasses and their travelling companions and enjoyed a thoroughly pleasant few days and evenings with them before they continued south and we returned home.

Below are a few pics of the area, starting with a couple of atmospheric evenings shots over the river. These were taken on my phone as we sat there, sipping a drink and just relaxing and chatting.

Karen sitting on the breakwater wall.

Paddling time! 

Karen and Liz heading off for a walk on the beach and a paddle. Driving on the beach was something we considered, but the fact that there was nowhere really to go and the effort involved in dropping tyre pressure and pumping them back up again made it seem not worth the time.

This was the view from under our awning and out over the river.

And finally, one of the totally unspoilt beach. 

Bloody magic.

QLD bits

Just a few pics etc from a fast trip back to the Gold Coast as we left WA.

They are in no particular order, but they bring back memories for us.

An old railway bridge. No longer in use, but it simply looks good. 

The river above is the River Jordan and it flows through a town called Jericho.

Honest! 

This was our camp on the banks of the Jordan. 

Before we reached the Gold Coast we caught up with some friends (Joan and Rob) in Hervey Bay and we went out for a couple of nights on their catamaran and went up and down Fraser Island.

What a gorgeous few days, a wonderful way to travel and a generally relaxing time.

Somewhere along the track going home I took this pic of the sunset reflecting on the Pajero. 

Just in case you hadn't worked it out, this is the roadhouse in Kynuna, just along from the famous Blue Heeler hotel/motel.

And this is the road into Kynuna

Karen and I were driving through the Gregory National Park (in the NT) when we spotted a snake crossing the track in front of us. I said "What's a tiger snake doing this far north?" and promptly jumped out of the Pajero and chased after it.

Now a tiger snake is a deadly venomous snake so when Karen saw me grabbing it by the tail and having it's head swing round to strike at me she was sure she was seeing the death of Joe. However, as anyone who knows snakes will see, the snake was in fact a black headed python and not a tiger snake. Something that I had realised as soon as I got close to it, but  something I had neglected to tell Karen.

Anyway, it wasn't happy to be handled so I let it go (much to Karen's relief) and off it went.

The first place we stopped after we left WA was the Keep River National PArk. This is our camp there.

It is a beautiful place, but it had seen some bushfires recently so some places were burned black and only just starting to regenerate. 

After we left Daly Waters (still one of my favourite pubs) we headed off down the Carpentaria Highway towards Borroloola and stopped off for a coffee at the Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford.

The last place we stopped at in WA was the van park at Lake Argyle. 

A really nice place for a van park and much, much better than we expected.

We took a cruise on the lake, spotting the crocs and feeding the catfish before taking a swim in the centre of the lake, drinking beer and wine as we floated about.

Magic.

They have this stunning infinity pool at the van park, up above the lake but with views to die for. 

Our final stop before we reached home on the Gold Coast was at the show grounds in Maleny. Cheap and spacious with good facilities it was close to town and we enjoyed taking a walk in and out of town at various times for dinner and a movie and a beer or two. 

This shows our camp spot.

But one morning we were woken early by the revving of V8 engines and found that the showgrounds were actually hosting a show! 

It was some custom car show and right on our doorstep so we spent half the day walking about, checking out the vehicles and listening to the music.

Of course, it wasn't all car shows. Sometimes we stopped for a coffee and a cake on the main street.

It wasn't all perfect weather either and one day trip out saw us looking for shelter, but not before taking this snap of the storm clouds over the Glasshouse Mountains.