Langkawi

Wednesday we managed to get out of bed reasonably early and meet with the tour rep. We booked a mangrove/nature tour with lunch afterwards for Friday and confirmed our flights to KL.

It was raining (but not too heavily) when he left and we drove down to Breakfast Bar to give it a try. It was cheap-25RM for both of us for cooked breakfasts and coffees and a juice for me, but not a patch on Cactus across the road from our hotel.

After breakfast, we headed to Kuah and Langkawi’s biggest shopping centre “Billion” but as we got closer and the rain stopped we decided to go for a drive to the top of the highest mountain instead. On the way we stopped of at a tropical fruit farm. We’d forgotten we had no Ringit, but the manager kindly took a $50 au off us and gave us change. The tour cost 10 RM pp and was great. With only the two of us, we stopped and took photos and tasted so much fruit I nearly exploded. I especially loved the dragon fruit and jack fruit and still think star fruit is crap!


On to the top of the mountain. We drove up a narrow, steep windy road through quite thick for, and then came out as the cloud started to burn off to some amazing views of the archipelago of 99 islands. We passed lots of monkeys on the way that fled if we slowed the car (the sort of monkeys I can cope with).

At the Top


We came back down the hill and made our way to Kuah and Billion where we did some shopping-trainers for me, fishing reel and line for Russ baby stuff for Fiona and Marcus’s baby and for Kobie. This is an amazingly cheap place to shop, so it’s lots of fun.

Closer to home we stopped to pick the nights restaurant (Chinese seafood), change some money and book another small tour out around the islands in the morning. We spent an hour in the pool, came home for a glass of wine, then headed out to dinner at Chiew.

It was good-I had prawns with a sort of dried, shredded sweet and salty egg topping with curry leaves through it, Russ had spicy mussels with rice. Then we had garlic asparagus and black pepper chicken and another serve of rice. All of that and 2 beers and 2 cokes cost us 71 MR.

Malaysia-Langkawi and KL

Holiday Villa Foyer

We had a good flight to Kuala Lumpur, then on to Langkawi. We left Perth at 12.50am on the morning of Monday 5th May and arrived at the hotel around 10. We booked in, had brunch, then hired a car and went to the main town. The only hiccups were discovering in KL that we had no transfer details (fortunately the driver meeting us did), and it seemed to be that I wasn’t expected. He (the driver) only had a card up for Russell. At the hotel, only Russell had a room (actually he had two), but all that got fixed very quickly.

After booking in and brunch we hired a car and headed to the main town of Kuah for a bit of duty free shopping and a look around. On the way home, Russ stopped to let me drive and him navigate and bout 100ks later and 2 or three times past various attractions, we got home. Fortunately it’s a lovely easy place to drive and we got a good look at one corner of the island!

The View From Our Room



It’s an amazingly cheap place-our little car cost $21 a day and petrol about 70c a litre. Dinner at an Indian restaurant last night cost us $25-we had 2 beers, 2 cokes, large rice, 2 garlic roti, chickpea curry, lamb curry and chilli and garlic chicken. It was spectacularly good too.

I read previously on the internet to avoid breakfast in the hotel and go across the road to a little place called Cactus. This morning, I had a full English breakfast (bigger and better than in England), Russ had an omelette filled with spicy beef and tomato and a fruit platter, we had two coffees and a big fresh OJ and it cost us $10 all up. There are lots of Muslims working in the shops and restaurants, so nothing in the way of pork or pork products, but you can get beef and turkey bacon, turkey and chicken ham.

The pool here is huge and lovely (with a swim up bar and restaurant), we are right on a very pretty beach (with a bar and restaurant) and the island is easy to get around. There’s not much shopping apart from duty free stuff, but there are no beggars, no hawkers and no one trying to drag you into their shop which makes it all very relaxing and very different from Bali.

Part of the Gorgeous Pool


It’s the start of the rainy season now, so the rain comes in the morning and late arvo which means we are better off sightseeing and driving in the middle times. I just drove home in a tropical downpour which was not too bad though as everyone slows down and is very cautious.

Perth

Sunset on the Peel Inlet

We've been in Perth three weeks tomorrow and have been having a wonderful time.

Our first week here, we had the house to ourselves while Blair Leah and Todd went to Melbourne and Adelaide for two weddings. It was really nice to have Mick Dan and Verity over and play house-I miss being able to entertain inside round a table from a kitchen sometimes. Dan and Verity also took us to Saigon, an el cheapo restaurant we really like in Northbridge.

The highlight of our second week was of course the birth of Kobie. He was born at Osborn Park Hospital-a very short drive from here and between us and Dan and Verity's place. We were so happy to be there to see him born and spent quite a lot of time at the hospital getting to know him. It was a lovely place to visit which was lucky as Verity was in there for a day or two longer than expected when he became jaundiced.
Kobie at Home


Russ is really besotted with him-he went out shopping the other day and arrived home with a wading pool for him. He also spotted a baby wear shop closing down and pulled over to see what was on sale and when Leah and I were in a shoe shop the other day he said he'd be in next door. Next door turned out to be a Pumpkin Patch store!!!!
Russ and Kobie day 12


I had my birthday while Verity was in hospital, so we went out for dinner with Mick, Dan and Verity's parents Gaynor and Greg. I was happy to go to my favourite restaurant The Tamarind in City Beach. Saturday night we had a few people over here for dinner and drinks including Greg and Gaynor, Kurt and Holly and my Recipezaar buddy Terese. It was another great night. Leah's parents were here too from Nannup to attend a wedding. They stayed the night, so we all enjoyed a big cooked breakfast Sunday morning.

Last week we drove down to Mandurah and went house boating for a couple of nights with Chris and Pat and Pat's mum Lou and son Kevin. It was a really enjoyable couple of nights with good food and wine and company. I didn't realise how pretty the Peel Inlet and waterways are! Pat is another friend from Recipezaar.


Thursday Russ took the car to Northside Nissan for a service. The workshop manager is the son of Ron and Del-a couple we first met at Lake Argyle and just spent another week with at Cheyne's Beach. I had lunch out at Hilary's with Dan Verity and Kobie which was great.

Friday Dan and Verity had lunch here with us and Chris and Carly called over for drinks and nibbles after dinner that night. Saturday Leah and Blair took us to a fantastic Italian Restaurant that is just around the corner from here. It was excellent.

Yesterday, Leah and I, Holly and Ellissa drove to the outer, outer northern suburbs and went horse riding for two hours. Because Holly and I are experienced riders, we were able to head off on a ride through the beautiful bush by ourselves which was really good. We just plodded along laughing and talking , we saw emus and kangaroos and got a bit rained on but it was a fun ride. We were about half an hour late getting back, but were todl some people have gotten lost and taken much longer than that! I was worried I'd be sore, but feel fine to day and ready to do it all again-much better than when my friend Claire and I went out in Warrnambool!

Russ and I are off to see Neil Sedaka at Burswood on the 2nd (he's appearing with the WA Symphony Orchestra) then on the 5th we are flying to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpar and Langkawi) for 11 nights. I'm very much looking forward to that. One of my friends asked how we know when we are on holiday-I said it's getting out your passport, flying, clean linen everyday and not deciding whose turn it is to cook or do the dishes. It's different!

Blair and Leah had some exciting news for us when we got home from Mandurah-Blair has been offered a position in Victoria as Baminko's Eastern states general manager. It looks like he'll take it and they'll be moving really soon. They are flying over on Thursday to check things out. It will mean a change of plans for us if Todd doesn't stay on in this house, but that's just fine with us.

Welcome to Kobie Patrick Michael Fowler

Russ and I were so lucky to be there in the birth suite to see our grandson born on Aril 9th 2008. What an amazing day.

Here he is about 15 minutes old!


24 hours old

Walpole and Perth

We're in Perth now after two really, really relaxing weeks in Walpole.

Our two weeks in Walpole were spent just fishing or relaxing so it was a lovely "holiday". The fish were a bit scacer than last year, but we managed to catch and freeze a few feeds of whiting, bream and flat head. I caught a 40cm bream (1cm smaller than my best effort last year) and Russ a big flat head, but we didn't see a snapper or tarwhine.

It was starting to get a bit cool down there but it made sleeping at night wonderful. We had a great site tucked in the trees and it made sleeping late of a morning good too.

We got to Perth on Tuesday 1st and had dinner with Mick, Todd, Verity and Dan. It was great to see them all again. Wenesday Russ took Todd to the Airport at 6.30am so he could fly to Adelaide for a wedding-leaving us home alone.

Yesterday we went over to Dan, Verity and Mick's place. It's so close to here which is good. They are renting in a nice suburb-Trigg and have quite a nice duplex. Dan and Verity have a gorgeous 4 month old German shepherd puppy Hercules who is a real cutey. Dan bought a couple of ducks yesterday and brought them over here too cook a delicious dinner for the 5 of us last night. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying having both my boys close after so many years.

Cheyne's Beach

Waychinicup (near Cheyne's Beach)


Our week at Cheyne's Beach has been great. We ended up staying 7 nights as not only did we get a 10% discount for being Family Park member's, but they give you 7 nights for the price of 6.

The Rare and Endangered Thong Tree Found at Cheynes


The park was lovely with shady spacious sites and pretty good amenities. We had our friends Ron and Del there too, so it was lots of fun. We made dinner together for Russ's birthday, then they cooked one night and we cooked another. It was great to have the company.

We managed to get out in the boat 3 times and caught ourselves some great mixed bags of fish. It's lovely to see all the different types of fish coming in after Streaky Bay where it was either whiting or tommy ruff 99% of the time. We reckon we caught at least 16 different types of fish.

We're Not Stuck Jan!


Ron and Del took us on a great afternoon of 4WDing along various tracks through the Waychinicup National Park and along Cheyne's beach. It was lots of fun ( especially digging ourselves out a few times) with some spectacular views of the local coast.

Storm Approaching Cheyne's Beach


On Friday we went into Albany and visited Tom at the brewery (amazing) and Trudi at home. I got my tooth fixed finally, we picked up our repaired cooler, bought Dan and Verity a highchair and Russ an annex floor for his birthday. It was a very pleasing day.

Saturday we went to cook some lunch in the microwave and it decided to die. It seems the death of appliances never ends! Repair one and another pulls the plug.

Today (Tuesday 18th) we moved on to Walpole (and closer to those kids in Perth!). We'll be here for 2 weeks and hope to catch lots of fish like last year. It was lovely to have Bill (one of the park workers) remember us.

This Thursday it's our 15th wedding anniversary so we stopped in Albany on the way and bought ourselves some nice food and wine to celebrate with.

Albany

Trudi and Me


We’ve just left Albany after three lovely days there at the Middleton Beach Big 4 CP. It was a lovely park and we really enjoyed meeting our neighbours Thel and Barry. Barry is a retired bank manager who has worked in Warragul and Warrnambool (as well as many other places). They now live in Echuca. I loved the fact that they really enjoyed good food and wine and Barry did the cooking the two nights they were beside us.

We were both surprised at how beautiful the area around Albany is so Sunday we drove out to check out various little bays, inlets and caravan parks as we’ve decided to head back down here before Christmas (which we’ll spend in Perth).

Yesterday we got round town and bought ourselves a new awning floor, and a new mat for those times we have a concrete slab. We got our fish finder fixed and found the Waeco repairman so left our car fridge with him. After about 10 calls to local dentists I took myself to one and stood there and sooked until they fitted me in. I have an appointment on Friday (when the fridge should also be fixed). I can cope with the tooth now I have a firm date to get it seen to.

Last night we had dinner with Trudi and Tom. Trudi and I met through Recipezaar but had never actually met in person. They invited another couple along (Carry and Michael) who own a local yabby farm. It was a wonderful night that finally finished at 1.15 this morning. It was very relaxedand really interesting and it seemed like we had known each other for ever. Tom is American and he and Trudi (who was originally from South Australia) met in Alaska. Oldest son Ben (8) was born in Alaska and their gorgeous daughter Katie (4) was born in WA. Carry and Michael run the yabby farm but need to work as well-she is a waitress, he is a relief teacher. Each year they take a couple of months off in the winter and head north to camp, fish and hike. They’ve decided to have a lifestyle rather than work themselves to death. They were lovely.

Tom at their Albany Ale House


This morning, we back tracked out to Cheynes Beach where we will spend 6 nights, It’s a really good caravan park which we decided to stay at so we can catch up with Ron and Del. We met them at Lake Argyle, then spent a bit of time with them in Katherine and Darwin. They’ve had a van and boat on site here for 15 years and travel here from Perth as often as they can.

Today is Russ’s 62 birthday.

Eucla to Norseman and on to Jerramungup

Eucla-The Middle of Nowhere

Yesterday we left Eucla thinking we might make it to Cocklebiddy Roadhouse but it was so hot, we just kept driving. We got to Fraser Range Sheep Station Caravan Park and thought we might stop there, but still too hot. So we kept on to Norseman. That was about 720ks and lots of people who drive the Nullabor would say "only that far?" but it was so hot our aircon in the car died if we went faster than 90ks. If we backed off to 80-85ks it was OK, so a slow cool(ish) drive that took us 9 long hours (including lunch and fuel stops). When we stopped to make our lunch it was a cool 42c in the van.

The fridge in the van was struggling, the aircon in the car and van struggling and russ and I struggling too, but the car was cooler than anywhere else.

When we arrived, the floor of the van was almost too hot to walk on, the bed was hot, inside all the cupboards were still around 40c. We put the aircon on, sat outside for a couple of hours then finally went to bed with the aircon on. Russ went for a shower before bed, I got myself a drink of water from a 10 litre cask. The spout came off and I had water GUSHING all over me and the van. I mopped it up, went to bed and discovered my bedlight had died. The end of another great day across the Nullabor!


Norseman's Premier Tourist Attraction !!!

Today we drove from Norseman planning to make it to Albany so I could see a dentist tomorrow. We had a tail wind all the way to Salmon Gums, then the wind changed to a nasty cross wind. The first metre of top soil on any crop farm seemed to be being blown across the road all the way to Ravensthorpe, it was hot and horrible. We actually heard on the radio that three shires had banned the movement of machines or working of land in their areas (I guess to stop more dust). When we arrived in Jerramungup, we decided enough was enough and pulled up for the night. It was a chilly 30ish and dropping, so we've enjoyed a lovely evening sitting out in the cool.

WA!!!!!

We had a lovely last few days at Streaky Bay (left there this morning) but it was sad to say goodbye to Cec and Caroline, John and Mary and Des and Gaile.

We finally took the boat out to Purlubie (20ks from SB) two days before we left and put it in on the beach. It's a beautiful spot and it was a beutiful day out there especially when we caught ourselves 9 HUGE KG whiting. We ate 1 feed, but bagged up another 2 feeds and gave them to Cec and Caroline who repayed us with some lovely mangos from their trees.

Today we left late, stopped in town for a few things and as we headed out spotted Peter and Barb (from Dapto) driving by. We'd sort of been expecting them a little earlier, but had a quick kiss and hug and catch up and made promises to try and see them next year!

Our fridge (the Waeco in the car) decided last night to shit itself. GRRRR. It's just out of warranty and although they aren't cheap, we have to have another one-we'll see if it can be repaired in Albany first though and try our friends at the insurance company too.

It was an excellent drive here today but hot. When we stopped at Nardoo Roadhouse for fuel, the temperature was 47c and it was 36 inside the van as we made our lunch. It's cooler now in Eucla and the aircon is finally winning, but I hope it drops another 10c tonight.

We made ourselves yummy pizzas for dinner, but as I was eating mine, I felt something yucky and gritty in my mouth. It was a chunk of tooth the size of a short grain of rice. It's horrible so I'll have to try see a dentist in Albany on Monday. What really annoys me though is that it isn't the one with the hole in it that I'm booked to see a dentist in Perth for.

I messaged some friends from WA to let them know where we were and it turns out they are in Cheyne Beach outside Albany. So, we'll go into Albany for a few nights, do some shopping, visiting, tooth, fridge and fish finder repairs and then go out to Cheyne Beach for 5 nights before going on to Walpole. We haven't see Ron and Del since we had lunch together at the Darwin Casino so I can't wait to catch up. They reckon Cheyne Beach is a lovely spot too.

How Not to Launch a Boat

There was a bit of excitement and a lot of colourful language at the boat ramp this morning when a commercial crab fisherman launched his boat. And his car. We loaned our snatch strap and another guy pulled him out-the car wouldn't start. It was amazing how much water was in that back end!!!!

A local arrived to load up a tanker with sea water and told us it's not the first time the guy has done it!! He's the only one of the fishermen I've seen who doesn't drive a 4WD-maybe it's time he bought one.



It was a bit choppy when we finally got out this morning, but it settled down and we came home with 12 good sized crabs and 6 King George whiting. Tonight I'm making Crab Enchiladas (based on a chicken enchilada recipe given to me by Todd)using the meat of the 5 smallest crabs.

We have new neighbours who I recognised from Baffle Creek Queensland a few months ago. They were relief managers at the park there when we met them and Cec was kind enough to show us how to throw our cast net.

2 Years on the Road

On Feb 20th, we celebrated the end of 2 years (and the start of our 3rd year) on the road. We still pinch ourselves and wonder how we got so lucky to be able to do this-yes, it's still fun!

Feb 22nd was the day we met 16 years ago, so cause for more celebration.

The kiosk here in the park opened a resturant on Wednesday night, so we chose to do our celebrating there, then. The owners met when he was a long haul truckie across the Nullarbor to Perth and she managing a roadhouse-the food and atmosphere of the restaurant are just like a roadhouse too! Still it was cheap (1 dozen oysters natural $12), cheerful, clean and lots of fun.

We've been managing to get out fishing and crabbing every couple of days. Last night we cooked ourselves beer battered whiting fillets (bought the chips from the kiosk) and a couple of nights ago, oven baked garlic crab legs.
We caught ourselves 10 blue swimmers, put them to sleep, pulled their main claws off and cracked them gently. I made a very garlicky butter, oil, salt and pepper mix, then brushed and poured it over them and baked them in our oven. They were amazing and I can't wait to catch some more crabs. We also keep pinching ourselves re the great food we get to eat in our travels.

The boat hasn't missed a beat since we called the mechanic-I'm really happy about that.

Success (for us at least)

We put the boat in and kept pretty much along the shore (not so far to row from there). The motor seemed fine, starting every time we wanted it too, so after catching 10 crabs pretty quickly, we headed off out a bit further. We actually went right across the bay to the spot where we'd broken down twice before.

The wind dropped, the water calmed and it got really hot, so we decided it was time for home. I felt so much better when the man fishing near us hailed us and we had to give HIM a tow back to the boat ramp.
How it Looks From the Other Angle!


It got to well over 40c under our awning yesterday so much of the day was spent inside in the cool (only 29c in the van). Around 6is we went over to Gayle and Des's van and sat there until round 9pm when it finally felt cool enough to cook and eat our steaks.

We had a nasty experience yesterday. We had a bag of fish fillets, yabby tails and peas stolen from the park dining room freezer-all labled with the date and our site no. We've often put stuff in the freezer and never had that happen before. I hope the theifs needed it more than us!

Off Fishing-if we never return

You know the mechanic in Queensland where we bought the motor is an idiot too

Bugger of a Day II

A Beautiful Day on the Bay


The boat was "fixed", the day was hot and still, so we headed out again. We had to be towed home again!!!!!

It's OK here where there are lots of boats around, but we go places where we are the only boat out, so this has to be fixed before we can go out again.

A Tow Home

A Bugger of a Day in Streaky Bay

We have been in Streaky bay since Sunday and are really enjoying it. It's a bit dry and dusty but is still one of our favourite places. The wind has been pretty fierce, but we've managed to get the boat out three times and get ourselves that feed of crabs and a couple of feeds of whiting. Getting home proved something of a chanlleng yesterday though

Actually the whole day was a bit of a challenge!!!!! Russ headed off towing the boat to do a bit of shopping and then fill the fuel tank. It's all very heavy back there once the tank is full and the winch unclipped as he went over a bump and the boat slipped off and hit the road!!!!!

We startred to go out fishing and had to come home because I had no ventolin-if I have it I don't need it but if I forget it I panic. So home to get the ventolin. Next we stopped for our bait of razor fish and Russ cut his hand very badly doing that.

On to the boat ramp, we launched the boat only to discover hitting the road had put a largish hole in the aluminium and the boat was filling with water. So on the trailer, home and fix the hole.

We finally got that fixed, had some lunch and headed out fishing, catching ourselves 6 lovely whiting. When the wind blew up and we decided it was time to go home, the boat wouldn't start. After rowing a couple of hundred yards into a strong wind, a very nice commercial crab fisherman towed us the couple of ks to shore. Russ had to go into town and get the fuel line seen to. Some days I should just stay in bed with a book.

We have really nice neighbours here and all of them are long term travellers of between 17 months and 5 years on the road. We are the only ones to still have our home which I find scary (for them). The couple opposite us are particularly nice-they sold up a small and very successful supermarket in Mt Magnet 3 years ago and have been travelling ever since. They both love fishing and like us follow the fish and the warm weather (which is lucky, it's going to be 37 today)

Crabs

Yesterday was one of those rare perfect days. The wind dropped and we were able to put the boat in on day 1 of our stay here in Streaky Bay (met one couple who've been here 10 days and had the boat in the water 4 times). Streaky Bay is beautiful on days like that when the water is so calm and clear you can see the fish and crabs on the bottom and the dolphins cruising along on the top.

We crab a bit differently to most people who go out, drop their pots (4 per person I think) then run up and down and around the pots pulling them in and checking for crabs. We anchor, drop out one pot each and check it every 5 minutes or so-yesterday we caught ourselves 14 big blue swimmers doing that. I find it much easier and much more relaxing because when it's done the other way, I'm the one hauling in all the pots. It amazes me to think we couldn't even get a feed when we were here last time, but yesterday we stopped at 14 as we can't be bothered picking more than that. Last night Russ made his best ever Thai crab cakes for dinner, then we put three packs of picked meat in the freezer. Yum!

After we finished crabbing, we caught 7 tommy ruff which we brought home and smoked ready for turning into dip today.

Our neighbours are nice-Bill and Jean were from Dandenong but sold up and have been travelling 17 months, John and Vi (formerly of Albany) have done the same and have been travelling 5 years. They reckon they haven't seen anything yet.

Streaky Bay Again

Sunset over Cowell


Yesterday we left Cowell around 10am and arrived here around 2.30pm. We've been put up the other end of the park to last time, but the sites are much more spacious, the roads are sealed, the toilets are new and the starlings are down the other end!

It's almost two years since we were here last-not much has changed. The housing estate near the park has one more home and the park rates have gone up from $113 pw to $140 pw (we now know this dearer price is still cheap!)

Point Gibbon


We had a lovely 5 days at Cowell. It's a pretty little place if you like fishing and not much else. We stayed in the park out of town so we could drive to the boat ramp without lights and number plate attached (such a pain to take on and off). The wind was pretty ferocious but on the two days we could get out, we managed to get ourselves a couple of good feeds of crabs and 3 paks for the freezer for later on. The only fish we caught were suitable for the crab pots only. We took a nice drive out of town to Port and Point Gibbon and managed to bury ourselves in the sand along one of the tracks-not a problem once we let a heap of air out of the tyres and put it into 4WD.
Port Gibbon


The sites at Cowell were huge-I reckon we could have built a townhouse on the one they gave us. We were surrounded by 3 groups of 3,3 and 2 couples travelling together and they weren't overly friendly but they were OK. One of them was travelling in a big bus, towing a big boat with a small 4WD that stowed away IN the back of the bus. It was a very impressive set up, but how much fuel would they use for all three?

Right now we are waiting for some more water to come in and hoping the wind stays away so we can go fishing.

Coconut Chilli Crab at Cowell

On the Road Again

Amanda and Me

We left Port Fairy on Friday the 1st of Feb, spent the night in Keith SA and are spending two nights in the Adelaide Hills with my Recipezaar friend Amanda and husband Will. Tomorrow we'll make our way to Streaky Bay arriving on Feb 10th. We are going to stay at Port Germain, then Cowell on the way and do a bit of fishing.! Today was spent taking a drive through the hills to Maggie Beer's farm for lunch and tonight we are off to a local Indian restaurant.

Hanging Rock Winery

Our 6 weeks in Vic was really busy-we managed to get to Traralgon, Geelong, Ballarat, Portland and Woodend to visit a lot of friends and family but found we ran out of time to see everyone we wanted to.

Oil Rig in the Portland Harbour


Russ caught some sort of virus which laid him low (more like absolutely flat-out) for 2 1/2 weeks. He was as sick as I've ever seen him-unable to do anything for most of the time. I also enjoyed doing quite a few breakfasts at the Merrijig with Kirstyn (to let Ryan sleep in) and we seemed to have endless running around to do with the boat, van and ute to get them all really to travel again.

Last Wednesday, we took the van in to have the awning replaced and a routine service done. It ended up being a huge service with lots needing done to brakes and wheel bearings! Russ forgot to release the hand brake leaving Maryborough and it stayed on until Noosa and was apparently burned out. I have to say it feels nice now though to know it's all done. For some reason our bearings were odd too and needed replacing. The guy who did the service pumped our tyres up "to where they should be" and when I started driving this morning, I felt like I was towing a bouncing ball behind me. We stopped and let them down the where we think they "should be"! Russ hadn't told me what the mechanic had done,l but I could feel it straight away.

The new awning and roller are pretty neat! The van looks really clean and tidy again. We also had the boat motor serviced and that should be a bit easier to start which will be good as Russ's right arm is still causing him a bit of bother-I suspect it'll never be the same again.

We had a huge clean out of the van and took a lot of stuff to the tip, op shop and put stuff back under the house. The house and stuff under it look OK, but lucky we'd be warned by the tennants that the back garden was a bit of a jungle ;-) It wouldn't take too long to rip into gear though and I'm not going to worry myself about it while we travel.

We've eaten out more in the last 6 weeks than we've eaten out in our lives, but last Thursday night Kirstyn and her mum Jill, Russ and I went to the Merrijig for a very special dinner. Ryan does two degustation menus and let us pick the dishes we wanted to eat from both to make the best meal I have ever eaten in a restaurant. We started with chilled white gazpacho then had a soft shelled crab with crab taboulleh, braised pork with crayfish and jammon, duck breast and duck pie on fig puree, lamb cooked two ways with whipped Persian fetta, fennel puree and spinach, a cheese platter and belgian chocolate pudding. It was unbelievably good. The Age were in the restaurant a couple of weeks ago to do a review. The photographer will be there Sunday, so check out Epicure for the results in the next week or so.

I cried leaving Port Fairy on Friday morning, but I'm looking forward to Mick being home in WA next week, our new baby in April, and seeing Dan and Verity, Todd, Leah and Blair.

Port Fairy

Kirstyn and Ryan

We arrived home in Port Fairy on December 20th tired from a long trip from Benalla via Melbourne. It was great to see Kirstyn and Ryan, their new home and catch up on ll the news about the business.

We have made a promise to Kirstyn that while we are here we will organise our trips away and social life around her days off. As she was working the Friday night, we went into Warrnambool and cooked a meal and stayed the night with our neighbour and good friend David. He's the one who keep s us on the road as he gets all our mail and contacts me when I have bills to pay. Occasionally he does a bit of banking for us or forwards mail on.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing around the house and keeping warm as the weather got pretty cold and nasty. Christmas Eve we had a few drinks down at the Merrijig, Ryan cooked the four of us lunch down there on Christmas day, then we all went out to Kirstyn's mum's for a family dinner.

Verity, Me and Dan

At 6.45 am, Russ and I headed to Traralgon and had lunch with Daniel and Verity at Verity's parents place. It was great to meet them all and we are looking forward to doing it all again in Perth in April when the baby is born. We stayed with Glenda and Pete for three nights and were thrilled to catch up with them, Fiona< Jacob and Charlotte and our friends Sheryl, Drew, Clair and Rhett and see their newly built house in Traralgon. It was great to catch up with our friend Heather as well as we missed her last time we were in Traralgon.

On the 29th we all headed to Geelong for a couple of nights with Peter's sister Joy and BIL Hans. We had a great dinner out on the Saturday night at a Chinese restaurant in Angelsea, then a terrific family BBQ on the Sunday. It was so good to see everyone as it may be a while before we all get together again.

Monday we headed home to Port Fairy, stopping to see our friends Jo and Graeme on the way into Warrnambool. Monday being New Years Eve, we went down to the Merrijig for dinner. We had a degustation menu of 7 small courses (well not so small!!) and matched wine which was wonderful-certainly not the way we are used to celebrating NYE. One couple beside us got engaged causing much excitemnt in the small dining room and aother beside us had gone to school with Ryan and she was the sister of one of Mick's earliest girlfriends! All of us including staff went out at midnight to watch the fireworks over the town which was lovely.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent quietly, catching up on sleep and laundry and doing a bit of shopping and Russ having an eye test and ordering new glasses and sun glasses. Thursday, Kirstyn and I did a huge clean out of her closet, then bagged it all up and delivered it to Warrnambool and the Salvos. Then we went down to the beach and caravan park to visit niece Mel, her mum Olwyn and FINALLY meet baby Josh (who is 17 months old. We've arranged to stay with Mike and Mel in Ballarat on Tuesday night so we can meet Josh some more. Yesterday, Deb, Pete, Margaret and Murray came from Portland for lunch with Russ, Kirstyn and me. It was fantastic to see them all and we are now trying to organise a holiday to Bali together in July so it isn't so long between visits!

Tonight we are off to our friend Mike and Liz's for dinner then tomorrow we'll go to Woodend and Peter and Joycelyn for two nights before heading back to Ballarat. The following Friday and Saturday we are staying with Deb and Pete in Portland, then Sunday night is dinner with a recipe club friend Amanda at Wisharts here in Port Fairy. After that, we have free time ;-)

Hi Amber, We are in Victoria

We crossed into Victoria at about 3pm today-it was a lovely feeling. While we were driving, we figured out the van has done just over 20,000 ks and the ute 55.000 in twenty two months. It's certainly been a fun trip so far!

The last two nights were spent with our friends Steven and Mel who we met in Europe. It was fantastic to catch up with them and go through Mel's 1300 photos of the tour and load the ones I needed on to my computer. We had a good look around Cowra with them and had dinner with Mel's mum and step dad last night. Like I say, it's been great and we are looking forward to the time we can see them again.

Right now we are in Benalla for 2 nights and will have dinner tomorrow with Sarah and Hilly. We haven't seen since their wedding-they now have two little boys!

Thursday we'll be in Port Fairy with Ryan and Kirstyn.

Orange

We overnighted in Orange last night. It was a lovely drive to here from Coonabarabran via Dubbo. The country is looking really lush which was wonderful.

Orange is larger than I remembered with 38,000 people and all the parks are full to bursting as it's cherry season and the pickers are in town. We got the last site on the show grounds and are surrounded by pickers, I was worried they might be a noisy bunch but it turns out they are up around 5am and home by 5pm and work too hard to be too noisy.

We had lovely neighbours Kayleigh and George who are a young English couple working their way around Aus. I said to Russ I must be suffering kid withdrawal-I wanted to invite them home (if we had a home) or cook a meal for them! We have exchanged phone numbers and hope to meet in WA around May next year.

Today we are off to Cowra to see, and stay a couple of nights with Mel and Stephen ho we met on our trip round Europe.

Coonabarabran

Even the Mail Boxes are Getting Ready for Christmas!


We are in Coonabarabran now for a couple of nights. Russ went through here a few years ago when he and Blair drove up to Townsville. They got lost (one of them was asleep and the other one, thinking "C" was for here) and ended up in the little town of Coonamble. They had to drive through the Warrumbungle NP to get back on the right road, but Russ has always wanted to come back for a longer look.

Warrumbungle NP


Today we had an early lunch then went out to Warrumbungle NP. It's truly beautiful with lots of birds, kangaroos, lizards and if you look, wild flowers.



On the way out we drove up to the Anglo Australian Telescope which was massive and really interesting(and the views weren't too bad either).

The Highest Caravan Park in Aus

Is supposedly at Guyra in NSW where we are spending tonight. We left Tweed Heads this morning and headed through Bangalo to Casino, Tenterfield Glen Innes towards Armidale. It rained a bit as we packed up but the sun came out right as we left and it looked like the day would be hot and fine.

The drive across the Great Dividing Range today was beautiful, but up and down and probably the slowest we've travelled on our whole trip. We stopped at a stone fruit orchard and bought ourselves some cherries, plums, peaches and cherry jam and cherry sauce. While we were there, the skies opened up, the thunder came and after that the hail. We had to stay in the shop until it passed over!

Around Tenterfild, we started to see paddocks and paddocks of wild flowers-mostly white daisies, but quite a lot of purple statice and other yellow daisies, so that was really pretty to see.

We had intended to get to Armidale tonight but decided to stop around 4.30 at a tiny town called Guyra where the caravan park claims to be the highest in Australia. It certainly is cool-I think this is the coldest I've felt since we left Walpole WA in May. Both of us had to go get a jumper on before we could set anything up around the van. Tonight we have an ensuite site for $20-quite a difference in price from Tweed Heads where our ensuite was $39 a night.

Last night we had our last dinner with Dave, Jules and girls. Jules cooked us delicious Asian style lamb shanks, wasabi mashed potat and braised bok choy-yum. It's sad to think we wond't see them again for quite a while but we'll get back there eventually.

Tweed Heads Cont.

Thursday we took our lunch and headed out onto the river. We caught heaps and heaps and heaps of tiny fish-mostly whiting, tailor and tarwine that all had to be returned but gave us lots of fun. After we'd finished fishing we took a tour into Tweed Heads around the canal developments, marinas and creeks. It was really interesting.

Friday (yesterday) we went to town intending to replace our hotplates which got wet out in the rain on Wednesday night. We ended up coming home with the hotplates and a small turbo oven that Im very excited to have. I've missed my roasts, jacket potatoes meatloafs and casseroles and look forward to cooking some soon-it's leg of lamb tonight to christen it!

Last night we went over to Dave and Jules' then 9 of us including the girls went out to an amazingly great Thai restaurant just down the road. It is called Chiang Mai Thai and if you are ever in the area of Nobby's Beach, go and try it out. We all ordered a different dish and I don't think you could fault one-the flavours were outstanding. We skipped entrees and we had pad thai, chicken larb, garlic pepper duck, spiced pork, cashew garlic prawns, green beef curry and crispy skinned BBQ duck along with plain and coconut rice.

Today is Saturday. We've been wanting to take the boat down to Murwillumbar and beyond so decided today was the day. I made some lunch and we headed off. It's a fair way in our tinny, but the new motor meant we travelled the 25 or so ks in about 1 hour 15 minutes. We went couple of ks beyond the town then turned around and pulled in to a public wharf where we sat at a picnic table and ate our lunch. It was a lovely day on the river with houseboats, water skiers and a heap of competition fishermen out. On the way home we stopped for a fish and caught our dinner for tomorrow night-7 real good fish-and we could have brought more home but let them go. That's the best and easiest result we have had for ages.

Tweed River


Tuesday we are having the ute serviced in town, then a farewell dinner with Jules and Dave then Wednesday we leave giving ourselves 8 nights to get home.

Tweed Heads Still

On of the Locals-a Water Dragon Sunning Himself

We were to move on from Tweed Heads this morning, but decided we are really enjoying it and will leave Sunday instead. It's lovely on the river-we had a great day out there the day before yesterday.

Yesterday blew up a bit windy so we just had a lazy do nothing day. It was very relaxing. Today we took a drive to Fingal Point then headed into Tweed Heads to do a bit of shopping. The ute was racing and not behaving very well as we drove down the highway, then it decided to cut out completely. The steering locked up but Russ managed to get it to the side of the road. We got going again and went looking for Nissan. It cut out again outside a Holden dealership, so I went in and asked for directions to Nissan. It was just up the road. The car is still under warranty so they took a look at the electrics and wouldn't you know it, couldn't find a fault with it. We've booked it in for a thourough check-up on Friday though.

While we were shopping a storm blew in and dumped massive amounts of rain on the area. We arrived home to find the boat FULL of water and tipped up in the air on it's brand new motor and depth sounder. Then we discovered that the power in the van was off and had a terrible time getting that back on. I think the air conditioner which was left on may have got wet and shorted everything out. Oh well, they say things come in threes.

Tweed Heads

It's been a nice couple of days here so far. The park is really pleasant. It has nearly 200 sites but only around 50 tourist sites. The rest are permanents or holiday vans. The permanent residents are really nice and friendly which is good. I'm loving the fact that the official sunrise is now 5.30 am and sunset was 7.35pm compared to 4.30 and 6.35 just over that border. I love and really missed daylight savings. The park is really clean and tidy so it suprises me there are so few tourists-still only another couple of vans and a few tents. We are still the only ones on these en suite sites.

Russ got really sick on night one-we think he either had a gall bladder or kidney stone attack. It left him very tired and tender the next day. We had intended to put the boat in the Tweed River and go for a bit of a tour, but decided instead to drive out along the river to Murwillumbah and then cross the highway and travel home along the coast through Kingscliffe. The Tweed Valley has always been one of my favourite places, with its great weather and scenery and the fact it's not too ritzy and glitzy. We did a bit of shopping, then had lunch in Murwillumbah-sushi from a shushi train, something I've never done before. It was a good choice for Russ as it's light and you only eat what you want.

Yesterday we put the boat in at the parks boat ramp and headed off for a look down towards Tweed Heads/Coolangatta which was very pretty. We also managed to catch ourselves 6 whiting for our entree. We came home, left the boat in the water and had a late lunch before heading up the other way. It's so civilized when you can go home to the toilet (beats a bucket in the boat!), and make yourself a fresh lunch. We caught one more whiting and headed home around 5.30.

Today we'll do a bit more fishing then tomorrow we'll go to Dave and Jule's for Amber's birthday.

Tewantin, Jules and Dave, and on to Tweed Heads

My Recipezaar Friends Jules (back left) Susie (front left) and Sarah (front right)


We ended up having to stay on an extra couple of days at Tewantin-not by choice, Russ hurt his right arm really badly and we weren't able to move on as planned. He did it pumping yabbies for bait in the Noosa River and really couldn't do much with it for quite a few days. First it affected him lifting weighty things then later on cleaning his teeth and fiddly things became the problem. Anyhow, the thought of packing up, driving to Brisbane and unpacking in a day, then doing it all again two days later was more than he could bear.

It's a lot better but still giving him a bit of grief occasionally.

The park wore very thin with us. we had a woman behind us who enjoyed frequent sex very loudly, a very keen dope smoker nearby, the police turned up to help another permenant with his packing, and just a lot of people who could have been working but werent. All in all a bit sad and seedy.

On Thursday 22nd, we moved from the park to our friend Jules and Dave's front driveay and home. Jules and I are hosts together on Recipezaar and hadn't seen each other for about 3 years. We are in touch regularly over the internet, but it was great to catch up in person again. Amazing to see how daughters Amber and Ruby have grown in 3 years.

Russ, Ruby and Amber Head off Fishing


As Jules and Dave live on a canal in Burleigh Lakes, so we took the boat off and have had quite a lot of fun with it over the last 6 days. The girls loved going out for a fish with Russ on day one (once Russ was IN the boat)and Russ and I took another long cruise another day to check out all the houses that border the canal.

Jules and Birthday Boy Dave


Our first night, Jules cooked a yummy pork roast, the next night we went to Double Eight Chinese restaurant in Broadbeach (I highly recommend the place, the food was mostly excellent)and Saturday we had a terrific BBQ for Dave's birthday. Jules invited two other couples Susie and Chris and Sarah and Cam. The two women both belong to Recipezaar too (no it's not a cult!!!) and I was so happy to meet them Susie used to be a co host with Jules and I so I knew her quite well by internet. Nice to finally meet.

Ruby Setting the Table for Dave's Birthday BBQ


Sunday we went to the Broadbeach Beachside markets, then Russ and I took ourselves off to a couple of supermarkets and Asian stores to stock up on the sorts of things you can't get in outback Australia.

Monday with Amber at School and Dave working, Jules, Ruby, Russ and I went and did a bit of shopping and looking at more wonderful food shops, and finally tracked down a couple of ducks I wanted to cook for Jules birthday dinner on Tuesday night. It was certainly worth hunting for them because they were great and well priced from a little Asian butcher. I marinated them in Asian flavours and cooked them slowly in Jules oven (it was so nice to cook in an oven) then served them with a carrot and hokkien noodle salad. Yum. It's been great fun to be there to share Jules and Dave's birthdays.

This morning we headed on a whole 25ks to Tweed Heads here we've booked an en suite site in a park right on the Tweed River. It's so close, we can go home to Jules and Dave's for Amber's birthday curry party on Sunday! This park is nice. Lots of permenants, but they are retired rather than unemployed and everyone is so friendly. we can only spot to other tourists like ourselves, but I feel like it's going to be a good stay.

Noosa and a NEW MOTOR

Noosa is really pleasant. The weather has been a pretty constant 26c which makes a really nice change from central QLD where we were starting to hit around 40. We've been out to Eumundie's very large and very touristy market and to Cooroy's little one in the local hall. our fridge and pantry and fruit bowl are all stacked with pestos and pastes, dips avos, tomatoes and roasted macadamia nuts. IGA cooroy was having an international tasting the day we were there, so we also have raw chorizo, marscapone (too cheap to pass up) and smoked semi-dried tomatoes. Talk about a couple of kids being let loose in the candy store!

We have been visiting every boat shop we could find for the last 4 weeks and finally yesterday, Russ found new Suzuki 15hp outboard at a price we couldn't pass up. We've only had a 6hp motor so we should be able to get places a lot faster now and I will feel safer because of it.

Today we are off cruising up and down the Noosa River as the man who sold us the motor suggested we do the 5 hours running in before we leave the area (in case of problems I guess). I can't believe a new boat motor could make me so happy, but the boat really does give us hours and hours of entertainment.

Maryborough and Riki

We moved back into Maryborough from Poona and stayed two nights with Riki-another Recipezaar member. We had met her briefly on the Wednesday when she invited us for lunch but otherwise didn't know her.

On day one, we sat around and talked and then sat around and ate and drank a couple of glasses of wine and talked some more. Riki cooked us a yummy dinner of Lancashire hotpot.

Day two, Riki took her mum to see her dad at the hospital, then we all (including a friend Mary-anne) all met at aa local club for lunch. Riki's mum goes most Sundays for a little lunch and to play the pokies. I never play the pokies so was pretty happy to win $150.

After lunch, we took a tour of the town then visited Mary-anne for a great afternoon tea-prawns and a bottle of wine, then home where Russ cooked us all dinner.

It was a lovely time and just amazing how well we got on. I think we'll be going back.

Yesterday we left Riki's and moved on to Tewantin which is just outside Noosa. It's been 4 years since we were here last and it felt to be back. It feels like a holiday within a holiday. The park is small with tiny sites and quite expensive, but a unit would be much dearer and we are quite close to the river and shops.

We went fishing today on the Noosa River and caught a few fish, but only brought one bream home.

Perfect Poona

We ended up really enjoying Poona and have added it to our ever expanding list of places to be revisited. The town has a community hall and whilst we were there they had a Melbourne Cup Day, line dancing, tai chi, a meal and drinks on Friday night, a market this morning and Tombolla on Sunday.

We went over for the meal last night-it's all done by volunteers and we had the choice of fish and chips, pork chops chips and salad, a hamburger or steak sandwich (our choice) for between $4.50 and $7. Good bottled wine was $2 a glass for white and $3 for the red. It was a great night and the locals were so friendly it was unbelievable. I think the Great Sandy Straight might be over fished, but Poona would be still OK with a bit more local knowledge. We managed to catch ourselves 6 fair sized whiting and a garfish yesterday, so were pretty happy with that.

Now we are in Maryborough with Riki (from Recipezaar) for a couple of nights. She lives in a lovely old Queenslander with high ceilings and a great outlook from the upstairs front porch. Just the place to sit and compute and drink coffee!

Poona

Rain, rain, rain is all it’s seemed to do sine we arrived in Poona 4 days ago. It’s about 40ks outside Maryborough and quite a nice little place but we haven’t seen much of it with the rain. The good thing is the lack of sand flies due to the cooler weather-that really is great. We’ve been pretty bothered by them and have a huge selection of sprays, roll-ons and home made remedies in the hope that something works. When we went to Maryborough tourist information centre looking for directions, we were asked why we would want to come here and then told to be careful of the sand flies-after all the places we’ve been fighting them off, this seems no worse than anywhere else!

I bought a very expensive tube of Bushman’s repellant only to find I stuck to the seat I use in the boat (and it felt like waxing my leg to get it off) and all the plastic parts on our fishing rods we’ve touched have gone tacky. It can’t be nice stuff!

The park is here is small and mostly empty which is nice. We’ve actually had one whole side of the place to ourselves and have really spread out under the big shady trees. I hated the first couple of days though as the lawns were in desperate need of a mow and the shrubs needed attacking with a machete to get through to the toilets and laundry. I was happy to come back from a drive to Maryborough yesterday and find the owner had done it!

We did manage to get out to fish yesterday morning (up at 6 am to do it though) and were very happy when Russ caught us a metre long gummy shark and a large flounder. The shark has given us quite a few feeds of one of my favourite fish. It was great fun bringing it into the boat with our very light gear. Poona is on the Great Sandy Straight so is only 4ks across the water from Fraser Island. We’d been hoping we could take the boat over but the weather really has been against us, so we might have to do it next time round.

After we’d been fishing, we showered then headed into Maryborough for lunch and a visit with one of the women Riki that I’ve met through the recipe club Recipezaar. We’d never met in person before but had a great time. On Saturday we are leaving here and taking the van to her place for two nights before we move on to Trewantin near Noosa for another week. It’ll be lovely to spend some time with Riki.

This morning we took a drive to Tin Can Bay. It’s another pretty spot, but it was too wet still to get out and look round much. I was surprised at the extent of the pine forests around here-we passed through about 40ks of them on the way here.

Miara CP

Our 6 nights at Baffle Creek was really good. We only managed to catch two mud crabs we could keep but at least we know we can sort of deal with them now. On the last morning, we decided to go fish at the mouth of the river. I almost backed out as I was getting really sick of sitting out in the sun catching nothing. At the last moment I decided to go as I wanted to take a look around the area and ended up catching our only fish-a 49cm grunter. The QLD grunter are a bream-like fish that is not related to WA’s nasty little bait stealers and are considered excellent eating (which it was!). We seasoned it, wrapped it in foil and cooked it on a hot plate over the camp fire pit along with some flat chips.

We are now at Miara Caravan Park an hour away from Baffle Creek and on the Kolan River mouth about 45ks from Bundaberg. The park is on the river and surrounded by cane farms. The nearest farm has a few cattle and two horses who wander the roads and paddocks of cane stubble whenever they like. They all seem to love the cane hay/straw and look as fat as mud. The park has a huge semi permanent section and most owners have erected elaborate protection over their vans and the whole site-they really are amazing. One very simple one with an old van somewhere underneath is for sale at $36,000.

After a one hour drive here on Monday and then setting up and getting the boat and trailer ready, we headed into Bundaberg for some lunch and shopping. We had an ok lunch t the local RSL club, drove round town checking out boat shops for motors and depth sounders, and did our grocery shopping at the largest Woolworths I’ve ever been in. Bundaberg (famous for sugar cane, macadamias, avocados, rum, ginger beer and other yummy things) is a really large and quite pretty city on the Burnette River. We’ll head back into town at least once more to visit a couple of things that were recommended to us.

Yesterday we headed out to do a bit of fishing-it seems the fishing is pretty light on so we were lucky to catch a fair sized bream and flat head which we’ll eat for dinner tonight. Russ is out pumping for yabbies right now so we can use them as bait later this morning.

The sea breeze comes in here and cools things down in the afternoon and it also keeps the sand flies away so I’m happy about that. My poor arms and legs are at least not getting any more bites. I got some non-drowsy anti histamines for the bites in Bundaberg and took them last night-I was non-drowsy until about 3 am!!!!!

We’ll be heading to Maryborough/Hervey Bay from here where we’ll spend about a week, then on to Noosa for another week we reckon

Baffle Creek

Today is day 4 of 6 we’ll be spending at Baffle Creek which is roughly half way between 1770 and Bundaberg. It’s a lovely spot and there have never been more than 11 people here at any time, so I’ve had my wish for a bit of peace and quiet.

The area has been subdivided into mostly 40 acre blocks and we think this place is on two of those. There is 2 camping areas, one powered, one not and we are at the powered one. It has a few van sites, some camping sites, a couple of permanent tents and a couple of funny little cabins. The camp kitchen and toilet block are in the centre of all this. It is really good-I especially love the fire pit just beside it. Last night we cooked a chicken and vegetables in a cast iron Dutch oven over the coals. It was lovely to sit and watch it cook and tasted excellent too.

We were able to launch our boat in a small creek on the park, and then travel down it to Oyster Creek which then flows in to Baffle Creek. So far we have only fished and crabbed in Oyster, but today we have the boat out and plan to take it to Baffle for a look around it. It will be cheaper and faster for us to trailer it there. Our fishing and crabbing hasn’t been too spectacular. We are just using our drop nets to crab rather than the big expensive traps used around here. Russ says we have no more room for another net or trap and these ones are big. We’ve caught two crabs we’ve kept (I picked the meat and made sandwiches out of it both days) and yesterday although we caught 8, they all had to be returned. Two were enormous but female and have to go back here in QLD. We’ve caught quite a variety of fish-black bream, yellow finned bream, grunter, catfish, but all had to go back as they were too small.

The park owners left on Thursday for a few days away. A nice couple from Yeppoon is looking after the place and Cec has been great with trying to help us catch a mangrove jack which is the whole reason for this camps existence I think! He also taught us to throw our cast net so we can catch the live bait needed to catch them too. The net (which we bought in Darwin) came with instructions but neither of us could work out how to throw it. It’s amazing what one lesson with an expert can teach you!

Each afternoon, the owners feed the birds so there is an amazing variety of birds around here. There are shell ducks, bush turkeys, magpies, butcher birds, guinea fowl, doves etc, etc. Cec was a bit late feeding them yesterday, so every time we moved, they thought we must be about to feed them and all flocked around us!

The only down side to this place is the sand flies. Once again we are being attacked morning and night. I don’t seem to get as attacked as Russ, but he is better at not scratching the bites-I just can’t leave them alone

Awoonga Dam and on to 1770

I haven't blogged for a few days-the internet reception was very por at Awoonga dam where we just spent the last 4 nights.

We were about to leave Kinka Beach and head to Biloela via Mt Morgan when we were advised not to take the road but to go over the "razorbak" with the van instead. Neither option sounded particularly pleasant so we decided to head to Agnes Water and The Town of 1770 instead. As we were driving though, we passed a sign to Awoonga dam (just 8ks off the Bruce Highway) so headed in there for a look. It was really beautiful and we decided to stay for 3 nights (extended that to 4) and have a crack at Barra fishing. Well, I've had my crack at Barra fishing and refuse ever to go again unless I go with an expert for about $350 for 6 hours.

Our neighbour did that and brought home some amazing photos of the big fish (over 1 metre and 26kgs) that he caught and released. We didn't even have a barra take a sniff at our lures and we tried a few sorts. It's all very scientific and I have decided I'm not a sport fisherperson-more your hunter and gatherer who is happy to come home with a feed. The fish in Awoonga are released most often as they taste too weedy-what's the use of catching a fish you can't eat?!

The dam and surrounds were very pretty and once again we got the million dollar view in the park with our awning facing the lake. The sun set off to one side and behind a large hill, so afternoons were especially nice.

Today we drove to Agnes Water, but decided the only park was a bit far out of town. We drove on to The Town of 1770 instead and chose the camping ground at the end of the road-that puts it on the corner of the estuary and the surf beach. Our site is at the back of the park, but is a lot larger than many of them and we have one of about 4 concrete slabs at our door which is nicer than straight sand. The park is apparently always full and this was the only site we could have for any length of time (5 days). We'd been advised to ask for a site away from the water and sand too as we'll have less trouble with our friends the sand flies!

Kinka Beach

We've had 5 of our 7 nights at Kinka Beach so far-it's been great. We tried fishing out in the bay and only caught ourselves a handful of small fish. The handful of fish was enough to bait our crab pots and go mud crabbing on nearby Coorooman creek. All we got for our troubles was a big female (who has to be returned in QLD) and another nasty lot of sandfly bites. I was a bit luckier than Russ as I took the advice of our neighbours and wore long sleeved shirt, jeans, socks and shoes-not so many bites, but not very comfortable. I still have bites on my face, hands and exposed neck. Russ has bites all over. I hate sandflies!

We've been enjoying lower priced fruit and veg-local pines 50c (and not a bad size) avocados 70c, limes 20c each, sweet potato $1 per kg, beautiful hot red chillies 7.99kg.

Our neighbours here have been very nice-we are staying with Mick and Sue in Newcastle on our way through in a couple of months and will catch up with Marg and Trevor while they are in Portland over the Christmas holidays. Tonight the eight of us are having dinner together. Mick and Sue making the entree, Marg and Brian, Russell and I the mains and Marg and Trevor dessert.

The night before last, we went to a nice little Thai restaurant in Emu Park-they were very quiet, with only us, another couple and one lot of take away for the night. The owner (a NZer) and his Thai wife (the chef) ended up sitting eating their dinner chatting to us which was very interesting.

Yesterday we drove into Rocky to look at new boat motors. We've decided we need a larger one as ours just doesn't push the boat along fast enough so it takes forever to get anywhere (not a nice feeling if the weather blows up). Mariner looks the best so far for price and weight-some are up to 12 kilos heavier than the one we have now which would be unacceptable!

I'm allowed to tell everyone now that I am going to be a grandmother-Daniel and his girlfriend Verity are expecting a baby in April. I just saw the scan photos which makes it all seem more real! We'll be in Perth when the baby is born which is great.

On Sunday we are heading inland again to Biloela via Mt Morgan for a couple of nights. Then we'll head out to the coast and 1770. It depends on the fishing and the sandflies just how long we stay there, then it's on to Maryborough.

Kinka Beach

We moved on to Kinka Beach yesterday. Kinka Beach is near Yeppoon (which is near Rockhampton). I have to admit I was very happy to see the ocean (South Pacific)after what seems like ages. Our caravan park is called Island View and our view across to Great Keppel which is very pretty. It's cooler but more humid here than Emerald but a sea breeze comes in every afternoon which is lovely. We have booked for 4 nights with an option to extend that to 7-I just hope the two VERY noisy couples behind us settle down a bit tonight as that'll be the decider for me!

Kinka Beach and the nearby town of Emu Park are lovely. Emu Park paticularly, feels like a cross between Yamba and Port McQuarie (both on NSW north coast) before those lovely seaside towns were developed out of recognition. The house blocks are big and the houses are old and comfy looking Queenslanders with wide verandahs and shutters over the windows. The town is quite hilly with lots of beautiful views over Keppel and other islands. It all seems so lush and tropical too after coming through the drought stricken outback. We are on the Tropic of Capricorn here (same as Coral Bay WA) so I guess it should feel tropical!

Our last morning at Lake Fairbairn was our best yabbying morning of all. We got 50 but brought home 40 really good sized ones which gave us enough meat to freeze for two good feeds. I would have like to stay on, but our site had been pre booked by others. I didn't miss leaving the very tight group of neighbours who hardly ever spoke to us. God I hate groups of people who have been going to the same place forever and don't bother with newcomers.

Storm on Fairbairn Dam

Sunrise on Fairbairn Dam

We’d had 9 fairly uneventful days here at Fairbairn Dam until yesterday. We’ve basically spent the days getting up around 5.30 am to go and check the nets, back for breakfast then housework, a swim and a trip into town or a drive occasionally. Russ has gone out and checked the nets in the afternoon a few times too.

Our catch had slowed down so yesterday morning we decided not to bait up then, but to come back in the afternoon, re-bait then move the nets. I decided I’d come for a change. It was warm and calm when we left and headed the 6 ½ ks across the lake to the dead trees where we have our nets set. There were clouds about, but the wind was blowing the other way and all seemed fine until we lifted the third of our 8 nets-all of a sudden (and I do mean sudden) the wind changed.

Our Nets are Through There


Fortunately we were amongst the drowned trees and were able to tie ourselves to one. The wind howled past us for about 10 minutes then we saw a sheet of rain crossing the lake towards us. It hit and the wind and rain and waves continued to pound and pummel us as we hung on the end of the rope. I’ve been out riding horses and motorbikes in bad weather but I’ve never been out in anything like it before and I’m so glad we weren’t out in the open water. Luckily we had a couple of plastic ponchos, a few biscuits and plenty of water. We also had our life jackets and flares but I’d forgotten my phone.

As we huddled there, we suddenly remembered our awning and the fridge, hotplate, chairs and towels were out. I said I didn’t really care about them so long as we were OK-they’re just stuff.

After about 45 minutes, the wind died down enough and we were able to make our way slowly back over the still choppy lake. We got back here to find the lovely young NZ couple next door had caught the awning just before it went over the van (the anti flap bars had already fallen out) and enlisted a few other neighbours to help. They’d realised our door wasn’t locked and packed all the other stuff inside. Our formerly quite standoffish neighbors (the NZers aren’t standoffish) all huddled around us and suddenly wanted to talk! Our van with our beautiful view of the lake was the one that copped the brunt of the storm, but trees here in the park have had leaves ripped off them and people had outdoor furniture thrown around.

Another couple also got caught out there and had to put into the bank for the whole time. They reckoned the wind was probably well over 75ks and gusting around at 100 occasionally-I felt like I was in a hurricane. Our neighbour (who has been coming here for 10 years) told us 5 people have died out on the lake in similar conditions. I was just happy I was out there with Russell because I know I’d have been beside myself with worry if I’d been home here along. Out there I felt uncomfortable but relatively safe tied to our tree.

Lake Faibairn

Redclaw Yabby (beside Russ's foot!)
Yesterday we drove out to Springsure through farmland which was nice-it all seems so civilised now after the country we drove through to get here. Springsure is in the central highlands and after a look around town we drove out to a few lookouts which gave great views of the area. On the way into town, I saw a big rock that looked like the Virgin Mary in an alcove. I hadn't read the local info, but that's what they promote it as-I was pretty pleased with myself for spotting the likeness!

We drove on through a couple of stations and visited Wills grave and the site of a massacre (19 men women and children were killed by aboriginals) then back to the park. Russ did a bit of fishing and checked our yabby pots, I relaxed in the airconditioning as it was round 36c.

Yesterday we got 30 good sized yabbies, today we got about 25 but a few were very little. Last night we had a really nice redclaw pasta and I plan to try a curry with the next lot. We have booked a few extra nights so we'll freeze the next catches for later on. It's been lots of fun finding out what they like to eat-avocado is the hands down (claws down?) favourite so far with mandarine the next then pumpkin.