Molly Pointing, my grandaughter. This young lady is growing up quite quickly now. 4 years old last March. She loves stories and both her mum Kylie and dad Shane are regular story readers. You'll see me as the stand in story reader below.

A couple of shots of her here

In the Nissan before going on a picnic.
















With her mum Kylie on the picnic.


















Ted does "Snow White" with Molly. She's like most women, a real "Ham" 

Had a great time in Cairns. Weather was great, fine for 90% of the time. Here are a few night shots of the city. We will soon be in Cooktown for a week. During this stop we will travel down the coast road to Cow Bay just north of the Daintree. We'll camp out of the Nissan on this overnighter. After the week in Cooktown it is "Up the cape" to the tip. We expect to take about three weeks to visit the top end which will include a stay in Sesia with Daniel, Susans son. He's a fishing guide there. More of that as it happens I'll keep you posted from Weipa after we get there in the second week of September.














Johno's Blues Bar. Great stuff happens here let me tell you. If you ever get a chance to get up here and you enjoy The Blues, get along and see this guy. There are always new acts passing through Johno's and some are very famous. The joint jumps 'till about 3 in the morning. We always enjoy a night out here.














The Pier as seen from the esplanade walkway. This shot is about a kilometre from the Pier. At the start of all the sidewalk dining on the strand. We did a three kilometre walk to the Casino and back. Couple of coffees on the way. We also spent a couple of evenings at The Court House. An old court house converted to a club and live music venue. Great swing band the Alley Cats, play here most Sunday afternoons from 5 till 11.







The Central Hotel, still jumping at midnight. I had a tough time getting a shot due to cars and traffic. Fluked one with very few pedestrians of cars.

This is my oldest mate Doug Stephens and his wife Debbie playing at the "Christmas in July" Rock and Roll dance at Yungaburra. Doug invited us to the dance and we spent a great night Rocking. The following day we visited them at their property north west of Kuranda. Doug and I along with Gordon Crooks and five other Babinda boys were at All Souls School together in 1960. spent several days on the Tableland with Gordon and Doug remininsing about the good old days. It was great fun for me and Susan and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with both of the families.








Here is a scene of the Rockers in action at the hall. There were some great movers I can tell you. Susan gave me a break off the floor to get these shots. We had a pre dance dinner in the Eacham Hotel which is fairly famous for its size and timber construction, a real land mark on the tablelands. I can't go any where without running into some one I know, Tony Olsen from Proserpine was in the bar having a drink when we were sussing out the hotel a couple of days before the dance.





Here we with Gordon Crooks and his wife Jean. We stayed with them catching up on the intervening years while in Mareeba. The Mareeba rodeo was on over this weekend but we did not attend.















This is a photo of Skybury, The Australian Coffee Centre at Mareeba. This is reputed to be a two million dollar building. Our interest in visiting was the fact that Susan was a friend of the owners mother who lives in Augusta WA. Complicated isn't it? They are doing quite well for themselves. This is a coffee plantation west of Mareeba. Mareeba now produces 90% of the Australian coffee.

Walsh's Pyramid, 922 metres, the challenge Susan set us on 11 July. We might have left our start up the mountain too late at 1:30 pm brimming with confidence after several weeks climbing the slopes of Castle Hill. Two and a half hours later Susan stood on the summit with Ted still some 80 metres below with bad cramps in both thighs. We finally got off the Pyramid at 5:50 very tired and pleased to have achieved our objective.










This shot shows the pair of us, showing signs of exhaustion, at the "Half way rock" on the return journey. The smoke in the left centre foreground is the Mulgrave mill at Gordonvale.
The weather at Babinda turned to showers after several beautifull days of winter sunshine. How's this for rain fall records. Garradunga is a few miles north of Innisfail. The old pub was severly damaged by the cyclone, having it's roof completely torn off.
We have visited quite a few waterfalls on our trip. This is the Fishery Falls just north of Bellenden Ker where Ted grew up. He had never visited them although they were no more than 13 kilomtres away from his home. This water is fairly cold and it certainly took the breath away. There was very little cyclone damage in this area.

Murray Falls, were a surprise. Situated 20 kilometres north of Cardwell and 20 kilomtres off the Bruce Highway. Our overnight stay was a welcome rest stop. There was a beautifull swimming hole downstream from the falls. The sound of the falls during the night was very soothing. We were fortunate to travel through this area in fine weather. It had been several months since three consecutive fine days were experienced.















Bramston beach was an area that Ted grew up in. His parents owned a beach house here from 1959 until recently. This shot shows the full beach from "Pinchgut" creek in the south to the next headland, a distance of about 11 kilometres. Cyclone Larry had created havoc with the vegetation.









Fishery Falls. Susan cannot help herself if she sees a set of falls and these were no exception. This set are just off the Bruce Highway at Fishery Falls. While I had lived no more than 15 kilometres from them for half of my life it was my first visit. We had this site to ourselves for several hours prior to lunch.




















The Golden Hole in the Russell River was another pleasant trip. Tropical waters are so clear as they come off Mount Bartle Frere, the highest Mountain in Queensland. The coastal flats north of Ingham have many large rivers and streams of crystal clear water. All waterways are at a good height at this time due to the prolonged wet season.

Some cyclone Larry damage. This house is typical of many throughout the South Johnstone and Mourilyan district. Quite a few are uninhabited still with no roof covering. We were fortunate to pass through the area with fine weather. Photos cannot clearly show the absolute devastation of the rain forrest.














Damage at Paronella Park was very severe. Susan stands beside fallen logs that have been sawn to clear the walkways through the gardens.



















This is one the aircraft hangars at the Innisfail airport.















The Mourilyan mill will not open for crushing this year. Note the chimney stack folded in two by the cyclone. The bent stack is in the dead centre of the photo. The sugar cane crops are very poor due to both the cyclone and the continued wet weather.

Paronella Park. What a remarkable construction by one man, Jose Paronella. Well worth the visit. Even though cyclone Larry has caused extreme damage this added to the value of the tour. There are six and a half acres of gardens filled with many romantic settings and buildings to experience. All builings have a Spanish Castle architecture. The picture below shows the original refreshment rooms. There was a tennis court in the foreground and there is a long array of fountains still operating immediately to the front of the building.






This picnic area beside the swimming pool was serviced by the refreshment rooms in the previous photo. These rooms were abandoned after one of the massive floods forced a relocation at the top of the waterfall.














This suspension bridge is a recent construction connecting a parking area across Mena creek to the park entrance.














Jose Paronella, the original owner and builder of the park, built the "Grand Staircase" pictured at the start of his construction to carry building materials up from the creek