7/11 ferry ride, from kingfisher bay turned left uphill following tracks to lake mckenzie, turned left and headed to lake WA by.  Walked to lookout above lake WA by and then down to lake foe a swim with the many huge catfish, played with kids on water for about 1 hour before steep walk back to carpark- 3.4 klm round trip, 500m to lookout from carpark. Now following track to beach and from beach to Eurong to book into hotel. 

After lunch and check in we headed out to lake mckenzie for a look. Another beautiful drive through all types of forests and rain forests before arriving at lake mckenzie for a swim in it’s cystsl clear beautiful fresh water. We lazed, swam and played in the water until about 5pm before heading back to Eurong via central station. Lake mckenzie was an awesome place with beautiful white sandy beaches and cool clear water…a must visit.  Back at Eurong we drove down the beach a fee klms enjoying the sunset until heading back to the hotel room.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Leaving Cairns at 11am we planned to head towards Cowley Beach, hoping that the wind would drop and we could enjoy some boating around the Barnard Group of Islands.  On the way we dropped in at Josephine Falls for a looksy and also for a slide down the rocks.  By the time we got to the Falls the weather was bright and sunny and we enjoyed the refreshing swim in the cool mountain waters.  In all we spent a couple of hours at Josephine Falls sliding to the rocks into the pool below.   Bushman Bud and the kids had a ball sliding down in multiple combinations with the waterproof camera in hand.  We had an awesome time enjoying the adventure of a beautiful place.  Josephine Creek is fed from the towering Mt BArtle Frere, QLD’s highest peak at 1,622m and by the time the cascading waters reach the bottom they are icy cool and as fresh as water can taste…beautiful!

I mention Bartle Frere because it was here just over a year ago that Joey Jess and Bushman Bud climbed the peak, twice.  Once up the Western Route, which starts at Josephine Falls and once from the Eastern side.  Therefore Joey Jess was pretty excited about her return visit and walked some of teh path reminicing about her past achievements…good on you Joey Jess, a spectacular achievement at just seven years of age.

From Josephine Falls we travelled to Innisfail for lunch at the skate park where the kids had fun on their scooters.  I ate the last of my Red Claw BBQed in garlic and butter.  Leaving Innisfail we eventually arrived at a rather windy Cowley Beach, the caravan park deserted.  The interesting thing was that the lovely beach had been decimated by drift wood, obviously the carnage of the rampaging cyclone Yarsi this time last year…what a shame that this previously unspoilt beach and gateway to the Barnard Islands was damaged in such a way.  With the wind up and the beach a mess we reviewed the maps and headed towards Bingil Bay and Mission Beach.  I am glad we did because the drive into this place is spectacular and when you get there teh drive along the beach is very special.  We missed this coastline last year and alsmost again this year so it was good to have a visit, if not a fleeting visit, to investigate a place for a holiday in the future.  We ended up staying in the Council Park right on the beach front overlooking Dunk Island.  The scenery in this place just magnificent.  Unfortunately the wind was still blowing, meaning the boat stayed on the car roof, but on its day, the boating would be sensational around these parts.

In the evening I made a Halloween pumpkin for the kids and they enjoyed an hour of more “Trick & Treating.”  They did amazingly well given the tourist season is well and truly at an end in these parts.

We will continue down the coast today and see where we get to.  We are heading to JD’s farm for the 5 November in Bundaberg and then onto Fraser Island with “Bessy” on the 7,8 &9th November.  We then head to Brisbane for teh 11 November for our course “Design Your Destiny” with Christopher Howard, a person who has been responsible for massive changes in my life and one of the reasons I am fortunate to share these experiences with you.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

With very threatening rain across the gulf we had to make the sad decision to avoid the gravel roads along the Savanah Way and bottom of the Gulf.  This decison has since proved very wise with some areas through the Gulf receiving significant rainfall…getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere is not fun!

So, we left the very hot Elliot last night and travelled through to a rest area just North of Tennant Creek.  Rising in the morning we fueled up at Three Ways and crossed the NT/QLD border early afternoon.  We have had significant problems with water in the fuel ever since leaving Darwin and have had to continually clean the fuel filter.

It is probably best to note that we had planned to fish King Ash Bay around Borroloola and Bing Bong…simply we just ran out of time, needing to be back in Brisbane by 12 November for some personal development courses.

Moving on we hit Mount Isa late afternoon and fueled up and ate dinner in town.  We left Mt Isa on dusk heading for Cloncurry and then onto Kurumba where we were hoping to get some fishing in.

We finally got to 100klm South of Normanton and stayed in a rest area overnight.  Waking the net morning we passed through Normanton and then onto Kurumba where we spent less than 2 hours.  It was very windy and was to remain that way for the next few days, combined with rain also on the way we decided that it was not the place to bunk down for a few days…boredom would have set in big time.  So, saying goodbye to the windy and hot Kurumba we headed off towards Lake Tinaroo, one of our favourite haunts.  Luckily we still had the best part of the afternoon still to travel so off we went heading firstly for Normanton and then turning left onto the Gulf Developmental Road we fueled up in Croydon and headed to Georgetown arriving there at dusk for dinner.  We were sick of the car and wanted to get as close to Lake Tinaroo as possible so the following day was only a short one in the car.  We finally pulled over into a rest area just West of Ravenshoe (nice rest area) and crashed for the night.  Next day we headed into Atherton, through Tolga and into Lake Tinaroo…finally we had arrived, 3,500 klms later.  You beauty, time to relax, swim, scurf, fish and catch Red Claw…awesome!!

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Yes, I am back and its good to be back.  The trouble is we have been enjoying ourselves on the Eyre Peninsula so much that time to write and catch up has been too difficult.  We have been making the most of SA’s daylight saving and time zone with the sun setting around 9pm most evenings.  That doesn’t leave much time for writing.

When we touched base last we were heading through the flood waters around NSW.  In fact that became quite a challenge for us that I will update you on shortly.  In fact we almost got caught out several times and at one point thought we would be stuck in Brewarinna for Christmas.

Needless to say, we passed through Port Augusta on 18th December heading for the Eyre Peninsula.  Our plan was to spend some time in and aroundPort Lincoln and Coffin Bay.  We had picked out the beautiful sandy bays in this area to explore both on land and by boat.

Our experience has made us realise that the Eyre Peninsula, although a windy and sand blown place in most part has a few national treasures which should be on the list of all travellers to visit on their circum navigation of this great land of ours.  So here we go…

Passing through Port Augusta late in the day we planned to find some free camping for the night down the East coast of the Peninsula.  First we stoopped in at Wyhalla for dinner, before continuing on in the hope of reaching Tumbly Bay.  This didn’t happen and we found ourselves in a Rest Area for the night…which was strangely peaceful anyhow.

Up the next morning and we continued on to Tumbly Bay spendong a short time having a look with our main purpose of arriving in Port Lincon by lunch time.  Tumbly Bay was a beautiful stop and we penciled in another, visit again sometime in our notebook.  In fact we explored many small towns on the way through to Port Lincoln which were worth a visit for another trip before arriving in Port Lincoln itself which is by far the biggest town on the Eyre Peninsula.  Port Lincoln is the centre for the extensive farming lands and fishing (including oysters) industries of the Eyre Peninsula.

Getting a few supplies we then purchased a 2 month SA National Parks Pass and camping permit for $58.  Brilliant value for money…two months camping for an extra $24.  This beats QLD’s rampant government who want $21 per night plus vehicle permits.

We headed into the Lincoln National Park and the Surfleet Camping area which has just been completely revamped for caravans, camping trailerrs and motorhomes with level parking bays for all.  Some of the views from these spots is to die for.  In fact the biggest disappointment would have to be the lack of beach access for a dinghy which was probably about away. There were many camping spots in the Lincoln National Park.  We checked out Fishermans Bay and Tailors Landing before deciding on Surfleet Bay.

We spent three days and four nights here enjoying the nice beach and peaceful surroundings.  The vegetation is Australia’s own bush scrub which is common all along the South Coast with the jagged limestone cliffs.

After 3 days we moved onto our next destination of Coffin Bay, where we decided it would be home until the New Year.  Coffin Bay did not disappoint at all, in fact it became one of our most memorable places on our trip and certainly the pick of the spots on the Peninsula for boating, 4WDing and kiddy fun!  That we need to be part of my next post though…fishing calls!

The rain is back!  We have had two weeks of glorious weather so no complaints. 

We briefly stopped in at Bundaberg to get some fabrication completed on the van for an upcoming adventure…more on that later.  That completed it was time to move on down the coast.  Next stop was Burrum Heads NP.  Unfortunately the area looks beautiful but with it raining and having to move further down the coast we chose to pass through here with a stop for lunch right on the river mouth.  It surely looks like a future spot to explore.

On to Hervey Bay for a look now!  Hervey Bay turned out to be a big hub and not the quaint gateway to Fraser Island that I expected…what a shame.  We had a look along the coastline around Hervey Bay spotted Fraser Island and then moved on towards the Sunshine Coast.

We planned to steer away from the Bruce Highway (not a nice place to drive) and we headed for a camp ground called Log Dump Camping Ground inbetween Maryborough and Tin Can Bay.  It was getting late in the day and after travelling a long way looking for the campsite pulled off into a pine forest and found a secluded track to pull up stumps for the night.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

After staying over on in a small bush camp siding close to Rubyvale, we were back on the road to make the 9:15am tour of the Heritage Mine just outside Rubyvale.  This mine captures the history of the gemfields area surrounding the Emerald region.

The tour takes you down and around the still operational sapphire mine and is wonderfully informative.  A family of four cost $35 and given what some tours cost, this was great value for money.  The tour lasted for about 45 minutes.

On they way out of the mine is a great room full of history and newspaper articles reporting various finds of gem around Rubyvale.  There are some amazing stories of people finding rare stones only to sell then off at a fraction of their real value.  This is a great room to stop for a read.  I read all the stories including one about a black crystal used as a door stop because the owner thought it was worthless.  Turns out (after he sold it for a fraction of its value in an uncut state some years later) that it was the one of the rarest stones ever found.  The gem was cut and contained 5 stars inside it.  It is now known as the Star of Queensland and was recently sold for over 90 million dollars…that’s right, 90 million dollars – wow.  I bet Lovely Lynda would like to get her hands on that one.

Upstairs and at the mine entrance is every womans desire, the jewellery shop.  Lynda picked out a beautiful blue sapphire ring with a diamond surround.  She still claims it is her 10th year wedding anniversary rock…we’ll see what Santa brings hey.

The Heritage Mine was a great tour, endorsed by our Governor General in fact Quentin Bryce, who visited there a few years ago.  I would certainly recommend having a look and perhaps doing some fossicking in the nearby gem fields.  Who knows you may strike it rich like the two unemployed people who ran out of money, spent 5 weeks searching the gem fields in the hope of finding a fortune.  They managed to find a rare sapphire valued at 1 million dollars…not bad for 5 weeks work out of sheer desperation hey.

Get out to Rubyvale and have a looksy hey.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia 

Lovely Lynda was in her element

Time for Joey Jess to summit this mountain.

Leaving Lake Tinnaroo at 5:30am we were caught out a little with the length of the drive to the walking track for the Bartle Frere summit.  This took us 1 hour and 15 mins meaning by the time we grabbed the back pack and sprayed ourselves with Bushman (for the plague like leaches) we hit the track about 6.50am.

Within the first 300m we realised that the climb was going to be torturous.  There had been heaps of rain the past couple of days and in places the track was water logged and extremely muddy.  This didn’t help the progress and it became a slow grind to the turn off to the waterfalls (about 1.5klm along the track…the name of the falls escapes me at the moment).  From here the track gets a little steeper in sections and the muddy overgrown track was becoming very difficult to negotiate.  You have to constantly watch where you are stepping whilst trying to follow the badly marked track which is in need of urgent attention…mark my words…someone will get lost on this track if it is not fixed.

The kilometres passed very slowley and Joey Jess was getting tired by the 4klm mark and we had a chat about continuing.  After thinking it through Joey Jess was happy to contine…the condition of the track and constant wiping off of many leaches were taking a toll.

We eventually arrived at Northwest Peak which seemed to take forever and stopped for a good break eating our sandwiches and realising that we had left some of our energy food behind…oops.  This seemed to refresh Joey Jess and we moved quickly from the Northwest Peak to the first of the two camps below the Bartle Frere Summit.  This was where the going got really tough and time was slipping away from us.  We had set a cut off time at 12:30pm for the summit and it was closing in on midday.  From the camp we had to negotiate about five massive boulders rising steeply up a small creek, all extremely slippery but not quite as dangerous as the Eastern side if you fell.  These were very difficult and took us a long time to climb over and Joey Jess was getting very tired by this stage and I started to question my decision to take Jess up the mountain…we were however, so close now that I wanted to give Jess every chance to succeed…so we pushed on.

After the boulders we then had to negotiate a running stream which after the rain was cascading down the mountain slope.  This was the last part of the mountain and completely unexpected as it was completely dry last time I came this way.  This was slippery and we both soaked our boots through.  We carried on though and came to the last 200m walk through rainforest…we had made it to the summit of Mt Bartle Frere…you beauty and good on ya Jess – what a climber and machine you are.  What great desire and determination you have in following your dreams and goals, I am so very proud of you for pushing through your limits and boundary conditions on such a tough climb and coming out the other side learning new lessons that will allow you to travel and accomplish even more in life.  You learnt many lessons on Mt Bartle Frere today, well done.  You gave it your best effort and succeeded by going the extra mile.  I love you and am so very proud of you!

We arrived at the top of the highest mountain in QLD at 12:40pm.  Unfortunately the peak was in cloud but we took the chance to take some photos at the peak next to the sign before having to get back down before nightfall.

I must say that I was a little worried.  It had taken us well over 5 1/2 hours to reach the summit and if we took the same amount of time to get back down we would be travelling on an overgrown track in dark…impossible, we would have to camp out and spend a very nasty night in a leach infested rain forest…that was all the motivation we needed.

We left the summit after about ten minutes and a phone call to Nanna & Gramps and Mum.  I pushed Jess hard to the Northwest Peak to try and make up some time.  We lost the track several times and I am thankful that I had the foresight to lay extra markers at places that were unclear.  We arrived at the Northwest Peak in good time and had a well deserved break.  I gave up my sandwich to Joey Jess and we continued on.  Down, down, down we went.  Time seemed to be slipping away when we heard the faint sound of Bobbin Bobbin Falls and realised we had come further than what we had thought…we were going to make it back to the car in daylight…you beauty.

On the track approaching the falls we came across a small snake sunning itself, trying to soak up the last rays of the day.  Try as hard as we could to scare it, we couldn’t get it to move.  We then started throwing sticks at the snake to give it a move on before realising that we would need to sneak past it.  It eventually moved just off the track and we squeezed past.

We arrived at the track to Bobbin Bobbin Falls and with new found motivation quickly knocked off the final 1 1/2 klm of track to the car.  Awesome and what a feeling of success.  We had climbed Mt Bartle Frere on a tough and very demanding day with the track in poor condition in 9 hours and 59 minutes…unbelievable effort by Joey Jess…I take my hat off to you my darling.  You did well today and achieved your goal.  You have now climbed some of the highest and challenging mountain peaks in Australia and are a long way to achieving your goal of climbing the highest mountain peak in every state…good on you…you go girl!!!

Check out the vids and photos…coming soon.

Bushman Bud & Joey Jess…Enjoying Australia

Check out the

After climbing Mt Bartle Frere and getting so close to the summit with Joey Jess it was time to hook up the Kedron and head back to Lake Tinaroo so Joey Jess could have a crack at the summit on the West Track.

Lake Tinaroo is such a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the calm waters of the Lake, no place better than at the Kuari Creek Camp, which now with the dam levels having dropped about 750mm there was a nice sand beach to play.

Looking at the weather we planned to stay at the Lake until Wedneday 6 October and summit the West Track of Mt Bartle Frere on 5 October 2010.

Planned activities at Lake Tinaroo were to swim and catch some freshwater Red Claw (marron if you are from WA) which are apparently a pest here at Lake Tinaroo – you beauty because they taste awesome BBQ’d in garlic butter.

So the days from 1 October to 4 October panned out pretty much as described above.  Setting pots for Red Claw and swimming with the kids.  Now the question has been asked, how do you set the pots for Red Claw without a boat…the answer use swimming noodles!  In fact this became a family affair morning and night and was great fun.  Bushman Bud and the kids took the noodles and jumped into the lake ferrying the pots out to various trees and underwater structure.  I would carry the Red Claw pot out on one noodle whilst swimming out on another noodle…the kids in tow on their noodles having an awesome time.  Each morning around 7:30am we would head back out to the pots and pull them up one at a time and then try to avoid the large strong dangerous nippers whilst you swam back with some angry Red Claw.  This worked extremely well and we got a great feed of Red Claw for lunch everyday.  Once we had found out the secret bait was boiled potatoe we did even better and caught some nice big Red Claw too.  In fact we were doing better than some with the boats…ha, ha, very funny.

We did also wonder back to the Coffee Factory in Mareeba to gorge on some more of their beautiful chocolate and enjoy tasting some more coffee…free of charge may I add.

Well, its now late on 4 October and time for Joey Jess and myself to prepare ourselves for the summit of Bartle Frere tommorrow.

Goodnight all.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

On the road early this morning and a trip to Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge.

We arrived in Port Douglas around 9:00am and took sometime just walking the streets and browsing through a few shops.  It was great fun with the kids and yes…Bushman Bud ended up buying the kids some rather expensive bathers and Lovely Lynda some Lorna Jane active gear…why did I agree to go to Port Douglas…huh!

With the ladies happy and some funtimes had we topped off the visit with a nice icecream before heading towards Mossman Gorge.  Port Douglas for us was very much a tourist town with a beautiful holiday feel.  The main drag is littered with all kinds of shops and eateries and would have a great atmosphere at night times.  Whilst we appreciated the town for what it was, it is just simply not what we go on holiday for.  It is however worth a visit and if you have time…and are inclined that way…get down to the beaches and have some fun.

Leaving Port Douglas we headed back to Mossman and onto the famous Mossman Gorge.  Repairs and upgrades to walking tracks in the Gorge meant that the road into the Gorge was closed.  This meant cueing up for a shuttle bus…yes I said that right, cueing up!!! there are som many tourists that go to see this gorge which, quite frankly spoils the beauty of this special place.  After a very hot 15 min wait and uncomfortable bus ride we were dropped off at the gorge.  The walks at the gorge follow the cascading river for 700m with various platforms designed to give you a better look at the river.  Arriving at the top end of the walkway there is a swing bridge that will take you to a further 2.5klm loop walk but this does not give you any better view of the gorge, so save your energy for other walks along your travels.

The Mossman Gorge is a beautiful place but one trafficked by many people.  The river cascading over oval shaped smooth boulder is awesome to witness and you could only imagine how much better the sight would be in the wet.  It is a place to visit but be prepared to share it with the masses.

For me taking the track less travelled and making the effort to get out and about takes you into places just as scenic or more so.  These places are enhanced because many times you have the place to yourself…sorry but you just can’t beat getting off the beaten track and stumbling on a place of breath taking beauty.

Well, been there and done that…I think the saying goes.  Happy for the experience, but not likely to go back.

Another wait for the shuttle bus and finally back at the car.  We drove the 20 odd klms back to Wonga Beach and finished the day with another refreshing swim.

The Crebb Track beckons tommorrow.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

We have been travelling with our good friends the Gray family for the past two weeks and were tossing up whether to travel further West with them or track back down some of the North QLD Coast that we have not seen yet, leaving the Top End for April next year.

In the end, the thought of really hot, humid weather was not really that attractive so we made the decision to part company and head to Wonga to see Mossman Gorge, Daintree and do the Crebb 4WD Track.  From there we will head towards Tully, Cardwell, Ingham and track back down the coast taking in the Whitsunday Islands before we decide on future plans.  Kurumba and Lawn Hill NP will need to wait until next year.

With the decision made and temperatures quickly climbing the next morning we hooked up the Kedron van and headed towards Mareeba.  At Mareeba we had a quick stop at the Coffee Factory (free entry on a return visit) for the kids to get their chocolate fix.  Heading North out of Mareeba we passed through Mt Molloy where we turned right and headed over the range to Mossman.  Past Mossman and still heading North we decided to use the Pinnacle Holiday Resort as our base to explore the Daintree.

The day was finished off with a relaxing swim in the pool.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia