The Gold Coast to Tamworth

This is somewhat different from our previous Blogs, since a major part of the Blog content has no photographs, we forgot to take the camera!!

In the last Blog we mentioned the diversion to the Gold Coast, well the reason was to visit old Friends from Fiji times (over 30 years ago ), to the expats amongst the readers this will be considered quite normal. The 200Km diversion was nothing in the 17,000 km journey to date and the enjoyable time we had revisiting past glories and events meant that the day sped by and was enhanced by the food and wine hospitality provided by Anne and Paul Gilroy.

We certainly hope to return the experience in Perth in the not to distant future.

The journey from the Gold Coast was via Mullllumbah, Kyogle, Casino, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Guyra, Armidale and then Tamworth.

This sounds a lot of places and most we spent a few days in with the others a few hours over a 2 week period.

This is the reason we spent a few days a Guyra for example.

Parked overlooking the Golf course.

Unfortunately Mike was unwell and unable to play!!

Another pleasant spot outside Armidale.

A dam with lily pads

This ring of stones is located at Glen Innes

A real Celtic town with excellent Museum

and climate with 4 UK type seasons.

Unfortunately ring of stones has only been there for a few years.

A tourist draw card??

These are the Lily pads.

very colourful in the afternoon


And close up even better

Even the common fir tree fruit can be interesting.

But this is real colour

Whilst in Armidale we visited the New England University.

The name "New England" is well chosen due to the climate.

But the buildings are Australian.

this summer residence for a 19 th century pastoralist is special.

with 40 odd bedrooms, some summer residence!!

Now a part of the University.

To end this Blog is to be in Tamworth home to Australian country music.

However the big events occur in January.

So we had to do with Professional Bull Riders "PRB".

This image is typical of real country "folk"

The Cowboys and Gals do exist in profusion in

North western Queensland and New South Wales.
Note the stance

Fingers in pocket, crossed legs and hats.

Hats must be worn everywhere together with long sleeved shirts.

And the entertainment is "PRB"
The event we attended had 40 riders.

the objective was to stay on the Bull for 8 seconds.

Only 10 of the 40 riders succeeded.

This was one of them.

In most cases the Bull won and had them off in about 2 seconds flat.

Flat on the riders back that is!!

Then 3 brave assistants attempted to drive the Bull from the ring.

With varying degrees of success.

An evening to remember

For Mike not again.

But for Katherine the ability to scream as a 60 year old

was to be repeated if we ever cross their path again.


Distance Travelled from Perth = 16,881 Km

Distance from Perth = 3833 Km

Number of days on the road = 178

Heading South and the Cool

We have been in the "Top End" and it's attending heat for months now so we are turning South
and heading to the Spring of Northern New South Wales, well that was the plan but like always things change.
We certainly headed South and took in Morven,Mitchell,Roma,Surat,Goondiwindi,Warwick and Canungra .
After that we were pleasantly sidetracked to the Gold Coast and past Friends rediscovered - Details in the next Blog.

The towns named above are only known to the Australian Outback specialists but to us they represent friendly people and experiences.

This image illustrates the "dry"

A view of the Mitchell water supply built in the 1980's

Recently replaced by a more secure supply

This is also Mitchell

The Great Artisian Spa - Water runs continuously and will do for centuries.

Needless to say we used this a number of times.

A peaceful breakfast in the cool of the morning with only birds for company.

And our company came demanding meat for breakfast.

Another example of the lack of rain.

the grass in the foreground should be water.

But there was water in the sky that night

Enough only to wet the van windows.

This illustrates the size.

The railway to the West of Queensland - Millions of acres.

With even more millions of cattle.

This provides the success of this area.

As long as it rains!!

When you enlarge this image you will see the local rulings on firearms.

This is included for the poignancy of the content not quality.

An Australian redundant wool scourer ( closed in 1970's)

Still on the job as a volunteer guide.

Looks quiet but like a whippet when roused.

This gives a feel for Warwick on a Sunday morning.

Only 1 Cafe open.

Monday it was thriving with 10 cafes on the go.

Nice place and good swimming pool.

Before Warwick however we spent 3 days in Morven.

Absolutely nothing there except the company of these fellow "Nomads"

and hospitality of the local people.

Enjoyable 3 days!!

Just before Goondiwindi we met another Friend.

We thought he had died.

evidently we were wrong.

Distance Travelled = 15,909 Km

Distance from Perth = 4623 Km

Number of days on the road. = 162

Cairns to Barcaldine via Longreach

This part of the Blog covers the leaving of the Tropics and travels through the Western Queensland country area taking in Charters Towers, Emerald, Longreach and Barcaldine ( After much local advice the pronunciation is " Baa cold dun " )

However before leaving the coast and tropics we much introduce this fellow we met in Townsville !!

On route to the inland we camped next to this river and to protect the land about 2 km of this retaining wall had been built - you can see the little stream at present turns into a torrent after the rains.

This image looks unremarkable but the apparent scum in the water is in fact coral spawn.

It was full moon the night before and the spawn floated in off the coral reef.




This is in fact our last look of the Coral Sea.

Sad

However we had this terrific waterfall in Townsville to admire.

The houses at the top of the cliff had some view of the ocean as well.

This is another view of Townsville !

Much better than the casino?

This is the traditional Bill a bong at early morning.

As we arrived the Kangaroos moved off.

But the birds returned.

This is a different spot- with the view from our bedroom window.

Whilst this was the dinner setting in the evening.

These two images were in Emerald near their Lagoon.

Water and Birds definitely mix.

Emerald also had this juxtaposition.

Left to right we have

The new road - the old wooden bridge - the walkway when the river is down

and on the far right is the railway bridge

For the lovers of Australian Art.

The local dunny at Jericho

And even the bakery can be interesting as at "Alpha"

This is the view of one of the last "Drive In's" or outdoor cinemas in Australia

Viewed from the screen to the seats

Viewed to the screen

and open once a week at Jericho !

Again for the purest

This is the famous "Tree of knowledge"

( type this in the browser for more)

Unfortunately now deceased

And replaced by this $6M artifact ??

Another place we visited was Longreach no images just a lot of memories of the "Stockman's Hall of Fame" and the "Qantas Museum" both worth the 300Km's to see just these attractions.

Distance Travelled from Perth = 14,042 Km

Number of days on the road = 142

South to Cairns or Fungi, Flowers and Butterflies

This part of the Blog is dedicated to Fungi, Flowers and Butterflies.

To really appreciate the image it will be necessary to enlarge the photographs by double clicking on the image.

We felt that these images made the heat and humidity a worthwhile price to pay for the experience.

Here Katherine is surrounded by a single tree root system.

Let's start with the Fungi, a Katherine speciality

Then come the flowers!!

And what about the Butterflies?

As you can see this was a difficult part of the trip !!

Distance travelled from Perth = 12,401 Km

Distance from Perth = 5,169 Km

Days on the road = 115