Lucinda - From Coconuts to Coral Trout!

Well today we said farewell to Townsville, with it's unusual architecture -

and it's tribal rock art...

 

And travelled north just over 100 kms to reach the beautiful coastal town of Lucinda, located at the southern entrance to the Hinchinbrook Channel, just near the town of Ingham.

 

We are lucky enough to be staying with local fishing legend and all around great guy, Laurie, and his Ewok, Boots.  Laurie is the Dad of a friend from Perth, and he and Boots have welcomed us into their home like long lost family!

 

After we set up camp it was time for Bruce to do the domestics (yup, there was ANOTHER accident in the caravan last night!) while Boots took me and the boys to the beach. 

 

 

The beach walk was cool!  We were fascinated by the 6 km long sugar jetty - the world's largest bulk sugar loading facility, and dazzled by the view of the world heritage listed Hinchinbrook Island.

 

The boys were even more fascinated by the coconuts.  The shore is lined with dozens of coconut trees, and thus the beach is scattered with hundreds of coconuts.  The boys had great fun rolling them, throwing them, sitting on them, standing on them, trying to smash them and eventually collecting some to take back to Laurie's.  I've got to admit we were more successful collecting them from the ground than from the tops of the trees, but we had fun trying!  How do those Islanders do that?

 

 

Laurie showed us how to open them and we all decided we like the flesh a lot more than the coconut water.  I couldn't help thinking how much I paid in Perth for coconut water last year as a regular part of my body building diet....

 

 

We were spoilt with a sensational dinner of coral trout (lightly floured and shallow fried in panco breadcrumbs) by our marvellous host who is clearly much more than just a great fisherman!

 

 

I am not sure that we did the mountain of fresh fillets justice.  There seemed to be quite a lot left over but the suggestion was made that we eat the remainder for lunch tomorrow.  Problem is, I'm not sure I'll have any room left after eating these...

 

 

 But I'll give it a go!

 

I was really impressed with Jack and Jarrah jumping up after dinner to help with the dishes.  Unfortunately, that didn't end well with Jack trying to slice his thumb off with a mighty sharp filleting knife.  Jack coped admirably with the blood and the pain, but suffice to say I don't think he's going to be the surgeon in the family!

 

 

The bright side is that we managed to avoid another trip to the local regional hospital.  Oh, and yes, in the picture Jack is sucking on a lemon.  It seemed to take his mind off the pain...kind of...

Townsville - Land of Pancakes & Icecream

What a great way to start the day.  Pancakes and "Jelly Fish Fritters" for breakfast at the 'Fish Inn' whilst overlooking the beautiful coastline and parks on the foreshore.  The Townsville Iron Man / Triathlon was on at the same time so we suffered mega-guilt, for about a nanosecond, from stuffing our faces with such beautiful food while everyone else was putting in the hard yards.  

The local markets were on today so we ventured over there and browsed for a couple of hours.  Jarrah was mature enough and brave enough to walk away from the purchase of a gemstone he wanted to buy because he was treated poorly by the stall-holder.  Such a mature decision that he made - we were all very proud of him to walk away.  "She doesn't deserve my money", he said. Notwithstanding that, we had a good time.

We drove to the top of Castle Hill, the large 'rock' that sits right in the middle of Townsville. 

 



It is a terrific view from up the top!  Again, we were able to watch people doing the hard yards by walking, running and cycling up the hill, which is over 3km of winding road to get to the top -  290m high. 

The rest of the day was spent hanging around the van and doing odd jobs such as pushbike puncture repairs, homework and drinking beer.  You can guess whom was doing what.  We even had a spot of rain briefly, the first since we left Keysbrook! 

All good, people.

Crashed Out in Townsville

It was a quick 7km run under the beautiful Townsville sunrise for Andrea but it was a lazy wake up call at 0830 by four F18 jets taking off overhead that started the day for the rest of us.  The RAAF base is not far from us and there is a major military exercise on in the Top End at the moment.  The fighter jets are terrific to watch but are LOUD!

After a belly full of bacon, eggs and baked beans we headed off to the pool for a dip.  We did a promotional photo shoot for the caravan park management by the pool, which was rewarded with a free lollipop for the boys, but bugger-all for us.

We rode our bikes along the coastline to Jezzine Barracks at Kissing Point and The Strand for another dip in the beautiful rock pool but ended up just using the swings, flying fox and ice-creamery - yum. 

Townsville was bombed three times in WW2 by the Japanese but these guns (below) were not much help.  Hard to track and shoot down a Jap Zero with two 5inch shore battery guns! Not that it mattered.....  Luckily, the only damage to the town was some broken windows at the racecourse, which had probably happened during a drunken night at the Townsville Cup anyway and had not been reported before the attack.

Battery Sergeant Jack with his able crew of artillerymen in the defence of Townsville, circa 1945.



Ice cream seems to be a recurring theme on this trip!

It was very relaxing and quite good fun at the Rock Pool.  By the time we got back, Fletcher pranged his bike at the door of the caravan and collapsed in a heap, falling asleep on top of his bike in the exact position he fell.



He remained there for over half an hour before he was scooped up and put to bed, while Jack and Jarrah watched the free outdoor movie at the caravan park, 'Penguins of Madagascar'.  Fletch woke up when they came back to the caravan and chucked a major spack when he realised that he slept through the whole thing!  He got to watch a bit of Scooby Doo on the telly, so that pacified him a bit.

More beer.
More wine.
Bed.

Launch Zone

This morning we moved to a caravan park on the other side of Townsville.  It's right on the water front and much closer to the action than where we started.

After setting up we headed out to Launch Zone - the biggest indoor trampoline park in Australia.  Needless to say the boys had a hoot!

 

It was two and a half hours before we could drag the boys away from there...bribed them into leaving by offering them a SECOND MacDonalds icecream for the day! No lunch but two icecreams ...hmmm.....we might not be the most health conscious parents but we're definitely the most popular parents today!!

Then all that was left was a spot of tennis at the caravan park before the sun went down.
Happy Days!

Time Out in Townsville

Yummy pancakes for breakfast started off the day wonderfully, before Bruce had to go and get his stitches taken out of his foot.  The wound had not really healed over properly but the doctors decided to rip 'em out anyway.  In fact two of the stitches had already removed themselves so it wasn't a difficult job.

The boys had fun playing ping pong and digging for dinosaur bones in these little kits we bought from the Kronosaurus Korner.



 

 Kept them occupied for most of the morning.  Then it was off to check out the water park at The Strand, which is on the waterfront in downtown Townsville.  Great fun but a bit cold when the breeze came in.



We enjoyed a beer (Bruce had a Ginger Beer) and some waffle chips along the waterfront before heading home for another beer by the campfire and, hopefully some damper!  It's not all beer and skittles, this touring thing.  Well, no skittles at least.....

Ok so the damper was a little crunchy on the outside but it was my first try...and it all got eaten so couldn't have been too bad! 

Congratulations to Grandma and Grandad Johnston on their 60th wedding anniversary!

Kronosaurus Korner



Today we visited Kronosaurus Korner, the dinosaur museum at Richmond. 

 

In 1926 a complete skeleton of the prehistoric reptile Kronosaurus queenslandicus was discovered some 48 kms from Richmond.  The specimen is believed to be about 112 million years old. 

 



The museum has some of the best preserved dinosaur fossils and skeletons in the world.  The dinosaurs on display were almost exclusively sea-borne creatures which looked similar to modern day whales, dolphins and turtles but much larger.  According to Fletcher, "it was cool".  His favourite bit was digging in the pit and uncovering a real dinosaur fossil...

We finished off the visit with morning tea in the Moonrock Café and Bruce bought a cowboy hat.  Nothing to do with dinosaurs...

Then it was back to the highway for the trip to Townsville.  We passed through Hughenden and made our way on to Charters Towers.  Fletcher provided non-stop entertainment by exercising his dead pet rat, Fluffy, who resides in his backside, consistently and persistently throughout the day.  OMG.  The stench overpowered us so much and on so many occasions that we had to travel with the windows down, resulting in us having to refuel twice!  Enough to drive a parent to drink!

The boys ripped through their homework and actually behaved nicely throughout (despite the stench)so we decided to reward them with an icecream from McDonalds!  Unfortunately, after lining up with 45 school kids to get served they said that they had run out of icecream.   When does McDonalds ever run out of icecream!!!?   Sad faces all-round.  Anyway, we found a camping shop and bought a camp oven, so tonight it's damper by the camp fire.  Not quite the same as icecream but yummy all the same.

Richmond - Dinosaur Capitol of Australia

Yep, overnight stay at an old WW2 airfield on the Barkley Highway after a full days drive from Tennant Creek.  We are in Queensland!   A small fire and drinks with some of the resident 'Grey Gonads' was fun but Fletcher had to be dragged kicking and screaming to bed "I want to play with my friends!"





But we were 'on the road again' this morning for the long haul to Richmond via Mount Isa and Julia Creek.  Fortunately, we arrived just in time to watch the afternoon feeding of the Julia Creek Dunnart during a short stop at the visitor's center- a pea sized chunk of frozen meat.  Fascinating....

 An oversized rodent and the Julia Creek Dunnart

 

A couple of hours further down the road and we are now at Richmond, where apparently there were shed-loads of dinosaurs before the earth cooled and the inland sea receded to the current day coastline.  Clearly, the dinosaurs weren't smart enough to follow the water where they could flourish and eventually eat millions of humans at will and achieve world domination.  Instead, they perished in the desert and left a whole stack of bones and fossils for tourists to look at.   Aren't we lucky!

Hello Queensland!

Well I could say that we decided NOT to go to Uluru because we felt sorry for Bruce with his sore foot, and didn't want him to be disappointed that he couldn't climb the rock with us....

To be honest, that would only be partly true!  We woke up in Tennant Creek this morning and it WAS FREEZING!  So, after a family meeting and vote, we changed direction and headed for Queensland!  I've got to admit it was pretty cool waking up and deciding, over breakfast, "let's go to Queensland today!" 



Happy Days!

Daly Waters Pub

This morning we left Mataranka Homestead in plenty of time to arrive at the Historic Daly Waters Pub for lunch.

Daly Waters is famous for having the Northern Territory's oldest pub and Australia's first international airport.  It is pretty remote - being 600 kms south of Darwin, 900 kms north of Alice Springs and 400 kms north of Tennant Creek.  People flock here in their thousands, however, to wander through this famous pub, with its unique memorabilia and amazing array of artefacts.

We did just this ourselves, icy cold beer in hand, marvelling at Australia's original thong tree, and enjoying a hearty barra burger.

We continued our journey until we ran out of daylight.  A big travel day today - we passed the time with times tables, spellings quizzes, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on audio book and some out loud reading of Roald Dahl's "The Witches".

 

Dream Job

Today we celebrate 50 days on the road!  It's been great, but I'm off to join the circus.

 

 

Just got to sort out that little bit about the kids...happy to bus them home.  Who's keen?  Aunty Barb?  Aunty 'Narte'?  Jac?

Mataranka & Bitter Springs

There is no greatness without simplicity.

Tribute to Don Bradman by Mrs Aeneus Gunn, author of We Of The Never Never.

We've spent the last two nights at Mataranka Homestead. The Homestead borders Elsey National Park and is situated between two rivers,  the Waterhouse river and the Little Roper river which abound with Barramundi and other fish species.  (not that we've caught any!!)

The movie "We of the Never Never" was filmed here, and the replica of the original homestead is still part of the attractions.

We all enjoyed watching this classic Australian movie set at Elsey Station in the early 1900s.  It is played in the Mataranka bar each day.

Mataranka Thermal Pool was dedicated as a reserve in 1967 to ensure the presentation of the thermal spring and surrounding palm forest.  The pool is at a constant 34 degrees and flows from Rainbow Springs at an amazing 30.5 million litres a day.  Jack and Jarrah played a new 'drinking' game they learned from some AJs at Berry Springs...

Bitter Springs is another tropical spring fed pool just two kms from Mataranka.  Set among palms and tropical forest, it was the perfect way to relax.  Such a shame Bruce couldn't join us as he's still healing...



To top off a great stay here, we got to enjoy world class whip cracker Nathan Griggs and his impressive whip cracking show.  Fletch and I got to be part of the show by lying on the ground (very still!!) while Nathan cracked his whips at high speed all around us.  Of course we couldn't leave without one of his hand made inner tube whips...might put the next regional hospital on standby!

 

Now it's common knowledge that Mataranka Homestead is home to some very tame wallabies and peacocks!  This evening we discovered that the spiders are quite tame, too.  One wanted to live with us in the caravan, deciding to give Bruce a cuddle at bedtime...

 

 

Oh, and OMG I can't believe how chilly it has become all of a sudden, and only a few hundred kilometres from Darwin!  Had to get the winter PJs out and put the heater on in the van tonight!  Brrrrrrrrrrrrr 

Adelaide River

We just had to drop in to the Adelaide River Inn to see Charlie the Buffalo.  Charlie was made famous by Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) whilst being hypnotised to the ground on the movie Crocodile Dundee.  He passed away in 2000 and now stands proudly on the bar.

Quote of the day today was by Jack - "What's a grey gonad?"

Litchfield National Park

We have spent the past two days exploring this beautiful NT National Park.  The 1500 sq km park was designated a National Park in 1986.  It boasts stunning waterfalls, monsoon rainforest, magnetic termite mounds, historical sites and crystal clear swimming holes.

We set up camp at the picturesque Wangi Falls.  Although the locals seem confident that any salt water crocodiles found in this swimming hole are swiftly removed, I still wasn't entirely comfortable swimming here, beautiful as it is!



Buley Rockholes had a completely different feel about it.  A series of small waterfalls and rockholes provided the perfect place to relax and cool off.

  And to do a few bombies...

We then moved on to Florence Falls - a spectacular double waterfall set amidst monsoon rainforest.

The boys had a ball trying to catch fish with some bread and a plastic bag.  Their new friend had better luck with his hat!



Fletcher chucked a major plonker but unfortunately we didn't get a photo of that!  Later he was looking rather reflective about it all...

Darwin - Haircuts & Harleys

So all good things must come to an end and with a tear in our eyes we said our goodbyes to Darwin.

During our time here, we discovered that Deb is a woman of many talents - she cooks BBQs better than the blokes, she's good at first aid, she has a green thumb, she can iron clothes without an iron, she drivers trucks, she rides a Harley, the kids love her AND she's great at haircuts!  What a woman!!



 Before we left, Fletch was keen to take a ride with the big boys...

...but they all had to go to work, so he decided to just hang with his bros!

 

Thanks so much to Deb and Steve (and Barry & Buck) for opening up your place to us for the past 12 days.  We have had the best fun staying in Noonamah!  We will always remember your wonderful hospitality, Burt Dunstall and the Humpty Doo GP!  (Arghhhhh!!!)

Darwin - Too Good To Leave

Our last two days in Darwin have been pretty laid back, in the hope that Bruce's foot heals well enough for us to leave on Wednesday.

 

We've enjoyed a couple more visits to the Palmerston Water Park...



 

 

...and spent some fun times just hanging out with our Darwin buddies.



We had a fantastic night on Monday night at Dave & Theresa's place in Virginia.  Bruce and Sarah played guitar, Jack played piano, Fletcher played harmonica and the frog, and we all had a jam on the djembe drums.  We played and sang into the wee small hours!  Thanks Dave, Theresa, Cameron, James & Sarah for your great NT hospitality!  We had a ball!

 

 

Royal Darwin Hospital

Sunday turned out to be not such a good day for us.  Bruce trod on a broken bottle and was rewarded with a nasty cut on his foot.  Jack found him sitting on the driveway and did a great job of 'going to get an adult to help'.  He then proceeded to fall apart.  Poor kid - seeing his Dad in pain and covered in a lot of blood was just too much for him.

 



 

 

So it was off to the Humpty Doo GP, which turned out to be a total disaster.  We realised we were in trouble soon enough when the Doctor couldn't work out how to get the bandage off.  Once we'd helped him out with that, we realised he was planning on stitching the wound without checking or cleaning it...

Next it was off to Royal Darwin Hospital where the service we had was nothing short of brilliant!  The staff were all warm, friendly and efficient and Doctor Don Hannan was competent, funny and a little bit cute!  A little more groaning from Bruce, a few corny jokes, a lot of anaesthetic ("enough to sedate an elephant" I think the Dr said),  and four stitches and we're on our way home.

Thanks to Barry for chauffeuring us around Darwin and also for supplying the chocolate to boost those glucose levels.  I figure low glucose levels must have been why I found myself lying on the floor in a cold sweat in the treatment room....

Things started to look up in the afternoon with Fletch enjoying time spent with his mates Steve Gardener and Burt Dunstall.

The boys enjoyed an afternoon spa, and we all had a scrumptious dinner of BBQ crocodile.  We lit the 'bomb' fire, had fun with some mystic fire and giant sparklers, and even got to see How Ridiculous break a new world record!

 

But that was the end of the fun for me.  After getting the poor patient settled in bed with his foot elevated I spent what was left of the night patting Jack's back as he emptied the contents of his stomach!  Repeatedly!  Blahh!!  But I am happy to report Jack's aim was true!  Every drop in the bucket!  Good on you Jack!