Central Queensland - October 10th - 15th

Friday Oct 10^th – Mountains

Passing through Sydney was interesting as we drove through the many tunnels that take you under the harbour.  This saves time exiting the city.  We continued on to Newcastle.  Here we stopped and bought two coffees at McDonalds for $8.30!  We passed a smaller town called Rutherford! 

Continuing on to Maitland here we spent our first night. We were exhausted.

As we drove we were surprised by the many dead kangaroos on the side of the road.  We had been warned to be careful driving between dusk and dawn on the highways because of them.  They feed on the roadside at night.  The scenery is mountainous, very dry and filled with unusual trees.

Saturday Oct 11^th – Road Trains

Today we continue up the central highway heading north to Cairns.  It is over 2486 kms from Sydney.  We will have to take five or six days to get there.

Several times we stopped for gas.  It is important to keep a full tank as the distances are tremendous between stations.  Our route took us from Maitland through many small towns, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Scone, Quirindi, Gunnedah, Boggabri, Narrabri and finally to Moree.



Alan in a coal bucket1

The road begins very straight soon twisting and turning with 100 or more kms between each town (most are smaller than Pontypool). There are no shoulders and very bumpy.  All the roads are tar seal which we call tar and chip.

We drove for ages with a coal mine beside us. Incredible stacks emerged out of nowhere and this interested Alan as it was a coal plant.  He was impressed at the cleanliness of the smoke.




Spring flowers

At Moree we take a room at the Artistian Spa where there are hot pools to soak in.  We visited with our neighbours, as we ate our dinners respectively, outside. They have driven the 25,000 kms around the continent in 8 months!

I have to mention the road trains! These are full size transports pulling one to nine trailers.  So far we have only seen them with three trailers.  Oh and the roads are similar to Waite road in width with speeds from 100 to 110 km per hour. It is a bit windy when you pass one.

Sunday Oct 12^th – Still No Wifi

We awakened to a flurry of birds outside our room.  At breakfast one of our fellow travelers pointed out a koala bear in the tree outside.  It posed for Alan and disappeared up the branches when the rest of the people came for a look. It was a cute young one.

As we head out we find the roads very narrow and much more uneven than the day before. We pass so much road kill of kangaroos, I don’t like this part!  Then Alan saw an emu and her three chicks, I took pictures as they crossed the road.

Cattle droving signs were up and we had crossed cattle grates, both well marked.  Suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of hundreds of cows, all over the road.  Alan was great avoiding them as they crossed in front of us. I was disappointed as they were being herded with atvs.


This old cow wouldn't move, so Alan had to drive around her.

In the St. George area there are large tracts of land farmed much like the prairies.  These farms are over 1000 acres in size.  All the fields are irrigated with channels plowed down the rows. Water is syphoned out of the channel into each row.  The fields are laser leveled with a slight incline to the end so the water drains away from the channel then the left over water is reclaimed and reused.

We stop at Surat for lunch at a local café.  We see an interesting quilting seminar at the local museum.

The roads are now flat as we travel to Roma.  It is dusty and desert like to this point.  We soon leave the plains and start to climb the foothills.  The scenery is much greener indicating that there has been rain here lately.  We keep seeing flooding signs with depth indicators how deep the water gets.  I imagine it is like


Termites

Arizona where it looks like a river but is dry with the exception of the moment a storm causes flooding.

We spend the night at the Roma Aussie Tourist Park.  We have trouble again with the wifi and even McDonalds doesn’t work.

We head to bed as a huge electrical storm passes over.  It is headed to Sydney!

Monday Oct 13^th – Halloween Atmosphere

Roma is a small town that has experienced extreme flooding in 2012.  Most of the houses are on stilts one story high.  Even the schools are on stilts! The streets are lined with bottle trees, yes they are shaped like a bottle.  They are my new favourite tree!

We found an expresso truck that serves the public daily in the tiny downtown. It has a proper expresso machine in the back!

Gas was $1.54 per litre.

We experienced little traffic today on very narrow roads.  They are not all the same, some have a foot of gravel and some spots have no shoulder at tall. I am relieved to say, a lot less road kill today!  We passed through InJune and then had lunch in Rolleston.  I saw a genuine live kangaroo, but Alan missed it.  He unfortunately saw an unusual road kill of a feral pig of over 250 lbs, and I missed seeing that (thank goodness)!

Finally, we have a working phone!  We can keep in contact with family this way and order pizza or book cabins.

We book a cute cabin, in Emerald, surrounded by palm trees, for the night.  While doing laundry, at the outdoor laundry room, suddenly crows are swarming right beside us! As I point out to Alan, they are swooping beside us, when I realize they are giant bats! Did I say they were right beside me!!! Alan ran for a camera, I ducked in by the washer, but still in view of the spectacle. Twenty or thirty dived, landed in the nearby tree for almost an hour. It was a spectacular display. They have a loud chirp and are constantly nattering with each other.  Tomorrow night we are going to try to get pictures.

Tuesday Oct 14^th – Gem Fields

Beside our cabin is a beautiful set of pools (two covered, one open air and an infinity pool to boot) is set off by modern architecture of the recently new complex.  We want to take pictures but there are many swimmers in the complex and we chicken out.  We head up the main street and stop at a local Saddlery store to poke around the horsey.  The owner is very happy to see that we are Canadian.  Recently she spent 12 wonderful months in a small community south of Calgary.  We chat for quite a while then carry on with our walk.  Down the road we stop outside a local Vinnie’s (St. Vincent De Paul) store to watch the local hydro crew install new wiring to the store.  Their hard hats are wide brimmed!  Very Australian!




Black Cockatoo - a whole flock flew over.

We drove out to the gem fields about 40 km’s away and is quite similar to the rolling farmland we traversed during the last few days. Sapphire is a small community and part of the gem fields.  This is part of a wide area west of Emerald called the Willow Gem fields where they mine precious stones, predominately coloured sapphires and zirconiums.  The local tourist information office was quiet keen for us to see the gem fields.  We stop at a local store (one that is open, off season we are told) to see what is in this area.  After a brief chat with the store owner, we find we can go fossicking (gem hunting), or for those not so daring we can purchase a pail of wash to check your luck without the extra work.  Hopefully you will find a raw sapphire or zirconium. 




Kookaburras

The town is not too big and not very exciting for us so we head back out of town then drive further south to Anakie to check it out.  During a short drive around the town we find some beautiful bushes, a small train station (see pictures) and another gem store with pails of wash for sale….8.00.  We pull in to the local gem store to try our luck at the pail of wash but are disappointed to see the sign on the door…….closed….returning at 3 pm, and it is only 1 pm.  Oh well, next time maybe.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo - large flock.

Heading back towards Emerald, we turn south to see the Fairbairn Dam and Lake Maraboon.  Lake Maraboon is the origin of the Nogoa River running through Emerald.  It also provides some flood protection for the town during the rainy season, and a source of drinking water we think.  It seems there have been a few bad floods over the years from water flooding the rivers banks. 

After a tour of the scenic view overlooking the dam I am dive bombed by some magpie birds, they are larger than a blue jay.  As we leave we spot a large flock of sulphur crested cockatoos in a tree.  Our lucky day, so we take the opportunity to get some great pictures.  We learn later that these are sulphur crested cockatoo’s.  We also take a few pictures of green and red parrots.

Back in town it’s still early so off to the botanical gardens we go.  A nice walk through the forest and low and behold a flock of the same parrots….more pictures. 

With the dinner dishes complete, and as the daylight slowly fades, we are watching intently for the return of the bats that we saw last night.  I get a few good videos of the flock arriving.  We will show them back home…….then off to the cabin we go.  Tomorrow we head to Cairns.

Wednesday Oct 15^th – Gas Prices Going Up!

Another sunny morning in Emerald but today we head towards Cairns.  After a bit of breakfast, we pack our car and head to town to make a quick withdrawal from the bank for the trip and to fill the car with gas ($41.51).  With a full tank we are off to the next stop……the road is the same as other parts of Australia….tar seal, two lanes, narrow shoulder and you must watch every moment due to kangaroo roadkill, uneven shoulders (some very big holes) and oncoming traffic of course. 




Another kookaburra

We stop at Clermont to take a picture of a very large coal mining dragline bucket as this area is rich in coal and has a booming mining industry.  The bucket is huge (39 tonnes in weight and holds 50 m³) and Alan easily  stands in side.  With arms outstretched he is unable to touch the sides.

Carrying on and not far north we see our first critical sign, no gas for the next 167 km.  We are safe as we have a full tank.  We watch the landscape change, from city, to country farmland, to rolling plains then eventually rolling scrub brush.  The local road kill on this stretch appears to be smashed up cars as we see at least 4 over the 167 km’s.  They are all destroyed, yet left at the side of the road as a reminder to those speeding past.  

We carry on up the road and eventually reach Belyando, the first stop after 167 km’s.  We stop for gas and fill up our tank ($34.25…..Kath says the price is $2.00 per litre) then have lunch.  A couple nearby has a very nice Jayco pop-up trailer.  We ask to take pictures as the pop-up is very different to our pop-up trailers.  The roof rises about 2 ft to give the occupants a bit more head room.  Otherwise the trailer is only 6 ft high.


Almost done the rug!

 Back on the road the next crucial road sign says no gas for the next 207 km’s…no problem as we have a full tank of gas.  The road changes from a much wider road and better top.  We arrive in Charter tower and stop at the local McDonalds for a cup of coffee ($11.40) and plan our next stretch.  We send texts to Andrew and will wait till tomorrow for a reply.  It is too far for us to drive to the Undara volcanic fields in the time we have left today so we turn east to Townsville on the coast.




Cane Train Car!

The road is much wider, smoother and lots of local traffic including much longer road trains (3 trailers long – 50 m’s).  We also see different type of road kill on this stretch ……one dead cow, one dead horse and other wild boar.

We arrive in Townsville where we stay the night and Alan gets to enjoy a Tooheys New beer.
 

We spend the evening catching up on blogs, logs and accounts.   Tomorrow we are heading towards Cairns.